ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY ~ SPACE

The Children's Illustrators Talent Pool

This week I decided to take the plunge and add a showcase of sorts to my Children's Illustrators portfolio site.  As part of the Talent pool I am pleased to feature Gunther the Underwater Elephant as a lead in to my portfolio.  I updated the portfolio portion with some of the images from the book that I am allowed to display.

What is up with the WEATHER?

The new picture book, "Carla's Cloud Catastrophe" has been released.  Beth Bence Reinke's delightful, "WHAT IF" kind of story comes from a question that children may often ask.  "What if, one day, all the clouds fell from the sky?"

Carla's solution to the problem is the perfect ending to a fun filled adventure.  The book is available from 4RV PUBLISHING LLC and Amazon.com as well as any and all bookstores. All you need to do is give your bookstore the 

ISBN  ( 978-0-9828346-0-2 )number 

for them to order the book.  OR, you can go directly to the 4RV Publishing site and get your copy.

What on earth will the Mayor of Clarksville do with all those clouds?  Carla knows!

I always get excited when a book I was chosen to illustrate is released. This book has great appeal for boys and girls alike.  It is always a pleasure for an illustrator to receive a manuscript that has so many ideas for illustrations that you have to choose from the dozens of images that pop into your head as you read the manuscript.  It also meant that I had to stretch a bit to create some of the images.  My research included asking permission of certain people to use them as subjects in the book.  It also meant a trip to our recycling center and town DPW to get photos and sketches of heavy road equipment.  I was fortunate enough, at the same time, to have an entire road crew working on our road.  The machines they were using were perfect sources for some of the illustrations.

Illustration Friday ~ Swept

©Ginger Nielson

Oh, if only it was that easy to have the cares of the day swept away.  And who is ringing the doorbell?

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY ~ LESSON

©Ginger Nielson

One of the hardest lessons to learn is to know when to ask for help.

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY ~ BICYCLE

©Ginger Nielson

Dogs just love to ride!

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY ~ TOY

©Ginger Nielson

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY ~ DEJA VU

Sometimes I get the feeling I 've been here before, done this exact same painting.. over and over and over.

©Ginger Nielson

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY ~ WINTER

©Ginger Nielson

Flying Poodles is a BEST APP for Christmas *:)

An interactive story, written by Karen Morss and illustrated in a traditional style with children in mind, the APP is only 1.99 at the Apple APPs store.

CHRISTMAS APP BY: POODLE DOG PRODUCTIONS

RATING: 4.5 OUT OF 5
BUY IT? YES
IPHONE / IPOD / IPAD APP: $1.99
UNIVERSAL APP: YES

The book is also available at any and all bookstores with the ISBN ( 978-0-615-38490-0) reference and on Amazon.com for the full book price.

FLYING POODLES IS NOW AVAILABLE AS AN iPAD APP

This is something completely new for me.  The book I illustrated for the talented Karen Morss is now available as an iPad App.  Just in time for the holidays and at such a fantastic price.  I heard the audio and it is adorably enhanced by the sweet voices of the poodles.   Karen actually set up her own recording studio in home to capture those children's voices.  There is something for everyone in her story.

Just imagine what would happen if all of Santa's reindeer came down with the flu.  Do they even give flu shots for reindeer?  I think not.  You will love Karen's well executed rhyme as well as the emergency, the rescue and the unlikely heros who save the day or night as it may be.

                The app is available via  iTUNES and I think you will really enjoy the adventure.

the Sketchbook Project

I noticed in some of the sketchbooks, that collage, alternative materials, and prints were being used.  I am working on a combination of prints I have created, sketches I draw into the booklet and cut outs to create my story. The theme:  Science Experiments Gone Wrong.   I am approaching this with a picture book feel, a sense of humor, and some drama.   This is the opening spread .... I took the stitches out of the book and will resew the pages back in when I am done.  Got a lot of experience with that doing dummy books *:)

I am still working on the cover.  I have some gesso drying that I want to paint on top of.

The story I wrote is one that may never make it to the publishing houses, so I decided it was time to let it go and the sketchbook project is the perfect place for it to live on.

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY ~ DIARY

Peeking Inside In My Bath

Beth Bence Benke has written a charming picture book that is perfect for the pre-school and Kindergarten age child. Adventures at bath time include imaginary encounters with many creatures including a dolphin, whale, penguin, seal and many more.   I really enjoyed illustrating her book.Here is a peek at one of the illustrations.

The book can be ordered directly from the publisher at 4RV Publishing LLC.

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY ~AHEAD

©Ginger Nielson

In keeping with Earth day, yesterday, I hope you will allow me to REcycle this image of the Pied Piper AHEAD of a crowd of eager children. All but one left the village that day, much to the dismay of the parents of Hamelin.

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY ~ DIP

The first dip is always the hardest.  Our ocean water can stay very cold in the northeast.

©Ginger Nielson 2010

below is the original sketch from the drawing board

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY ~ HATCH

©Ginger Nielson

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY ~ PATTERN

(you will need to click on the image to see the whole spread)

©Ginger Nielson 2009

I enjoy making patterns for my illustrations and for my characters. Here is an illo from a book I am S T I L L creating with the pattern on the woman's dress added in a separate image.

Continuing with the Fold out book

Sometimes we may take on a project that expands in ways we didn't realize beforehand.

At any rate, I will continue with my revision of the original story about the little elephant. As a fold out the number of illustrations has MushROOMEd from 34 pages (including the front and back covers) to around 44 with all the flaps and fold outs. It is fun, and I know I will be happy with the end result.

It is also a LOT of work.

On the bright side, if there is one, *:) work is so slow right now that I have time to give this project my full attention and as I do things are looking better.

Here are some examples of the older version and the newer version. It is a bit softer, more tuned to the youngest market and hopefully more interactive with the fold out surprises I have introduced.

This is the older half finished version.

This is the newer sketch

And this is the newer finished painting.

All images © Ginger Nielson

Although you may not see much difference ... the changes are there. Lighter water with more sparkle and different ears that look more like a real baby elephant's ears. Also I simplified the background. This is actually only one half of a full page spread.

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY ~ INFINITE

"To infinity and beyond!"