So long, Aughts!

THANK YOU to everyone who stopped by the Planet Ham this year with an extra bit of thanks to all who left a comment. I really appreciate the support and feedback and I'm looking forward to continuing the blog in the... Tweens?

Bloke

Half-Full Sacks of Sugar

One of my favorite sketching exercises, courtesy of the great Disney animators and The Illusion of Life by Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston.

Lil Bird

toddle

Blue

Splotch

Guy at Podium

Some guy talking about something somewhere. I honestly can't remember a thing about this, but I did sketch him. Note to self: leave more notes to self.

Mod Clown

Big

Ink and acrylic ink wash on a free sample of Ampersand gessoboard.

Punk Rock Girl

Professor Ex

End of Year Post-a-Palooza

Each year I shoot for a nice even 100 posts for the ol' sketch blog. This usually means that at this time of the year, I'm scrambling through sketch books to find things to post post-haste. So here comes a rare blitz of posting... at least for me.

Instant Cheer

Booklist Top of the List Selection!

The Storm in the Barn has officially been named the 2009 Booklist Top of the List selection for Youth Fiction. You can read the press release here. I could not be happier about this honor. I wonder if this is the first graphic novel to be selected in this category...

UPDATE: An interview with me is now on the Booklist website.

Santa 2

Santa 1

Snow Day!

Horn Book Fanfare!

I am very happy to report that The Storm in the Barn is a Horn Book Fanfare title for 2009! You can see the complete list HERE.

Kind Words

100 Scope Notes has a review of Two of a Kind that I think hits the nail on the head in regards to Jacqui Robbins' writing. Check it on out.

Fantastic Firsts and the SLJ list!

Storm in the Barn made the School Library Journal's 2009 Best Comics for Kids List! Storm's in some pretty great company on that list. Check it out.

Also from the world of comics, the great Sequential Tart site has a review up in the Fantastic Firsts! series. (!)

Above are some early pencil tests for the palette and look of Storm.

Graphic Classroom Review!

There's a new review of Storm in the Barn up at the Graphic Classroom blog. This is a really cool site that reviews graphic novels and comics specifically with an eye for use in schools. There's also lots of interesting articles in the archives and links to other sites of interest to teachers (and comics fans).

The above moleskine sketch has nothing to do with either Storm or Graphic Classroom...

Free Mugs!

Sorry to sound like a commercial, but I just found out that Zazzle is offering a buy-1-get-1-free offer on mugs today. If you were thinking about any of my mugs, today might be the day. Just click on the Zazzle thingy at the right.

And now back to your regularly scheduled program.

Miss F. Castell

BCCB Review!

Storm in the Barn has just received its 5th starred review! This one comes from the venerable Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books. The review isn't online, but here's a bit of it:

"The spare, sketchy lines and soft washes of the mixed-media illustrations underscore the haziness of the dust filled air; it's a toss-up whether the rolling black dust clouds or the shadowy half-human form of the Storm is more of the threat... With its appealing format and touch of fantasy, this tale of coming of age in hard times will entice readers who may otherwise be indifferent to historical fiction."