Song for A Giraffe

At long last the day is almost here. SONG FOR A GIRAFFE the book that took me a year to illustrated is due out this fall/winter. It changed my style a bit, expanded my view of illustration for children, and I learned a lot along the way.

©Ginger Nielson2007

Doodle Caper

Here is my interpretation..The Doodle Duckies.

Picture Book Junkies Challenge - Doodle Game

The Picture Book Junkies invited the Picture-Bookies to a Doodle Game. I think this is really fun. . .so I am posting it here on their blog as well as My blog.

Here's the challenge. They gave us a doodle and we are suppose to make something out of it.

Here is the doodle they gave us:

And. . .here is what I came up with:

My Favorite Illustrators

So many amazing illustrators to choose from as favorites. My tops are
Howard Pyle ...the master illustrator.
Bernie Fuchs...an amazing illustrator. There aren't many good samples of his children's illustrations online, but I have nearly every children's book with them in it.
Helen Ward is another genius at illustrating. My favorite book of hers isn't listed here. It's a Christmas story with all of the animals in the stable.
Leo and Dianne Dillon...an incredibly gifted and versatile team (once again, not much of their gorgeous work shows up online. It seems that all of my favorites shy away from being shown online. I guess they don't need to advertize their work)
Kinuko Craft rich, luminious gorgeous paintings...incredibly detailed with such a sense of atmosphere.
Gennady Spirin..absolutely amazing work.
More include Jerry Pinkney and David Diaz

Favorite Illustrators ~ AHhhhhhhh

Where to begin. My life has always been influenced by pictures, artwork, illustrations, books of all kinds. Here are a few illustrators that I admire, not only for the artwork but for the vision they must have to create such fantastic worlds.
Mary GrandPre has a huge body of exciting work that goes far beyond Harry Potter.
Marla Frazee is another favorite whose humor and attention to detail always conveys a laugh or a tear.
Tomi Ungerer is a bit on the dark side, but I loved his sense of humor and his wonderful use of line and watercolor. Zeralda's Ogre is such a book.
Tomie dePaola has a wonderfully simple way of showing emotion, action and delight with his line and color. One of my favorites of his is, Simple Pictures are the Best. That is one funny romping book!
Jan Brett will always have a place of honor on my children's bookshelf.

My Favorite Children's Illustrator/s

Since starting my career in children's illustration I have acquired quit the collection of children's books. I love children's books. I not only have picture books, but I also have a few first chapter books for kids.

I have several illustrators that I love and I won't list them all in the post. . .I'll just concentrate on one who has replaced all my other favorites and is in position number one! And when you see his work you will know why!

Tony DiTerlizzi - I can't even say enough about this guy. Check out his website he is sooo fun and his work is just wonderful!! He has so much energy in the videos of him on his site. I think it is just that energy that makes his art as fun and lively as it is.

Here are a list of his books:

Ted - This is my very favorite of his books! Looks as if it is done in acrylic or oils

G Is for One Gzonk!: An Alpha-number-bet Book - This has the flavor of a Dr Suess illustrated book. . .but very refined Dr Suess.

Jimmy Zangwow's Out-of-This-World Moon-Pie Adventure - Very fun story. Looks like it might be oils.

The Spiderwick Chronicles - This is a chapter series, but I bought it just because he illustrated it. It has lots of black and white illustrations. The series started out a bit slow for me. . .but of course it's a kids book. But I am currently on the 4th in the series and it's getting pretty book. There is a movie on the series coming out this next Spring! I am excited!!!

Care and Feeding of Sprites - This is a companion book to the Spiderwick Chronicles and has incredible art.

Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You - This is also a companion book the the Spriderwick Chronicles. It is actually a copy of a book that is referenced and used in the series.

The Beloved Dearly - This is a 192 page chapter book of which I haven't read yet.

The Spider and the Fly - This is a black and white picture book, which I just recently learned about through a post by Gina on this blog.

I own all of his books, but the last two and they are on the way to me in the mail as I write this!

Todd Harris - Hog Heaven

I guess I'll get the ball rolling. There are so many illustrators out there that I like, it would be hard to narrow it down to one. But there is one who stands out. To me this guy is the painter's painter. His forest scenes that are used as backgrounds are mind-boggling to me. His name is Todd Harris. He works for Disney in the gaming business. This is his blog. No words, just pictures: http://hog-heaven.blogspot.com/ You'll find more work like his at his web ring: Avalanche Software: http://avalanchesoftware.blogspot.com/

I hope you're as inspired looking at his work as I am.

I'm Excited!

I just ordered copies of this book I illustrated, "My New Pet", which I will have for sale at the SCBWI-IL gallery show in October. Click the link to my blog to find out more details.

Also, my illustration, "Symphony In The Pond", was chosen by the SCBWI-IL to be used on all of the gallery show's promotional materials! I am so excited I could probably implode! You can click to the SCBWI link from the post on my blog, and see a sampling of works by other amazing children's book illustrators.
©Kathleen Rietz