Another Boy

Pencil studies

These are warm-up sketches for a picture book I'm working on now. I'm trying to capture a certain boy-ness.

Pastel Fatale

Sketching with a Faber-Castell pastel stick and Conte Pierre Noire pencil just to shake things up.

There's a new interview up on the cool Bildungsroman blog wherein I list 10 favorite books. I'm not very good at coming up with those sorts of things so I cheat at the end. But they're all good books and I stand by 'em.

"Hfuhruhurr. It's spelled just as it sounds."

Ever wonder how to pronounce Scieszka or Krosoczka or... Phelan? No? Oh. Well, if you did wonder, you could check out the Teaching Books site to hear various folks pronounce their own names and give a succinct linguistic history of said surname. Mr. Rex is even up there (who knew the R and X were silent?).

In other news, I'll be signing Storm in the Barn at the Borders in Wynnewood, PA on Saturday 10/17 at 2 pm. Stop by and tell me how to pronounce your name.

A Little Experiment

I've recently picked up a high-end printer (Epson R1900) that can print on large sheets of watercolor paper. I'm thinking of using it as a way to work directly from my sketches. So for this experiment, I sketched this girl in my sketchbook...



Then I enlarged it, printed it onto watercolor paper and painted it. (click on the picture to see it larger).



It has possibilities. More tests are needed.

Trains & Moleskines

A big thanks to all who turned up for the signings at Children's Book World and Books of Wonder! I had a fantastic time. Zipping to and fro NYC on Amtrak is a good opportunity to crack open the ol' moleskine. I realize that this sketch blog has been light on sketches for awhile and I intend to remedy that. There's lots to be drawn in the next year and I need to loosen up a bit.

Of course, I will continue to mention various bits of Storm in the Barn news. The latest? A fourth starred review is on the way, this time courtesy of The Horn Book. And here's a new review from the internet via Graphic Novel Reporter!

Books of Wonder on Sunday!

Hey, New Yorkers! I'll be at the great Books of Wonder on Sunday 10/11 from 1-3 pm.

I'll be one of eight, count 'em eight, authors signing books. The line-up includes: Richard Peck, Ann M. Martin, Lauren Myracle, Michael D. Beil, Gitty Daneshavri, Peter Howe, and Nova Ren Suma. Whew.

They also have an in-store cupcake cafe to sweeten the deal. Hope to see you there.

Children's Book World on Saturday!

I'll be at my home base bookstore, the great Children's Book World this Saturday at 11 am!! CBW is celebrating 20 years of being one of the best indie children's book stores in the world. Come by and say hello!

I'll be signing along with my pal Gene Baretta who will be there with his new book, Neo Leo! Because Gene is an even bigger Wyeth fan than I am, I've posted one of the reference photos that I took for Storm in the Barn. You know Andrew Wyeth's Christina's World? (of course you do). Well, this is the barn from that farm. Yep.

Thanks, NAIBA!

I had a great time at the NAIBA conference this past weekend where I met many, many great indie booksellers, applauded Peter Brown as he accepted a much-deserved award for The Curious Garden, and got to meet and hang out with Michelle Knudsen, author of one of my favorite picture books, The Library Lion, and now a novelist with The Dragon of Trelian! If you haven't seen these books, you really oughta.

Event-a-Rama!

Just a quick reminder that I'll be at the New York Public Library's Children's Literary Cafe on Saturday at 4 pm with Jarrett Krosoczka and Geoffrey Hayes!!

For the full skinny, go to our fearless moderator Betsy Bird's official announcement!

I'll be back in NYC next Sunday at Books of Wonder (more on that later).

And if you are attending the NAIBA conference in Baltimore on Sunday, I'll be signing on the exhibit floor at 6:30 at the Chesapeake & Hudson booth. And later that night, I'll be one of the Bedtime Stories author at 10:30 pm.

If you go, make sure you stop and say howdy!

This is just awesome.

100 Scope Notes has posted a Toon review of Storm in the Barn. I think every review should in some way include a Sasquatch from now on. Go read the rest of it HERE!

Upcoming Events and a Review!

Howdy, folks! I have a busy weekend coming up and hopefully I'll see some of you at one of these events.

On Saturday (10/3), I'll be at the New York Public Library to take part in Elizabeth Bird's monthly series of literary salon-esque discussions. This month's topic is Children's Book Illustrators Who Are Now Dabbling Also In The World of Comics And Graphic Novels (or something to that effect). Also on hand will be my pal Jarrett Krosoczka (Lunch Lady!) and Geoffrey Hayes (Benny and Penny!). The fun starts at 4 pm sharp.

On Sunday (10/4), I'll be in Baltimore for the New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association (NAIBA) conference. I'll be signing Storm in the Barn at 6:30 pm in the exhibit hall and then taking part in the Bedtime Stories event at 10:30 pm (prior to that, there's a fair to middling chance I'll be found at the Noir Bar...).

And lastly, I'd like to point you over to the great site Comic Book Resources for a review from the always entertaining Comics Should Be Good blog!

And lastly lastly, the above sketch was a discarded cover concept. Close but no cigar.

The Seven Imp Interview! Coffee! Pictures!

I'm pleased as punch to point you over to the great Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast blog for a breakfast-themed, detail-heavy, picture-riffic, interview with yours truly. Make sure you check out her interview archives... essential reading.

SEVEN IMP!

Book Signing!

If you are in the Greater Philadelphia area tomorrow, I'll be signing Storm in the Barn at the Borders in Bryn Mawr, PA at 11 am (take an early lunch perhaps?). Fun Fact: 15 years ago, I got a bookseller job at this very store. So if you need to know where poetry is shelved or the location of the coffee bar, I'm your guy.

The sketch above is not in Storm (I don't want to post ALL of the pictures). He's just an ink and wash doodle. Let's call him Reg.

New Website and Facebook Presence (More or Less)

I've redesigned my website with a new Storm in the Barn section. It's still a work in progress and I'll be expanding it soon with some behind the scenes stuff, but it's up and running.

Also, I've sort of plunged into Facebook land. There's not much there yet (still trying to figure it out) but if you are so inclined, stop by and say hello.

FORECAST FOR TODAY: STORM!

My first graphic novel THE STORM IN THE BARN is now officially available! It is a strange but good-strange feeling. I was looking through some photos and found this one of my studio from sometime last year. Pages from Storm are scattered about waiting for paint... general chaos and messiness about... I see some sketches for Jargo! that should have been filed away by this point... and a Hellboy book that I was re-reading for basic inspiration.

A year and a half later, all of the chaos has been transformed into a real live book. I put everything I have into this one and I hope you like it.

Fuse Reviews

There's a thorough, thoughtful review of The Storm in the Barn over at Fuse #8. She doesn't really write reviews that aren't thorough and thoughtful, so check out the review archive once you're there.

In other review news, Storm has now round up three starred reviews: Booklist ("Phelan turns every panel of this little masterpiece into a spare and melancholy window into another era..."), Kirkus ("This is not to be missed."), and School Library Journal ("A complex but accessible and fascinating book.").

Three more weeks until publication!

Booklist Review of the Day!

I just found out that Booklist's starred review for Storm in the Barn is the Review of the Day on their site!

You can read it (for free) HERE!

Quick Ape Sketch and Links!

Boys like gorillas. Boys like reading. And here are two great sites that think boys might also like The Storm In The Barn (spoiler warning: there are no gorillas in the book):

BOYS READ

GUYS LIT WIRE

Swimmin' circa 1908

I'm gearing up for another jam-packed year of drawing (a picture book, the final Lucky novel, and a second graphic novel, among other projects). To loosen up, I've been trying to do some sketches and paintings using materials that I haven't used before or haven't used for awhile. This was very loosely drawn on Fabriano hot press paper with a pencil then finished with ink (Hunt 102 nib and Liquid Acrylic ink) with an ink wash and some watercolor.

Blogger Appreciation in July

So, I thought this week was Blogger Appreciation Week. Turns out that it doesn't start until September 14th (mark those calendars). At any rate, I'd still like to send some appreciation out into the Blogosphere for some wonderful posts about The Storm In The Barn that have recently popped up. Please do click on the following and consider bookmarking these fine blogs!

educating alice

Writing and Ruminating

Shelf Elf

UPDATE: Kelly at Writing & Ruminating just posted a dramatic recreation of our recent caffeine-fueled, rambling, digression-prone sit down interview. It was great fun and we even talked a little about the new book. Go read it HERE, if you are so inclined.

UPDATE #2: Kerry at Shelf Elf just posted an interview with me HERE!

Sideshow!

Sideshow: Ten Original Tales of Freaks, Illusionists, and Other Matters Odd and Magical is now available from your favorite purveyor of quality literature. I contributed a graphic short story to this fine anthology that also includes stories from David Almond, Aimee Bender, Cecil Castellucci, Shawn Cheng, Annette Curtis Klause, Margo Lanagan, Danica Novgorodoff, Cynthia Leitich Smith, and Vivian Vande Velde. It's a dark and wondrous strange collection and I couldn't be happier to be a part of it. My story, Jargo!, concerns a freak that freaks out the other freaks.

Sideshow was edited by the brilliant, multi-talented Deborah Noyes. Deb has written a guest post over at Teenreads about Sideshow. Go Read It!

UPDATE: And here's another interview!

Thank You, ALA!

Just a quick note to thank all the wonderful people I met at the ALA convention. Your passion for books and libraries is inspiring. Also a big thanks to my new pals Tony Fucile , Chris Van Dusen, and Silas House who made signings and speaking in public far less daunting (p.s. get their BRILLIANT books!) and to all my friends at Candlewick Press for bringing me along for all the fun. And it was great to see old friends like the incomparable Holm siblings, Jenni and Matt. The banquet was amazing and for detailed coverage, I'll send you to the blog of the smashingly tattooed Ms. Bird.

And Neil Gaiman is as cool as you would think and also amazingly gracious and nice.

A Good Reminder

Two of a Kind by Jacqui Robbins has just been released. Here's a small anecdote that reminds me that the Children's Book Industry – with its publishing expos, conferences, reviews, competition, and big awards – is still, ultimately, all about making books for kids.

ALA Chicago

Hey there, librarians! I'll be at your annual shindig in the Windy City this weekend. On Sunday from 2-3, I'll be signing ARCs of Storm In The Barn (and possibly copies of Sideshow) at the Candlewick booth (#2147). If you're wandering the stacks, please stop by and say howdy. As added enticement, I'll be signing alongside the immensely talented Tony Fucile and Chris Van Dusen! Hope to see you there.

Newsarama Interview!

An interview I did with the comics website NEWSARAMA is now up! It's fairly detailed about Storm in the Barn but I think spoiler-free.

BOOK TRAILER!

Grab your popcorn and check out the trailer for The Storm In The Barn!!!

If you're so inclined, you can visit my own cozy section of YouTube by clicking HERE. That way you can see some of the videos that I actually like and recommend as opposed to the random stuff YouTube spits out on the generic page.

Paint First, Ask Questions Later

A little experiment to loosen up. I plopped down a few splashes of paint without thinking about it and then later went back with a brush pen and quickly doodled the first thing that came to mind.

Ruff

Japanese brush pen and watercolor sketch.

The Gunsel

The Coming Storm

Only three long months until my graphic novel The Storm in the Barn is released! About this time last year, I was finishing up the pencilled pages. They still needed inking and painting, but it seemed momentous enough to take a snapshot of the stack.

Some early reviews have started popping up on the web such as here and here. Previews magazine has just named it one of their June Staff Picks and Graphic Novel Reporter has called Storm in the Barn one of the Hottest Graphic Novels of the Summer. And last but certainly not least, Storm made a list of recommended new graphic novels at BEA last week.

A book trailer will be debuting sometime next month and I'll also be revamping my website, so keep checking back.

Winter Sketch

Back to the Drawing Board

Stitches

Just one more quick word about David Small. I just finished reading an advance copy of his new graphic memoir, Stitches. It is as good as graphic storytelling gets, told with breathtaking precision and, of course, masterful drawing. It comes out in September.

I Came, I Saw, I Bid Successfully...

...woohoo!!!!

Thanks to all the wonderful booksellers that I met at last night's ABC silent auction. You folks know how to throw a fine shindig.

ABC Auction!

I've donated this bookish little fella for the Association of Booksellers for Children's annual auction shindig. This year they've put all of the auction items online for your viewing pleasure. I'll be at the auction, so if you see me, be sure to say howdy.

Will Draw For...

I'll apologize once more for my lack of recent posts. I had two book deadlines one after another and I'm just now coming up for air. Unfortunately for the blog, that means that I did very little drawing over the last 2 months that was not for a book (can't show you that stuff quite yet).

I did however take a smidgen of time to draw this ukulele lady for a uke festival poster competition. The prize was a shiny new Ohana ukulele. Alas, I didn't win but here's my entry. I made the drawing with a port inktense pencil (seemed appropriate).


And then I gussied it up in Photoshop. She's supposed to be sitting on grapes since we're talking wine country here.

There are no sour grapes on the Planet Ham, so if you are in that neck of the Northern CA woods, check out the fest. I'm sure it'll be fun. And if you'd like to commission me in exchange for a nice ukulele, apparently I will consider it.

Spells!

I'm very excited to be involved with the Spells Writing Center in Philadelphia. It's based on (but not officially affiliated with) the 826 Valencia centers. I'll be posting more and more about this venture in the future. In the meantime, zip over to their site and check out the upcoming events (including the Zombie Fundraiser, of course).

p.s. The Indefatigable Brian Biggs did the lettering for the above postcard image. The Incombustible Adam Rex is also rumored to be lurking about Spells Headquarters.

Madame Collara

Apology/PSA

This baby eagle is here to tell you that despite appearances, I have not abandoned my blog. April was a deadline month, and I was feverishly at work finishing a new picture book (more on that later). But I promise to start posting regularly again ... with some big stuff coming up.

Until then, if you are anywhere within a reasonable distance of Philadelphia, you should get down to the Rosenbach Museum to catch the extraordinary Sendak exhibit that closes on Sunday! Go, go! It's rainy today so there really is no better time to go to a museum, right? Right-ho.

Top 100... I mean, Top 3 Picture Books

Fuse #8 has posted the first ten books in her list of the Top 100 Picture Books as voted on by readers. Although I didn't get around to submitting my picks, today's 10 inspired me to chime in because book #94 on the list, The Gardener by Sarah Stewart and David Small, would certainly be in my Top 3 books. It's perfect.

The other 2 would be The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats and Harvey Slumfenburger's Christmas Present by John Burningham which are also, in my opinion, perfect picture books.

Can't wait to see the rest of the list.

Luck O' the Pigeons

Korean Bear!

The other day I received a copy of the new Korean edition of Very Hairy Bear! Yay!

Beastie of the Month

Humpty was pushed.

Shifty Peacocks

These peacocks would like to remind you that I'll be signing Big George and other books tomorrow (aka Saturday) at 2pm at the lovely Head House Books. Hope to see you there. However, if you're closer to Old Greenwich, CT, stop by Just Books on Saturday morn to meet Big George author, Anne Rockwell.

Niles and Pete

Another Ape

This time with a hard charcoal pencil on Arches cover stock.

From Washington to Wash

Big George Booksigning!

On Saturday February 28th at 2 pm, I'll be at Head House Books in Philadelphia talking about and signing copies of Big George. It's my first event at this great little indie store. If you're in the area, stop by and say howdy.

Above is the sketch of Washington's crossing of the Delaware from the book dummy. My wise editor and art director at Harcourt pointed out that it would be better for the final illustration to have the action going from left to right instead, leading the eye to the page turn. A simple change, but very important.

For a detailed look at the long and twisty road to publication for Big George, check out author Anne Rockwell's blog.

Charcoal girl

Reckless Enthusiasm

Beastie of the Month

Names, anyone?

Big Brother

A big, tall, up-on-stilts thank you to everybody who stopped by the Main Line Art Center yesterday. I had a great time and I hope it becomes a yearly event. It was fantastic to not only meet so many readers and aspiring illustrators, but also to hang out with other usually hermit-like illustrators... and to ogle at so many original illustrations!

And for those of you who were interested in my paintings for sale, there are still three of 'em available that will be up on my soon-to-be-established Etsy site (I'll probably make prints of them, too).

The Main Line (you know, like in The Philadelphia Story)

Hullo, hullo, hullo! Long time no posting, what?

This Sunday (2/8) I'll be at the Main Line Art Center for a free day of fun called The Art of Illustration. I am only one of a truly impressive list of children's book illustrators, and we'll all be hanging around, talking about our work, signing books, offering tips to kids, and giving presentations (mine starts at noon).

I don't often sell my work, but I will have some illustrations for sale at the event (including The Adventurer, seen above... maybe...I kinda like how this turned out). What doesn't sell and/or prints of the stuff will eventually wind up on my soon-to-be-established Etsy site. It looks like Mr. Biggs will be offering some super cool work for sale as well.

If you're in the Philadelphia area, stop by and say hullo, hullo, hullo! (I've been reading a lot of Wodehouse lately).

Simulcast Sketching

Made while watching the ALA awards.