Art Break Wednesday: Blown Away by a Book Cover

 

It’s my privilege to write a monthly poetry column over at my friend Janice Hardy’s terrific blog for fiction writers, THE OTHER SIDE OF THE STORY.  My offering over there today harkens back to Notan (positive/negative shapes and such) as a simple way to think about characters in a story.  As an example, I borrowed characters from Margarita Engle’s wonderful book, Hurricane Dancers (Henry Holt and Company, 2011).

hurricane dancers cover

jacket illustration ©Cathie Bleck

I think its cover is, like the writing, just exquisite.  The jacket illustration was done by Cathie Bleck.  (The Artist’s Statement on her website sings to me!)  The jacket designers were Rich Deas and Elizabeth Tardiff.

The book has six parts, each comprised of individual poems told in five voices. I love the visual opening each of these as well:

Wild Sea interior hurricane dancers

I don’t know what the lettering/font is called, but I’m also in love with the letters.  Looks to me like blackletter with curlicues and a Western twang (with the “points” peeking out along the stems of the letters.)  Very dynamic.

For a treat, click here to see a video of cover artist Cathie Bleck’s artistic process using kaolin clay.  Many of her incredible paintings as well as some studies and sketchbooks are posted on her site as well.  Enjoy!

 

Art Break Wednesday: Uri Shulevitz’s WRITING WITH PICTURES

images WRITING WITH PICTURES cover

If I had to clear out my shelves and give up all but one book about illustrating children’s books, I’d keep Uri Shulevitz’s classic, WRITING WITH PICTURES – How to Write and Illustrate Children’s Books (Watson-Guptill Publications).  I have the bona fide 1985 version, which includes chapters on color separation – a process unknown to young illustrators today, I’m sure!

I revisited this wonderful volume this past week because I had to list a favorite quote for a blog interview appearing today at Check It Out.  I snuck in two quotes – one on haiku writing and one for art, the Uri Shulevitz quote I have literally written on my wall above my drawing table:

Give up the idea of the perfect flawless picture, and aim for one that is alive instead.

The book contains hundreds of examples of illustration that is alive, mostly Shulevitz’s own work but also work by other artists, including many classics.  Shulevitz won the Caldecott medal in 1969 for Arthur Ransome’s retelling of THE FOOL AND HIS FLYING SHIP and a Caldecott honor in 1980 for THE TREASURE.  Born in 1935 in Warsaw, the young Shulevitz and his family fled from Poland during World War II.  He lived in France and Israel before settling in New York to work and teach.

WRITING WITH PICTURES delves into what makes a story with a complete action as well as the finer points of drawing technique, style, and composition.  It includes the best examples I know about creating a storyboard and dummy.  For a taste, here is an excerpt from the book as tutorial on the site, Mighty Art Demos, which says the tutorial is reproduced with permission from the publisher.   While this is a pretty thorough excerpt, I’d still encourage anyone to purchase the book, chock-full of clear explanations and insights about the process from beginning to end.  Here are a few more quotes, to give you an idea:

A picture book is closer to theater and film, silent films in particular, than to other kinds of books.  It is a unique type of book.  (p. 16)

For a story to succeed, the reader must be engrossed in each successive moment of the story and must care about what happens next, or at least be curious enough to want to know. (p. 41)

Outstanding illustrations are effective on at least two levels.  First, they tell us the story, portraying the subject matter accurately; and second, the abstract pattern of the picture is alive in its own right, with an underlying geometric structure that gives character and strength to the forms. (p. 129)

Great stuff, no?  I have other books on illustration that I treasure, but this one captured me early on and still rings true.  Do you have any favorites?

Art Break Wednesday: Terrific Art Springing up – Check Out these Artists!

 

Greetings, Art Friends!

On the home front, I’m zipping between region and state tennis tournaments this week for my youngest, a high school senior and captain of the team. DSC_0036 seth with trophy small  (Blog posts I’ve been planning in my head have yet to materialize, in other words!)

But it’s still Wednesday, so I’d love to share a few links which are sure to delight your eyes.  Click around and enjoy!

First up is Chip Ghignachip ghigna art cropChip is the son of noted children’s poet Charles Ghigna, aka Father Goose.  I’ve been eyeing Chip’s colorful, lively paintings on the Father Goose blog for a while now.

 

Chip is a recent graduate of Auburn University and currently enjoying his first gallery show at the Ellenburg Gallery at the Homewood Public Library, next door in Alabama.  If you’re in that neighborhood, check it out!  If not, please enjoy clicking and scrolling online.

 

Next, you’ll enjoy tooling around the portfolios of Joseph Bradley.  I met Joseph briefly at The Maker’s Summit in Greenville, South Carolina, in February.  joseph bradley art cropHe hails from a neighboring town, Pendleton, and I quickly assessed that his paintings on wood panels have more than a few fans.  Take a look-see and you’ll learn why!  Joseph has just added many new pieces.

Last but not least on our mini gallery tour today is the newest member of my wonderful art critique group, fellow Georgian and the creative force behind Doublefly Design, Leighanne Schneider . leighanne art crop Here’s a link to her fine art site, and she has a treasure trunk full of irresistible offerings at her illustration site.  She doesn’t know this yet – nor do my other art critique group partners in crime – but I do plan to feature each one of them in a proper interview post in coming months.  Forgiveness is easier to get than permission, you know…

Here’s hoping you are surrounded by colorful April flowers – and art! – springing up, and that the pollen is passing you by.  Enjoy creating, and support your friendly local artists. :0)

Thanks for visiting.

Art Break Wednesday: Registration is Open for SCBWI Southern Breeze Illustrators Day!

 

Interested in Children’s Book Illustration?  Whether you are just starting out or you are a seasoned pro, the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) Southern Breeze Region is hopping with talent, resources, and folks to get to know.  Led by Illustrator Coordinator Elizabeth Dulemba, with assistance from Kathleen Bradshaw, the region offers ways to develop your craft and network with industry professionals throughout the year.  (Click here for the Southern Breeze Illustrators Corner.)

One of the most ambitious events is always Illustrators’ Day, jam-packed with talks from leaders in the field as well as feedback on artwork.

Robyn Hood Black, Jo Kittinger, special guest Greg Christie, Elizabeth Dulemba, special guest Peter Brown, and Kristen Applebee enjoy the SCBWI Southern Breeze 2012 Illustrators’ Day in Atlanta.

Held previously in September, the event is moving to the Friday just before the Southern Breeze Springmingle conference in Atlanta, the last weekend in February.

(Note:  I will actually be in the building but involved in the other Friday option that day – a verse novels intensive with Nikki Grimes!  But I look forward to meeting some of our Illustrators’ Day guests and taking a look at portfolios, etc.)

Here’s the scoop on the 2013 Illustrators’ Day:

Friday, February 22nd, from 10:00am to 4:00pm at the Century Center Marriott (the same location as Springmingle).

Cost: $65 per person for SCBWI members, $70 for SCAD or AIA students, and $85 for non-members. Audit options will be available to regristrants after the first 30 slots are filled.

Organizers are looking forward to the new date and digs.

“We hope that with this new change, our illustrators will want to stick around to enjoy the advantages of the entire conference weekend, although it’s not required,” says Elizabeth Dulemba. “We will also be overlapping some of our speakers.”

Binders Art Supply will host a Portfolio Viewing Cocktail Party from 4:00pm to 6:00pm for local Art Directors, gallery owners, instructors, etc. to drop by and view attendees’ work. (In other words, you’ll want to stay later, says Elizabeth! Please include take-aways with your portfolio – business cards, postcards, bookmarks, tear sheets, etc.)

“We will also have a display table just for book dummies along with the portfolios,” adds Elizabeth.  “We’re offering amazing new opportunities for our illustrators to learn more about the business of children’s books and perhaps get some good leads for freelance work.”

The  incredible line-up of speakers and mentors includes  Chad Beckerman, Creative Director for Abrams (Abrams Appleseed, Abrams Books for Young Readers, and Amulet Books) Dianne Hess, Executive Editor at Scholastic and Blue Sky Press,and Will Terry, illustrator and innovator.

Illustrator Mark Braught will mentor the first 12 registrees (first-come, first-served) with an assigned project before the workshop. The goal:  to create a finished piece ready to show on Illustrators’ Day during the Portfolio Reviews.

Portfolio Reviews: The first 30 registrees will display their work and receive feedback from this illustrious faculty in a public overview manner (timed – no more than 2 minutes).   (Attendees should follow the Portfolio Guidelines on the Southern Breeze site.)

NEW! Dummy Display: This year a designated table in the portfolio viewing area will be dedicated to the display of picture book dummies.

Registration is now open!
For more information, for links to all these great speakers, and to sign up, click here.
For questions, contact  Elizabeth O. Dulemba: http://dulemba.com elizabeth at dulemba dot com.

Art Break Wednesday: Painter and Illustration Contest Winner Beth Rommel!

 

This past spring, I had the lovely good fortune to fall into a wonderful artists’ critique group.  We met through our amazing SCBWI Southern Breeze region.  I’ll share more about our small band in future posts  (Beth Rommel, Kathleen Bradshaw, Prescott Hill, Paula Puckett, and yours truly).

Beth Rommel

Beth came to see me at Mule Camp!

TODAY, I want to celebrate our “fearless leader” – or, at least, the one of us brave enough to host us in her home each month and keep our calendar on track. Why are we celebrating?  Because BETH ROMMEL just won first place in the SCBWI Southern Breeze 2012 illustration contest, as announced this past weekend at our fall conference in Birmingham!  Woo-hoooo!!!!!  The contest was judged by Debra Kaplan, Vice President and Executive Art Director at Penguin Young Readers.  (Yes, you should be impressed!)

Beth came to the Atlanta area in June 2011.  She grew up in Louisiana, and her work has been widely exhibited in Texas and the Southwest, and in Florida, where she later lived.  Her work experience includes graphic design, editorial, production, public relations, and education.  Now you can find Beth and her wonderful paintings here in Georgia!

The prompt for this year’s contest (coordinated by our own Kathleen Bradshaw, by the way) was:  “PJ tried and tried…”

Wouldn’t you know it, Beth was not able to attend this weekend because she was the special guest at another art event in Atlanta featuring her oil paintings. So I snapped a quick picture on my iPhone of her work up on the BIG screen:

image ©Beth Rommel. All rights reserved.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here’s a better picture of her painting:

“PJ tried and tried to make friends with the horses.” ©Beth Rommel. All rights reserved.

Beth kindly offers this peek into how she created her winning picture:

I am so surprised to have won this because as a painter my style is very different from traditional children’s book illustration, which I really admire.

In coming up with a way to complete the prompt “P.J. tried and tried” I spoke with fellow artist Prescott Hill who said he was trying to remember things he had done as a child.  I was always doing something with horses in my childhood, riding them, showing them, trying to catch them in a field, make them my friends (carrots and apples always helped that process). 

Because of that constant contact their form is intuitive. It is well embedded in my Visual Catalogue, a term I coined recently. (I define it as a registry of the images kept in one’s mind. The images are derived from experiences of all descriptions.) I wanted to convey the feeling of being in a field surrounded by horses, some are friends, some are a little wild, some threatening, and others completely ignore you. This whole cast of characters I knew as a child. Wearing mismatched clothes was not an issue in the country early in the morning when all I wanted to do was get outside and get on a horse. In my dad’s big jackets or a flannel shirt I would walk the wet fields in Louisiana trying to track down these creatures and hope they wouldn’t run away before I could catch one for the ride home.

I used a palette of mixed media: acrylic paint, white ink, collage papers on coldpress 140 lb. watercolor paper. The original is proportionally twice the size as the final printed piece as I work better in a large format. I have tried to imagine what it would have been like to see my horses on a large screen at the conference! I sure wish I had been there; thank you again for sending me the photo. I am walking on air.

Thanks so much for this behind-the-scenes look, Beth!

Here is a taste of some more of Beth’s vibrant works.  These are all oil paintings.

portraits: Co-Directors of the World Shakespeare Project. ©Beth Rommel. All rights reserved.

Admired Woman. ©Beth Rommel. All rights reserved.

Nancy and Andy. ©Beth Rommel. All rights reserved.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Big Chicken was Back Again. ©Beth Rommel. All rights reserved.

Can’t wait to see what else Beth has in store.  You can keep up with Beth at her new art blog,  bethrommel.com.

What feelings does Beth’s artwork evoke in YOU?  Let her know in your congratulations in the comments!

Art Break Wednesday: Q and A with Melanie Hall and Book Give-away

**First, congratulations to Jo, whose name was randomly picked from last week’s commenters to receive a pack of notecards.** :0)

Melanie Hall and yours truly at a Highlights Founders Workshop, May 2012

Today we have a lively treat. Melanie Hall is an artist, illustrator and teacher from New York’s Hudson River Valley.  Her 25 children’s books have garnered many awards including the Parents’ Choice Award for an outstanding picture book and the Sydney Taylor Notable Book for 2011, as well as favorable reviews from the New York Times Book Review.  Her work, often described as sophisticated and whimsical,  has been exhibited at the Original Art Show at the Society of Illustrators (NY) and in many galleries.  She teaches graduate courses in children’s book illustration at Marywood University in Scranton, Pennsylvania, as well as professional workshops.

I met Melanie at the 2011 Highlights Founders Workshop for Advanced Illustrators at Boyds Mills, Pennsylvania, led by an esteemed team of amazing illustrators:  Melanie, Lindsay Barrett George, Eric Rohman, Floyd Cooper, and Suzanne Bloom.

Suzanne Bloom taking pictures as Melanie Hall and Lindsay Barrett George chat at the 2011 Highlights Founders Advanced Illustrators Workshop

The Highlights workshops are tremendous.  Little cabins to create and relax in are heavenly, and the new “Barn” is a terrific facility for group gatherings.  The natural setting is rejuvenating.  But the best thing about these workshops is the faculty.   I cornered Melanie toward the end of the workshop to discuss her poetry book projects, since poetry is my first love and I’d love to illustrate my own poems.  She kindly looked at my work and offered helpful insights.  What struck me most about Melanie was not just her expertise and her ability to articulate concepts, but the joy that emanates from her work and her person.  She looked at a couple of pieces I’d made and said, “You had fun creating that, didn’t you?”  She challenged us to make the kind of work we took joy in, which reflected our personalities.

One of my favorite books Melanie has illustrated is EVERY SECOND SOMETHING HAPPENS – POEMS FOR THE MIND AND SENSES (selected by Christine San José and Bill Johnson.)  I had the good fortune to meet Bill Johnson at the Highlights Founders “Poetry for All” workshop this past May.  Melanie was a guest presenter there, and it was wonderful to catch up with her and hear about her process of illustrating poetry.  Her collages, paintings, and drawings reflect the variety of voices in EVERY SECOND…, which includes the work of renowned poets and also poems from children.  (See my blog post for more about the book.)  And, drumroll…. I’m offering a copy to one lucky commenter randomly selected this week! (See details below.)

Melanie kindly offered to drop by here today and answer a few questions about herself and her art.

Welcome, Melanie!  Tell us a little bit about your background.  Were you one of those kids who doodled your way through class?

Yup. The girls asked me to draw horses for them in grade school. No one else could figure out how to draw them. They thought it was cool the way the images just came out of my pencil. I did, too.

“Fireworks” – ©Melanie Hall, HIGHLIGHTS magazine illustration

How and when did you decide to pursue art as a career?

When I was a senior in high school, I decided to go to art school. Dad was not happy. He said I would “starve in a garret.” He was very proud of me when I became an editorial illustrator and did annual reports and magazine and newspaper illustrations.

What is it about mixed media that you particularly enjoy?

 I love being surprised how things turn out. It’s not always what I intended, because the right side of the brain is a genius , and if I just get out of the way, my images become inventive, freer,  exciting and filled with spirit.

©Melanie Hall – Clock Doll, assemblage

You wear many hats  berets – artist, illustrator, teacher.  How do you balance the different requirements for each of these pursuits?  (Do you need time away from people in order to create, or do you need to get away from the studio to be with other people?)

Great question. I have to carve up my time to pursue all my interests. Sometimes it means that I work on several different projects in one day: in the morning I’ll do one thing, and then after lunch I’ll do something else, and then at the end of the day I’ll reward myself with personal art.

I used to think it was nutty of me, but I realized it works for me!

In my notes from one of your workshops , I wrote that you said, “What turns my buttons on is to play.”  How do you free yourself to play when approaching a new work?

I arrange some of my favorite pieces of artwork near my drawing table to look at while I’m working so I can get back into that frame of mind.

I also love to look at the masters of both fine art and illustration. For instance, I’ll look at a book of Toulouse Lautrec’s posters or a Martin and Alice Provensen picturebook.

So I guess it’s visual inspiration that gets me going.

Do you have favorite sources of inspiration?

 From time to time, I need to spend the day at a museum to feast my eyes and breathe in that incredible atmosphere; the Metropolitan is one of my favorites. That’s where you’ll find me every year on my birthday to celebrate life.

©Melanie Hall – “Hen Party,” mixed media on board

What are the tools you can’t live without – the items you use over and over again in your studio?

My electric eraser, my“Black Warrior” pencil, and Arches 140 lb. hot press watercolor paper with the wonderful deckled edge.

 

(I love that deckled edge, too!) Looking ahead, are there any works-in-progress or plans floating out there you’d like to share with us?

Yes, I am writing and illustrating a picture book. I’m on Revision # 6. Each version is better than the one that came before.

Thank you for playing along, Melanie!

Visit Melanie at her website and her Etsy shop.

To read more about the Highlights Illustrators workshop from last year, here’s my blog post about it.

To be entered to win a copy of EVERY SECOND SOMETHING HAPPENS, please leave a comment below by midnight EST Monday, Oct. 22.  Do you have a favorite way to “play” to free up your creative side? One lucky art lover will be randomly selected and notified next week.