Team Mason Anderson

Hi fellow book junkies, I was wondering if you could lend me a quick hand.  A friend of mine's little boy has Asperger's Syndrome.  He takes Karate lessons at a dojo that has been very helpful to him and he's in a contest to get the most "likes" on the dojo's Facebook page.  If you have a second, please visit it , "like" it, then type "Team Mason Anderson" on the wall.



Thanks!! :)

Illustration Friday: Midsummer Night

The Guardians

Get your summer promotional postcard sent or we will gobble you up!

Another Style Test/Charlie

Illustration Friday: Asleep

Meet Charlie

This little duck is the star of a new story I've written!  I'm still working on the thumbnail sketches (below is the first set).  "Alligator's Boo-Boo" is in the hands of a publisher now (exclusively, through my agent) so while I'm waiting for their response, I'm on to the next book!  No sense in waiting around twiddling my thumbs ;-) As usual, I like to keep the story itself on the down-low!  But I'll be sharing sketches as I work on it.

The first color illustration is of a newly born Charlie, and the second is of him slightly older.

Prowling Time

Moonlight Sonata

Illustration Friday: Soaked II

Nothing like soaking in a good book!

First Day Jitters

Fridge Raider

Illustration Friday: Soaked

Springtime Storm

Late Night Snack

It Works!

I actually did two drawings for the printer test.  One was outlined in colored pencil and the other in ink.  The printer reproduced both flawlessly!  And to be honest, I was so nervous about going over the prints with a brush and water.  I just knew the ink would run and ruin the colors.  Nothing of the sort happened, it was perfectly waterproof.  Even more so than my Higgens black magic ink, which can still run at odd times.  

To add to it, this watercolor paper was soft press.  Soft press is more textured than hot press, and less textured than cold press.  There were no problems with the ink bleeding or with the line being fuzzy.

Reading

I'm going to run this drawing through the printer as a test.  Hope it works!

Don't Mind Us - Color

Don't Mind Us

Awesome Printer Demo by Matthew Cordell

I don't know about you guys, but there is one part of illustration that I can't stand: transferring my drawings, hunched over a light box.  I simply DREAD it--especially when it's a big double-page-spread with lots of details.  Meanwhile, I'm blinding myself prematurely by trying to decipher pencil lines through 140lb watercolor paper.  It's a bummer and sucks the creativity out of me.

BUT, there is light at the end of the tunnel, folks!  Please check out this detailed demonstration by one of my absolutely favorite author/illustrators, Matthew Cordell.  What if you could PRINT OUT as many copies of your under-drawing as you wanted in a matter of seconds--waterproof and directly onto 140lb watercolor paper?!  Whether this works on cold press/textured paper I don't know, but it certainly works on hot press.  Matthew shows you how to do just that, and includes a link to the amazingly low priced printer he uses (all the ones I've seen are in the thousands--this one is strangely only a tad over one hundred, but I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth!  I bought it).   Time is money, so I know personally I'll be finishing my final art a heck of a lot faster than I did before, which may mean I could fit in that smaller job I might other-wise have to pass up.  Plus, I'll simply enjoy the process of painting more.

While I'm at it, I want to plug Matt's awesome new book, written by Lauren Thompson: Leap Back Home to Me.  Look at that adorable cover!!!   Ever envy an illustrator because they get to work in a style you'd give your eye-teeth to work in every day?  Anyways, this book has received fantastic reviews (Kirkus and Publishers Weekly starred reviews, no less).  Congrats Matt!

I'm getting my printer in the mail hopefully tomorrow - I'll let everyone know how I like it.

Illustration Friday: Safari

I think I'm happy with this one :) Painted in watercolors, outlined in colored pencil. 

Safari Sketch

Hey fellow picture book addicts, I'm back to clear the cobwebs off this blog - my gosh there are lots of them.  I'm currently working on a promo postcard for the spring..here's my sketch:

Of course, when I'm happy with the sketch I get super anxious about doing the painting part of it.  Choosing the wrong colors and line quality could completely ruin the whole thing- fingers crossed that it all works out!

Raj has Found A Home!

Thanks so much to everyone who participated in the Raj the Bookstore Tiger giveaway!   Risky the Studio Assistant dipped her paw into the hat and picked...

 YAY ERIC!  Congratulations!!  Please send your mailing address to: paige dot keiser @ gmail dot com (wrote it that way to keep the spamming down).  :)

Illustration Friday: Toy

Child At Heart Gallery

As someone who loves to study the illustrations of my favorite illustrators, there is nothing like getting your hands on an original piece of art.  I've been buying art from the Child At Heart Gallery for the last couple of years and have found some real treasures.  It's neat to see what kind of paper the illustrator painted on, and get an even closer look at how they created the art (reproductions are nice but there is always something 'lost in translation' - such as color differences and tone etc).  I recently bought a small David McPhail illustration for 25 dollars, and that included shipping!  I got it only a few days later too, you just can't beat that. 

Anyways, I wanted to post about this for other children's book lovers, not only to promote a great site run by some very kind people,  but to also help keep our favorite illustrators in business by buying their art work.  That way they can continue to produce beautiful books to feed our souls and inspire us :0)

A Giveaway For My Loyal Readers :)

This Contest is officially closed.  Thank you for your participation and good luck! 

It's Here! It's Here!

I recently put together a book dummy using Blurb.com to print it in softcover, and it finally arrived today (after five long days of tracking it from state to state, starting in WA)!  I'll be sending this off to my agents at Cornell & McCarthy to pass around to different publishing companies--YAY!  This is the first dummy book I've really seen through to the end; the first book that I didn't scrap half-way through due to a weak story line, or because it wasn't working overall.  Even if no one picks this book up, it's still one step closer to my dream of becoming an author since I learned so much creating it.  

Illustration Friday: Warning

 

Then, without warning, the tears began to fall. 

Cover Idea

Haha I Redid this Picture..Again

Ok this is my fourth (and final) version and definitely my favorite.  This was done in carbon pencil-- very similar to charcoal, and watercolors.

Illustration Friday: Swarm

I'm very drawn to French themes in my art sometimes.  Probably because I lived in Belgium for two years when I was little.  I knew important french words like frites (french fries) and gaufre (waffle--they used to sell delicious Belgian waffles from street vendors--YUM!).

Alligator Book Sample Page

 

*Edit* I was a little unhappy with the paleness of the colors, so I added some more watercolor layers to make them richer.  I also added some pink flowers to the bushes on the left.

Piggy Band

Baby Moose Visits/Illustration Friday: Layer

This is a spread for "Baby Moose Visits" that won't be used, so I thought I'd go ahead and post it.    Though this would be perfect for Illustration Friday since they are layered in mud!

And Meanwhile...

The new Baby Moose character sketches have been emailed to the art director at Dutton, so now while I wait for their response I'm going to work on my super-secret alligator story/book dummy over the weekend.   I'm also snowed in, so guess I'll just have to stay in my house and draw.  What a bummer right? :)

Thank You!

Thanks so much to my wonderful fellow artists who left feedback on the Baby Moose sketches!  When working so closely to something, a fresh eye and perspective is needed - your thoughts and opinions have definitely made a big impact on the book.

Friends of mine have asked how competitive the children's illustration world is - I tell them it's VERY competitive in terms of the talent out there- but you won't meet a kinder group of people.

Final Decision

After much trial and error (and worry) I think I've arrived at the final character designs for "Baby Moose Visits" :-))

Illustration Friday: Dusty

A sudden gust of wind kicked up dust, leaves and sprigs of grass. There was something strange in the air.

Characater Sketches Color

I painted these right in my sketch book, which is definitely the world's worst paper for watercolors. 

Sketches

Getting a little closer to my goal with these characters. :)

'Moore Moose'

Character Sketches/Style Test/Pencil

 

Many thanks for the comments and opinions on these character sketches.  It's VERY helpful!

Character Sketches/Style Test

Raj the Bookstore Tiger

Raj is now prowling around and waiting to pounce this February!   The very talented Kirsten Cappy has created a book trailer for the release, check it out!

Illustration Friday: Chicken

Elvira was not too chicken to follow her dreams.

Wow It's A Cow has won the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Award!

Oh my goodness, I'm so glad to be back in the saddle again!  The holidays have come and gone, and it's now time to sharpen those pencils, and tackle my current projects head-first!  What's on my plate now?  Dutton has responded with sketch notes for "Baby Moose Visits" including some text rewrites.  I'm still not a hundred percent happy with my character designs and still trying out some art styles.  I really want this book to sing, and for the relationship between the boy and moose to be believable and palpable in my drawings. 

I just finished up final art for the touch-and-feel book for Guidepost, "One Night In Bethlehem" - I can't wait to see it in print!  

With the end of the holidays I also have more time to check out the blogs of my readers (with a cup of hot tea in tow of course).

Also, thought I might include a bit of news:  my book "Wow It's A Cow" has won the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Award!!  Whooo hooo!!!