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In this case, I mean Valentine’s Day.

Interesting how Emma’s back looks like a giant heart. No computer foolery here.

Guys. Let me guess. If you're reading this blog post, you're probably:

1. Involved somehow in publishing
2. A published writer, illustrator or someone aspiring to be published
3. A parent who is impassioned about books for children, perhaps even with your own book blog
4. A teacher or librarian
5. My family

(If you don't fall into one of these demographics, give me a wave down in the comments box!) This is my point: whatever I'm going to say about libraries now will be preaching to the choir. If I write, 'Hurrah for libraries! Save Libraries', you'll feel a vague warm fuzzy feeling, think Good for her, she's one of us, and move on to the more interesting news about Oscar Pistorius shooting his girlfriend.

I'm actually losing track of what Terry Deary said because I keep getting pieces of it through different media sites (The Bookseller, Guardian, Telegraph, The Independent, Alan Gibbons, outraged tweeters) and hearing it back repeatedly, usually with nasty names and swear words included. But the thing is, I'M HEARING ABOUT IT. People who aren't even really into books have probably heard of Horrible Histories. The guy's prompted so many people read and care about history who might not have otherwise; I think he's earned his chance to say something and have us think about it. There's been a lot of good stuff said about libraries, but recently there's also been a huge amount of nostalgia, and people repeating the same things. I haven't heard a lot of creative solutions. Not because the ideas aren't out there - I bet loads of people are coming up with great ideas - it's just that the media doesn't work that way. People who aren't interested in the library debate aren't going to trawl through lengthy articles on literary blogs. The media jumps on people who say outrageous things. And outrageous things are never the things that make us feel 'that person is part of our club'.

Say that you're an aspiring author or new author, and you have ideas to get people reading that challenge the current library set-up. Perhaps your ideas even involved drastically changing libraries as we know them, or closing down certain buildings. It would be career suicide to put the idea out there... well, if anyone even noticed what you said. If somehow you did manage to create a few waves, you'd never get another library booking, librarians wouldn't want to stock your books, book people would snub you at parties (if you were even invited) and no one would ask you to speak at conferences. Deary didn't have to worry about this, he knew people WOULD listen, because he has clout, and he doesn't need events or bookings to make his books sell. And he also knew that if he toed the party line about saving libraries, all the library-friendly people would nod and say, 'good ol' Terry' and it would make very little impact on anyone outside the circle.

Now, I need to go back and read what he's said very carefully. The point that immediately raised my hackles was the implication that all people can afford books. No they can't, especially kids, they can go through hundreds of books a month if they're avid readers and few parents would support a habit like that. I doubt he's saying 'books only for the rich', that doesn't seem like something he'd say. But the points he made about libraries taking business away from bookshops made me think, what? And what he said about the cinema and telly not being free, so why should books be, was an interesting point. I don't get to go to the cinema and watch a film for free just because I don't want to own it, and I don't go to the supermarket for free food. I suspect , in the end, I will not agree with Deary about this, but I'd like to think about it some more. Maybe he can slightly alter some of the ideas I take for granted.

One of my best friends works like this; sometimes when I say something that everyone else is saying in the politically-left-leaning book world, he'll come back with something very contrary that sounds totally preposterous, often just to get a rise out of me. But usually when I talk with him about it, I'll find out why he's said that, and very often it will slightly alter my own opinion, even if I don't come to agree with him, or agree with him entirely. It's one of the reasons he's a best friend, and why I find working with him boosts my creativity so much.

What I'm saying is this: you don't have to agree with Deary, you might hate what he says. In fact, I'm almost sure you do, since you're one of the above demographic. But let's be civilised in our response; libraries have been a pinnacle of our civilisation. And contrary to what Deary implied, a lot of good things have come from the Victorians: women's suffrage, worker's rights, mass education (I'm repeating now what my friend said to me but I'm not going to make him jump publicly into the debate). And we can be glad that we CAN give a response, that Deary has the discussion going again in the media, and there's more chance the media will listen to you if you tackle what he's said. Thank you, Terry Deary, for that. I've seen several good responses already, but I've also seen a lot of name calling. Library friends, don't do that. You know Deary isn't anti-reading; Deary's the guy you want to invite to your panel discussions. We need more than only hard-working but invisible yes-men.

There are very practical reasons we still need libraries, but in what form? That's where we need you to come in with your ideas. Let's give people a safe space to share them without making them feel their careers are at stake if they say something odd. In fact, let's say more odd things. Let's get everyone talking.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!
     Today I get to share TWO, yes TWO wonderful board books about LOVE. They are TIME FOR A HUG written by Phillis Gershator and Mim Green and illustrated by David Walker, and PIGS IN LOVE written by Teddy Slater and illustrated by Aaron Boyd. Each will give you a great big Awwwww! And two of my lucky commenters will win one - so comment below!



a Rafflecopter giveaway

if there was one valentine's card that really made me smile this year it was the one above from designer danYELL which showed simple originality and wit. danYELL is the studio label of freelance designer danielle cassells who graduated from the duncan of jordonstone college of art in 2006 specialising in printed textile design. she loves to design greetings cards and digitally printed fashion

Here is an informative and inspiring interview with a remarkable artist and human being, James Gurney.

yeeeeowch!  HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY! XOXOXOXO

happy valentine's day! i think this may be my favourite valentine card spotted this season. snapped in marks & spencer its a neon pink scandinavian style design with metallics on natural card.

it's valentine's day and i have a final round-up of card designs to post. the first three designs, including the lovely one above by jane ormes, were spotted and snapped in waterstones. below : printable valentines papers from em papers. below : valentines cards snapped in uk supermarket tesco. below : unfortunately in asda this year there

Ann Tanksley is the illustrator of My Heart Will Not Sit Down (Knoff, 2012), written by Mara Rockliff. Ann is a fine artist who graduated from the Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University). She is the illustrator of the picture book The Six Fools by Zora Neale Hurston, and the creator of a series of monoprints based on the writings of Hurston titled, “Images of Zora,” which Maya Angelou described as “dazzling.” She lives in Great Neck, New York.

Buzz

Tanksley’s lush, vibrantly colored paintings, . . .  take seemingly simple images and render them big, beautiful and bold.
– Kirkus

Tanksley’s pared-down, childlike pictures provide a sketch of Cameroon village life, their electric hues of orange, magenta, and scarlet jumping from the pages.
–Publisher’s Weekly

– Don Tate

Austin, Texas is a hotbed of design talent and Curtis Jinkins is one of our favortites to emerge from the scene. In this week’s poster pick, Curtis pays homage to home state with this bull print. Black and gold are prominently featured, which makes perfect sense given the history of this oil rich land. In the background, a blood red setting sun illuminates the derricks and wind mills that dot the landscape.

This print as well as other works by Curtis are now available at the Poster Cabaret.

—–

Also worth viewing:
Curtis Jinkns
Brent Couchman
Invisible Creature Poster Pick

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Happy Valentine’s Day

Illustration by Maria Bogade Maria was featured last week on Illustrator Saturday.  Here is the link: http://wp.me/pss2W-68h

Amazon Launches Two Lions and Skyscape YA Imprints

Roughly a year after the Amazon Children’s Publishing division launched, it has announced two new imprints. Two Lions will be home to picture books, chapter books and middle-grade fiction, and Skyscape will be devoted to titles for young adults, encompassing works from both established authors and new voices. Margery Cuyler is editorial manager for Two Lions, and Tim Ditlow is editorial manager for Skyscape. Amazon Children’s Publishing’s general manager is Amy Hosford; Larry Kirshbaum, publisher for Amazon Publishing, oversees the editorial leadership for the company’s Seattle and New York adult imprints, as well as Amazon Children’s Publishing.

Amazon wants to take advantage of one of the hottest segments in the publishing world with these two new youth imprints, which is a great thing for all of us. They will publish established and new authors for these books.

In the next four months there will be a number of launch titles being issued. According to Publishers Weekly, Two Lions is slatted to release Gandhi: A March to the Sea by Alice B. McGinty, a biography written in free-verse; and Poco Loco, a debut picture book about a mouse inventor by J.R. Krause. Titles under the Skyscape umbrella include You Know What You Have to Do by Bonnie Shimko, about a 15-year-old girl who hears voices in her head telling her to kill people; and Reason to Breathe, the first book in the Breathing Series trilogy by Rebecca Donovan, an initially self-published title that has already earned a dedicated readership.

These new imprints will play into the new Kindle Freetime Unlimited program that allows parents to subscribe to the new Amazon service, and get as many kids books they want a month. It is very likely that a number of these titles will appear between Freetime and Amazon Prime. Have you taken advantage of this new program? Don’t miss out.

Nobrow Press to Launch Children’s Imprint in 2013

U.K.-based indie graphic novel publisher Nobrow Press is launching Flying Eye Books, a children’s book imprint that will debut in the U.K. in February and in March in the U.S. Flying Eye Books will release 12 titles in the first year including comics, picture books, activity books, fiction, and nonfiction for kids aged 4-11 years old.

Speeding Star is a new trade imprint from Enslow Publishers, Inc., esteemed for its high-quality nonfiction and fiction materials for the educational market.  Beginning in the Fall 2013, Speeding Star will release easy-to-read fiction and informational titles. This content will be suitable for boys and young men from third grade to high school. Each title will be either 48, 64 or 96 pages, on topics ranging from zombie mysteries to profiles of today’s greatest sports stars.  Available in both hardcover trade and paperback bindings, as well as through all major e-book outlets, our titles will keep boys reading!

Capstone Publishing Group, which has been aggressively expanding beyond the school and library markets with the launch six months ago of its Capstone Young Readers trade imprint, is adding picture books to the list this spring. Thirteen picture books in print format will be released initially under the CYR imprint; after the first list, the imprint will release four to six picture books each year.

Capstone Publishing Group has previously published picture books for the educational and trade markets under its Picture Window imprint and will continue to do so; this is the first time the company is publishing picture books under the CYR imprint. Thus far, board books, chapter books, and hobbies and crafts books have been published under the CYR imprint, which is overseen by senior product manager John Rahm and editorial directors Michael Dahl and Nick Healy.

In May Capstone will launch a Web site to promote its new CYR line, www.capstoneyoungreaders.com. CYR titles will be available in digital formats as well as in print. While only select Capstone Publishing titles for the educational market are available in digital formats, beginning in fall 2012, all of Capstone’s trade titles will be available in both print and e-book formats.

Valentine’s Illustration by Barbara Eveleth Barbara was featured on Illustrator Saturday, Nove. 11th, 2010.  Here’s the link: http://wp.me/pss2W-1ZX

This Valentine’s Day illustration was sent in by Michelle Kogan. Michelle is a Chicago illustrator, instructor, painter and writer. She’s working on a picture book called Through A Sunflower. You can view some of the illustrations for this book and read more about Michelle in the article: Journey with an Illustrator, Painter and Writer, in the January 2013 The Prairie Wind, the Newsletter of the Illinois Chapter of the SCBWI, where Michelle is the Illustrator in the Spotlight, http://www.scbwi-illinois.org/pdf/PrairieWind-Winter2013.pdf

View more of Michelle’s work at her website http://www.michellekogan.com

Talk soon,

Kathy

So yes, last weekend I was off on the train for a couple of hours, as promised I was drawing all the way. However due to the constraints of reserved seat allocation and tightly tiered seat layouts, many Eastern region trains don't offer themselves easily to sketch the other passengers. (That is a grumble, yes!) On the outward journey this is as much as I was able to see:

                First, I try to get some inspirations from some of my vintage greeting card collection :



I just love the way these greeting cards look.  I try to imagine the sender and the receiver of these cards, what their relationships were with each other, where do they live? What are their favorite food, what do they wear? What books do they like, etc. My imagination takes me far and different characters start to build up in my mind until finally, I start to draw them. And from there, other images appear until I choose one that I will finally work on.

For my Valentine Card, I chose this vintage card as my source of inspiration:



Step 1. Using the image of the tree I made a rough sketch :




Step 2. I finalize the sketch, ink it and scan it in Photoshop .
I also position the text. Here is the scanned image:

Step 3. I color the line art in photoshop
It's easier to change the color combination and
correct mistakes when you work digitally.

Step 4. I decided to create a collage of hand sewn skirt,
ribbons and laces for the girl's outfit. Here are the hand-sewn skirt
and ribbons I made which I then scanned in the card:

Step 5. Here's the final Version of my Valentine Card .
Now I am ready to submit it to 
OnlineGreeting Card Store
called Madonna Davidoff's Card




Happy Valentine to you all!!

there is a summer mood taking hold over at michelle mason this season. michelle's new products include 'beach wallpaper' and a 'lowestoft' cushion. the designs are part of a travel theme from michelle's partnership with the national railway museum to create a collection inspired by their archive of british railways posters from the 1950s and 60's. also new is st malo a wash bag range inspired