New leveled reader series

This series of 6 leveled readers that I illustrated for Seedling Publications has just been released! The colors printed exactly how I expected thanks to my new monitor.

These are all copyrighted 2008 Seedling Publications. Do not post these images anywhere. Thanks.

5.5" x 8.5" Postcard Mailer

Click on the image to see it larger.

I'm getting ready to do a mailing to art directors and editors at publishing houses I'd like to work for, and I've created a few different options for the front of my 5.5" x 8.5" postcard. The back of the card shows a couple characters in multiple poses that are sample interior black & white illustrations for a middle grade novel. Front 3 shows a sample middle grade cover using the same characters that I used on the back. I'll send Front 3 to those who don't work on picture books, but stictly publish chapter books/middle grade/YA.

My dilemma is what to send to those who publish both picture books and middle grade. Front 1 and Front 2 show my Peter Pan illustration and an illustration that will be in Highlights in the December issue. The Highlights illustration would work fine for picture book editors, and the back of the card shows middle grade illustrations, so both picture books and middle grade would be covered in one card. The other option is to send Front 3 to everyone who works on middle regardless of whether or not they do picture books too and just target middle grade right now. What do you think? Show both picture book and middle grade samples on one card or just focus on middle grade for this mailer?

Illustration Friday - "Sail"

It was smooth sailing for this year's Christmas pageant.

This is the front of a Christmas card design I'm working on that will be licensed for Christmas 2009 to Christian Collection. Typically they have me design about 1.5 years ahead of the holiday for cards. You can find of more of my cards on their website for this Christmas: www.christiancollection.com

Peter Pan

A bit of fairy dust, a good thought, and POOF! You could fly too!

Last week I read Peter Pan as part of Jacqui Robbin's Remedial English Lit Summer Project. Here's my cocky, young Peter.

Happy Fourth of July!

So, this is a bit belated, but I hope you enjoyed your holiday weekend (if you live in the US). My husband and I spent the weekend helping some friends move down to Texas where we used to live. It was fun to visit old friends, but it was quite a drive - 15 hours of driving each way! Whew! It's a good thing we love being in a car together and listening to books on CD. We listened to Tears of the Giraffe, which was wonderful, and we listened to Whiskers of Evil, which had an interesting plot, but the writing went off into needless tangents and should have been cut in many boring places. It also used Bible verses completely out of context, which annoys me. So I don't recommend the second book, but the first book is a great read.

Moby Dick

I just finished reading Moby Dick as part of Jacqui Robbin's Remedial English Lit Summer Project, and man, if that book was published today, I'm sure most every editor would have cut it down to at least a quarter of it's size! Chapters upon chapters upon chapters of whale anatomy and characteristics - oy!

One of my favorite characters was the little ship-keeper boy, Pip, so I did the character sketch of him above. Here's a section of a scene from Moby Dick about Pip:

"Ha, Pip? come to help; eh, Pip?”
“Pip? whom call ye Pip? Pip jumped from the whaleboat. Pip’s missing. Let’s see now if ye haven’t fished him up here, fisherman. It drags hard; I guess he’s holding on. Jerk him, Tahiti! Jerk him off we haul in no cowards here. Ho! there’s his arm just breaking water. A hatchet! a hatchet! cut it off—we haul in no cowards here. Captain Ahab! sir, sir! here’s Pip, trying to get on board again.”
“Peace, thou crazy loon,” cried the Manxman, seizing him by the arm. “Away from the quarter-deck!”
“The greater idiot ever scolds the lesser,” muttered Ahab, advancing. “Hands off from that holiness! Where sayest thou Pip was, boy?
“Astern there, sir, astern! Lo! lo!”
“And who art thou, boy? I see not my reflection in the vacant pupils of thy eyes. Oh God! that man should be a thing for immortal souls to sieve through! Who art thou, boy?”
“Bell-boy, sir; ship’s-crier; ding, dong, ding! Pip! Pip! Pip! One hundred pounds of clay reward for Pip; five feet high—looks cowardly— quickest known by that! Ding, dong, ding! Who’s seen Pip the coward?”

Stuff about me

The Picture Bookies interviewed me here: http://www.picture-bookies.com/KristiInterview.html

Borderlines

I have an illustration in Borderlines, the quarterly newsletter of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, Midsouth Region. You can view the pdf newsletter here. This issue has some great illustrations along with advice about writing for magazines, writing middle grade novels, snagging an agent, and more. If you're interested in writing or illustrating for kids, you can find more SCBWI regional newsletters from all over the world here. Enjoy!

Illustration Friday - "Forgotten"

I had forgotten to add a title to this sample cover illustration I had created a few weeks ago. I had originally created it for the Illustration Friday topic, "wide," and asked for your ideas for a title name. I went with Woody's suggestion of The Last Divide. Thanks Woody! I also played a bit more with the illustration.

Baby Mowgli

Ok, right now I'm supposed to be sketching a Highlights illustration (my first Highlights assignment - yay!) and I'm supposed to be working on paintings for two different leveled readers, but since I just finished The Jungle Book as part of Jacqui Robbin's Remedial English Lit Summer Project, I took a quick break to sketch a fearless, baby Mowgli who won the heart of a wolf family. So here's an adorable, jungle baby. Now back to my fun paying illustrations...