Traci Van Wagoner Making The Rainbow's Connection --- Plus a PRIZE!

Smart Note: Both Groups Stepping Back/Take Photos -- Pages 5-6

I owe so much to Traci for all the work she puts into Smart Dummies every year. Her support has help make Smart Dummies a wonderful event. This year she has really outdone herself with her post.

I have always adored Traci's work, but recently she's been doing some new work that I hadn't noticed before. I had a lot of fun looking at Traci's "Paint Play" illustrations and I started thinking about why I liked Traci's work so much. Part of the reason I love Traci's work is the lovely colors she uses in all her images. I asked Traci to write a post about her color choices this year.

Check the end of this post for a PRIZE!
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Taming the Rainbow
By Traci Van Wagoner
www.tracivanwagoner.com


When Dani asked me to write about how I pick my colors, my mind sort went into panic mode, “I don’t know, I just slap color down.” It’s big question with a lot of years and experimentation behind it. I took a long time to tackle this subject, and I must thank Dani for her patience while I went back through time to figure out the answer.

Let me start at the beginning. Well, sorta. I started my illustration journey in traditional media during my first stint at college, where I experimented with pretty much every media. My favorite was oil and then acrylic because it was less messy and smelly — although I still to this day miss the smell of oil painting. My basic palette was titanium white, mars black, alizarin crimson, pthalo green, ultramarine blue, burnt sienna, burnt umber, cadmium red, yellow ochre, cadmium yellow, and a few others in and out.

When I moved to digital illustration after graduating from toy school (my second stint at college), I was gob-smacked with the endless possibilities in the color pickers in Painter and Photoshop, and I now had to worry about gamut, and printing, and how my art looked on different monitors. Eek! I started with finding color swatches online that matched the paint colors I knew and started from there. I settled on a color palette I liked, created my own paper textures and brushes, and that was that … for a long time.

After a while, what I was creating felt stale, overworked. Not fresh. Not fun. For many years I didn’t paint much. I created a lot of product illustrations for my clients at Imagine That! Design, so I had some creative outlet, but it was not fun, not really.

But life has a way of shaking things up. The product design work dried up (long story) which forced me to push my illustration work more. I got off my butt and got some more picture book jobs (for very little money I have to admit) which pushed me to explore and experiment a little. Then one day I saw Will Terry’s Santa snowboarding image which set off a switch in my imagination. I wanted to have as much fun as he seems to with his paintings, playing with color and light and unique perspectives. This set me off on a road of exploration still painting on the computer with Photoshop. My time creating was limited and confining, and painful, really.

Then a wonderful thing happened…

The iPad + Procreate = #PaintPlay

And shortly after, I discovered @colour_collective on twitter, a weekly challenge based on a different color each week.

Cue starburst of colors and wonderment.

My art side was set free. I had been so busy containing it with purple lines, and now I gave myself permission to just paint. I played with color, textures, the wide variety of brushes in Procreate. I pulled out old sketches from picture book dummies and from sketchbooks and painted many of those. I painted without having any goal or idea where I was going when I started. I could paint anywhere. I could paint anything. Paint play. And it has been a blast! You can see my #paintplay journey on Instagram: TraciVWCreations.

But the question remains: How do I pick my colors?

One color usually starts things off. Sometimes it’s dictated by the client, or the project, or by a licensed character. It can be a feeling or mood I want to create: happy-warm, sad-cool. Or the reddish colors of sunset vs. sunrise with pinkish tones. Or the time of year, the weather, a holiday, summer, winter, snowy, rainy.

The yellow raincoat was my start in my Singing in the Rain painting with primary colors complimenting.

A word can be the starting point, like a prompt word from a challenge: SCBWI Draw This Heat + colour_collective

The blue sample was my original since the warm of the girl and dog played so nicely off the cool blue, but then I decided to try the #colour_collective prompt #peach. I liked it that way better for telling the story of heat. I still debate. Do you have a favorite?

So you see, a lot of my #paintplay really is about slapping down color and seeing what happens.

One thing’s for sure, each week I play with a new color inspired by #colour_collective.

Once I have my main color, I pick additional colors.

I might pick complementary colors (opposites on the color wheel) or analogous (on the same side of the color wheel). Do I want to compliment that color with like colors on the same side of the color wheel to keep mood consistent and create a sense of harmony — warmth and happiness on one side or on the side cool colors creating a sense of melancholy, or a peaceful tranquil feeling. Or do I want to jar the reader with opposing colors?

Here are few hints:

• It’s more dynamic to use blue and orange (complementary colors) to play off of each other, but it can also be too much, especially if they are next to each other and at the same value. Then you get scintillation, which can drive your eyes crazy.

• Which brings me to value. You need to keep the value of colors in mind and how those play off each other.

• You get a more urgent feeling if you use primary colors vs. secondary colors.

I generally use the complementary color as splashes of color to draw the eye, to play off the main color and make it dance. This all gets into color theory, a big topic that is worth researching if you don’t know about it. Here’s a link with more information to get you started. http://www.pengadprinting.com/content/color-theory-part-i-primer-1

And since I LOVE value and light and shadows, after I have my color palette, I choose a light source, or multiple sources. After all, you don’t have color without light; and the color of the light will change the tone of your colors. Sun — yellow, orange. Or the moon — blue, purples or even greens. I love to play with value, shadows, reflective light, the contrast between warm and cool, how light plays off things, and how you can tell a story through a shadow.

I try to paint with light as much as color. I’m not always successful at that, but I’m having a blast trying. It’s still and always will be an evolving process. So, I paint on having fun trying to tame the rainbow.

Feel free to join in the fun of #paintplay with me on twitter (@TraciVanWagoner) and instagram (TVWCreations). I also share on Facebook , but you’ll get a lot of other stuff there too about my roof garden and my pets.

Also, keep an eye out for my latest book to be released October 1st, Ruth Asawa: A Sculpting Life by Joan Schoettler, illustrated by Traci Van Wagoner, Pelican Publishing

Happy painting!

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Follow Traci:

Website: https://www.tracivanwagoner.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tracivwcreations/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TraciVanWagoner

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TraciVanWagonerIllustrator/

PRIZE
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One person will win poster of Traci's art through her Redbubble store!*

*Prize shipping limited to the US.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Evelyn B. Christensen, Lady of Logic and a PRIZE!

I absolutely adore Evelyn B. Christensen's work. One thing you may not know about me is that I was homeschooled. Evelyn's books are the kind I wish I had to learn from when I was young. She has a wonderful gift in making learning fun! Be sure to check out Evelyn's webpage for sample puzzles you can print and solve also be sure to visit her store at this link: (https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Evelyn-Christensen-Puzzles-math-and-more) to see all of the lovely books Evelyn has created!

Be sure to check the end of this post for a PRIZE!

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Hi to all you wonderful illustrators! I’ll admit I was a little intimidated by Dani’s request that I provide a post for Smart Dummies. I don’t claim to be an illustrator and am in awe of those of you who are.

A bit about my background. A former teacher, I love to create resources to make learning fun. I’ve authored, or co-authored, forty-four puzzle books published by educational publishers. I actually did create the drawings for eight of those. But my illustrations were just simple line drawings, without color or background, so I still don’t consider myself an illustrator. I also have created the covers, and any needed illustrations, for the puzzle books I’ve self-published on Teachers Pay Teachers.

I’ve had one picture book published, The Twelve Days of Christmas in Kentucky, by Sterling Children’s Books. Kent Culotta was the illustrator for it and I think he did a great job. I’m sure that illustrators appreciate the fact that, in general, authors don’t get to have any input in the illustration process. However, this book, although it’s fiction, is intended to provide information about Kentucky. Since Kent didn’t live in Kentucky, my editor wanted me to check his sketches and his final art for accuracy. I tried to stick to just factual feedback. I did say, in an aside to my editor, that I wasn’t a fan of Kent’s noses, but that I understood that was his artistic style and I wasn’t suggesting that they ask him to change it. I’m just saying this to remind you that, no matter how wonderful your art is, not everybody is going to like every aspect of it. People simply have different tastes. So if you’ve not gotten positive responses from agents or editors, don’t get discouraged. Maybe your style just isn’t the style for those particular agents and editors. Please keep trying.

I do want to mention a couple of publication avenues you may want to consider, if you haven’t already.

• Educational publishers. Many authors and illustrators have found that it’s easier to break into publishing with the education market than with the trade market. These are usually work-for-hire contracts. Some pay better than others. Once you get in with a publisher, they may offer you repeat assignments. If you’re interested in this type of work, I maintain a list on my website of Educational Markets. http://evelynchristensen.com/markets.html

• Children’s magazines. These will generally not pay as well as books, but if you’re unpublished, this can be a way to build your resume. Also, if you’re wanting to reach children with your work, some magazines have a bigger readership than you’ll get with some picture books. If you’re interested in illustrating for children’s magazines, I offer a free ezine, published quarterly, on my website and maintain a list of children’s magazines with links to their submission guidelines. http://evelynchristensen.com/mags.html

A bit more about my own illustration journey. Recently, I decided that I wanted to self-publish one of my picture books for my grandchildren. Since I obviously wanted to do more than simple black and white line drawings, I signed up for a graphics design course. (In Kentucky you can take free university courses when you reach 65. Yay!) It turned out my instructor was the grown-up kid who’d lived next door to us when my kids were little. Yay! Since I was auditing the course, he let me work on whatever project I wanted, which, of course, was illustrating my picture book. I’m not quite finished with my project, but what working on it has taught me is that illustrating picture books is not easy. My respect for all of you who do it has grown tremendously!

Dani asked if I could donate a prize. I’m offering to two lucky people the choice of any of my books on my Teachers Pay Teachers site. https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Evelyn-Christensen-Puzzles-math-and-more Many of the books posted there were originally published by traditional publishers, but had gone out of print. When the winners let me know their choice, I’ll email them a pdf file of the book. (So, you’ll need to have the ability to open a pdf file on your computer.)

Best wishes with your Smart Dummies challenge!

-Evelyn





Follow Evelyn:

Website: http://evelynchristensen.com/
Store: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Evelyn-Christensen-Puzzles-math-and-more

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PRIZE

Evelyn is giving away one (your choice) of the puzzle books and resources she have posted on Evelyn's Teachers Pay Teachers site! She'll send you a .pdf of the book of your choice -- https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Evelyn-Christensen-Puzzles-math-and-more

To win this prize you must:

Comment below and tell Evelyn how much you like her post! 

Betsy Bird's "How My Jobs Have Influenced My Own Writing"

Betsy Bird is such a character. Her blog is a lot of fun and has so much great kidlit information. She also does everything with a bit of humor. And sometimes she You can visit her blog here: http://blogs.slj.com/afuse8production      If reading is too much for you (ha, ha) then you can watch her at fuse8 tv here: https://www.betsybirdbooks.com/fuse-tv. If you can't bother to watch something you can also listen to her podcast (with Kate) here: https://soundcloud.com/user-745466600. If you can't be bothered to even listen then go to bed. You are tired and I don't want any grumpy people to read my blog. 😜

Betsy also has books. "Funny Girl: Funniest. Stories. Ever." just came out back in May. It was written by various authors and edited by our very own Betsy Bird.  "Wild Things: Acts of Michief in Children's Literature" by Betsy Bird, Julie Danielson, and Peter D. Sieruta. "Giant Dance Party" Illustrated by Brandon Dorman
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How My Jobs Have Influenced My Own Writing

By Betsy Bird

My daughter is six. She is wise in the ways of the world (or so she tells me). Still, I’m grateful that once in a while she’ll ask for some clarification on a point or two. The other day she sat me down and wanted to know precisely what my chosen profession was when I was her age.

“Honestly,” I said, “I wanted to be a writer.”

“And now you are,” she said with a smile. It was so strange how she put it, and something about the ease with which she summed up my life made me want to qualify everything.

“Yes . . . but I wasn’t for a long time.” I explained that I wanted to be a writer when I was a kid but when I got older I honestly thought it wasn’t a practical profession. How do you pay the water bill as a writer? The gas bill? The electric? It wasn’t that I didn’t know writers who made a living that way. My own aunt penned YA literature before there even was a YA literary market, after all. I just had a hard time conceiving it as a reality. So I put that dream aside. Buried it deep. Let it rest.

And to a certain extent, I credit my drive to hold onto the jobs I have now to that rest period. If I’d spent my college career obsessed with being the Next Great American Novelist I would have driven myself mad. Instead, by letting my dream slumber and snore, my desire to write had to emerge in other ways. I started blogging, sometimes daily, to get my voice out into the world. I modeled my reviews on those in the New York Times, later getting the chance to write a couple for the Times myself. I wrote blog posts for my workplaces and penned articles for periodicals.

But I still got a normal 9 to 5 job. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is probably the thing that influenced my writing the most. As a children’s librarian I found myself with a front row seat to the most fascinating show in the world: children’s opinions. Do enough preschool storytimes and work enough children’s reference desks and you’ll begin to understand children’s books in entirely new ways. There is no substitute for dealing directly with children.

I think it’s fair to say that I wouldn’t be the writer I am today if it weren’t for those jobs that actually make me money. I’ve been fantastically lucky in my chosen professions. Thanks to them, I’ll never run out of ideas, never run out of inspiration, never run out of new things to try. My answer when people ask me to explain how my jobs have influenced my writing? Without my jobs there wouldn’t be any writing. And that’s a pretty lucky thing to finally realize.

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Follow Betsy:

Website: https://www.betsybirdbooks.com
Blog: http://blogs.slj.com/afuse8production/
Fuse TV: https://www.betsybirdbooks.com/fuse-tv
Podcast: https://soundcloud.com/user-745466600
Twitter: https://twitter.com/fuseeight
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/fuse8/giant-dance-party/

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Smart Tip: Use your remaining days to polish your drafts up a bit. Erase stray lines, or use a light board to re-draw the image.

Traci Van Wagoner "Draw What You Know and Know More by Drawing" and a PRIZE from Bryony Supper

Traci Van Wagoner's work is absolutely amazing. Her work isn't beautiful just by chance. Traci spends a lot of time researching her subjects before drawing. Recently Traci has spent a lot of her time researching the illustrations she's creating for "Ruth Asawa: A Sculpting Life" written by Joan Schoettler. Like Traci, Ruth's art is amazing. I can't wait to see what happens when you put the two of these artists together!

Traci has so many books she's illustrated since I first had her on my blog. She's been part of a whole series of books: "Booker T. Bear Let’s Go Series" Presented by The Library Store, written by Jen Miller, and illustrated by Traci Van Wagoner and Kurt Keller. Her newest book: Rest in Peace RaShawnWritten by Ronnie Sidney II came out in April 2017!

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Draw What You Know and Know More by Drawing

By Traci Van Wagoner

All writers hear over and over, write what you know. The same goes for illustrators. And here’s a fine conundrum for you:

Draw what you know not just what you see, but to truly know something, you've got to draw it.

That's where research comes in. If any of you are like me, you’re going, “ugh, not research. I just want to draw.”

I’ve always been like, I don’t want to have to be tied down to reference and research. I want to draw things from of my imagination. Great. But I couldn’t do that when I first started drawing. I didn’t know enough. Until you’ve drawn enough things, places, people, kids, animals, settings, lighting, shadows, and whatever else you want to include in your art, you need to do some reference research, then draw from that reference AND from real life until you know what you’re drawing inside-out and upside-down. Draw the same object or setting in a variety of lighting and conditions, from a bird’s eye view, from a worm’s eye view until you know it.

“First you draw what you see. Next, you draw what you know, and only then will you know what it is that you see.”

~ Robert Beverly Hale

I had an illustrator teacher at Utah State University who told us (in a loud voice) during critiques (this happened often) that you can’t just draw what you see, ‘I copied it from my scrap,’ is not a good enough excuse. He’d then tear the piece off the wall and stomp on it. Yep, true story. If you copy exactly from scrap/reference, it won’t look right, cameras change things — wide angle lenses, things get distorted etc. If you know what you’re drawing you can use piece of reference as a starting point to inspire your imagination and draw something uniquely yours.

Once you know what you’re seeing (in reality or imagination), all the research becomes worth it and you get to have fun. This is when you’ll be able to add your own flair and style and really bring your story to life and produce something that will create an emotional response in your viewers.

And talk about emotional responses, I’m gone-to the-moon happy to have google and other online searching capabilities. Every day I thank the digital miracle workers who brought us the digital research age. It is much, much easier than the days of trekking to the library and drawing from books there, checking books out and carrying huge stacks home, making photocopies, subscribing to all kinds of magazines, and clipping out images and putting them into file cabinets of labeled reference. Tons and tons of that. All pretty much pointless now. But I digress…

With every project I finish, I’ve drawn many more things that I now know and will be able to draw easier in the future and thus be able to coax those images out of my imagination. Now I can often times, especially on my own projects which are not so tied to reality and painting realistically, solidify a scene in my head much easier and more fully. When I finally put pencil to paper, or finger to painting in Procreate on my iPad, I have an image pretty much fully formed in my head, so I know what I’m drawing.

The moral of the story, draw, draw, draw, until you know everything you want to draw. And then do some more research, looking, examining, noticing, and drawing. Every detail of the world can bring delight when you draw it and get to know it.

And one last thing to remember, there’s research and then there’s wasting time. Don’t get me wrong, I firmly believe in procrastination, but the only way to get a dummy book done is to put in the hard work. When you realize that you’re mostly looking at pretty pictures and cool artwork created by others, because we all know Pinterest and scrolling can be hypnotic, then shut out the digital world, put your butt in the chair, and get to drawing.

Good luck and have fun drawing… and researching.

Traci

Check out my pinterest page (https://www.pinterest.com/tracivw/) to see some of the reference research I did for my latest picture book for Pelican Publishing, Ruth Asawa: A Sculpting Life written by Joan Schoettler for which I just finished the sketches. The book will come out next fall.-----

Follow Traci:

Connect with me online:

Instagram: TraciVWCreations

Twitter: @TraciVanWagoner

FB: www.facebook.com/TraciVanWagonerIllustrator/

Blog: Celebrate the Little Things - https://tracivanwagoner.blogspot.com/

Webpage: http://www.tracivanwagoner.com/


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PRIZE


One lucy winner will win copy of "The Inventing Tubes" written by Bryony Supper and illustrated by Julian Bray!

To win this prize:

Let Traci know how much you liked her post and thank Bryony for the chance to win her book!

Bryony Supper
Twitter: @ThePastaKidz

Spaga Spoodle Spo, we're the new Pasta Kidz on the block! Check out our new book, coming from @matadorbooks on 28th November 2016. https://pastakidz.co.uk/

Color Commander Shawna Tenney and a PRIZE!

My first visit to Shawna Tenney's website was amazing. I never thought there could be so much color in one little webpage. (I know I've said before that I love bright colors.) Shawna packs so much color and whimsy in her illustrations that you may think that she's magic. To set the record straight: Shawna Tenney is magic. As are all the wonderful professionals that join Smart Dummies (it's a requirement). Shawna is here today to share some of her magic wisdom with all of us!

Of course you could get Shawna's book Brunhilda's Backward's Day from any bookstore, but why not get a signed copy! You can also get "Rosie the Reindeer" written by Chantell Taylor before Christmas! 

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I’m excited to be part of the Smart Dummies line up this year! Good luck to you all in your dummy book making endeavors this month!

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Dani: What are some of the things you do in the planning stages to create a good composition?

Sketch

Shawna: I spend a lot of time thinking about the story first, and where I want the main focus of the illustration to be. Then I gather some reference and start making thumbnail drawings.

When I create my thumbnail drawings, I think a lot about how I can use lines, values, color, “camera angles” and texture to draw attention to the main focus of the story in the illustration.

If I am creating a whole dummy book, I have to think about how the whole book will work together. The best way to do this is to lay out the entire book in thumbnail drawings and create a storyboard. I try to vary my illustrations using spots, full pages and full spread illustrations. I need to make sure that the illustrations work in harmony with each other and that they are not fighting against each other.

Values

Dani: The color in your images are quite striking. How did you learn so much about how to use color?

Shawna: Thank you so much! I have always loved color.

My knowledge of color comes from many different sources- my college color theory and oil painting classes, an online color theory class, reading books such as Color and Light by James Gurney and by simply observing other artist’s work. I still feel like there is so much more to learn! But I think it really helped me to learn how to mix colors with traditional paint before learning to paint digitally.

Dani:  You use a lot of digital illustration for your illustrations. What's something that illustrators should keep in mind when using (or first trying) this medium?

Black and White

Shawna: I think it’s important for people to learn how to paint with traditional paint, such as watercolors, gouache, acrylics and/or oil paints first before learning digital painting. Painting traditionally teaches you so much about brush strokes, textures, mixing paints, and how traditional paints vary in hue. This knowledge will help you make better decisions when painting digitally.

Another thing that I think is important for a digital beginners to remember is to be patient with yourself. There is so much to learn about digital painting. If you feel like you don’t know very much, just start anyway. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. I started painting digitally after I asked my friend to teach me a few tricks. But it took me many years to learn all the tricks I know now.


Dani: I saw your Maquette Process on your website. How important is this to your illustration process?

Color Study 1

Color Study 2

Shawna: I use a maquette sometimes if I want to see a character or an object all the way around. It really helped me in my book Brunhilda’s Backwards Day when I needed to see my characters in different angles. It also made a little model of Brunhilda’s house, and that helped me draw it from above. This same sort of thing can be done on Google SketchUp. I don’t use maquettes a lot in my process, but when I take the time to make one, it is very helpful.



Dani: What's one thing you would have wanted to know when you first started creating dummies?

Final

Shawna: It’s a great feeling when you work through all those sketches and finish your dummy book. But just because all the sketches are done, it doesn’t mean your dummy book is ready to send to an editor. You are probably still going to have to make many revisions, and maybe even make several dummy books before you are ready to show your dummy book to an editors. It will be hard, and it will be a long process. But it’s important to enjoy the process, and be patient, and keep working until you get it right. It’s also important to try and work out things in the writing/revising and storyboard stages first if you can. It could save you a lot of time and trouble.

Follow Shawna:

Website: https://www.shawnajctenney.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shawnajctenney

Twitter: https://twitter.com/shawnajctenney

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shawnajctenney/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/ShawnitaBonita

Tumblr: http://shawnajctenney.tumblr.com/

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/shawnitabonita/

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PRIZE

One lucky winner will win a copy of "Brunhilda's Backwards Day"! 

In order to win this prize you must:

Comment on this post and tell Shawna how much you liked her interview.

  

Winged Wizard Elizabeth Rose Stanton and a PRIZE!

Elizabeth Rose Stanton's work merges beautiful delicate lines with soft, warm, colors. The kinds of characters she creates remind me of cute stuffed animals children cuddle with in bed. Her work in watercolor is absolutely lovely, though she says she hadn't worked in watercolor before her books. Though only two books in, Elizabeth already is making a big name for herself!

Elizabeth's first book "Henny"was released in 2014 and has created a lot of buzz. "Peddles" was just released last year. "Bub" is set to release in January 2018.

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Dani: How did you develop your current style of illustration?

First watercolor sketch idea for Henny and her mom.

Elizabeth: The “short” answer is that I have been developing my art and working on techniques all along, starting with having been trained as an architect (before computers), and working variously as a portrait and fine artist. All roads, over time, have led to building picture books!

Final painting for Henny and her mom.

The “long” answer is that I actually backed into it! Historically, I worked in pen and ink, gouache, and pastel. But when my art director at Simon & Schuster for Henny asked for a quick sketch to get an idea of color (since the book dummy had been in pencil), for some inexplicable reason I decided to use pencil and watercolor. They loved it! So I felt I had to commit, even though I hadn’t really worked to any degree in traditional watercolor. I have grown inordinately fond of it and I think it’s been a good match up for my stories.

From Henny (Simon & Schuster 2014)

Dani: Which is harder for you, writing or illustration?

Elizabeth: If you ask me this when I’m writing, I will tell you it’s writing. If you ask me when I’m illustrating, I will tell you it’s illustrating. That said, along the way I have had fun with both. I do love wordplay, and when the art is finally done it’s very satisfying.

This spread from Peddles was the most fun I’ve had so far with watercolor. Painting these cowboy boots was a hoot!

From Peddles (Simon & Schuster 2016)

But that’s not to say there aren’t frustrations and challenges. I must have painted ten “starry skies” to get a match up for these consecutive spreads for Peddles:

From Peddles (Simon & Schuster 2016)

From Peddles (Simon & Schuster 2016)

Dani: How do you believe being both a writer and illustrator has influenced your career?

Bub (Simon & Schuster, January 16, 2018)

Elizabeth: I am a late bloomer when it comes to picture books. I have had other careers, and they all have centered on drawing and art. I have a solid liberal arts undergraduate education, and I started out professionally an architect before a segue over to fine art and portraiture while I was raising my kids . . . so all of these things have, in fact, influenced my career as an author and illustrator.

What I know now, though, is if I hadn’t begun this whole adventure with an eye on illustration, I don’t think I would be writing picture books. Wanting to illustrate led me directly to writing for children!

Dani: Do you have any advice for discouraged pre-published people that both write and illustrate?

Elizabeth: Obviously, keep at it! But I also think there is something to be said for not forcing it. Try not to have expectations. We all have advantages and disadvantages, and we all have life experiences that steer us along our roads to storytelling. Put your best out there, but don’t stress too much about it along the way. Don’t give up, and know that if it’s meant to happen, it will. Even if I hadn’t become published, I still think I would be at it. This quote pretty much sums it up for me:

Dani:  Is there anything else you’d like to share?

Elizabeth: Thank you for asking!

My next picture book, BUB will be released this coming January, and is up for pre-order now. And there’s another in the pipeline! Cowie is slated for an early 2020 release, both with Simon & Schuster (Paula Wiseman Books).

Thanks for having me, Dani!

Elizabeth Rose Stanton

Elizabeth Rose Stanton began her picture book writing and illustrating adventure a few years ago, after a brief career as an architect, and long career as a parent and fine artist. Her debut book, Henny, received an ALA Booklist star, and was named as one of the best books of 2014 for children by The New York Public Library. The School Library Journal called her second book, Peddles, “quietly wonderful,” and the illustrations, “a thing of beauty.” Her next picture book, Bub, will be released in January 2018. Elizabeth grew up New York and now lives in Seattle with her husband and a trio of Scottish Fold cats.

Elizabeth is represented by Joanna Volpe of New Leaf Literary and Media

Follow Elizabeth:

Website: http://www.penspaperstudio.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/elizabeth.r.stanton

Twitter: @ElizRoseStanton

Instagram: @elizabethrosestanton

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/penspaperstudio

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PRIZE

One lucky winner will win copies of Henny and Peddles, one each, signed (and will throw in a copy of Bub,too, if the winner is willing to wait until January).

In order to win this prize you must..

- Finish your dummy this month!

- Let Elizabeth know how much you liked her post below!

Color Wonder Chiêu Anh Urban and a PRIZE!

Maybe you've gathered by now that I love bright, beautiful colors. Chieu Anh Urban uses beautifully bright colors in her board books. I remember when Chieu Anh had a book launch party for "Here We Go". The party looked like so much fun, and the activities she had in later posted were awesome. I quickly learned that Chieu Anh's blog was the place to go to find ideas for any kind of party!

Chieu Anh's most recent book is "Color Wonder Hooray for Spring". "Color Wonder Winter is Here" will be released next month and "Quiet as a Mouse and Other Animal Idioms "will be released January 2018

Be sure to check the end of this post for a PRIZE!

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Dani: How did you get started creating board books?

Chiêu Anh: When my now college girls were in preschool, I thought it would be a neat idea to put together an interactive story book to teach them about colors and color mixing. I enjoyed the process so much, and wanted to design more interactive formats that are fun and educational.

Dani: What's something that people may not know about creating board books?

Chiêu Anh: There are several variations of board books. Successful picture book titles are often published into board book formats. Licensed board books with brand characters, such as Disney, are popular. Original board books are a bit tougher to pitch, and usually written and illustrated by the same creator. Novelty board books include special features, such as lift-the-flaps, die-cuts, and touch-and-feel.

Dani: How difficult is it to create a board book and what challenges do you face?

Chiêu Anh: I specialize in novelty board books, and love developing inventive and unique formats. These features which make a book fun and interactive are also expensive to produce. It’s challenging and important to balance a great concept and format idea with reasonable production costs.

Dani: What would you say to someone wanting to create board books?

Chiêu Anh: Go for it! Think about what makes your work unique from board books currently on the market. If your idea is a novelty format, put together a dummy and see how the novelty elements interact and add to your concept.

Do you have any last bits of advice for those wanting to create their own board book dummy?

Chiêu Anh: Check out the bookstore and see what is currently on the market. Visit your local library and read up on more board books titles. Board books are for the youngest readers; get a sense of the different art styles and how they add to the story concept. Have fun! Creating books to delight the youngest readers is very rewarding.

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Chiêu Anh Urban is a published author, illustrator, graphic designer, and format designer who specializes in developing innovative formats and interactive books for the very young.​ ​Chiêu’s forthcoming projects include Color Wonder Winter is Here!, and Quiet as a Mouse: And Other Animal Idioms. She is the creator of Color Wonder Hooray for Spring!, Away We Go! and the author of Raindrops: A Shower of Colors. Visit her website at ChieuUrban.com and connect with her Facebook.

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PRIZE!

Chieu Anh Urban is giving out two copies of "Color Wonder Hooray for Spring" 

If you would like to receive a copy of one of these books please tell Cheiu Anh how much you like her post below!

Master of Paper Merrill Rainey

Merrill Rainey is a master of creating images on paper. Yes, he can paint and draw with the best of them. What really sets Merrill apart is his the way he cuts paper. Merrill is truly a master of creating images out of cut paper. He makes elaborate images just by gluing cut pieces of paper together! But that's not all. I'll tell you what else you've won: You won the chance to learn from someone who creates not only cut paper art, but 3D paper art, paper engineering and a bit of paper animation for good measure!

Merrill's work includes "Frog. Frog? Frog!: Understanding Sentence Types" written by Nancy Loewen and "Red Beard" - Scholastic iRead by Hank Paek.

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Dani: How did you get your big break in illustration?

Merrill: My first big break came back in February of 2010. After a lot of late nights rebuilding my portfolio, creating a mailing list, and sending out postcards, I finally got both an email and phone call from Jenifer Saulovic who was the Art Director at the time for Jack and Jill Magazine. I was just leaving a meeting with one of the local design firms here in town where I was talking with the owner to see if they had any illustration needs when I got her call. (I used to spend a lot of my lunch hours personally advertising my work.) She said she received my postcard in the mail and wanted to know if I would illustrate a three page short story for the magazine called Button Up. Of course I said yes, and long story short, that initial project was the beginning of a long standing friendship and relationship with the staff at U.S. Kids Magazine.

Dani: What was one of your favorite projects?

Merrill: This is hard to answer. It seems like almost every new project becomes my favorite. But if I had to pick one… well maybe two :-) I’d have to say Freddy’s Supper Power which was a comic style short story for the June 2016 issue of Highlights magazine, and the cut paper illustrations I have been currently creating this year for Humpty Dumpty’s world which can be found on the inside front cover of Humpty Dumpty magazine.

Dani: Can you give us a quick overview of how you construct your cut paper illustrations?

Merrill: I don’t know if I can quickly explain this but I’ll try :-)

Every illustration of mine always, always starts with a thumbnail sketch. This is where I work out all of the kinks (composition, hierarchy, text placement, etc.) before moving on to the next step. Once I have a thumbnail sketch that I can work with, I then take a snapshot on my phone, open the photo up in Photoshop, blow it up to final art size, and from there I redraw and clean-up the sketch. Then comes the tricky part when sketching for a cut paper piece. I have to think of the art as shapes vs. lines. I also have to keep in mind that I’m not going to be able to add in all the detail I would normally add into my pen or pencil work. I should also note that the creation of the final art is kind of an organic process. Some of the charm that you get in the final artwork can’t be planned for and unfolds during the creation of the final art. My last step before I jump into cutting any paper is to add some quick color to the sketch. This helps me to figure out what type of mood I want to set in the piece as well as what colors of paper I will need.

Once I have all of this set and ready to go, I pull out the light box, my paper cutting supply kit, construction paper (this is key), and two over sized print outs of the sketch. One sketch is to hang on the wall for reference, the other is to use on the light board for tracing shapes and object placement.

I always start with creating a base layer out of white Bristol board and (usually) black construction paper. The black construction paper is cut to final art size then glued to the Bristol. Note that I work at least 30%–40% larger then the final printed piece. This base layer allows me to have a place that I can start laying down the finished sections of the illustration, and adjusting each piece to its proper position before gluing it all together. Kind of like a puzzle mat.

From here I spray paint some background colors on construction paper to see what will work best. While those are drying, I start to create the various sections of the illustration. I will work backwards by creating the foreground first. Mainly due to the fact that most of the detailed work will go into the first two layers. From here on, as I mentioned, the rest of the process is more organic and unfolds as you begin to work. Many of the objects are built freehand and not traced off of the sketch. Once I have all of the sections created, I will then start to adjust things. I layer the art and glue everything to the base Bristol layer in a fashion that when hung and lit to be photographed, will get the desired effect for the photoshoot. (I do all of my own photography for my projects.) On average, it takes anywhere from 4-6 days to create the final art for one cut paper piece.



A few things to note about this work:

- Construction paper has a very rough tooth to its surface. This
rough service allows the glue to bound strongly between two
sheets of construction paper. Hence the name “construction
paper”.

- Don’t scrimp on the glue, make sure you buy name brand. I
recommend Elmer’s Glue-All glue.

- Make sure you have a good comfortable pair of scissors (I use
Fiskars) and have a lot of Xacto blades on hand.

- Be patient with the process.

Dani:  Could you talk about the basics of paper engineering?

Merrill: This is an easy one ;-) If you can build a box you can build anything. The trick comes when you want to make that box popup, or move. That takes a little more time and understanding of how to cut and fold your paper. There are a few good books out there you can use for reference (Playing With Pop Ups by Helen Hiebert, The Pop-Up Book by Paul Jackson, and Pop-Up by Duncan Birmingham). I personally like to dissect other people’s pop-up books and greeting card work. This allows me to see
firsthand how they created their pop-up ideas. It’s like learning by example from the masters.


Dani: What's one thing you wish you knew before going into illustration for children?

Merrill: I feel pretty lucky in this area. I was well prepared before quitting my full-time job as a Graphic Designer and launching my illustration studio, LittleRainey Illustration & Design.

Since then I have learned a few things that would be wise to emphasize to all those thinking about starting their illustration career. This market isn’t the easiest place to be. It’s flooded with artists that don’t seem to know what their own capabilities are worth. It’s a lot of late nights and weekends. And it’s a lot of WORK! You have to be the type of person who is willing to be an art director, a marketer, a secretary, and the IT and billing departments. You have to realize you are a business. You have to get past those fears of talking with people and showing your work. You have to take risks!! You have to listen to feedback from your peers to grow your capabilities. And as awesome as it is to create work in the children’s illustration industry, you have to realize it’s a business. You have to be willing to put in the time to run the business and the time to actually execute the work. Which in reality is well over a full-time job.

Now, I don’t want to scare anyone off here, but I want to make it clear that if you want to achieve your dreams, you’re going to have to work hard for it. Also, it might not happen right away, so be patient. Eventually, your hard work will get noticed. :-)

Follow Merrill:

Website: http://littlerainey.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LittleRainey
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LittleRainey
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/littlerainey/