It's Bath Time- Highlights Hello

I received these tiny books! They are the smallest format I have ever illustrated and so darn cute! Pages are really sturdy and since they are so small these books will fit wonderfully in toddlers' hands.

This is my favorite spread. I thought at brushing time, bunny should be brushing ducky too. :o)

Sometimes with board books there is not so much room to tell a parallel story with the illustrations as there is with Picture Books for example. Board books are very straight forward, usually with a few simple and easy to read images that little ones can really recognize. But I find there is always a way to make things interesting for little ones reading the book. I decided to give baby bunny a favorite toy, rubber ducky. So kids can look for ducky on every page, find him and look forward to the next page where they will look for him again.

Another great thing about illustrating books is that sometimes the power of an image can make the text change. For example, on this page, the text initially was "dry everywhere".

I decided instead of have dad dry bunny with a towel like on the left, it would be fun to have bunny shaking his little tail. I mean, what a better way to dry all over and fast right? Hehe.. Plus I just knew kids would really like that page. Luckily Highlights agreed with me, they really loved that illustration and decided to work the text around it.

So, never doubt sending your initial ideas of how you think a book should go. Send them your best possible interpretation of the book. These are sketches and they will go through a lot of eyes in the publishing house and a lot of revisions. People can't really guess what you have in mind. The best way to tell them is to show them your vision.

There is something so especial about creating books for babies. It's a book in it's simplest form. The thought of catching babies' attention and just thinking of baby snuggling with mom/dad looking with wonder at the book... It's a privilege to do this.

It's Bath Time is a delightful little book part of a set of books published by Highlights and goes along beautifully with their new magazine Highlights Hello. :o)

Hopscotch Sample

I have enjoyed doing a few books for Dover Publishing. I once proposed an activity book teaching outdoor kid's games like hopscotch, leap frog, kick the can. Ultimately, they asked me to do a yoga book instead. Here is one of the samples I created and now colored to add to my portfolio...

What I'm Working on This Month

©Deborah Melmon 2013

Having a great time working on several jobs this month. One of the more brain-teasing projects is work for Highlights on new Hidden Picture Books for the very young. I was thinking very young meant "very easy," but I was wrong. Hidden picture puzzles take some doing to find creative and interesting ways to hide objects! Since the puzzles are in color, you can't just add objects willy, nilly. They have to fit the illustration so that their color is reasonable in a real world context, i.e. no blue tomatoes. And objects can't be hidden in logical places either.  If you're going to hide a leaf, it can't be in a tree :) So far I've hidden a zipper in a stalk of corn, a mop in a haystack, and a horseshoe in a trumpet. Some have come easy, and some I've had to work at, but it's been super fun to combine a puzzle with an illustration.

Bath Time for Hippo in "felt" and "paper"

Happy week to you all. I have been having fun experimenting with a new style lately to possibly add to my portfolio. I had this sketch on my drawing board and was going to finish it in the experimental style but it kept telling me that it wanted to be finished in "digital felt". So I listened....

I thought I was done, but then I started wondering how it would look if instead it was done in a cut paper look. Because I work in a lot of layers, it was fairly easy to remove some here and there and revamp others. This is what I came up with.  A lot like the felt 
version with mainly the stitching and felt texture removed.

Hmm...I wonder how it would look in a cross stitch style...only kidding ;)

Queen Quail is Quiet: and other ABC Tongue Twisters

Today's guest blogger is Erika Barriga. Her new book debuts this week, and I hope you'll enjoy her process post about the making of her book, Queen Quail is Quiet: and other ABC Tongue Twisters

Queen Quail is Quiet: and other ABC Tongue Twisters comes out for e-readers (Kindle, Kindle Fire, and iPad) and in print on Wednesday, May 15. 

Queen Quail is Quiet grew out of my love of learning and drawing.  I wanted to be a little different to approaching learning the alphabet. Creating a sentence illustrating each sound for every letter sounded challenging.  I started out by thinking of words for the letters and then forming a sentence I could illustrate.  Sketching of thumbnail ideas came next and was much easier to do once I realized this would no longer be just a project, but a book.  Most of the sketching was just on plain computer paper and once I refined the sketches into final artwork, I scanned in the images onto my computer.

The sketches were brought over to Adobe Illustrator as a layer.  Then I outlined everything in a bright color (easy to see and stands out) on another layer.  At this stage I think of colors and what would work for the entire book.

Then I made a copy of the outline layer and this is the layer that becomes the color layer.

Usually there is tweaking with the image just a bit (the swim cap for the duck is different from sketch to final), but I try to stay true to the original sketch since that is the foundation.  I believe it is better to sketch and erase than to work out those changes digitally on the computer. When the color is complete, I'll bring the image into Photoshop for additional little changes and finally end with applying a texture.

This book took over four years to complete from start to finish and I can't wait for my baby girl to flip through the pages.  I hope other kids will enjoy it too!

Gina's Top 5: SCBWI Workshop Presenters

For the past seven of the ten years I have attended, I have blogged a recap of the NESCBWI conference. As I was gathering notes on this year's event, I decided to browse through my old posts and thought to do a 'Top 5' list.

In no particular order:

1. Melissa Sweet, author/illustrator. Due to proximity and providence, I have seen Melissa speak and have attended a few of her small workshops. Her career is awe-inspiring, her talent abounds, and she is gifted at not only sharing her enthusiasm, but techniques for writing and illustrating: how to generate and extract ideas, words, and images, etc.

2. Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen, author. Prepare to get an education when you sit for a workshop with Sudipta. She tosses extremely useful basics and guidelines to writing picture books alongside gritty/witty personal stories. No snoozing in her classes.

3. Frank Dormer, author/illustrator. As an illustrator, we can't forget that without ideas and concepts, our pretty pictures fall flat. Frank delivered a fabulous working workshop for illustrators a few years back that stuck with me. It forced me to put a problem-solving cap on and work fast (don't all good workshops blaze by?).

4. Mark Peter Hughes, author. The first time I ventured into taking a writer workshop, I was lucky enough to land in a class with Mark Peter Hughes. He got us to write down, speak up, and think in broad, useful terms about character development.

5.Dan Yaccarino, author/illustrator. Well, certainly Dan's reputation as a rock-star of picture books precedes him. He shared so many gems about storytelling, bookmaking and the hard work involved in this business - I dare you to walk away without a big, shiny lightbulb hovering on your noggin.

It's Publishing Day!

It's publishing day at Amazon Children's Publishing for Baby Wants Mama, which was written by Nancy Loewen and illustrated by me!

At the end of the day, everyone in the family wants something....but what do they ALL want? Dinner!

© 2013 Deborah Melmon

Baby wants Mama.

Cat wants Fish.

Daddy wants supper.

Pup wants Dish.

The sparse text was a dream to illustrate as it gave me so much room to have fun and play with lots of fun details. I envisioned each page with big, colorful images. 

Here is the sketch for one of the spreads. I inked the line and painted each image on watercolor paper. I then scanned in the images, cleaned them up and added details like stripes on the sweaters and dots on the baby's clothing. I was also able to adjust skin color so that all the images looked consistent.

Baby Wants Mama is available on Amazon with a "look inside" so you can see more images.

This is the second book I have illustrated for Amazon Children's Publishing. Give Up, Gecko!, written by Margaret Read MacDonald, was released earlier this year. 

Highlights Hello

I was so excited when I checked the mail today. I received a copy of this month's issue of Highlight's new baby magazine, Hello. Here are photo's of the poem I had the privilege of illustrating. This is such an adorable booklet, perfectly sized for little fingers! 

(Cover art by Maggie Smith)

Click to enlarge

click to enlarge

About Me

It's always a good day when you get new postcards in the mail, right? I think I'm extra-excited about these. The girl and scene are from my latest picture book dummy. I started writing the story in a waiting room a few years ago. It started out about ME, about being small. It is called, simply enough: I Am Small. More on this later...

Right before I picked these up off the front porch I updated a bit of my website. I rewrote my biography to reflect ME a bit more. I even included a favorite picture of myself - not the posed picture I used in a recent interview - something more ME. I updated the splash page to reflect art that is more ME lately - a newer style that combines sketchiness and controlled gouache painting.

I posted this over at my personal blog too. I don't usually cross-post, but given the nature of things, it felt right.

It's Bath Time- Just released!

I worked on this cute little board book a while back and it's out and available now!

It features a very young bunny and his family and it's the perfect book to read with your baby or toddler. :o)

This book is part of a set published by Highlights for Children and it's along the lines of their new Hello Magazine for little ones. You can learn more about these books and order some if you like by clicking here.

Procreate App

A fun demonstration by Will Terry showing how to sketch with your finger on the Ipad  using, "procreate".  I think I'm going to steal mine back and add this app. Looks fun. :)

Look What I Got in the Mail!

Always the best part of illustrating a picture book....the big box of books that arrive on the doorstep and  finally getting to see it all put together! This is my latest, "Baby Wants Mama," written by Nancy Loewen and published by Amazon Picture Books. It releases on May 7th. You can read more about the book on Nancy's website here.

©Deborah Melmon 2013

 

What We're Reading (plus a video of Lucy Cousins)

My older son has been tearing through the series of animal books. I love seeing him head to the same spot in the library at each visit, eager to find a new book. He has also been making my husband read lots of Richard Scarry at bedtime each night for weeks. I think he's a bit weary of our selection - talk about the power of longevity! My daughter, who has a shorter attention span for picture books, was ooh'ing and ahh'ing over All the World - who wouldn't?! And Maisy has fans in all of us. This lengthy opposite book is fun for the 2 and 4 year old. Also, I found this lovely video of Lucy Cousins painting Maisy - it's so fun to see her process.

From the sketchbook

© copyright Alicia Padrón 2013

Here is a little sketch I drew this morning. It's my warm up exercise for the day and my #Twoodle for this week using the words Ballet and Turtle, suggested by @soelver and @JerseyGirlDraws.

If you want to learn about Twoodle and how you can participate too, click here. :o)

Mister Dash and the Cupcake Calamity

Being a dog lover and anything food related, I was happy to get my hands on  Monica Kulling's Mister Dash and the Cupcake Calamity. This is the second book with the well mannered mixed breed, Mister Dash, who lives a "civilized" life with his owner, Madam Croissant.  In Merci Mister Dash!, peaceful days are spent until Madam Croissant's grand daughter, Daphne, comes for a visit. Life turns topysy turvy for Mister Dash and he ultimately proves himself the hero of the story.

In Mister Dash and the Cupcake Calamity, Mister Dash again has to deal with Daphne's rambunctious energy as well as becoming the delivery pooch for Madam Croissant's new cupcake business. In true gentlemanly fashion, Mister Dash works hard to please Madam Croissant and saves the day again when a calamity with the delivery transpires.
Monica has such a knack for adding subtle humor to her writing and it had me grinning throughout the story.

click to enlarge 

Esperança Melo's rich acrylic illustrations perfectly compliment Monica's fun lyrical writing style. The lusciousness of the paint strokes make the cupcake's frosting pop off the page and her illustrations enhance the humor in Monica's writing perfectly.

 (Mister Dash donning a disguise hoping to sneak away from Daphne.) 

I asked Monica what inspired Mister Dash and the Cupcake Calamity...

"I first met Mister Dash, or rather a dog with the name “Dash,” while walking my two big dogs in Toronto’s High Park. On the trail ahead a woman was calling her dog, “Da-ash! Mister Da-ash!” I thought, what a great name, and wondered what type of dog would come running. It turned out that jaunty “Mister Dash” was a black standard poodle. What a great character for a picture book, I said to myself. I spent the remainder of my walk creating a storyline and a couple more characters.

In my first Mister Dash story, Merci Mister Dash!, I made my main character a poodle. The first editor who read the story turned it down with a curt, “I don’t like stories with poodles in them.” Hmm. How unusual. In response to this rejection, I turned my Mister Dash into a mixed-breed dog, and that has probably worked out best all round because it has opened up more possibilities. Mister Dash can now rely on five different breeds in his makeup to help save the day.

I was inspired to write my second Mister Dash, Mister Dash and the 
Cupcake Calamity, by Esperança Melo’s illustrations for the first book, especially the kitchen scene in which Daphne and Dash are eating caramel popcorn. I love the blue and yellow squared floor in that spread! So I decided I must write another story and that it must mainly take place in the kitchen. But how would I do that? Madame Croissant owned a gift store in the first book. Then I thought, why can’t Madame Croissant switch vocations and the wackier the better. Throw in a third-hand van, a delivery dog, baking day with Daphne, and CUPCAKES! and away we go."


Mister Dash and the cupcake Calamity is an entertaining read that children will enjoy revisiting time and time again. I have my fingers crossed that there will be more adventures with the fanciful Mister Dash!

What I'm Working On

Continuing on my black & white experiments, I'm putting this little image on the back of a new postcard. I can't get enough of this little girl - and I'm so excited to share her story at the upcoming NESCBWI Spring Conference.

Stopping to smell the flowers

© copyright Alicia Padrón 2013

A quick sketch I doodled this morning.

Well.. quick meaning:

Drawing time: 5 min

Scan/Coloring in Photoshop: 10 min

Uploading work to blogger with awful internet connection: 35 min. 

Sigh.

The Author-Illustrator Relationship

I've been meaning to post about this picture book for some time now. A friend of mine is a teacher and read it to her classroom and knew that I would love it, since I am a picture book illustrator.

Have you ever wondered what makes a picture book successful? The story or the pictures? Author or illustrator? In reality, one cannot live without the other. But this story about Chloe and the Lion has a very funny tug-of-war side-story between the clay figures of Mac Barnett (author) and Adam Rex (illustrator). This video, produced by DisneyHyperion will definitely give you a few laughs.

The art in the book was made with basswood, balsa wood, oil and acrylic paints, pencil, Sculpey clay, modified doll clothing, toilet paper, photography, and Photoshop. So fun!

You can see more of Adam Rex's artwork here.

What I'm Working On

I've been playing around with different black & white techniques. I did a few straight gouache pieces, but I'm really enjoying this pencil and digital combo. I like how the simplicity of the process and how the freshness of the sketching comes through.

Chester's Colorful Easter Eggs

With Easter fast approaching, I want to recommend this adorable picture book written and illustrated by Theresa Smythe. Chester's Colorful Easter Eggs, is a delightful book that reinforces counting and color recognition skills while we watch Chester happily decorating and hiding rainbow colored eggs for his friends.

I asked Theresa how her book came into being and she explained that it was originally a sequel to her popular Christmas book, Snowbear's Christmas Countdown. The idea was born from her childhood and how elaborate her family's egg decorating was-- an article 
in a McCalls or Women's day magazine with Alice in Wonderland themed eggs still stands out in her mind.

When she initially developed her dummy book,  Snowbear starred in the show but it just wasn't feeling right for her. Next, she approached it with a quirky artistic pig named Maurice living in New York City. Although he was well received by Theresa's editors, Chester the rabbit, ultimately stole the show.  "Now it's hard to believe it started out with a bear, went to a pig and ended up a bunny. Because the bunny fits -- just like that!!! Everything is a stepping stone to get you from a to z ; nothing is wasted."

(I agree, nothing is wasted. I have my fingers crossed that Maurice will have a book of his own one day.)







I'm captivated by Theresa's richly textured cut paper style that feels as if the pieces can be pulled right off the page. Here is a fun example
of her process, click to enlarge...

Chester's Colorful Easter Eggs is a sweet treat to add to a little one's Easter basket. As well as a fun read aloud, this treasure will keep kids engaged visually as well as motivating a rainbow filled egg coloring activity!

Happy Easter!

Fairies

© copyright Alicia Padrón 2013

 I recently painted these. 

I just love fairies.

© copyright Alicia Padrón 2013

Nothing like a fairy to really touch the inner child in all of us, don't you think?

© copyright Alicia Padrón 2013

Book Review: My Town

It really is a wonderfully diverse, and ever-changing book-world we live in. Case in point: My Town by Delphine Doreau. 

I have been making paper toys of every variety with my four year old since he was about two and a half. Most of them have been far too complicated for him to do alone, and frustrating for the adult who is helping along. Not only is Delphine's book gorgeously illustrated, inventive, and unique, it is surprisingly doable for a four year old with just a bit of help. The instructions are so helpful, and the addition of the heavy stock street makes this more than just toys to sit on a windowsill. They become, as the title says, My Town.

Be sure to also visit Delphine's wonderful blog. I love that she shares how her own young son inspired some excellent touches to My Town.

From the sketchbook

© copyright Alicia Padron 2013

This is a little sketch I drew this morning for something I made up just for fun: #Twoodle.

The words I chose to create this are Panda and Rain. 

If you want to participate too, click here to learn how! :o)