Inky Nights

Here's the inked version of the previous pen sketches. Been using inks for a few illustrations lately, and am enjoying it. Alas... no typie, must keeping workie! This will be in Ask magazine in a few months.

Tea Hooouse... OoooOoo!

Here's a hot off the desk sample. Antoine Revoy and I are noodling ideas for a potential new project. Collaborating has been quite fun with this. Starting off with Antoine reading all the stories to me as I paint, we then did a series of thumbnails and character sketches, that slowly progressed into this scary lady. I'll let you know if there is any positive feedback. If so, GREENLIGHT on a Shybird book! Yahowee!

Upcoming Mediums

Just a quick ink study of a previous sketchbook drawing. Shybird is gearing up for some test samples of their first book together, and are VERY excited. It will be black and white, ink washes with brushwork. We cannot wait to show more!

This additive method of medium (ink wash upon ink wash) is a strange way for me to work, but I am really enjoying the process. Typically I subtract my tones, working from darker to lighter. I am also really enjoying the randomness and uncontrolability (is that a word) of the absorbs ion. Wow, what an art nerd.

PS) Beer review of Bohemia is coming!

Fiona' s 운!

So, my babelfish translation only gave me the character for "luck" but I'll take what I can get. The good folk at Charlesbridge sent over my Korean translation of Fiona's Luck. It's so much fun to look at, and how the pages look with the different characters. Korean is an absolutely beautiful looking language. I love the abundance of circles. I am also loving the new little "luck" flourish in the title design, too. Fun fun!

It's been a monsoon in New England this summer, absolutely odd. Thank goodness I caught the package this book was in. My mailbox situation at the apartment is less than stellar, so all kind of artwork, packages, and other mail goods get left in driveways, up against houses, hanging off mailboxes. It's always a "fun" game to find my packages. So, heading out to buy some diet soda the other morning, I spotted this soaked manila envelope. Most of the packing material absorbed the previous night's rain, but if it had stayed out for another hour, it would have been toast. We got 1.5" of rain in less than two hours. YYYYEEEEESSSSSHHHHHH!

Draggin' Dragons

Recent illness has made me uber slow with everything. Abrams are ANGELS for putting up with me. I'm telling ya, it's scary how quick things stockpile in the studio. It's making me nervous as to the future of my studio work. I have to rethink all my production times. Does anyone else feel this way too? I really would love to work more quickly, but that just doesn't seem to work either. Working illustrator parents are amazing in my book. Keep working till exhaustion, you crazy diamonds!

Meisterfälscher = Masterpeice

I was excited to see Masterpiece translated into one if the first of many languages (how awesome). Henry Holt was kind enough to send me a few copies. I giggled at the title! I now know 3 words in German!!

The cover is obviously not my art, but it's interesting to see how different markets demand a different style. For instance, the paperback will have a new look too! And often as an illustrator who might like one version better than the other, you got to put trust in the sales department. They have better know-how about buying trends and cover images. Would be interesting to figure that stuff out. Here's a sneak peek:

See Saw Layout

Not much to write, but just wanted to show the bang up design job by Sheila Smallwood! So pretty!

Ink Sketches

Here's a quick job coming through the studio, but fun none the less. It's a really short spooky story, and the client asked for my black and white style. Ink has always been a sketch medium for me, and the notion that people enjoy it as a finish still shocks me. I've always been comfortable with this sort of sketch look, I assumedly disregarded it's naturalness. Got to change that, I have way too much now.

2009 E.B. White Read Aloud Award!

Holy moses! What a treat to have THIS package resting on your doorstep... I got a heavy, pretty award from the Association of Booksellers for Children! Not to be a whiner, but I really haven't won any kind of award like this... ever! I am more than honored to have received this award and to have even been asked to work with Henry Holt and Elise Broach. Look at it shine!

The E.B. White Read Aloud Awards, established in 2004, honor books that reflect the universal read aloud standards that were created by the work of the author E.B. White in his classic books for children: Charlotte’s Web, Stuart Little, and The Trumpet of the Swan. In the first two years of the award, a single book was selected. In 2006, in recognition of the fact that reading aloud is a pleasure at any age, the award was expanded into two categories: Picture Books, and Older Readers. Books are nominated for their universal appeal as a “terrific” books to read aloud. After a list of nominations is gathered from ABC booksellers, a shortlist of four books in each category is determined by a committee of booksellers chaired by an ABC Board member. After a formal announcement on the first Monday in April, ABC booksellers vote online to determine the winners. The shortlisted books that remain receive an E.B. White Read Aloud Honor.

The awards are announced live during ABC programming at Book Expo America. HOW AWESOME IS THAT!!! I am really really floored. While I typically shy away from conventions and other big events, it would have been really fun to hear Masterpiece called as a winner. Thanks ABC (and Christy Ottaviano and Elise Broach! Wow, I am awful at acceptance speeches).

Other studio news... beside the award was this giant toad on my doorstep. He's become a regular. It's really fun to have a new friend to greet you when opening the door. I will name him Elwyn!

Musical Interlude

Just wanted to share some songs I've been obsessed with lately... just because I can.

Swanky Bookmarks

Wow! Check these guys out! Houghton Mifflin really did a super job on these promotional bookmarks. It's making me all the more excited for Nate's big release in September.


Here's the backside info:

Flight of the Phoenix
Nathaniel Fludd: Beastologist
by R.L. LaFevers
with illustrations by Kelly Murphy

With his parents lost at sea, Nathaniel Fludd lands on the doorstep of a distant cousin- the world's last remaining beastologist. Soon Nate is whisked off on his first expedition, to Arabia, where the world's only phoenix prepares to lay its new egg.

Too bad Nate's not the sort of boy who enjoys adventure... yet.

Oooo! So keep your eye out in stores and conventions for these little doggies... and maybe even an advanced copy!!!

Cheers.

Dragons: Part Deux

Here's a sneak peek of the next book from Boni Ashburn and Abrams Books for Young Readers! Over At The Castle is nearing completion, and now that I have purchased a new scanner... I am ready to share! My last scanner finally died after 10 years of operation. Not bad, right? This one is MUCH better, solidifying the fact that technology does improve over time. Lets see if the mechanics prove to operate just as long as the last one.

Back to painting! Can you believe it's almost June?

Taming the Beast

Book publishing is a different beast sometimes. For months and months, you slave away on projects, never getting rid of them. As soon as you pass the artwork in, it's like you never hear from them again. They never call, they never write! But about six months later, something magical happen. They come back to you, different, but BETTER! You see them all put together with the text. Very exciting. And any discourse you had with the images while making them, seems to be past.

I wanted to show the evolution of a chapter book called Flight of the Phoenix, Nathaniel Fludd: Beastologist. Written by R.L. LaFevers, this books promises to be the first of an amazing many. I had so much fun working on it. In fact, I am rounding out book number two's artwork. Even more action packed than the first!

I gave a taste of the cover a month or two ago, so now I want to show the evolution of the whole cover. Nothing crazy exciting, but seeing the sketch process is fun sometimes (?).


We wanted to get an aged look, without it being too... "this is meant to look like an old book" kind of thing.

I tried to remember all kinds of way to fasten pages together.

And all sorts of intricate closures.

Then I remembered old movies, and seeing kids run with their books belted together. Just the kind of thing a young explorer would need while flying, camel riding, and escaping Bedouin assailants!

Then came the painting.

Which was fine and good, but I agreed with master art director, Scott Magoon, that it was a bit too subdued with colors. It needed an extra pop. So he tweaked it a bit to become this:
PHEW! That's exhausting! So... it comes out this September, and I cannot wait to see the first official proofs. SO EXCITED!

It's Not Just Me!

Drunk History vol. 2 - Featuring Jack Black from Jack Black

*LANGUAGE WARNING for all yall tikes out there*
This is a genius series.
Annnd my scanner died. I am about to upload BOATLOADS of new work. Got, like, 5 projects going on!

ARGH!

Hiatus!

Bad Kelly!
Sorry about the silence, but I've been crazy busy... but not busy with work! My Shybird partner and I got hitched, and I am officially exhausted. Lucky to have amazing family and friends, though! I will be back in a few days, I promise.

It's you, it's me... it's DANCING!

A slight musical interlude, with fun animation.
Peppy music to keep us going!

Beers of a Clown

My studio has been in a state of panic the last few weeks, preparing for a new roommate! More about that later, but this panic has caused me to disrupt massive piles of clutter. Piles that have not moved in a v e r y long time. I might live in one room, but I have developed the skill of hiding junk anywhere and everywhere. The insanity has to stop. So I've been donating and getting rid of a lot. I've been hoarding cardboard over the last five years. I keep it to make my shipping boxes for my artwork. But really?? This much? Antoine comments that we can build our first house with it. It's insane what I have squirreled away. If I wasn't throwing this stuff out in the middle of the night (mostly to avoid getting dirty looks from neighbors who might exclaim, "Good lord, her place must be a fire trap!"), I'd snap a picture at how bad it's gotten.

Regardless, I've discovered some OLD artwork. I decided to make a scan. This piece was about "romance in the workplace". I thought about how sad it would be for a clown to be taken seriously. Poor clowns, no wonders why they are so scary.

I'm sorry, I had to.

Just because I make children's books, doesn't mean I don't have a pulse.

Someone beat me to this idea. Damn it.

Quelque fois...

It's still winter here. Which means my favorite clothing season, full of scarves, triumphs!

Past Poster Work

A few months back, I worked on a project for the NYU Child Study Center. They requested some line illustrations for a poster campaign that dealt with some serious child psychiatric disorders. It was a fun treat to combine the juvenile quality of the characters with the seriousness of the concept.

ADHD

OCD

Depression

Anorexia