I haven't posted an update on the blog in a while so I thought it might be nice to do a quick write-up of some of my favorite kid lit reads from the past month or so. My local library finally re-opened its doors and I was able to find a little time between commissions and moving into a new house to discover some stories that I really admire.
This charming Sendak-inspired story follows a boy who wakes up to discover he has turned into a lion... and is hungry for a bit more than pancakes. I love Groenink's use of color and the character design is excellent.
This new chapter book by Amy Timberlake is fantastic. I like to describe it as "It's like frog and toad, but frog secretly hates toad." The story does a great job of portraying authentic neurodiverse characters and the accompanying illustrations by Klassen are perfect.
This new graphic novel is a visual stunner. The full color art has so much nuance and detail. Tim really outdid himself. The character design is outstanding and the world he had developed is truly unique and magical.
This is a series of illustrations I created based on the Folktale Week prompt list put out in November of 2018. The idea was to create and post one illustration based on a folktale every day for a week. Instead of picturing the more popular European folk and fairytales, I wanted to make pieces based on North American folktales. In American folktales, subjects are rugged and wild; cowboys, lumberjacks, pirates, and outlaws. At the time the Americas were being settled, the world had a very negative association with witches and magic. Because of this you see much less of a focus on witches and spells. Instead, American folk tales portray people with larger than life personalities and great senses of adventure.
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I'm using the new year to double down on improving my illustration portfolio, expanding my list of finished dummies and manuscripts, and of course querying, querying, querying! Over the course of the next few months, I'll be participating in a couple challenges, showcases, and events to help me reach my goal of getting an agent and my first book deal.
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Its a cold snowy weekend and I'm stuck inside. I thought it would be fun to make some stick ponies - the heads have such a fun shape. Here's what I did and how it turned out.
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