Author Illustrator Designer
Some interesting stuff has shown up recently…international-type stuff!
Here’s my Half Pint item written up in a Korean Magazine called DesignNet:
Aaaaand here’s Pizza Boss 3000 written up in a French Magazine called FHM:
Back here in the ol’ US of A, Salt and Playtime is in May’s issue of Everyday with Rachael Ray:
And here is this month’s Highlights High Five recipe illustrated by me…Pink Lemonade!
That’s right! I just came back from this year’s New England SCBWI conference. This year’s theme was “Many Voices,” and that turned out to be very fitting! On Friday night, there were many voices at the Muse Jazz Club Meet & Greet:
Very fun to catch up with a lot of friends, and of course, to have that experience of saying,”Hmmm.I know I know you…where have we met before?” It happens a lot at this conference!
Here’s Barb Johansen Newman, Carlyn Beccia, Moi, and Maryann Cocca-Leffler. And a basket of snacks.
There a was a big wall to draw on. Here’s John Bell adding something to the wall near one of Barb’s famous kitties.
This year was different for me. I was a member of the “faculty,” and I had two presentations of my own to present on Saturday. So I did get to hear the keynoters, but mostly missed the other sessions! The morning keynote speaker was the fabulous Cynthia Lord:
What a way to start the day. She was very inspiring, talking about the power there is in personal stories. She gave excellent pointers on finding the emotions in your own experiences and integrating them into your work, even if your book is pure fantasy. The emotions involved in recalling real people and experiences can add the needed depth to your characters and stories. Everyone came away from this talk feeling inspired. Everyone.
I was able to catch most of Kirsten Cappy’s session on creating marketing plans for your books that tap into each story’s unique theme. The idea of creating an individualized marketing plan for each of your books is great, and she showed some very cool examples of others who had done this.
Here’s me becoming one with my first-ever Power Point presentation. My first session was called “Books and Beyond: The Many Markets for Children’s Illustration.” I was nervous. But then, I got to talk about all the stuff I love and have been doing for a long time: magazines, toys, fabric, stationery, licensing, and everything else that requires an illustrator with a knack for children’s art. It’s a big, big, world out there, and there was not really enough time to get into it all…but I did my best!
Barb, Janet Montecalvo, and me at lunch.
Let’s see, I think I can rememeber everyone at the table! Alice (A.C.E.) Bauer, Nicole Tadgell, Charlene Willing McManis (who had the best Native American jewelry ever), Alisa Libby (who has a book that actually bleeds!), Greg Fishbone (webmaster!), Barb, the unseen Janet Montecalvo (as seen above), and me.
The lunchtime keynote speaker was Floyd Cooper. Wow. Just wow. His work is luminous and stunning, and even though he did a piece right in front of us with a kneaded eraser, I can’t fathom how he does it. Check out his website. I appreciated that he has worked in many other genres, too.
My second session was called Fun Reads: Board Books and Other Novelty Formats. As you can see, my board book session was in the Board Room (very Donald Trump!). You can picture the chairs actually filled with people, right? Mildly intimidating! But again, I got to talk about that which I love, and I brought a lot of examples of books (both my own and others) to play around with. I pretty much ignored my Power Point presentation. Oops. I sort of forgot it was there. Oh, well, no matter!
Here’s the Diversity Panel: Louise May from Lee and Low, Bobbie Combs from Two Lives Publishing, Jennifer Laughran from Andrea Brown Literary, and Floyd Cooper. Moderated by Padma Venkatraman.What an excellent, topical discussion. It was good to hear “many voices” speaking up about the challenges and necessity of getting diverse books into kids’ hands.
Here’s the adorable Kathy Weller, with her prize-winning poster! I just adore this piece she did…a favorite of mine, and obviously a crowd favorite, too! Kathy also did a great rundown of the sessions she went to on her blog, WellerWishes. She also happen to go to one of my sessions, so you can read about it from the other side…thanks, Kathy!
I wrapped up Saturday at the booksigning…here’s me and Barb and our adoring throngs of fans…LOL!
I had a blast seeing everyone there, and I hope everyone had a great time on Sunday, too!
Next year’s conference will be at The Courtyard Marriott in Fitchburg, from May 14-16. Mark those calendars!
Here are a few new items currently on the shelves:
April’s Highlights High Five has Deviled Eggs!
And after you’ve made yourself some nice deviled eggs, sit back with April’s Rachael Ray magazine and check out this:
There’s “Calf and Half” again!
I have to hand it to Rach and her “people”…they do find fun stuff for the magazine. Look at the knitted fruit! And the adorable Mary Jane wellies! On the same page is a product by my friend Christy, too…”Pound,” a set of nails for driving into your finger food (not your fingers). How constructive!
I have a bunch of fun new items starting to pop up here and there-
I’ll show you some of them soon.
I’ve had A LOT of work lately, so sometimes the blog gets the cold shoulder!
And by the way, Happy St. Pat’s Day!
Here’s a new feature illustrated by me in the March ’09 issue of
Highlights High Five Magazine:
It’s on your newsstands now!
Are there even any newsstands left??
Here’s a new spread illustrated by me that appears in the November 2008 issue of High Five:
Don’t you want to go make some soup now? Tis the season!
I am definitely trying this one out!
Here’s a new feature just out in the December issue:
It’s my first Hidden Pictures feature!
I remember looking for Hidden Pictures when I was a kid… so it makes me happy to have done one of my own.
Finally, a chance to revisit my neglected blog!
I recently got to go to the 2008 Highlights Illustrator’s Party in Pennsylvania. Highlights (the makers of the well-read magazines, and also owners of Boyd’s Mills Press) is a very unusual company that actually puts aside time each year to party with it’s illustrators. Yeeha!
We got lucky with 3 days of great weather:
The stretch of NY/Pennsylvania that we traveled through is beautiful. Unlike last year, there were no 4-hour traffic jams to bog down the trip, and we arrived without incident.
The Highlights folks have the party-throwing thing down to a science, so when we arrived, there was the first of many lovely buffets. We were able to stay in a cottage near everthing, and the next morning began with (yes!) more great food!
The illustrators spent the first half of the day doing illustrator stuff. We got to hear Leonard Marcus speak- he’s a children’s book historian, and author of a fabulous book I have (maybe you do, too) called “Golden Legacy”, all about the cultural and artistic impact of Golden Books. I’m anxious to find some of his other books now.
Then we got to check out each other’s portfolios.
I though the folks coming to this event would have all been east coasters, but I was wrong. Illustrators came from all over the country. Getting to connect the art with the names and faces was a real bonus. Luckily, this was made easier by our big, clear nametags!
While we were doing this, our families were off having a blast at a farm. Check out this beautiful place! Eric and the kids had a great time. The kids were glad to meet other kids who like art (I guess this doesn’t really happen as much as they’d like here at home).
They got to paint and decorate pumpkins:
Beat each other with noodles:
Listen to fiddlin’ kids:
And roast marshmallows:
Later that afternoon, the big event…we all met at the main Highlights building in Honesdale for a costume party! This year’s theme was “The Enchanted Forest”. Needless to say, illustrators are pretty good at coming up with costumes…and so are the Highlights staff.
The entire building is decorated, inside and out. It must take weeks of planning to do this; it’s refreshing to think that it is allowed and encouraged within the company.
I love these mossy tree people.
Inside, the kids got to go on a Timbertoes scavenger hunt with stickers hidden all around the building.
More food…awesomely themed.
Leprechauns! Cloaked Art Directors! Fungi! Dragonlike Photographers!
Fairies! Keebler Elves! Unicorns!
Unbearably Cute Ewoks! Teeny Tinys!
The one and only Joan of Art, hailing from the Columbus, OH office.
Look- it’s a portrait of pure evil!
Wait a minute… it’s Judy Moffatt (who’s not evil at all, really).
Eric and I were apple trees…I guess you can say we didn’t think too hard about this, since we pretty much live in an apple orchard. It was a logical choice.
What’s that? It’s the BloomMobile! This is the Highlights company car (I presume) decorated in the manner of Suzanne Bloom’s adorable Splendid Friend books.
Good times. It’s very fun to see such universal participation in something like this.
Later that day it was time for a lamb roast, (with intro by Christine Clark…)
Can you see the ultra cool, gigantic mural behind her, too? Awesome.
Here’s a closer view:
Then, of course, there was a post-dinner hoedown!
Silly me, I thought the hoedown was part of last year’s “ranch” theme.
It’s not, it’s just hoedowning for hoedowning’s sake!
The next morning was another farewell buffet.
We met so many great people over the weekend…here are two of them:
It’s Phyllis and Brad Harris, all the way from Missouri!
There were cheesy potatoes available this morning in the buffet that were TO DIE FOR.
I need this recipe (let’s put it in High Five- ha!)
Then after a swing:
and a horse-drawn hay ride:
We headed back home.
It was another great driving day.
This road cracked us up…it follows (EXACTLY) the contour of the ledge butting up against the Delaware river. It was like a rollercoaster. Best not to take your eyes off the road here!
Along the river we saw these:
We refer to them as “those things in the water.”
Does anyone know what these things are??
Thanks to everyone at Highlights for such a fun weekend. It’s a real treat to hang out with people who love children’s illustration and writing. Hello to all the new and old friends we met there- and for those of you who couldn’t get there this year, hope to see you next fall!
My Wishosaurus product is featured in the September issue of Family Fun magazine.
I happened to be reading the magazine (a fave of mine), and whoa! There it was!
Thanks, Family Fun. You’ve got awesome taste!
Here’s a peachy feature illustrated by me in this month’s issue of Highlights High Five magazine:
My poor, ignored blog.
Been busy lately with a million things, and there’s a million more coming!
In the meantime, some of my art has been popping up here and there:
Here’s April 2008’s issue of Highlights High Five, with my Creepy Crawly Dominoes feature (oooh, it’s a fold-out!).
Here’s a little piece in May 2008’s Highlights magazine (the one for bigger kids). It’s a feature they run every month called My Best Self. Hey, look- Roz is on the same page!
The Read, Rhyme and Clap DVD is available from the Children’s Book-of-the-Month Club’s Spring 2008 issue. I did the Muffin Man sequence on it.
Here’s the new, improved children’s menu for the Newport Creamery chain of restaurants. I got to do the whole thing (fun!!) and will continue every so often as they need ’em. I applaud the company for pursuing a more individual approach with these- instead of using the menu equivalent of “clip art” (which they could have easily done), they commissioned me to make something with local appeal and original characters. Yay!
And hey, what’s THIS?
You’re right, I did NOT do this. Eric did!
His design is featured in June 2008’s MacLife Magazine, where his iPOD watch idea came in as a runner-up in their Design-the-Next-Big-Apple-Thing competition.
They had some very nice things to say about it- check it out!
That’s it for now! Back to work!
It took a while, but my website has now been updated with new stuff- new illustration, new toys, new products, and all kinds of fun facts if you care to read ’em.Feedback greatly appreciated! If anything is wonky, please let me know!
Go ahead, go to my website now!