Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Simms Taback: 1932 – December 25, 2011
Simms Taback died at the age of 79 on December 25 of Pancreatic Cancer. As the School Library Journal says, "he managed to fulfill his dream of traveling to Israel and London before his death." SLJ also said that he designed the first McDonald's box in 1977, which I found interesting... so I went in search of it:
Friday, December 23, 2011
WONDERFUL TO GET... WONDERFUL TO GIVE!
You may know that I love myself a good 1950s ad. Liz Goulet Dubois posted this of facebook and I can't resist reposting it. Enjoy the memories of the old typwriter:
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
STITCHES
I'm getting this book for my dad for Christmas. He's never read a graphic novel before but there's a first for everything, right?
Friday, December 16, 2011
SHHHH... IT'S LEARNING TIME
Thursday, December 15, 2011
ROOMMATE INSPIRATION
My new roommate rocks. I love his art and today I found out he has a new blog - christoperdarling/blog - and on his new blog he posted about his studio. As I told him, I'm always jealous of people's studio and his is no exception. It's really super cool. It's the studio I've always dreamed of: spaciousness, cool/talented artists to share the space with, an amazing rooftop with a stellar view if you need to stretch your legs (ehem, and may I say it would be a wonder on the 4th AND on New Year's - basically anything with fireworks). My roommate is a great artist so I'm going to show you all some of his work, design, and his workspace.
Here we have some cans. I really love these. If you go on his website you'll see that they animate--the can lids flip open, displaying the sloshy, lumpy insides. I like to stare at them flip flopping over and over again.
This group of three is from a graphic novel he worked on. Chris is going to contribute something to my bully project, which is just super! His work is perfect for my vision so stay tuned!
Here is a lovely/detailed line drawing:
spot illustrations...
Chris interned at FSG and designed this eye-catching new cover of Shrek:
And these are examples from Carrier Pigeon, a magazine that he co-founded. He designed/illustrated the cover and endpapers. I really love the look of it. I want my own copy! Where is my copy? Okay, I'm going to go ask for a copy....
"I wrote and illustrated this the first winter I lived in New York. I intended 111th Street to read like a children’s book with adult content. It explores the relationship between isolation and city living."
And last, but certainly not least, are photos from his studio. It's in a fancy new loft building in Greenpoint, NYC. I remember when it was being built. I park my car in that area so every time I drove by I'd wondered who would move in. I remember thinking, "Wow, it looks so fancy. Only rich people will be able to move into a place like that!" But it turns out that his studio space is totally affordable and the people he splits it with are amazingly talented. I spoke with one of his "roommates" and she is really nice and her paintings are wonderful. I want one! I need one! Maybe I'll make another post about the other people in his space, if he'll allow me!
I've never lived with a fellow illustrator before but I can say this: It's inspiring. Uh, yeah, that kind of sounds cheesy but I'm being serious. It's nice to talk shop when eating some popcorn and that sort of thing, you know?
Here we have some cans. I really love these. If you go on his website you'll see that they animate--the can lids flip open, displaying the sloshy, lumpy insides. I like to stare at them flip flopping over and over again.
This group of three is from a graphic novel he worked on. Chris is going to contribute something to my bully project, which is just super! His work is perfect for my vision so stay tuned!
Chris interned at FSG and designed this eye-catching new cover of Shrek:
And these are examples from Carrier Pigeon, a magazine that he co-founded. He designed/illustrated the cover and endpapers. I really love the look of it. I want my own copy! Where is my copy? Okay, I'm going to go ask for a copy....
"I wrote and illustrated this the first winter I lived in New York. I intended 111th Street to read like a children’s book with adult content. It explores the relationship between isolation and city living."
And last, but certainly not least, are photos from his studio. It's in a fancy new loft building in Greenpoint, NYC. I remember when it was being built. I park my car in that area so every time I drove by I'd wondered who would move in. I remember thinking, "Wow, it looks so fancy. Only rich people will be able to move into a place like that!" But it turns out that his studio space is totally affordable and the people he splits it with are amazingly talented. I spoke with one of his "roommates" and she is really nice and her paintings are wonderful. I want one! I need one! Maybe I'll make another post about the other people in his space, if he'll allow me!
I've never lived with a fellow illustrator before but I can say this: It's inspiring. Uh, yeah, that kind of sounds cheesy but I'm being serious. It's nice to talk shop when eating some popcorn and that sort of thing, you know?
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
GOOGLE BOOKS
I have to admit that when I'm researching something I love it when a book pops up on Google Books. ESPECIALLY when the WHOLE book pops up. I would buy this said book - I really would - but a lot of times books go out of print and there's no way for me to buy these things! I also love it when medical texts are available on google books. In those instances the books may be in print but they're so much money and all I want is a teensy bit of info that there's no way I'm going out and buying the book! So yeah, I use google books.
How do I feel about my books being on google books? Hmmm. I guess I don't mind. If you go to my website you will find that I have made available all of my out of print books to read in their entirety. Heck, I put a lot of work into those babies! I want them to be seen! I don't really care that much if my in-print picture books are available either. I still think it's crazy to sit around a computer and have story time. I figure if the text is small enough it would just be crazy to attempt it.
But anyway, I just read this:
The Google Book Settlement may be dead, but the litigation lives on..." This was done yesterday, on the 12th. Blah blah blah, the gist was does google's scanning of books amount to copyright infringement.
The Authors Guild said this:“Google’s scanning project has a commercial purpose,” the brief states. “Google undertook the Google Library Project to gain a competitive advantage over other participants in the search engine market, by offering a wealth of content not available elsewhere. Google uses the works obtained from libraries and other sources to attract visitors to its website, thereby increasing its attractiveness to advertisers.”
Enough said there. So, what do you think about this? Is this bad? Is this good? We all know they make money off of it. If they made money off of my book I guess I'd want some of it!
How do I feel about my books being on google books? Hmmm. I guess I don't mind. If you go to my website you will find that I have made available all of my out of print books to read in their entirety. Heck, I put a lot of work into those babies! I want them to be seen! I don't really care that much if my in-print picture books are available either. I still think it's crazy to sit around a computer and have story time. I figure if the text is small enough it would just be crazy to attempt it.
But anyway, I just read this:
The Google Book Settlement may be dead, but the litigation lives on..." This was done yesterday, on the 12th. Blah blah blah, the gist was does google's scanning of books amount to copyright infringement.
The Authors Guild said this:“Google’s scanning project has a commercial purpose,” the brief states. “Google undertook the Google Library Project to gain a competitive advantage over other participants in the search engine market, by offering a wealth of content not available elsewhere. Google uses the works obtained from libraries and other sources to attract visitors to its website, thereby increasing its attractiveness to advertisers.”
Enough said there. So, what do you think about this? Is this bad? Is this good? We all know they make money off of it. If they made money off of my book I guess I'd want some of it!
Monday, December 12, 2011
BOOK IDEAS
I just read this on the Blue Rose Girls (from 2006!!!)
"Calling all kids' book folks--writers, illustrators, booksellers, librarians, editors, etc. What has been the most OUT THERE story idea you've ever heard? I'm talking about those times when you're at a gathering and someone overhears that you have something to do w/kids' books. Then they immediately launch into the "I have a GREAT idea for a kids' book that I KNOW will get published soon..." and all you can do is sigh.
I'll start -- I was at a party a while back and a seemingly normal guy told me about his story idea. It was about a selfish child who loses her precious red shoes. She needs to be taught a lesson... (so far okay) and THEN things got interesting. "The girl whines that she can't find her shoes and Jesus comes in the form of a giant hand which comes from a cloud to tell her she doesn't need the shoes and she should learn her lesson..." This guy with beer in hand blabbed on and on about Jesus and shoes and even bunnies may have been involved, though I'm not sure. Then he said "So, you think you could help me with it?" "Help you?" I said. "Yeah, he replied, "help me get it published...."
The funny, or not funny thing, is that this continues to happen. This happens within my own family. My mom told me that my uncle told her that my cousin had a good idea that I should know about. (it wasn't good). Um... don't they think that maybe I have enough of my own? I'm not being cocky, it's just that I really do! I'm kind of booked at the moment. Then OF COURSE there are the parties. Those are the best places to get new bad ideas (as seen above). I should make a list for humor's sake. Of course, if your friends and family REALLY do know you then maybe they WILL give you good ideas. MAYBE.
"Calling all kids' book folks--writers, illustrators, booksellers, librarians, editors, etc. What has been the most OUT THERE story idea you've ever heard? I'm talking about those times when you're at a gathering and someone overhears that you have something to do w/kids' books. Then they immediately launch into the "I have a GREAT idea for a kids' book that I KNOW will get published soon..." and all you can do is sigh.
I'll start -- I was at a party a while back and a seemingly normal guy told me about his story idea. It was about a selfish child who loses her precious red shoes. She needs to be taught a lesson... (so far okay) and THEN things got interesting. "The girl whines that she can't find her shoes and Jesus comes in the form of a giant hand which comes from a cloud to tell her she doesn't need the shoes and she should learn her lesson..." This guy with beer in hand blabbed on and on about Jesus and shoes and even bunnies may have been involved, though I'm not sure. Then he said "So, you think you could help me with it?" "Help you?" I said. "Yeah, he replied, "help me get it published...."
The funny, or not funny thing, is that this continues to happen. This happens within my own family. My mom told me that my uncle told her that my cousin had a good idea that I should know about. (it wasn't good). Um... don't they think that maybe I have enough of my own? I'm not being cocky, it's just that I really do! I'm kind of booked at the moment. Then OF COURSE there are the parties. Those are the best places to get new bad ideas (as seen above). I should make a list for humor's sake. Of course, if your friends and family REALLY do know you then maybe they WILL give you good ideas. MAYBE.
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