Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Sunday, January 28, 2007

Fun with Citrus

cute-orange-man

Eric Sturdevant's photos


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Jim Flora Update


Irwin Chusid (WFMU radio personality, author, producer, music historian, landmark preservationist, and media hacker) has created a beautiful Jim Flora website.

Thank you, Fuse.

Saturday, January 27, 2007

Pompidou Center Pays Homage to Hergé

(photo: Le Figaro/ A. Aubert)

The adventures of Tintin and Snowy turned comic books into an art form. Now their creator Hergé is being honored by a mega-exhibition in Paris. On show are drawings, illustrations and recordings -- and documents of political controversies.

See a slide show here.

via http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,455736,00.html and bookshelves_of_doom.

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Read Roger: Can you hear me NOW?


It's UNANIMOUS. The 2007 winner of the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal is James Marshall. This bronze medal, as described by the ALA, honors an author or illustrator whose books, published in the United States, have made, over a period of years, a substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children.

Monday, January 22, 2007

What's New?


A 2006 Q & A with Mark Siegel

Mark Siegel talks about To Dance, inspiration, and "the best Simpsons episode of all time."
http://www.powells.com/ink/Siegel.html

The World of Stephan Britt

illustration by S.britt via www.newsreview.com/sacramento
http://www.sbritt.com/

Thank you, Mod Mom!

"American Born Chinese" wins Printz Award

READ AN EXCERPT

2007 ALSC Award Winners

2007MediaAwardWinners.htm

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Wednesday, January 17, 2007

The Power of Everlasting Mary

(picture by Uffler Mustek) "No, Betty. her desire for vengeance is even stronger than her color palette. if we don't stop her now, Mary Blair will grow to 300 times her own size, a hideous uncontrollable menace whose lush, minimalist goache-based work will overtake us through its simple colors, shapes and form."
revengeofmaryblair.blogspot.com

I had no idea that Mary had such a rough time.

Thank you (I think) www.cartoonbrew.com. And here is a mural by Mary Blair. Jonathan, have you seen this one?

Free Things for Mac Users from Sara Varon


A screensaver (that you can watch even if you are not a Mac user) and more, from http://www.chickenopolis.com/. Make sure to see her Link Page, it's a goldmine. Sara has a
208 page graphic novel from First Second Books coming out next fall.

Elio Draws








Thanks to Fuse and http://www.eliohouse.com/. Here's Elio's Pancake Head!

M (for Miroslav) SASEK -- Reissues in 2007


This is Hong Kong is due out on January 30th, and This is Rome is due on February 13th.
You can see a slideshow of the original This is Hong Kong (along with This is Israel) on one of Eric Sturdevant's many wonderful Flickr pages: http://www.flickr.com/photos/91502146@N00/tags/sasek/show/

Monday, January 15, 2007

A Terrifying Message from Al Gore




Thanks to Andi Butler and http://editoon.com/sandbox/

Here’s a little tip about Youtube: It might store up all of your dogged/OCD attempts to post a video, and then post all 38 copies at once.

Sunday, January 14, 2007

Linear Line


The Linear Line Assignment from illustrationclass.com:

Your assignment is to draw a continuous line drawing of each of the five listed items below. The key to this style is that it be one single continuous line that makes up the entire illustration. It can overlap but visually it has to be one line without any breaks. Sounds simple but it can be tricky.5 Drawing Topics- Light Bulb- Lizard- Fish- Car- Face/Head


Here's a little line inspiration from Laura Ljungkvist, Mo Willems, and Alexander Calder. And I'm adding cartoons by UPA/Bob Cannon and Bob Cannon/Dr. Seuss. (So what if the lines aren't continuous.)
(Thanks to Von R. Glitschka)

Saturday, January 13, 2007

Just One More Book & Richard Michelson

( Illustration by Kathryn Brown)

Mark at Just One More Book speaks with author and gallery owner Richard Michelson about children’s illustration, poetry, and discovering children's books in adulthood.

The 17th Annual Illustrators Show (on exhibit at Mr. Michelson's Northampton gallery until January 31st, 2007) features Mordicai Gerstein, Kathryn Brown, and Adam McCauley, among many others.

Friday, January 12, 2007

Video Tape + Tag Sale = Time Warp



These are my examples of great tag sale finds:
Crystal is My Friend, written by Shirley Gordon and illustrated by Edward Frascino, and The Animal Fair by Alice and Martin Provensen.

Here's a little story about video tape and tag sales:

Back when Pee Wee’s Playhouse was on TV, my husband routinely taped the show. Then, about 7 years later when our kids became toddlers, they watched these tapes too. We didn't plan for this. We just liked the show and my husband taped a lot of stuff then.

He would rarely edit out the commercials. But the advantage of having these old toy commercials was that our kids were persuaded to want old toys. And they would see these same toys at tag sales. So, there was absolutely no difference between the toys they wanted and the toys we could afford to buy.

This bubble didn’t survive long, but was nice while it lasted.

Michael Sporn & Lisl Weil

Michael Sporn of Michael Sporn Animation, Inc. has a wonderful site where you can see clips of adaptations from children's books, like The Man Who Walked Between The Towers, by Mordicai Gerstein: http://www.michaelspornanimation.com/SourceFiles/FilmClips/towers.html
(Made for Weston Woods)

Mr. Sporn also has a blog. Here he shows illustrations by Lisl Weil, " book illustrator/author who produced over 100 children’s books since the 1950’s. She also wrote at least half of them. "

More TOOT WHISTLE PLUNK AND BOOM


Beautiful storyboards by Tom Oreb, "along with a batch of concept paintings by an unidentified artist."

Thanks again (and again) to Mr. Amidi.

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

The Rodent is a Foodie

Amid at cartoonbrew.com has the low-down on all of the upcoming Ratatouille books. You might be thinking, "Ratatouille?" Well, no. Try this Ratatouille.


Monday, January 08, 2007

The Internet Archive


Thank you, Bibi for directing me to The Internet Archive. If you think that your kidlit education will never be complete until you've read Little Lord Fauntleroy, you can find a copy here. (Three copies to be exact.) Many books are in "flip book" format, including some by Beatrix Potter.
More info about the archive can be found here.

Friday, January 05, 2007

Get a Load of the Squirrel

Franki at A Year of Reading has the scoop on Scaredy Squirrel.

How Cute is This?

The author/illustrator Utako Yamada "opened her tea house, Karel Capek, in 1987 and her dessert shop in 2001 (she doesn’t eat quite as many desserts as Cherry). In between handling the selection and blending of teas, creating new desserts and designing packages, she works as an illustrator and translator of picture books. THE STORY OF CHERRY THE PIG was her first picture book, and she has since worked on more than 20 titles. She lives in Tokyo with her husband and two children." www.kanemiller.com/

Wednesday, January 03, 2007

What is this Weston Woods Studios?

I’d seen the film CORDUROY at the library, but I’d never noticed who produced it. I first noticed the Weston Woods name when I was posting about Gene Deitch. I had no idea that Mr. Deitch and Weston Woods were responsible for so many films.

And now, there’s all this buzz about KNUFFLE BUNNY, and there’s that Weston name again.

It turns out that back in 1953 “Weston Woods Studios developed the ‘iconographic’ style of filmmaking, in which an open book glides in front of a motion picture camera, giving the still imagery a sense of movement. Close ups, dissolves, and cuts bring books to cinematic life in a remarkable way. Even when music, additional artwork, and animation are added to the adaptation, the filmmakers adhere closely to the sources’ original intent.”

If you visit the Weston Woods/Scholastic site you can see snippets of films (and sometimes you get to hear what the author sounds like).

Hear are a few sample clips:

THE DOT
ARNIE THE DOUGHNUT
DEM BONES

Nicholas, meet Nicholas (and Nicholas)

One Nicholas, and two more . All sweet, but not saccharine.

Your language needs you

Did you wear a shell-suit before 1989 or call someone a wazzock before 1984? Do you know anyone who is daft as a brush, and why you might describe them this way?

... the BBC and the Oxford English Dictionary have teamed up to appeal to the nation to help solve some of the most intriguing recent word mysteries in the language.

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

A New Year's Resolution, The Cybils, and Aliens



My New Year’s resolution is that I will learn to write maladroit segues between subjects when I blog.

Speaking of blogs, the shortlists for the Cybil awards are up, and Aliens Are Coming! is on the Non-fiction Picture Book list.

Speaking of aliens, there is a terrific Disney series called Mars & Beyond from 1957, on Youtube. Mars & Beyond was directed by Ward Kimball, one of Disney’s legendary Nine Old Men.