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Our generous employees have been snapping away at our office decorations and we’d like to share them with you.

• Oxford quad on 12 December

   

  http://blog.oup.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/silvareader.jpg

  Courtesy of Anna Silva

• Oxford Quad in December

   

  http://blog.oup.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/kspencer-ss.jpg

  Courtesy of Katie Spencer.

• Oxford quad at night

   

  http://blog.oup.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/oupmusic-anwen1.jpg

  Courtesy of Anwen Greenaway

• A christmas tree at the OUP Oxford office

   

  http://blog.oup.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/oxtree-ss.jpg

  Courtesy of Lizzie Shannon-Little.

• Office decorations at OUP Oxford

   

  http://blog.oup.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/door-ss.jpg

  Courtesy of Lizzie Shannon-Little.

• Program for the OUP Oxford Choir

   

  http://blog.oup.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/choir2-ss.jpg

  Courtesy of Lizzie Shannon-Little.

• The OUP Oxford Choir performs

   

  http://blog.oup.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/choir-ss.jpg

  Courtesy of Lizzie Shannon-Little.

• Mince pies in the OUP Oxford Fairway for the choir singing.

   

  http://blog.oup.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/meatpies1-ss.jpg

  Courtesy of Lizzie Shannon-Little.

• Mince pies and mulled wine in the OUP Oxford Fairway for the choir singing.

   

  http://blog.oup.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/meatpies2-ss.jpg

  Courtesy of Lizzie Shannon-Little.

• The OUP Oxford Holiday Party

   

  http://blog.oup.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/masque-ss.jpg

  Courtesy of Lizzie Shannon-Little.

• Ceiling of Oxford Town Hall where OUP Oxford had their holiday party.

   

  http://blog.oup.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/ceiling-ss.jpg

  Courtesy of Lizzie Shannon-Little.

• OUP Oxford Holiday Party decorations

   

  http://blog.oup.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/holidaypartydecor2-ss.jpg

  Courtesy of Lizzie Shannon-Little.

• OUP Oxford Holiday Party decorations

   

  http://blog.oup.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/holidaypartydecor-ss.jpg

  Courtesy of Lizzie Shannon-Little.

• New York office window

   

  http://blog.oup.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/IMG_3994-e1355934864164.jpg

  Courtesy of Jeremy Wang-Iverson

• New York office window

   

  http://blog.oup.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/IMG_3991-e1355934833992.jpg

  Courtesy of Jeremy Wang-Iverson

• New York office window

   

  http://blog.oup.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/IMG_3982-e1355934799224.jpg

  Courtesy of Jeremy Wang-Iverson

• New York office window

   

  http://blog.oup.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/IMG_4000-e1355934970454.jpg

  Courtesy of Jeremy Wang-Iverson

• New York office lobby

   

  http://blog.oup.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/jwitree-edit.jpg

  Courtesy of Jeremy Wang-Iverson

• New York office lobby

   

  http://blog.oup.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/IMG_4005-e1355935021203.jpg

  Courtesy of Jeremy Wang-Iverson

• New York office lobby

   

  http://blog.oup.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/oupmusic-alyssa1.jpg

  Courtesy of Alyssa Bender

• New York office lobby

   

  http://blog.oup.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/menorah-ss.jpg

  Courtesy of Alice Northover

• The Cary, NC office lobby

   

  http://blog.oup.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/tree-ss.jpg

  Courtesy of Dan Poindexter

• The Cary, NC lobby tree

   

  http://blog.oup.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/tree2-ss.jpg

  Courtesy of Dan Poindexter

• The Cary, NC canteen

   

  http://blog.oup.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/snowman-ss.jpg

  Courtesy of Dan Poindexter

• Figurines in the Cary, NC office

   

  http://blog.oup.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/characters-ss.jpg

  Courtesy of Dan Poindexter

• Christmas tree in our Mexico office

   

  http://blog.oup.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/oupmexico1.jpg

  Courtesy of Mariana de los Rios

• But OUP is always where its authors are.

   

  http://blog.oup.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/author1.jpg

  Stefan Fafinski poses with Legal Skills, 3rd edition, which he co-authored with Emily Finch. Photo courtesy of @FinchFafinski.

The post Photos from Oxford University Press offices around the globe appeared first on OUPblog.

One, two, three, four. I declare a thumb war!

The game is popular because it’s easy. You just need a friend and your hands.

But Jeff Miracola learned there’s more strategy to thumb wars than he thought when he illustrated a guide to the sport, Thumb Wars (Klutz, 2011).

He joins Read, Write, Repeat to talk about his experiences with the book.

How did you approach illustrating Thumb Wars?
I was contacted by Jill Turney, art director at Klutz/Scholastic, to illustrate the cover and a few interior illustrations after she and Editor Eva Steele-Staccio saw an illustration of a Mexican wrestler I had done for Advanced Photoshop Magazine. They really wanted some of the same flavor and energy of that illustration to work its way into Thumb Wars, so my approach from the beginning was to give them that same kind of look without repeating myself too much. 

My first drafts of the cover art had Mexican wrestlers on the front in various poses. Jill and Eva liked these sketches, but they decided to go with a different take on the cover by featuring a referee character. I originally had my heart set on a wrestler complete with decorative garb for the cover, but as I fleshed out the referee concept, I liked it, and it made more and more sense.

At the same time I worked on the cover, I did some interior illustrations. It was a tight deadline, about two weeks, because Klutz needed to get the cover and some other illustrations done to mock up the book for Scholastic approval and also send the cover art to the printer to be included in the spring catalog.

Once I was done illustrating the cover and those few interior illustrations, I approached Jill and Eva about the prospect of creating all of the illustrations in the book. As a fan of Klutz books and having bought many for my own kids, I know that they don’t normally have one illustrator do an entire book, so I didn’t expect a positive response to my question. I was surprised to find out that they were already considering me as the sole illustrator on the project. I felt all warm and fuzzy inside.

A few months later, when the text was complete, I worked with Jill and Eva to illustrate the entire book, along with additional changes to the original cover.

What did you learn?
I’ve learned that working for the large publishers, like Klutz/Scholastic, is no different than working for any other publisher. Assignments are never delivered in nice, neat packages, all tied together with a “nothing’s going to change” bow. The publishing industry is constantly dealing with deadlines and the pressure of getting books to market. The editors don’t always have the luxury of getting all their ducks in a row on a project before having to get illustrators, writers, or others involved, started on the project. So, as an illustrator, be prepared to make changes. Sometimes you are told to illustrate a concept only to find out someone higher in the chain modified the direction of the project and you’ll have to start over.

I never have a problem with this because, when I work on a project like Thumb Wars, I emotionally invest myself in the project and want to see i