You might not learn all you want to know about children’s book author illustrator Keith Graves from his website — like, what is the name of the rock band he was founding member of and still plays in? (Answer: The Whispering Javelinas.)
But you’ll find answers to the important questions, like, How did he learn to draw?
His response (see the site’s FAQs): “I have been obsessed with drawing since I was knee high to a slug…
“I’ll bet I have drawn at least five or six billion pictures, mostly of things with one eye, in my life. Most of them stunk, but some came out OK.
“That’s the thing. If you draw lots of pictures, chances are a few will be really cool.”
Reviewers have used words like zany, quirky, twisted and rowdy to describe his pictures and stories that are also just plain funny and kid-friendly.
If you’ve never read any of his books, the video below with Keith reading his Loretta, Ace Pinky Scout (Scholastic) accompanied by the movie theme from The Great Escape offers a fine introduction to his oeuvre.
His latest work is the first in a series of chapter books that he illustrated with white colored pencil and acrylic paint on black illustration board.
In these video excerpts from a longer interview that he gave for students of the Make Your Splashes – Make Your Marks! course Keith talks about his happy experiment with long form writing and his new series character, Thaddeus J. Hibble.
Keith’s long professional art career has included editorial illustrations for some of the country’s top publications, music album covers, posters, ads, Hollywood animated film projects, his own children’s picture books and those of other authors’ (including Margie Palatini, Mary Alice Fontenot, Helen Ketteman and Sandy Asher.)
He earned his B.F.A. from the University of Southern Louisiana, studied at the Parsons New School for Design in N.Y.C. and finished an M.F.A. from the University of Texas at Austin.
But not before he tackled essential boyhood tasks like building a W.W. II submarine out of cardboard boxes in his (New Orleans neighborhood) backyard, learning to play the guitar and immersing himself in the lore of movie monsters, the hot rod cartoon monster (plastic kit) models of Big Daddy Roth and a particular uncle’s hilarious tall tales about growing up on the bayou.
Further down in this post we mention the winners of the SCBWI Tomie de Paola Illustration Award. The contest required artists to render a certain scene from Chicken Licken (or Chicken Little or Henny Penny. )
So we can’t omit mention of Keith’s strangely endearing take on the same tale that resulted in his 2010 picture book Chicken Big (Chronicle Books.)
Watch the discussion below for his insights into developing a visual character who rings true.
St. Edward's University, Austin Texas
Something for Everyone
That’s the theme for the 2012 Regional Conference of the Austin Chapter of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI)
It’s no exaggeration, either — with its insanely good lineup of name authors, agents, editors and a few other top children’s publishing industry professionals.
Conference logo design by Erik Kuntz
Come meet Patti Ann Harris, senior art director at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers who oversees the design of the picture book list and novelty book imprint, LB-Kids, Bonnie Bader, editor-in-c hief of Grosset and Dunlap and Price Stern Sloan, two imprints of the Penguin Young Readers Group and Diane Muldrow, editorial director at Golden Books/Random House and editor of the famous Little Golden Books.
Hobnob with agents, Sarah Davies (Greenhouse Literary Agency), Erin Murphy (Erin Murphy Literary Agency) and Jill Corcoran (Jeff Hermann Agency) along with YA novelist Lisa Lee, picture book author and writing teacher Anastasia Suen and Kirsten Cappy, who owns the children’s author-illustrator marketing consultancy Curious City.
Conference logo design by Laci Morgan
Registration is still open for Something for Everyone, set for February 17-19 on the St. Edward’s University campus in Austin, Texas.
SCBWI Tomie dePaola Illustration Award winner announced
For first place, from more than 300 entries from around the world, dePaola chose the scene composed by Yvette Piette Herrera for the Chicken Licken fable.
See Yvetter’s wonderful piece and the other winning submissions by Carrie Eko-Burgess, Rotem Omri and Lori McElrath-Eslick, along with Tomie dePaola’s comments on the SCBWI site.
See more great work (178 of the contest submissions so far and counting) in a special “Unofficial” Tomie dePaola Awards blog initiated by Houston SCBWI illustrator coordinator Diandra Mae, including four pieces by Marks and Splashes students Joanna Strybosch, Catherine Jacobs, Cynthia Iannocone and Virginia Rinkel.
Twibbon design by Diandra Mae
#KidLitArt Picture Book Dummy Challenge 2012
Here’s what you want to know about this year’s Kidlitart #PBDummy Challenge:
Sign up here, start work on your pencil dummy drop by the #kidlitart Twitter chats at 9 pm (U.S. Eastern Time) every Thursday to visit with your creative colleagues.
You’ll find additional challenge-related discussions on Twitter using the challenge hashtag: #PBDummy.
Try to register for the challenge by January 15 to be eligible for the Agent Pitch contest at the end of the six months. The challenge extends to July 1.
(Live anywhere near the St. Louis, Mo. area? PB Dummy Challenge co-founder Wendy Martin will teach art and painting classes this Spring at Jefferson College, including Watercolor Pencil Techniques, Narrative Illustration, Cartoon Animals and Basic Logo Design. Check out page 11 of the Jefferson College Continuing Education 2012 spring catalog or contact Wendy directly through her website for more information. She’ll teach at the Festus, Mo. campus.)
If you feel instead like concentrating on picture book story structure and writing, consider the 12 x 12 in 2012 Picture Book Writing Challenge. “Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to write one picture book per month for each of the twelve months of 2012,” states challenge instigator, author Julie Hedlund in her blog, Write Up My Life.
“This means a first draft: beginning, middle, end. NOT a submission-ready piece,” she says.
Author-illustrator Jeff Crosby inscribes a book for illustrator Lalena Fisher, while his wife and co author-illustrator Shelley Ann Jackson chats with Lalena.
Triumphs and tallies
Picture books by Austin SCBWI artists Jeff Crosby and Patrice Barton made the Texas Library Association’s 2×2 list for 2012. Wiener Wolf that Jeff wrote and illustrated and Mine! written by Shutta Crum and illustrated by Patrice made the top 20 books (winnowed down from 700 nominated titles) for children ages two through the second grade.
Patrice’s illustrations for Mine! were also included in the Society of Illustrators 2011 National Exhibition in NYC.
Both illustrators have been profiled on this blog and interviewed on video for the Make Your Splashes – Make Your Marks students.
Liz Rosenberg’s “Best Books of 2011” for children article in the Boston Globe leads off with Austin SCBWI’s own Divya Srinivasan’s Little Owl’s Night (Viking.)
Elizabeth Bird, youth collections specialist for the New York City Public Library compiled her list of 100 Magnificent Children’s Books of 2011 in her blog, A Fuse 8 Production for School Library Journal.
Illustrator Patrice Barton with author-illustrator Mary Sullivan
You don’t want to miss the 2011 Retrospective for Julie Danielson’s 7 Impossible Things Before Breakfast blog that includes interviews with Brian Selznick, Genevieve Cote, David Ezra Stein, John Rocco, Beth Krommes, Beth Ellis, Betsy Lewin and many others.
And see the 2012 picture book preview by Kirkus Reviews.
Check out “Tech Tuesday” posts on the new Girllustrators Tumblr blog and Just Picture This: A one stop blog for all things Children’s Illustration. News, events, links, articles and more— compiled by illustrators Diandra Mae, Casey G., Dani Jones, Kelly Light and Jez Tuya.
Art by Sylvia Liu (for an Illustration Friday theme, "Separated")
Marks and Splashes course assayed
Many thanks to Sylvia Liu (illustrator, environmental attorney) for reviewing the Make Your Splashes – Make Your Marks! online course — and interviewing me on her richly informative kid lit art blog Sylvia Liu Land. Read the review.
Stories that move (really they do)
See some interactive digital books in action (videos) ofs in action and read about the latest InteractBooks Contest (prizes include iPads, an iMac and more) for artists and authors using the free InteractBuilder software. You’ll find more on the latest post, Stories that move and talk when you touch them on the lllustration Course blog.
Richard Johnson of InteractBooks
Sign up for free sessions, tutorials
1.) From idea to iTunes: Author-illustrator David Tribble walks us through how he created his children’s picture book for the iPad, Lord of the Scribes. See the 90 minute-replay.
2.) Building interactive books for touch screen devices:
A presentation featuring children’s author Dan Byrne who won last year’s InteractBooks competition with his picture book on nutrition and gardening for kids, It’s Time for Carrots (illustrated by Jenna Matsalla) and the developers of the InteractBuilder software. Hear it here.
3.)InteractBuilder Bootcamp online — a complete training on building interactive books for the iPad, iPhone and other touch screen devices
Three more live Saturday sessions to go with InteractBuilder developers Ezra Weinstein and Richard Johnson teaching how to use their groundbreaking software. Replays of the previous trainings are available for only three more weeks. Find more information, temporary replay links and upcoming class registration links.
American artist Emiy Barto
4.) Fabulously free:
Open source software for artists and illustrators, presented by architect and illustrator Jim Larson. Enjoy the replay.
5.) Build your online gallery on a WordPress.org or WordPress.com blog
Erik Kuntz and Mark Mitchell demonstrate how to install thumbnail portfolios on WordPress blogs. Access the replay and videos.
6.) Is there a “best secret” to drawing? Find out here.
Interior illustration by Keith Graves for his picture book, "The Three Gnarlies"
How To Be A Children's Book Illustrator 