Emily McDougal

I love this time of year. It's a flip-in-your-stomach/fresh-start-feeling. We are back to work, there's hope on the horizon, it's a new year to get to know. I feel like I might be good friends with 2008. My room and workspace has been changed for the better and I'm readying it for the picture book ahead! I hope you've been settling into the new year too (and depending on your location, maybe a bit of this winter thaw).

Here is a piece of the cover I am working on for the Sleepover Squad, I zoomed in and pulled Emily McDougal (of the Squad) and her sleeping bag out before I polish and shine and flatten the whole piece, squeaky clean. I liked Emily here in her gritty green and red so I scooped her out for you. Till next time :)

Joy.

See, the snow is right up to the back door! It's been snowing so much before Christmas here, but the pre-Christmas snow still has that magic, I'm not grumbling yet. I am holiday-busy as I am sure we all are, so I am just popping in to wish everyone a beautiful Christmastime.

Today, I had a lot of fun with an old and dear friend from art school, Elizabeth, trudging through slush like twin eskimos (we are both on the short side with giant fur hoods and we laugh at pretty much everything) in search of a restaurant lunch together, which we were set on having (no matter what!) before we parted ways to our regions for the holiday.

By the time I braved the snow back up hill to home, my roomate, Jessica, an opera singer at the New England Conservatory, was waiting for me in her snowpants at the front door. So we got our artistic heads together and created Sal, the loveable snowman on a lawnchair in our tiny yard (he's named after our amiable landlord of course) and FYI: His mouth is made of Twizzlers. We played outside until it was dark. Here are some shots from the day. I am off to Connecticut for Christmas once again!

A beautiful Holiday and New Year to you <3

Silke's Pigeons

Hey everyone! I have been busy away from the computer. Working on (stories, assignments, ideas), soaking in (new art, old and dear traditions, friends) and settling in (to winter) with sweaters and twinkle lights.

The Robert's Snowflake endeavor is ended as of Friday, and I got to stop by Grace Lin's for her end-of-snowflake party. Awesome people, awesome cookies (frosted dalmatians), and my first experience with the Wii!

So! Here is Silke on her pigeon high wire. I am still working on the lower portion (the city). Her name I gleaned from a customer conversation at the bookstore that I heard and quickly scribbled down on scrap paper. It is pronounced Sil-kuh, and it is German and is also common in places like Amsterdam and the likes. It's watercolor, pencil, and digital collage. The line is from a story that is waiting to be finished. She came right out of the paper. No other way to describe it.

This Sunday

Whew, Friday already! Some news:

Jules and Eisha of Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast are having me on their blog's illustrator feature this Sunday! I'm quite honored :)

The Hallmark Hall of Fame movie is on CBS on Sunday night, Pictures of Hollis Woods, with some of my 12-year-old inspired artwork in the opening scenes. See the link.

Also on Sunday, I am excited to check out Paper and Chocolate, to see the works of friend E.B. Goodale in her printmaking/letterpress element. If you are in the Somerville MA area, it would be worth it to pop in- for framed prints, chocolate (from participating chocolatier) and magic.

Monday my snowflake goes up for auction over at Dana Farber. I'm in the third and last wave of snowflakes. Check the last bunch out before they fly away!

Sunday looks fun. It is also the first day of Advent. I will be able to open my new Advent calendar's very first little window. <3

Sigur Ros : Glosoli

I rarely, if ever, post a movie or imbedded object, but this object is worth your time! I am continually brought inspiration by this music video for Sigur Ros' "Glosoli", and always deeply moved. It is hard to even put into words what happens to me when I take in the quiet yet crescendo-climbing melody, the native/Icelandic inspired aesthetic, the roles and characterization of each child, and the archetypes all over the place, blended so truly together.

Something about it speaks strongly to my insides, in a language I can understand perfectly, though ironically the lyrics are in Icelandic... It is a powerful little video, take a peek, if you wish. Now THIS is some fuel for character design!!

Dear Nancy

I want to share this little cover I finished and sent off to Zondervan Kids yesterday (click to enlarge). This book will be a giant reply letter from the author, Nancy Rue, to her many elementary-school-aged girl fans (pub. Aug.2008). When the deadline was extended out almost 6 months, I got a ton of time to let it sit in the back of my mind while I worked on other things, and let the sketches really ferment. By the time I got to the painting table, it all fell into place.

This cover was exhilarating to do because of the playfulness I was allowed by the great art director and designer there :) I got to dive into half-dried mismatched gouache, watercolor gingham, rambly lines and digital collage. The song, "MAPS" by the Yeah yeah yeah's was on repeat while I worked, and for some reason this girl even reminds me of Karen O, lead singer.
(p.s. I am posting the bare bones final art I sent in so you can see the bleedy edges which will be cut off ).

And now I am off, on this gray and thoughtful Thursday, to finish up a secret book cover project. Come back for details soon.

Hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving last week, ate stuffing and avoided turnip. My family had 2 Thanksgivings back to back. This isn't a normal occurrence, but with my large family (7 people in the immediate!) it is not hard to pull off another feast, just us. And a Happy Birthday to Dad Denos this week :) Love to you all!

P.S. My interview/feature on Seven Impossible Things is this Sunday.

Walking Through Giant Mud Puddles

Shh..it's quiet around these parts because I've lately set myself on the idea of writing again. I used to write so much as a child and preteen, perhaps just as much as I drew. Words and illustration : they were always my two loves. I knew going into A.P. Art class, aged 17, that I would have to chose one to develop in school. I chose art and then knew that I'd have to return one day to writing.

So here I am, aged since, exasperated (as expected), hopeful and very freshman-year-in-art-school-angry. I am stomping my foot. The rusty wheels are squeaking and I am behind the cart pushing in a giant mud puddle (see my Wellie boot above-just ordered a pair of these!). Usually it is when I give up, and I have found this not only in creative processes, but all pieces of living life, that I find something tiny and golden hiding in plain view. Then I snatch it up laughing, and think, "why didn't I see that there before?"

It is a strange balance to achieve as a daydream hunter. You must work hard at effortlessness. You must be vigilant for whisperings, but you cannot stop life to force them loudly at you. Ideas come when they want to come, but eventually you learn, in certain forms of creativity, that there is an ideal way to "be" for these things to happen. A way to become a window. This is what I am relearning. I had it down as a 12- year-old on my pink shag carpet, scribbling down my stories that seemed to come right from the wind down onto the page. I was only listening for them. So here I go 12 years later. I am small again, learning to listen and trudging ahead through the mud.

Trying My Hand At Acting...

So here it is! My art is in the opening scenes of this movie, starring Sissy Spacek and Alfre Woodard. Hollis (Jodelle Ferland) does her voice-over as the camera pans through the two landscapes I created. The film is a movie adaptation of the Newbery Honor book, Pictures of Hollis Woods, by Patricia Reilly Giff.

What made this project so intriguing was the necessity for me to DRAW-ACT. In other words, I had to remember what it was like to be a 12 year old artist, as my drawings are supposed to depict her own creations at the time. I was sent footage before the movie was mixed from the studio. Then, I played around with Prismacolor pencils on thicker comic board. I chose this paper so that the pencil did NOT blend well, and would be hard to push the pigment around so white space would be left to create the look of effort, and untrained hands. It was so fun to let loose and forget some training for a stint, to draw buildings wherever I wanted, even if they physically could never exist the way they do.

That is what art is about to me anyway, it is representation. This time it was through a girl's eyes who had not yet encountered perspective class or Tom Barrett's Advanced Illustration Techniques class at AIB (chuckle to the colleagues). It was very different working within the guidelines of film rather than print or publishing. It was a blast to draw act! I loved it.

So hopefully it will air Dec. 2 as scheduled. Check it out if you'd like. It is quite cozy.

Twirling For An Idea

The girls of the Sleepover Squad, pondering the next location for fun in the school hallway. Jo thinks it's weird that Emily needs to twirl her hair in order to think. Haha, I know someone who claims the very same thing.

This is a piece of final art just mailed in last week for the interior art for the 4th installment of the Sleepover Squad, "Keeping Secrets". Many thanks to awesome folks at Simon and Schuster :)

Horses...1987 to 2007.

So here is a resurrected horse piece from circa 1987...My mom just found this in the basement. Inside is a letter to Mr. Rogers too. The top is the final art for Sleepover Squad #5 Pony Party (the side-pony-tailed 5 year old in me was insanely excited to do this one). That's 20 years of horsies folks.

Ah... youth and Crayola markers. My sisters and I used to sit three in a row on the couch sharing markers between us in a wicker condiment basket. Usually we would color on the stacks of laser printer connected sheets of paper from my dad's office. The connected sheets made a GREAT format for books and stories continuing as long as you wanted.

My sisters and I loved to draw highly detailed "cozy" restaurant scenes and marketplaces, Thanksgiving dinner in a grandmother's apartment, or our very favorite, families bringing in a Christmas tree and setting it up, showing a cutaway of all levels in the house. Even the mice were doing something. This part of me was reawakened by the new one from Barbara McClintock, Mary and the Mouse, the Mouse and Mary.

What were your favorite things to draw as a child? I'm throwing this question out to the blogger world.