{"id":2503,"date":"2013-01-24T00:01:34","date_gmt":"2013-01-24T06:01:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=2503"},"modified":"2013-01-25T10:36:14","modified_gmt":"2013-01-25T16:36:14","slug":"what-i%e2%80%99m-up-to-at-kirkus-this-weekplus-what-i-did-last-week-featuring-jed-henry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=2503","title":{"rendered":"What I\u2019m Up To at Kirkus<\/em> This Week,
Plus What I Did Last Week, Featuring Jed Henry"},"content":{"rendered":"

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(Click to enlarge spread)<\/em><\/center><\/p>\n

Today over at Kirkus<\/em>, I’ll have a Q&A with author\/illustrator Melissa Sweet<\/a><\/strong>, in which we’ll discuss two of her brand-new picture book titles, as well as a bit more. That link is here<\/a><\/strong>. <\/p>\n

As Vicky Smith wrote here<\/a><\/strong> at Kirkus<\/em> this week, Black History Month is just around the bend. Wisely, she added: “[H]ere\u2019s hoping that the industry does not forget or neglect books by and about African-Americans for the next 11 months.” Since teachers and librarians will be looking for new titles for the dedicated month-long celebration (and beyond, we hope), tomorrow at Kirkus<\/em> I take a look at some new picture books for this annual February observance. That link will be here<\/a><\/strong>. <\/p>\n

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Last week, I wrote (here<\/a><\/strong>) about Jed Henry’s<\/a><\/strong> Cheer Up, Mouse!<\/a><\/strong><\/em> (Houghton Mifflin, January). Today, Jed visits to share art (a spread is pictured above), including a progression of images that shows the birth of the book jacket art. I thank him. Let’s get to it … <\/p>\n

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“Splash and paddle, wash and wade— \/ Cheer up, Mouse!
Looks like Mouse is sinking deeper. \/ I can make him jump for joy.”<\/em>
(Click to enlarge spread)<\/center><\/p>\n

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“Chirp and whistle, pipe and hum— \/ Cheer up, Mouse!
Singing won’t fill Mouse’s stomach. \/ Hearty grub is what he needs.”<\/em>
(Click to enlarge spread)<\/center><\/p>\n

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“Tuck and tumble, flip and flop— \/ Cheer up, Mouse!
Hey, where’s Mouse going?”<\/em>
(Click to enlarge spread)<\/center>
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* * * Book Jacket Progression * * *<\/strong><\/font>
(Click each image to enlarge)<\/center>
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Jed: “This is my initial line sketch for the jacket design. I draw directly into Photoshop with a Wacom tablet. I like sketching in Photoshop, because it allows me to make slight adjustments, without having to redraw the entire composition.
It really helps when you’re juggling nine characters on every spread!”<\/em><\/center><\/p>\n

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Jed: “Because watercolor is such an unforgiving medium, I like to plan out the different color washes in Photoshop. I then use the color mock-up as a guide while I paint.”<\/em><\/center><\/p>\n

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Jed: “You can’t beat real watercolor for texture and spontaneity, so it’s time to break out the brushes! I paint at about 130% scale of the final book size — to squeeze in as much detail as possible. There’s no sense worrying about finesse;
this will just be the base for later Photoshop work.”<\/em><\/center><\/p>\n

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Jed: “Next, I scan the watercolor painting back into Photoshop and continue the process digitally. The digital brush looks exactly like pastels
when applied onto the watercolor background.”<\/em><\/center><\/p>\n

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Jed: “I add contour lines with a thin digital brush.”<\/em><\/center><\/p>\n


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Jed: “Finally the talented designers, editors, and printers at Houghton Mifflin work their magic. They’ve done a great job! I’m especially in love with the
100% cotton rag paper — it feels so timeless!”<\/em><\/center><\/p>\n

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For fun, here’s the book trailer below. And here’s what Jed said (hey, wait … I should have named this post “What Jed Said”) about its creation:<\/p>\n

I studied animation in college, and even though my career has shifted over to publishing, I still get to animate every once in a while. This book trailer took about 3 solid weeks of work to complete. I cut the different illustrations into puppets, and animated them in After Effects. My super-talented brother, Jordan Henry, did the music. Some family friends did the Peanuts-style deadpan dialogue.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n