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Lisa Mantchev has unveiled the cover for her forthcoming picture book, Strictly No Elephants. Artist Taeeun Yoo served as the illustrator for this project.

We’ve embedded the full image above—what do you think? Paula Wiseman Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing, will release the book on October 27th.

My summer vacation is coming to an end. For the past two weeks I have been visiting my dear friend Taeeun Yoo in Seoul, Korea. We spent our time drawing around Seoul, eating great food, working, and exercising together. It has been truly restorative. Today, my last day here, Taeeun conducted a printmaking workshop for me. I am most comfortable working in watercolor or pen, but am always eager to expand my artistic vocabulary.

First, I started with a drawing. Printmaking is wonderful because it forces you to think about shape and color first. Whereas, with other painting techniques, you are thinking about composition and line. My composition is based on my recent summer travels and a story idea I have been thinking about here in Seoul. I will share a few of the steps.

After transferring the drawing, I carved the white areas first. As in watercolor painting, I needed to build my print slowly from light to dark. The seagulls in this piece would remain white.

We mixed a greenish blue sky. This is the lightest color in the print.

Next, I carved away more of the block and printed the trees and ground a middle blue green.

After the sea printed, I added a darker blue green to the landscape and then printed the jacket and head of the boy last. After printing the jacket, we thought it needed to be warmed up a bit. We added a bit more yellow and then decided that we liked the original green.

We printed an edition of three. You can see here that each print varies slightly. For instance, in the first print, we inked a clean, flat blue for the water. In the second print some of the texture of the plate was left behind, making marks that looked more like waves. I really liked that effect, and continued the water lines for the rest of the prints.

Lastly, once the ink dried, I add a few details with a brush.

Voila, my first linoleum block print. Many thanks to Taeeun Yoo for her friendship and instruction today.
Check out her latest book, Here is the Baby, written by  Polly Kanevsky, due out this September with Random House.

Tae and Sha under the cherry blossoms, thirty years ago. By Taeeun Yoo~

I have read about women artists who’ve lived together in a hazy creative dream—even for a short spell. Trina Schart Hyman, Tove Jansson, The Red Rose Girls…It’s always made me envious and a bit sad that I didn’t have it for myself. As much as I have tried to live an interesting and free life, when it comes

down to brass tacks, it’s been pretty conventional so far. Or maybe, I’m just too close…too entrenched to see the real charm of my youth that I will appreciate in later years.

My dearest Taeeun is living with me for a couple of months. Her being here has opened a window for me. It is our art dream to work alongside oneanother in a shared studio. We wake up together, exercise together, work together, share books, take walks, and inspire one another each day. It is perfect, for a spell. In a couple of months she will go back to her home in Seoul with her husband. I will travel with her to finally meet Seoul, but after a few weeks will come back to my home and adjust to being quiet again.

For now, we will work and document our time, and be thankful that our lives have led us to this.

*dreamy sigh*

This weekend I hung out in Harrisburg with Jonathan Bean, Taeeun Yoo, and Lauren Castillo for 3rd in the Burg. The third Friday of every month, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, artists open their doors and invite the community into their studios to learn about their work and process.

Taeeun at the opening ceremony

During that time Jonathan Bean hosts an art show in “The Steps Shown”, his charming stairwell gallery. Jonathan shows sketches, dummies, and final work of children’s book illustrators, the work that is usually never seen by the general public.

choosing work for the gallery

On Saturday morning we walked a few steps down the street to listen to Taeeun read and sign her books at The Midtown Scholar’s Children’s Section. The fab four hasn’t been together all in one place in quite some time. It was a historic reunion for us all.

The Fab Four in full effect

To see a wonderful video of Taeeun reading from her latest book, YOU ARE A LION, head here.

Taeeun Yoo with fish and lions

Shadra said, on 8/20/2012 10:23:00 AM

This weekend I hung out in Harrisburg with Jonathan Bean, Taeeun Yoo, and Lauren Castillo for 3rd in the Burg. The third Friday of every month, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, artists open their doors and invite the community into their studios to learn about their work and process.

Taeeun at the opening ceremony

During that time Jonathan Bean hosts an art show in “The Steps Shown”, his charming stairwell gallery. Jonathan shows sketches, dummies, and final work of children’s book illustrators, the work that is usually never seen by the general public.

choosing work for the gallery

On Saturday morning we walked a few steps down the street to listen to Taeeun read and sign her books at The Midtown Scholar’s Children’s Section. The fab four hasn’t been together all in one place in quite some time. It was a historic reunion for us all.

The Fab Four in full effect

To see a wonderful video of Taeeun reading from her latest book, YOU ARE A LION, head here.

Taeeun Yoo with fish and lions

 

Last week was senior portfolio week at MICA. By a strange stroke of luck, four of my SVA homies all ended up at MICA to participate. Though all of us didn’t get to see each other at the same time, it was great getting hugs in and catching up with everyone in small groups. Taeeun, Lauren (MICA graduate), and Nora reviewed portfolios and “The Bean” spoke to my advanced book illustration class. Here are a few pics…

Lauren and Tae spelling "hi" for the camera

We girls had a great time catching up over desert at Cafe Hon. I will spare you the sordid details of our little slumber party. When picturebook artists get together, there’s no telling what will happen! I’m still scraping paint off my ceiling

Tae giving advice to Hannah (www.cargocollective.com/htrieb)

After saying farewell to Lauren I ushered Tae over to MICA for a day of portfolio reviews with our seniors. Tae is seen with Hannah Trieb here, you can see more of her work at www.cargocollective.com/htrieb. Hannah has also been my teaching assistant this semester for advanced book illustration. Here is one of her thesis pieces:

from "The Anti-Love Potion", written and illustrated by Hannah Trieb

After a day of portfolio reviews, we picked up Jonathan Bean. On Thursday, Jonathan spoke with my advanced book illustration class about his work as a college student, why he chose graduate school, his style evolution, and how he got published. It was so great to re-live those days at SVA and to see years of hard work pay off so greatly.

Jonathan guiding us down publication lane

we are all wowed

My lucky students had a chance to have their work seen and reviewed by Jonathan after his presentation. In the meantime, I had

Press Release:

Author Tonya Hegamin and illustrator Taeeun Yoo are the winners of the 2010 Ezra Jack Keats Awards, which celebrate excellence in children’s literature by new authors and illustrators, who, in the spirit of the late author/illustrator Ezra Jack Keats, offer new and electrifying views of the multicultural world children inhabit today. The awards will be presented on Wednesday, April 28 at 6:00 p.m. by The New York Public Library and the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation. The ceremony, open to the public, will be held in the South Court Auditorium of the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, New York, NY, USA.

Ms. Hegamin is recognized for Most Loved in All the World which tells the story of a little girl whose mother is a secret agent on the Underground Railroad. Before sending her daughter north to freedom, the mother sews a quilt for her daughter, not only to guide her with its symbols of moss and the north star, but also to remind her always that the smiling girl in the center of the quilt is “most loved in all the world.”

Ms. Yoo wins for her sublime linoleum block prints in Only a Witch Can Fly, about a young witch who tries and tries again to fly one special night.

For more information on the Ezra Jack Keats Book Award and this year’s winners you can click here and here.

Only a Witch Can Fly by Alison McGhee, illustrated by Taeeun Yoo. Feiwel & Friends, 2009. Review copy supplied by publisher. Picture book.

The Plot: A young witch desperately wants to fly.

The Good: This story of learning to fly is written as a sestina. The repartition both lulls the reader and reassures the reader, while cheering on the young witch in her goal: flight. This also makes it a great read aloud; there is something about poetry that just works better when read.

On the surface, this is a story of try, try again, similar to stories of learning how to ride a bike or swim. But, this is flight. Something so much more than just riding or swimming; flying is about growing up and leaving childhood behind, it's about not accepting limitations, and it's about freedom.

Here is the young witch, finally flying, and its words that could cheer and encourage anyone: "Hold tight to your broom
and float past the stars,
and turn to the heavens and soar.
For only a witch can fly past the moon.
Only a witch can fly."

And I read those final words and thought, "and we are all witches."

Let me tell you, that photo of the cover doesn't give the actual cover justice. The moon is a soft, light butter yellow that matches the font of the title and it just makes you go "oooohhhh... I must pick this up. I must touch this cover." The colors throughout the book are warm: black, brown, orange, green. Yoo shares details about her art at an interview with Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast. And the young witch has striped stockings. I so, so want those types of stockings but alas, at my age cannot carry off that look.



The Poetry Friday round-up is at Becky's Book Reviews.


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