A Surprise in the Mail

I got my copies in the mail last week of a picture book I did for Kar-Ben Publishing (a division of Lerner Publishing Group) last summer. It turned out really sweet! The book will not be released until August 1st, but is available for preorder on Amazon.

Speak Up, Tommy! is about a kid who is teased about his Israeli accent and the way he speaks English.
But his knowledge of Hebrew makes him a hero when a police officer and his dog come to visit Tommy's school.

The story, written by Jacqueline Dembar Greene, was inspired by a newspaper article about Sgt. John Fosket of the Helena, Montana Police Department, who was given a dog by an organization called Pups for Peace. Sgt. Fosket had one problem. Miky, the dog, had been trained in Israel and only understood Hebrew commands. Sgt. Fosket enlisted the help of a rabbi and his Hebrew-speaking friends, but in this picturebook, Tommy is our hero.

I loved working on this book. It it's always such a relief when the book prints exactly as the art looked on my Mac. I'm a hybrid artist....I paint some of the art traditionally, some of it digitally and manipulate a lot of the layers by adding textures. So there is a lot of anticipation before I see the book in print.

I'll show you more art once the book is released and I will be doing an interview with the author later in the summer. So stay tuned!

From My Sketchbook

Is it Monday already? I've been working every day and through the weekends for the last couple of weeks to finish my picture book for Kar Ben Publishing. It's a story about a classroom full of kids and a police dog that could use some obedience training. It's such a fun book for me right now as I'm also working hard on training my rescue dog "Mack." We have obedience class on Monday nights at our local park. He is a quick learner, so I'm really pleased with his progress. His biggest obstacle is that he is just so full of excitement and very vocal. He just needs to learn a little patience....just like his mommy, lol.

What I'm Working On

I worked all weekend, so today doesn't really feel like Monday to me. And I usually post on Friday, but Kathy Weller and I have switched days. So I'm surprised I actually remembered that I was posting today!

I'm currently working on another picture book for Kar Ben Publishing. They are a lovely publishing house to work for. They let me have a lot of freedom. Picnic at Camp Shalom was the first book I did for them. The setting was summer camp and there was a lot of variety in the scenes. This current book takes place in a classroom with lots of kids, so it has been challenging for me to come up with creative ways to make the classroom look interesting on each of the spreads.

I'm also using my new printer, which I posted about here, that prints out waterproof ink onto my watercolor paper. It's working out wonderfully and I'm much more relaxed while I paint, knowing if I make a horrible mistake, I can just print out another drawing. As with the last book, I am painting this book in layers. The characters are painted separately so that I can resize or manipulate them on the spread if I need to. I don't know about you, but if I walk away from artwork for 24 hours, when I come back to it, sometimes I can see glaring errors or distortions that just don't look right. Having the different elements on separate layers in photoshop makes it much easier to correct.

Have a great week everyone!

Picnic at Camp Shalom Review

Picnic at Camp Shalom is a beautiful book about friendship. Every kid at some point in his or her life experiences rejection from a friend. This is a wonderful story about two new best friends that realize they have more in common than they think and that friendship is really worth fighting for.

The story and illustrations go so well together. I know you must think that being Deb's friend of course I will say marvelous things about her work.. but let me say, I would say them anyway even if we weren't friends.

Deb did a fantastic job with the setting in this story. She uses color so well for creating the mood. The characters are lovable right from the beginning and this story is filled with tons of fun details that I know kids will adore!

This is my absolute favorite expression in the book:

Look at that little girl with the ponytail! Even though you don't know the story just yet, I am sure you can tell she cares for her friend. You know she is really trying hard to do whatever it takes to make things right. You know she's worried but filled with hope at the same time. Deb created the perfect expression. Just brilliant!

Here is just one of the spreads filled with fun little details that Deb adds to the story. I know kids will take their time and will tell their parent to wait and don't turn the page just yet. ;o)

And here is a perfect example of how she creates the feeling of closeness and bond between the two girls just by the perfect use of color and lighting.

My hat's off to you Deb! :oD

Finally here is the book trailer for you to enjoy!

Remember to leave a comment in order to participate in a book giveaway! You have until Saturday. Winner will be announced Sunday. Good luck!