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Sarah S. Brannen has illustrated more than a dozen books for children. She is the author and illustrator of Uncle Bobby’s Wedding, (G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 2008). Uncle Bobby’s Wedding has received extensive publicity since its publication; it was the eighth most-challenged book in the US in 2008.

Sarah also illustrated The Pig Scramble, The ABC Book of American Homes, Digging for Troy: From Homer to Hisarlik and Mathias Franey, Powder Monkey, as well as several educational books. Forthcoming books include The Very Beary Tooth Fairy (Scholastic Press, 2013), The Ugly Duckling (Sterling Publishing, 2012) At Home in Her Tomb (Charlesbridge Publishing, 2013), Sarah’s Journal (Teacher Created Materials, 2012) and Feathers (Charlesbridge Publishing, 2014).

As a journalist and photographer, Sarah is a regular contributor to Skating Magazine and icenetwork.com. Along with figure skating, Sarah’s other interests include opera, Italy, sailing, insects and astronomy.

Sarah received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Visual and Environmental Studies from Harvard University and her Master of Fine Arts degree in Printmaking from the University of Pennsylvania. She has been writing and illustrating children’s books since 2001. In 2007, Sarah won the Ann Barrow Scholarship from the New England chapter of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. She was the runner-up for the 2006 SCBWI Work-in-Progress grant, and the runner-up for the 2003 Don Freeman Grant.

Here is Sarah sharing her process for one of the spreads in UNCLE BOBBY’S WEDDING.

I started with a storyboard, with tiny sketches of each spread. I knew that this spread would show Bobby and Chloe in a rowboat, but I wasn’t worried about details at this point.

This is one of the thumbnail sketches – I tried various views but I wasn’t committed to any of them.

Here’s the sketch from the dummy. At this point I had made a lot of decisions about the composition and text placement but hadn’t thought about color yet.  All these sketches were done in pencil.

This is a color study, done before I had finalized the composition.

6 Comments on Illustrator Saturday – Sarah Brannen, last added: 7/24/2012