Tag Archives: children’s books

Guest Entry: Emmanuel Tavares at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair

Current Students, Education, Follow Up, Illustration Industry, News, Reviews, , , ,

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Please enjoy this guest entry from Parsons Illustration senior Emmanuel Tavares, who accompanied our chair, Steven Guarnaccia to the Bologna Children’s Book Fair from March 23rd to Thursday 26th.

Man, do my feet hurt. The Bologna Children’s Book Fair did this to me. It also introduced me to a ton of publishers, directors, artists, and books that i had no idea even existed. The fair is one of the largest children‘s book fairs in the world. It has been held annually in Bologna, Italy for 46 years. After taking Pat Cummings’ Children’s Book class I thought I had an idea of what to expect, and I sort of did. There was just so much more of it. There were hundreds of booths, samples, framed pieces, and words I could not understand. Fortunately we deal with images and the amazing artwork more than bridged the language gap. There were publishers from everywhere including India, Jamaica, Portugal, New Zealand,  Israel, Sri Lanka, Finland, and Australia ( I never understood why a continent would be listed as a country). In all there were 1,300 exhibitors from 69 countries.

Prior to my trip I was put in touch with Marcella Terrusi, the moderator for the week long forum of scheduled discussions at the fair called the “Illustrator’s Café”. Between here advice and Steven’s introducing me to some of his friends in the publishing world there I was able to meet and speak with many publishers who my personal work would pair well with. This was a great opportunity to get insight on what the decision makers in the children’s book publishing world are thinking about when looking at an artist’s work.

I was also asked to speak at the Illustrator’s Café on a panel discussion about Illustrator Blogs. It was a great honor to be on a panel with illustrators Pablo Auladell and Anna Castagnoli and to represent Parsons to such a diverse group of professionals.

The fair was an amazing opportunity to make very important contacts that I was able to take advantage of. The response to my panel discussion was also very reassuring as there were even a few of the audience members from New York who later spoke with me about later contact. I look forward to maintaining contact with the people I’ve met during my trip. And so I’m off to complete a long list of e-mails!

Emmanuel

___

Here is a gallery of images that Emmanuel collected during his visit.  Also make sure to pop over to his website and his blog for more about Emmanuel’s life, art, and career.

Thanks for the recap, E!

Alum Brian Ajhar illustrates new book: Gone with the Wand

Illustration Alumni, Illustration Industry, Publications, , , ,

gwtw

Parsons Illustration Alum Brian Ajhar (’80) has a new book coming out in April called Gone with the Wand. Brian contributed the illustrations while Margie Palatini wrote the story. Here’s a snippet of the Kirkus review:

When a fairy godmother’s wand gets that burnt look, and she doesn’t even have enough “bippidy left in her to salacadoo one more pumpkin,” it just may be time for a change of specialty. Or so advises Tooth Fairy Second Class Edith B. Cuspid, dismayed to see the legendary Bernice Sparkelstein sinking into a funk. Unfortunately, experiments with fairy dust, snowflakes and especially sugarplums don’t work out for Bernice at all. It’s time for something less traditional. In a flash of inspiration Edith comes up with just the thing. Tucking occasional bits of funny business into the backgrounds, Ajhar matches Palatini’s typically twinkly, playful prose with offhandedly baroque scenes of the two middle-aged fairies-one short and round in apron and pinafore, the other tall, skinny and sporting a feathered boa beneath a mane of frizzy red ringlets-flitting hither, yon and into the bedrooms of sleeping young royals. [Emphasis added]

You can pre-order your copy here and see more of Brian’s work at his official website.

Congrats, Brian!

Writing for Children Forum at the New School

Current Students, Education, employment, Events, Illustration Industry, News, Talks/Lectures, , ,

Writing For Children Forum: Getting Published Panel
March 31st at  6:30 p.m.

Experts in the field of children’s book publishing discuss how to get your work published. Featuring Alvina Ling, senior editor, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers; Ben Tomek, marketing associate, Reader’s Digest Children’s Publishing; and Anna Olswanger, literary agent, Liza Dawson Associates.

Moderated by Deborah Brodie, editor.

Location
Alvin Johnson/J. M. Kaplan Hall
66 West 12th Street, room 510

Admission
$5; free to all students and New School faculty, staff, and alumni with ID

In-person ticket purchases
The New School Box Office
66 West 12th Street, main floor
Monday-Friday 1:00-7:00 p.m.

Reservations and inquiries can also be made by emailing boxoffice@newschool.edu or calling 212.229.5488.

Debra Ziss’s New Children’s book and other projects!

Illustration Alumni, Illustration Industry, News, Publications, ,

whale

Parsons Illustration alum Debra Ziss has a brand new children’s book coming out this summer!  Over at her blog, she’s sharing a sneak peek of sketches and pages, like the one above.  She’s also involved in a plethora of other projects like creating a t-shirt for the Gap and doing hand lettering like this:

ziss lettering

Keep up the good work, Debra!

3×3 Call for Entries!

Call for Entries, Competitions, Current Students, Illustration Alumni, Illustration Faculty, Illustration Industry, , , , ,

messing

Passed along by Parsons Full-time Faculty Nora Krug, here’s the scoop on 3×3 magazine‘s most recent call for entries:

Mark Your Calendars!  As our 3×3 Illustration Annual No. 5 is coming off the press it’s time to start thinking about our next international illustration competitions. Here is our schedule and a few details.

3×3 Student Show
As always this show is open to all undergraduate and graduate students in all art schools, colleges and universities around the globe. Work must have been completed in calendar year 2008. A partial list of this year’s judges include illustrators/educators Alexandra Kardinar, Germany; Gary Embury, United Kingdom; Clemente Botelho, Canada and Martha Rich, John Hendrix, Nora Krug of the US. Rounding out the judges is artist representative Pat Lindgren, Lindgren & Smith.Entry deadline: February 14, 2009

3×3 ProShow
Open to all art directors, editors, designers and illustrators. Categories include: Advertising, Animation, Books, Editorial, Fashion, Gallery, Institutional, Self-Promotion, Sequential, Three-Dimensional and Unpublished. Our judges to date include art directors Alexandre Lagoet, Amsterdam, Raban Ruddigkeit, Germany and SooJin Buzelli and Darlene Simidian, the US as well as illustrators Roman Klonek and Monika Aichele, Germany, Marco Ventura, Italy and Yuko Shimizu, the US.Entry deadline: March 14, 2009

3×3 Children’s Book Show
Open to all art directors, editors, authors, designers and illustrators from around the world. All published and unpublished children’s books completed in 2008 are eligible. We are in the process of naming our judges for this year’s show. Entry Deadline: April 14. 2009

We will begin accepting entries on January 5 but full details are available online at 3x3mag.com. All entries must be either uploaded or received by the deadline. Winners will be featured in the 3×3 Illustration Annual No. 6 coming out in late 2009.  Full details on both shows are online. Remember you can pay and upload your images online. Children’s book details will be available beginning in February.

Thanks for sending along the info, Nora!

[image by Illustration Alum Jake Messing, who is listed in 3×3’s New Talent Gallery]

From the Inbox: Diane Dillon and Brian Selznick visit Pat Cummings

Current Students, Education, Events, Illustration Faculty, Illustration Industry, Talks/Lectures, , , , ,

hugo-cabret

We’re passing along this fantastic invitation from Parsons Illustration faculty member Pat Cummings…

For the final sessions of my classes (both Parsons and Pratt) I’m having two guest speakers next week.  Any students you think might be interested in either or both presentations would be welcome to come.

Both presentations will be held at my apartment in the Cobble Hill area of Brooklyn and there’s a limit on how many can attend. So please have anyone interested email me for directions and/or more information ASAP at:

write2me@patcummings.com

please write: ‘children’s book program’ in the subject line so I don’t toss it out as spam.

dillon16

MONDAY, DEC. 15TH
1-2PM
DIANE DILLON

the-invention-of-hugo-cabret-jacket-cover

TUESDAY, DEC. 16TH
11AM-Noon
BRIAN SELZNICK

This is an incredibly exciting opportunity!  Thanks for passing along the invite, Pat.

[top illustration by Brian Selznick]

Jillian and Mariko Tamaki’s Skim honored!

Illustration Faculty, Illustration Industry, News, Publications, , , , , , , ,

skim

In addition to being nominated for an Ignatz Award, Skim, a graphic novel written by Mariko Tamaki and her cousin, Parsons Illustration Part-time Faculty member, Jillian Tamaki was named last week as one of the Best Illustrated Children’s Books of 2008.  See Skim and the other books recognized in this slideshow.  The book was also reviewed in the Times.  Here’s a snippet:

The black and white pictures by Jillian Tamaki, Mariko’s cousin, create a nuanced, three-dimensional portrait of Skim, conveying a great deal of information often without the help of the text. The book’s most striking use of purely visual communication occurs in a lush and lovely double-page tableau of Skim and Ms. Archer exchanging a kiss in the woods that leaves the reader (and maybe even the participants) wondering who kissed whom. In another sequence, Skim and Ms. Archer sip tea without ever making eye contact, the pictures and minimal text communicating the uncomfortable emotional charge in the room and the two characters’ difficulty in knowing what to say to each other.

Tamaki’s palette often becomes noticeably darker or lighter to signal a change in mood. Various night scenes communicate Skim’s depression, her unhappy moon-face isolated in fields of inky black, streetlights casting long, lonely shadows. In contrast, Tamaki sets the outdoor memorial service for the dead boyfriend on a frozen winter field, the participants drawn in lightly, almost as if they’re ghosts, the snowy backdrop and blank white balloons (shown caught on bare winter trees) conveying absence and emptiness.

Read the rest of the review here and pick up your copy of Skim here.skim frame

Congratulations to Jillian and Mariko on their tremendous accomplishments!

Sergio Ruzzier and “Amandina” hit it big!

Events, Illustration Faculty, Illustration Industry, News, Publications, , , ,

amandinacover

SECOND ANNUAL BROOKLYN MUSEUM CHILDREN’S BOOK FAIR
The Brooklyn Museum
The Rubin Pavillion, 1st Floor
November 15th, 2008
1:00–5:00pm

Illustration Part-time Faculty member Sergio Ruzzier will sign copies of his new picture book: AMANDINA.

Here’s a snippet from a review of Amandina:

Using watercolors that range from a deep peach to a liquid cobalt blue, Ruzzier’s palate here is a subdued but colorful collective. And from a visual perspective I was fond of the setting to this tale. Born in Milan, Ruzzier has set this book against an Italian backdrop. The theater she rents “in the old town” is called the “Teatro Ventura”. Later her show seems to incorporate Harlequin elements. And for the record, Amandina’s show really does look splendid. It would be one thing if we were told that Amandina was a special little dog with lots of talent, but to actually see the remarkable show in progress is a special treat. Without much explanation we see that the “fanciful prologue” (again, great turns of phrase here) involves a suitcase that explodes with a smoky column of flowers while Amandina floats above like a butterfly. And then there’s the magic show, the dances from around the world, the acrobatics… who wouldn’t want to see her perform all of this?

Read the rest here.  And if you’re in the mood for more reading, here’s a tidbit from an interview with Sergio:

What exactly is your process when you are illustrating a book? You can start wherever you’d like when answering: getting initial ideas, starting to illustrate, or even what it’s like under deadline, etc. Do you outline a great deal of the book before you illustrate or just let your muse lead you on and see where you end up?

SR: When I am illustrating another author’s text, the process is pretty much always the same: while I read and re-read the manuscript, I draw little rough sketches on the edges. Then I make them a little nicer on a different paper, and I use these more refined sketches to build a dummy. When the dummy is approved by the publisher, I start working on the preparatory drawings, in pencil on plain paper. When I’m happy with the composition, including characters’ expressions, backgrounds, and all the details, I trace the drawing onto a watercolor paper, with the help of a light box. Then I ink the drawing, erase the pencil, and watercolor it.

It’s much more complex and variable when I’m working on my own story. I don’t really have a standard process, and I could start by sketching a character, or writing all or parts of the text, or putting on paper the whole sequence of roughs, spread by spread. Normally, I keep going back and forth between words and pictures. I also waste a lot of time, and often I am at my desk for hours without accomplishing anything. More often, anticipating that I wouldn’t accomplish anything, I go for a walk. Research is always a great excuse to navigate the internet aimlessly. But once I get to the dummy, or at least to a thumbnail storyboard decent enough to be shown to my editor, then I am ready to start with the final drawings…

Catch the rest of that informative interview over here at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast.

amandinadances

Pick up your copy of Amandina here!

Congrats to Sergio on the great success of his new publication.

From the Inbox: Jannie Ho’s “The Haunted Ghoul Bus”

Illustration Alumni, Illustration Industry, News, Publications, , , , ,

thehauntedghoulbus

 Parsons illustration alumnus Jannie Ho (’99) wrote us, saying:

just wanted to drop a line about my latest picture book, The Haunted Ghoul Bus, written by Lisa Trumbauer, illustrated by me. 

Born in Hong Kong and raised in Philadelphia, Jannie worked as a graphic designer at Nickelodeon, Scholastic and an associate art director at TIME magazine for Kids before deciding that illustration was her true calling.  Also known as Chicken Girl, Jannie now creates digital illustrations for children’s books, magazines, and a variety of other clients.  Much of her work and style has been inspired by Japanese and retro art. BesidesThe Haunted Ghoul Bus, Jannie has also worked on The Mixed-Up Alphabet (Scholastic, 2007), written by Steve Metzger, and The Penguins’ Perfect Picnic (Innovative Kids, 2007), written by Trish Rabe.

Grab your copy of The Haunted Ghoul Bus here–just in time for Halloween!

Keep up the amazing work, Jannie!  

And Illustration Alums?  Don’t stop emailing us your updates!

Sergio Ruzzier on Sprayblog

General Info, Illustration Faculty, Illustration Industry, Interviews, , ,
Uccelli

The fine folks over at Spraygraphic’s Sprayblog just posted an interview with Parsons Illustration Adjunct Faculty Sergio Ruzzier. Here’s a taste:

SG: Describe your working process when creating a new work.

SR: I usually do very few sketches, one or two are often enough. I am lazy. Once I have a clear idea of the composition, I do a detailed preparatory pencil drawing on plain paper. If I’m not happy with some elements (proportions, size, placement…) I sometimes scan that drawing and change stuff with Photoshop. Then, I trace that drawing onto the watercolor paper, ink it, erase the pencil, and finally color it.

SG: What kind of things do you do when you get blocked or find it hard to create something?

SR: Well, I usually get depressed, or restless… I don’t have any particular trick to overcome that. I just waste a lot of time thinking. If there is a deadline, then for some reason I always find the solution at the last minute.

SG: Where are you currently finding your inspiration?

SR: The inspiration can come from everywhere: a sentence I read in a book, or something I see while taking a walk, or a detail in a painting. But often it’s the same old ideas that I keep elaborating in different ways.

SG: Can you tell us a little about your children’s book career. When did you start that kind of work?

SR: When I came to NY I already knew that I wanted to do picture books. So I took my drawings and ideas to children’s book editors and art directors, but initially I was always rejected: they would say my work was too “adult”, “sophisticated”, and “European” (never understood what that means!). Even “disturbing”. There was probably some truth to that. Anyway, I kind of gave up for a while, focusing instead on my editorial work. Later, I met a few editors who believed in my work, and gave me a chance. That’s how I started. Now this is what I mainly do, writing and illustrating children’s books, and I really like it.

SG: In what ways has your books’ art and subject material changed over the years? Do you experiment with different art styles depending on the subject or characters?

SR: I don’t think the nature of my work has changed much over the years. Of course you have to adapt a little to your audience, some themes are very delicate… For example, I would love to do a picture book about death, but you have to find the right way to handle such a subject matter (in order to convince editor, publisher, salespeople, reviewers, booksellers, librarians…)
My art style is always the same, I think. I’m not very good at experimenting. And besides, I feel that if you have a personal style, one that has naturally evolved through the years, well, that’s your way of doing things, and you cannot really force it. It’s like your handwriting. Of course this is how I feel about my own work, but there are some artists (not many) who can handle beautifully different styles and techniques. One great example is Saul Steinberg.

Catch the rest of Sergio’s interview & see more images of his work here.