You're the meaning in my life, you're the inspiration

...Richard Scarry. Ok, maybe not "the meaning in my life". But certainly an inspiration that oddly enough, I hadn't realized until I stumbled upon one of his titles while searching for something on Amazon the other day.


I used to LOVE these books as a kid, poring over all of the details in the town. In the same way, I loved Where's Waldo, too. Not so much the actual searching for Waldo, but just reading the stories in the illustrations.


As I was scanning some of the pieces for Bea Rocks the Flock, I said to myself, "Hmm. Many of these pieces are very highly populated. That's odd." Not so odd anymore.

Progress Report

6 weeks to go until final art for Bea Rocks the Flock is due! I'm feeling pretty good about this deadline. I am, however, making deep sacrifices to keep myself on schedule, such as missing a rollerskating party last weekend, and HOW am I going to balance my painting schedule with my Olympics-watching schedule?!

On another type of progress report, I thought I'd document the different stages of the last spread that I painted. It is, of course, Bea's joyful return to the flock after her outrageous adventures.

DAY 1:

I start by transferring my sketch to my ready-and-waiting paper. I color in (old school) the back of the sketch with an orangey Prismacolor pencil, then flip it over and re-trace the drawing to transfer it. I like the orangey color- it gives a warmth to the final piece.

DAY 2:

Do my first light color washes. I use all types of things in my paintings- acrylic paint for the large stretches, and marker, pens, and Prismacolors for les details.

DAY 3:

Doesn't look too different from Day 2, does it?!? It's rather frustrating- after laying in the basic colors, I always think to myself, "Ooh, almost done!". I'm always surprised by how long the actual layering & defining takes. There's a bit more contrast & definition in this one, though.

Oh, and when I say "Day"- I'm not usually working from 9-5 on these. My painting "days" usually last between, oh, 7 or 8 pm to midnight or 1 (depending on my schedule/sleepiness factors)

DAY 4:

Almost there! I'm getting heavier & more saturated colors on the grass, & a bit more definition on those otherwise pudgy sheep.

TA-DA!

All done! It's not really a fair comparison, color-wise, because I scanned the final piece on our nice scanner at work, compared to the crappy photos taken by my equally crappy camera. But still, you get the idea!

Bea Rocks the Flock, Sponsored by Brooks Brothers

Imagine my surprise in passing a Brooks Brothers store this weekend and realizing that this is their logo:

My friend Carina is aptly acting out my disbelief at its striking similarity to this:

!!! If any of you have read Roger Sutton's blog post about branding and are worried about my artistic integrity, fear not: No money has passed between Brooks Brothers and myself. Bea is NOT FOR SALE, do you hear me?

But seriously, Brooks Brothers-- if you're interested, let's talk.

Down and Derby

I've mentioned before my love of Roller Derby, my desire to one day be a Rollergirl, and my interest in finding myself a kickin' roller derby name in the meantime. And not just ANY kickin' roller derby name—one that has to do with children's literature, and yet is still tough as nails. Well, my fascination was renewed at a Gotham Girls Roller Derby bout on Saturday night, where not one, but TWO members of the Bronx Gridlock had kidlit-inspired names. I can't believe I never thought of these:

Beatrix Slaughter

and

Lemony Kickit


And referee, Professor Rumbledore.


Pretty awesome. There was also Dainty Inferno, for plain ol' literature appeal.

So to sum up, here are the names I've come up with so far:

#1: J.K. Brawling (the most popular choice, according to my research, but I'm still not 100% sold)

#2: Mo Pain Willems

#3: Margaret Wiseacre Brown

#4: Sally St. Payne

#5: Violet Rockingham (these last 2 were actually suggested by illustrator Christina Rodriguez, and I'm still not exactly sure who they reference! I gots to do some kidlit research).

If you have any suggestions, please let me know!!

Spot the differences!

Below are two versions of the same spread in Bea Rocks the Flock. The first one I did- oh! Maybe 3 years ago, when I was just putting together the first dummy. Check out those googly eyes! Too bad I'm late arriving to this competition. Until I compared them side-by-side, I had no idea my style had changed so much!



Added bonus to "spot the difference" game: Where's Waldo? (ok, my niece and brother). I have 4 (almost) wordless & very highly populated spreads, & it's been fun to pop in people I know. Maybe I can add a Where's Waldo component to the book, with the added challenge of readers having to guess what my friends and family members look like in order to find them.

My Two Marathons

As I have mentioned in previous posts, I am currently involved in the marathon called "finishing all of the artwork for my picture book by September". But did you know that I am also currently involved in the other kind of marathon, the 26.2 mile kind?! The NYC marathon is happening on November 2, and barring any injuries, I'll be in it. (and hopefully improving upon my 2003 Sydney marathonn performance- above. You can't really see in the picture, but I am finishing just ahead of a walking guy, and behind him is a really really old lady). At first, I thought it might be a little crazy to attempt to do both at once, but you know what? There will always be "something" preventing me from taking on new challenges, if I let them. And I only have to look to all of the authors and illustrators out there with full time jobs AND with families to take care of for inspiration. I'm sure they could teach me a thing or two about "fatigue" and "heavy workload".

So, last night was my first training group run, and I am happy that I wasn't totally left in the dust during the 5 mile run! Even though I am just home from a week's vacation in Montreal, where I did nothing but eat poutine and sugar pie (not noted in my Runner's World magazine for their health benefits).


If you've never had poutine before, I recommend booking your ticket to Montreal right now. Or, there's actually a restaurant in Brooklyn that serves a passable poutine. Bonus: Restaurant shares the name of my favorite animal!

A Surprisingly Literary Weekend

Who'd a thunk that by trying to escape NYC with a weekend jaunt to Quakertown, Pennsylvania, I would stumble upon a piece of literary history? Well, evidently our hosts Nicole and Keith had thunk it, because they had told me (and I forgot) that the farm we were going to visit was once the home of Eric Knight, author of Lassie Come Home. Not only was it his home, it was actually the location where he wrote this book! AND, the real-life inspiration for Lassie (Toots) is buried here.


Otto was appropriately respectful at this shrine of doghood.


The farm was beautiful (Keith used to work here, so don't worry- we're not trespassing on private property without permission), and unbelievably quiet and peaceful.


Well, mostly peaceful...



... and it got me wishing most heartlily to be a matronly old children's book author, writing picture stories in my attic studio, tending my chickens and eating farm-fresh eggs all the live-long day.



Maybe someday...

Flock and Roll!

Devoted readers of this blog (Dad) might recall a post from back in January, in which I painted a rose-colored view of my future, with many happy months before me painting the scenes for Bea Rocks the Flock (my forthcoming picture book with Bloomsbury), with final art due June 1. Devoted readers of calendars might realize that this date has come and gone. However! I am very happy to report that Bea will still Rock the Flock, and still with a Summer 09 pub date, to boot! The new due date will be mid-September, meaning that I will be spending my summer months exactly as I would like to: in the sweltering confines of my non-airconditioned 4th-floor painting studio. I kid! Sweaty or no, this is exactly how I'd like to spend my summer.

Above is the jacket sketch I recently sent in. The interior paintings are rolling out fast and furious, and I will keep a running commentary on this blog. Without, of course, betraying the Harry Potter-like secrecy that is surrounding this book.

Back to the sweaty drawing board!

SCBWI Poughkeepsie!

I spoke at an SCBWI conference in Poughkeepsie, NY 2 weeks ago, and as always, I came away inspired and excited to get back to work! So many talented, and friendly, people. Per my usual M.O., I brought my camera but did not take any pictures (which is fine, because they probably would have all ended up looking like this:)


Luckily, I do have some non-blurry pictures that I used in my powerpoint presentation, starting with this powerhouse of an opening slide:

Eh? Eh? Intrigued, right?!? I followed up with these titillating images of the secret inner sanctums of... THE ART DEPARTMENT.



"Glamorous" is the word I think you're looking for. The point of my talk was to give the "inside scoop" on the art department (since I have a foot in both the world of the illustrator and of the publisher). I talked about postcards and mailers,



what happens to them,

and which ones I find successful, and which ones might end up in the recycling bin. I also talked about the process of choosing an illlustrator for a project (LOTS of printouts from the internet, and LOTS of discussions involving the art director, associate art director, publisher, and 3 editors). I also talked about who one should send samples to, and how to get in (and stay in!) the art director's good graces.

The Q&A session had a lot of "Qs" about dummy book submissions, so this is something I might try to incorporate more into future talks. Anything else? Any other secrets from the inside that you illustrators are dying to know?

Lastest piece

It's been a while since my last post, but I've been doing things besides sitting around and not posting! Here's a sample I finished last night-- still not sure if I'm entirely happy with it.




Another thing I've been doing is preparing my talk I'm giving this weekend at the Mid-Hudson Valley SCBWI conference this weekend! More on that TK. If anyone can tell me why "TK" stands for "To Come", I'll give you a candy bar. (All of our deals and bets as kids were sealed with a candy bar. I also remember having candy bar eating contests in the back seat of the car with my brothers, to see who could finish off their 3 Musketeers bar first. I wonder how that would fly in this post-Cookie Monster era.)