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Here’s sneak peek into the making of Dance Y’all Dance, a picture book written by Kelly Bennett that I illustrated and is being released this November (Bright Sky Press). It was the most fun project I’ve ever worked on. The story is set in the not too distant past when families, farm hands and cowboys & gals would get together on weekends at the local honky tonk. I did some research into clothing styles, period furniture, Texas symbols and olde timey dance halls, then chose to keep the colors vivid and saturated to give the book a contemporary look.

Once I had the scene sketched, I redrew it on Strathmore 10-ply paper with a Berol Prismacolor pencil…then laid a wash of ultramarine & yellow ochre. With a wet q-tip or small brush, I picked out highlights.

Using the new tones as a guide, I start to lay in color in gouache, working from dark to light. What interests me now is the design of shadows, losing and finding edges and letting a little of the wash show through as line.  I make an effort to not have perfectly symmetrical faces as I believe it lends to more effective expressions.

I continue building layers of paint to emphasize form, adding texture, patterns, detail and highlights.  Finally scanning into photoshop, I clean and fine tune the piece.

So there you have it.  I love playing with color.  I love visiting my works-in-progress (aka “children”) every morning.  I love this job!

Working on:  another country-themed book offering, but that’s all I’m gonna say right now!  In the meantime, here is an interview I did on the author’s website, if’n you’re interested: http://www.kellybennett.com/books/danceyall.html

Two Tugeau 2 artists won awards for their poster art the Annual New England SCBWI Conference (April 25-27, 2009). About 50 artists took part in the contest and showcased their own illustrated concept of the theme “Many Voices”. T2 artist Kathy Weller won prizes in two categories: Best in Show, Published Artist and Third Place,  Viewer’s Choice. T2 artist Dani Jones won Second Place, Published Artist. Yay for T2 artists!!

Remember the time you waited until no one was around, crawled under the Christmas tree, peeled back the corner wrapping of your present and took a peek?  This is going to be something like that.

Except that this time, Mrs. Nicole Tugeau Claus is fully aware and gives a wink and a nod.  I was asked to paint the image for this year’s Tugeau 2 holiday card.  Knowing I wanted to show a variety of animals and convey the hope and magic of the season, I sketched and rendered the following illustration.

The next challenge was to create a piece of spot art for the back of the card that played off the main illustration.  This is a fun part in creating narrative illustration…to give visual hints as to what may happen next. In this case, the subplot is easy to catch.  A gift is given, it is received…and the mouse soars.

So if you receive one of these holiday cards in the mail, just act surprised. How did we know … it’s what you’ve always wanted!

currently painting: 6 illustrations for May/June 09 Ladybug Magazine
currently writing: short stories and poetry for a themed anthology

Happy Holidays!

Terri Murphy

www.terrimurphyart.com

I’ve just been interviewed for the Gourmet Food Garden blog, to describe my most memorable meal. Sir James Galway has also been interviewed here, so I’m in good company!

Speaking of interviews, last week I was also interviewed by Katie Schwartz, blogger, essayist, and author of the wonderful and funny book Emotionally Pantsed. Read it and get the dish on what Chris Sarandon thought of my drawing of him from “The Princess Bride”!

I’m also happy to announce that Honey Cake, by Joan Betty Stuchner, published by Random House, is finally out in stores. I did the cover illustration, and the book designer, Gloria Cheng, did an amazing job. It looks even more beautiful in real life!

I am a member of a children’s illustrators’ group called the Picture Book Junkies (we’re the “PBJ’s” - yes, just like peanut butter and jelly)! About once a year, we do a promotional postcard as a group, and this year we have decided on a “Back To School” theme.
We also share a group blog. We have a weekly theme, and then each of us posts once a week on the theme. This week, our theme is our “Back To School” postcard art.  (I designed the postcard this year, too: front and back)

Please check it out, and enjoy!

Hello everyone! I’ve just updated my website with a fresh look and some new artwork. Come on over and take a look… www.danijones.com

As a sidenote, if you run into problems or have issues with any of the features or navigation, please do let me know. I’m always tweaking stuff here and there.

Have a great day! - Dani

Visit danijones.com to see my latest artwork!

Included are several new personal pieces I made recently for last weekend’s NE-SCBWI conference (you can read about my adventures here), and a few images from my picture book The Best Mariachi in the World, which is set to be released this fall by Raven Tree Press.