This week I join three incredibly talented illustrators on a new venture, The Painted Page, where we will be illustrating Hans Christian Andersen tales. I hope you will join us each week for a new chapter, illustrated by Veronica Walsh, Jennifer Gray Olson, Carolyn Le, and me! And if you couldn't guess, this is my main character from The Ugly Duckling.

Add a Comment

Add a Comment

Exploring more characters. Often I will start a character sketch with quick drawings of real people, sometimes distorting the facial characteristics to create a less realistic character. Occasionally I know the people I sketch (and they me!) so to avoid any chance of someone recognizing him/herself - and not being flattered - those rough drawings never make it into the public eye. As for these sketches, "Any resemblance to actual people or events is purely coincidental".

Add a Comment

I've been spending some time over the last few weeks concentrating less on characters and more on environment. This has led to experimenting with color (inspired by the amazing Peter Ferguson) and materials and techniques (taking pointers from one of my favorite pastel artists, Gary Kelley). This is one piece from those explorations. I am liking the intensity of color and strong contrasts I can get with the new pastels I am using.

Add a Comment

This week (May 10-16) is Children's Book Week, a national celebration of children's books since 1919. Coordinated by Every Child a Reader and Children's Book Council, the week is noted for events and readings across the country (check with your local library and book store).  During the week, the Childrens Choices book award winners are also announced. Wondering what kids really like to read? Check out this year's finalists as well as the winners from previous years.

Add a Comment

I've been working on the cover for a children's book. My personal taste in children's book covers tends toward simple but dramatic composition with greater emphasis on the image than the title or other text. The covers of David Wiesner's Flotsam, Jon Muth's Zen Ties, and Kadir Nelson's Moses are example of how the masters do it. There is much to be learned! And so this task has gotten me to checking out what some others are thinking and saying about covers. Jacket Knack and Jacket Whys are specifcally about children's book covers and are definitely worth checking out.

Add a Comment

I did this piece for today's Los Angeles Times. Lola Di Giulio De Maci wrote the delightful short story about rainbows. Each image brings its own challenges (this one: how not to be too "sweet" or cliched with an image of a rainbow). The LA Times' pieces also get printed on newsprint, which can significantly alter the colors and contrast of an image. I've tried to compensate with each of the pieces I've done for them, but I think this one reproduced the best so far. Any advice is most welcome!

Add a Comment

I try not to pass up opportunities to look at the original art of master illustrators. I was more than well rewarded at the Los Angeles Central Library show of William Joyce's gorgeous work. Joyce's brilliant use of color is particularly remarkable as he works from a palette of only 4 colors (plus black and white). Equally impressive are his monochromatic pencil drawings - subdued yet powerful in their ability to immediately engage the viewer. He is fearless in his compositions, often cropping in unexpected ways or quite comfortably incorporating large expanses of negative space. I ran across this video of Joyce talking about his stories, a welcome addition to his delightful The World of William Joyce. There's much to be learned from the great Mr. Joyce.

Add a Comment

I ended this past very intense fall semester with a long anticipated trip to Italy. Two weeks only began to scratch the surface of Venice, Florence, Siena, and Rome. The food, the art, the architecture - oh my! It will take me some time to integrate it all.

It snowed in Florence (a very rare occurrence) resulting in an eerie and magical disappearance of all motorized vehicles on the strangely quiet but beautiful white streets. This is a shot of Filippo Brunelleschi's Duomo covered in snow.

The residents of Florence are very friendly, but for the most part a rather business-like group. The adults "tolerated" this intrusion of weather. The children, as you can well imagine, went crazy! Coming from southern California, my travel group did too! It was the best.

Venice was just like I had seen in pictures -but never truly believed. Surely there must be autos on the streets just beyond the street not shown, I thought. Nope. No car to be found anywhere. Narrow streets and passageways barely wide enough for two people. I still don't understand entirely how the city functions (how do you move a grand piano? what about ambulances?). Guess I'll have to go back for more research.


I'm wondering what Italy's like in the summer. May just have to do some more onsite research.

Add a Comment

I did this piece for today's LA Times. It was one of those very rare images that popped into my head fully formed and just laid itself on the paper (well, almost). It accompanies a very fun story by Patricia Rust.

Add a Comment

I've gotten to do a couple of pieces for the Los Angeles Times' Kid's Reading Room. This is a sketch for an illustration that accompanied the delightful story by Donna Gephart, author of As If Being 12 1/2 Isn't Bad Enough, My Mother is Running for President (visit her at donnagephart.com) in the Oct. 4 edition. Here's the final story and picture: "Do I Have To Go To School Today?"


There's one more in the pipeline. This is a preliminary idea for the illustration accompanying a story for the Oct. 25 edition. I think all artists have particular favorite themes. I love the man in the moon - or more correctly - the men in the moon. Every opportunity to do an image with a moon conjures up a whole new personality. And they seem so happily above the fray of our little anthill on earth.

Add a Comment

Back to school! I can see the light at the end of the tunnel as I have only one semester left after this one. Among the classes I'm taking this semester is my thesis, which will focus on wordless picture books (hmmm, lots of words about no words). I'm teaching 2-dimensional design this go around. There's nothing quite like a room full of first semester freshman to get one excited and inspired! And this weekend is the opening of our 2 week show From Here to There in the Exit Gallery at Cal State Fullerton. Busy, fun week.

Add a Comment

There's nothing more tempting than a new moleskin sketchbook, especially one with thick, rich watercolor paper. (Here's my inaugural "dip.") I love looking at others' sketchbooks so I'm enamored with Danny Gregory's An Illustrated Life. Makes you want to do nothing but play in your sketchbook all day. So maybe I won't do that all day. The SCBWI summer conference is around the corner and there's still much to do to get ready - postcards, finishing touches on the portfolio, new look for the blog (ta-da!), updating website (not yet done), practicing the elevator pitch, and of course the Saturday night outfit! All very exciting - can't wait!

Add a Comment

I am continuing to explore black and white this summer and have spent the last couple of weeks working on editorial-type projects. I developed this pencil image for use on a flyer for a certain museum group conference with a focus on bridging cultures.

On an unrelated and far more important topic, has anyone else noticed a change in the inventory in the children's book section of the larger chain bookstores? I had a chance to be in both the Barnes and Noble down the street and the wonderful independent children's book store Whale of a Tale this week. B&N has definitely reduced their offerings and seems to be stocking up on oldies but goodies at the expense of a lot of amazing new books. I hadn't realized the extent of lack of great kids' lit at B&N until I saw at W-o-a-T what I had been missing. This raises all kinds of troubling questions - most of which I have no answers for. I've always been an equal opportunity book shopper: I patronize all kinds of booksellers, and I think B&N does a great job enticing customers (a good thing for the publishing industry). But I know I've got to make a greater effort at supporting the independent stores. Without them, all these fabulous books that B&N doesn't carry will . . . disappear.

Add a Comment

As most artists (after they have moved past the finger painting age), I began making pictures with a pencil. When I began pursuing art as an adult, I found drawing, particularly in black and white, to be so very mesmerizing.

Having spent the past several years immersed in color, I have recently felt the need to find my black and white "roots" again. So, after a couple of weeks playing with papers and boards, charcoal and ink, I have rediscovered the method and materials I originally fell in love with: Cretacolor Nero pencils on a really soft creamy white Fabriano. It's such an enjoyable way to spend time - almost enough to make me think about giving up color altogether!

Add a Comment

I discovered the art of Bernie Wrightson a few months ago and was immediately awestruck by his amazing illustrations (one of which is above) for the recently re-released Frankenstein. What a treat it was to have an opportunity to hear him speak for several hours today at Fullerton College. He shared many of his images, his process, and which artists have inspired him (Frank Frazetta, J.C. Cole, Charles Dana Gibson, Franklin Booth, Gustave Dore', Heinrich Kley). While his inking technique is quite remarkable, it is his preliminary approaches to a drawing I found most interesting and useful. After creating compositionally strong thumbnails of large shapes and values (and virtually no detail), he resolves all issues (including laying in most if not all of the line work in pencil) before he does the final inking. He lays in his darkest (solid black) areas first, and follows with the line work. Clearly his methodical approach works. I know I will be using it from now on.

Add a Comment

Making art is always full of wonderful (and sometimes not so wonderful) surprises. In my dual roles of student (in the MFA program at CSUF) and teacher (of Beginning Drawing, also at CSUF) I find that the surprises are very different.

I really, really love to look at the solutions my students come up with when given an assignment. Despite the fact that it is called a beginning class, they bring incredibly sophisticated, fresh, innovative, and exciting ideas to the page. I am always inspired and get excited all over again about the limitless possibilities and emotional connections with drawing.

And then there is my other perspective: student (me!) learning to master a new skill. This time it was to create a pop-up (my attempt above). Surprise: simple name, deceivingly complex construct. Challenging hardly describes the learning process for this project. Hats off to pros Robert Sabuda, Matthew Reinhart, and David Carter. I will continue to drool over your creations but no longer feel I have to try it myself!

Add a Comment

I spent the weekend in fabulous Manhattan, NY, at SCBWI's annual winter conference. Friday was the Illustrators' Intensive. It WAS pretty intensive, and very thought provoking. Leo and Diane Dillon presented as well as signed books. I was in heaven. I am a huge fan of their work and to have an opportunity to hear and meet them was quite the dream come true. Illustrator William Low's tutorial on Photoshop was very much hands on. Elise Primavera's exercise in idea generation (a group process that resulted in some pretty zany stories) was definitely an I-can-take-this-home-and-use-it pearl. Ending the day was an invaluable critique of portfolio pieces by art directors Giuseppe Castellano, Scott Piehl, and Carla Weise, moderated by Cecilia Yung.

Saturday brought inspiring presentations by author/illustrator Jarrett Krosoczka, YA author Jay Asher, and editor Richard Jackson. The breakout sessions with editors and art directors was very informative with an important lesson: each really has his/her own way of doing things. Similar questions were answered very differently.

Sunday we heard the entertaining MG author Bruce Hale (he sang!); more great take-it-home advice from agents Michael Bourret, Alyssa Henking, Edward Necarsulmer, and Michael Stearns; author Jack Gantos; and the announcement of portfolio awards. And here's the horn tootin' part: I received one of two honor awards. Yay! (The piece above is part of a dummy included in my portfolio.) Kudos to weekend buddy Leeza Hernandez on her Tomie dePaola award and congrats to David Ercolini on his grand prize win.

Overall, it was a great conference. Very different from the summer L.A. conference but in good ways. But both leave me overflowing with inspiration and motivation. So, time to go. I gotta get back to work on my children's books!

Add a Comment

Today was Chemers Gallery's annual Children's Book Illustrators' Show. As always, the artwork was amazing, as were the illustrators. The books illustrated by these artists are really beautiful. But to see the original pieces is even more wonderful. The printed art always pales in comparison.

In chatting with the artists, the topic invariably turns to "how long does it take you to...." fill in the blank: do the preliminary sketch, produce the final piece, do a whole book. Illustrator Zachary Pullen shared that it takes him many months to design and finish all the pieces for a book. And then he talked about a recent editorial piece he did for a major national newspaper - he was given exactly 24 hours to get the final work into their hands. Of course, being the professional that he is, it was accomplished.

So I guess I am not the only one whose rate of production is exactly equal to the amount of time available. While I tend to work slower when given a long deadline, I know I can speed things up when I have to. This piece, which I'm pretty happy with, was done in about an hour.

Today's inspired resolution: work fast!

Add a Comment

I have been working on a couple of children's stories. It has been a very interesting process as I am usually wrapped up in pictures rather than words. Words are an entirely different animal.

While I can get a handle on the story and plot, and I begin to understand the characters (here are a couple of new ones), putting it into words requires a whole new skill set.

To a certain degree, though, I find that tapping into the emotional center of a child's world feels the same whether I'm looking for just the right word or making just the right image. It seems both sides of my brain recognize authentic when I am lucky enough to stumble across it.

Unfortunately, luck comes in small, infrequent doses. So I write and rewrite and share with critique buddies and rewrite again. I have to believe that practice will help make . . . better.

Add a Comment

This new piece was great fun to do. It was submitted to SCBWI's recent contest "Lab Mayhem." (Yay! It got an honorable mention!) I often get ideas for color palettes from unlikely publications. Thank you, Vogue, for inspiring a purple chimp!

Add a Comment

Characters are great fun to draw. Here are a few recent ones. If I silence my subconscious art director, they develop much more unique features.

Once the face is on the page, its like looking at someone I'm meeting for the first time. "Hello, who are you?" I wonder about their life history, who they really are, where they came from. And so they change from just an interesting face into a real character.

Add a Comment

I am a traditionalist, preferring pencil and paper over mouse and computer when making art. It is a personal preference based on my affinity toward the tactile experience. (These quick graphite sketches from life were done on a wonderfully toothy manila paper.) I do not dislike digital art. On the contrary, there are some amazing images being produced digitally. It's just not my medium of choice.

In a recent conversation about storing images digitally, it was mentioned that images generated several years ago using the technology available at the time have been found to have degraded over the years. In some cases, the software that generated the original art is obsolete. I wonder how the digital community is ensuring work will be still be able to be viewed decades, or centuries, from now.

Add a Comment

I'm taking a couple of drawing classes. These are some quick sketches from the animal and wildlife illustration class. Figurative drawing is such sweet torture! I really love the physical part, from the feel of the paper to making a really free flowing line. The rapid sketching, capturing the movement and spirit rather than dwelling on the details, is wonderfully satisfying.

It's the mental part - is it right? why not? what happened to the spirit of the figure? - that fights with the pleasure my hand feels. I know the more I do this, the better my hand will perform.

Fortunately, no matter how good the drawing might eventually get, my brain will always be dissatisfied, at least a little. No complacency allowed!

Add a Comment