As of yesterday, I am participating in kidlitart's Picture Book Dummy Challenge. I'll be creating my own little mock-picture-book, and it will be done by July. How fun! I'll keep you posted on my progress. I'm writing a poem for this project that should be lots of fun to illustrate. It's still rough, but I thought I'd share a clip:
When Lily falls asleep, her dreams are full of stars.
She walks on paths of stardust that glitter from afar,
wondering and wandering, as children often are.
Nearby she hears a tiny song, humming through the dark.
There upon a silver tree, she finds three golden larks.
Three tiny larks with crystal tears, three little broken hearts.
"Oh Lily, dear," sang the first, "Our magic eggs are gone.
The second sang, "An owl came, and took them far from home."
"Come sit inside our wish-tree nest, and tell us where he's gone."
In other news, SCBWI recently announced Yvette Piette Herrera as the winner of the 2012 Tomie dePaola Illustration contest! Congratulations to her and the other people who placed! It was a lot of fun to particpate. I look forward to trying again next year.
And last but not least, I've been working on an illustration for a story idea of mine, called "Pia and the Dragon." I faced one main challenge: I've never successfully drawn a dragon before in my life. But after a long afternoon of practice, I think I got the hang of it.
Here's a very early version of Pia and her dragon-friend, based on a beautiful work by one of my art heroes, Stephanie Pui-Mun Law.
(Side note, I don't know how this short-winged, barrel-chested dragon would fly... magic?) I later developed Pia to have more spunk and a dare-devil attitude. The dragon has also morphed into something more my style. I'll share the final composition as soon as I can get a decent photo. I'm starting the painting tonight, and I'm so excited! Really, this is a lot of fun.
Happy 2012 to all!
What a wonderful post, Sarah! That is SO wonderful that you're taking the challenge...awesome! I hope by July that your gem will be ready to showcase and share. What wonderful text too!!
ReplyDeleteAnd Pia looks so far to be delightful. I look forward to seeing it's progress. Thank you for your sweet visit and what a wonderful illustration you did for the Tomie dePaola contest!! I see the "round" aspect that Tomie spoke of that he loved in Yvette's...good for you!!
Thanks so much for the kind words, Shirley :)
DeleteYou know... Just in case you weren't aware, something strange happens when I click your name from your blog comments. It says "Profile Not Available... not publicly shared." That's alright though, I have other means of finding your blog :) :)