Pattern for Bold Fabric - Learning new Things

At the moment I am taking an e-class with Lilla Rogers, which concentrates on art licensing and gives a really great overview of many different markets. Week 1 of this really amazing course went by so quickly and I honestly had a blast designing patterns for our assignment. I learned a lot about how to make a bolt fabric collection and enjoyed experimenting so much.
My two designs, of which we were only to submit one in the end, are very different in look and feel. It was extremely hard to decide which one to submit to Lilla for review. I am still not sure whether I picked the right one. But here are my designs so you can have a peak and can decide which your favourite pattern of the two might have been.

The topic of the patterns was kitchen and we had to include mushrooms and casseroles. Lilla encouraged us with a special exercise to loosen up our styles and push boundaries, something I think we all need to do from time to time to grow as artists but tend to forget or maybe even purposefully push aside. I am already looking forward to this weeks assignment and taking an "artistically adventurous dip" into home decor. More to come next week!
Would love to hear which design you prefer and why?

Some Characters - A Monster Girl and a Robot Boy

Last week I had fun playing around with some ink and coloured pencils. I did two characters to help out my talented writer friend Gabrielle Smith-Dluha. I tried to work a bit more loose then I usually do as I felt this was the right way to go with those two characters, a monster girl and a robot boy. It was lovely to push my comfort zone and try to explore working in ink a bit further. I really have to do this more often, but we all know what it is like with a full schedule and life you sometimes do not get around these things. These are all single illustrations I composed into one piece to showcase them a bit better.

I hope you enjoy them!

Spring Themed Greeting Cards

Now that it is May and the temperatures are rising it finally is spring here too. All trees are in bloom and if the sun makes an appearance from time to time you can call me a happy girl.
I had ideas for new greeting cards on my mind for a while but with only a grey sky to discover whenever I looked out my window felt it was impossible to get them done. Well, the seasons changed and I have my pens and brushes ready to go for it. To give you some of my spring inspired cards here you can have a peak at one I just finished yesterday. More to do, so back to my drawing board it is. Have a lovely time everyone!

A Newspaper Article and An Award

On my way from hall 25 to hall 26 at the Bologna Book Fair my phone rang. I was so occupied with all the impressions at the fair that I didn't even answer the phone correctly expecting my children at the other end of the line anyway. But it wasn't them. I heard a woman's voice who introduced herself as a journalist from a local newspaper in my area, the Stuttgarter Zeitung. She asked me whether I was interested in doing an interview for a short coverage on how an illustrator works. I said yes I would certainly be interested, the only problem at hand being I wasn't in Germany but in Italy at that very moment. She said she would see whether they could postpone the article to a later date and we said goodbye for the moment.

When I already thought I had missed out on a great opportunity to promote my work locally she called me again the week after Bologna and we arranged a date for her to come and visit my home studio. I was quite nervous about it and hoped I would actually have something to tell her worth of a report. The interview was really great and the reporter Johanna Trommer made me feel at ease. In the course of our interview I found out she is actually a published author herself, so we had something to connect and talk about. Time flew and well, here it is (of course in German ;-)) my very first newspaper interview for the Stuttgarter Wochenende (it is on page 5).

Thanks so much Johanna Trommer for this great article. She really has a way with words, I tell you!

And I have some other very exciting news to share. Exciting for me also because it is the very first time a book I illustrated has won an award. (If you follow me on FB this might not be entirely new to you).

Yesterday the publisher Magination Press send me an email to let me know "Ben's Flying Flowers" has been awarded the Nautilus Silver Award! I am thrilled beyond words as you can imagine and very grateful to the people at Magination Press to have given me the opportunity to contribute to this fine story written by Inger Maier. The winners will be officially announced in May, so I might have to think up something to celebrate this in a proper manner ;-). What a week!

Bologna Book Fair 2013 recap

Wow, Bologna Book Fair came and went so quickly. It was a great fair and I have a lot of info, impressions and inspiration to share with you.

Lets get started with the overall impression. This was my third time in Bologna, so I feel I can start comparing the different years of attending the fair and also kind of get an idea of how to go about the fair best, even though this is of course my personal view and not everyone might agree with me.

What caught my eye straight away when entering the halls was the open design of the illustrators corner. The illustrators wall was at least twice as big as last year if not even more, which was  fantastic, as not too many people would stick their posters and cards upon yours or even go as far as ripping them down (yes, had that last year, not so nice, if you ask me). The whole exhibition felt very welcoming and of course we will have to come back to it when speaking of inspiration.

The wall early Monday morning after I put my stuff and my Storybook Brushes Group Calendar up with art by Katriona Chapman, Angela Matteson and Juana Martinez-Neal.

The wall later ... so many amazing things to discover!

 I got to attend only a few talks at the fair but the ones I sat in on were very interesting. One was on digital publishing withe Peter Sis, André Letria, Klaas Verplancke and Roger Mello. The most important message out of this talk was to me that when creating digital content, be it an ebook of sorts or app that the story is still to be key. It was pointed out that as with movies too, all emphasize seems to be on the sole use of what is technically possible, which results in very weak if sometimes even almost non existent stories. The possibilities to enhance a story are manyfold. One very interesting example though was an augmented reality book project called Mr. Jeckel and Mr. Hyde . This project really uses technical support to enhance the experience of the book and story. Surely something to be on the look out for and maybe experiment with, if one gets the chance.

Another talk I happened to sit in on was about the rights of authors and illustrators. It was more of a very passionate talk held by Mats Lindberg (IAF), Paolo RUI (EIF President) and Anders Suneson (EIF Member). It is a topic widely discussed around the internet not only by art its within the book publishing industry, but also in other creative fields. Emphasis of the talk was on art its not working for free and in order of valuing their service to increase the respect and value on the client side too. Fees have dropped reasonably in the last few years and also a lot of other bad things for authors/illustrators have happened when it comes to their copyrights. The speakers really pointed out to be aware of ones rights and step up for them and not undervalue what we can offer to our clients. I think this is crucial to talk about and it was great to hear and see that there is an understanding of an issue throughout the industry that can lead to a change, if it gets more known and also followed by art its around the globe.

Inspiration could be found in every corner of the fair. From the illustrations exhibition to the illustrators wall and all the booths. I spotted books from fellow illustrators I know, if only through the internet but nonetheless, it is always so wonderful to see others published work, when you can connect it to a person. So here are a few pics for your inspiration taken from the fair.

Got nice presents here for my kids!

 I met with other illustrators and had lovely food, but just one gelato, as it was freezing cold in Italy.

As far as tips go when attending the fair I can only encourage you all to make as many appointments as possible. I reached out to the people I hoped to see 6-8 weeks ahead of the fair. Some did not attend, but at least I got to talk to them and a few asked for me to leave samples at the booth to be handed to them personally. I also had my cards and portfolio prepared and got in cues, when I had the impression my art might fit the publisher. Apart from that, never hesitate to simply walk up to a booth and ask if you can either show your work or leave a card. This got me two more appointments, so it is all worthwhile. 

This year my portfolio felt very good to me and responses were very positive, which only encourages me to push further and make an even better portfolio for the next year. I leave you for now with this credo I came up with when strolling the aisles with Kirsten Carlson.

 "Get inspired, not intimidated!"

Winners of the Kollie Books Giveaway

So here they are, announcing them right before I hop on the train down to Italy, the winners of the double giveaway.
A copy of "Kollie in de creche" will go to ... Elisa Ferreira!
And a copy of "Kollie op de fiets" goes to ... Lori Meyers!

Please get in touch via email and send me your addresses so I can send the books off to you as soon as I return from the Bologna Book Fair!

Preparing for the Bologna Book Fair 2013

Just a couple of days and the Bologna Book Fair is upon us once again. I am all set. I have my postcards printed and also my business cards, my portfolio is updated, both the printed and my online one and I have booked a room and my train down to Italy, not to mention the meetings I have scheduled.

All this has been taken care of over the last couple of weeks while also working away on commissions. I very much look forward to the fair: To meeting fellow artists and clients and being inspired by all the lovely books I will see on display there.
Here are just a few photos of my postcards and the portfolio I am to take with me. Have a great fair everyone! I hope to be back with lost of things to share  - impressions and inspiration!

If you are also in Bologna and would like to meet for a gelato and a chat, drop me a line!

And don't forget to enter my giveaway! There is still a little time to win a copy of either "Kollie in de creche" or "Kollie op de fiets"!

Kollie Books Giveaway

I have been postponing this blog post far too long, but life and work kept me too busy to get it done. But here I am on this rainy Sunday afternoon finally taking the time and typing away.
Yes, I am about to give away a copy of "Kollie op the fiets" and a copy of "Kollie in de creche", both in Dutch and published by Clavis.

But before we get down to the giveaway business, I would like to share a bit of the process of the illustrations with you. As mentioned in my previous post about how I was commissioned with the books, I had very little time to get them both done. All in all I think it was merely 8 weeks for both from draft to finished artwork. But I made it and am even happy with the outcome.

The best part of this commission was getting to draw animal characters. I had a lot of fun thinking up what the different characters could be. And to enhance the fun all these animals should and could be from around the globe. Kollie is the main character and a tiny koala, this was already settled in the brief. But I got to come up with what all the other tiny animals could be. So I made Kollie's best friend a monkey.
I sketched the books and send the sketches in for feedback. Revisions were minimal so I could almost directly start on the final art. To safe time I skipped the storyboard and did the full size sketches right away. Here are just a few sketches with English text. As I do not speak Dutch, the publisher translated it for me, although the books are not published in English so far but will also be available in French and Danish soon.

Roughs for "Kollie in de creche"

For the final illustrations I wanted a look not too digital but also soft and bright in colors. So I created lots of watercolor textures and scanned them in to use them as my flat colorshapes I would then add shading to give the objects a more three-dimensional look and create some more depth if needed. The advantage of using scanned in textures of watercolor or whatever other medium is, that the illustrations get a nice handmade touch and feel to them and it also accelerated my drawing speed. As creating a similar effect without using textures takes a lot more time and seems impossible to me, but maybe this is just me.

Process of creating the final art for "Kollie in de creche"

Final art from "Kollie in de creche"

I ploughed away on the final art and voila, here we go with your chance of winning a copy of either "Kollie in de creche" or "Kollie op the fiets".
You can only win one book, which means I will pick two winners randomly at the end. All you have to do to be counted in is:
1. leave a comment here on my blog or on my Facebook page.
2. If you want to double your chances you can also share the following tweet: I just entered the Kollie books giveaway on @mariabogade 's blog!

The winners will be announced 24th March 2013 (just before I leave for Bologna). Good luck!

"Kollie op de fiets" published by Clavis

Getting to Work with CLAVIS on the Kollie Book Series

A couple of weeks ago my parcel with my copies of the two Kollie books, I illustrated last year for the Belgian publisher Clavis arrived. These books have a little Koala bear has the main character and tell in rhyming form about what he discovers and learns in day care.

But before telling you about the illustration process I would like to share the story of how I got this commission. In 2010, just a little before I ventured into my illustration dream full time, I attended the Frankfurt Book Fair. It was overwhelming and to be honest I did not show my portfolio much, as I was too nervous and feared I was not good enough. From time to time, when spotting a publisher who's books I loved I took all my courage and asked, if someone was around to look at portfolios. This is what I did at the Clavis stand too. Unfortunately they only had sales people there, like most foreign publishers at the Frankfurt Book Fair to tell you the truth, but the very kind lady gave me a card and a name where to send my stuff too. And so I did. Shortly after I received an email, that they got my samples and all was past on to the person in charge and they would be in touch. This was it for a very long time. A year really!
One year later I received an email from Clavis. It said, they loved my art and offered me to illustrate the first two books of a new series they were doing. I was thrilled! I had not at all expected to hear from them ever again because so much time had past. I was so wrong!
They send me a translation of the original manuscript as I do not speak Dutch and I got too illustrate my first two books with animal characters all over the place and also for very young readers. It couldn't have been better!
I started sketching away and as the timeframe was quite short, worked seven days a week to meet the deadline. But it was all worth it! The books turned out so lovely and the quality of the print is really stunning!
Next time I will tell you a little more on how I went about making the art for the Kollie books. For now I hope you enjoy these first peeks!

Winner of the Storybook Brushes Giveaway

Illustration by Juana Martinez-Neal for our Storybook Brushes Calendar

Our giveaway has ended and a winner has been randomly chosen. We picked the winner from all the comments from all of our blogs. The winner of one of our calendars along with a print and postcard is ... Megumi Lemons!!!
Megumi, you will receive a calendar, print and postcard of Juana, as you commented on her blog to enter the giveaway. Please get in touch with Juana, so she can send it all your way!