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

Five Times Around

This is the poster for Shakespeare on the Sound's A Midsummer Night's Dream. It's my fifth in a series. They have a new director, so naturally, there is a slightly different look than past years. We'll see if they like this years attempt!

ps) the scan is crap (still no new scanner) and the text is REAL rough. Just placeholders right now!

*AFTER NOTE
Good friend Dan Santat helped me out with this piece by upping the drama digitally. He's totally convinced me I need to up the anti on my computer as a medium. I like his version MUCH better. Thanks Dan!

From Inside The Desk Cave

Today, I dared to delve inside the compartment inside my desk. I have this awesome 50+ year old desk I hocked from my school days that has these great compartments for storage. The only problem, if you slide your work in there, you might not see it again for a few years! Typically when projects are finished, and specs and sketches can be put away, I let the desk monster eat them. Paintings too large to fit in my portfolio boxes are also allocated for this area.

I wanted to scan a few in, as past work, some from the school days:



These were a series of engravings and soft ground printmaking techniques from around 1999 or so? I remember shedding blood on the engraved plates, thanks to a slipped burin.

From time to time I like to do imaginative landscapes with watercolor on gesso. This must have been from a few years back, since I had ZERO recollection of it!

And last but not least, a sad man and a lost girl. Some thing never change. The girl must have been inspired when I first started out, taking trains to New York, feeling confused, in a gross orange cloud of obscurity...?

Thanks for looking! Now I shoved all of it back inside the desk cave to rediscover in another five years. Man, I need a flat file.

KITTENS!

Some days... the stupidest things make you smile.
This little girl is inside my head, which never graduated out of being a seven year old.

COo COo COo!

First you dream it...

Then you see it printed!

I wanted to share this image. It's a recent poster from my colleague Antoine Revoy at Shybird Studios. I apologize from not having a more detailed picture, especially since all of Antoine's work is insanely intricate. I really liked Saint Lawrence College's print campaign, commissioning work from many illustrators. YAY!

Dragons, Take 2

Sorry for the lack of post here. It's been quite fast paced with all of the deadlines. But, things are lightening up slightly, so that makes me happy. It's been a rough winter here, with colder than average temperatures and oodles of snow. I've just caught a glimpse of the grass, it had been two months.

I've finally gotten the dummy in to Abrams for Hush! Little Dragon's sequel. It involved a bit more research, dealing with castle architecture and technology. I still don't understand how spinning wheels work. I even got to see one in the flesh (not working though) and I am still puzzled. Good thing I went to art school!

Pony Projectile

Monsters: 028 kotsertje pony from Volstok Telefunken on Vimeo.
This whole series was shown to me by friend, Dan Santat. They are awesome! It's uncanny that this is actually how I viewed life when I was a child and now.

Watch more at De Monsters.

Sneak Peek: Beastologist

I don't want to spoil how cool this book actually is going to be. I really am so excited while making this artwork, it's like R.L. LaFevers wrote it just for my imagination.

I AM PUMPED. Things being crossed off the list. No way near being anywhere calm, but it's progress! With a potential wedding (don't ask, me and the USCIS are not on speaking terms) in two months, crossing things off is only replaced with ten more items on the list. Which means at some point, I will need some sort of break and a chance to write a new beer review.

Next!

I also just completed another cover, and I normally don't feel this way... but I reeeally liked the way the color palette turned out. I even wiped off the first layer of oil, changing my mind to this warm mauve color. I patted myself on the back... and then had a cider. I've been rewarding myself a bit too well lately. The scan is a bit junky, the inside glass has become streaky over time... thus creating tonal banding on all my images. I am just too cheap to replace it.

MUST
KEEP
WORKING.

No--mo-taro!

A bit of time has passed since finishing Peach Boy (Usborne Publishing) and I've been on full speed with all other projects. I thought I'd show a few images but keep my gabbing to a minimum. Overall, there are about fifty paintings, which I managed to complete in just over three months. A new all time record! I think this will be available throughout the UK this summer. I can't wait to see the full layout!

Alls I have to say is thank god for abc.com, since I rewatched all four seasons of Lost while painting this.

"It's a strange book, but it's good."

Dad, Isaac, Gracie, and Lily were kind enough to feature Hush, Little Dragon on their amazing blog, Bookie Woogie, today. I have never smiled so much in the morning, than after reading this. Best review ever! My favorite moments are when they discover my super secret technique to making scary things seem ok:

Dad: What are some ways that they keep this book from being scary?
Gracie: Because she draws the baby dragon cute. And the mommy dragon has giant eyelashes and a beard. And the king is wearing his underpants in public.

Gracie: She made the three musketeers have tiny little beards and gynormous mustaches. The knights have no noses. And the princess has pink bunny ears.

I am so glad to be laughing! I'm still under heavy deadlines, so my brain needs a holiday! I think Bookie Woogie will be a favorite blog of mine.


An amazing drawing by Gracie of Boni and I meeting the dragons.

Standby

Must keep working...
Sorry for the lapse.

Here's something most have seen, but Sigur Ros has been a constant companion in the studio whilst working. This song reminds me of snow crunching under ones feet, too. Quite fitting for the season!