Judy Blume

This wonderful lady needs no introduction. :o)

I really enjoyed listening to her. Hope you do too!

An inspiring talk from an inspiring man

Of all the TED talks I've seen this is definitely one of my favorites.

Maybe is because I feel like I know Jarret thanks to Twitter and the blog world. He is really a wonderful and super nice guy, and so very talented. Or maybe is because in this talk he truly puts his heart out there in front of a room full of people and out for the world to hear. Could be because everything he says will stay with you for a long time or maybe is because of all those reasons put together.

If you haven't seen the video by now, I recommend you do. It's a beautiful talk and makes me so incredibly happy to know "you ARE successful in your work" Jarret. I can't think of anyone else who deserves it more... :o)

Narelle Oliver - Children's Author & Illustrator

A Book Trailer

Hello there!

Truth is I'm working like mad on a deadline so this will be a flash post.

I thought I would share with you a video trailer I put together for ABC, Baby Me! (Random House). I think it turned out really cute, well.. how could it not with those adorable babies!?

Thanks SO much to my sweet gals Gina and Deb for helping me with this. What would I do without my PBJ's? :o)

Better get back to work. Hope you all enjoy it!

Sophie Blackall

I'm sure you love Sophie Blackall for her breathtaking work. Now you can love her for who she is.

Take a glimpse into the life of this very lovely and extraordinary artist.

Grim Colberty Tales with Maurice Sendak

LOL!

You have to watch this hilarious video. We have to be able to laugh at ourselves at some point or another and this is just funny!

Have a look! :o)

Peter Carnavas

Peter by Christine from ABC Open Sunshine Coast on Vimeo.

I just loved this.

Visit Peter's website to learn more about him and his work.

A little bit of this and that

Hi all,

While Bear is getting ready for movie night here, I've been busy doing a little bit of everything.

I'm waiting for feedback from sketches on 2 books so this is the time where I try to keep up with other things.

I've been doing some writing. There is one story in particular that I am liking a lot. I sketched it in tiny thumbnails but I need to leave it for a while and let it sit. I'll take it out in a couple of days and read it again. It's amazing the things you see after coming to it again with fresher eyes.

I also spent time making a little painting video. It's something I had on my list of new things to try. It's not perfect by all means. It's a tad dark but that's the best I could do because sadly my studio is very dark. If you'd like to see it, here it is on my blog and here it is on YouTube in a larger format.

I'm excited too because I'm about to start illustrating a new book! It's always so nice to start a new project. To visualize it, you know? I've been at the "thinking" stage for a few days now. This is where I brainstorm all day, while brushing my teeth, while making lunch boxes, while stuck in traffic.. but I don't pick up a pencil until I feel my head is about to explode with ideas. That happened two days ago, so I've been sketching like crazy and loving it.

So that's it for now.

Reporting from my couch.

Alicia. :o)

Smile!

from I Love You All Year Round

(Piggy Toes Press)

I saw this TED talk this morning about the importance of smiling.

If you have the time, watch the video at the end of this post. It says that there are studies that prove people who smile frequently live longer.

I hadn't really given it much thought before but I am a big smiler. I smile a lot. I even smile in my posts as I have a hard time writing and not ending it with a smily face. :o) (..see?)

This talk got me thinking how this can translate in our work as illustrators. I know we have to illustrate many scenes and have to be able to convey a whole range of feelings, so it is important to have samples that show this in our portfolios.

But I can't help to illustrate most of my characters smiling.

Maybe is an extension of who I am? Or maybe I just want to transmit that happy and warm feeling to an audience?

Either way, If you ask me, you can't go wrong illustrating happy characters.

People enjoy seeing others smile.

Doesn't matter if its a real person in front of them

or a couple of Jellyfish. ;o)

How to be a great children's illustrator

How to Be a Great Children's Illustrator

with David Small

Quentin Blake

Quentin Blake answers some interesting questions. There's no audio on the first few seconds of the video for some reason but the rest is fine.

Enjoy!

p.s the "by me" on the top of the video is not really me. That's just how the video is featured on YouTube. Wouldn't that be something though? A dream come true to be able to be sitting in a room talking to him. :o)

Library of the early mind- Trailer

I really want to see this!

A day with Mo

I know what you are thinking, has she gone nuts? How many videos is she posting?!

Oh... but you'll enjoy them all so much plus they are very short and one comes right after the other so I wanted you all to get the full Mo experience. :o)

Speaking of Mo Willems, after watching all these videos make sure to hop over to Kelly Light's Ripple blog because he was wonderful enough to donate some cards made by him! The cards are available today at 50$ each and all the proceedings will be donated to two charities helping the victims of the oil spill. C'mon, this is your chance to own a Mo Willems one of a kind original! How cool is that!

Now I leave you with the one and only, Mo Willems (may I just say, Mo you rock!).

Enjoy! :o)

Simms Taback

So interesting! Watch Simms Taback describe his process for making the dummy of "There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly".

I haven't found a Simms Taback book that I don't love yet. We currently have two out from the library: His "Big Book of Words", which our library carries several copies of, a testament to their value, and "Noisy Barn" - fun too. We own "Zoom", a tiny board book catalogue of 'things that go'. There's so much charm in his linework, characters, even the simplest of objects.

I also noticed that Simms has a few more videos on his website and even a ton of cool autographed posters that you can purchase.

Rosemary Wells

Beautiful and inspiring video, definitely worth watching.

I like how she said her ideas came to her as little birds on the railing of a ship and that she had to feed each and every one of them before they flew away.

How about you, are you feeding your birds?

The wonderful Eric Carle

I love discovering interviews of children's illustrators and writers. I found this and thought I would share it with you.

Eric Carl is an adorable man. As I'm sure you all know, he's the illustrator behind famous titles like The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Brown Bear, Brown Bear. Just listen to him speak about his collage technique and his passion for color.

Loved to hear him talk about his childhood too and how he had envisioned what being an adult would be like. I also enjoyed how Bill found a "rhythm" for the book before the actual words.

I find that I like his voice and the way he talks about books, there's a passionate yet soothing tone to it.

Hope you enjoy them. :o)

Video Fun

Take a look at this interview with R.L. Stine the creator of the Goosebumps books. Really fun guy :o)

Have a great weekend everyone!