Author/Illustrator Interview: AJ Smith and Even Monsters

I'm really excited to share this interview with author/illustrator AJ Smith. His picture book, Even Monsters, came out earlier this month and it chock-full of monsters, cooties, and a silliness that kids and grownups alike will really love. So let's get right into the wit and wisdom, shall we?

G: I love the rich, layered look to your art for Even Monsters. What is your process like?

A: My process involves a hodge-podge of mixed media: pencil, ballpoint pen, sometimes technical pens or brush pens, acrylic paint, cut paper, a shoddy laptop (donations welcome!), lots of caffeine, with a dab of old school Crayola crayons! I work different depending on the client but the common denominator is always rough pencil sketches on 8.5 x 11" copy paper.

G: What came first for you with Even Monsters: the words or the visuals?

A: Mostly the words came first for Even Monsters (way back in 2006). As I revised it, I began to ping pong ideas back and forth: a written idea would become a sketch and then that would ignite some new writing brainstorms and 'round and 'round we go...

G: Could you share one sparkling nugget of advice for aspiring author/illustrators?

A: First, have a sound foundation in drawing and/or in writing. Practice often and always. If you want to write and illustrate picture books,you should be reading picture books! Beyond that, I think you have to bring something new to the table. Have a unique voice, unique style. Be yourself. Be different. Do the art you want to do. You will meet rejection at every stage of the game (I'm always surprised to hear how much Jane Yolen is STILL rejected) so be doing the art you want to be making, not what you think publishers/editors want to see.

G: You are one busy guy - speaking at events, creating fun videos, and throwing awesome monster book parties. What has been the best part of promoting Even Monsters so far?

A: To me promotion is something an author/illustrator HAS to do. It's part of the job. And that is not always something that's easy to grasp. The tricky part is that you don't get paid to promote your book. In fact, it's been quite the opposite in my empty-pocketed experience. That said there is a reason I do it: To help the book do well (I'm terrified and convinced that this cannot happen on its own unless you are already a bestselling author/illustrator) and to network: meet new people -- educators, librarians, parents, KIDS. Promotion is not just promoting your book. It's promoting and fostering literacy. And if that didn't answer your question, I'd say making videos where I dress up like this has been the best part:

G: What's your next project? And does it involve having the readers spot cooties? (I do love the cooties! They are little orange puffs with silly eyes. Can you spot 3 in the illustration below?)

A: My next book is Even Dinosaurs, which comes out in 2015. There might be cooties. If there are, they'll be Cave Cooties. Still toying with that idea, but I really like the idea of adding an "Easter Egg" element to the book that kids can hunt for on a second read of a book. I hope kids really like them... Really like them or say "eww, gross -- cooties!" Either would be perfect really.

*FYI: My kids LOVE finding the cooties. Like it's their job. And everyone at the book launch loved the way AJ kept 'finding' cooties.

Many thanks to AJ for his thoughtful answers and insight. Be sure to visit www.evenmonsters.com to see where you can buy his book, see more silly videos, learn how to draw Skeebu and Glubb, have your kids enter in his Monster Art Contest, and even design your own silly underpants. I know what my kids will be doing after breakfast!

Queen Quail is Quiet: and other ABC Tongue Twisters

Today's guest blogger is Erika Barriga. Her new book debuts this week, and I hope you'll enjoy her process post about the making of her book, Queen Quail is Quiet: and other ABC Tongue Twisters

Queen Quail is Quiet: and other ABC Tongue Twisters comes out for e-readers (Kindle, Kindle Fire, and iPad) and in print on Wednesday, May 15. 

Queen Quail is Quiet grew out of my love of learning and drawing.  I wanted to be a little different to approaching learning the alphabet. Creating a sentence illustrating each sound for every letter sounded challenging.  I started out by thinking of words for the letters and then forming a sentence I could illustrate.  Sketching of thumbnail ideas came next and was much easier to do once I realized this would no longer be just a project, but a book.  Most of the sketching was just on plain computer paper and once I refined the sketches into final artwork, I scanned in the images onto my computer.

The sketches were brought over to Adobe Illustrator as a layer.  Then I outlined everything in a bright color (easy to see and stands out) on another layer.  At this stage I think of colors and what would work for the entire book.

Then I made a copy of the outline layer and this is the layer that becomes the color layer.

Usually there is tweaking with the image just a bit (the swim cap for the duck is different from sketch to final), but I try to stay true to the original sketch since that is the foundation.  I believe it is better to sketch and erase than to work out those changes digitally on the computer. When the color is complete, I'll bring the image into Photoshop for additional little changes and finally end with applying a texture.

This book took over four years to complete from start to finish and I can't wait for my baby girl to flip through the pages.  I hope other kids will enjoy it too!

Gina's Top 5: SCBWI Workshop Presenters

For the past seven of the ten years I have attended, I have blogged a recap of the NESCBWI conference. As I was gathering notes on this year's event, I decided to browse through my old posts and thought to do a 'Top 5' list.

In no particular order:

1. Melissa Sweet, author/illustrator. Due to proximity and providence, I have seen Melissa speak and have attended a few of her small workshops. Her career is awe-inspiring, her talent abounds, and she is gifted at not only sharing her enthusiasm, but techniques for writing and illustrating: how to generate and extract ideas, words, and images, etc.

2. Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen, author. Prepare to get an education when you sit for a workshop with Sudipta. She tosses extremely useful basics and guidelines to writing picture books alongside gritty/witty personal stories. No snoozing in her classes.

3. Frank Dormer, author/illustrator. As an illustrator, we can't forget that without ideas and concepts, our pretty pictures fall flat. Frank delivered a fabulous working workshop for illustrators a few years back that stuck with me. It forced me to put a problem-solving cap on and work fast (don't all good workshops blaze by?).

4. Mark Peter Hughes, author. The first time I ventured into taking a writer workshop, I was lucky enough to land in a class with Mark Peter Hughes. He got us to write down, speak up, and think in broad, useful terms about character development.

5.Dan Yaccarino, author/illustrator. Well, certainly Dan's reputation as a rock-star of picture books precedes him. He shared so many gems about storytelling, bookmaking and the hard work involved in this business - I dare you to walk away without a big, shiny lightbulb hovering on your noggin.

Narelle Oliver - Children's Author & Illustrator

1-2-3 Va Va Vroom Illustrator Interview: Daniel Griffo

A few years ago I was lucky to connect with author Sarah Lynn. Through her, I interviewed Valeria Docampo, illustrator of Sarah's lovely picture book, Tip Tap Pop. Sarah's latest book is available now, on Amazon. 1-2-3 Va Va Vroom is a counting book for your littlest speedsters.

Below is my interview with the book's illustrator, Daniel Griffo.Thank you, Daniel!

Q. The finished art for Va-Va-Vroom is digital and clearly you have great command of that medium. Is your process digital from start to finish, or do you still use pencil and paper?

A. Sometimes deadlines are too close, therefore, I sketch my work straight on the computer screen, which translates into an important saving of time. However, even if the final stage of all my works is digital, I still enjoy paper sketching  of preliminary ideas. When sketching, I like doing a lot of doodling on paper  and  experiencing many textures, which I later scan and apply in  the final digital version. In the case of Va-Va-Vroom I had enough time to sketch on paper, which I really enjoyed.

Q. Were there any particular challenges in illustrating this book?

A. The major challenge of this book was the story background. Being a topic so much appreciated  by children, it took me some time to study the environment and try to recreate the images. I made use of a variety of car models which matched  the personality of every child of the story. I haven’t chosen particularly racing cars. Based on the imagination perspective and personal taste of children, I imagined that each car needed to show something personal. I decided  that animal patterns on cars and helmets could  be a good idea. My 4-year-old son, Benjamín, showed real enthusiasm for the design. 

Q. Never mind the drawing challenge with all those cool cars with fancy rims: you have several really BIG scenes in this book (stadiums, crowds, wide views of fencing, roadways, etc). How do you tackle such complex scenes?

 A. It’s true, when I first started sketching the book I noticed  the big scenes and the amount of details I had to face. Recreating them filled me with enthusiasm; yet, the most complex to solve were the shots. My aim was to use every illustration as a means to capture the little reader with a new vision. Images contain the framework and scene from different angles. My goal is to generate expectations and movement through images; something good fun and different to encourage kids to go further into the story. I didn’t want to bore them with similar settings from the artistic  point of view.

Q. I think my favorite illustration might be the last page - I love that you brought them back to their 'real' world, but kept their cars and racing outfits - it lets the kids wonder if it was all real or not. Do you have a favorite spread in the book?

A. As an artist I’m in love with all my images.  I  like each of them for special reasons –  either the framework or some peculiarity. I absolutely agree with you, I believe that the unexpected  ending for the reader -the doubt: “was it all real or not?”- makes the last illustration one of my favorites.

You can visit Sarah Lynn's website here. You can visit Daniel Griffo's website and blog here. Be sure to check in later today for the winner of the Owlkids' book Learn to Speak Fashion! 
****Congratulations Nina Crittenden!!!!******
DM @ginamarieperry on Twitter your address so I can send your book out!

Illustrator John Howe- the difference between drawing & writing