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Getting this Redwall painting ready to offer at my ETSY shop. I love drawing otters!

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Autumn at Redwall Abbey

A little autumn for The Redwall fans.
When I began work on A Redwall Winters Tale, I created a series of very small thumbnail sketches immediately after my first read through. This image came directly from one of those sketches. 
I have included a jpeg of the image as it appears in the book with Brian's wonderful poem. I remember that he read that poem to me over the phone and I knew what he wanted-how he wanted the piece to feel. I think it came from a shared appreciation of this particular time of day and season.
The Thistledown troupe and stray travelers of Mossflower are making their inside the gates of Redwall Abbey where the lanterns are lit and the fires are already burning. The warmth and smell of cooking welcomes the weary travelers inside as the light slips up the mighty walls and great bell tower. 
This original art is currently available, though probably not for long, at my Etsy shop.

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A big thank THANK YOU to Kathy Temean for asking me to be a part of Illustrator Saturday! Lots of information and some process images. Click on the link below to read the full interview. As Neil Gaiman says, "WARNING:Contains me" 

http://kathytemean.wordpress.com/2014/04/12/illustrator-saturday-christopher-denise/

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In January I gave a series of talk at Kindling Words east and can now share a bit of what I talked about during the breakout sessions with the illustrators. May 27th will mark the release date of Sleepytime Me by Edith Fine, my next book with Random house so it best to focus on this title for this series of posts.

First I need to address the question of why I am using digital tools. Not for myself, but because I am asked...all the time. Technique and materials are really of little interest to me. Photoshop is a tool. Pastels and charcoal are tools. I am more interested in what you create with them. However, the question is always in the air so I will give you the cliff notes version of my thinking on the debate.


I started using photoshop when I began work as a visual development artist working on animated films and have found the program to be an invaluable tool in my book production work. First a quick note to all the skeptics who ask: "Don't you miss traditional materials?"Quick answer: No. While there is a learning curve, I have been able to customize my tools to create a process that not only replicates my traditional technique but removes many of the limitations of working in pastel and acrylic. Here are two examples of work. The one on the left is from my pastel work on the Redwall  picture books, the image on the right is a detail from my book due out at the end of August 2014,  Baking Day at Grandma's by Anika Denise. The image on the right was created using only digital tools.


I am impatient with my art. I work best when I can act and react. With digital tools changing the piece as it begins to emerge is far easier and I can get to the fun stuff faster. The goal is not necessarily to shorten the production time, though in this day  of ever tightening deadlines and shrinking advances this is clearly a very good byproduct. The goal is to get as much of original inspiration down on the page as possible. With digital tools, I can cut right to the chase and then have the flexibility to edit, change, and repaint the piece to suit the needs of the entire book.

In the next post I will focus on the previously time consuming process of creating a bookmap with Photoshop.

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This original artwork was commissioned by my late friend Brian Jacques for an exclusive, members only Redwall Readers Club Christmas Greeting card. This illustration is one of a kind and only a small number of reproductions exist. A rare piece for the avid Redwall collector! The artwork was created with Charcoal pencil on acid free paper and measures approximately 7 inches by 4 1/2 inches.

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It is with great sadness that I mention the passing of Brian Jacques, author of the beloved Redwall series (Philomel).  Jacques, aged 71, died of a heart attack over the weekend. Read more about his life and work here.

Though I confess I haven’t read any of the most recent titles in the 21-book series, I was a huge Redwall fan as a child.  Growing up, I’d play for hours in the woods behind my house, pretending that I was adventuring in Mossflower or preparing for a feast at Redwall Abbey.  I’m sure that the positive memories I associate with the Redwall books are echoed by kids and adults the world over.

So when I found out, I just had to draw mouse characters, including Mariel, my favorite Jacques’ heroine, in honor of the great storyteller (see above). And if I can lighten the mood just a bit on this solemn occasion, I thought the two reference photos that I used to make the sketch were pretty funny.

Eulaliaaa!!!

Filed under: sketches, teen books Tagged: brian jacques, mariel of redwall, mouse, obituaries, redwall

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I have just learned of the passing of my dear old friend Brian Jacques. I will try to put together a post in the coming days with some my memories of Brian so that you might know a bit more of the Brian that I knew.

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Is this the piece you were looking for? If you collect original art and are a fan of my Redwall picturebooks, leave me a comment and let me know which piece you are looking for! If it is still available, I will put it on the list to post at ETSY.

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By Brian Jacques, illustrated by Sean Charles Rubin

Philomel Books, 2010

$23.99, ages 12 and up, 368 pages

What happens when two battle-crazed hares, one an expert with a sword, the other a champion with a spoon, set off for adventure in Mossflower Wood and run into a pack of vermin that is up to no good?

A rousing good tale of good versus evil, with plenty of breaks in the ruckus for plum duff and cordial, ditties and marching tunes, and a riddle to aide our humble heroes in uncovering what is hidden.

In this splendid 21st book in the epic, best-selling Redwall series, we find yet another scurrilous band of no-gooders trying to upset the bucolic world of the squirrels, otters and other gentle woodlanders of Mossflower.

Buckler Kordyne, a brave warrior hare, has been sent away from the mountain fortress Salamandastron with his food-guzzling scout Diggs to figure out what he wants from life when he stumbles upon a sinister plan to steal away Mossflower's young ones and take over Redwall Abbey.

Until now, the woodlanders had been enjoying peace in Mossflower and believed the days of battling their enemies the Ravagers were over -- which made for a pleasant time inside Redwall, but had amounted to a dull life for Blademaster Buck, who hungered for adventure.

Salamandastron's Badger Lord could see that young Buck was frustrated with teaching sword fighting; Buck disparaged it as "playing at being a warrior" and was acting rebellious. So the Badger Lord ordered him to take time off to travel with his trusted assistant, the hare Subaltern Digglethwaite, Diggs.

Buck is told to travel to his brother's farm and along the way to stop by Redwall to give the Abbess Marjoram a gift of new ropes for its bell tower, but the closer the young swordsman and his chunnery friend get to the monastery-like Redwall, the less tranquil the countryside seems to be.

Fi

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Detail from A Redwall Winters Tale

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I'm always sobbing and crying over the dearth of quality children's graphic novels out there in the American stratosphere. Not to say there aren't some nice ones. I'd just like to see a whole heckuva lot more. Now for a while I was confused and thought that the GN series Flight was intended for kids. This turned out not to be the case, but it has led to a spinoff for the entlings called Flight Explorer.

Kazu Kibuishi: I had been hearing a lot of librarians and booksellers talk about how much they wanted good comics for younger readers, and I saw how there was so little of it out there with the exception of Jeff Smith’s Bone. Flight always contained a high percentage of material that would be perfect for young readers, but the more mature content often steered parents and librarians away from sharing the books with kids…

Random House's Ballantine Books will be putting this out in the Spring of 2008. Thanks to the Flight blog for the link.

In other comicy news there's now a graphic novel version of Redwall out there. I guess this was a natural progression. First The Warriors. Then Redwall. Then, I suppose, someone'll do Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. That'll be followed up by Poppy which, in turn, will lead to Despereaux. And so on and so forth.

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I was under the distinct impression that I already mentioned this at some point. Apparently not.

All right then, Mouse Guard. Y'all are familiar with Mouse Guard, no? No? This is a case of the graphic novel world failing to make the necessary crossover into the kidlit/librarianship universe. You see, in the graphic novel world Mouse Guard is getting a fair amount of pre-publication press. In the kidlit world, however, few of us have heard so much as a peep about this pup. Though it bears more than a faint resemblance to Redwall, Mouse Guard is a graphic novel series that appears to be appropriate for children. The hope is that if it is good it could be used by new fans to introduce them TO the world of Redwall. However, I haven't seen any issues of this series yet, so reviews will have to wait until I get me a copy or two. Stay tuned.

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