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This is the only animator-for-hire ad you need to read on Craigslist this week. Click image to embiggen:

(Thanks, Josh Ryan, via Cartoon Brew’s Facebook page)

Marcus Kraft is an award-winning multidiscplinary studio located in Zurich, Switzerland. Their diverse portfolio ranges from editorial pieces that are bold and confrontational to posters that are more subtle and nuanced in their approach.

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Also worth viewing…
Heartwork 2011
Jason Munn Interview
Jessica Hische Studio Visit

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As Blue Sky’s Epic opens theatrically in the United States, we continue our week of featuring artists who worked on the film. Today we look at the work of storyboard artist Dan Shefelman.

Dan has worked as a story artist at Blue Sky in addition to doing boards for television series such as The Venture Bros., Robotomy, Celebrity Deathmatch, and Doug.

When drawing caricatures of celebrities and politicians, Dan distorts and renders faces with equal humor in digital paint, marker, pencils, ink and watercolors.

Dan previously worked as an editorial cartoonist for Newsday and continues to draw illustrations and cartoons that you can see on the pages of his website DanShefelman.com.

Above are a few of Dan’s story drawings from the Ice Age cave painting sequence. The finished version from the film can be seen below:

We, the BookFinder.com team, have come to ask you a small favor; that you take 1-2 minutes out of your day to complete a short six question survey that we have created in order to learn a bit more about you, our Bookfinder.com faithful.

We would like to know a little bit about what kind of books you search for, and how you currently use our website we hope to better prioritize the improvements that we can make.  We have recently had to spend considerable time and effort improving some backend aspects of the site and as such have had less time than we would like improving features that you, the book lover, see and use on the website.  Now that we are in a position to make some front end user improvements, we just want to be sure we are doing so in the right areas. Please take this short survey. 

Thank you for your assistance.

The BookFinder.com Team

Blue Sky’s eighth feature film, Epic, directed by Chris Wedge and based on a book by children’s author Bill Joyce, opens in the United States today. Reception to the film has been fair to middling. The film currently owns a 63% critics’ rating and 74% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Stephen Holden in the NY Times sums up the majority viewpoint: “As beautiful as it is, Epic is fatally lacking in visceral momentum and dramatic edge.”

Check out the film and report back here with your opinion in the comments below. As always, this talkback is open only to those who have seen the film and wish to share an opinion about it.

(Billboard via Daily Billboard)

Here are a few myths about writing contests. 

http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/04/the-myths-of-writing-contests/

One of the things about my job that is really important to me is saving vintage treasures from the landfill and being destroyed forever.
When i found these wonderful antique music sheets from the early 1900's in a box on the floor, all the way in the back of a dusty thrift shop, i got that rush feeling. Got to save these.
If they were kept around for more than 100 years, they should not end up thrown carelessly in a cardboard box.

Before there were mp3's, or even cd's or records, there was sheet music. Going back to when most people didn't even have a radio yet, musical entertainment came from playing the piano. Around the turn of the century, families gathered round and sang and played.

The early 1900's were the golden age for cover art illustrations on the sheet music booklets. Nowadays these make for eye-catching pieces of affordable art. For around $10 - $20 you can have an original 1920's flapper girl illustration on the wall.

Unfortunately, the golden age of sheet music art didn’t last long. It ended in the late 20's, very early 30s. Piano's were being replaced by radios and record players, and less sheet music was being sold. The sheets that were still printed, now had photographs of the performers or movie stars on the cover.

Want to have some antique sheet music art on your walls? The pieces shown in this post and a few more are available in the shop.

John Manders was educated at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh and later took courses at the School of Visual Arts and the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, where he studied children’s illustration, animation, and life drawing. His interests include puppetry (he studied that at Syracuse University College) and trying to speak Italian.

John’s  work is featured in over 30 children’s books and gazillions of children’s magazines. He’s a member of the Society of Illustrators, the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators, and is a founding member of the Pittsburgh Society of Illustrators. John was also their first president.

A pet lover, John organized the successful Bow Wow Meow art auction that benefited the Animal Rescue League of Western PA, and the PSI scholarship fund. He also curated Illustration:  The Process, an educational exhibit of fourteen illustrators and their working methods.

John’s incredible work has been exhibited at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh gallery, the Pittsburgh Children’s Museum, and he was honored in the 25-year retrospective of Cricket magazine covers, held at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1999. That year, he was also a participant at the Children’s Book Fair in Bologna, Italy. In May, 2006 he was named Outstanding Illustrator/Author by the Pennsylvania School Librarian’s Association.

This John’s latest book. You can see his process in the following interior spreads in the book.

This is a glimpse of John’s work-in-progress shots from Finnegan and Fox: The Ten-Foot Cop. This scene shows a crowded sidewalk next to a construction site. The lady next to Finnegan is upset because a mouse ran over her foot!

This is thumbnail sketch (very small).,and final painting. With crowd scenes, I’m always looking for people to include in the scene. It’s hard to make up all those characters.

This is the rough sketch.

Tight sketch (half-size of the painting). Using 2B pencils on layout bond paper, he transfers the drawings onto Arches 300 lb hot press watercolor paper.

Next is an ‘underpainting’ in neutral tones with Winsor & Newton Designers gouache.

The color is painted on top of that.  Starting to lay in gouache layers.

Painting in progress. More details added.

Continuing to add layers of detail. Prismacolor pencils are used for highlights and    accents.

Getting a closer look below.

Final below.

The next scene shows New York’s Finest organizing a search for a lost little girl. My cousin’s son is a NYC cop, so naturally I had to put him in this picture or be kicked out of the family. You can see him at the bottom of the page. And here is a photo that includes his loving parents. As always: thumbnail sketch, tight pencil sketch, work-in-progress and final painting. Sorry the final looks so washed out. It looks much better in the book!

Thumbnail Sketch.

Refined larger sketch.

John always does research. You can see photos of New York City police cars taped to the side for reference.

The policeman in the picture is John’s cousin’s son. Family comes in handy sometimes.

Final spread.

Cover Sketch.

Final cover art.

Cover Art above – Interior Art below.

Video below.

TIP FROM JOHN:

Masking fluid (or liquid frisket) is a pretty handy item to have around. Many of the scenes in Jack and the Giant Barbecue have characters in front of the big, wild & woolly American West. I like to spread out and paint that kind of backdrop with equally wild brush strokes. That’s a whole lot easier if you don’t have to carefully paint around the characters.

Masking fluid is kind of a rubbery syrup that you paint on your paper wherever you don’t want watercolor. It dries to a water-repellant film. As you see in the pictures, I masked out Jack and his faithful pony (also using bits of masking tape) so I could slather on the paint with abandon. When I finished painting the background, I peeled away the mask using a rubber cement pickup.

Use the link below to see John’s technique.

http://johnmanders.wordpress.com/2012/04/18/masking-fluid/

Due to a mix up, I will be posting John’s interview questions later and will announce it when I post it, so you don’t miss anything.

John’s picture book Jack and the Giant Barbecue has been dominated by National Cartoonist Society for the Reuben Award. The winners will be announced Saturday, May 25th at the Reuben Awards dinner in Pittsburgh, PA.

Check back to find out if John wins? Is he in the poster? We’ll find out when John sends me the answers to the interview questions.

Hope you enjoyed getting to see John’s illustrations. I will post the interview questions as soon as I receive them from John.

You can visit John at www.johnmanders.com And as always I love when you leave a comment. Hope  you still will even with the glitch with the interview questions.

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy

Here are highlights from the links that I shared on Twitter this week@JensBookPage.

Book Lists and Awards

Winners of the 2012 Andre Norton Award have been announced | Waking Brain Cells http://ow.ly/liEbL @tashrow #yalit

RT @catagator:So you want to read YA? Amy Stern (@yasubscription) has 12 suggestions for you! http://www.stackedbooks.org/2013/05/so-you-want-to-read-ya-guest-post-by.html…

Top Ten YA Road Trip Novels by Ben Kuhlman | @NerdyBookClub http://ow.ly/ldPo4 #yalit

One day I'll read YA with my daughter RT @tashrow: YA mother-daughter reading recommendations – The Horn Book http://buff.ly/13vqf3u #yalit

Growing Bookworms

All true! 7 Reasons Why You MUST Read Aloud To Your Kids At All Ages by @postpartumprog http://ow.ly/ldQbV via @Scholastic #literacy

One family's observed benefits from reading aloud 30 min/day Sugar Bee Learning: Reading to Toddlers and Preschoolers http://ow.ly/ldNUu

RT @tashrow: Why Reading Aloud to Older Children Is Valuable | MindShift http://buff.ly/129p5rA #reading #litrdup

Helping Children to Spell: Eight Strategies That Work! from @TrevorHCairney http://ow.ly/ll4Qo #literacy #kidlit

Programs and Research

New study finds parents of preschoolers spend more time reading w/ girls than w boys @TheAtlantic @PWKidsBookshelf http://ow.ly/lgh3d

Congratulations to my friend @CHRasco for being a 2013 Eric Carle Museum honoree as an Angel for #literacy http://ow.ly/lgdIQ @FuseEight

Children reading more on screen than print, National Literacy Trust finds http://ow.ly/l9gSP @TheBookseller @PWKidsBookshelf #litrdup

Teachers

It's time for @donalynbooks Fifth Annual #Bookaday Challenge | @NerdyBookClub http://ow.ly/ldOAl #kidlit #literacy

RT @LauraKomos:Love this idea! RT @kaaauthor: Great idea + great teacher = total fun! @colbysharp BOOK SPEED DATING!!!!http://goo.gl/G57tZ

Nice! "nothing is like the light generated when books and readers AND authors come together" @skajder @NerdyBookClub http://ow.ly/ll3kj

Kidlitosphere

Let’s help… KidLitCares for Oklahoma, @KateMessner is organizing a signed book giveaway for people who donate http://ow.ly/liDTi #kidlit

Interesting post and comments @bkshelvesofdoom about reading rules (do you dog ear pages, etc) http://ow.ly/liGsy

Lots of great links from Tanita Davis at Finding Wonderland: Pennies from Heaven? Nope, it's 5 & Dime Friday... http://ow.ly/l8HqY

Authors, Publishing and Book Publicity

RT @tashrow: E-book sales are up 43%, but that’s still a ‘slowdown’ http://buff.ly/15MCGLM #ebooks

The Future of Picture Books: Alive and Well? @NoVALibraryMom reports after attending a MOST impressive panel session http://ow.ly/lgakk

Teenage Tweetland: useful ideas for authors on where + how YA authors and publishers are reaching teens online http://ow.ly/lggfR

Authors: an opportunity to promote your books and give back in support of children's #literacy @readingtub http://ow.ly/lgaFn

Novels for young adults are reaching more (adult) readers - http://KansasCity.com http://ow.ly/lggyN via @PWKidsBookshelf

Pack(ag)ing It Up, @gwenda talks about book packaging in light of @Amazon Kindle Worlds announcement http://ow.ly/ll4Il

RT@cbcbook: Sad news to report. 'Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile' author Bernard Waber has passed on.http://ow.ly/ldleM@HMHKids#kidlit

I enjoyed this post Thank You Teachers and Librarians from Donna Gephart + she recommends my newsletter :-) http://ow.ly/lkUdW

Diversity (or not)

Thoughts from Becky Levine on @VarianJohnson’s Post, “Where are all the black boys?” http://ow.ly/l8G6k #kidlit

RT @gregpincus: RT @CBCBook: Looking for some news on #kidlit diversity? Here's a round-up! http://ow.ly/kZ83P #CBCDiversity #kidlitchat

Wishing you all a relaxing Memorial Day Weekend!

© 2013 by Jennifer Robinson of Jen Robinson's Book Page. All rights reserved.You can also follow me@JensBookPageor at myGrowing Bookworms page on Facebook.

LATEST NEWS

The North Carolina Press Foundation is offering four of Artie’s serial stories to Newspapers in Education (NIE) newspapers across the United States. This year’s theme is Dig into Reading. In addition to the NIE, the foundation will also be offering Artie’s work to libraries and other newspapers throughout the United States. To read the stories please click on the NC Press Foundation link listed above.

Two of Artie’s children’s books will be featured on Ameba TV beginning this summer. Based in Canada, Ameba TV is presently streamed worldwide in million of homes.

Ameba TV’s rich, diverse content library delivers thousands of hours of educational, preschool, musical, and multilingual programming to children ages 2 to 12. The popular children’s streaming TV service features award-winning shows, like WordWorld, The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That, BusyTown Mysteries, and Ruby Skye PI.

More to come!

View from a Zoo – Bored with her life, a housecat seeks out adventure in this new fully illustrated picture book coming in the summer of 2013. Written by Artie, the book is being illustrated by the incredibly talented Indian artist Sunayana Nair Kanjilal. More to come as the book’s release date gets closer….

Use of any of the content on this website without permission is prohibited by federal law

This summer, Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida will open a Simpsons-themed area at its park to complement its existing Simpsons ride. The new space will allow visitors to walk around Springfield and spend their hard-earned dollars on Simpsons-related food, like Duff Beer, which will be brewed exclusively for the park. Simpsons creator Matt Groening has said in the past that he wouldn’t allow actual Duff beer to be brewed because he didn’t want to encourage kids to drink

The press release describes how parkgoers will be able to buy other food items as well: “[You] will be able to grab Krusty-certified meat sandwich at Krusty Burger, snatch the catch of the day at the Frying Dutchman, get a slice at Luigi’s Pizza, go nuts for donuts at Lard Lad, enjoy a ‘Taco Fresho; with Bumblebee Man and imbibe at Moe’s Tavern.”

The area will also feature a new attraction—Kang & Kodos’ Twirl ‘n’ Hurl—as well as the statue of Springfield founder Jebediah Springfield. Cick on the image at top for a close-up rendering of the new area.

       At Russia beyond the Headlines Phoebe Taplin reports that Uzbek writer popularizes Russian literature in London in her Q & A with Hamid Ismailov.
       His most recently translated book is the 'reality novel' A Poet and Bin-Laden, which: "combines documentary, poetry and fiction". I actually have a copy, so I do hope to get a review up; meanwhile, see the Glagoslav publicity page, or get your copy from Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.

On Thursday, May 30th, the Museum of of Contemporary Art in downtown LA will present a screening of Aboveground Animation featuring new commissions by Kathleen Daniel, Barry Doupe, Erin Dunn, Casey Jane Ellison, Lauren Gregory, Jacolby Satterwhite, Katie Torn, and the premiere of a video work by Ben Jones (Paper Rad, The Problem Solverz). The screening will be followed by a conversation with Aboveground Animation curator Casey Jane Ellison and Ben Jones, moderated by MOCAtv creative director Emma Reeves.

The screening will take place at MOCA Grand Avenue’s Ahmanson Auditorium (250 South Grand Avenue, LA, CA 90012). Doors open at 7pm, screening at 8pm. RSVP at rsvp.mocatv@gmail.com.

A unique and adorable new way to learn counting from 1 to 10 and then backwards from 10 to 1. Soo comes into the kitchen complaining to her mother about her numerous boo-boos. Thankfully, mom has a way to take care of each one.

Soo’s Boo-Boos She’s Got 10! by Tilda Balsley is better than your average counting book. It’s clever. It’s creative. From a stiff elbow to crunched toes, from chapped lips to a dripping nose, and from a burned tongue to a nagging mosquito bite and more, Soo goes through her list of ailments. Her sympathetic mom then goes about tackling them one by one, finding the perfect cure for them all.

Kids will relate to this sweet and funny rhyming story. Kids see their moms as fixers of problems and Soo is no different. More than a simple counting book, readers will delight in witnessing Soo’s play for sympathy and learning how her mother solves each problem. The melodic prose is complemented by beautiful artwork from Shelagh McNicholas.

An all-around winner.

Rating:

Hardcover: 28 pages
Publisher: Tiger Tales (March 1, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1589251180
ISBN-13: 978-1589251182

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher. This review contains my honest opinions, for which I have not been compensated in any way.

Author: Steve Gardner
Genre: Teen / Self improvement
ISBN: 978-0-9839332-0-5
Pages: 106
Price: $12.95

Author’s website
Buy it at Amazon

Life just isn’t going the way you planned, but you don’t know how to change it. Maybe you don’t know about your superpowers! Yes, you do have superpowers, and Steve Gardner shows you what they are and how to access them, in this book.

You are greater than you realize, and you can attract good things into your life. But how, you ask? By following this five step process. There is a logical technique to attracting your best life to you, and if you follow these steps, you’ll be well on your way.

Adults have followed the Law of Attraction for a long time, but it may surprise teens to know this law can also be applied to their lives. And once these principles are established, they can easily be used forever. One of the things I really like about this book is the author’s encouragement to establish contact with Heavenly Father. Without divine assistance, the Law of Attraction doesn’t work, so it’s great to see Gardner’s insistence on prayer and gratitude. Overall, this is a nice, concise guide in easy to understand language, on how to live a wonderful life.

Reviewer: Alice Berger

Send a note. This week I have been intentional about sending notes of thanks and encouragement. It is a sure-fire way to turn the day positive. Sevenly. I love the way I can… Read More →

       Brooklyn, he finds, is: "rather embarrassingly civilised", and he's "too old for Manhattan" -- "It's just too noisy, too quick". So says Martin Amis, in a nice long Financial Times profile by Martin Dickson.
       He also: "don't mind saying a bit" about his work in progress. (Does he ever mind saying a bit, or a lot, about anything ?)
       It's: "set in an unnamed Auschwitz" -- and, well, at this point in his career one can no longer be sure about anything he writes, but maybe it holds some promise.

There’s some upstanding companies and artists advertising on Cartoon Brew nowadays, and we want to take a moment to highlight some of the useful products and services they’re offering the community. This week’s highlights include a drawing workshop by Mike Mattesi and a new Disney art book offered in the U.S. exclusively by Stuart Ng Books.

Mike Mattesi, author of the Force drawing book series, will be holding an Animal Drawing workshop on Saturday, June 1st, at the LA Zoo. The class will take place from 10am to 4pm and costs $100. Class description:

Mike Mattesi, author of FORCE Animal Drawing, will return to LA after six years for an eventful weekend. One of his favorite locations to draw and share his knowledge about FORCE is the LA Zoo. Join him June 1st, 10am at the front gate to the LA Zoo so he can share with you how to see, understand and draw the residents within through the concept of FORCE! Mike has a specific order of animals he will guide the class through to help you understand how to grasp FORCE. He will cover basic anatomy to shape and design. Mike will instruct the group and speak to artists individually based on your abilities.

Tuition can be paid through PayPal to mike@drawingforce.com Space is limited to 25 students.

Stuart Ng Books is the U.S. distribution partner of the upcoming Pierre Lambert book Sleeping Beauty (La Belle au Bois Dormant). Like the previous art-filled books in the series—Pinocchio, Mickey Mouse, Snow White, Walt Disney: l’Age d’Or, The Jungle Book—this new title promises to be chock-full of beautifully printed artwork from the classic 1959 Disney feature.

The recent books in the series, including this one, are only being published in France, and Stuart Ng’s should be the easiest way to get your hands on this in the United States. Stuart is offering a pre-publication price of $170 which includes an exclusive English translation booklet. The book will be released on June 30th. Preview and pre-order the book at StuartNg.com.

Comic-Con International: San Diego is less than 2 months away and we’ve got special advertising rates for the month of July. Go HERE to advertise your Con-related goods on Cartoon Brew today!