My favorite kind of illustration job

A new assignment from High-Five magazine and it's my favorite kind: a cozy indoors scene. Here's a snippet of the sketch. xo

Hello!

I'm so excited about this new magazine for babies by the Highlights company. It's printed on really nice glossy heavy stock. So far I've done a cover...

... and also a story for a different issue. The printing turned out great, and basically I would be happy to illustrate the whole issue every month!

It's swell to have another venue for very young illustration work.
Thank you, Highlights!

Second proofs for my next book

this week i received a copy of the second proofs for my next book!
it's called My Blue Bunny Bubbit, and will come out in the fall. the art for the book was put together digitally, which is a first for me. i used a combination of traditional and digital to create the artwork, and it was very strange and kind of anticlimactic to just upload the finished files to the art director's Drop Box after all the months of work. before, there would be the ceremonious labeling and careful packing of the original art, taking the box to Fedex, and then receiving an appreciative and enthusiastic phone call from the editor and art director when they had received the package and were seeing the art for the first time.

however, there was a reason to develop this new way of working - it was something that i felt called to do for this particular story, and i'm very happy with what i came up with and will probably continue to work this way. i was worried about how the art would print, since on the computer you're always seeing a brighter version of things due to the back-lit screen and you feel a certain disconnect. but i needn't have worried because it's printing very well, and pretty close to what i expected.

the story has a sewing theme, so i'm also making simple version sewing patterns of the two stuffed toys that will be available to readers through Clarion Book's website. i hope parents and kids will enjoy making them together! these are the first round samples - i'll show the finals next. xo

Pigging Out

A delicious feast was enjoyed by everyone.

And then we all felt like this.

I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving!
xo

Christmas book

the holiday season is here, and i'm happy to announce my first Christmas book: Christmas with the Mousekins - A Story with Crafts, Poems, Recipes and More!
This is really my dream-come-true book in so many ways. besides taking place in a mouse world at Christmas-time, it incorporates recipes and craftiness into the story. i designed a lot of fun projects for the book.
there's lots of love & hugs & family togetherness,
and lots and lots of cookies!
(continued in post below)

Recipes and craft instructions follow the Mousekins making them in the story. so it's all very integrated.
mimi mouse gives baby mouse this cute felt mobile, and the next page shows how to make it (as well as a Mousie Sock Puppet and Mimi's little mitten bookmarks).
there are lots of projects in the book and even more online, for a real home-made holiday. we had the book printed on un-coated stock (no shine, just matte), which is really neat, and adds to the old-fashioned feel.
i've received some nice emails already from moms who have enjoyed the story and the craft projects with their kids. one woman wrote that her older girls (8 & 12) love the crafts too, so there's a wide age-range appeal ...

and another said they are definitely making Cinnamon Snail cookies this year!
i'm sensing that women enjoy the book for themselves, for its sense of nostalgia and for the crafts & recipes. so that's great.
the story starts two weeks before Christmas, so the book would make a nice early gift so that kids, moms, and grandmas (and hey, maybe dads and granddads too!) can join in with the busy Mousekins as they get ready for the big day - decorating their tree, baking cookies and delivering them to friends, crafting paper garlands and an angel-mouse tree-topper, and making gifts from felt and ribbon.
have a Merry Mousie Crafty Christmas!
xoxo

High-5 magazine job finished

sneak peak of the finish - it will be in the march issue.
painted traditionally on a new water color paper (for me) -
fabriano artistico.
mixed media with a bit of fabric collage.
scanned in and touched up in photoshop.
it was fun!

educational job finished

Thanks for all your comments and encouragement on my last post!
there's something there that i like with the digitally "distressed" line and flat color, but it needs more developing....
the studio asked me to do my "traditional" style, so i did my same-old, same-old.
i guess they were right--these do look better. (and they were a lot more work!)
i'm pretty happy with the 8 pieces, and the studio is too.
meanwhile, i will continue to fiddle with photoshop...

sketching about summer...

well after all my kvetching it seems that summer has come to seattle with a bang, with some glorious, crisp sunny days...when i think back, this sketch is what summer means to me. i did a lot of this on the swing our dear family friend arthur constructed for my 5th birthday.
happy summer!

High Five magazine, June issue

i received my complimentary copies of the June issue of High Five magazine, which i have a piece in. it printed a little on the dark side even tho i thought i had overcompensated by over-lightening the digital scan i sent them (it was painted traditionally).
but still i am really happy with it. it was such a fun project for me--hard to go wrong with a little girl and a garden/flower maze as subject matter!
the last time i did a spread for them i was not super happy with it, so it's nice to feel good about something.
now if only that warm sunny weather would come to seattle! it's very confusing here for me with the chilly climate. i still feel we're in winter, so i don't realize so much time is passing...this caused me to miss a sketch deadline today (okay, can't totally blame it on the weather) because for a northeasterner, it feels like, maybe March, but def not the end of May (which i had in mind as the due date)...

Close-ups from the scene posted earlier

Some close-ups from the moving scene.....I have to say I do love the tiny baby beaver...he's about
1/4 inch tall in the original illustration.
This was my first book with animal characters, and by the end I was totally converted!!
I now understand why most illustrators prefer animals over people.
There is more freedom and more fun!