The Girllustrators

Traditional Tuesday: Marsha Riti teaches us how to stretch some paper!

shelleyannjackson — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 13:17:52 -0500

We’ve decided to diversify our Tuesday posts to include some traditional tips, as well as our technology two-cents. Girllustrator Marsha Riti kicks us off with a step-by-step on stretching watercolor paper. We hope you’ll find it useful!

Amanda Williams Rocks Some Cave Walls!

threeravenspress — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 19:15:00 -0500

Have you ever wondered who creates the environments in your favorite atmospheric games? The Creators Project recently interviewed the Girllustrators’ own Amanda Williams on her work with Tiger Style Games and what went into the caves and landscapes of Waking Mars.

Technology Tuesday: Q&A with Wendy Martin

threeravenspress — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 09:17:00 -0600

Wendy Martin, co-host of Thursday night’s #kidlitart chat on twitter (you should drop by sometime if you haven’t already), has been an illustrator for more than 25 years. She started out with a degree in Fashion Design from the Fashion Institute of Technology, followed by a BFA in Graphic Design at the School of Visual Arts; and both areas of study still influence her work today. After working in advertising and graphic design in New York, she moved to Missouri and wrote and illustrated her first children’s book, An Ordinary Girl, A Magical Child. Here is what she has to say on using technology in her work. Thanks, Wendy!

What percentage of your illustration process relies on technology? I’d have to say it’s a 50/50 mix. As my working style has progressed, it’s become a merging of the two tool sets. It’s a very rare piece at this point in my career that can be accomplished without both traditional and digital tools.

What applications do you use? I am a firm lover of Illustrator. I also use Photoshop fairly extensively, along with scanning software, MangaStudio MX and image cataloging software.

What digital tool would you never want to do without? I had to replace my trusty old MAC G4 Tower at the end of last year. It was 11 years old and hopelessly antiquated. I got an iMAC with a 20” flat screen. Before I had been using a CRT monitor. I miss the color saturation of the old monitor, but newer computers are all one piece these days. Along with getting a newer MAC, I had to upgrade a lot of my software and peripherals. The one peripheral I’m still waiting to update is my trusty scanner. The scanner works great, I’ve never had a problem with it, but for some reason the company didn’t see fit to upgrade the drivers for the new OS X platforms. Now, in order to scan a piece in, I have to jump through several hoops to get it on my iMAC where all my editing/drawing software is. I have an older laptop with Windows on it. I have to boot up the PC, plug in the scanner, launch the scanner software, scan the image, place it in the sharing folder, send it to the iMAC and then open and save it to a folder on the iMAC. I used to do a daily doodle and post it every day when I sat down to begin my ‘real’ art. I’ve stopped doing that since it’s such a hassle to use the scanner. A new one is on my wish list.

I’m also really excited about the new product from Wacom called the inkling. According to the promo youtubes, you can sketch directly on paper with this peripheral and it’s digitized as you draw. That would reduce several steps in my process, since currently, I sketch with pad and pencil and scan in the sketch, then redraw it in Illustrator with an “inking” brush I created for myself to mimic a felt tip marker.

What is your favorite aspect of using technology in illustration? I’m a noodler. I will redraw the same section of line over and over until the curve is just right. When you do this on paper, you eventual get shadows on the material. When you do this in a computer, you press the Z command and have a pristine white space to redraw on. The editing capabilities of trying different color combinations and the ease of making changes is my favorite time saver.

My only issues with this ease of changing things are 1. There are so many choices to try; it can lead to over stimulation of the creative mojo, and 2. Clients think that ease of change also means I should be faster. Truth be told, it actually takes me longer to finish a painting in the computer than one on a piece of 140lb cold press. Maybe this is because I’ve been painting for twice as long as I’ve been digitizing, but I don’t think so.

What projects in the children’s market are you currently working on and how do you plan to incorporate technology? I’m working on several self written picture book dummies, a couple of logos for picture book people/organizations, I am the webmaster for http://fromthemixedupfiles.com and the co-host of the Twitter chat #kidlitart on Thursday evenings at 9PM eastern time.

Obviously, the web site and the Twitter chat are totally technology driven, since they are all part of the virtual world.

For the book dummies, I use Word to write and edit my text. I draw my thumbnails on a print out of a dummy thumbnail spread sheet which has the entire book’s pages laid out on a single 8.5 x 11 page. I then sketch mini pages by hand and scan them in to place text, print them out larger and use tracing paper to add details and fix placements. Scan each page back in to “ink” in Illustrator.

For my past books, I’ve use the inked images as printouts on a light table to draw the line work onto 140lb cold press paper. Now that I have a snazzy new printer that can print out directly onto the cold press, I’m going to skip the light table step.

I’ve already used the printer to do single images this way. I’m very excited about being able to do this with one of my new books. The transfer of the images from the printout to the watercolor paper was always very laborious and time consuming. I won’t miss that tedious and back backing step in my process.

Technology Tuesday: Q&A with Don Tate

shelleyannjackson — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 10:03:06 -0600

Don Tate is the award-winning illustrator/author of more than 40 books for children, trade and educational. His books include: Duke Ellington’s Nutcracker Suite, featured in the New York Times Holiday Book Review, She Loved Baseball, Ron’s Big Mission and Sure as Sunrise, just to name a few. I’m happy to report that Don is also the debut author of It Jes’ Happened: When Bill Traylor Started to Draw, a New Voices Honor winner.

Don’s illustrations are lively and bold. One element I love about his work is that he doesn’t have one signature illustration style, which is typically frowned upon in the business. Each book he’s illustrated has it’s own unique look and feel. That’s amazing!

In his spare time Don is a contributor to The Brown Bookshelf, a site designed to highlight and build awareness of the African American voices writing for young readers and is a member of the Texas Sweethearts and Scoundrels a group of Texas-based authors and illustrators, each bringing their unique talent to the kid lit community. From what I understand, Don is the resident Scoundrel. And if all of that isn’t enough, Don works as an illustrator/graphics reporter for the Austin American-Statesman.

What percentage of your illustration process relies on technology? While 100% of my illustration work involves technology at some point, I’d say that about 70% of the actual process involves technology along the way. I’m an old-school illustrator, so I do enjoy illustrating with natural media. And I could let go of technology if I had to. But I don’t. Technology makes my work quicker, easier, smarter. If I create a watercolor illustration for a book, I might work out several color comps first in Photoshop. If I’m in the middle of a painting and not quite sure what direction to take, I might take a digital photo and work out the problems in Photoshop before I proceed. Most educational publishers these days expect art to be delivered electronically, email or ftp. They don’t care so much if the art is generated on the computer (although some demand it), but natural media is expected to be scanned, color corrected and delivered ready to go.

What applications do you use? Several. Mostly Adobe products—Photoshop and Illustrator. But I’ve used Flash, several 3d programs (they keep changing and buying each other out), Freehand, Painter, Poser 3d, many others.

What digital tool would you never want to do without? My computer. More specific? My digital camera, Wacom, scanner.

What is your favorite aspect of using technology in illustration? I spend a lot of time illustrating in a newsroom. I can’t really spread out with my oil paint and color pencils and I don’t think my colleagues would want me to. Technology allows me to create illustrations without the mess of natural media. And I can make changes much easier.

The downside is that technology seems to speed things up, but not necessarily in a good way. The illustrator, whose always worked under tight deadlines, is expected to deliver art much faster now. And if you’re not an illustrator who utilizes technology (yes, I know of a few), you may not get work. And the technology is constantly changing. A couple of years ago, I decided to upgrade to a new computer. That also meant getting all new software, printers and scanners, which wouldn’t work on my new computer. My new computer is only two years old, and already it’s time to upgrade all of my programs.

What projects in the children’s market are you currently working on and how do you plan to incorporate technology? I’m working on several traded picture books and a series of chapter books. Again, all of the projects involve technology in some way. With the chapter books, I created line work with pen and ink. Then I scanned in the lines and added grays and texture in Photoshop. I delivered final art as grayscale tiffs.

Technology Tuesday: Q&A with Divya Srinivasan

shelleyannjackson — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 10:02:05 -0600

In addition to being one of the newest Girllustrators (she hadn’t yet joined our group when she answered our questions), Divya Srinivasan is an amazingly talented illustrator and animator. She has worked for illustration clients such as the New Yorker, This American Life and They Might Be Giants, and she was an animator on the film Waking Life. Divya recently released her first picture book, Little Owl’s Night, the illustrations of which are the perfect blend of simplicity and sophistication, darkness and color, intrigue and calm. It’s been getting rave reviews, and for good reason! Check her out…we’re sure you’ll be seeing more from Divya soon!

What percentage of your illustration process relies on technology? For the past few years, I’ve used only computer for most of my projects. Sometimes, I draw or paint elements on paper, scan them in, and do compositing on the computer. I’d like to do more of that.

What applications do you use? I use Photoshop for illustration.

What digital tool would you never want to do without? For years I’ve done all my illustration and animation on an Apple laptop using a Wacom tablet, which allows me to work from anywhere. Working alone from home can get monotonous. To shake things up, I sometimes visit my sister in the Bay Area. While she’s working during the day, I am too, and then we get to hang out in the evenings. I’m extremely grateful for my portable workspace!

What is your favorite aspect of using technology in illustration? I can play around with colors, composition, and style so easily on the computer. When a deadline is tight and revisions are called for—moving elements around, changing colors, redrawing a face—I can do that relatively quickly on the computer. And it’s easy for me to show the art director multiple possibilities. Because I do all my animation on the computer, it’s convenient having the source artwork in digital form, in layers. For instance, I made the trailer for Little Owl’s Night using elements straight from my Photoshop files for the book illustrations. Little Owl’s eyes, head, wings and body were already on separate layers so I could bring them straight into After Effects and animate.

What projects in the children’s market are you currently working on and how do you plan to incorporate technology? I’m about to start illustrating my second picture book, and plan to use Photoshop. Over the past few years, I’ve done the artwork for three educational children’s apps (Peekaboo Barn, Peekaboo Wild, and Splish Splash Inn). Right now, I’m in the very early stages of planning my own app. Integrating illustration, animation, sound, and storytelling with some level of interactivity, all in one project, could be really fun for me.

Technology Tuesday: Q&A with Renee Kurilla

shelleyannjackson — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 10:02:00 -0600

Renée Kurilla is brimming over with talent! She graduated with a BFA in Illustration and Graphic Design from The Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University, is a lead artist for the animation studio Fable Vision, and a children’s book illustrator. Renée’s work can be seen in The Christmas Hamster by Bryan Gately; Charlesbridge Publishing’s I See I Learn series: Freda Plans a Picnic, Percy Plays it Safe, Percy Gets Upset, and Freda is Found;as well as Zebrafish by Sharon Emerson, with a second Zebrafish titled Shine on the way! We wanted to interview Renée about her use of technology because her digital work has such a lively, colorful style complemented beautifully by loose, gestural linework. Please enjoy Renée Kurilla’s interview and wonderful illustrations.

What percentage of your illustration process relies on technology? I’m guessing about 90% of my work is done on the computer…however almost all of my ideas start out as a quick pencil sketch in my sketchbook, which I carry everywhere! I work in Boston, MA at Children’s Media company, FableVision, which was founded by author illustrator Peter H. Reynolds. At work I use a computer about 95% of the time because we make all sorts of digital and educational media for kids. I got very used to manipulating my drawings on the computer. Having one around has definitely made my art-making process go much smoother.

What applications do you use? I now use Photoshop for just about everything. I was trained to start using Adobe Flash for animation, but lately I’ve been working on many more illustration projects. I also use InDesign to do text layout.

What digital tool would you never want to do without? My Wacom tablet of course :) I can’t imagine trying to draw with a mouse again the way I used to in high school!

What is your favorite aspect of using technology in illustration? As I mentioned earlier, what I love most is that using a computer has made my art-making…easier. I’m able to concentrate more on the actual character or scene rather than trying to perfect my craft in painting. (Although, I do wish I could paint more as well.) There’s also a little bit of a learning curve that comes with Photoshop, too. I will never fully master Photoshop as a medium because they keep releasing new versions of the software. It’s a nice thing to have a medium that lets you explore endless possibilities.

What projects in the children’s market are you currently working on and how do you plan to incorporate technology? I’m currently working on a sequel to the Zebrafish graphic novel that was released in 2010 (Simon&Schuster/FableVision/Emerson). The new title is Zebrafish: Shine and it will be coming out in 2013. The book dummy (122 pages) was sketched out entirely on paper first and is inked/colored in Photoshop! I’m very excited, I’m so happy with the way it looks so far and I hope you’ll like it too!

Technology Tuesday: Q&A with Jenny B Harris

threeravenspress — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 08:17:57 -0600

Jenny B Harris’ design background and passion for arts and crafts shine through in her illustrations for children. Her work radiates bright colors, fun patterns, and a cheerfulness that reaches out to a broad audience. Jenny’s impressive client list includes picture books for Random House and Golden Books, educational projects for Harcourt, and packaging for Pepsi. You can check out her work on her website and blog. And she was nice enough to share how she uses technology in her illustrations.

What percentage of your illustration process relies on technology? Pretty much 100% of my process relies on technology. I create my art from sketch to finish in Photoshop with a Wacom tablet. The only part that I do the old fashioned way is what happens in my head! And that is definitely low-tech. ;o)

What applications do you use? I’m so comfortable with Photoshop CS, I have been dragging my heels and haven’t upgraded. But I’ll have to soon!

What digital tool would you never want to do without? I need all of them, but if I had to name the one tool that has had the most impact, it’s my wacom.

What is your favorite aspect of using technology in illustration? Since I create electronic images for display on the internet, or on iPad screens, I can use vivid saturated color. The illustrations seem to come alive!

What projects in the children’s market are you currently working on and how do you plan to incorporate technology? I’m currently creating interactive children’s books for a company called Interactive Touch Books, and technology is part of every stage. I develop the art in Photoshop, set up the books on the ITB web site, publish them to their app/bookstore and people can buy and view them on their iPhone or iPad. ITB is a great site if anyone wants to try their hand at making an interactive ebook. The coolest part is that anyone can make books on the ITB site, it was created for author/illustrators to self-publish their books. It’s free, and they only take a commission from book sales.

Get it Together!

shelleyannjackson — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 08:00:00 -0600

The Austin SCBWI 2012 regional conference, Something for Everybody, is just around the corner. You’ve got three and a half weeks to get your portfolio together—or build a totally new one depending on how ambitious you are! You’d like to knock the socks of off the editors, art director, and agents attending, land a book deal and win the portfolio competition (you are ambitious, aren’t you?)…if only you knew what they were looking for?

Well, my friend, this year, the Girllustrators got your back! We were lucky enough to be tiny Girllustrator flies on the wall at the meeting where the list by which portfolios will be judged was put together. We might even have buzzed some of our own suggestions into the ears of the Powers That Be. (Okay, so now we’re bees, not flies—Girllustrators are very versatile!)

So, no hemming and hawing this year—read on and you’ll know what they’re looking for! It’s time to get that portfolio together and strut your stuff! And at the very bottom of the post, an additional opportunity for exposure!

THE LIST

1. Composition: We’re all artists, here, right? We all know about the elements and principles of design and we all use them in our art, right? But we also know that sometimes a composition just doesn’t come out quite right. But maybe we ABSOLUTELY LOVE the characters in that failed composition! Should we put it in our portfolio anyway? No way, José! If something’s not working, you’ve just given an art director a doubt about your skills, made them less interested in your work and left a bad taste in their mouth. Find a way to salvage the piece or pull it out entirely.

2. Color: Judges will be looking for your use of color. This doesn’t mean the more color you use, the better. It means that your color should be appropriate for the piece and pleasing to the eye. Does the color in your work add interest? Create a mood? Make it work, Baby!

3. Character development (sequencing): Something that is tricky in children’s books, but oh so important, is creating believable characters that are emotive, interesting and consistent. If you don’t have a sequence of a character (or characters) in different poses and showing a variety of emotions, now would be a good time to get ’er done. Art directors and editors look for this—they want to know that you can bring their characters to life and do it consistently!

4. Narrative clarity: Some might say “pictorial readability” here. This means that your illustrations aren’t all straight landscapes, portraits and still lifes, but they have a narrative quality to them. They have action, energy, emotion and a story is being told, right there—without words—in the pictures!

5. Consistency of style(s): Right. We all like to try new things. We’ve all changed over the years and have favorite pieces from long ago that we just can’t seem to bring ourselves to take out of the ol’ portfolio. But, the fact is, an art director wants to know what they’re getting when they hire you. They want to be certain of who YOU are. And for that reason, the judges will be looking for consistency of style. That doesn’t mean you can’t have more than one style and present them together, just make sure that if you have two styles, you have enough of each to show that they are consistent.

6. Professional presentation: Do we really need to say “Don’t duct tape your art to a spiral notebook and dunk it in coffee before you drop it off?” Probably not, but it doesn’t hurt to mention that your portfolio should be well-organized and neat with consistent sizes and formats. An expensive book is not necessary to look professional. But, some time and effort is.

Well, that’s it. Easy, breezy, right? Putting together a portfolio is actually a lot of work, and it’s a daunting task even to veteran illustrators. If you’d like some more help, here are a few other sites to read:

What to Include from Where the Sidewalk Ends.
Tony SanSevero’s making a children’s book portfolio.
Harold Underdown’s tips for aspiring illustrators.
Yellapalooza.com’s tips for beginners.
Christina Tugeau gives portfolio tips.

THE OPPORTUNITY

And now to that opportunity we mentioned above. This year at the conference, there will be a silent auction/raffle to raise funds. Donations of prints (originals are accepted, as well), framed (preferred) or unframed, are being requested. Please choose your favorite illustration, slap it in a frame and donate it to the cause! This not only shows your generous spirit, but it is yet another way to get your art in front of the faculty at the conference. Who knows, maybe they’ll bring your work home to display in their office! Furthermore, the proceeds from all art sales go toward the chapter’s illustration budget, so that we can continue to have great illustrator events in the future. It’s a win-win!

Donations need to be dropped off by Friday, February 17^th at 5pm at St. Edward’s University, where the conference is being held. If you don’t think you’ll make that deadline, feel free to contact a Girllustrator or Assistant Regional Advisor Carmen Oliver to set something up.

Technology Tuesday: Q&A with Jackie Stafford

shelleyannjackson — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 09:58:42 -0600

Jackie Stafford’s friendly animal and human characters entertain and educate kids by way of picture books, games, magazine illustrations, and promotional materials for a long list of clients. They include Scholastic Books, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Disney, Gymboree, Nestle, and Kraft. Her most recent work is digitally executed, but her portfolio also includes watercolor work, and from her early years, three-dimensional character art. On top of all this, she also makes jewelry. Stafford studied illustration at OCAD University in Toronto. She currently lives on a farm in Ontario, Canada, and corrals a motley pack of horses, donkeys, dogs and cats while she isn’t creating art in her studio. We’re so thankful she took the time to answer our questions, below!

What percentage of your illustration process relies on technology? 80%

What applications do you use? Illustrator

What digital tool would you never want to do without? Wacom Cintiq

What is your favorite aspect of using technology in illustration? I can alter my work and play with it as much as I want without having to re-do it over and over again.

What projects in the children’s market are you currently working on and how do you plan to incorporate technology? I’m working for several UK publishers on educational projects, plus some children’s magazine work right now.

Technology Tuesday: Q&A with Luciana Navarro Powell

shelleyannjackson — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 09:03:05 -0600

Luciana Navarro Powell loves to draw. She has been a professional illustrator for over 14 years, providing, rich, vibrant and playful illustrations to clients such as Scholastic, Pearson, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, McGraw-Hill, Hasbro Toys, Crocodile Creek, National Geographic School Publishing, Random House and Chronicle Books.

One of her latest ventures is an iPad app, Goodnight Safari, for Polk Street Press. In it, children can interact with adorable safari animals as they prepare for bedtime. Preview the app here . You can purchase the app here.

Luciana’s My Dad is the Best Playground, Random House, will release in May 2012. Originally from Brazil, Luciana now calls San Diego her home.

What percentage of your illustration process relies on technology? I would say 50%, because I still sketch using pencil and paper, and sketching is where all the concepting takes place. Once I am happy with the sketches I scan them and build on top of it.

What applications do you use? Photoshop, I used to use Illustrator to build up the shapes, but now I do it all in Photoshop.

What digital tool would you never want to do without? My Wacom tablet and pen, really can’t do it without it!

What is your favorite aspect of using technology in illustration? I have used traditional media in the past, mostly watercolor and acrylics, but I was really taken by digital media once I started to experiment with texture - I scan leaves, petals, fabric, or photograph cement cracks, wood, earth, and incorporate it all in my illustrations mixing them with shapes and colors. I also use a lot of customized Photoshop brushes, and create my own brushes too, I found out it makes a huge difference in making the art look organic and not overly “digital”. I love the broad possibilities of experimentation without having to re-paint anything, and love the little accidents or unplanned results that I get from the process. The difficulty is learning when to stop, you have to be disciplined or you can end up working in one single piece forever. But that is also something you learn with time.

What projects in the children’s market are you currently working on and how do you plan to incorporate technology? Right now I am working on final art for the first book I wrote! It will be out in May 2012, by Random House. It is in a slightly different style than previous works and I am having a lot of fun with it: I paint washes of real watercolor in real paper, then scan it and use it in a sort of digital collage. It has a fluid look, it allows happy accidents, but with all the advantages of the digital media. I am also on sketching phase for a series of books for Chronicle, and for those I will incorporate a lot of photographed texture like leather, plastic sheets, textured paper. I am also working on a potential eBook for iPad, and the plan for that is to scan real things like leaves, grass, fur, wood. Very busy, lots of fun!

Technology Tuesday: Q&A with Tracy Bishop

shelleyannjackson — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 10:32:43 -0600

Tracy Bishop is both a children’s book illustrator and designer extraordinaire! She earned her degree in graphic design with a concentration in illustration from San Jose State University. Tracy’s clients include Cost Plus, World Market, The Gymboree Corp, Children’s Discovery Museum of San Jose, Palo Alto Jr. Museum and Zoo, EandI Designs, and Stanford Jazz Festival. We wanted to interview Tracy about her use of technology in her illustrations because her work retains the analog warmth of traditional media while being created almost completely digitally. Please enjoy Tracy’s interview as well as her beautiful illustrations.

What percentage of your illustration process relies on technology? At this point I’d say my illustrations rely about 90-100% on technology. I do thumbnails and concepts in a sketchbook then I move on to drawing in the computer. I LOVE watercolor. I used to do watercolor paintings and used the computer only for minor touchups. Then I had my son and the studio became his room. After that the only place for me to paint was on our dining table. It became so hard to keep on working a little bit on the dining table and then putting everything away for meal time. It also became apparent to me that leaving my work out with a toddler running around wasn’t the best combo either. So that’s when I made the decision to try to find a way to move totally to digital — but only if I was able to find a way for the process to be satisfying and to achieve the watercolor look that I wanted. It took a long time of studying and experimenting and I’m finally at a place where I’m happy with creating illustrations digitally.

What applications do you use? I use Adobe Photoshop CS5 to create my art.

What digital tool would you never want to do without? My Cintiq. That’s the best investment that I’ve ever made.

What is your favorite aspect of using technology in illustration? The best part of using technology to illustrate is it’s easier to take more risks and be bold with things like composition and color. It’s easy to move things around and to play with color so there’s no excuse for NOT doing some studies before going to final. This flexibility can also turn into a curse really quickly. You can noodle around and be indecisive very easily too.

What projects in the children’s market are you currently working on and how do you plan to incorporate technology? I’m currently making more illustrations and prepping for a SCBWI Illustrator’s day (eeek, it’s in a week!). I’m also revamping my website soon. The good thing about switching to a new style is it feels like a new beginning. The bad thing is I’m scrambling to replace all of my old watercolor only illustrations in my portfolio with new digital ones.

Technology Tuesday: Q&A with David Kirk

shelleyannjackson — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 09:07:41 -0600

David Kirk’s children’s book career began when his hand-made toys were discovered by a book packager! In 1994 his first book, Miss Spider’s Tea Party, was published. It’sfilled with Kirk’s characteristic brilliant colors, dynamic compositions and infinite details. Miss Spider went on to become not only a beloved series of books, but also a television series on Nick Jr., a CD-ROM game, not to mention countless toys and products. Kirk has created numerous other equally delightful picture books, such as the Nova the Robot series. The Girllustrators are honored that he took the time to answer our technology questions!

What percentage of your illustration process relies on technology? These days, I’m mostly using very old art techniques. Only in preparation do I use any modern technology. Even that’s fairly peripheral. I use Photoshop to enlarge drawings to a correct size and sometimes manipulate sizes of elements within a picture. I suppose another use of technology is finding pictures on the Internet. When I need to look at animals or flowers or any sort of image, I love to use Google image search for reference. I used to have to go to the library and spend lots of money on overdue books I would use for the pictures.

What applications do you use? Photoshop, Google.

What digital tool would you never want to do without? Again, when I make a painted book, I could live without any of the gadgets, but Photoshop is very helpful to move the design process forward.

What is your favorite aspect of using technology in illustration? I love being able to scan work and show it to people who need to see it immediately. I like not having to rely on Fedex or the mail.

What projects in the children’s market are you currently working on and how do you plan to incorporate technology? I’m currently working on a variety of painted children’s books in the style of my earlier painted work - Miss Spider’s Tea Party, for instance. I’m using only the technology I listed above. I could mention a few other things - I used lots of technology in books relating to the Miss Spider TV show on Nick. All that was Maya and assorted other 3D rendering programs. A lot of other new technology is being used on iPad apps relating to Miss Spider. That stuff is based on my books and stories from the TV show. It’s all technology, but there are other people using it and it’s not really my department!

Learn more about David Kirk’s books here.

Tech Tuesday: Q&A with Janee Trasler

pbarton — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 10:02:11 -0600

Janee Trasler, author and illustrator of many books for children, says she thoroughly enjoys her job. And it definitely shows! Whether spending time with Janee in person, or reading one of her books, get ready to giggle! Of her latest book, Caveman, A B.C. Story, Kirkus says - “F stands for FUN here.” I couldn’t agree more! Her delightful characters painted in rich vibrant colors and their antics will have you rolling! Janee has written and illustrated books for Scholastic, Sterling, Little Brown & Company, Random House, Houghton Mifflin, and more. Her whimsical illustrations have also appeared in magazines, newspapers, billboards, cartoons, and products. Here’s what Janee has to say on using technology in her work.

What percentage of your illustration process relies on technology? 100% relies on technology. From thumbnails to finished art—I do everything on the computer.

What applications do you use? Corel Painter, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe InDesign, and Flash.

What digital tool would you never want to do without? Wacom.

What is your favorite aspect of using technology in illustration? The undo command. It gives me the freedom to experiment with no fear. I also love that I can keep iterative versions along the way.

What projects in the children’s market are you currently working on and how do you plan to incorporate technology? I have two book dummies going right now. Both will be completed 100% on the computer. I’m also learning Action Script to improve my Flash skills.

Thank you, Janee! To view more of Janee’s work check out her website and blog.

Tech Tuesday: Q&A with John Nez

threeravenspress — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 08:44:21 -0600

John Nez, a very busy Seattle-based illustrator, has worked on more than fifty children’s books. His illustrations sing with attitude, color, fun, and lots of textures. In addition to creating artwork for everything from board books to historical fiction, he writes and illustrates some of his own imaginative stories, including The Twelve Days of Christmas in Washington and Cromwell Dixon’s Sky-Cycle, a story of high-flying invention. John was nice enough to answer a few questions about using technology in his work.

What percentage of your illustration process relies on technology? About 80% of the work is digital. I usually do a very rough sketch with photoshop… then print that out and draw a finished drawing with real pencil on vellum. I like the texture of the real paper and the ability to flip the drawing around to any angle. Then I scan the finished drawing back into Photoshop and process it… adding color, texture, shadows and all the rest.

What applications do you use? Photoshop is my favorite. It even does vector art, so I rarely use Illustrator or anything else. I do use Indesign for making book dummies and I use Bridge for keeping track of everything. So the three applications that I always have on my dock are Photoshop, Indesign and Bridge.

I’m now learning to make interactive ebook apps using a Photoshop extension called Kwiksher. It’s way cool. Since it has sound, animation and all kinds of cool effects. It’s like making a movie. Lights, sound & action. The question is whether or not it’s possible to actually make any money from ebooks.

What digital tool would you never want to do without? Photoshop.

What is your favorite aspect of using technology in illustration? Well, looking back on the past, how I used to have to go to the copy shop and print out 35 pages of 11x17 art and then package it up and Fedex it off to the publisher… sure seems like a lot of extra effort. (Though I did get out and about more then… which probably was a good thing) In the ‘good old days’ I’d often get the specs for jobs that were all wrong… inaccurate type placement, etc. Faxes were the worst… they’d stretch the image and leave out critical parts entirely. Now though, with a PDF everything is exactly in place and the right size and ready to go.

What projects in the children’s market are you currently working on and how do you plan to incorporate technology? I’m working on some book projects… and I’ll be using everything. Real paints, real paper, scanned images, photoshop, wacom and lots of my basic talents. Oh, and I forgot to add… it all begins with a pencil! The drawing is the main thing… above and beyond any other bells and whistles. It’s the drawing!

For more on John’s process, visit The Studio section of his website for some wonderful step by step demo’s.

Technology Tuesday: Q&A with Russ Cox

shelleyannjackson — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 09:04:58 -0600

Russ Cox draws brilliantly colored, energetic cartoon illustrations for Kellogg’s, Crayola, McDonald’s, and PopCap Games. Not surprisingly, his style translates beautifully to animation, as seen in his e-cards for American Greetings and interactive web menus for AOL. Cox grew up in Tennessee, and studied art at Pennsylvania College of Art & Design after his family moved to the East Coast. After college he spent more than a decade working in design and marketing firms, but not quite feeling at home. When he set out on his own, he decided to specialize in illustration, and name his studio after his beloved cat; hence Smiling Otis Studio was born. Cox and his wife and kids now live in Pittsfield, Maine, where he decompresses by taking in the (often snow-coated) scenery and picking on his ol’ banjo.

What percentage of your illustration process relies on technology? 100%. I use the internet for reference and research. Digital camera for photo reference. The internet for communications with my clients (email, websites, social networks, etc.) Plus a bulk of my illustrations are digital. I still sketch by pencil and paper but they need to be scanned in so I can use them as a template. I have a Wacom Cintiq to draw over top of the sketches.

What applications do you use? I use Adobe Illustrator as my main software for illustration. Lately, I have started experimenting in Photoshop and Painter, trying to achieve a more painterly look and feel.

What digital tool would you never want to do without? That is a hard one to answer. Everything I use (see above) serves a special purpose in what I do. But if I had to answer, then it would be Adobe Illustrator since I have been using it since it first came out. My Cintiq would be second.

What is your favorite aspect of using technology in illustration? For me it allows a lot more experimenting especially when it comes to color. I like placing colors into my illustrations using various theories and if they do not work out or look good, i can delete them and try something else. This saves lots of time. If I worked traditionally, I would have to start over each time. This experimenting translate over to my traditional pieces that I do for myself.

What projects in the children’s market are you currently working on and how do you plan to incorporate technology? I am working on a couple of books at the moment for various publishers as well as characters for my commercial clients. Using all of my digital tools not only saves lots of time, revisions and tweaks are easier to do.

Technology Tuesday: Q&A with Melinda Beck

shelleyannjackson — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 09:25:05 -0600

Melinda Beck is a Brooklyn-based illustrator, animator and graphic designer whose fabulous work includes everything from illustration for the

children’s literature market to animation, to hand lettering.

Melinda has worked with a number of high profile clients – The New York Times, Random House, Target and Nickelodeon – just to name a few. Check out some of her dynamic animation work for Nick Jr here.

She has received two Emmy nominations as well as awards from and publication in annuals including American Illustration, The Art Directors Club, Society of Publication Designers, Communication Arts, Print Magazine, The Society of Illustrators, The Broadcast Design Awards and The AIGA. She was kind enough to answer our questions below.

What percentage of your illustration process relies on technology? 50%, I create my work or pieces of it by hand and then finish it on computer.

What applications do you use? Mostly Photoshop sometimes Illustrator

What digital tool would you never want to do without? My Epson 10000xl scanner. I like to create artwork that is a hybrid of digital and analog pieces

What is your favorite aspect of using technology in illustration? Speed and ease of use, I discovered long ago I don’t have the patients to paint flat colored backgrounds with gouache.

What projects in the children’s market are you currently working on and how do you plan to incorporate technology? I regularly create animations for Nick Jr. I love stop motion animation but neither have the time nor budget. So I make 3-D objects, shoot them with digital camera, collage them together in Photoshop and then hand the Photoshop files off to an animator who uses After Effects to put it all together.

Technology Tuesday: Q&A with Lalena Fisher

shelleyannjackson — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 10:26:05 -0600

Lalena Fisher has a wealth of experiences in the design and illustration world. Her delightful illustrations have graced children’s textbooks for clients such as Oxford University Press, Scholastic, and McGraw-Hill. She also designs logos, posters, books, and websites for a variety of clients ranging from fine artists and musicians to small businesses. She has also created characters and backgrounds for Nickelodeon’s Blue’s Clues and The Wonder Pets, and designed information graphics for The New York Times. She works both traditionally and digitally, depending on each client’s needs. Lalena is currently working on several of her own children’s picture book stories, and a short animated cartoon. She is also a songwriter and guitarist, as well as a member of the Girllustrators!

What percentage of your illustration process relies on technology? For my ink and watercolor work, the computer plays a part in about 20-30% of the process. I start with a sketch in Photoshop using my drawing monitor so that I can move the elements around until I am happy with the composition. Sometimes I’ll plan out the colors too. Then I print and transfer the sketch onto paper, and do my ink and color work. Then I’ll scan in the almost-finished piece and make a few final tweaks and fixes. But I sometimes get assignments to create digital work, because the client wants a very graphic, hard-edged, computer art look, and also wants to retain the ability to make changes later. In that case 100% of my process is digital, from sketch to the final piece.

What applications do you use? Photoshop mostly, but sometimes Illustrator. I’m also drawing an animated short in Flash right now, and for graphic design assignments I might use InDesign or QuarkXPress.

What digital tool would you never want to do without? My Cintiq drawing monitor. But I have a feeling all computer monitors will be touch-screen before too long.

What is your favorite aspect of using technology in illustration? Command-Z—“Undo”! Don’t you wish we had that in our daily, walking-around lives?

What projects in the children’s market are you currently working on and how do you plan to incorporate technology? My two current commercial clients are children’s educational publishers. One likes traditional work and the other likes digital work.

My two personal projects are an animated cartoon to go with a children’s song I wrote, and an e-book illustrating a poem I loved as a child. The e-book will be ink and watercolor, and I’ll design the layout and cover as well since I’m also a graphic designer.

In the animation, the characters are drawn in Flash so that they may be animated easily, but the final backgrounds will be created in Photoshop. I recorded the music with ProTools. The Flash animation, Photoshop backgrounds, and music will be brought together in a program called AfterEffects, and then finally exported into a final movie format. I do not expect to do all of that by myself!

Technology Tuesday: Q&A with Julian Hector

threeravenspress — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 16:21:06 -0600

Julian Hector is a Brooklyn-based illustrator who grew up in the Austin area. His first book, The Little Matador, was written during his senior year at Parsons the New School for Design. Since then he has gone on to illustrate a string of picture books, including The Gentleman Bug, which he also wrote, Monday is One Day with Arthur A. Levine, and C.R.Mudgeon by Leslie Muir. And his creations are just as appealing in his recent highly digital style (just check out the header icons on his website) as they are in his pieces that use more traditional media. Check out what he has to say on using technology in his work.

What percentage of your illustration process relies on technology? I’d say about 30% and growing. I’m starting to work with pure digital illustrations again, and I’ve always used basic photoshop tweaking for scanned artwork.

What applications do you use? The Adobe creative suite: Illustrator, Photoshop, Flash, InDesign, and Dreamweaver.

What digital tool would you never want to do without? Command Z; ‘undo’ !!!!

What is your favorite aspect of using technology in illustration? The tweak-ability. Working digitally makes tweaking artwork very quick and easy. With vector art, specifically (as opposed to pixel based art), I love how easily illustrations can be enlarged and shrunk for different uses, without having to worry about resolution.

What projects in the children’s market are you currently working on and how do you plan to incorporate technology? I’m slowly working on a new picture book that will be completed digitally, titled The Tricycle Mouse. In college I worked exclusively on the computer and missed using my hands. To compensate, I let the pendulum swing too far in a hand-drawn direction, but now realize that I want both techniques/styles in my life, even if I risk looking unfocused with split personalities. At the end of the day, it’s a ‘do what you love’ issue, and I love working both traditionally and digitally.

And for more on Julian Hector, check out his blog.

Technology Tuesday: Q&A with Children's Book Illustrator Stephen Savage

shelleyannjackson — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 12:26:05 -0600

Stephen Savage has illustrated such acclaimed books as Polar Bear Night, a New York Times bestseller and ALA notable book; The Fathers Are Coming Home by Margaret Wise Brown; and most recently, Where’s Walrus?, which has received starred reviews. For the New Yorkers out there, art from Where’s Walrus? is currently on view in The Original Art show at the Society of Illustrators (along with art by Girllustrator Patrice Barton from her new book Mine!). In 2008, Steve won a gold medal from the Society for a needlepoint illustration. He’s also worked in media such as blockprint, felt applique, digital and collage. His editorial illustrations have appeared in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Atlantic Monthly, New Republic and the Wall Street Journal. Steve earned an MFA in Illustration from the School of Visual Arts (attending one year with Girllustrator Shelley Jackson). He’s known for his unique economical style, conveying mood and emotion through a spare use of line and color. Hear what Steve has to say about his illustration process and technology below!

What percentage of your illustration process relies on technology? 90%. Put it this way, my laptop and Wacom tablet go everywhere with me.

What applications do you use? Photoshop and Illustrator CS 4 for most of my art. Right now I’m illustrating the sequel to POLAR BEAR NIGHT, using linocuts. Consider though that my previous 2 books were digital. Even on a linocut project, much of the sketch and prep work is done in Photoshop.

What digital tool would you never want to do without? Tool: Wacom tablet and stylus. Program: Photoshop. Photoshop is like a digital art studio.

What is your favorite aspect of using technology in illustration? Portability and flexibility.

What projects in the children’s market are you currently working on and how do you plan to incorporate technology? I am under contract for 3 books: POLAR BEAR MORNING (written by Lauren Thompson, WHERE’S WALRUS 2 (a wordless follow up to WHERE’S WALRUS), and THE LAST CHRISTMAS TREE (by Stephen Krensky). The last 2 will be digital - Illustrator + Photoshop.

Technology Tuesday: Q&A with Children's Book Illustrator Christina Wald

shelleyannjackson — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 16:33:00 -0500

Christina Wald’s lovely illustrations are created either in acrylic or digitally, or a combination of both (the Thumbelina image below is digital!). She even works with vector images occasionally and designs toys, giftware, and other products. She holds a degree in Industrial Design from the University of Cincinnati. Christina paints fabulously realistic animals and has illustrated over ten books for children including Habitat Spy, Little Red Bat and a Penguin Young Readers version of Black Beauty. She was kind enough to take a break from her busy schedule to answer our Illustrators & Technology questions!

What percentage of your illustration process relies on technology? A lot actually. I scan in all my sketches and compile them in Photoshop. I also print out my sketches on to bristol board to paint over. Saves a LOT of time. I also paint my illustration in pieces and like the sketches, put them together in Photoshop. I still use pencil and acrylic though. I guess I am old fashioned in that way.

What applications do you use? Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere, Acrobat mostly and a little Painter.

What digital tool would you never want to do without? My Cintiq. I am about to get an ipad, but am dubious about using it for art yet. It cannot use a pen like stylus.

What is your favorite aspect of using technology in illustration? Being able to tweak colors and make changes.

What projects in the children’s market are you currently working on and how do you plan to incorporate technology? I am working on several books (Including Warm Winter Tail for Sylvan Dell and Why the Possum has a Large Grin for Pelican) and some illustrations for toys. I incorporate the digital tech aspect in every level. I do a lot of illustrations in vector for the toy market.