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In honor of Illustration Friday's theme, Glasses I wanted to post some sketches to finals of Beyond the Grave, the book I worked on for Magic Wagon Press. The two main (living) characters who crash the graveyard are Dylan and Michael. Dylan is the brash commander of the operation who gets the team into trouble, Michael is the timid unlikely sort-of hero. The only notes on characterizations I got from the art director were that Dylan should have hair in his eyes and Michael should have glasses. I started by doing several sketches of them. Since I knew they would mostly have conniving or terrified looks on their faces I didn't worry much about making them smile or look happy in my sketches. Not sure how this inspired the sketches, but I settled on my final designs while watching Tangled with the kids over Christmas. Maybe Dylan has a bit of Flynn Rider in him?
Then I worked on the page sketches. In this first illustration from the book, we see Dylan and Michael together in Dylan's room. I felt like this image really needed to set the tone for what was to come. You see Dylan's cemetery hobby taped all over the walls and Michaels hesitance to come into the room. Their body language tells the reader what to expect of these characters as the story unfolds.
In this second illustration from the book, the two boys hatch a plot to do Something Really Dangerous In A Graveyard. I felt like the lighting was everything in this piece. The glow from the laptop underlines the spooky subject the boys are investigating and Dylan looks more determined and sneaky.
Here are the finals fore these two pieces. Even though these appear sequentially in the book I didn't actually work on them one after the other. I have a habit of skipping all around page order when doing finals since I think it helps make the characters more uniform over the pages. More on that in the next post!
Well hello, there is still a world out there. A few months ago over the course of about 2 weeks I was contacted by three new clients about doing some projects all due during February. The first was an educational publisher who had seen my work at the SCBWI LA conference in 2011. Their project was a fun little picture book about a girl having a bad day. The typical 16 illustrations plus cover were needed. Then came a call from a school and library publisher with a middle grade adventure novel needing 8 interior illustrations plus cover. How exciting! I'd never worked on a chapter book before and I loved the idea of working in black and white. Now about this time I already had in the mix some projects from the Most Awesome Art Director Ever a.k.a. my friend Keith - about 15 illustrations for various VBS books. Finally just after the first of the year, I got an email from Carus Publishing asking me to do my very first project for Ladybug magazine. That was really special, because it came after years of submission as I mentioned
in this post.Now did anyone do the math on all those projects? Let's see, 16 + 9 + 10 + 1 = one mind boggled illustrator and 2 months of super human time management.
December and January were awash with doing sketches and getting approvals. By January 31st all the sketches were approved and the deadlines lined up like this: Feb 8, 15, 22, 28, and March 1st. This photo represents how many cups of coffee I consumed on a daily basis, the kitchen counter in the background represents the state of my house cleaning. Fortunately there's no photographable evidence of how many frozen pizzas my kids ate for dinner.
To any budding illustrator readers out there sometimes this is what the blessings of diligence look like. Creating an illustration is not the same as filling out a spread sheet so the hardest part was keeping the creative well flowing every time I sat down to work (the excesses of caffeine and lots of 80s music helped.) Often I felt like the sketch above, a carhop twirling and zigging between customers. Instead of carrying a plain old hotdog to each one, I was carrying meticulously crafted wedding cakes.
Even though it was a blur of work, I'm intensely grateful for each project as they all represent a new step in my career. Each one is turned in now and I'll post finals and details as they are all approved. For the moment I'm looking forward to a bit of a night off.
Yesterday morning the kid literati world was all a-twitter as the ALA made its announcment of this year's outstanding books for young people. They always start with the Newbury, but since this is an illustrator blog I'm starting with the Caldecott winners:
Winning the gold was Jon Klassen's This Is Not My Hat
Honorees were Peter Brown's
Creepy Carrots (we have a signed copy, proving in fact that our family is cooler than yours), Jon Klassen's
Extra Yarn, David Small for
One Cool Friend, Laura Seeger for
Green, and Pamela Zagarenski for
Sleep Like a Tiger.
The Newbery Award went to
The One and Only Ivan written by Katherine Applegate
Three Newbery Honor Books also were named:
Splendors and Glooms by Laura Amy Schlitz,
Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinkin, and
Three Times Lucky by Sheila Turnage.
Thanks to the miracle of social media I got to send messages of congratulations to many of the winners. I have to say it was pretty weird to type "congrats on the caldecott"... made it seem a little more within reach.
Finally I'll post a couple of sketches from one of the three projects I'm currently super busy with. I picked these to go with the theme of smart-alecky fish and carrots with mind twisting skills:
Ah, there's nothing like closing out the old year with new projects. While I am truly attempting to be humble with this announcement, the last few weeks have brought joyous news for the Fabulous Illustrator.... such that I can't share until the contracts are all signed but at least one of these clients is one I have chased for some 15 years. I literally got out my rejection letters from this organization and they date back a looong way, many cheap apartments and a maiden name ago. So I leave you with this teaser! I'll post sketches and details as appropriate.
On to my traditional new year's resolutions post in which I make promises to myself for the coming year. Let's look back at last year's resolution: "Find more ways to be thankful for what I do have and quit trying so dang hard to get my hands around certain elusive dreams of illustrator stardom." I did try to live more thankfully in 2012 and I suppose I'll keep it as a holdover for 2013 along with "draw every day," my holdover from 2011. I believe these two resolutions combined have caused me to create better art in just the last two years than in all the years that came before. I make resolutions both professionally and personally but since making art is so personal often they overlap. The newly minted 2013 resolution follows this mold: "Listen to more music while making art."
huh, did she just resolve to do something really easy?
yes, yes I did.
I have a huge CD collection and pretty good sized iTunes library. When I strap on headphones and crank up the volume, all of a sudden the muse is transported to a new place! But the thing is I don't listen to music as much as I used to. Instead I listen to news radio - All Things Considered, Morning Edition and let's not talk about my addiction to On Point. I'm so fascinated by all those shows! But interesting as they are, they don't actually feed my creative energy and I don't realize how much they don't until I've spent a week listening to music while working instead of listening to the latest crisis. This past week is an example of that: I've had Voice of the Beehive spinning in the CD player and I've practically been able to draw in my sleep.
Then I think "this is awesome! I'm going to listen to music more! and I'll be giant swirly mass of energetic creative happiness!"
But I don't, I go back to getting sucked in by the headlines.
It's great to be informed, but sometimes it can be a real downer. So if I'm also resolving to keep being thankful and drawing every day maybe I should be humming a jaunty tune while I'm doing those other two. Thats why in 2013 I'm resolving to do something easy and listen to my music.
If I don't maybe this superhero will remind me
This is not my traditional New Year's post. I'll do that along with some sketches of two new book projects I'm excited to be working on later in the week. For the moment this is sharing some new sketches from the last few days of 2012. We spent some time with the Fabulous Illustrator's brother and family and I did these sketches for the nieces while watching one of the MANY kid's movies floating around as gifts this year.
First, the princess/fairy loving one: I have a lot of experience with what makes little princess girls happy since I have one of those regularly underfoot - specifically lots of ruffles, lots of hair, lots of frills and at least one wand:
Second the dragon loving one: I have some experience with this kind of little girl as well since I was a dragon lover much more than a princess fan. In my memory big gnarly fierce dragons were the best and we liked to be able to boss them around:
Finally the preteen. Eleven year olds are much more cool these days than I ever was. Preteen Niece appears to have attained the same level of coolness at 11 that I reached at about 19 so I couldn't draw pictures of dragons and horses for her. Instead I noticed she spent a lot of time with the pets at Grandmama's house. I do remember being caught in the age between relating to little kids and relating to grown-ups. During that time, when there were no other in-betweens around, the company of animals was preferred:
The day after
The Dark Knight Rises opened wasn't the day.
Monday morning in Wisconsin wasn't the day.
It's no secret in my family that I am fanatically opposed to violence. The loud protestations of personal safety via a concealed accessory make me cringe. I shun violent movies, games and books. While I nod politely in conversation where people rave about the action packed explosion effects in some blockbuster, I generally think the enjoyment of such things is suspect. In small doses, even arsenic looks like sugar. Earlier this year after the Aurora, CO headlines, I commented to Jim Dear that this was going to keep going until it happened somewhere so heinous that in revulsion society finally started to turn away from the celebration of power through violence. The question was how heinous would it have to be?
For years I asked Santa to bring me a pony for Christmas. I always got horse toys: stuffed, plastic, wooden -until finally my parents relented on the real thing. My 8 year old self wants each one of these treasury items.
The same phrase describes my marriage and my breasts: Before the kids, they used to be such a cute couple ~ Amy Krouse Rosenthal
Seven years ago tonight, Jim Dear and I did not go to the movies. We went to eat at Tin Angel, I remember being shocked that at 9 months pregnant I could still eat a whole steak. Little did we know some few hours later as Small Fry entered our lives, how much our tiny marriage would be pushed and pulled and remodeled into a family.
Although we did not go to the movies that night, trips to the theater figure very prominently into our family's history. Most of our friends know how Jim Dear proposed on the stage of the Belcourt Theater. As newlyweds we went to the theater 2 and 3 times a week, sometimes dashing out at midnight. Then after kids, these became less frequent - and much earlier - treasured nights to ourselves. I vividly remember our first date night after baby to see Chronicles of Narnia, as it turns out watching an opening scene where the mother puts her kids on the train during a war is not the best idea for a new mom's fragile hormonal emotional state.
We eagerly anticipated taking Small Fry and Baby Sprout to their first movies. What fun to watch them in the darkness as their saucer eyes followed the screen! The glow of Buzz and Lightening McQueen and Princess Tiana on screen is barely a match for the movie magic glow in their eyes afterwards.
Somedays I muse about years into the future in which Jim Dear and I might once again be able to go to the movies on a moment's notice, with no babysitter or booster seat involved.
So tonight while the birthday presents for Small Fry wait downstairs to be wrapped, I'm posting this short history of our life at the movies - so far. Happy Birthday to Small Fry and happy anniversary to us.
These kids need to get out of my sketchbook. A recent trip to the playground proved to be fertile ground for inspiration:
Today's the last day to sign up for PiBoIdMo 2012! Whats that strange word? It's a month-long challenge to come up with a picture book idea each day, all through November. Head over to www.taralazar.com to join the challenge, the deadline was slightly extended because of Sandy. Even if you don't sign up, there will be (and already are) great info and interviews to inspire your picture books writing.
Recently I read this story about a woman attempting to get the proper ID to vote. It seems such a shame that while we are sending our troops overseas to protect one population's right to democratic self rule, we are subtly blocking the same road over here. Thus my cartoon:
Even monsters like dressing up for Halloween but this jack-o-lantern looks a little less enthusiastic.
Sometimes it's very tiring to wear a tutu and be entertaining.
I did the illustration below for our friend and the kids' babysitter who is known on this blog as Babysitter Becky. I've always changed names to protect the innocent and even though Becky is no longer our sitter I'll keep up the tradition. She's no longer our sitter because next month, she and her husband will welcome their first child! Becky took care of Small Fry and Baby Sprout before they grew teeth, had hair, or could sit up straight. Over the days and years we had many conversations about art, kids, pets, marriage, and life in general. During endless days of baby babble and hush-hush-hushing she was my go-to for grownup conversation. So when I found out their super cool robot nursery theme I knew I had to do a little boy robot! Before Becky and her hubs became parents their children were some rambunctious dogs. While Becky has yet to see if baby and dogs become buddies, in this illustration they are the best of friends.
All illustrators out there should get to know the blog Once Upon A Sketch. Created by my fellow Ringling alum, Wilson Williams, it has some great bits and info about the business of illustrating and some pretty cool artwork to thumb through. I had been aware of Wilson's blog for a while and was quite flattered this week when he asked me to write about my process for creating fabulous trade book art. You can read my Once Upon A Sketch post here. It's based on my earlier Fabulous Illustrator posts here and here.
Lately there's a lot of commotion in Music City about having a private entity run our public schools. Of course our district has its problems but having spent countless hours on the phone with customer service when various businesses failed to meet my expectations, I find the idea of a private business being a better option flummoxing. For all those parents who seems to be missing this distinction I say be careful what you wish for. What if private business ran your child's school like this:
Do you feel empathy for our heroine below?
How will her kite flying adventure turn out I wonder. A character study is supposed to reveal an illustrator's ability to carry a character across several pages and emotional states.
During this summer of multi-camping, the Fry has learned many new things: "Recycle, stop making garbage," says Go Green Camp Vandy. "Help the animals, protect their habitat," says the Nashville Zoo. "Share with your friends," says Vacation Bible School.
But my personal favorite is what the Fry learned from Safety Week at Bounce U.
"Don't be distracted while driving."
Apparently the police officer who visited admonished the kids to never text or talk and drive.... all very good and worthwhile advice. But I'd like to know why the good officer didn't talk to the kids about correcting a REAL distraction while driving, something even more dangerous than sending the occasional grocery list item to your husband before you forget for the 5th day in a row.
I'm talking about a situation like this:
And the video is pretty funny too.
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Kite flying pink monster!!!!
The first finished piece of the book I posted about
here and
here.
Besides little balls of monster fluff, the biggest news this week is that after 20 years I finally got a new chair for my drawing table! wohoo... before you gasp at my horrifically exciting life, just think about the fact that old chair had been loaded onto no less than twelve U-Haul moving trucks, traveled a total of 4000 miles up and down the Eastern seaboard, and enduring a total of 100 lbs gained and lost during two pregnancies. I'd had that chair since high school art class of junior year. Poor thing, it was time for it to have a rest. The new chair almost freaks me out because it does NOT creak and grown every 15 seconds.... but it does make working feel like this:
I've also been working on sketches for a couple of new projects... these are two different books but I thought I'd post them together because...well....they are cats and dogs so they seem like they go together:
Then I have this sketch I've been tossing around for a few weeks. One of my nieces is quite taken with dragons. Over the 4th of July holiday, she clamored for a book about dragons which shall remain nameless because, frankly, I thought it was pretty awful. But she loved it because it has dragons in it. After the umpteenth bedtime reading of this book I decided I would try my own take on one of the spreads, where the hero jumps on his trusty dragon from the castle wall:
At first I wasn't going to do a cartoon about the whole Chick-fil-A broo ha ha... I mean there were a LOT of funny scenes that jumped in my mind, but frankly I had to do a bit of eye rolling also because:
1) 59 year old Christian dudes that keep their restaurants closed on Sundays have a right to their opinions.
2) Folks who disagree with him have a right to holler for his business to also close on the remaining six days.
3) All the people who disagree with them have a right show up and cause rush hour like conditions in the drive-thru line.
4) All the people annoyed about the two hour wait for a chicken sandwich have the right to make their own sizzle a few days later thus clearing the drive-thru line of the more squeamish souls.
5) Politicians seeking 15 minutes of fame have the right to blow hard about putting the brakes on more chikin flippin' opinions in their towns.
6) Every one else has the right a) vote them out of office b) vote them into office and/or c) castigate/praise them on national television.
All of this is brought to you courtesy of the free country we live in!
Notice how everyone got to say or do what they wanted in the above scenario? Well, everyone except for the individuals who wanted to register for linens together and wear long white dresses on their wedding day..... and the chicken, of course:
So I've been invited to a few teams on Etsy and since I've recently finished a deluge of deadlines, I decided to take a crack at learning how to do some of this stuff. Behold my first treasury! Apparently making a treasury is all about spreading the love. You're not allowed to include your own art. I think this is pretty cool actually - it's quite freeing to only focus on giving snaps to someone else without thinking about how your own work stacks up. I might try to do one of these each week.... ideas for themes anyone?
I created this treasury for the PPT Treasury Team Challenge. Fall means colors, food, Halloween, spooky stuff, and more food! It's my favorite time of the year. It's also my first treasury ever! What fun to surf amongst shops looking at cool artwo
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0 Comments on Colossal Coaster Kite Flying Sketchbook Sunday as of 1/1/1900
Great work!!!