From Shelf Awareness: Retired Busman's Holiday: Bookselling in Scotland
From Entrepreneur (via StumbleUpon): Don't Wish To Be Successful. Expect to Be.
From my awesome agency (EMLA): Using Curiosity to Discover Your Destiny
A Folk Song a Day - you're welcome
From Terri Windling: Tunes for a Monday Morning: Ballad Lands
From The Bookseller: Nosy Crow launches illustrator salons
From SchoolVisitExperts.com: How Much Should I Charge? Three Rules of Thumb
From PW: Spring 2016 Children's Sneak Previews
From MTV news via 100 Scope Notes: Reading Rainbow Is Officially Heading for Netflix - it will be available in August!
From HuffPost: Boy Who Couldn't Afford Books Asks Mailman For Junk Mail To Read; Mailman Responds Spectacularly
Ruth Sanderson's CASTLE FULL OF CATS - guest post!
I am thrilled, tickled, elated to have Ruth Sanderson, the Co-director of the MFA in Children's Book Writing and Illustrating Children's Books at Hollins University and also my boss and colleague, here today to talk about her latest picture book, CASTLE FULL OF CATS. Ruth is hands down one of the best illustrators in children's literature, so read and learn!!!
A note—The marketing folks asked that the title be changed. I coined the word "Castleful," to indicate there were a ton of cats in the castle, and am very proud of it, but apparently anyone searching for a book with "castle" in the title would not find my book, so we had to split my word to "Castle Full." Inside the book it is still "castleful," read as one word, like "spoonful."
Thanks so much for stopping by, Ruth! To see more of Ruth's amazing work, check out her blog!
A note—The marketing folks asked that the title be changed. I coined the word "Castleful," to indicate there were a ton of cats in the castle, and am very proud of it, but apparently anyone searching for a book with "castle" in the title would not find my book, so we had to split my word to "Castle Full." Inside the book it is still "castleful," read as one word, like "spoonful."
Thanks so much for stopping by, Ruth! To see more of Ruth's amazing work, check out her blog!
Coloring Page Tuesday - Piano Playing Tiger
CLICK HERE for more coloring pages!
Sign up to receive alerts when a new coloring page is posted each week and... Please check out my books! Especially...
my debut novel, A BIRD ON WATER STREET - winner of six literary awards. Click the cover to learn more!When the birds return to Water Street, will anyone be left to hear them sing? A miner's strike allows green and growing things to return to the Red Hills, but that same strike may force residents to seek new homes and livelihoods elsewhere. Follow the story of Jack Hicks as he struggles to hold onto everything he loves most.
I create my coloring pages for teachers, librarians, booksellers, and parents to enjoy for free with their children, but you can also purchase rights to an image for commercial use, please contact me. If you have questions about usage, please visit my Angel Policy page.
Children's Book Characters at Hollins
Fellow Professor Ashley Wolff has created the most adorable figurines of classic children's book characters to be placed around campus during our MFA in Children's Book Writing and Illustrating and Certificate in Children's Book Illustration programs. She launched them at this year's Francelia Butler conference. They were a huge hit! Ferdinand was my fave:
I have MORE! Ashley sent more photos along... One of our student's (Kassy Keppol) children are with her this term and they helped cut out and paint...
I have MORE! Ashley sent more photos along... One of our student's (Kassy Keppol) children are with her this term and they helped cut out and paint...
Martin Brown: Everyone Can Draw!
The illustrator of the Horrible Histories series, Martin Brown, recently gave a talk about Everyone Can Draw! at the Shetland Library. Learn about shape and expression in cartooning - great advice! Click the image to go watch at the Scottish Book Trust website.
Jennifer Anderson presentation!
The Chair of the Art Department at Hollins University and an Associate Professor of Art, Jennifer D. Anderson recently talked to our students about her gorgeous cut paper work.
Illustrator Challenge #10
Choose a favorite image and draw a small copy of it (about 3"x5") in black and white using all the values in the value scale you created last week.
Alexandria LaFaye's PRETTY OMENS - Guest Post
Today I welcome one of my colleagues at Hollins University, Alexandria LeFaye, who is celebrating a book birthday. She's here to talk about PRETTY OMENS. Take it away Alexandria...
Following the Signs: The Beginnings of Pretty Omens
by Alexandria LaFaye
I blame boredom and Paul Janeczko for the beginning of PRETTY OMENS, my new book with Anchor and Plume press. Okay, so maybe I should say that it was really my penchant for snooping while I'm waiting for a friend (sorry) and the fact that Paul gave me permission to write a novel-in-verse.
Here's how it happened, I was waiting for a friend to get ready so we could go to an event–probably a reading, but sadly, I can't even recall which friend it was. If you're that friend, feel free to remind me where we were headed that night. In any case, this word-loving friend had a word-a-day calendar of archaic words and had pulled off a stack of days/words to "catch" and left the stack in a bowl nearby, so I started leafing through and found "cried back" a set of words meaning to cry so hard at the death of a loved one that the dear soul is brought back from the dead.
This folk belief is probably a response to near death experiences where someone "came back" from the brink of death only to be altered by a lack of oxygen. As I learned when I researched the belief, many people believed those who were cried back were touched by the devil. People saw death as a part of God's plan and altering that plan meant opening the person up to temptation. Often, those who came back returned different (probably a result of brain damage). In any case that idea inspired me to write a book about a girl who was cried back and then shunned by her community because they feared she was touched by the devil. She was touched all right, but by God and given the gift of prophecy. The trouble was, like Cassandra from Greek mythology, no one believed the girl when she warned them what was coming.
I imagined that she'd draw the demons as they came to her, so they became "pretty omens."
I tried unsuccessfully to write the book again and again. I knew I wanted it to happen in the South at the turn of the 20th century or even the roaring twenties, one of my favorite periods. Why the South? It's steeped in Christian and folk beliefs that often intertwine, and when I worked on the book I always heard Appalachian folk songs in the back of my head. Setting and premise aside, the piece never came together until I had dinner with the poet Paul Janeczko. He was about to give a reading and talk for the graduate program in children's and young adult literature (and now illustration) at Hollins University (It's a great program, check it out.)
Paul planned to talk about his book Worlds Afire, which I love. And though it's often called a novel-in-verse, it's really a collection of poems on the same event. That night, at dinner, I told him about the trouble I was having with my book. He suggested that I give it a try as a novel-in-verse. When I asked him if he thought I could really pull that off, he said something along the lines of, "Sure, why not?"
Why not, indeed. I sat down shortly thereafter and crafted the first poem "Moon Baby" and Cass Anne Marie Pettibone was born--literarily, of course.
Things worked out pretty well in the end. Turns out Paul was right. I could write a novel-in-verse. Here's what he had to say about the finished product:
Speaking of new things, you'd like to order a copy of PRETTY OMENS, please do: http://anchorandplume.bigcartel.com/product/pretty-omens. And read more about the origins of PRETTY OMENS at Goodreads.
Following the Signs: The Beginnings of Pretty Omens
by Alexandria LaFaye
I blame boredom and Paul Janeczko for the beginning of PRETTY OMENS, my new book with Anchor and Plume press. Okay, so maybe I should say that it was really my penchant for snooping while I'm waiting for a friend (sorry) and the fact that Paul gave me permission to write a novel-in-verse.
Here's how it happened, I was waiting for a friend to get ready so we could go to an event–probably a reading, but sadly, I can't even recall which friend it was. If you're that friend, feel free to remind me where we were headed that night. In any case, this word-loving friend had a word-a-day calendar of archaic words and had pulled off a stack of days/words to "catch" and left the stack in a bowl nearby, so I started leafing through and found "cried back" a set of words meaning to cry so hard at the death of a loved one that the dear soul is brought back from the dead.
This folk belief is probably a response to near death experiences where someone "came back" from the brink of death only to be altered by a lack of oxygen. As I learned when I researched the belief, many people believed those who were cried back were touched by the devil. People saw death as a part of God's plan and altering that plan meant opening the person up to temptation. Often, those who came back returned different (probably a result of brain damage). In any case that idea inspired me to write a book about a girl who was cried back and then shunned by her community because they feared she was touched by the devil. She was touched all right, but by God and given the gift of prophecy. The trouble was, like Cassandra from Greek mythology, no one believed the girl when she warned them what was coming.
I imagined that she'd draw the demons as they came to her, so they became "pretty omens."
I tried unsuccessfully to write the book again and again. I knew I wanted it to happen in the South at the turn of the 20th century or even the roaring twenties, one of my favorite periods. Why the South? It's steeped in Christian and folk beliefs that often intertwine, and when I worked on the book I always heard Appalachian folk songs in the back of my head. Setting and premise aside, the piece never came together until I had dinner with the poet Paul Janeczko. He was about to give a reading and talk for the graduate program in children's and young adult literature (and now illustration) at Hollins University (It's a great program, check it out.)
Paul planned to talk about his book Worlds Afire, which I love. And though it's often called a novel-in-verse, it's really a collection of poems on the same event. That night, at dinner, I told him about the trouble I was having with my book. He suggested that I give it a try as a novel-in-verse. When I asked him if he thought I could really pull that off, he said something along the lines of, "Sure, why not?"
Why not, indeed. I sat down shortly thereafter and crafted the first poem "Moon Baby" and Cass Anne Marie Pettibone was born--literarily, of course.
Things worked out pretty well in the end. Turns out Paul was right. I could write a novel-in-verse. Here's what he had to say about the finished product:
"In LaFaye’s strong, fast-paced novel-in-verse, the voices of her characters ring true, the language dazzles, drawing the reader into Cass Anne’s story of love and redemption, religious intolerance, and belief."So the moral of this blog is never leave an author unattended in your front room and don't wait for permission to try a new form.
Speaking of new things, you'd like to order a copy of PRETTY OMENS, please do: http://anchorandplume.bigcartel.com/product/pretty-omens. And read more about the origins of PRETTY OMENS at Goodreads.
Guest CeCe Bell!
CeCe Bell visited our students the other day at Hollins University to talk about her Newbery honor-winning and now Eisner honor-winning EL DEAFO.
Coloring Page Tuesday - X-Ray Tetra
CLICK HERE for more coloring pages!
Sign up to receive alerts when a new coloring page is posted each week and... Please check out my books! Especially...
my debut novel, A BIRD ON WATER STREET - winner of six literary awards. Click the cover to learn more!When the birds return to Water Street, will anyone be left to hear them sing? A miner's strike allows green and growing things to return to the Red Hills, but that same strike may force residents to seek new homes and livelihoods elsewhere. Follow the story of Jack Hicks as he struggles to hold onto everything he loves most.
I create my coloring pages for teachers, librarians, booksellers, and parents to enjoy for free with their children, but you can also purchase rights to an image for commercial use, please contact me. If you have questions about usage, please visit my Angel Policy page.
Floyd!
Every year at Hollins University, several of us road trip down to Floyd, Virginia (worth the click) for an evening of fine entertainment. Here I am with Karen Coats and Stan.
James Gurney's Gurney Studio
Do you know about James (Jim) Gurney's tutorial videos? There are several of them ranging from painting with oils to creating stop-motion animation like this one - Clementoons™. Click the image to go watch on YouTube.
CLICK HERE to see previews of all his tutorials, subscribe to his YouTube channel, and register to watch the entire tutorials!
Illustrator Challenge #9
Draw 10 boxes in a row - about 1"x1". The first box stays white and the last box goes as dark as you are able to get it (hopefully without embossing). Fill in the boxes in-between in a gradient from light to dark. Work slowly, build up the pencil. Keep your edges neat. Keep the value even. This is a value scale which can come in handy for all sorts of future work.
Friday Linky List - July 17, 2015
From The Amherst Bulletin (via PW): Renaissance Man Eric Carle Museum opens new exhibit on late illustrator Fred Marcellino
From The Guardian (via PW): Top writing tips for new children's authors from top editors
From The Guardian (via PW): 150 Years of Alice in Wonderland - in pictures
From PW: Authors, Booksellers & Agents Call for DoJ to Investigate Amazon (to investigate if Amazon has a monopoly on the retail book sales business
From School Library Journal's Betsy Bird's Fuse #8: When Clothing Approximates Sexism (and other woes)
From 100 Scope Notes (at SLJ): The Newbery Title Frankenstein, Create your own Newbery title
At Horn Book: Louis Sachar Talks with Roger (Sutton)
From Authors Helping Writers (via SCBWI Belgium): The Hardest Part of Writing Good Character Arcs - and How You Can Make It Look Easy!
From Washington's Top News (via PW): Vending machines in Anacostia provide free children's books
From The Guardian (via PW): Top writing tips for new children's authors from top editors
From The Guardian (via PW): 150 Years of Alice in Wonderland - in pictures
From PW: Authors, Booksellers & Agents Call for DoJ to Investigate Amazon (to investigate if Amazon has a monopoly on the retail book sales business
From School Library Journal's Betsy Bird's Fuse #8: When Clothing Approximates Sexism (and other woes)
From 100 Scope Notes (at SLJ): The Newbery Title Frankenstein, Create your own Newbery title
At Horn Book: Louis Sachar Talks with Roger (Sutton)
From Authors Helping Writers (via SCBWI Belgium): The Hardest Part of Writing Good Character Arcs - and How You Can Make It Look Easy!
From Washington's Top News (via PW): Vending machines in Anacostia provide free children's books
Dennis Nolan's THE HUNTERS OF THE GREAT FOREST - Guest Post
I've had the great pleasure of getting to know Dennis Nolan each summer at Hollins University as he spends time here with fellow MFA in Children's Book Writing and Illustrating Professor Lauren Mills. Dennis is old school, one of the golden age illustrators. He knows everybody in the business, teaches the up and coming at Hartford University, and inspires the rest of us with his impeccable skill and story-telling sensibilities. I'm thrilled to have him on today to talk about his latest picture book, the perfectly wordless THE HUNTERS OF THE GREAT FOREST. Take it away Dennis!...
During the long process of mental wandering and rejected story ideas in my sketchbook, the idea for the Hunters of the Great Forest happened, as most of my picture books, as a complete and instantaneous thought. I scrawled it out across a single page storyboard before I lost the narrative as it played out in my mind like an animated film. The final very much resembles my very first rapidly drawn conception, yet only after many frustrating attempts at putting together a story that felt complete and rounded. Constructing the book, designing characters and architecture, deciding on the particular bird to use, experimenting with a palette of colors and whether to use pen and ink or pencil, took considerably longer than the flash of inspiration that revealed the story.
With the storyline in place, I began the process of discovering who would populate the great forest, at first trying human like proportions, but after many versions, settling on inch high hunters composed of spheres and spindly legs that were a bit more insect like and allowed for gestures and postures that would add a humorous component to their character.
I drew many hunters, young, old, male, female, heroic, and silly, before choosing the ones who would take the long journey into the giant trees. Keeping their personalities, costumes, colors, extra gear and weapons, distinct and unique helped to propel the action and enliven each illustration. I filled a sketchbook with designs of characters, toads, birds, ants, and mushrooms.
I built inch high hunters from wire and polymer clay and they were set among the landscape for scale helping me to envision the final images. I sculpted each hunter again in clay, at considerably larger than one inch tall, so I might understand their anatomy and proportions, but in the end had to be realized through gesture drawings and quick sketches.
After trying a number of fonts for the display type I decided on hand lettering that also added to the overall character of the book.
Me: And we're fortunate to have the lovely results! THE HUNTERS OF THE GREAT FOREST feels like a classic to me along the lines of Chris Van Allsburg's JUMANJI, James Gurney's DINOTOPIA, or Maurice Sendak's WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE. Check it out and I know you'll love it as much as I do!
During the long process of mental wandering and rejected story ideas in my sketchbook, the idea for the Hunters of the Great Forest happened, as most of my picture books, as a complete and instantaneous thought. I scrawled it out across a single page storyboard before I lost the narrative as it played out in my mind like an animated film. The final very much resembles my very first rapidly drawn conception, yet only after many frustrating attempts at putting together a story that felt complete and rounded. Constructing the book, designing characters and architecture, deciding on the particular bird to use, experimenting with a palette of colors and whether to use pen and ink or pencil, took considerably longer than the flash of inspiration that revealed the story.
With the storyline in place, I began the process of discovering who would populate the great forest, at first trying human like proportions, but after many versions, settling on inch high hunters composed of spheres and spindly legs that were a bit more insect like and allowed for gestures and postures that would add a humorous component to their character.
I drew many hunters, young, old, male, female, heroic, and silly, before choosing the ones who would take the long journey into the giant trees. Keeping their personalities, costumes, colors, extra gear and weapons, distinct and unique helped to propel the action and enliven each illustration. I filled a sketchbook with designs of characters, toads, birds, ants, and mushrooms.
I built inch high hunters from wire and polymer clay and they were set among the landscape for scale helping me to envision the final images. I sculpted each hunter again in clay, at considerably larger than one inch tall, so I might understand their anatomy and proportions, but in the end had to be realized through gesture drawings and quick sketches.
After trying a number of fonts for the display type I decided on hand lettering that also added to the overall character of the book.
Me: And we're fortunate to have the lovely results! THE HUNTERS OF THE GREAT FOREST feels like a classic to me along the lines of Chris Van Allsburg's JUMANJI, James Gurney's DINOTOPIA, or Maurice Sendak's WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE. Check it out and I know you'll love it as much as I do!