What is JacketFlap

  • JacketFlap connects you to the work of more than 200,000 authors, illustrators, publishers and other creators of books for Children and Young Adults. The site is updated daily with information about every book, author, illustrator, and publisher in the children's / young adult book industry. Members include published authors and illustrators, librarians, agents, editors, publicists, booksellers, publishers and fans.
    Join now (it's free).

Sort Blog Posts

Sort Posts by:

  • in
    from   

Suggest a Blog

Enter a Blog's Feed URL below and click Submit:

Most Commented Posts

In the past 7 days

Recent Posts

(tagged with 'Deb Melmon')

Recent Comments

Recently Viewed

JacketFlap Sponsors

Spread the word about books.
Put this Widget on your blog!
  • Powered by JacketFlap.com

Are you a book Publisher?
Learn about Widgets now!

Advertise on JacketFlap

MyJacketFlap Blogs

  • Login or Register for free to create your own customized page of blog posts from your favorite blogs. You can also add blogs by clicking the "Add to MyJacketFlap" links next to the blog name in each post.

Blog Posts by Tag

In the past 7 days

Blog Posts by Date

Click days in this calendar to see posts by day or month
new posts in all blogs
Viewing: Blog Posts Tagged with: Deb Melmon, Most Recent at Top [Help]
Results 26 - 50 of 51
26. Labracadabra Release!



I just received my copies of a chapter book I illustrated last year for Viking. It is so fun to finally see the printed copies and what a fabulous job they did. It is hard bound with a jacket! Pretty special for a chapter book don't you think?

This funny and sweet story about a dog with magical powers was written by Jessie Nelson and Karen Leigh Hopkins who have spent most of their careers writing and producing movies for Hollywood. It's now available at bookstores and on Amazon and is also on Kindle!

Have a lovely Easter weekend from the Picture Book Junkies!

5 Comments on Labracadabra Release!, last added: 4/24/2011
Display Comments Add a Comment
27. Bookworm Birdie


I'm currently working on a project about a rabbit who loves books. So when I found Calvin Can't Fly, The Story of a Bookworm Birdie in the bookstore, it peaked my interest. Don't you just love animals who can read?

"Calvin is a starling. He was born under the eaves of an older barn with his three brothers, four sisters, and sixty-seven thousand four hundred and thirty-two cousins. Starlings have BIG families." When Calvin tumbled out of the nest to discover the world with his siblings, instead of discovering worms or grass or dirt, Calvin discovered books!


The thing about starlings is that they really are very smart birds. In the 90's I volunteered for the local Wildlife Rescue organization and I raised infant and orphaned songbirds. Raising starlings was easy. They got the routine quickly, learned how to self-feed without much hassle, and were out the door and back into the wild lickity-split. A small nest of starlings was an easy "starter" nest for a beginning volunteer. They are quite gregarious and in the winter they come together into enormous flocks that fill the air like black clouds.

Written by Jennifer Berne and illustrated by Keith Bendis, this adorable tale is funny, endearing and celebrates a child's individuality. The illustrations are loose and whimsical. The book has a graphic feel with the black birds against a white background. There are hundreds of little black starlings illustrated on some of the pages. I can only imagine the fun Keith Bendis had with this project.

Bendis is probably a familiar name to you. His work has appeared in many magazines and newspapers, including the New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Fortune, and Time. This is his first children's book. You can see more of his work here.

Keith Bendis' studio in Ancram with Author Jennifer Berne, right.
(David Lee/Hudson-Catskill Newspapers)

0 Comments on Bookworm Birdie as of 1/1/1900
Add a Comment
28. Spring Cleaning

Yesterday I decided to clean up my office where I do most of my artwork. I'm gearing up for some picture book projects that are going to finished artwork and I'm feeling a bit disorganized with paintings, sketches and papers floating all over the place. Whenever I walk into an Apple store I get longings for clean, sleek, uncluttered surfaces. But, unfortunately, I just can't seem to maintain it. Maybe its the creativity that just makes everything messy?

Anyway, I've got my desktop all cleaned off and I thought I'd show you my favorite pieces of equipment that I use as an illustrator.

Last year I purchased a new iMac. I was badly in need of an upgrade and it was so satisfying to get current. Even though the computer itself is a breeze to set up, I hired a tech guy to transfer all my files to my new computer and to make sure everything was updated properly. Along with that we made sure I had lots of backup. My backup drive just perks along on it's own and automatically backs up my files all day long. Sweet! I use my Wacom tablet for my digital projects, sketching, working in photoshop, etc.
Couldn't live without it!


I purchased these Alex flat files from Ikea a couple of years ago. They come in black and white.
I LOVE them and think I will get another set. They are large enough to hold all my artwork, sketches, oversized paper, etc. but are not too obtrusive. Also they make a great stand for printers, scanners, etc. Which, you can see I use for my Epson printer.....

My printer is an Epson Stylus 1280....so old! I'm shocked I can still find ink for it :)
But such a workhorse! It got me through 3 years at Surtex and I've not really had any issues with it. Great for proofing my artwork, but definitely time for a new one!


One of the biggest reasons I had to get organized was to find room for my latest piece of equipment which is the large Epson graphic arts scanner. I have debated this purchase for many years

8 Comments on Spring Cleaning, last added: 4/11/2011
Display Comments Add a Comment
29. Multi-tasking Friday

©2010 Deborah Melmon

Since I am on big deadline for work, I thought I would multi-task and post my Illustration Friday post here on the PBJunkies blog. The IF topic is "duet" and I couldn't help think about Sarah and Carly from Picnic at Camp Shalom. Ok, ok, I'm sure you're all hung over from our celebration last week of this book, but like I said, I'm on a deadline and saw the opportunity to kill two birds with one stone and took it :)

In the story, Sarah and Carly have a misunderstanding and are not getting along. But, unfortunately, they are thrown together during music practice to sing a duet together. I had a lot of fun creating the tension between these two with their body language and expression.

Although I can't really show you what I'm working on right now for my deadline next week, it is a very fun project. I'm illustrating a picture book for Parragon UK. The book is actually coming out in two versions - one for broad distribution, and an exclusive version for Marks & Spencer, which is a large department store in the UK.

The covers of the book are different, but the interiors will be similar, if not the same. It is a combination of my art on photographic backgrounds. I am putting the backgrounds together with high-resoluation images from a stock photo company and super-imposing my ink and watercolor illustrations of the characters on the backgrounds using photoshop. It's actually quite fun working this way.

Have a great weekend everyone and thanks for stopping by this week!

0 Comments on Multi-tasking Friday as of 1/1/1900
Add a Comment
30. How I Painted a Picture Book in Six Weeks

In February of 2010, I got an email from Kar-Ben Publishing asking if I was available to illustrate a picture book for them. This was great news as I had just been on a huge marketing push to get new work. I had revamped my website, researched publishers that were suited to my style and sent out about 75 packets with my art samples. Looked like something was working!
The art director said "Picnic at Camp Shalom" was the story about two girls at a summer camp. She had seen this sample on my website and thought it would be the perfect style for their book:
She told me the book was on a fast track to make a publishing deadline. Manuscript to me on March 1st, sketches due on April 1st, and final art on May 15th. Gulp. Was this even possible? Was I crazy to think I could illustrate a 32-page book in six weeks? Well, I was going to find out. I got to work!

The first thing I did was research on the internet. I pulled photos of summer camps, cabins, kids, lakes, swimming docks, etc. I really liked the feel of this photo of these two girls. Here was Carly and Sara!

I also had to go back to my childhood to remember my own summer camp experiences and what it was like to sleep in sleeping bags and bunkbeds. I found this great photo which I used as reference in one of the illustrations.

Have you ever met someone you instantly had a connection with? Well, this is what happened to Carly and Sara. In the story, they first meet on the swim dock and notice they have the same bathing suit on. From then on they are best friends. I wanted the girls to be easily recognizable as their own person, but also have a feeling of similarity. They were the same age, had lots in common, and would soon learn they had some of the same problems.

11 Comments on How I Painted a Picture Book in Six Weeks, last added: 3/27/2011
Display Comments Add a Comment
31. Camp Shalom, Reading Together

I'm a big believer in reading all types of books to my child. Despite being just 2, Miles and I read anything from board books, to non-fiction early readers and, of course, picture books on all subjects.
Picnic at Camp Shalom offers a lot to my young reader, even if he's not quite the intended audience! I give a lot of credit to Deb for including so many beautiful woodland animals, character features, and other camp details that give us things to find and laugh about. She made a bird pooping on a little camper boy's hat - you know that earned some big belly laughs! Deb also did a wonderful job with consistency - something that Miles is VERY mindful of. If you spoke of, then showed him a beaded necklace in one spread, he wants to see it again. Nice work Deb. We find something new every time we read it, and I can't wait til he's old enough to understand the big 'twist' ending to the story of two very charming girls' friendship.

3 Comments on Camp Shalom, Reading Together, last added: 3/25/2011
Display Comments Add a Comment
32. PBJunkies Celebration Week!




We are celebrating Deb Melmon's new book Picnic at Camp Shalom all week! Come on over and enjoy some behind the scenes, review and a giveaway too! Comment to enter. Winners will be announced Sunday. :o)


0 Comments on PBJunkies Celebration Week! as of 1/1/1900
Add a Comment
33. Picnic at Camp Shalom Week

Happy Monday all! This week, we are celebrating the release of PBJ Deb Melmon's brand new picture book! Picnic at Camp Shalom takes place at summer camp and is about a brand new friendship between two girls. It's about so many other things, too — misunderstandings between friends, getting picked on by your peers, and unique-sounding surnames!

The art is sublime! Deb really brings you into the girl's world between her material technique and her composition of the pictures. I love ALL the little details in this book (and there are many, and there's one in particular that makes me laugh pretty good).

We will be featuring special "Camp Shalom" posts all week, and there will most certainly be a book Giveaway as well! So please come check in every day!

10 Comments on Picnic at Camp Shalom Week, last added: 3/23/2011
Display Comments Add a Comment
34. Shaun Tan


Last Friday I posted about the fabulous Austrailan picture book writer and illustrator, Shaun Tan, who won the Academy Award, best animated short film for The Lost Thing.

Here is some advice he gives to writers:

"The strength of a good picture book text often lies in its brevity, and a very economic use of language, what the writer Margaret Wild calls 'essential storytelling'. Many of the manuscripts I've seen are unpublishable simply because they are way too long. Whittle everything down to bare bones, and see what you can do without."

"Show, don't tell, or better yet, give room for the illustrations to show. For instance, you do not need to describe an emotional state in words if you can express it visually through a situation, a facial expression, gesture, or some other illustrative device."

"As a writer, do not necessarily anticipate what an illustrator is going to draw or paint. A good picture book is a collaboration between two 'writers', one using words, one using pictures. It's more about creating free space for a visual 'director' within a good 'script'. Also be mindful that a text can change as words and pictures evolve."

"Accordingly, a good picture book has two texts that work together symbiotically, they can reveal different sides to the same story, or different stories altogether, involving disparity, irony and even contradiction. The best illustrations do not simply illustrate."


For more of Shaun Tan's insights and advice for writers and illustrators, visit his website. Be advised, though, you may get lost inside there for a very long time...it's just that good!

0 Comments on Shaun Tan as of 1/1/1900
Add a Comment
35. The Lost Thing


If you watched the Academy Awards Sunday night, you may have noticed that Shaun Tan won best animated short film for The Lost Thing, based on his 2002 picture book by the same name.
I've posted the trailer for the book, but you can also see the entire short film here.

Work on this film, produced by Passion Pictures Austrailia, began way back in 2002 with a small team of four people. The film is 15 minutes long, using CGI (computer generated imagery) with 2D handpainted elements. It was completed in April 2010. Shaun was involved in just about every aspect which included director, writer, designer and artist. He said it was a great opportunity to learn about the differences between book illustration and animated film. More accustomed to working with still, silent pictures that allow a viewer plenty of time to contemplate individual compositions, he was now faced with a medium where questions of time and pace are much more critical, not to mention layers of sound and music.

You must visit the official The Lost Thing website which is just beyond words it is so creative.
And it will lead you right into Shaun's own website featuring all his art.

Next week I will feature some of his insights into picuture book writing and illustrating.

0 Comments on The Lost Thing as of 1/1/1900
Add a Comment
36. New Book Release Coming Soon


©2011 Deborah Melmon

Wednesday was a special day for me. I got a most gracious email from the authors of a book that I illustrated last Spring called Labracadabra. Published by Viking, it will be released on April 14th and is currently listed on Amazon. One of the hardest parts of being an illustrator is waiting, waiting, waiting to see your work in print! Now that I've seen the cover of the book online, and have connected with the authors, my excitement level is soaring.

Labracadabra is such a funny and creative story about a dog and a young boy who thinks that the mutt who was brought home by his parents from the dog pound, just might have some sort of magical powers. It's a story about love and trust and not always getting exactly what you want, but rather getting just what you need.


The authors, Jessie Nelson and Linda Leigh Hopkins, are extraordinary writers, with a long list of screenwriting, acting, directing and movie producing credits under their collective belts. Any of these movies ring a bell? Fred Claus, Because I Said So, I am Sam, The Story of Us, Stepmom, Corrina, Corrina.....well, I could go on and on.

I am so excited to have been a part of this project. Can't wait to finally have the finished book in my hands and on my bookshelf and share it with all you PBJ followers. A book giveaway is in order for sure!

8 Comments on New Book Release Coming Soon, last added: 2/7/2011
Display Comments Add a Comment
37. I'm the Best by Lucy Cousins



Lucy Cousins is the author-illustrator of the infamous Maisy mouse books.
But in her latest picture book, she takes on Dog, who thinks that he is Dog spelled backwards, if you know what I mean. Full of hubris, he brags to his friends Ladybug, Mole, Goose and Donkey "I AM the BEST" when he beats them at unevenly matched contests. (He can dig better than Goose and swim better than Donkey). His friends start to feel pretty bad until they gently remind him that, actually, they are the best at some things too.


Dog apologizes to his friends, and they tell him, "Don't worry, Dog. You are the best at being our best friend. And you are the best at having beautiful fluffy ears. And we love you." The book could end there and be a sweet story with a teachable moment, but Cousins throws in a laugh on the last page which finds Dog right back to his old self. "Oh, phew! Obviously having beautiful fluffy ears in the most important thing. So I AM the BEST."

Here is what Cousins says about working on this book:

"I'm the Best I really enjoyed because it was with inks rather than paints, so it felt new. The line is a pencil drawn line rather than a brush stroke. So I'm starting to feel that I like experimenting to find something different and a little bit fresh. With
0 Comments on I'm the Best by Lucy Cousins as of 1/1/1900
Add a Comment
38. Brontorina





A couple of months ago I drove up to Marin County (California) for the author signing of "Baby Me" which was illustrated by our own Alicia Padron. While I was waiting for the festivities to begin, I began browsing through the picture book section, which is very dangerous for my bank account, as I tend to buy too many books.....I tried to limit myself and chose just a couple. The minute I laid eyes on "Brontorina," I knew I had to have it. Written by James Howe and illustrated by Randy Cecil, this book is all about dreams and obstacles and believing it can happen....with a little help from your friends.
It's always the art that attracts me to a picture book and Bronterina just popped off the shelf with it's graphic flair and adorable character. Not only is Bronterina (who wants to be a ballerina in the worst way) too large for the dance studio, but her character can barely be contained in the pages of the book. Randy Cecil has used the contrast of the tiny children and the elegantly cropped images of the dinasour to really give the reader the feel of how incredibly large this dinasour is. The book was painted in oils and there is a fine texture to the paintings that give the pages a soft, atmospheric feel.


Randy Cecil knew as a very young boy that writing and illustrating ch

6 Comments on Brontorina, last added: 12/11/2010
Display Comments Add a Comment
39. Step by Step




If you ever need motivation to get yourself organized, watch an episode of "Hoarders." It will scare the procrastination right out of you! Over the summer I had my hardwood floors refinished and had to move everything out of the first floor of my house which included a piano. The furniture and piano was the easy part, as I hired professionals to transfer everything to my garage and back into my house several weeks later. The hard part was putting back all the clutter. Not real clutter, but when you have a clean slate to work with, it's hard to bring all the "stuff" back into your house. I kind of liked the minimalist look.

I got most of it done, but my bookcase that stores my collection of picture books and artist reference books was a big mental roadblock. Lots of work carting all the books back into the house. I told myself I'd go through them and donate the ones I didn't really want anymore. A rather large undertaking. I procrastinated for months, looking at the poor things stored in my garage in bags and boxes everyday. A big pile of stuff now cluttering up my garage. But my fear was that putting them back on the shelf was also going to look like a big messy eyesore.


My sister Sherri, who is an interior designer, wrote a creative post about bookshelves on her blog. She talked about arranging books by color which really inspired me. So in came all the books from the garage. I sorted and donated and put the books back on the shelf and arranged them by their colors. Much easier on the eye, and actually much easier to find books I'm looking for!

3 Comments on Step by Step, last added: 12/6/2010
Display Comments Add a Comment
40. The Day After Thanksgiving

©DebMelmon2010


Hope everyone had a wonderful day yesterday and for those of you who can manage to get off the couch......get me another serving of leftovers, will ya?

8 Comments on The Day After Thanksgiving, last added: 11/29/2010
Display Comments Add a Comment
41. On my Desk


Here's a little something I'm working on today. I'm finishing up the artwork for a grade school reader for the Korean market. I don't do a lot of baby artwork, but I had fun with this job because each page shows the brother and his baby sister interacting with each other in slightly different situations, but all in the same setting. Although this job was a fairly simple education project with a quick turnaround, it did stretch me to create characters that showed different emotions and engaging artwork that really told a story. I always like to throw a dog into the mix if I can, and I created a little side story with the dog wandering around in the background, sleeping on the chair, sniffing the laundry and stealing a sock in each of the different scenes.

Have a great weekend everyone!

4 Comments on On my Desk, last added: 10/31/2010
Display Comments Add a Comment
42. Lynne Chapman continued

Last Friday I posted a video by Lynne Chapman, a wonderful children's book illustrator from the UK, who has done a little series of interviews on how she works as a children's book illustrator and specifically her process with her latest book Bears on the Stairs. Here is her latest installment, where she talks about how she plans out a book. She also explains how advances and royalties work. Visit her website for a lot more great information and a look into her world of fabulously whimisical characters and art.


How to illustrate a book - Part 2 from Open College of the Arts on Vimeo.

0 Comments on Lynne Chapman continued as of 1/1/1900
Add a Comment
43. ADHD Friday



Do you have problems with inattentiveness, over-activity, impulsivity or a combination of both? Well, I found the perfect children's book that illustrates it all.....and it sure does look like the story of my life! "Aunt Lucy Went to Buy a Hat" by Alice Low is the story of scatterbrained Aunt Lucy who easily gets sidetracked when she sets off to buy a new hat to replace the one she thinks she has lost. (It's really just tied around her neck with a ribbon and hanging off her back.) The illustrations by Laura Huliska-Beith are so lively and fun. They look like they were done in goauche paint and are so whacky that you can't help laugh. And the story has some very clever rhyming that kids will love. I found this book at my local Atherton library which is a jewel in itself. A small house, nestled in an upscale neighborhood, it the kind of place you could hole up in for several hours and feel right at home.


And for fun, you need to check out Laura's website. Incredible art and a really well-designed site. Click on the Happy Halloween link to play her computer game of a flying witch who is trying to swat bats before the sun comes up. Adorable!

Have a great weekend PBJ friends!!

2 Comments on ADHD Friday, last added: 7/30/2010
Display Comments Add a Comment
44. Kid's Art


This week I taught a couple of art classes at a small summer camp in East Palo Alto. The kids were young and the classes each day were only 40 minutes. Since the theme of the camp was Camp Safari, I showed them jungle art by Henri Rousseau. Rousseau was one of those naive artists who didn't really get his career going until he was well into his forties. He was never formally trained as an artist and had never been to a jungle, but looked at reference and talked to many people who had. He then drew and painted from his imagination.

So that is what we did for this art lesson that lasted over four days. We practiced drawing from reference on the first day - plants and insects. On day two, each artist created an environment for their bugs using only their imaginations. The technique was crayon resist. The kids drew their compositions and outlined them with black sharpie markers. They then colored their "environments" with crayons and today we painted the backgrounds with watercolor which included painting over the crayon which resisted the paint.


The students were fearless when it came to laying down the watercolor wash. And the backgrounds were beautiful! I wish I could be as bold and uninhibited when I paint!


Display Comments Add a Comment
45. Day is Done

This beautiful book is illustrated by one of my favorite children's book artists, Melissa Sweet.
The book is based on a timeless song, written by Peter Yarrow, of the legend folk singing group Peter, Paul & Mary. It is a meditation on the earth, the environment, and the kinship of all living creatures. Melissa's tender animal characters and rich watercolors bring the song to life. The book also comes with an audio CD which will download right into your itunes library. For those of you who love to sing to your kids, this book will bring calm and peace to their bedtime....and yours!

0 Comments on Day is Done as of 1/1/1900
Add a Comment
46. PBJ Summer Postcard Week Finale!


©2010 Deborah Melmon

Here is my contribution to the PBJ summer postcard. This is actually part of a two-page spread that will be in the July/August issue of Babybug Magazine. The story is call A Summer Walk and takes place in the city. I painted the scenes traditionally with watercolor, but only to about 75% completion. I then scanned them into Photoshop and finished the paintings there. I like to add layers of texture and pattern (you can see in the tree there is a dot pattern). I also ended up tweaking the color quite a bit. In this scene I muted the color of the street and apartment buildings. That is the beauty of photoshop.

And here is our final postcard with everyone's art... A beautiful collection I must say!
Thank you Alicia for doing such a great job on our postcard design!


3 Comments on PBJ Summer Postcard Week Finale!, last added: 7/3/2010
Display Comments Add a Comment
47. Lane Smith's New Book

2 Comments on Lane Smith's New Book, last added: 6/4/2010
Display Comments Add a Comment
48. Creaky Old House

I received this adorable book last week from my neighbor, Lori, and her kids, Nate and Jack, to cheer me up after my dog died. And it sure did bring a smile to my face! If you've ever embarked on a home renovation project, you will totally be able to relate to this very funny tale of a large family and their beloved home. Written completely in rhyme, this is a story about a small fixit project that grows into a complete house remodel.

Author Linda Ashman and illustrator Michael Chesworth are a perfect match to tell this story. There is a character for every member of the family to relate to and a darling surprise ending.

When a screw falls out of a doorknob, and a replacement cannot be found, the story takes off on a fast paced adventure to replace the doorknob and then the door and then the doorframe.....

"But then," said John, "the couch won't fit.
We'll have to shift that wall a bit."
"Fine," said Lou, "but if we do,
we'll have to move the stairway, too."

Well, you can see where this is all going....The characters are brought to life by Chesworth's whimisical drawings. The paintings were created in ink, watercolor and pencil on Arches hot- press watercolor paper. You can see more of Michael Chesworth's illustrations on his website www.crashbangboom.com. Even his website url is creative!

Have a great Memorial Day Weekend everyone!

1 Comments on Creaky Old House, last added: 5/28/2010
Display Comments Add a Comment
49. Friday Fun Stuff

Hey there picture book junkies! Here's your assignment for the weekend. Go to the website of John Nez and check out his fabulous art, his wonderful tutorials on how he creates his art and videos of his latest books. There is a dog involved! Have fun!!

0 Comments on Friday Fun Stuff as of 1/1/1900
Add a Comment
50. Duck! Rabbit!

Okay, it's Friday. You've been working hard all week. Your brain is fried. Here's a little brainteaser pick-me-up to get you through the day. What I like about this book is how unbelievably simple it is in concept and so darn cute! A marketer's dream, it even comes with it's own website. "Duck!Rabbit!" came out last Spring, so maybe you are already familiar with it. It won tons of awards and was on the New York Times bestseller list. But hey, that makes it even more fun to revisit, especially since Easter is right around the corner. Written and illustrated by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld, this book asks the BIG QUESTION...are you a DuckPerson or a RabbitPerson?


Although this book is just one simple line drawing, Tom Lichtenheld's illustrations are quite colorful and fun. He was trained as an art director, but fell into the picture book world purely by accident. Inspired by a letter from his nephew asking him to draw him a picture of a pirate, Tom ended up drawing 20 pages of pirates which eventually became the book "Everything I Know About Pirates."



His latest book is out this Spring and is called "Bridget's Beret." A story about a little girl who is an artist, this one was inspired by his neice. When Bridget accidently loses her beloved beret, she gets a serious case of artist's block. You can see the adorable sketches for the first half of the book here. His website is also worth a look. Full of information on his process.

Have a great weekend!

6 Comments on Duck! Rabbit!, last added: 3/14/2010
Display Comments Add a Comment