By: Julie Fortenberry,
on 2/16/2014
By: Jim Madsen,
on 2/16/2014
It's a rare deal to see a Jackalope but if you see one with twisted antlers then you have witnessed all but the rarest of things. Big foot thinks that seeing a twistedanntleredJackalope is freaky.
By: Julia,
on 2/16/2014
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By: Elizabeth Haidle,
on 2/16/2014
Teaming up with local architect J.Matt Thomas, I recently entered a competition via BlankSpaceProject.com....to produce an illustrated fairytale about a mythological Food & Shelter - two iconic figures that were personified & placed into a story plot that spoke of interdependence, and the imbalance that ego can bring.
We decided to incorporate sacred geometry in the design of the borders - these gain in complexity as the story unfolds. I made use of printmaking textures, guoache, and photoshop trickery to flesh out the illustrations. Super challenging! And of course, after the intimidation phase passes, the most fun is waiting to be had on just the other side ;)
By: Julie Fortenberry,
on 2/16/2014
By: Koosje Koene,
on 2/16/2014
By: Debbie Ridpath Ohi,
on 2/16/2014
So in Part 1 of my Judy Blume news, I mentioned that I was thrilled to be illustrating the covers of the seven middle editions of classic Judy Blume novels that are being reissued by Simon & Schuster Children's.
Well, that's not all.
Just got word that I can make this public: I am also excited to be illustrating the covers of three Judy Blume classics that are being reissued as chapter books AND PROVIDING THE INTERIOR ILLUSTRATIONS AS WELL.
These books are Freckle Juice, The One In the Middle Is The Green Kangaroo and The Pain And The Great One.
My history as a Judy Blume fangirl:
Like many others reading this, I'm a longtime fan of Judy Blume's work. Her books reassured my younger, angsty self that I wasn't the only one having all these bizarre thoughts and feelings and impulses. I was way too insecure and introverted to ever talk frankly about many of these topics with anyone. Books like Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret comforted me, helped me gain the confidence to ask questions, to not feel so much like a freak. Reading her books, it seemed as if Judy Blume knew me.
My sister helped introduce some of Judy Blume's work to me, like Deenie. Ruth read the book just before she was diagnosed with scoliosis herself, and told me later that Deenie's experiences with wearing a Milwaukee Brace were very similar to hers. "Except I didn't have a guy fall in love with me while I wore mine. :-)"
At the SCBWI Summer conference in 2011, Judy Blume was on the faculty and I was struck by her down-to-earth good humor and easygoing manner. I was too nervous to consider approaching her during the weekend, but as I was about to head off to the airport, I came across Richard Peck and Ms. Blume in front of the hotel. On impulse, I asked if they minded if I snapped a photo and they kindly agreed:
Fast-forward two and a half years later. LOOK what Judy Blume tweeted a few days ago:
I have, of course, printed this tweet out and put it up in my office. I'm also going to print out and laminate a smaller version which I plan to carry around with me FOREVER, to remind myself that childhood dreams sometimes do come true.
How I became the illustrator of Judy Blume's revamped middle grade & chapter books:
On Dec. 19, Justin Chanda (my editor at Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers and also publisher) emailed to see if I was interested in auditioning for a book project "of great proportions" but that also had a very tight deadline. Intrigued, I said I was interested. Here is a transcript of the email exchange that followed...
---- Transcript begins ------
9:07 pm, JUSTIN:
Did you perhaps read Judy Blume growing up?
9:08 pm, ME:
OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGHOMHOG
OMG
9:10 pm, JUSTIN:
Ok good. We'll talk tomorrow morning.
9:11 pm, ME:
OMGOMGOMGIMGOGGGGG
Very much looking forward to chatting tomorrow
OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG
---- Transcript ends ------
What I needed to do: come up with cover illustration sketch ideas for three of the books. Justin and I brainstormed and I also had notes from brainstorming sessions that took place at S&S Children's with Namrata Tripathi. Thanks also to some of my Torkidlit friends (whom I swore to secrecy) and a few others for helping me come up with some extra sketch ideas.
I had been warned that I may not get the job, so I knew that there was a good chance I'd be working through the holiday season and still get passed over, but I couldn't say no. I mean....JUDY BLUME!!!
Shortly after I began sketches, however, the Toronto ice storm hit and we lost power in our house. My friend, Cathy Rutland, came to the rescue and offered to let me stay at her apartment until our power came back on. Jeff (MY HERO) took a break from trying to keep our water pipes from freezing and moved my scanner, iMac, Wacom stuff and other hardware I needed over to Cathy's apartment.
Meanwhile, Justin and I were in constant touch. He and I were exchanging emails, sketches, feedback on sketches pretty much every day throughout the holidays except for Christmas Day and New Year's. [Correction: Justin reminded me that we actually did exchange email on New Year's as well. :-)]
Because the books were coming out in April and they had not yet found the right illustrator, timing was tight. I estimate I drew over 150 sketches during that time and sent Justin 50 of those. When everyone else got back after the holidays, I continued the brainstorming and sketching process with Justin, Dan Potash, Namrata Tripathi and Lauren Rille.
Side note: I've noticed some mistakenly think that I did the cover redesign. I want to emphasize that Lauren Rille did the wonderful new cover designs, not me. I just provided the illustrations.
Up to this point, I had mainly been focusing on hand-drawn sketches that I scanned into Photoshop, but Dan Potash asked if I could redraw some of their favorites into vector-line style. This wasn't my usual illustration style but I love creative challenges. :-)
Finally we came up with some cover samples that were good enough to send to Judy Blume, and then I waited to hear if she liked them or not. This is when I posted the following on Facebook:
The waiting was AGONY. I was such an airhead at home, forgetting where I put things, only half paying attention to what was going on around me. I burned meals. I also put dish soap in the rinse agent compartment of our dishwasher....there were suds everywhere! Jeff was incredibly patient. :-)
Justin called me on January 16th, 2014. I remember noticing the 212 area code and immediately thinking newyorknewyorkohpleaseohplease and then picking up the phone and JUSTIN TOLD ME THAT JUDY BLUME LOVED THE COVERS YAAAAAAAAY *AND* that they wanted me to also do the interior illustrations for the three chapter books. (!!!!)
I freaked out. I became aware I had started screaming at Justin, tried to calm down and be professional, but then started screaming again. At one point, he had to reassure me that "Yes, this is really happening." After the call, I immediately called Jeff at work and screamed at him and then I emailed my sister and my agent at Curtis Brown, Ginger Knowlton (by that point my throat was sore from all that screaming :-)).
Some of you may have seen my "Blooming" found object doodle recently:
The material came from a congratulatory bouquet of flowers from my friend Cathy, who said they were blooms for my Blume news. :-)
And this brings me to why I can't attend SCBWI-NYC this coming week:
Because the chapter books are coming out in May, the deadline is tight. Cover details are still being tweaked. And I've been madly working on the b&w interior illustrations, which need to be finished in the next couple of weeks. I'm using a much looser illustration style for the interiors; I'll post samples when I can.
I had to cancel my trip to NYC and the SCBWI Winter Conference and have been working through weekends and many evenings, turning down social invites. Jeff treks down to my basement office every once in a while to check on how I'm doing. He and I have been getting takeout a lot lately.
But every so often I'll force myself to press pause, sit back and appreciate the moment. I AM ILLUSTRATING BOOKS BY JUDY BLUME.
JUDY BLUME.
My husband has gotten used to me sending him random texts during the day consisting of just the following:
Early in the process, Lauren Rille and I were chatting about being Judy Blume fangirls, and how absolutely COOL it was we got to read and reread Judy Blume books and say it was part of work.
One thing I noticed as I was rereading her books: Judy Blume books are as relevant and inspiring now as they were years ago, dealing with universal issues and feelings while growing up. At the L.A. Times Festival Of Books, Judy Blume had advice for grown-up fans of her work who want to introduce their children to her books.
"First, invest in one with a new cover," she says. "Even if you like the old, original covers. Second, don't give it to them. Just leave the books strategically placed around the house and then occasionally say: 'Oh no, you're not reading that -- you're not ready for it yet.' " Heh.
You can find out more about Judy Blume and her work at JudyBlume.com, including tips for aspiring writers.
Meanwhile, I'd better get back to work. THANK YOU for all the kind words, congratulatory messages and encouragement. They are so much appreciated.
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By: James Gurney,
on 2/16/2014
During the Great Depression, politicians supported puppet shows to combat unemployment and to boost morale.
by Bil Baird.
By: Elizabeth O. Dulemba,
on 2/16/2014
By Leslye Walton. I read an ARC for this and just adored it. I highly recommend it! And get a load of the trailer!
(Click the image below to go see the trailer on Youtube if the embed gives you trouble.)
By: Maria Madonna Davidoff,
on 2/16/2014
 |
| Cover Image: Paweł Althamer, Draftsmen’s Congress, 2010. Exhibition view: 7th Berlin Biennial, 2010. Courtesy the artist, Foksal Gallery Foundation, Warsaw, and neugerriemschneider, Berlin |
By: Mattias Adolfsson,
on 2/16/2014
By: Ronni A. Hall,
on 2/16/2014
Haven’t done a Sketchbook Saturday in awhile! Here’s images from the upcoming Storytelling and Intuition class (which conveniently is now taking registrations.)
We pick out your STORY THEME of the week
I think classes and learning should always be REWARD-BASED, so we look at yours.
We make our “travel journals” collecting breadcrumbs from our stories
We look at our pictures for intuitive stories
Fun! Join me?
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By: Cait,
on 2/15/2014
Go. Run. Be strong.
——-
More Sunday Morning Running Motivation and traditional MOTIVATION posts.
——-
1) What’s motivating YOU this morning?
2) Anyone race this weekend?
3) What is a mental mantra you like to think of to keep you running strong?
By: Anna Raff,
on 2/15/2014
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By: Kim Holt,
on 2/15/2014
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By: Sarah McIntyre,
on 2/15/2014
I've always, always, always wanted to visit Norway, and when Heather Salisbury asked me at last year's Hay Festival of Literature if I'd like to go, as an exchange with schools in Wales, she barely got half the sentence out before I'd agreed to accompany her. 
I had big plans to make a travel comic (like the one I made in Alaska last summer), and I began it on the way to the airport, on the Stansted Express.
...But as you see here in the comic, I had situation overload when I arrived in the beautiful town of Skudeneshavn with all these interesting people. I just couldn't keep up. When I had to choose between drawing or running around looking at things and talking with people, the latter always won.
I managed to settle down on the last day and do one basic drawing, but I'd have loved another few weeks to paint and draw.
The white house was where we stayed. Isn't this place amazing?
And this was the view right outside our door. The sudden shifts between stormy and crisp weather meant we got to see all sorts of light.
Our visit even got a full page in the local paper, the Haugesunds Avis. (You can read the whole article here if your Norwegian's better than mine.)
The school visits were loads of fun! The pupils in the first visit, to Eide Primary School, were my most enthusiastic and full of ideas. And I knew their English would be good, but holy cow, they're amazing. I introduced them to Oliver and the Seawigs and took a slight detour into the world of over-the-top headgear. So this girl showed me her awesome hat before I left.
The headmaster was rocking his Norwegian jumper. I love those sweaters so much.
The new building at Mykje Primary School knocked us over with how well designed it was. And the kids had such great art materials! I could see them helping themselves to wood pieces, paint, felt, some were knitting nice wool... British art teachers would be super-envious. (An art teacher friend in London once told me he had to get by with 17p per child per year for art supplies, which wasn't enough to buy them each a decent pencil.)
They had loads of fun wall displays:
We all drew Sea Monkeys together, and they customised theirs. Then I borrowed one of their Sea Monkeys and they helped me turn it into a four-panel story comic on the white board.
My last school visit was to Skudeneshavn Primary School. The kids were a little more cautious with their ideas than the first group, but we had good fun and I hope they go on to make more comics. 
One of the interesting things about that school was all the cool stuff they could do on the playground. The school was surrounded by little wooded areas, full of forts and hideaways, even an English-language fort (a policy decided on by the kids). The whole attitude in all the schools was so practical, and they weren't scared to let kids run around, fall down, and learn from their accidents. I was allowed to take photos of all the kids, find the bathroom by myself, and there weren't any gates; dog walkers would stroll across the playground. The kids ran up to the playground monitor and gave him hugs, it all felt very warm and natural, a real contrast to our hyper-vigilant British schools. 
I didn't get much time to check out the books, but every time we had a library tour, I would nip away and see what I could find very quickly. These ones looked intriguing:
I saw lots of familiar stories:
And some that looked funny and rather bizarre.
After our visit to Mykje, our host, John Rullestad, and his friend took us up the hill by Haugesund to see the view. Ha ha, guess who's inappropriately dressed for inclement weather: 
We also went on a great trip with the Head of the Department of Culture, Jan Arve Hveding, to the Historical Centre at Avaldsnes. It gave us a fascinating look at Viking culture, and I think Jan Arve was a little surprised at how we took to dressing up with such gusto. 
Hannah Davies and I made awesome shield maidens. Hannah teaches Reception year in Ysgol y Bannau and actually thinks in Welsh instead of English! She's sung several times in the Welsh national singing competition and was definitely our best Welsh Ambassador. (My only Welsh connection is making trips to the Hay Festival.)
James Griffiths teaches right in Hay-on-Wye and looks bad-ass with a battle-axe.
And Powys librarian Rob Davies seems mild-mannered until you give him a sword, and then all hell breaks loose.
We couldn't help but be on the lookout for links to Nordic crime fiction, and after one school visit, we had at least one dangerous-looking menu option:
While we waited for our lunch, I got everyone to draw a Sea Monkey.
We managed to visit the beach after one school visit, and the wild waves were so much fun to watch. We tried not to think too much about the storms ravaging Britain, although even the Nowegian news was full of reports of UK floods. 
I drew this portrait of Jan Arve during a meeting with Elisabeth Aarekol Johannesen and Roald Østensjø about pedagogy and promoting arts and culture in Norwegian schools.
When I first got to Skudeneshavn and was running around like a happy but headless chicken, I spotted a little sign for a cosy little cafe, and thought, I must bring everyone back here.
It's a wonderful little place, run by a man named Johannes, in his front room. He makes hot drinks and waffles all day for people who visit from all over the world.
I saw a painting hanging on the wall that someone had painted of Johannes making waffles, so I had a go at it:
Here's Heather Salisbury, our Hay Festival trip leader, with yummy waffle:
Curator Ørjan B Iversen gave us a tour of Mælandsgården Local Museum, a lovely big house near the waffle cafe, supposedly still haunted by its former owner, Agnes. It has lots of quirky stuff in it, like this mad-looking monkey, a foghorn (invented in Skudeneshavn and honked by Ørjan), and old cans of fish balls. 
I took about a zillion photos, so humour me by letting me take you on a little photo tour...
I was surprised to find out that almost everyone on Karmøy has a relative in Seattle, most likely in the neighbourhood of Ballard (near where my sister lives). I'd always known Ballard was Scandanavian-themed, but I didn't realise just HOW strong the link still is. So I ran into a lot of people who'd been to my birthplace.
Rob and I both ran out to sketch the same view; maybe he'll post his drawing.
We had fun running around the local Coop market, looking for interesting foods. I bought a bunch of Norwegian chocolates for Stuart and some brown cheese for me. I love Norwegian brown cheese so much. ('Brunost', they call it.)
In fact, my Norwegian improved slightly during the trip because I can now say this sentence:
(That's: I'm smuggling brown cheese in my underpants. You never know when you might need to say this.)
On the last night, we had a lovely dinner party with our hosts, John Rullestad and his wife, Helga, Ingunn Tjørve, Ellen Skaadel and Silje Skaadel of the autumn's local SILK lit fest, Head of Skudeneshavn Primary School Wenche Thomassen and librarian Anne Lise Karlsen. It all started as a very civilised affair, and Karmøy's Head of Public Libraries Hanne Mulelid presented us with copies of this lovely book about Norway:
But it was after we had a pudding called 'Dronning Maud' (which I can only remember as 'Drowning Maude'), things all started to go a bit hairy.
I miss Norway already. Huge thanks to the wonderful John and Helga for making our stay so comfortable and interesting. They're amazing, both of them, and I look forward to seeing them again at the Hay Festival this spring. 
And another big thanks to Heather for being such a brilliant trip leader and making everything go so smoothly. And to the EU, for funding the STORM Project to promote Lifelong Learning. I think some good conversations happened and everyone learned a lot. And thank you, Hay Festival! You can see some of my past Hay blog posts, from 2013, 2012 here and here, and 2011.
And Stuart got some mighty fine sweets; he's a happy guy. We're home, I'm blogging and he's ironing and listening to prog rock.
By: nicole,
on 2/15/2014
By: Koosje Koene,
on 2/15/2014
You may have noticed my obsession for coffee. I drink it as espresso, espresso macchiato or cappuccino. I drink it iced, or hot, or somewhere in between. We are growing quite a collection of coffee makers at home. From French presses to percolators, a fabulous espresso machine, simple filters, the aeropress, vietnamese drippers, and the chemex coffee maker.
Another illustration for one of my favorite clients, College of Charleston Magazine. Also a sneak peek at the final artwork for the Candlewick book I'm illustrating.
Although I often draw motifs and patterns in my sketchbooks, I find creating the kind of patterns that would work on surface designs or textiles a bit challenging. Placement graphics come naturally, but repeats are harder.
Here's a batch I submitted recently to a call for patterns from Uppercase Magazine.
Six pattern designs, © 2014 Lisa Firke. All Rights Reserved.
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By: Julie Fortenberry,
on 2/15/2014
Visit Kathy Temean to see a Q & A with author and illustrator Jennifer Thermes. Jennifer talks about her time at Parsons and her process, and gives us a look at her drawing table. With examples from several of her books and maps—striking watercolors in both black and white and lush color—it's a terrific interview.
(Above jpeg of Bear and Bird from kathytemean.wordpress.com) Thank you to Kathy Temean!
By: Sarah McIntyre,
on 2/15/2014
Families (and everyone else, too!), if you're in London, come draw with my co-author Philip Reeve and me in a big Southbank stage event. I'll be wearing my special new Shark Seawig (designed by Laura Drake Chambers, who works downstairs at our studio) and there will be lots of fun things going on there for the Imagine Festival. The event's free, at 3pm, this Sunday (tomorrow). 
Foyles will be selling Oliver and the Seawigs and There's a Shark in the Bath if you'd like us to sign and doodle in your copy. Southbank Imagine Festival website details here. (You can print out your own Seawig from the website if you want to come festively attired. :)
And I've been to Norway! More about that very soon...
Read the rest of this post
By: James Gurney,
on 2/15/2014
By: Elizabeth O. Dulemba,
on 2/15/2014
So Wednesday started out with freezing rain. It did accumulate and it was pretty and white - but it was slick and wet! Here I am with our doggie Bernie on a quick (very quick) walk:
Thursday we awoke to actual snow - so pretty! Here's our backyard:
The snow stopped, but with temperatures remaining at or below freezing, that's exactly what it's all done. Which means, there are NO cars on the road and we are home-bound for the time being. That may change by the time I post this (Saturday), but I think we're snowed in at least through most of Friday. Thankfully, we still have power, chili on the stove, a fire in the fireplace, and fuzzy animals to keep us warm. :)
