Hi everyone! I’m taking a break from my series about classic PB animal characters so that I can share about my new book, TELL ME A TATTOO STORY (written by Alison McGhee, published by Chronicle Books), which just released this week! YAY!! The illustration journey is unique to each book, and I’m …
I’m back with a follow-up report on my previous post about ‘ Favorite Classic Animal Characters’ in picture books. Thanks to everyone for commenting and suggesting titles! I’ve been on a quest to find anthropomorphic characters that I could love as much as those chapter book classics; Frog and Toad, Winnie-the-Pooh, …
I’m currently in the chilly mid-west, in the midst of the last week on a final artwork deadline, creating illustrations for a picture book by Caroline McAlister, JOHN RONALD’S DRAGONS: STORY OF J.R.R. TOLKIEN (MacMillan, Feb 2017). The last stretch of work on picture book artwork especially feels a lot like being in a bunker; social …
Two things have been on my mind in recent days: Winter. I’m about to head to Wisconsin to be with family for the holidays and get all snowed in and cozy for a spell. Elephants. I just got the F&G’s in for a picture book that I illustrated earlier this …
‘Wild’ by author/illustrator Emily Hughes (Flying Eye Books), is about a girl raised by animals in the wild. She’s discovered and removed by some hunters, who attempt to tame her into human society. Their attempts fail, and she escapes joyfully back to her native habitat. I’m wild about this book …
The first step when beginning a picture book project is to go shopping. I have only recently acknowledged this because I seem to be amassing quite a collection of, “stuff”, all in the name of my “craft”. I don’t recall learning this step in art school, so I began paying attention, noticing, contemplating this …
“Always make the audience suffer as much as possible.” –Alfred Hitchcock Can you remember a book from your childhood in which the main character suffered so much that it, in turn, made you wriggle in your seat with agony? For me, this book was HENRY’S AWFUL MISTAKE, by Robert Quackenbush. …
This week, fellow Picture Book Builder Pat Zietlow-Miller and I celebrated the release of our newest picture book, WHEREVER YOU GO. This book’s journey began nearly 2 years ago for me (Pat will have to let us know how much longer it’s been for her!), when Little Brown editor Connie Hsu …
In Tammi Sauer’s last post, she mentioned that “The Watermelon Seed” made her want to be a better writer. Reading that simple statement led me to know immediately what I had to write about next. Don’t you love it when inspiration strikes like that? (Thanks, Tammi!) My first book, MISS …
The book that I felt inspired to write about isn’t exactly considered a picture-book — yet it’s a story told entirely in pictures, so what book could warrant the title more? Shaun Tan’s ‘The Arrival’, is the story of a man who leaves his family and country in search of a better …