Process of Creating a Book Cover

I'm celebrating the release of my latest board book, The Great Matzoh Hunt, published by PSS. I wrote about the process of creating the book cover over at my blog. Hope you enjoy! -Jannie

What would you do for a living if you weren't an illustrator? - Anette

If I didn't work as an illustrator I would work as a graphic designer, either freelance or in a company - maybe in a magazine. I have a background in graphic design, and I enjoy working on design projects every now and then. I love creating logos and business cards!

Experimenting With a Different Art Medium-Jannie

I'm a pretty loyal fan of Adobe Illustrator but it is always a struggle trying to add textures to the work. So when I got an iphone last summer and downloaded the brushes app, it was an easy, non-threatening way to play with digital painting, pushing pixels instead of vector art.
I want to explore some more and paint with Photoshop at some point. For now, this was a great start and simply trying something else was a great lesson in what can be possible and where I would like to take my work (instead of being hindered by not knowing certain programs.) -Jannie

Experimenting With a Different Art Medium (Paula)

This might fit this week's topic. I experimented a few months ago with using different brushes in Painter and came up with the above style, one that is more painterly. I loved it and it felt like "me". The above was done for a client as part of some curriculum. I used Corel Painter 10's (now using 11) digital watercolor brushes. I will set the opacity low so I can see the simulated brush affect. Because the brushes work on an "gel" (transparent) layer only, I will then double up the layer and mess with the second layers opacity to bump up the saturation to my liking. I will also work on top of the piece as well, adding pencil or chalk for details.

Anyway, the results are pleasing to me and it's been a nice change of pace from the pen, ink & wash style I usually use.

Experimenting with a different art medium - Anette

After talking to my art rep about what potential clients are looking for these days I decided that it's time to add some digital illustrations to my portfolio. Earlier I have worked with acrylic paints and ink and watercolors, mediums I both love. I have created digital illustrations too, mostly small spots to go with a logo or something like that. This time I want to create digital illustrations with a similar look to my traditional work. I experimented a bit last week, and this is what I came up with. It's a remake of an old ink and watercolor illustration, this time created with Adobe Illustrator and Corel Painter.

Double Spotted!!

I was so excited when a friend said my new book, "Please Write Back!" was in the Scholastic Firefly book club flier this month, I didn't think the book was suppose to be released until April. Yay! I ordered myself a copy so I didn't have to wait to see it. Okay, I ordered 12 but whose counting.

But what's even more cool was when I started looking at the rest of the page I noticed right on the other side of "Biscuit" were Jannie Ho's emergent readers. It's so funny, not only did they put us in the same flier they put us practically right next each other.

My Studio - Anette

One of the things I love about the house we bought a year ago is that it has room for a studio! I love having my own room with plenty of space to spread my projects around. I still need storage for drawings and books, and I haven't had time to put anything up on the walls yet, but I enjoy going to work in this room. I can also see a bit of the ocean if I look outside. Lucky me!

Goals for 2010

I'm big on writing goals, weekly, monthly and yearly goals not to mention a 5 year plan. I think it's an important part of being a freelancer. If we don't set goals for ourselves than who will? That said, I went back and see how I did at attaining my 2009 goals and guess what? No goals. I've been so busy with my head down, I think 2009 went right by with no goals. Oops! So goal number one this year is to write out my goals and stick them on the wall right above my desk.

There are a few things about goal writing that I learned in a management seminar years ago (back in my cube rat days) that I still find useful. First, I only make goals that are in my control. Getting a book contract from a large publisher would be nice but not something I can control. What IS in my control is creating a picture book dummy and submitting it to publisher X. Secondly, I try to make goals that are concrete. I'm not as good with this one, but I try. Saying I'm going to be more organized is something I say every year, but that could mean lots of things. But this year my goal is to take time to clean off my desk once a week. I think that would be a good start at being more organized.

So here are my goals for 2010...

1. Write my goals and put them some place prominent in my studio.

2. Draw from life, at the very least once a week.

3. Remove personal papers, bills, etc. from my studio. Working out of the house, I've found it easy for home stuff to creep into my work space.

4. Finish listening to the Riven Phoenix drawing CD's (I started going through them last year but I have a lot left)

5. Finish a picture book dummy.

6. Clean off my desk once a week. (I don't have high hopes for this one.)

7. Promote the new Alfie book when it comes out in April. (I've got a few ideas.)

8. Update my website/on-line portfolios at least once per quarter.

9. Give the best presentation I can at the New England SCBWI conference. (My talk will be on Photoshop techniques for illustrators in case anyone is interested in attending.)

10. Back up all my data files at least once a week.

Goals for 2010

I posted this on my blog and thought I would post it here too:

This seems a good time to look back over the last year and look forward to new ventures in this one.

Below are a few highlights from last year: My Little Red and the Wolf were featured on the cover of Stuffed magazine, some books that I illustrated were published, we got to visit Scotland to attend my sister's wedding which was so much fun and I discovered a new love (obsession) of needle felting, and even made a calendar from the characters that I created.


1. Stuffed cover, 2. My Mom and Me, 3. My Dad and Me cover , 4. Pink Lady, 5. Pumpkin Baby, 6. Wildflowers Edinburgh Botanics, 7. Dornoch beach, 8. Day 15 , 9. Day 5, 10. March , 11. Day 21 , 12. Day 30, 13. 2010 calendar cover, 14. William , 15. Octave , 16. Happy Holidays

Created with fd's Flickr Toys

Here is my list of goals that I originally posted at the beginning of 2009:

1. Get involved in Illustration Friday again and at least take part once a month. I am scared to look back on a similar post I wrote a year ago, as I was probably saying the same thing then! I do really miss the chance to work on something just for it's own sake, so I will make the effort. I think I often feel guilty if I have a lot of work and feel if I am painting, it should only be for work, but I think it is good to take a break and do something different.

2010: Well, I didn't do very well with that one! But once again, I am going to give it a go. I am determined to start participating in Illustration Friday on a regular basis this year.

2. Learn to stop feeling guilty about taking a little time out for other creative endeavours.

2010: I think I did manage to do that and want to continue experimenting with different media.

3. Blog a bit more.

2010: my blogging picked up over the year, especially when I set a project to do something creative every day in the month of September.

4. All of the above are non-work related. I think it shows that last year I felt a little overwhelmed with work at times and while I felt very grateful for all the contracts that I got, this year I would like to find more of a balance between work and time off.

2010: Yep, balance is the key, but always hard to find!

5. As for illustration goals - I really hope to illustrate more picture books and I would love to work on another book with my husband.

2010: Still a goal for this year :)

6. I want to keep sewing and making little stuffies - and here is a dreamy goal - I would love to illustrate a book with my stuffies and artwork. Something that will probably never come to fruition, but I think it is always nice to start the year with a goal that might not be realistic, but exciting to think about none the less.

2010: my dreamy goal has changed a little, now that I have discovered needle felting. I enjoyed creating the scenes so much for the calendar, and would love to create a whole picture book in this style.

Things have been quieter for me workwise, which makes me a little apprehensive about what this year will bring (the trials of a freelancer!). I know that if I stay positive and keep being creative, new opportunities will eventually come along.

I wish you all a very happy and creative New Year!

Goals for 2010 - Anette

Happy New Year!
With a new year comes new goals. Some of my goals for 2010 is:
* contact more potential clients to get more work
* illustrate at least 2 books (not entirely up to me, but we'll see what happens)
* finish the chapter book I'm writing
* work more with watercolors again
* participate in at least one workshop

What's your goals for 2010?