Imprints
Looking through my old books for my Fairy Tales post last month was an enjoyable, but somewhat eerie experience. I feel as though those books imprinted themselves on my brain on some deeply primordial level. The thoughts and ponderings I had in my head as a child are still there, just waiting for the right […]
Studio Housekeeping
Since I last posted here, I have sent off the art for BOOM BOOM, a 32-word picture book (each word is repeated once so it’s really 16 words, twice) by Sarvinder Naberhaus. It was a mad rush towards the end (it always is) and after I shipped it out, I felt joy, relief, and just […]
Having Fun
Clark One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish – Theodore Geisel As I have been working on the illustrations for BOOM BOOM, I have been thinking about humor in children’s book illustrations – what amused me when I was a child and what I find funny now. I’m sure there is a common thread […]
Small Favors
Every so often I am contacted by someone, a student usually, who is working on a project and wants my input or advice. A few months ago, I got another such request. The subject line was “small favor…” Margaret, I was wondering if you might be able to help me. I’m an illustration major at […]
Books By The Bay
Last night I participated in the South Sound Reading Foundation‘s Books By the Bay Gala fundraising event, (made possible with help from Rhonda Munzinger at Barnes & Noble Books), with Julie Paschkis, Robin Cruise, Judy Bentley, Eric Brooks, Ken Mochizuki, and Jim Lynch. The South Sound Reading Foundation’s principle: To ensure that every child is […]
Looking Up
We have sun in Seattle today. Not a cloud in the sky. This is the kind of day that makes Seattleites smile at each other in a goofy, I-love-you-man sort of way. So I pick this day to write about clouds, and not looking at things very carefully. Last year when I was illustrating Dinosaur […]
A Movable Wall
I shipped off a book dummy today. It’s a good feeling. The dummy is for the book Boom Boom by Sarvinder Naberhaus that I am illustrating for Beach Lane Books. It’s a pretty minimal text, so there is lots of room for me to develop my own story line for the images. I like to […]
Bowling for Dinosaurs
From Books Around The Table, Bowling for Dinosaurs A question I often get asked is, Do I use photos to draw from when I illustrate? The answer is Yes and No. I try to draw from my imagination as much as possible, but there are times when a photo captures more details than my imagination […]
Beauty In Limitations: A Printmaker’s Perspective
From Books Around the Table, Beauty In Limitations: A Printmaker’s Perspective: Denslow’s Mother Goose, W W Denslow, 1901 I have been thinking about limitations lately. Like illustrations from old picture books before four-color photo-processing became the norm. The ones I’ve accumulated are mostly from the 40s and 60s and they seem have been printed that way […]
A Portfolio Primer
From Books Around The Table, A Portfolio Primer A week ago Tuesday I was the main presenter at our regional SCBWI monthly meeting. The purpose of my talk was to prepare illustrator attendees for the upcoming regional conference in April by reviewing a selection of portfolio submissions. This was a public critique session with an audience […]
