I had four new titles published this year. I'm very fortunate to have had the opportunity to illustrate these very different books. The first was the fourth in the "Memoir" books, Memoirs of a Parrot by Devin Scillian (Sleeping Bear Press).
This book was expensive. I don't mean the purchase price... but the story is about a guy who buys a parrot and plays a ukulele. So, I
needed to buy a ukulele. That was the expensive part.
Plus, I was also inspired by another ukulele strummer,
Emily Arrow. She visited a nearby school and I sat in on her excellent presentation. Great music...
with a ukulele named "Bow".
Oh well, I could have purchased an African grey parrot. That would have been even more expensive.
My second book of 2016 was
Rappy Goes to School by
Dan Gutman (HarperCollins). No, I didn't buy a dinosaur for this one. They are way too messy... and hard to house train.
The third title for 2016 was
Buddy's Bedtime Battery by
Christina Geist (Random House). A cute story of getting a child to slow down for bedtime. "Beep!"
Then, dancing to the fourth book of 2016 is
Footloose by
Kenny Loggins (Moondance Press). Kenny Loggins (with Dean Pitchford) re-wrote the iconic song to become a kid's dance tune. A story about two children who discover that zookeeper "Jack" and the zoo animals wait until the sun goes down, then
put on their dancin' shoes.
So, there you have it. With Christmas just around the corner, I can think of four really nice gifts for that special child in your life. I'll be closing out the year, wearing my dancin' shoes and strummin' my ukulele. This is November (turkey month) and I definitely have a lot to be thankful for.
That's all for now. I need to practice my ukulele.
I just finished the artwork for an upcoming book, FOOTLOOSE by Kenny Loggins. The book is being published by Moondance Press/ Quarto Publishing Group. I'm really excited about this one and I think a lot of people are going to be putting on their dancin' shoes in October. The original song (FOOTLOOSE) has been re-written to become a fun story that takes place after hours, at the zoo. The art is full of animals, color, texture, fun and a whole lot of DANCIN'!
Plus, while painting these illustrations, I listened to Kenny's
Return to Pooh Corner CD. Pure magic. I usually don't work directly with the author but I spoke to Kenny about his vision for the story. His input made the story telling more complete.
So, this October...
"EVERYBODY CUT FOOTLOOSE"!
One of my newest projects is to illustrate a book, written by Kenny Loggins. He re-wrote the song, FOOTLOOSE, as a kids song and the book will have a CD in the back so readers can read along, follow the story with illustrations and dance to this great Kenny Loggins song.
Acrylic paint on a gessoed bristol board.
Here are two finished interior pages.
Here is the final art for the cover and end papers. The CD (FOOTLOOSE song) will be placed where the moon is positioned, inside the back cover. So, the moon will be the CD.
The new song sounds great. Kenny did a fantastic job of adding a kid spin to the original version. This is a lot of fun but I have a hard time painting, while dancing. Believe me, you'll be putting on your dancin' shoes, too!
In many parts of the US, it is still winter. And prime snowman building season.
Frosty the Snowman, illustrated by
Wade Zahares with a musical CD by Kenny Loggins is honestly just year-round fun.
I'm lucky enough to know Wade and to have seen some of these amazing pastel paintings in person - note: they are BIG! He has a very unique approach to perspective and high-contrast color palettes that make his work instantly recognizable. Frosty glows almost as much as a real, crisp winter day - magically.
This is my absolute favorite spread in the book. It's a stellar point of view and captures that chase with all the fun intended. The Kenny Loggins version is upbeat but not frenetic - and there are a few other bonus tracks that you'll find your kids popping in on their own. You can find links to many videos of Kenny performing on the Facebook page,
here.
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