Every fall Colorado Country Life Magazine features local authors and illustrators. This year they featured The Prairie That Nature Built's Augmented Reality (AR) app under Discoveries. This is a freebie pop-up app that is included with the printed book. After downloading the app onto your tablet or smart phone you view the printed book which makes the characters dramatically spring to life - the owl swoops, the mouse runs, the foxes lunge and prairie dogs hide. Meanwhile a narrator reads the story aloud. This is not your grandfather's app!

The folks at the magazine created a very cool video explaining how this works. It's so great to live in such a supportive community. Thank you Colorado Country Life!

Colorado Country Life November 2014

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Here's my four legged office assistant and security system, Crowley, who always goes with me to check the mail. This day we received advanced reading copies and marketing materials for The Prairie That Nature Built and Dino Treasures. Crowley posed for a few of the illustrations in Prairie so he was excited then relieved when some good reviews starting coming out. He was so relieved that it was time for a nap.

Here are some early reviews from Prairie on Dawn Publishing's website and an article by Lindsey R. McKissick on 5280 Magazine's Bookshelf. You can also find fun ideas and activities that tie in with the book here. And look for a game app coming out soon.

Crowley dreaming of digging for dino bone treasures and his life on the prairie

Dino Treasures hasn't been released just yet, but has gotten a nice review and recommendation from The National Science Teacher's Association, NSTA Recommends.

And here's 303 Magazine's illustrator interview by Wendy Pitton. Sometimes when I tell folks that I'm a children's book illustrator I get funny looks. So it's always extra special to get local support from Colorado media. Makes me feel more legit!

First look at Pitter and Patter's cover

I just got a look at the cover and interior spreads for Pitter and Patter by Martha Sullivan, a wonderful writer. This comes out March 1, 2015 and we're collaborating with Dawn Publications on another book now. Also, here's the first review by Kirkus and they like it!

Wishing for snow

And hopefully you're familiar with Debbie Glade's blog, Smart Books for Smart Kids. She's pretty amazing; hosts numerous book give-aways, tips on raising a reader, focuses on science education, much more than I tell you here. I was fortunate to talk with her and she did an illustrator interview that focuses on my work process (yes, I work digitally, but it really does take more than just pushing a button and BAM!, out pops a prairie owl), a view of my home studio and more that you can find here.

Finally, I've updated my SCBWI Illustrator Gallery with some new work. Thanks for taking a look!

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Where land meets sea, there is a coast…

A hill slopes up above the ground...

On the plains are grazing cows…

A mountain stretches steep and high…

Surrounded by an open sea….

Here's a few spreads from This Land Is Your Land, by Catherine Ciocchi and published by Arbordale Publishing. It's about landforms in case you were wondering. And we thought it could also be a fun introduction to maps as well. There's so many styles of maps; thematic, political, physical, topographic, climate, resource, road maps, I could go on and on, but you get the idea.

This is my seventh book with Arbordale Publishing and I'm very much looking forward to starting my eighth book very soon.

So I need to get back to work!

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Black and white rough sketch phase

 Above is my black and white rough. While working on the final artwork for this spread I read a blog post from my niece and nephew who are traveling through Belize. They wrote about being startled by bats. Something had been bothering me about this spread and then it hit me - I love how bats are so still and silent, then boom, they explode in a huge mass and scare the heck out of you. So I changed this spread, added more bats! I need to get out and actually explore a cave myself, but in the meantime this is what you get. You can click on the images to get a better look.

Color spread of Patter in underground cave

And one more revision for this spread...

And the above illustration shows one of the reasons why I love working digitally. My art director/editor had a good suggestion to make the art tie in better with the manuscript. So the change took very little time and we're all much happier with the final image.

And another spread, showing Patter trickling down into the soil

Patter lands in a spring meadow

Pitter where the wetlands meet the ocean

….and Patter is swept out to sea.

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One of the perks of being a children's book illustrator is that no two weeks (or days) are the same. There's a lot of multi-tasking and little boredom.

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Official cover for The Prairie That Nature Built

I just got the final page proofs for this picture book for Dawn Publishing. It's my first book with them and I'm working on the second one now. They are wonderful to work with so I'm a happy camper or drawer in this case.

You've seen a few scenes from this book but I'll post a few more. The official release date is September 1, 2014.

This is the lightning that sparks a fire, So red-hot and swift it moves without tire, Flaming the flowers and blazing the grasses, Chasing the animals rushing in masses.

This is the rain that splatters the ground, And quenches the fire that blazed all around.

Marybeth Lorbiecki is the author and it was a fun challenge to illustrate her words. And in case you're wondering, that's our dog, Crowley, who modeled for this spread and very much loves the prairie. It's fun to include a personal touch here and there when working on these books.

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Today I got my first look at the completed pdf of Dino Treasures, the sequel to Dino Tracks. Both are by Rhonda Lucas Donald and I love collaborating on her books. We get to check it out one final time before it goes to press.

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Final cover with type and seeds blowing in the wind

Interior spread from Daisylocks

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Facebook banner for Dino Tracks' book launch at the Smithsonian

In the last post I mentioned that I was excited about the book launch for Dino Tracks at the Smithsonian. It was originally scheduled for October 12 and then came the government shut down. So now we have a new date, December 7 and it sounds even better because it's part of a larger weekend holiday celebration. There's going to be musical performances, films, book signings, trunk shows, crafts for kids and more. I won't be able to make this one but Rhonda Lucas Donald, the amazing author of Dino Tracks will be there with bells on.

And if you'd like some background into how Dino Tracks was created here's an interview by Sylvan Dell Publishing and a radio interview, with the author, Rhonda Lucas Donald. Enjoy!

Now for a sneak peek at Dino Treasures, also written by Rhonda Lucas Donald, published by Sylvan Dell Publishing and illustrated by me which comes out autumn 2014.
I'll be showing more artwork along the way. It's all very much in progress for now.
Thanks for taking a look. I hope you like dinosaurs.

Front and back cover wrap image

I wanted to give you a little behind the scenes of what it's like illustrating a picture book for Sylvan Dell Publishing. Their picture books are fun stories to read but also very popular in schools, libraries and museum gift shops. So they need to be correct. To ensure this they are vetted by an expert in their field. In this case it's a paleontologist - that's a person who studies the history of life on Earth based on fossils. But most paleontologists specialize in one aspect of their field. Some paleontologists specialize in dinosaur poop, otherwise known as fossilized feces or coprolite. They're called Coprologists. Other fields of study are paleobotany, the study of plants, or micropaleontology, the study of organisms with only one cell. It goes on and on. So my editor sends each spread to a specialist to make sure both Rhonda, the author and I have done our research and what we're showing is correct. And if it's not correct we fix it.

Interior spread of Sue the T-rex. Sue was discovered by paleontologist, Sue Hendrickson in 1990, so that's how she got the nickname, Sue. She's also one of the best preserved Tyrannosaurs rex specimens ever found.

I'm just showing you a small section of the comments from a paleontologist at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, the home of Sue. The scientist who vetted this went to a lot of in-depth facts about Sue - how she lived, her injuries and how they suspect she died. I'm always fascinated as well as intimidated by what the vetters have to say. I really hope that what I show is accurate so I don't have to redo the artwork. But much better to rework the art before going to press so that we're all happy with the final picture book. Thanks for taking a look!

Interior spread with vetter's comments

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Interior spread for The Wild Prairie That Nature Built

I haven't posted in awhile so here you go. Please click on the image for an enlarged view. Otherwise there are a lot of details that will get lost in this small format. I'm working on this book and a sequel to Dino Tracks called Dino Treasures. Both come out fall 2014 and are a lot of fun to illustrate, lots of interesting underground, hidden earth images.

Also I'm back to doing school, library and museum visits.  It's always fun to connect with kids, parents, teachers and librarians. I'm especially excited about Dino Tracks' book launch at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History at 1pm on October 12! So please come to that if you're in the area. I'll be presenting along with Rhonda Lucas Donald with a book signing afterwards.

Thanks for taking a look!

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Since I'm almost done with artwork for Daisylocks I figure it's time to procrastinate a little before  finishing the last spread. So here's some more images from the book.

Not enough room to spread out

Too busy and crowded

And this is actually the first spread where Daisy decides to look for some place better to put down roots.

I'm not showing everything from the book but hopefully you can get a good feeling for how the book will look. And I'm not showing the final spread. You'll have to wait until Spring 2014 to see if Daisylocks finds a place that's "just right".

Thanks for taking a look, hope you like the art. I'm always happy to illustrate another book by Marianne Berkes.

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The Wild Prairie that Nature Built by Marybeth Lorbiecki

Here's the first illustration for The Wild Prairie that Nature Built, a new picture book and app with a new publisher, at least new for me. The publisher is Dawn Publications and I've been a huge fan of their children's books for years.

 Marybeth Lorbiecki is the author and I wasn't familiar with her until reading her manuscript and now I'm a fan of hers as well.

I'll be posting more illustrations along the way. Look for it Fall 2014!

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The Next Big Thing blog tour began in Australia and has wound it's way all around the world to Northern Colorado. It's a great way to discover authors and illustrators that you might not be familiar with and what their latest book is about. Each author, or in my case, illustrator, answers ten questions and tags two more authors who will continue the tour. So this week it's my turn to talk about my next big thing, Dino Tracks.

Thank you Nancy Oswald for tagging me! Now on to the question and answer part of the blog.

What is the working title of your next book?

Dino Tracks, written by Rhonda Lucas Donald and illustrated by me.

Where did the idea come from for the book?

I'm the illustrator of Dino Tracks so that question really belongs to Rhonda, the author. But for my part when I got the manuscript and read through it I fell in love with it. Then my next realization was I knew absolutely nothing about dinosaurs or their trackways. So I started researching. Then I discovered that illustrators who specialize in paleo-art are the best artists in the world. I was extremely intimidated and hoped I could get up to speed with dinosaur art before the publisher realized they made a huge mistake by giving me this very cool story to illustrate.



Step back in time, following dinosaur tracks around the world, to discover clues to the movement and behavior of these ancient creatures.


Who is publishing your book?

Sylvan Dell Publishing is the publisher. They specialize in picture books that inspire reading and integrate science, math and geography. At the end of each story is a Creative Minds educational section with teaching activities and interactive quizzes.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?

Illustrating Dino Tracks took about eight months total. I did work on other projects at the time but it was still fairly time consuming, mainly because of research. Sylvan Dell has all their books verified by experts; in this case it was Jeffrey A. Wilson, a paleontology expert at the University of Michigan. They took my roughs to him which he corrected so I could make revisions before going to final artwork. Then he checked them again at the end. So there's different stages and sometimes you wait a while between stages. Also I went to the Morrison Natural History Museum specifically to see their baby Stegosaurus trackways and was blown away by their exhibits. They have a very hands on policy and it's an entirely different experience when you can get up close and personal, touching and handling the dinosaur bones and tracks. And Matthew Mossbrucker, the museum director let us go back into their lab where he was excavating a new Apatosaurus discovery (which they named Kevin). Illustrating a children's book involves more than just drawing.



What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

I can think of a couple of books; one is Tracks in the Sand by Loreen Leedy. It's not about dinosaurs, but sea turtles. It's beautifully illustrated and by following the tracks you discover a lot about the life of the sea turtle. A second is book is Time Flies by Eric Rohmann. This received a Caldecott Honor Medal and is a wordless picture book. On a stormy night a bird flies into the dinosaur hall of a museum. As we follow the bird, time unravels and the dinosaurs come to life. Both of these books are amazing!

Who or what inspired you to write this book?

Ok, another question for the author... but from my perspective, Rhonda's words were truly inspiring to draw from. She's such a visual writer that images popped into my head as soon as I read through her manuscript. Plus she doesn't talk to down to her audience of young kids, but gives a lot facts in a fun and memorable way. I'm really looking forward to the book release this fall so it can get into the hands of readers and singers too for that matter. I had the tune of "Over the River and Through the Woods" running through my head the entire time I was working on it.

What else about the book might pique the reader's interest? 

I know kids love dinosaurs but I think it's very empowering for them to realize they can actually explore tracks made millions of years ago to make new discoveries about animals and the evolution of prehistoric earth. Reading about dinosaurs is just the beginning.

Also, I don't know if I should be telling you this, and I won't give any details, but I know for a fact there's already a sequel in the works!


And I'm very excited to introduce you to Shennen Bersani an amazing illustrator that will tell you about one of her latest books, Shark Baby. We'll find out more on her blog on June 20.

So tag, you're it, Shennen!





And last but not least will be Darcy Pattison's blog on June 27 where we'll find out more about her and her latest picture book, Desert Baths.




Thanks for stopping by and reading The Next Big Thing Blog tour. Your support means a lot!

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My "before" rough sketch for DaisyLocks interior spread

My "final" illustration after comments from the publisher

I wanted to show you part of my process when illustrating a picture book. I've already done my storyboards in Indesign and those have been revised and approved. Now I'm working on individual spreads. My rough is really loose but since I've worked with Sylvan Dell before they understand my shorthand roughs and have a good idea of how I'll finish the artwork. Their comments were to have more emphasis on plants than animals. So I took out a scorpion in the middle ground and added more plants. Since I work in Painter I've isolated various images on different layers; like the plants, turtle, background, daisy blowing in the wind, etc. This way Sylvan Dell can pull out various parts to use for their creative minds sections for teachers and home schoolers. Also, when illustrating I have to keep in mind where the type will be (in the lower left hand side of the spread) and that the book folds right down the middle, referred to as the gutter. Books are a lot like life, you don't want something important falling in the gutter.

One spread down, twelve more to go!

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Here's a cover concept for a new book coming out Spring 2014. I won't go into a lot of details yet but you'll be seeing more along the way. Plus there's two more trade books in the works for next year as well. Lots of drawing to do.

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Tracks made by raptors of long ago show that they moved in packs...

Step back in time to a long-lost land, where dinos ruled the Earth...

Still two spreads to go before final artwork for DinoTracks is done. Here's a couple of new interior spreads and I probably won't be showing more dinosaurs until the book is published fall 2013. Back to work now and thanks so much for taking a look.

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Here's a sneak peak at some cropped illustrations for DinoTracks, a fall 2013 release for  Sylvan Dell Publishing. The author, Rhonda Lucas Donald tells the story in rhyme that can be sung to the tune of Over the River and Through the Woods. She takes you back in time and around the world as you follow the various tracks. These trackways are clues to the dinosaur species, can tell their behavior and movements, what they ate, how and when they lived, etc. Paleoichnology, the study of fossilized tracks and trackways is an amazing science and we hope future dino trackers will enjoy the book.

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DinoTracks, Colorado Foundation of Agriculture Workbook and Apps, Gardener Girl

I start feeling guilty when I don't post on my blog for over six weeks. Not that anybody cares except for me, but I hate to appear a slacker.

So here's what I'm currently working on.... illustrations for my fourth Sylvan Dell Publishing picture book, Dino Tracks by the amazing, Rhonda Lucas Donald, 100+ spot illustrations for Bette Blinde (who is also a Livermore, Colorado resident! I don't get many of those as you can imagine), with the Colorado Foundation for Agriculture, illustrating the Understanding Water Activity Book and Apps, and last but not least, my own story, Gardener Girl that I'm writing as well as illustrating. We'll just have to wait to see if that one sees the light of day, but so far so good.

OK,  I don't feel like such a slacker now that I've validated myself. Back to work I go! See you in another six weeks or so....

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Front Cover

Back Cover

I Want A Pet!, my first book as author and illustrator comes out today. The publisher is Tiger Tales Books, one my favorite publishers for books for little readers, seven and under. And its first review is actually good! You can go to Kirkus for the full review. So far so good. Maybe I should stop while I'm ahead, but heck no, I'm working on another.

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Do you know about The Studio? Every week the Girl Scouts showcase inspiring storytellers of all kinds, offering an inside look at how they do what they do. It started with authors, has now expanded to include illustrators and soon the girl scouts will be able to upload their own work. The goal is to create a community of creative work shared by the girls and professionals working in a variety of creative careers. I'm honored to be showcased this week, along with illustrations I've done for the Young Patriot Series.

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To say this year has been busy is an understatement. I'm quickly wrapping up illustrations for Nature Recycles by  Michelle Lord, published by Sylvan Dell Publishing. Wish I was quicker, five more spreads to illustrate, but it makes it more doable as I really like the story. I'm currently working on the spread which focuses on Asian elephants and how they recycle. I'll post it and the others as I get further along. But wanted to mention Asian elephants because that's where I'm heading in a couple of weeks - Bangkok Thailand! My husband, Andy Brown is working there for most of the summer, creating communication centers in that area so I'm excited to visit and see another part of the world I've never experienced. When I come back I'm starting a new book about dinosaurs. More about that one later.

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Kindling Words UK Workshop/Retreat was the best thing I've done for myself in years. I made new writing and illustrating friends, many whose names I recognized, but now can put a face with the name. I shared a room with New York Times best selling fantasy author Cinda Williams Chima who was such a fun room mate. I'm hoping just a little of Cinda's talent rubbed off on me. We stayed at Lodore Falls Hotel in the Lakes District, ate amazing food and hiked the surrounding mountains and lakes. Above is a photo of one of Mary O'keefe Young's plein air water color classes on the grounds of the hotel.
We had several day trips to choose from; the slate mind at Holister Pass, Wordsworth's House/Museum in Cockermouth, Beatrix Potter's home, Hill Top in Ambleside, historical Hadrian's Wall and Birdoswald Roman Fort in Cumbria, Castlerigg Stone Circle and of course a pub or two. What really amazes me is that on top of all the fun and traveling I got a lot of work accomplished. Both Alison James's workshop, "Entering the Dreamspace" and Mary Lee Donovan's "Picture Book Creation" workshop were great and I have to thank them for being wonderful, inspiring teachers. And also thanks to expat Terie Garrison for graciously sharing her home and Sally Wilkins, both for being great tour guides and driving us up, down, and all around on the wrong side of the road. I learned a lot in a short time and look forward to more Kindling Word Retreats in my future.

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Just wanted to post a couple of cropped images from a children's picture book I'm illustrating. Nothing's approved or finished yet so no doubt these images will be changing. Details and more images will follow shortly.

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Wow, these beavers are pretty amazing animals! Who knew? I need to check out Jean Heilprin Diehl, she's really good....

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