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Viewing: Blog Posts Tagged with: shadows, Most Recent at Top [Help]
Results 1 - 13 of 13
1. It’s Not Ogre Yet: Dreamworks Announces ‘Shrek 5’

The studio will also release "Shadows" in 2019.

The post It’s Not Ogre Yet: Dreamworks Announces ‘Shrek 5’ appeared first on Cartoon Brew.

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2. Yeti, Turn Out the Light! Greg Long, Chris Edmundson & Wednesday Kirwan

Book: Yeti, Turn Out the Light!
Author: Greg Long & Chris Edmundson
Illustrator: Wednesday Kirwan
Pages: 36
Age Range: 3-5

Yeti, Turn Out the Light! gives a very light touch to the issue of kids who are afraid of shadows in their rooms. Yeti is sleepy. He gets ready for bed, but once in bed he tosses and turns because he is frightened of odd shadows in his room. The odd shadows are each shown, in various page spreads, to be something completely harmless (but odd enough to generate a suspicious shadow). Three bunnies, a deer with three birds on its antlers, an owl sitting on a bear's head, drinking some tea. I each case, the shadow is quite frightening, while the reality is quirky but not at all scary. In the end, Yeti is able to send all of his shadow-generating friends home, and get a good night of sleep. 

The rhyming text of Yeti, Turn Out the Light! is catchy and also demonstrates apt vocabulary. This is a book that I can imagine happily reading to my daughter over and over again. Here are a couple of examples:

"So Yeti heads home, eats his dinner, and flosses.
Then he snuggles into bed, but he turns and he tosses."

"Why?" you may ask.
Well I'll tell you, my dear.
Yeti sees shadows 
dart rightfully near."

I love a book that can use "dart." Another example uses "wary" to rhyme with "scary." Well-done, I say. 

Kirwan's digitally generated images feature a not-so-attractive blue and white Yeti figure. The various animal creatures that Yeti discovers in his house have huge, jewel-like eyes, and an exaggerated sweetness that provides contrast with the homely Yeti. The shadows are masterful, managing to look menacing, despite fitting in well with their ordinary shadow-generators.

The whole story is contrived, of course. Why would there be a deer with three birds on its antlers sneaking into Yeti's house in the middle of the night? But it's that very absurdity that I think will make this book work with shadow-leery preschoolers. Yeti, Turn Out the Light! is the opposite of a didactic book that tells kids not to be scared of shadows. Instead, Yeti shows kids, repeatedly and humorously, that the shadows might well be something benign. I am looking forward to trying this book out on my own preschooler. I expect it to find a place in our regular night-time picture book rotation. Recommended for home and library use. 

Publisher: Chronicle Books 
Publication Date: August 27, 2013
Source of Book: Review copy from the publisher

FTC Required Disclosure:

This site is an Amazon affiliate, and purchases made through Amazon links (including linked book covers) may result in my receiving a small commission (at no additional cost to you).

© 2014 by Jennifer Robinson of Jen Robinson's Book Page. All rights reserved. You can also follow me @JensBookPage or at my Growing Bookworms page on Facebook

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3. So Much For Being "Done"...

A rare day-off for Lincoln's Birthday, the big kids all gone to friends' houses, and a little sunshine on the front patio means that my littlest can have fun playing out front while mom updates things on the laptop.

Spring flowers have already arrived.

Anyway, didn't I say I might just tweak the painting a little?  Well, that wasn't exactly true.  When it came down to it, I think I tweaked it a lot.  Of course, it may not look different but, with a little close observation, one might notice differences.  Frankly, I became frustrated with the 2 flowers on the right - they became rather muddled by overworking with to many colors - I even completely painted out the bottom one and started over.

I think it's done - but I'm still not happy with the leaf - I'll just tweak it a little...

Light was an interesting challenge as I had a changing light source (a south-facing window) to my left which caused moving shadows and a secondary interior light overhead/right which created shadows of its own.  I realized that I was giving conflicting information with cast shadows of the flower petals on both sides of the vase/creamer, but I liked the shapes and decided to keep them.  And that's what was truly liberating about this project compared with the first one which was much more dependent on observation.  For this one, I gave myself permission to use more artistic license and mostly responded to what was happening on the paper.  Besides liking the shapes of some of the shadows, I also liked the orange from the flowers reflected on the porcelain surface - it wasn't nearly as pronounced in real life, but I liked it in the painting.

I still have dreams of one do doing a "quick" little still life that captures its essence with a minimum of strokes... (sigh)


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4. Best Novels of 2012

Goblin Secrets, by William Alexander, Margaret K. McElderry Books, $16.99, ages 8 and up, 240 pages. Orphan Rownie escapes a witch's home for stray children to look for his missing brother and falls in with a theatrical troupe of goblins that teaches him the craft of masking.

The Peculiar, by Stefan Bachmann, Greenwillow, $16.99, ages 9 and up, 384 pages. Bartholmew Biddle joins forces with a bumbling member of Parliament to recover his kidnapped sister and stop a creepy lord from kidnapping changelings from the slums of Bath.

The Mighty Miss Malone, by Christopher Paul Curtis, Wendy Lamb Books, $15.99, ages 9 and up, 320 pages. A spunky, courageous 12-year-old named Deza refuses to give up on her family's motto -- "We are a family on a journey to a place called Wonderful" -- in Depression-era Hooverville.

The Great Unexpected, by Sharon Creech, HarperCollins, $16.99, ages 8 and up, 240 pages. Two orphan girls, Naomi and best friend Lizzie, think they know all the peculiar people in Blackbird Tree until one day a boy drops out of a tree and the Dingle Dangle man appears.

Starry River of the Sky, by Grace Lin, Little Brown, $17.99, ages 8-12, 304 pages. In this magical companion to Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, runaway Rendi is left stranded in a remote Village of Clear Sky where the sky moans in pain and a mysterious storyteller helps Rendi work through his past.

Endangered, by Eliot Schrefer, Scholastic, $17.99, ages 12 and up, 272 pages. When violent rebels attack her mother's wildlife sanctuary in the Congo, 14-year-old Sophie flees with orphan bonobo Otto and sacrifices everything to protect her endangered apes.

The Last Dragonslayer, by Jasper Fforde, Harcourt, $16.99, ages 10 and up,  256 pages. Sixteen-year-old foundling Jennifer is left in charge of Kazam, a temp agency for wizards, and tries to save the last dragon from being killed in an alternate United Kingdom.

Wonder, by R.J. Palacio, Knopf, $15.99, ages 8 and up, 320 pages. Born with a facial deformity, 10-year-old August longs to be treated as an ordinary kid, but as he enters mainstream school for the first time, his classmates can't look beyond his extraordinary face.

Shadows on the Moon, by Zoe Marriott, Candlewick, $17.99, ages 14 and up, 464 pages. When soldiers massacre her father and cousin, 16-year-old Suzume survives by making herself invisible through the magic of shadow weaving, then sets off to seek revenge.

Three Times Lucky, by Sheila Turnage, Dial, $16.99, ages 10 and up, 256 pages. Orphan Mo Lo Beau tries to solve the biggest crime to come to Tupelo Landing while she searches to solve her own mystery: how she came to be washed ashore in a hurricane when she was a baby.

Code Name Verity, by Elizabeth Wein, Hyperion, $16.99, ages 14 and up, 352 pages. When her plane crashes in Nazi-occupied France, young British spy Verity is arrested by the Gestapo and faces a harrowing decision: to reveal her mission or face execution.

The One and  Only Ivan, by Katherine Applegate, illustrated by Patricia Castelao, HarperCollins, $16.99, ages 8 and up, 320 pages. A gorilla living at the Exit 8 Big Top Mall and Video Arcade meets a baby elephant who transforms his sad and solitary world.

Liar & Spy, by Rebecca Stead, Wendy Lamb, $15.99, ages 9 and up, 192 pages. Seventh-grader Georges is recruited by his 12-year-old neighbor Safer to track a mysterious man in an upstairs apartment, but as Safer becomes more demanding Georges wonders what is a lie and what is a game.

Splendors and Glooms, by Laura Amy Schlitz, Candlewick, $17.99, ages 9 and up, 400 pages. Three children fall prey to a ruthless magician and must break free of a witch's paralyzing hold in order to find the happiness that's eluded in them.

Every Day, by David Levithan, Alfred A. Knopf, $17.99. Body jumping is a way of life for 16-year-old A -- every day he wakes up in a different body, in a different person's life. But then one day he assumes the body of Justin and forms an attachment he can't shake.


Rootless, by Chris Howard, Scholastic, $17.99, ages 14 and up, 336 pages. In a brutal post-Apocalypic world, 17-year-old tree builder Banyan meets a woman with a strange tattoo and sets off across a wasteland in search of his missing father and the last living trees.

The Secret Tree, by Natalie Standiford, Scholastic, $16.99, ages 8 and up, 256 pages. When Minty sees a flash in the woods, she chases after it and discovers a tree with a hollow trunk that contains the secrets of everyone in her neighborhood.

Iron Hearted Violet, by Kelly Barnhill, illustrated by Iacopo Bruno, Little Brown, $16.99, 432 pages. When a cheeky princess named Violet and her kind-hearted friend Demetrius stumble upon a hidden room, they discover a forbidden book that threatens their mirrored world.

The Spindlers, by Lauren Oliver, illustrated by Iacopo Bruno, HarperCollins, $16.99, ages 8 and up, 256 pages. When spiderlike creatures steal her brother's soul, Liza ventures into an underground world of talking rats, greedy trologods and an evil queen to rescue him.

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5. My Name is Rebecca Romm, Named after My Mother’s Mom by Rachel Levy Lesser

3 Stars My Name is Rebecca Romm, Named after My Mother’s Mom Rachel Levy Lesser No. Pages: 32     Ages: 4 to  8 …………… …………………. Back Cover:   Rebecca Elizabeth Romm was named after her late grandmother Rebecca. She is annoyed when everyone compares her to her mother’s mom, because all she wants is a name of [...]

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6. A Very Productive Saturday!

For the first time in a long time, I had a free Saturday.  I must have painted for about 8 hours overall (not without interruption, of course). 

I feel like I've spent a lot of time in the first two panels - especially because there were so many complicated issues on the tractor, the figure in the tractor, and the plow that hadn't been resolved.  However, there are a lot of details on these panels that I have yet to do, and they won't happen until the very end.  One of the last things I'll have to do is to get some of these panels exactly side by side with no gaps to make sure things line up. But, for now, I just measure where I can and "eyeball" it when I can't.


I started today by working on the pumpkins again, adjusting some of the shadows and highlights a little.  Then, I moved on to the wave of soil - a larger area of color to troubleshoot and blend.  Once you start working on an area like that, you don't want to stop - gotta keep blending before the paint dries.  And, working on this part took me back into panel #3 again.


Then, I moved on to the cauliflower.  I didn't like the highlight color I had used for the vegetable's leaves in the first layer - too blue.  So, I mixed a bit more yellow in and that worked better.  I also worked on the cauliflower itself, stippling with and a light purple for shading.  There's still detailing to be done or adjusted there.


The last thing I did was to "plant some crops" in the far field.  That took a little extra time because I tried a few different greens before I found something I liked.


I love seeing how everything is starting to build, little by little.

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7. The Shadow Collector's Apprentice by Amy Gordon

It's 1963, and in the small town of Medley, Cully Pennyacre's summer is about to get more complicated than he ever imagined possible. With his dad on a world-traveling hiatus and his family's apple farm losing financial ground, Cully takes on an apprenticeship that ends up adding more to his life than just a little extra cash. Click here to read my full review.

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8. Saturday Snippet 3


Oh, how true!
This photo was taken on a trip to Provincetown when I first met KJ and Debra Kay.
I think this was the most well behaved Italian Greyhound I'd ever met.
Sweet as can be, and so smart!
Don't you just love her shadow friend?

Happy Saturday everyone!
xo
Lo♥

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9. Drawing Cast Shadows









By way of something completely different -- I'll be teaching a background and layout class this term and one of the technical issues I discuss is drawing cast shadows accurately. I've been setting up a lot of these little still-lifes and then diagramming on top of them.

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10. Cactus Monday: Spines and shadows


I've been on such a creative roll this weekend doing lots of my atc's ahead of time for our ABC group that I thought I'd wake up on that same roll and paint a cactus. Well, I think my roll has shifted slightly because I'm not too happy with this one! I've missed being a part of CM though, so here's my little offering this week, spines and shadows. And I used a bit of gouache in the spines just for Teri! But then I couldn't leave it alone. I just had to go over them with colored pencils. HCM everyone!

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11. Animal Wednesday: Sun Therapy


As long as I find something in my archives I can take a few minutes to post something. I'm having withdrawl!

This is a painting I did when we first moved to California. This is Biff, one of the three boys that drove out with us. He was a typical sun worshipper, just like his mom. I took him from his previous owners when he was a year old. He had malnutrition and pneumonia. He lived on a dairy farm and they didn't believe in feeding him because they thought he wouldn't be a good mouser unless he was hungry. They never gave him vaccines and the result of that was upper respiratory infection that went into pneumonia.

I took him to the vet hospital where I worked. He was negative for leukemia, thank goodness, so we treated his pneumonia, fattened him up and when he was better we neutered him. He was nearly seventeen when he died.

He had the biggest crush on me, honestly it was a hoot! I dearly miss him.

Now that we're moving back, it seems appropriate to post something that I did shortly after our arrival.

Happy Animal Wednesday!! And yes, I'm still packing like crazy ;)

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12. Shadow Puppets // Árnybábok

After working through long days very hard I can not start another work right then.
My mind needs some "refill" to get ready for the next creative - using my mind - project.
Yesterday we had to go to Veszprém as a business trip.
After the working part of the day we went to see the city.
We visited a very small exhibition about shadow puppets from Bali and Java called wayang kulit.
It was very refreshing too see this unique world of these special characters and thinking about playing with shadow.

Miután folyamatosan nagyon sokat dolgozom valamin, akkor egyszerűen képtelen vagyok rögtön nekiállni egy újabb szellemileg kihívást jelentő munkának.
Szüksége van az agyamnak, vagy elmémnek, ha jobban tetszik, valami felfrissülésre.
Ezt sokszor nehéz kivitelezni, mert ha nem is dolgozom, nem feltétlenül érnek új és feltöltő vizuális ingerek (most a virtuális élményszerzést nem tekintem annak a gépelőtt üldögélés miatt)
Tegnap munkajellegű kiránduláson voltunk Veszprémben. Ezek a napok azért mindig lazábbak, mert a munka végeztével azért még körülnézünk, ha már elutazunk valahova. Így most Veszprém több érdekes látnivalója közt egy nagyon apróra méretezett árny-báb kiállítást is meglátogattunk. A bábok Baliról és Jáváról származtak, és a műfajt wayang kulit -nak hívják.
Nagyon jól esett egy pillanatra belemerülni ebbe a teljesen más lényekkel rendelkező világba és elgondolkozni azon, hogy mi minden hozható ki az árnyékkal való játszásból.

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13. LibCamp notes from Brian Herzog

LibCamp was an unconference held at Boston Public Library last week. I didn’t go, but Brian did and made a great list of notes from his wrap-up so that libraries who might be curious about things like gaming, twitter and printing from the wifi network can check out a short list of links and get some good information.

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