By: Adam Gustavson,
on 1/21/2013
Hey! Author Linda Glaser's Kar-Ben title that I illustrated, Hannah's Way is this year's Gold Medal winner in the Sydney Taylor Book Award's Younger Reader category.
A quiet period piece that takes place in rural Minnesota, it was neat book to get to work on and had me surprisingly deep in research for a good stretch of time. More news on the subject soon...
By: Adam Gustavson,
on 12/20/2012
A selection of one hour oil painting demos from this past Fall semester at the University of the Arts.
Various supports (paper, canvas...),
various sizes,
various levels of success...
By: Adam Gustavson,
on 12/6/2012
By: Adam Gustavson,
on 12/3/2012
By: Adam Gustavson,
on 11/14/2012
I'm glad you asked. Why, they're all featured in the comic anthology Dead Anyway, a charming and virtually bottomless assortment of zombie stories.
And it's available for pre-order HERE.
Cute zombies! Fairy zombies! Carny zombies! Child zombies! Culinary reality show zombies! Zombie stories of love, loss, redemption and even the occasional western.
And, of course, existentialist zombies. Here's page one of my contribution the pantheon.
By: Adam Gustavson,
on 11/7/2012
Care of the fabulous Molly Idle. Wherein I expound on questions about the creative process, style, and the five words that describe me best.
Read the whole shebang here. The word here, that is. Just in case you thought it was here on this blog somewhere, which it's not. It's here.
To lure you in, here's a new image from a new title spoken about therein. And when the book comes out, there'll be 34 more where that came from...
By: Adam Gustavson,
on 10/1/2012
The folks over at kid-lit.com have issued an attentive and rather sparkling review of my latest book, Lost and Found, written by two-time Grammy winner Bill Harley. The review can be found in its entirety here...
...with a lively interview with Mr. Harley accompanying it here...
In the mean time, here's another lovingly crafted image from this newly released title.
By: Adam Gustavson,
on 9/27/2012
My 20th high school class reunion is this weekend. I've been asked in the most flattering way possible to create something for the event's dinnertime raffle, which I assumed meant a drawing or painting and not crocheted potholder. I'm hoping this is the case, as I've never crocheted before.
So after some internal mulling over pictorial options, I settled on this.
He's my high school mascot.
Last time I saw him, he was, like, big and awesome and strong and fast. Always snarling, or haughtily prancing about. He had a closet full of sports jerseys, as far as I could figure.
But it's been 20 years. I'm sure he's still roaring and prowling on the inside.
By: Adam Gustavson,
on 9/14/2012
With thanks to my dear agent, Abigail Samoun, for requesting the theme.
The beatnik thing, that is. For some reason, the turtles just came to me. I mean, who doesn't just think about turtles?
By: Adam Gustavson,
on 8/11/2012
So yes, I'm finishing up work on a book project for a sizable non-profit public outreach organization. The deadline has been a little tight; from initial pagination, sketches and on to finished oils the turnaround will top out at around a month and a half. Just for comparison, the usual time frame for a project of this scale (33 illustrations total, including spots, full pagers, spreads and cover) would be between 6 and 9 months.
It's been a bit of an adventure, but aside from the time constraints, said client has been among my most relaxed and trusting. And, as I mentioned before, they let me paint mismatched Lego people doing battle. So really, no complaints.
It's also led me to a rumination or two on some of the artistic challenges of illustration. Namely, aside from its end goal of communication of some point, concept, narrative or all of the above (as opposed to obfuscation, of course), illustration requires one to find imagery where one might not have otherwise looked or found inspiration, and to compose it in way that is compelling while still serving its source material, in this case a manuscript with a clearly defined philanthropic goal.
That, and in a forty page book, one has to thoughtfully pick out clothes for everyone.
Needless to say, while working on this, I've made little or no effort to pick out clothes for my own children. I should probably go make sure they've changed out of their pajamas.
By: Adam Gustavson,
on 8/10/2012
Any job that lets me include an image like this is okay by me.
By: Adam Gustavson,
on 8/6/2012
Here's a small peak into the project I've been working on for most of the year, Rock and Roll Highway: the Robbie Robertson Story, by Sebastian Robertson. It's due out from Christy Ottaviano Books (an imprint of Holt) in Fall of 2013.
By: Adam Gustavson,
on 8/4/2012
By: Adam Gustavson,
on 7/24/2012
By: Adam Gustavson,
on 7/6/2012
Over at Red Fox Literary, we've commenced with a little bi-weekly adventure, assigning ourselves a theme to inspire the making of some art, specifically some art that's not the job we're working on that particular week. This is really nice, as I'm right in the midst of a few projects that I'm not allowed to release anything from yet.
So that said, this image is confirmation that I'm still both alive and working as an illustrator.
Oh, and the theme was "summer." Gouache on paper, 11" x 15". 
By: Adam Gustavson,
on 6/23/2012
I'm currently neck deep in book projects, really exciting ones, actually, for which I'm contractually forbidden from posting any images at this time. When industry legal teams say "we'd prefer you not leap at this moment in time," well, far be it from me to ask "how high?" No, no, I contentedly stand around.
By: Adam Gustavson,
on 5/8/2012
By: Adam Gustavson,
on 5/7/2012
By: Adam Gustavson,
on 5/5/2012
The latest offering from author Bill Wise, Silent Star: The Story of Deaf Major Leaguer William Hoy, which is, hey, illustrated by Adam Gustavson, is now both available and the recipient of some awfully nice reviews. 
"At a time when deaf people were routinely called “Dummy,” William Hoy accepted and owned the nickname proudly.
". . . Employing rich descriptive language with just the right combination of drama and information, Wise emphasizes Hoy’s steadfastness and determination in his baseball exploits and in every endeavor before and after his career. Gustavson’s sharply detailed illustrations, rendered in oil on paper, follow the text faithfully and offer glimpses into the look and feel of life and baseball in the19th century. Line sketches of baseball action and hand signals fill the endpapers.
"A fascinating introduction to a little-known hero."
By: Adam Gustavson,
on 3/27/2012
I recently sat down to an interview with the wonderful Jules at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast. If you ask me to talk about myself, you're in for a lot of reading, but relax. It's got pictures!
By: Adam Gustavson,
on 3/15/2012
By: Adam Gustavson,
on 2/3/2012
After sending off what was apparently the same photo to publishers for ten years, we here in the Adam Gustavson camp decided it was time for a new picture.
So here it is, photo courtesy of my lovely wife.
Of course, you're invited to troll through the blog to see where that other guy reappears. And if you should find him, it may also be worth knowing that he answers to the name "Mr. Scrapple."
The decorative backdrop behind us is the 2' x 4' piece of plywood upon which I've tacked up and painted most of these past eleven years' worth of work.
By: Adam Gustavson,
on 12/6/2011
Just a few...
By: Adam Gustavson,
on 10/4/2011
But for now, this is all I have to say on the subject.
By: Adam Gustavson,
on 9/23/2011
So wonderful to see your work recognized! Big fan here, as you know.
Congrats! Love that street scene :-)