Day 277: Drawing Mabel Jones with Will Mabbit and Ross Collins

Day 276: Drawing EllRay Jakes (The Recess King) with Sally Warner and Brian Biggs

Day 273: Drawing a Ghost with Ammi-Joan Paquette and Adam Record

Ammi-Joan Paquette's bio, in her own words:
I have been writing stories since early childhood. My sister and I would spend hours creating masterpieces of stapled paper and handwritten words, complete with pen-and-ink covers and boxed illustrations. Probably my favorite part of the process was creating a list for the back cover: "Don’t miss the other books in this series!" That list of eye-catching titles always seemed like way less work than (hand) writing out a whole book. But isn’t that just the way of things? 

The road to publication was long and winding, peppered with many small successes including: a variety of national magazine publications, being a 2005 PEN New England Susan P. Bloom Discovery Award honoree, and receiving the 2008 SCBWI’s Susan Landers Glass Scholarship Award, for the book that would later become Nowhere Girl. My first picture book, The Tiptoe Guide to Tracking Fairies, was published in 2009. 

I now live with my husband and two daughters in the Boston area, where I continue to write books for children and young adults. I am also an agent with the Erin Murphy Literary Agency (but that’s a story for another day). What more do you want to know? 

I am... mother, friend, reader, traveler, food-lover, chocolate connoisseur. 
I am not... especially tidy, a fan of mushy vegetables, or good at coming up with spur-of-the-moment self-portraits.

Adam Record's bio, in his own words:
Hi I’m Adam…..hello :) I’m an illustrator and designer from Utah. I love to draw and design and I’ve been blessed to be able to do it fo a living for a numbe of years now. I have worked with many great clients such as Scholastic, Harper Collins, Hallmark, Disney, Fisher Price, and many more great folks.
I started doodling on a padded bench in church. I liked saturday morning cartoons and cereal with marshmallows in it. I played with GI Joes and watched WWF wrestling with my brothers and I was outside most of my life. I started getting serious about drawing when someone actaully bought one of my drawings, and I thought….that’s cool…other people might actually like my stuff. So I continued to draw and paint and doodle and here I am now with my own website. Crazy.
I get inspired by old childrens books, vintage posters, anything prior to the 90’s to be honest. I like Miroslav Sasek, Mary Blair, Saul Bass and Edward Gorey. I listen to Tom Waits and I like the smell of cement after it rains.

Visit Ammi-Joan and Adam's websites!

Day 272: Drawing a Sea Rex with Molly Idle

Molly Idle has been drawing ever since she could wield a pencil. But while she started scribbling before she could walk, her professional career as an artist began slightly later…
It was upon her graduation from Arizona State University, with a BFA in Drawing, that Molly accepted an offer to work for DreamWorks Feature Animation Studios.  After five years, a number of film credits, and an incredibly good time, she left the studio and leapt with gusto into the world of children's book illustration!
Molly now lives in Arizona with her brilliant husband, two wonderfully mischievous sons, and two snugly cats. When not making mischief with her boys or watching old Technicolor musicals, she can be found at her desk scribbling away, with a pencil in one hand and a cup of espresso in the other- creating a plethora of profoundly whimsical picture books!

Don't forget to visit Molly's website!

Day 271: Drawing Llama Llama with Anna Dewdney

Anna's bio, in her own words:
I live in a big old house in Vermont with three scruffy dogs, and I spend a lot of time on the road, mostly visiting my two daughters, as well as schools and libraries.  I talk at conferences, and I go visit my publisher in New York.  But mostly, I spend my time at home, sketching, writing, and painting.  I spend at least an hour a day in the woods, running and walking with my dogs, and I love to putter around outside, planning gardens and cutting down trees.  I spend most of my time in the studio, making pictures and writing stories.  It’s a pretty good life, and it took me a long time to get here.

Alice, my little sister, liked dressing up and playing pretend with me, and she also really liked beautiful, fancy things. She has two great kids.  I am lucky that she lives nearby, too!

I’ve had a lot of paying jobs over the years:  waitress, furniture salesperson, daycare provider, teacher (I also drove the school bus), mail carrier (that was probably my favorite “real” job...), but through it all, I drew pictures, sometimes for money, and wrote...although no one bought my stories until a few years ago.
I  come from a family of five -- mom, dad, and three girls, Tanya, Anna, and Alice.

My mom is a really cool mom. She is also a writer. You may have read her book, Only Brave Tomorrows, by Winifred Luhrmann. I am lucky that I still get to spend time with my parents because they live nearby.

My Dad is a doctor. He reads a lot, and likes to collect books. When my sisters and I were little, he used to read to us from A. A. Milne's POOH books. Now, whenever I read them to my own children or to myself, I hear his voice.

My older sister Tanya went away to school when I was only seven years old, so I didn't spend too much time with her when I was little. She was always reading serious books and using big words. I guess that's what she likes to do, because now she writes serious books and uses lots of big words when she teaches at the Stanford University. She still gets silly, sometimes, though, and we have a lot of fun when we get together. Tanya's latest book is When God Talks Back (Knopf 2013).

Remember to visit Anna's website!

Day 270: Drawing Bernice with Hannah E. Harrison

Hannah Harrison was born as Hannah Smith in 1978 in Laconia, New Hampshire. Shortly thereafter, she discovered her love of crayons. As an only child, they provided countless hours of entertainment and imagination. She also discovered that her pets, much to their dismay, were also a wonderful source of entertainment--especially when dressed in doll clothes.

Unlike her friends, Hannah did not want to start kindergarten at age five. She wanted to stay home and play for another year. She did not realize that she would have no one to play with, since they would all be at school. So Hannah filled her time with more drawing, imagining, and harassing of animals.

When Hannah finally started kindergarten at the ripe-old age of six, she was promptly moved from her kindergarten art class to the fifth grade art class by her wonderful art teacher, Marlene Witham. They called it “Special Art”. She soon mastered the media of egg-crate, popsicle stick, and colored macaroni.

While at Woodland Heights Elementary, Hannah discovered her passion for writing children’s books when she won the “Young Author Book Award” in 2nd and 3rd grade. The Lost Tooth, and The Bunny Ball were a huge hit in many social circles (mostly the circles that had her parents in them). It was then that Hannah decided she would like to one day have a career writing and illustrating children‘s books.

Hannah continued to excel in art at Memorial Middle School and Laconia High School, under the careful guidance and encouragement of Linda Danielovich. She also began taking art lessons from Larry Frates. And as a Senior in High School, the Boston Globe Scholastic Art Awards, deemed her portfolio one of the 100 best in the nation.

Graduating as a “smart cookie,” and the top female in her high school class, Hannah was fortunate to further her education at Colby College in Waterville, Maine. While there, she continued to follow her dream of becoming a children’s book author and illustrator by majoring in Art, and minoring in Creative Writing. She studied under Bevin Engman, Gail Spaien, Scott Reed, Susan Kenney, Monica Wood, and James (Jennie) Boylan. She created her own independent study in Children’s book writing. She also interned with famed children’s book illustrator Kevin Hawkes. She helped him on his book Handel: Who Knew What He Liked. Mostly, she did research, but she learned a heck of a lot from him, too--including how to illustrate with acrylics. Hannah was touched to discover that he later dedicated the book to her “with much gratitude”. She also went on to become a Senior Scholar in painting , and in 2001 had a show in the museum titled Drawing From Words. Her paintings were inspired by the short stories she had written as a Creative Writing minor, and included such subjects as enormous babies and pirates.

Since graduating from Colby, Hannah has become a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI), and a Signature Member of the Cider Painters of America and The Hilliard Society. She was also one of the charter members of The Village Artist’s & Gallery, an artist’s co-operative. She has donated her artwork to fundraising auctions for humane societies, and has collected donations for animal shelters at two of her solo exhibitions. She has won twenty awards for her paintings, including five Best in Shows, two Judge’s Choice awards, three Popular Votes and the Presidential Award. She has painted portraits, signs, murals, theatre sets, fine art, children's books, and, since moving to Oklahoma in 2006--even tombstones!  She paints with oils and acrylics, and does a little pen and ink, too. Her hobbies include crocheting, embroidering, and dancing. She is what is often referred to as “artsy-fartsy”.

Hannah’s paintings are a reflection of her life so far. They’re of animals dressed up in clothes, and of people she knows. They’re nostalgic and whimsical, and a reflection of a childhood filled with light and imagination. They’re a combination of childish innocence and adult sarcasm. They’re fine art paintings masquerading as illustrations. But mostly, they’re just fun.

Visit Hannah's website!

Day 269: Drawing PiBoIdMo's Logo with Tara Lazar and Troy Cummings

Street magic performer. Hog-calling champion. Award-winning ice sculptor. These are all things Tara Lazar has never been. Instead, she writes quirky, humorous picture books featuring magical places that everyone will want to visit.

Her picture books available now are:

• THE MONSTORE (Aladdin/S&S, 2013)
• I THOUGHT THIS WAS A BEAR BOOK(Aladdin/S&S, 2015)
• LITTLE RED GLIDING HOOD (Random House Children’s, Oct 2015)

These titles are coming soon:

• NORMAL NORMAN (Sterling, March 2016)
• WAY PAST  BEDTIME (Aladdin/S&S, Fall 2016)
• 7 ATE 9: THE UNTOLD STORY (Disney*Hyperion, 2017)

Tara is represented by Ammi-Joan Paquette of the Erin Murphy Literary Agency.

Her last name rhymes with “bazaar”—you can listen to Tara pronounce her name on TeachingBooks.net. She’s not Tara Laser-beam (although that would be awesome).

5 Unusual Facts About Tara:

And the not so unusual stuff…

Tara at 3 years old

Tara loves children’s books. Her goal is to create books that children love.

She writes picture books and middle grade novels. She’s written short stories for Abe’s Peanut and is featured in Break These Rules, a book of life-lesson essays for teens, edited by author Luke Reynolds.

Tara created PiBoIdMo (Picture Book Idea Month) as the picture book writer’s answer to NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). PiBoIdMo is held on this blog every November. In 2014, PiBoIdMo featured over 1,300 participants from around the world.

Tara was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 2010 and has permanently lost feeling in her feet and legs. She has an inspirational story to share about overcoming a chronic illness to achieve your goals and dreams. Tara can speak to groups big and small, young and old—just contact her for more information.

Tara was recently named a council member of theRutgers University Council on Children’s Literature. She’s belongs to SCBWI and speaks at conferences and events regarding picture books, brainstorming techniques, and social media for authors (backed by 20 years experience in internet marketing). Her former career was in high-tech marketing and PR.

She also teaches for The Writer’s Circle Workshops.

Tara is a life-long New Jersey resident. She lives in Somerset County with her husband and two young daughters. If they had a dog, it would be a small white fluffy thing named Schluffy.

HOW TO CONTACT TARA:

• Email: tarakidlit (at) gmail (dot) com
• Twitter: @taralazar
• Pinterest: pinterest.com/taralazar
• Facebook: facebook.com/authortara

Troy Cummings has been writing and illustrating since he was a little kid. Among other things, he's the creator of  GIDDY-UP, DADDY!, the tale of a man mistaken for a horse, and THE NOTEBOOK OF DOOM, an early-reader chapter book series about a kid who moves to a town full of monsters.

In addition to books, Troy's illustrations have appeared on:

Animated backdrops for an opera
a package of fish sticks
Jigsaw puzzles
iPad pop-up books
A poster warning people about germs
A poster warning people about a film festival
A cookbook for dogs
A thing for the humane society
A card game about hiking
Newspapers, magazines and greeting cards
Troy Cummings lives in Greencastle, Indiana with his nice family and mean cat.

Remember to visit Tara and Troy's websites!

Day 268: Drawing a Skeleton with Steve Metzger and Aaron Zenz

Steve Metzger's bio, in his own words:
I grew up in Queens, New York. It was a quieter time…when kids could enjoy hours of unsupervised outdoor play with their friends.

I was fortunate to have supportive parents and a wonderful younger sister, Lois (now a writer of amazing young-adult books – check out her website: loismetzger.com). Mutti, my remarkable grandmother, was a source of unconditional love, something every child needs.

I had a variety of jobs – dishwasher, taxi driver, hotel room clerk, and import manager – before finding my true calling, working with children. I went to graduate school and received my teaching degree from “Bank Street College of Education.”

I spent 15 happy years as a classroom teacher. Afterward, I worked at Scholastic, where I received the opportunity to write children’s books. Seventy books later, I’m still writing…and loving it!

I live with my wife, Nancy; daughter, Julia; and Biscuit, a talkative cat, in New York City.

Aaron Zenz is the author and illustrator of The Hiccupotamus. He is the illustrator of 9 additional children's books as well.
Aaron lives in West Michigan. In addition to writing and illustrating, he also frequently visits schools and libraries where he inspires kids to read and write through fun, interactive programs."

Visit Steve and Aaron's websites!

Day 267: Drawing Boo-La-La Witch Spa with Samantha Bergar and Isabel Roxas

Samantha Berger writes and writes and writes (she even wrote *this*). 

She has written picture books like CRANKENSTEIN! illustrated by Dan Santat (Little, Brown, 2013), A CRANKENSTEIN VALENTINE (Little, Brown December, 2014), WITCH SPA illustrated by Isabel Roxas (Dial, August 2015), and SNOOZEFEST illustrated by Kristyna Litten (Dial, January 2015).

She also has written picture books like SANTA'S REINDEER GAMES illustrated by John Manders (Cartwheel, 2011), MARTHA DOESN'T SHARE, and MARTHA DOESN'T SAY SORRY illustrated by Bruce Whatley (Little, Brown 2010, 2009), which won a Parent's Choice Award Honor. 

She has written cartoons and promos for Nickelodeon and other networks. She has written comic books and commercials. 
She has written movie trailers, theme songs, slogans, magazine articles, poems, TV-books, sticker books and professional books.
You name it, Sam writes it. 

And when she ISN'T WRITING.... She's doing voice-overs, traveling the world, and helping rescue dogs. 

THEN... 
she writes about that, too! 

Samantha splits her time between New York City and sunny California. 

These days, she's in New York City, living in a dee-luxe apartment in the sky with her dingo-chihuahua dog, Polly Pocket.

Isabel's bio, in her own words:
My name is Isabel, I illustrate books for children, paint pictures and design stuff for grown-ups.

I have two new books fresh from the press. One is called Boo La La Witch Spa (written by the fabulously wicked Samantha Berger). It was published by DIAL book for Young Readers, in time for Halloween 2015. The other is called Mang Andoy’s Signs (written by Mailing Paterno), published by Tahanan Books for Young Readers, Fall 2015.

I am currently putting finishing touches on a book called Let Me Finish (words by Minh Le) with a super duper team at Disney Hyperion (Summer 2016).

In 2013 I had the good fortune to create a spread (and cover) for the NY Times best-seller Goodnight Songs (Sterling, 2014), a collection of lullabies from Margaret Wise Brown (YES, THAT Margaret Wise Brown!).

I was born in Manila, the cacophonous, idiosyncratic capital of the Philippine Islands. I was raised on luscious mangoes, old wives’ tales, handcrafted mats, and woven toys, as well as a healthy dose of American encyclopedias, Sesame Street, Japanese animation and British children’s stories. I have a taste for the slightly odd and uncommon, and for tales that go awry.

Today I work in a small studio in Brooklyn, in a former Pencil Factory full of other illustrators and small-business owners. I share the space with my husband and we co-manage a contemporary art gallery that is a showcase for the interweaving histories of America, Asia and Europe, with a special focus on Southeast Asia.

Remember to visit Samantha and Isabel's websites!

Day 266: Drawing a Hamster Princess with Ursula Vernon

Ursula Vernon is the author and illustrator of "Nurk," "Digger," and a number of other projects. The daughter of an artist, she spent her youth attempting to rebel and become a scientist, but eventually succumbed to the siren song of paint (although not before getting a degree in anthropology, because life isn't complete without student loans, right?). Her work has been nominated for an Eisner award, "Talent Deserving of Wider Recognition" and a number of Webcomics Choice Awards.

Ursula grew up in Oregon and Arizona, went to college at Macalester College in Minnesota, and stayed there for ten years, until she finally learned to drive in deep snow and was obligated to leave the state.

In addition to writing and making art, Ms. Vernon is "an avid birdwatcher, occasional neophyte practitioner of the sword art of iaido, and an amateur thrower of pots." She is active in her local webcomics community, and can occasionally be found at local science fiction conventions, looking vaguely baffled by the crowd and signing anything put in front of her.

Having moved across the country several times, she eventually settled in Pittsboro, North Carolina, where she works full-time as an artist and creator of oddities. She lives with her boyfriend, a spastic Beagle, a (fairly) mellow Border Collie, a small collection of cats, and a large collection of Indonesian demon masks, which generally manage to keep her out of trouble.

Don't forget to visit Ursula's website!

Day 260: Drawing Caterina with Erin Eitter Kono

Erin is an award winning picture book author and illustrator. She grew up in the midwest and studied Art History at the University of Iowa and the University of Hull in England.  She studied Graphic Design and Writing through UCLA Extension in Westwood, CA.  She lives in Palos Verdes, CA with her husband, daughter, dog, hamster, and the neighborhood's wild Peacock.

Remember to visit Erin's website!

Day 262: Drawing Momo with Zachariah OHora

Zachariah OHora is an award winning illustrator and children's book author. His work has appeared in numerous publications including; The New York Times, The Atlantic, Bloomberg Businessweek and NPR.

His first book Stop Snoring, Bernard! won the 2011 Society of Illustrator's Founder's Award and is the PA One Book Selection for 2012. 

He illustrated The Pet Project written by Lisa Wheeler and his new book No Fits, Nilson!, Dial Books, is out now.

He lives and works in Narberth, PA with his wife Lydia, and sons Oskar and Teddy. He has been known to snore. Sometimes LOUDLY.

Don't forget to visit Zachariah's website!

Day 261: Drawing Dory with Abby Hanlon

Abby Hanlon is the author and illustrator of Dory Fantasmagory (2014, Penguin Random House), the first in a series of chapter books for five to eight year olds. Dory Fantasmagory is a Golden Kite Honor Book for Fiction, an American Library Association Notable Book, and a Scholastic book club selection.  It was named a Best Book of the Year by Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, and Parent's Magazine.

Dory Fantasmagory and its sequel, Dory and The Real True Friend (July 2015) are both Junior Library Guild Selections, and will be published in ten languages. In a starred review, Publisher's Weekly called Dory and The Real True Friend "a sequel every bit as delightful as its predecessor."

Abby has a bachelor's from Barnard College and a master's degree in childhood education from the City College of New York.  Abby has taught creative writing and first grade in the New York City public school system. Her debut picture book, Ralph Tells a Story (2012), is widely used by elementary school teachers.

Abby lives in Brooklyn with her husband, eight-year-old twins, and scruffy dog Caroline.

Visit Abby's website!

Day 259: Drawing a Tooth Fairy Cat with Deborah Underwood and Claudia Rueda

Deborah Underwood's bio, in her own words:
I grew up in Walla Walla, Washington. When I was little, I wanted to be an astronomer. (The bear in the photo is named Ursa Major, like the constellation.) Then I wanted to be a singer. Then I wanted to be a writer. Today my jobs are writing and singing. I guess two out of three's not bad! 

(Okay, I also wanted to work in a piano factory and paste the labels on new pianos, but let's just ignore that one.) 

My dad was a math professor, and my mom taught English. My sister got all the math brains, but some of my mom's word sense rubbed off on me, thank goodness. 

After college, I became a street musician. If you're looking for a great way to freak out your parents, tell them you're going to be a street musician when you grow up. 
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Then I worked in an office typing memos for accountants. When the accountants weren't looking, I wrote screenplays. I found that if I glowered at the computer screen and yelled, "Criminy!" once in a while, everyone thought I was typing a very demanding memo and left me alone. 

I finally decided to write for kids. At first my stories were pretty awful, but I kept trying. They got better in time--but writing sure is a lot of work! Luckily, I have a bunch of great writing friends that help me. We read each other's manuscripts and make suggestions. And whenever I say I'm going to get a job pasting labels on pianos because writing is too hard, they talk me out of it. 

I also started writing nonfiction. When a publisher asks me to write a nonfiction book, I usually don't know much about the topic. That means I have to learn fast. Now I know about lots of cool things, like smallpox and orangutans and Easter Island and whether or not it's okay to slurp your noodles in Japan (it is). 

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When I'm not writing, you might find me singing in a chamber choir, feeding squirrels in the park, or baking vegan cookies. Or possibly acting silly. (Who, me?)

I am a huge fan of independent booksellers! If you'd like to buy my books, please patronize your local indie bookstore. They'll be happy to special-order anything that's not in stock. If you need help finding a store, check out Indiebound.org.

Claudia Rueda is a Colombian picture book author and illustrator. She is the illustrator of The New York Times Best Seller Here Comes The Easter Cat and the author of the Oppenheim Platinum Award My Little Polar Bear among others. Her picture books have been published throughout North America, Europe and Asia and have been translated into more than ten different languages.

Don't forget to visit Deborah and Claudia's websites!

Day 257: Drawing a Super-Secret Spy Girl with Beth Ain and Anne Keenan Higgins

Beth Ain's bio, in her own words:



Born and raised in Michigan, Anne Keenan Higgins graduated from the University of Michigan Art School in Ann Arbor. She began her career as an art director working for various advertising agencies in and around Detroit. Anne then made the move to California and worked for Papyrus corporate.

After developing her own diverse and whimsical style, Anne ventured out on her own and began licensing her artwork. Her designs can be found on best-selling products in the gift and stationery industry as well as in editorial and book publishing.

Remember to visit Beth and Anne's websites!

Day 256: Drawing a Glittery Girl with Rosie Banks

Day 255: Drawing a Wolf with Bruce Hale

Raised by wolves just outside Los Angeles, Bruce Hale began his career as a writer while living in Tokyo, and continued it when he moved to Hawaii in 1983. Before entering the world of children's books, he worked as a magazine editor, surveyor, corporate lackey, gardener, actor, and deejay.

From picture books to novels and graphic novels, Bruce has written and illustrated 35 books for kids. His Chet Gecko Mysteries series includes: The Chameleon Wore Chartreuse, The Big Nap, The Malted Falcon, Hiss Me Deadly, and others. His School For S.P.I.E.S. series includes Playing With Fire and Thicker Than Water.

You could say Bruce has a thing for lizards. He also has created five Hawaii children's books, including Legend of the Laughing Gecko, Moki and the Magic Surfboard, and Moki the Gecko's Best Christmas Ever -- all starring Moki the Gecko. (By the way, Moki the Gecko and Chet are second cousins.)

When not writing and illustrating, Bruce loves to perform. He has appeared on stage, on television, and in an independent movie called "The Ride," where he plays a surfer's agent. Bruce is a popular speaker and storyteller for audiences of all ages. In 1998, he won a Fulbright Grant to teach storytelling and study folklore in Thailand. (No, he doesn't speak much Thai, but he loves Thai food.)

He has taught writing workshops at colleges and universities, and spoken at national conferences of writing, publishing, and literacy organizations. On top of that, Bruce has visited elementary schools across 
the country, from Hawaii, to Kansas, to Pennsylvania. (You’d never guess he loves to travel.)

These days, Bruce lives in Santa Barbara with his wife, Janette, and his sweet mutt, Riley. When he's not at the computer or drawing board, you'll find him hiking the hills, bicycling, or riding the waves (when it's warm enough, that is). He also likes going to movies and playing jazz music.

Visit Bruce's website!

Day 254: Drawing an old lady who swallowed a frog with Lucille Colandro and Jared D. Lee

Lucille Colandro is the author of the There Was an Old Lady books. She wrote her first Old Lady book, There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat, when an editor asked for a Halloween book with a lady who didn’t die at the end. Lucille’s old lady swallows everything from leaves to pants to snow—always with a funny surprise at the end!

Jared Lee was raised in Van Buren, Indiana. He received his BFA degree from the John Herron Art Institute located in Indianapolis. In 1970, after serving two years in the military and working one year at Gibson Greetings as a greeting card designer, he started his free-lance career.

Jared's work has been associated wwith US Postal Service, New York Telephone, L.L. Bean, Procter and Gamble, Ralston Purina, Land's End, Bell South, Hasbro, Scholastic, Simon & Schuster, and Dutton Children's Books, just to name a few.

He was one of the six illustrators chosen to create the first group of Happy Meal boxes for McDonalds.

Jared has illustrated over eighty books for young readers, and is best known for his wacky collaboration with author Mike Thaler on the best-selling Black Lagoon series, including "The Teacher from the Black Lagoon." Mr. Lee also licenses a humorous line of t-shirts and gift items, which is sold throughout the United States and abroad.

He has received awards from the Society of Illustrators, the Martha Kinney Cooper Ohioana Library Association, the National Cartoonist Society, and numerous advertising clubs.

Memberships include the Society of Illustrators, Illustrators' Partnership, and the National Cartoonist Society.

Jared's home and studio are nestled away in the secluded area of Southwest Ohio where he lives a happy life with his wife P.J., dogs, cats, ponies, ducks, and a pond full of unknown creatures.

Vsit Lucille and Jared's websites!

Day 253: Drawing a Hot Rod Hamster with Cynthia Lord and Derek Anderson

Cynthia Lord's bio, in her own words:
My life as a writer began at age four with a song collaboration with my sister (I couldn't write, so she did the actual writing). The song was called "Ding Dong the Cherries Sing," and we forced anyone within a 12-mile radius to listen to us sing it, over and over and over.

It went like this:

"Ding-dong, the cherries sing, 
Tra-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la 
Ding-dong, the cherries sing, 
Tra-la-la-la-la DING, DING!"

OK, so I wasn't exactly headed for the Grammy awards. . . .

My parents not only suffered through my songs about warbling fruit, they were generally quite tolerant of my other forays into art, music, and literature. Ear-splitting clarinet practices, countless trips to the library, and incomprehensible early drawings. My mother still has a few of those drawings on which she wrote captions like: "Cynthia says this is a goat."

I was a daydreaming, shy child, and I will always be grateful for the time and room my parents gave me to be myself.

My favorite books when I was very young included HAPPY, a story my mother bought at the grocery store about a kitten who is found under the hood of a school bus, PEPPERMINT, a story about a kitten nobody wants who is adopted by a little girl (Can you tell I wanted a pet very badly?), FANTASTIC MR. FOX by Roald Dahl, and WINNIE THE POOH by A. A. Milne.

The first pencil-and-paper writing I remember doing was on a birthday card I gave to my grandfather. I was probably five years old, and my mother handed me a pristine, white envelope and told me to write Grandpa's name on the front.

And I did. In huge, gangly letters that covered the whole envelope, I wrote "ED" in blue pen.

I was proud of it, until I saw my mother's face. She had meant me to write "Grandpa" in small, lady-like letters, but since there wasn't another envelope, she said it would have to do.

My grandfather laughed when he saw my envelope. It was the first and only time I ever heard him laugh with complete abandon, until he had tears in his eyes. When he looked at me all he said was "thank you," but he meant it, and I was proud to have written something that made him laugh.

I grew up in rural New Hampshire beside a lake. We ice skated in the winter and spent most of the summers swimming and cannonballing off the dock into the water. My sister was my first friend, and one of our favorite things to do was to turn over our rowboat and find toads, whom we treated to surfboard rides and visits to the "Toad Motel" we created using trowels and paper cups in my mother's loam pile.

But we couldn't keep the toads more than a few minutes, so my sister and I finally ("Please, please, please, Mom? We proooooomise we'll take care of it!") talked my mother into a real pet. Spotsie the turtle lived in a tank that included a little island and a plastic palm tree, and loved bites of raw hamburger and deep-sea adventures in the kitchen sink and the bathtub.

Then when I was in fourth grade, we finally begged my parents into Peanut, a dog who was part Dachshund, part Pekinese, part Pomeranian, part Beagle, and all heart. He used to sit on the stairs, watching out the window for the school bus that would bring me home every afternoon, and he listened to my stories and all my deepest, scariest, truest secrets.

At school, I wrote the typical book reports, Abraham Lincoln reports, and "What I Did On My Summer Vacation" essays, but I didn't start writing fiction until high school. One of my first attempts was a ghost story. After a few chapters, I was giving myself nightmares! I remember lying in bed, staring at the dark ceiling shadows, afraid to move, saying to myself: "This is so stupid! You wrote the story! You KNOW it's not real."

I never did finish that story, but I did finish many others. I wrote plays for my Sunday School students to perform, poetry, family newspapers, even serialized novels that I passed around to my friends while my algebra teacher checked homework. I typed these masterpieces on a manual Royal typewriter with carbon paper to make the copies. I still have a few of those smudgy manuscripts, laden with strike-overs and typos.

In college, I had some short stories published, and even won a contest with one! The prize was a whopping $25 and publication in the magazine that had sponsored the contest.

Here's my first review:

Cynthia Lord's Mercury's Fall is the most worthy of the prose pieces. Carver-esque in style, it reveals a world of gloom, despondency and futility, but strikes a chord within us all. Thomas Ford could so easily be you or I, living out a totally useless life.

YIKES! Sounds dark and dreadful, doesn't it? It was, in truth, a partly humorous story about the disenchanted owner of a sporting goods store who accidentally conjures up Dionysus, the God of Wine and Merriment, in the basketball aisle (in between "gloom" in aisle three and "despondency and futility" in aisle five).

After college, I got married and became a teacher. I taught first-grade, sixth-grade, and even in a one-room schoolhouse. In those years, I wrote curriculums for educational publishers.

When I had my own children, I returned to the world of Winnie the Pooh and Happy and Peppermint, and all the wonderful new books for children. Some books we loved to the point of the pages falling out.

As my children grew, I returned to writing fiction. Now, I get up most mornings between 3:30 and 4:00 AM. I tiptoe through my dark kitchen, flick on the coffeemaker, and sit down at my desk. That's my own time, the just-me time to open my heart and spill it across white pages. Early morning is a beautiful time, still and dark, and I can smell the ocean many mornings when I open the window next to my computer. Often, the sun comes up while I'm writing, and my dog, Milo, comes in and lies in my lap. The sound of his breathing and my fingers hitting the keys are the only sounds in the room.

I've come a long way from the girl backspacing over mistakes on the Royal typewriter, reusing the same piece of carbon paper until the letters were ghostly pale. Now I backspace on my computer, and nobody needs to know how many mistakes I make.

Some things haven't changed. I still love watching words jump onto the page, and I still love making people laugh and cry and shiver with my writing, I still love to read a great story.

I've kept HAPPY and PEPPERMINT and FANTASTIC MR. FOX and WINNIE THE POOH all these years. They're on a bookshelf behind me, to remind me of the child I used to be, the one who liked surfboarding toads, sang the cherry song, wrote ED on the envelope, and scared herself silly writing her first ghost story.

She's the one I write for.

Bestselling author/artist Derek Anderson drew the very first picture he can remember drawing when he was in kindergarten. It was a picture of the Easter Bunny. When he finished it, Derek took it down to the office and presented it to the principal of his school who hung it on the wall of his office for the rest of the school year. Derek's fate was sealed. From then on, he knew he was going to be an artist.
When he reached second grade, Derek wrote his very first story and he's never stopped writing or drawing since.
Derek illustrated Ready?Set.Raymond! by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson and Little Quack by Lauren Thompson, for which he received recognition as a Publishers Weekly Flying Start. Little Quack quickly became a New York Times bestseller and has gone on to great acclaim winning such awards as the ALA/CBC Children's Choice Award and the National Parenting Publication Gold Award. Derek also illustrated Little Quack's Hide and Seek, Little Quack's Bedtime, Little Quack's New Friend, Over the River: A Turkey's Tale, The Potty Train, and Ballyhoo Bay by Judy Sierra, which was named a "Best Book of the Year" by Bank Street College of Education.
Hot Rod Hamster was published in 2009 by Scholastic Press. Written by Cynthia Lord (Derek illustrated), Hot Rod Hamster appeared on the Publishers Weekly bestseller list, was on Bank Street College of Education's "Best Books of the Year" list for 2011, received a Parents' Choice Award, the South Carolina Picture Book Award, the state of Mississippi's Magnolia Award and the state of Wyoming's Buckaroo award. Its sequel, Happy Birthday, Hamster was published in 2011 and was also named one of Bank Street College's "Best Books of the Year."

Don't forget to visit Cynthia and Derek's websites!

Day 252: Drawing Miss Rumphius with Barbara Cooney

Barbara Cooney and her twin brother were born on August 6, 1917 in Brooklyn, New York to Russell Schenck Cooney and Mae Evelyn Bossert. Because her father was a stockbroker, her family lived in suburbia, which Barbara disliked. She longed for her Grandmother’s home in Maine where she spent her summers.

Barbara describes her mother as an amateur impressionist painter and describes the guidance she received at her hand: “She gave me all the materials I could wish for and then left me alone, didn’t smother me with instruction. Not that I ever took instruction very easily. My favorite days were when I had a cold and could stay home from school and draw all day long.

“She was an enthusiastic painter of oils and watercolors. She was also very generous. I could mess with her paints and brushes all I wanted. On one condition: that I kept my brushes clean. The only art lesson my mother gave me was how to wash my brushes. Otherwise, she left me alone.”

Cooney attended a boarding school as a child. Never considering an art school and wanting a liberal arts education, she later attended Smith College where she studied art history and received her degree in 1938, a decision she was later to regret.

“I have felt way behind technically; and what I’ve learned I have had to teach myself. To this day, I don’t consider myself a very skillful artist.” Realizing that she needed to make a living at something, she decided that illustrating books was a career as good as any. She attended classes on etching and lithography at the Art Students League in New York City, not so much to learn these techniques but to improve on her black and white drawing skills.

She quickly received assignments after getting a portfolio together and schlepping it around to publishers, but, unfortunately, World War II postponed her new career for a bit. Recalling an earlier trip to Germany prior to the war and the horrors that she had seen there, she was compelled to join the Women’s Army Corps during the summer of 1942.

She enrolled in officer training and achieved the rank of second lieutenant, but was honorably discharged the following spring because of marriage and the pregnancy of her first child, Gretel. She married Guy Murchie, Jr., a war correspondent, in December of 1944. In 1945, the young couple bought a farm in Pepperell, Massachusetts where they ran a children’s camp during the summer months. One can only imagine that, perhaps, family life didn’t suit Mr. Murchie and the couple divorced in March of 1947, but not before having one more child, Barnaby.

With a young family to support, Cooney resumed her career in book illustration. She married Charles Talbot Porter, a physician, on July 16, 1949, and the couple had two more children, Charles Talbot Jr. and Phoebe Ann. They also settled in Pepperell where Porter was a general practitioner.

By this time, Cooney was illustrating several books a year and even wrote one herself now and then. In fact, it was for her adaptation of Chaucer’s The Nun Priest’s Tale that she won the prestigious Caldecott Medal in 1959. Even today, Chanticleer and the Fox is a perfect example of what can be done with scratchboard and pre-separated art.

Cooney was a stickler for details and traveled extensively to support her research. A visit to Mexico was required to study at the art and anthropological museums there. A visit to Finland was in order to meet with artist, writers and folklorists there. She would also study the land and light, feeling that it would help her to find the right tone and palette for her illustrations.

“’When’ is very important to an illustrator because the sets (the landscape and architecture) must be accurate; so must the costumes, the props, the hairdos, everything.

“It was not until I was in my forties, in the fifth decade of my life, that the sense of place, the spirit of place, became of paramount importance to me. It was then that I began my travels, that I discovered, through photography, the quality of light, and that I gradually became able to paint the mood of place.”

Other research trips have included locales like France, Spain, Switzerland, Ireland, England, St. Lucia, and Haiti. She has also been known to live the life of her characters, changing her own hairstyle to that of her character’s or inviting a family of mice or chickens into her home for an extended stay.

Twenty-one years later, Cooney again won the Caldecott Medal for Ox-Cart Man written by Donald Hall. Although the story took place in her beloved New England countryside, she did not skimp on the research. It was at this time that Cooney’s son built a dream house for her in Damariscotta., Maine, where she was to spend the rest of her life.

Towards the end of her life, she listed three books as being close to her heart—Miss Rumphius, Island Boy, and Hattie and the Wild Waves — all written by Cooney and described by her as being as close as she ever will come to an autobiography. Miss Rumphius won the National Book Award in 1983.

“Miss Rumphius has been, perhaps, the closest to my heart. There are, of course, many dissimilarities between me and Alice Rumphius, but, as I worked, she gradually seemed to become my alter ego. Perhaps she had been that right from the start.”

Hattie and the Wild Waves, the story of a young girl who follows her dream to become an artist, is based on her mother’s life; however, Cooney does admit that perhaps she may be the model for Hattie.

Cooney had strong feelings about what constitutes good writing and illustration: “How well an illustrator transfers an author’s ideas to his own medium is the measure of his success as an illustrator.”

From her acceptance speech for the 1959 Caldecott Medal: “I believe that children in this country need a more robust literary diet than they are getting. It does not hurt them to read about good and evil, love and hate, life and death. Nor do I think they should read only about things that they understand. ‘A man’s reach should exceed his grasp.’ So should a child’s. For myself, I will never talk down to—or draw down to—children.”

Cooney died on 14 March, 2000 at the age of 83. Her last book was Basket Moon published in September of 1999. A good portion of original artwork by Cooney is being held at Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine in their archives. Cooney also enjoyed gardening, cooking and photography.

Cooney’s style, regardless of the medium or technique used, has been described as primitive or folk art, which lends itself so well to the type of stories she has chosen to illustrate, mainly period pieces.

“I had always thought: once you succeed, change. So after that I tried pen and ink, pen and ink with wash, casein, collage, watercolor, acrylics—trying to fit the medium and techniques to the spirit of the book.

“I have done many, many books in black and white, it is true; but my heart and soul are in color. You just can’t beat color for emotional power, range, and subtlety. I’ve been working a lot with acrylics—I love their warmth and the ease with which they can be used. I’m also trying to incorporate colored pencils, so that I can do color line work. And lately, I’ve been experimenting with pastel, which is the purest color in the world. Pastels are pure, unadulterated pigment. Nothing refracts light more finely than pastel.[...]"