New Arrivals, Part 1

Hooray! I recently received a box full of my very first board book! I'm so excited that Alice Schertle's Very Hairy Bear (2007) will now be ambling about in a sturdy, well-nigh indestructible form. It is a full version of the original, a great size, and the reproduction is terrific.

The folks at Harcourt have impeccable timing. Here's what arrived the day before...

(Baby not included with purchase)

Bojangles

One of the vaudeville cameos in my new graphic novel is the great tap dancer Bill Bojangles Robinson. Lots of great clips on you tube.

Shoe-Box Diorama Studio!

Since it's back-to-school time, I thought I'd share some photos of my favorite school visit souvenir. Some New Jersey public school students made this amazing gift for me a couple of years ago. Is there anything better than a shoebox diorama? No. No, there isn't.

Le Studio

Crumbled up drawings litter the floor, just like in real life.

Past books line the walls to remind me that I can, in fact, finish the current book. 

And my absolute favorite part is the note they attached to the box. I re-read this often.

Dear Matt, Thank you for taking out time from your schedule to come to our school. Good luck on the future books you illustrate. It means a lot to us. Sincerely, Mrs. Abella's Class.

Thanks, guys. That means a LOT to me.

More Sketchbook Stuff

Main Characters

Sketches for the graphic novel I'm working on now...

Even More Pandas

Around the World Book Trailer!

My new graphic novel, coming to a bookstore near you in October 2011 from the fine folks of Candlewick Press!

Exploring Tide Pools

A watercolor sketch from my recent vacation.

Panda #124

Water-soluble crayons are kind of neat.

Keaton studies

Here are some watercolor studies of young Buster Keaton and his dad for my next graphic novel. I'm using Cartiera Magnani hot press watercolor paper for this one. It is verrrry nice paper.

On My Drawing Board

Still working through the thumbnail sketches for my next graphic novel. The script, which I always write first, is above the sketch pad. Although at times this stage of the process seems endless (211 pages total), it is really my favorite part. These little doodles are where most of the big drawing decisions are made.

My goal is to have them all finished before I leave for Book Expo next week...

Storm on the Stage!

I am thrilled to announce that the Oregon Children's Theatre will be mounting a stage version of The Storm in the Barn in April of 2012! My book will be adapted by playwright Eric Coble (who's previous credits include an adaptation of Lois Lowry's The Giver for OCT) and will feature music composed by Chris Funk (guitarist for The Decemberists) and his band Black Prairie. Storm is in fine hands and I cannot wait to see this production!

The plan is for this to be a play with music, not a musical. For more on Black Prairie (and to see why they are perfect for this) check out this piece from NPR. Better still, listen to their album Feast of the Hunter's Moon. It only took me a few seconds of Track 1 to be utterly convinced.

The show will run from April 28-May 20, 2012. I'm sure I'll be posting more about this as it develops (although my actual role is limited). I can guarantee you I'll be in the audience on opening night. Who's up for a trip to Portland?

(I'm reposting this for a few reasons: 1) I knew about this for awhile, but couldn't announce it. When I wrote the draft of the blog post, I assumed it would take the date of when it was posted. I assumed incorrectly. 2) The draft was written on April Fool's Day. This isn't a joke. 3) It's so cool, it deserves two postings.)

ABA Silent Auction at BEA

Here's my contribution to the ABA Silent Auction: The Unstoppable Nellie Bly (and McGinty). The auction will be held on Wednesday May 25 and will benefit the ABFFE Fund for Free Speech in Children's Books. I'll be there ogling the art and bidding with or without noise. Say howdy if you see me.

Here are the rest of the auction pieces... Wow!

TLA Recap (plus Around the World Cover!!)

The cover for Around the World was unveiled at the Texas Library Association conference a few weeks ago. Candlewick was handing out free advanced reading copies which had the color cover, but unfortunately only lowish resolution black and white scans of the color interiors. It's a necessity at this stage, but I can't wait for people to see the full color version.

At any rate, I had an absolute blast in Austin. The Maverick graphic novel panel went very well (with a pretty large crowd in a gargantuan conference room). It was great to chat with Dave Roman, Raina Telgemeier, and Hope Larson and learn about their process.

I signed boxes of Around the World, Storm in the Barn, Flora's Very Windy Day and more. Conferences are always a whirlwind, but everyone there couldn't have been nicer and it was truly fun. I particularly lucked out at the Bluebonnet luncheon, where Elizabeth Bluemle and I got to sit with a table of students who had entered an essay contest to attend. Keep writing, all of you!

Below are some moleskine sketches from the plane ride home. Now that I look at them again, I think my subconscious was summing up the trip for me.

And the winners are...

This morning I put all of the names into the traditional hat and had my intern pick the winners. And those winners are...

1) Run goes to Jeannie Birdsall!

2) Leap goes to Jarrett Krosoczka!

3) Play goes to Abigail Halpin!

Thank you to all who threw their name into the hat and/or contributed to Team Nora!!!!!

CHF Fundraiser #3: Play

pencil & watercolor on Magnani paper (7"x6")

Price: $150. If you would like to purchase Play, please leave a comment here or on Facebook. I will pick a name from those interested tomorrow and contact you if you win.

All proceeds go to the Children's Heart Foundation via the Congenital Heart Walk and Team Nora. Your donation is also tax-deductible!

THANK YOU!

CHF Fundraiser #2: Leap

pencil & watercolor on Magnani paper (7"x6")

Price: $150. If you would like to purchase Leap, please leave a comment here or on Facebook. I will pick a name from those interested tomorrow and contact you if you win.

All proceeds go to the Children's Heart Foundation via the Congenital Heart Walk and Team Nora. Your donation is also tax-deductible!

THANK YOU!

CHF Fundraiser #1: Run

pencil & watercolor on Magnani paper (7"x6")

Price: $150. If you would like to purchase Run, please leave a comment here or on Facebook. I will pick a name from those interested tomorrow and contact you if you win.

All proceeds go to the Children's Heart Foundation via the Congenital Heart Walk and Team Nora. Your donation is also tax-deductible!

THANK YOU!

Original Art Sale for a Good Cause

Each year, my family is involved with raising money for the Children's Heart Foundation. This time I thought I'd try something a little different. I'm offering three original pencil and watercolor drawings for $150 each with every penny going to our team in May's Congenital Heart walk.

How it works:

Here are the drawings (pencil & watercolor on Magnani paper) created specifically for this cause:

On Thursday 4/19, I'll post each drawing individually here on the blog and on my Facebook page. If you would like to buy one, just leave a comment on either post.

On Friday, I'll randomly pick a name (if there is more than one name) and post the winning bidders on the blog and Facebook. Then you can email me your address and we'll work out the details. Note: This isn't an escalating auction. If your name is selected, then the price is $150 for the drawing you chose. And remember 100% will be donated to the Congenital Heart walk.

If $150 is too steep but you'd still like to donate, you can do so here. We personally appreciate each donation for this great cause.

Occasional Plum #4: Mr. Mulliner

A typical evening at the Angler's Rest: hot scotch and lemon and a few stories from Mr. Mulliner. See Meet Mr. Mulliner, Mr. Mulliner Speaking, and Mulliner Nights.

Kingly

Storm on the Stage!

I am thrilled to announce that the Oregon Children's Theatre will be mounting a stage version of The Storm in the Barn in April of 2012! My book will be adapted by playwright Eric Coble (who's previous credits include an adaptation of Lois Lowry's The Giver for OCT) and will feature music composed by Chris Funk (guitarist for The Decemberists) and his band Black Prairie. Storm is in fine hands and I cannot wait to see this production!

The plan is for this to be a play with music, not a musical. For more on Black Prairie (and to see why they are perfect for this) check out this piece from NPR. Better still, listen to their album Feast of the Hunter's Moon. It only took me a few seconds of Track 1 to be utterly convinced.

The show will run from April 28-May 20, 2012. I'm sure I'll be posting more about this as it develops (although my actual role is limited). I can guarantee you I'll be in the audience on opening night. Who's up for a trip to Portland?

Occasional Plum #3: Services Not Required

I often wonder what Jeeves does when Bertie is not in urgent need of his skills. I suspect it's something pleasant. Here he is out behind Anatole's kitchen catching up on his Spinoza.

I'll Be There

My second picture book with Ann Stott will be released sometime next week. I'll Be There is a companion book to Always and provided some interesting challenges. Not only was I returning to a style and feel I employed three years previously, I had to age the boy and his mother approximately the same amount of years. I'm not sure if that's been done in a picture book sequel before. Anyone?
Like Always, I'll Be There is a conversation between a mom and son. The boy is a bit more secure in this one. In fact, he proudly lists the things that he can do alone, without his mom's help. But he still needs to know that she'll be nearby, just in case. Always was almost entirely from the boy's perspective (the mom doesn't even appear until the end), but I'll Be There features the mom prominently. It's as much her story as his.

Ann Stott is a wonderful picture book author. She knows what to include and what to leave to the illustrator. My main task was to find a setting for this conversation. I added a stone wall that the boy climbs and wanders along just slightly ahead of his mom. It seemed like a nice visual metaphor and also gave me the opportunity for some business that showed the boy's independence and the mom's hesitant granting of that independence.

These last two images are "almost finished" versions of final illustrations. I liked this very limited color for the flashback images, but we all decided that a bit more color would warm everything up.

For a look back at some sketches for Always, click here.

Pigeon Sale!

In honor of St. Patrick's Day, this little fella is on sale for $100 off the original price plus free shipping. Go to my Etsy shop for details. Sale ends Friday 3/18. Sláinte!

Tantrum

Occasional Plum #2: "The Big, Broad, Flexible Outlook"

Stanley Featherstonehaugh Ukridge and his long-suffering pal, James "Corky" Corcoran aka Laddie.

Ukridge is one of my favorite characters in the Wodehouse universe. Unlike Bertie Wooster and the Blandings Castle regulars, Ukridge and Corky are forever short of cash and their stories have a slightly desperate edge to them. For a fantastic introduction to Ukridge, I will point you over to Bully's blog. He sums it all up expertly and quotes extensively, including some gems from my favoritest favorite: Ukridge's Accident Syndicate.

Sketched with a Derwint Graphitint pencil, watercolor, and a bit of digital.

Don't Trust This Guy

Polychromos pencils & watercolor on Rives paper.

Panda in a Sweater

Occasional Plum #1

A domestic tiff (with complications) from Lord Emsworth Acts for the Best found in the short story collection, Blandings Castle by the incomparable P.G. Wodehouse. I'd say it's one of his funniest short stories but they're all funny, really.

The Occasional Plum

You shall find Mr. Wooster... an exceedingly pleasant and amiable young gentleman, but not intelligent. By no means intelligent. Mentally he is negligible — quite negligible.

(The Inimitable Jeeves)

Since I find myself (for the first time in years) not actively drawing a book at the moment, I thought I should concoct a little sketch challenge for myself. I'm going to start a series of drawings, paintings, and doodles inspired by the works of my favorite author, P.G. Wodehouse. I know I won't be able to follow a set schedule (for that, check out Bully's fantastically entertaining Wodehouse-A-Week posts), so I'm calling this series The Occasional Plum.

First up is of course Jeeves & Bertie. I'm not entirely satisfied with Jeeves here, but I reserve the right to re-examine, re-design, and re-draw these characters to my heart's delight.

I've thought about doing this Wodehouse project for years, but so far had only managed two entries. Let's hope I'll be able to stick with it this time. Right ho!

Hula hoopin'

Here's What Cooks

(two pages from Around the World dry in the late day sun)

Well, my next graphic novel Around the World is in the supremely capable hands of the design geniuses at Candlewick and it looks all set for its fall release date (actual date forthcoming). It will also coincide with the publication of the paperback edition of The Storm in the Barn which I've just learned will in fact be in color. Yay! I'll be out and about promoting Around the World this spring (TLA in Austin, BookExpo in NYC) and fall (bookstores, book festivals, and whoever will have me).

In March, keep an eye out for my latest picture book, I'll Be There by the wonderful Ann Stott. This one is a companion to Always and posed some very interesting challenges. More on that book soon.

At the moment, I'm hard at work writing the script for my third graphic novel. Again, I'll post more on that project as it progresses but I will say that it deals with summer days, vaudeville, and the young Buster Keaton. It has been a blast to research. So far, the writing hasn't been too torturous either. Here's the big board in the studio with the current project taking up a lot of space:

I'm also planning a new sketch project for this little ol' sometimes neglected blog. More on that soonest.