By: Abigail Halpin,
on 10/13/2011
By: Paige Keiser,
on 10/13/2011
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By: Bowie Style,
on 10/13/2011
besides the yellow owl products paperchase are also stocking several other stationery and card lines from the USA including galison, rifle paper co., and compendium.
By: genevieve,
on 10/13/2011
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| pork belly steamed bun - momofuku ssam bar |
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| spicy pork sausage & rice cakes - momofuku ssam bar |
Marc Boutavant wooden toys! (photo by tweedlebop)
By: Bowie Style,
on 10/13/2011
Gardens for Health International is a wonderful organization that works in East Africa to provide agricultural assistance to those who struggle with chronic malnutrition. The Gardens for Health program is designed to enhance long-term food security, decrease malnutrition, foster economic development, and support effective HIV/AIDS care, and treatment. The founder, Emma Clippinger, has long
By: penelope,
on 10/13/2011
Interview conducted by Yuko Shimizu.
1. You had a interesting start. You were an AD at Miami New Times and (kind of) forced to create your own illustration because of the budget cut and could not hire illustrators? Can you tell us a bit about that?
You know, I’ve told people about that and I do think it was true to some extent, but I think it really had more to do with my own desire to create layouts that were more conceptual than decorative. I really resisted relying on industry default solutions like perfectly aligned text columns and grids. As soon as I stopped assuming that page templates were unbreakable, my layout approach became very illustrative. Headlines and text blocks were treated as objects along with scanned found objects.
I also was doing these layouts in very tight time constraints. I often didn’t have a headline until an hour or two before the pages were due, which makes wanting to create these conceptual spreads even more tricky. I think it was through this process that my work just slowly morphed until one day it felt much more like illustration than layout design.
2. How has your experience as an AD helped and shaped your career as a freelance illustrator?
I worked with an amazing managing editor named Tom Finkel, now the Editor of the River Front Times, who instilled a deep respect for the craft of writing and the responsibility artists have in representing those words in images. As an editorial illustrator its too easy to sit alone in your studio and forget that an entire journalistic process has taken place before you were involved and will continue after your image is finished. When handled sensitively, an image can bring an entire new depth to the connection between the writer and reader. When not, our images have the potential to derail or undermine that relationship. I think that would have been hard to learn and really appreciate had I not been an AD first.
It also has some practical advantages. I’ve heard all those crazy and sometimes irrational comments that AD’s have to field from Editors. When I send in sketches I usually offer a simple one or two line pitch that I think will address issues that I think they may be facing. I also like to suggest headlines if there hasn’t been one written yet. It helps me distill the text down to a concise idea and it lets the eds know where my head is at on the story.
6 Comments on IF Interview with Brian Stauffer, last added: 10/15/2011
By: Bowie Style,
on 10/14/2011
paperchase are now stocking a range of products from the yellow owl workshop including boxed notecards, individual greetings cards, and rubber stamps.
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By: Gina Perry,
on 10/13/2011
It's that spooky time of year again, boys and girls. And what better way to celebrate than with a Halloween-themed picture book!
My son and I enjoyed Alethea Kontis & Bob Kolar's second collaboration. There are layers of fun (monsters, costumes, silliness) mixed with subtle education (letters, vocabulary, and my favorites - irony and sarcasm!).
I've been following Bob's work for years and really appreciate the attention to mood here. His style wouldn't normally strike me as the right match for 'spooky', but that's a sign of his talent - something I think f often when pondering dream (or nightmare!) assignments. Oh, and for the young fans, there's a great website for the book, loaded with games.
By: Bowie Style,
on 10/13/2011
carlene wright graduated from loughborough university in 2007 with a degree in printed textiles and currently works both from home & in-house for a variety of agencies. carlene is now looking to expand her cliental and says she can "produce placements & patterns for all sorts of things, including stationery, nursery, childrenswear, womenswear, interiors, gift wrap, etc - pretty much anything
By: Julie Fortenberry,
on 10/13/2011
By: Aline Pereira,
on 10/14/2011
For this week’s Poetry Friday post, I’m taking a cue from my daughter who came home from school telling me about a poetry book they’d discussed in class. “It’s called Love That Dog, Mom, and it’s all about a boy who hates writing poetry.” She told me rather cryptically. I couldn’t quite make sense of what she was saying until I got the book in hand. Love That Dog by Sharon Creech (Joanna Cotler Books, 2001) is indeed about a boy, Jack, who hates writing poetry and whose teacher, Miss Stretchberry, inspires him to write poems in spite of his initial dislike of them. The story itself is simply told in poetic diary entries by Jack. As Miss Stretchberry introduces well known poems to the class such as W.C. William’s famous wheelbarrow poem and Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” Jack’s diary entries slowly show his changing attitude towards the reading and writing of poetry; the diary, in fact, is a charting of the creative process of the boy. The poetry unit of Miss Stretchberry ends with a visit by a poet, Walter Dean Myers, whose poem the class has studied and has personally inspired a poem written by Jack.
Love that Dog is wonderfully and cleverly written. It’s an excellent introduction to poetry for elementary school age children. The book also shows more subtly the creative process — what is involved in writing poetry, how one comes to write poems, how one deals with the public presentation of poems, how one edits, how one feels the influence of another poet, etc. This revealing of the boy’s creative process I felt to be quite instructive and illuminating, especially for me as a creative writing teacher.
Poetry Friday this week is hosted by David Elzey at Fomagrams.
By: genevieve,
on 10/13/2011
By: Paula Pertile,
on 10/13/2011
By: Jerry Beck,
on 10/14/2011
I’ve just become aware of this 2010 live-action/puppet film from the Czech Republic – and its English trailer (below) intrigues me. Kooky, by Academy Award-winning (Kolya) live action filmmaker Jan Sverak, isn’t stop-frame animation per se, but since we’ve showcased The Muppets on several occasions, I think this is worthy of notice on the Brew. The story concerns a seven year old boy whose teddy bear has been thrown away and how he imagines the doll will find his way home. Hope it gets seen in the US at some point:
(Thanks, Ben Ettinger)
Cartoon Brew: Leading the Animation Conversation |
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Post tags: Jan Sverak
By: Nina Seven,
on 10/13/2011
By: Jill Casey,
on 10/13/2011
By: Ingrid Sundberg,
on 10/13/2011
The National Book Award Nominations were just posted and I’m super excited to congratulate VCFA faculty member Franny Billingsley for her nomination of Chime. I had the privileged of having my writing workshopped by Franny at the winter VCFA residency and she was brilliant and insightful! Not to mention the fabulousness of Chime itself (which I just finished reading)! The writing is simply decadent!
Congratulations Franny!
By: Amy Schimler,
on 10/13/2011
Found this leaf on my morning walk. I have been working on Christmas designs and have holiday imagery in my brain. I found this leaf with only one of the antlers intact - photoshopped the antler to make two and added a berry for a nose. Perfect. Holiday season is approaching.
By: Kathy Temean,
on 10/13/2011
NEWS: Eileen Lawrence will join Little, Brown Books for Young Readers as executive director of marketing on October 19. Previously she was senior executive director of advertising, promotion and creative services at the Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group.
Tara Walker will join Tundra Books as editorial director on November 1. Previously she was an editor for Kids Can Press. Tunra Books publishes high-quality and award-winning books including picture books, fiction, and non-fiction for children and young adults.
Today is the last day to send in your first page written for the prompt below. Don’t miss this opportunity to receive a critique from Felicia. Results will be posted next Friday.
Here is the current prompt:
____scanned the crowd through….
You should try to weave in some type of atmospheric quality or event.
Results posted on October 14th.
Please attach your double spaced, 12 point font, 23 line first page to an e-mail and send it to kathy(dot)temean(at)gmail(dot)com. Also cut and paste it into the body of the e-mail. Put “October 14th First Page Prompt” in the subject line.
Felicia Sanzari Chernesky will be critiquing the entries. She is a poet, writer, and editor. The managing editor of Academic Questions, a quarterly journal that examines higher education issues, Felicia is halfway through a master’s degree in creative writing in poetry with an emphasis in formal verse. Over the years she’s done all kinds of writing and editing—from authoring a recipe column for a small-town newspaper to copyediting a philosophy manuscript on possibility, necessity, and existence published by a large university press.
Felicia writes children’s poetry, picture books, middle grade, and YA—and loves every minute of it. She also does freelance critiques and copyediting for children’s writers and poets—and loves every minute of that, too. Felicia is represented by Susan Hawk of The Bent Agency.
Talk tomorrow,
Kathy
0 Comments on Free Fall Friday & Editorial Changes as of 1/1/1900
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By: DIANE SMITH,
on 10/14/2011
Well, I've been wanting to get to this all week, but I've been too busy. So, here I am - sleepless on a Thursday night. Well, I guess it's actually Friday morning, so there'll be another topic soon. I've posted this one before, but it's perfect for the topic. I've been working on another project which I hope to share really soon!
By: Julie Fortenberry,
on 10/13/2011
By: Ellis Nadler,
on 10/13/2011
By: Tara Chang,
on 10/13/2011
By: Mai Kemble,
on 10/13/2011
Sun 2 Oct 2011
KID REVIEW: Brooke lifts up “Polka-Dot Fixes Kindergarten”
Posted by Pat under Book reviews No CommentsStarting a new school year is always exciting and scary. And that’s doubly true for students venturing off to kindergarten for the first time.Author Catherine Urdahl takes on this topic in Polka-Dot Fixes Kindergarten (Charlesbridge, 2011). Dorothy, who’s better known as Polka-Dot, skips off to kindergarten ready to learn. But she brings a fix-it kit full of her grandfather’s favorite repair tools just in case.
At first, kindergarten doesn’t look like it will be very fun. Her name tag says, “Dorothy,” there are lots of rules to remember and there’s a girl named Liz who doesn’t appreciate Polka-Dot’s name or fashion sense. And, grandpa’s fix-it tools don’t seem to work as well at school as they do at home — at least initially.
Today’s guest reviewer has successfully navigated the waters of kindergarten and, therefore, is thoroughly qualified to comment on this book. So take it away, Brooke!
Our reviewer: Brooke
Age: 8
Things I like to do: Play with my friends and my sister.
This book was about: A girl named Polka-Dot going to kindergarten.
The best part was when: Liz and Polka-Dot made up.
I smiled when: Polka-Dot fixed Liz’s dress.
I was worried when: The boys saw Liz’s underpants.
I was surprised when: Liz’s dress split.
This book taught me: To always be nice.
Three words that best describe this book are: “Fix.” “Help.” “Friendship.”
My favorite line or phrase in this book is: When she said, “Let’s be friends.”
Other kids reading this book should watch for: Stripes and polka-dots.
You should read this book because: It is a good book.
Thanks, Brooke!
This is adorable. I love it.
Gawd, this is so cute ö.ö
And yeah, why wouldn't he do it?