Welcome, April!

I decided to skip a March blog because everyone knows the month of March isn't any fun. Sure there's St. Patrick's Day, March Madness and Spring Break, but I rarely stop at the pubs these days, I didn't fill out a bracket and I'm too old (and my son's too young) for Spring Break. So welcome, April! Where the hell have you been?

I'm a bit behind (shocking!) on my #kidlitart Picture Book Dummy Challenge, but I'm starting to pick up the pace. Here's a sneak peek at character from my book drawn on our driveway on an extremely rare warm/dry March day.


I'm playing illustration ping pong with fellow #kidlitart(ist) - Michael Smith. Based on a silly concept a few of us were joking about during the first #kidlitart PBDummy chat (a pirate giving a pig a piggy back ride), Michael did a great illustration of a viking riding a pig. How awesome is that? So it was my turn to illustrate something based on Michael's drawing. Here's what I came up with...


I call it "Super Awesome Sunny Wicked Fun Lemonade Day!" Can you guess why? Michael's going to set up a blog for our illustration game. I'll post the link and add to my links section as soon as it's up.

Had a great time at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art back on the 19th of March attending a program titled, "Overcoming Challenges: A Program for Writers and Illustrators". Here are the official details:

"Four veteran authors and author-illustrators participate in a two-part program that addresses the challenges we all face as writers and illustrators of children's book. A book sale and signing will round out the day.

Mary Newell DePalma has illustrated twenty picture books and is the author of five, including A Grand old Tree, an IRA/CBC Children's Choice in 2006.

Jo Knowles is the author of Lessons From A Dead Girl and Jumping Off Swings. She teaches
writing for children in the MFA program at Simmons College. Awards include the PEN New England Discovery Award, YALSA Best Books for Young Adults and Quick Picks Top Ten.

Brian Lies is the award-winning author-illustrator of more than twenty picture books, including the New York Times bestsellers Bats at the Beach and Bats at the Library, and his recent Bats at the Ballgame.

Barbara O'Connor has written seven middle grade novels, including The Fantastic Secret of
Owen Jester and How to Steal a Dog. Her numerous awards include ALA Notables, Parents Choice Gold and Silver, Massachusetts Book Award, and several state children's choice awards."

The panel was amazing and answered a number of pertinent questions, adding many suggestions and humorous stories based on their years of experience in the industry. I think I did a pretty decent job taking notes and promise to get them posted on their own blog entry some time this week.

Wendi and Jake were nice enough to make the drive out with me (actually, Wendi drove), dropping me off at the Carle for the morning session (they passed the time at Trader Joe's and Michael's Craft Center) returning for the lunch break with some food from Panera (sweet!). They enjoyed the Carle's art studio and story time in the library while I was in the afternoon session. Get to the Carle if you can. It an amazing place. Here are a couple of pics from our trip...



Got a great gift from the always wonderful Wendi last week - a ticket to Opening Day at Yankee Stadium! How cool was that? Very cool, right? Here's a photo of me in the stands during Mark Teixeira's 3rd inning 3-run HR...


See me in the white circle? I swear that's me. Anyway, it was really cold and windy, but it was awesome to walk around the new Stadium and see the Yanks win the first game of the season. Hoping to get to another game (at least) this season.

PictureBook Dummy Challenge, Illo ping pong, a family trip to the Carle for a writers/illustrators conference and Opening Day at Yankee Stadium. Maybe I owe March an apology.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

An Illustrator's Observations and Lessons Learned at the 2012 NESCBWI Conference

Image
Draw the environment before adding the character. If you're modeling for a drawing class, the Angry Hulk pose and Tebowing are crowd pleasers. Surround yourself with talent and you'll eventually win a door prize. My drawings need texture. If Brian Lies is speaking, I'm listening. I dare anyone not to blush when a group of attractive lit agents and writers shout your name from a balcony. All of the illustrators I met were extremely cool people. But not all extremely cool people can be illustrators of course. And then there’s Hazel Mitchell… Honored to have sketched in the Octo-Puss in Boots book. BTW, Casey Girard is cool as hell. Love and care about each character and the rest will be easier. You don't have to know how to play the banjo to play the banjo. Speaking of banjos, Russ Cox deserves every accolade thrown in his direction. Harry Bliss is a comedic genius. Meeting my Facebook and Twitter illo pals was e...
Read more

The Lunch Notes Post

Image
Every day during the school year my lovely wife Wendi would create a very tasty and extremely healthy lunch for our son Jake, a recent kindergarten graduate. So of course I had to keep up with theses standards and do my own creating, which involved sketching a daily lunch note that I tucked into the mesh netting of his Batman lunch box every morning before I dropped him off at school. The lunch notes were something I had thought of doing well before he started his academic career. I was happy to see that a few of my illustrator friends on Facebook were also drawing notes for their kids on other canvases like sandwich bags and napkins. Fortunately, in spite of my often disorganized brain, I started the lunch notes on day one and kept it going for the entire school year. Some mornings the drawings were easy. Others? Not so much. I stopped by Jake's school the week before graduation to talk to his class about drawing comics. It was very cool to hear so many of the kids mention how...
Read more

Avast, You Scurvy Rats! It's The Next Big Thing Blog Tour!

Image
The Next Big Thing blog tour started in Australia, but it's sturdy sails soon caught a mighty wind (ewww...), sending it on a tour of the seven seas. The object of the tour is to bring awareness to authors & illustrators and their current work. A treasure chest filled with thank ye's goes to the very talented Wendy Martin for tagging me. I've been asked to answer 10 questions about my current book-in-progress, after which I'll tag three others who aren't just amazing illustrators and writers, but good friends as well. Now weigh anchor and set a course for some long-winded answers! 1. What is the working title of your next book? Pirates Go Shopping Some of the original character sketches. Can you tell which ones my son didn't like? 2. Where did the idea come from for the book? I entered the 2011 Picture Book Dummy Challenge organized and run so well by KidLitArt founders Wendy Martin and Bonnie Adamson. Sitting at our dining room tabl...
Read more