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A Moment with the Art of Chris Sheban

h1 September 21st, 2017 by jules


(Click to enlarge sketch)


 

Last week at Kirkus, I chatted here with author Patricia MacLachlan about several things, and one of those things was her newest picture book, Someone Like Me (Neal Porter/Roaring Brook Press, July 2017). Today, I’ve got some art from the book from illustrator Chris Sheban. He also includes some early sketches.

If you like what you see here, I’ll have more soon. I’ve had Chris’s responses for a 7-Imp “Seven Questions Over Breakfast” interview for an embarrassingly long time. It’s taken me longer than I like to get to that interview. The good news is: This is because it will have so much art in it. But the challenge is that those longer, art-filled interviews take longer to format. Anyway, I hope to have that up soon (and I thank Chris for his everlasting patience).

The final art you see here below from Someone Like Me is sans text.

Enjoy! And thanks to Chris for sharing.



 


“If you were a little girl who listened to stories …”
(Click to enlarge final art)


 


(Click to enlarge final art)


 


(Click to enlarge early sketch)


 


“… walking home from the library,
reading as her mother led her across streets …”
(Click to enlarge final art)


 


“A girl who hid under the flowered tablecloth of the dinner table, watching the shoes
of the grown-ups who told secrets and never knew she was there …”
(Click to enlarge final art)


 


“… and loved climbing the cottonwood tree,
watching the sky that flew above her …”
(Click to enlarge final art)


 


“… and didn’t.”
(Click to enlarge final art)


 


“And followed people, listening to their talk
and their songs and how they laughed …”
(Click to enlarge final art)


 


(Click to enlarge early, abandoned sketch)


 


“If you were a girl whose great grandmother loved the smell and feel of prairie earth,
and ran through the grasses sending the geese on the slough to fly up
around and back again …”
(Click to enlarge final art)


 



 


“… and a white horse to ride through dreams,
you might be someone like me …”
(Click to enlarge final art)


 



 

* * * * * * *

SOMEONE LIKE ME. Copyright © 2017 by Patricia MacLachlan. Illustrations© 2017 by Chris Sheban. Published by Neal Porter Books/Roaring Brook Press. All images here reproduced by permission of Chris Sheban.





5 comments to “A Moment with the Art of Chris Sheban”

  1. LOVELY!!!

         by Kelmurphy September 21st, 2017 at 7:57 am

  2. Huge fan of his work! Chris manages to bring exceptional precision and technique to the page while making it always look relaxed, dreamlike and whimsical. Always a joy to see his art.

         by Tom Foreman September 21st, 2017 at 1:35 pm

  3. Chris is incredibly gifted and unique. Craft beyond measure. He’s both an illustrator and a fine artist. Thrilled to have a book coming out with him.

         by barbara bottner September 21st, 2017 at 11:08 pm

  4. Any possibility Someone Like Me might be a Caldecott contender? I look forward to reading/seeing more about Chris. This book takes my breath away!

         by Judy Weymouth September 22nd, 2017 at 11:15 am

  5. I was lucky enough to do a book with Chris–WHAT TO DO WITH A BOX last year. His imagination soars.

    Jane

         by Jane Yolen September 30th, 2017 at 3:59 am

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