It's beginning to sound like an existential crisis around here trying to keep the titles of my next two picture books straight. On the heels of YOU ARE NOT A CAT! due out this fall, comes IF I WERE A KANGAROO: A BEDTIME TALE by Mylisa Larsen. While I can't share the illustrations yet, I can say working on it was a great experience, and gave me the opportunity to collaborate with an Art Director that I've admired for a long time: Denise Cronin of Viking Children's Books. I hope the world likes it as much as I do. I tested my animal-drawing chops once again, since the book features—not just kangaroos, but gorillas, giraffes, a really weird-looking spider with eight eyes, and more. Unfortunately, you'll have to wait until Spring of 2017 to get your hands on it, but here's a suggestion: it will make an excellent Mother's Day gift. :^)
The SVA Summer Residency in Illustration
Yesterday marked the completion of my third year teaching in the Illustration Summer Residency at the School of Visual Arts. Led by coordinator Viktor Koen, illustrators Paul Hoppe, Andrea Tsurumi, Lisel Ashlock, and myself, students absorb all they can from the New York illustration scene, while honing their skills in an intensive month-long program.
My class focuses on narrative illustration, for which students come armed with a short text of their choice to develop into a series of images. As in past years, they were a very international group—with only two from North America—and created projects that were as diverse as their home countries. All in all, the residency makes for a very rewarding gig for me. The photo above shows us celebrating all their hard work at last night's open studio reception, and below is a small sample of their work.
Throwback Thursday
I’ve been thinking a lot about some life events and milestones of mine this year: getting married, celebrating a big birthday, turning in illustrations for a tenth book…the list goes on. But there’s one milestone in particular that I keep coming back to—one that took place ten years ago today.
It was then that I had an argument with my boss which led to me hatching a plan to quit my job as a designer to return to school and give this illustration thing a go. I’m still a work in progress—that’s for sure, but on this Throwback Thursday, I’d like to throw some appreciation your way, to my family, friends and followers—to everyone who’s been so kind and supportive to me over the last decade. It really has meant a lot, so I just want to shout out a big THANK YOU for helping me reinvent myself.
❤️A.
The Undies Case Cover Awards!
About a month ago, I shared the not-so-secret case cover art for YOU ARE NOT A CAT which is due out this fall. The image (seen above) will appear under the jacket (seen below), and in some situations—perish the thought—might go completely unnoticed. One can excuse readers for not looking under jackets because for years…decades really…many of us who love, read, and make picture books were under the assumption that the art of the case of a book always matched that of the jacket. As a picture book designer, I was told it cost more, and there wasn't enough money in the production budget for a separate image. But thankfully, that is no longer *ahem* the case.
So, if picture books and sneak peeks at cool stuff are your thing, you might want to check out Carter Higgins' blog Design of the Picture Book where she and Travis Jonker (a.k.a. 100 Scope Notes) have launched “The Undies Case Cover Awards” to celebrate the sometimes overlooked but always meaningful art of the case. There’s a really great gallery of books that have been submitted thus far, and if you’d like to nominate one that you know of, there’s information about that too.
Thanks Carter and Travis for drawing attention to our undies!
Little Card visits Friends Seminary
Last week, I visited the kindergartners at Friends Seminary in Manhattan for a reading of A BIG SURPRISE FOR LITTLE CARD and a bit of crafting. It's so fun to see where kids will take my "Make Your Own Little Card" activity. After they'd colored and assembled their masterpieces—with many holding Wide Card's glass of lemonade—a few kids drew scenes for their Little Cards. How great is that? And I got a big hug from one little boy while on my way out. Many thanks to their teacher Christine Cincotta for hosting me!