It's a ZOO around here!

Cover

A box of freshly printed copies of Maestro Stu Saves the Zoo arrived on my doorstep, yesterday.  I’m extremely happy with the way this book printed. It has a matte finish dust jacket and the artwork was scanned so that the canvas texture and painted brushstrokes can be seen in just the right amount. 

Stu, dreaming of the place he loved best.

Stu has an idea...

The story is full of animals, from cover to cover. One of the animals, seen throughout the book is a squirrel monkey. My grandfather (Mom’s dad) had a squirrel monkey named Joe-Joe.  It was a real treat to visit their house when I was a boy. Each time I painted the monkey in this book, I thought of Joe. I’m also thinking about how childhood memories and experiences seem to weave through our lives in unexpected ways.

Maestro Stu Saves the Zoo by Denise Brennan-Nelson, published by Sleeping Bear Press. 

Here’s Denise with a little introduction to the book:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_6ANTf9j_s

Well, back to the drawing board...

The Blues are Back!

Final poster (11"x17").

The annual Hot Licks Bluesfest returns to Ganville, Ohio in September. I’ve created artwork for the festival poster in the past and it’s one of my favorite projects of the year. It’s a full day of great music in the heart of a beautiful little village and when you combine music and art, I’m on board!

The end of June and first part of July was lost to a storm in the area. My work schedule was really messed up and the Bluesfest poster deadline was approaching (I think that could inspire a blues song, like- Couldn’t Stand the Weather…oops, that one’s taken).

Anyway, I only had a couple of days to create some blues art magic and thought I’d share some project details.

I usually like to include something in the art that reflects that year’s headliner, or bands. If the main band is guitar driven, I go with a guitar. If it’s harp, I try to include a harp player, and so on. This year, the headliner is the hot, hot band from Chicago-land, Funky Mojodaddy. As I researched the other bands in the line-up, the flash of Sean Carney caught my eye.  Carney is an excellent musician and performer. I pulled some pics of Sean for reference. The guy has an extremely cool jacket, trimmed with a leopard print…that’s where I started. 

 Pencil sketch.

Final illustration (acrylic on board).

He’s very animated on stage, so that became perfect inspiration for the poster layout. To get away from the photo reference, I took parts (hands, head, guitar, legs, etc.) from various pics and photo-shopped them together. I enlarged parts, stretched parts and came up with a photo-collage that became my final reference image. The legs and shoes in the reference were actually from a pic of guitar player, Chuck Berry. They worked perfectly with Sean’s cool jacket.  Then, I did a pencil sketch from the Franken-sean photo-collage.

Working on the final art with Franken-sean reference.

The festival goes into the night, so I thought of a starry night as a background…plus the movement of the brushstrokes would add more energy to the final art.

If you are in the central Ohio area, stop by Granville for a great Blues festival. I just hope we can “stand the weather”…pray for a starry night!

Monkey business in the studio...

Maestro Stu Saves the Zoo- published by Sleeping Bear Press

I've been surrounded by monkeys, lions, elephants, wildebeests and lots of other wildlife friends over the last several weeks. I'm in the middle of my next book and the artwork is in a production line...lots of wet paint.

Earlier this year, I ran into some illustration board problems. The art for this book is on canvas so I've temporarily solved my problem. I'm using Fredrix Knickerbocker (574) canvas. I've used it in the past and it's a tightly weaved surface which is nice for painting detail.  Earlier this year, I visited Dean Mitchell, a very excellent painter and friend. He showed me a Crescent Premium Watercolor board that looked interesting (nice surface, thick enough with an acid free core) so I ordered some to try... just arrived, so I'll update you on the new board. 

...back to the zoo.

Dinosaur Pet on tv...

My newest children's book, Dinosaur Pet by Neil Sedaka and Marc Sedaka (published by Imagine! a Charlesbridge imprint) was recently featured on a few television shows.

CBS This Morning had Neil Sedaka visit to promote the book. The Dinosaur Pet book cover was displayed in the background but the morning show host had a hard time focusing on the book. She wanted to talk about other things... oh, well.

Fox News had Mr. Sedaka and his family on the Huckabee show. Neil Sedaka's grandchildren were singing with him and they did a fantastic job performing the song, Dinosaur Pet. The picture book was featured and Neil's son, Marc was in the audience to answer a few questions. Check out the segment... you'll be singing the song all day. It's a really catchy tune.

http://video.foxnews.com/v/1626714456001/

Acoustic Rooster featured on blog.

An interview just popped up on Kidsbiographer's Blog that reveals a little background to Acoustic Rooster and His Barnyard Band. You can find it here:

http://kidsbiographer.wordpress.com/2012/04/10/meet-the-illustrator-tim-bowers/

...thanks, Dorothy!

Today, I'm listening to Duke Ellington and His Orchestra. Let the painting begin!

Poppy Returns!

My newest children's book hit the shelves last week. It's a Big World, Little Pig! by Kristi Yamaguchi (published by Sourcebooks Jabberwocky) skated into bookstores and Kristi skated onto morning television, including MSNBC's Today. You can watch Kristi talk about the newest book by clicking on the links below:
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/46639108#46639108
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/29054368/vp/46640675#46640675


Here is a description of the book-
Poppy, the adorable, persistent, dreaming-big pig, has a new adventure in store for her: the World Games ice-skating championship in Paris! Poppy is nervous about meeting so many new people in a new place. But, ever courageous and supported by her family (Emma, too!), Poppy embarks upon this exciting adventure head-on. She meets a snowboarding Panda, a Maltese who skies, and two fellow skaters, a Crane and a Kangaroo. Poppy begins to realize that although these animals look different, act different, and are from different places, they are all the same at heart. They all smile in the same language!


And here are a few images from inside It's a Big World, Little Pig!...

I'm not much of an ice skater but I am a big fan of a story with a good message. This is one that will make us all smile.
...back to the drawing board.
T.

And the award goes to...

Tonight was the 43rd annual NAACP image awards presentation. One of the books that I illustrated, Acoustic Rooster and His Barnyard Band was nominated in the Outstanding Literary Work- Children category. Our book wasn’t chosen but it was pretty cool to be considered for such an award. Kwame Alexander, the author of the story attended the L.A. event. Soon after the airing, the winner’s list was published. The Rooster stood proudly on the nomination list but wasn’t selected, this time. Regardless of tonight’s results, he’s still a winner! (…and Kwame looked great in his black tux!) 


... back to the drawing board!