{"id":4364,"date":"2017-06-04T00:01:43","date_gmt":"2017-06-04T06:01:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=4364"},"modified":"2017-06-03T22:23:16","modified_gmt":"2017-06-04T04:23:16","slug":"7-imps-7-kicks-537-featuringup-and-coming-illustrator-mika-song","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=4364","title":{"rendered":"7-Imp\u2019s 7 Kicks #537: Featuring
Up-and-Coming Illustrator, Mika Song"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

I love the first Sunday of each month here at 7-Imp, because that’s when we all get to see the work of student or debut illustrators. Today, author-illustrator Mika Song<\/a><\/strong> visits. She’s not a student, and her newest book is not her debut. But she’s still relatively new to children’s lit, and I’m happy to showcase her work today. Let’s get right to it, because she tells us a bit about her work and shares some artwork and sketches below. I thank her for visiting. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Mika<\/font><\/strong>: It took me a long time to realize that I wanted to make children\u2019s books. I wanted to be either a nun or a philosopher when I was in grade school. In high school, I became interested in indie comics. I went to Pratt<\/a><\/strong> for printmaking and switched majors a few times before ending up in the animation department. I did many different jobs poorly and finally got a job as an animator, which I did for eight years until deciding to make children\u2019s books. In 2015, I won the SCBWI Portfolio Award, which made me feel like I was finally on the right path.<\/p>\n

I recently illustrated A New School Year: Stories in Six Voices<\/a><\/strong><\/em> by Sally Derby<\/a><\/strong> (Charlesbridge). I had the best time working on this with Susan Sherman, who taught me a few things. She encouraged me to work in a loose and simple style.
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\nI usually end up scanning my thumbnails and printing those out much larger to trace on to good paper for painting. I like to paint the watercolors over my pencil sketches and then paint the outlines with sumi ink after the color is dry. That way the ink doesn\u2019t smear, and it helps me find ways to keep the line open.
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\nMy first picture book that I wrote and illustrated, Tea with Oliver<\/a><\/strong><\/em> (HarperCollins) comes out this August. It\u2019s about a cat named Oliver who wants someone to have tea with. The character is based on a close friend. Looking back at these images, I realize Oliver has changed a bit since my original sketch. He used to have a club collar, but my editor Nancy Inteli and designer Chelsea Donaldson smartly suggested I update his look. There were lots of other changes. It was a real group effort, but when I look at the finished book, I somehow feel like I had always intended it to be this way.
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\n<\/a>
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A thumbnail sketch for <\/em>Harry and Clare\u2019s Amazing Staycation<\/a><\/strong>
by Ted Staunton<\/a><\/strong> (Tundra)”<\/em>
(Click to enlarge)<\/center>
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\n<\/a>
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“… I like her laugh, so I laugh, too.”
— Spread from Sally Derby’s<\/a><\/strong>
<\/em>A New School Year: Stories in Six Voices<\/a><\/strong>
(Click to enlarge)<\/center>
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\n<\/a>
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“… I wonder what Dad will think when he sees the poster of Meg White
and her drums on the wall above my desk.”
— From <\/em>A New School Year: Stories in Six Voices<\/a><\/strong>
(Click to enlarge)<\/center>
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Mika: “My favorite drawing in <\/em>A New School Year…”<\/em><\/center>
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\n<\/a>
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Mika: “My desk while working on <\/em>A New School Year…
It’s before I painted the black outlines.”<\/em>
(Click to enlarge)<\/center>
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\n<\/a>
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Sketches of Mia, one of the six characters from <\/em>A New School Year
(Click to enlarge)<\/center>
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\n<\/a>
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Mika: “A page from my first dummy of <\/em>Tea with Oliver
before I had found a publisher or agent for it.”<\/em>
(Click to enlarge)<\/center>
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\n<\/a>
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Mika: “Final art for <\/em>Tea with Oliver that didn\u2019t survive the Art Check department of Harper. I think one or more of the characters inexplicably changed their shirt
between one page and the next.”<\/em>
(Click to enlarge)<\/center>
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\n<\/a>
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“And the new friends sit down for a nice cup of tea.”
— A final spread (sans text) from <\/em>Tea with Oliver
(Click to enlarge)<\/center>
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\n<\/a>
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Mika: “Ink drawings for the final art dummy of <\/em>Tea with Oliver — without the speech bubbles, which I do separately and are digitally composited over the final art.”<\/em>
(Click to enlarge)<\/center>
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\n<\/a>
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Mika: “Ink drawings for one of the final art dummies of <\/em>Tea with Oliver.
In the book, Oliver sings as he sweeps: ‘Sweepin\u2019 the floor \u2026 what a bore \u2026.
I\u2019ve got the lonesome apartment bluuues\u2026'”<\/em>
(Click to enlarge)<\/center>
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\n<\/a>
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Mika: “My editor\u2019s favorite spread from <\/em>Tea with Oliver, when Oliver and Philbert finally meet. In the book Oliver says, ‘I\u2019ll never have tea with anyone now.’
And from under the couch the mouse says, ‘Excuse me.'”<\/em>
(Click to enlarge)<\/center>
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\n<\/a>
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Mika: “My favorite drawing from <\/em>Tea with Oliver: “So Philbert tries again.
This time he sends his letter by airmail . . .”<\/em>
(Click to enlarge)<\/center>
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\nAll images used by permission of Mika Song.<\/em><\/p>\n

Note for any new readers: 7-Imp\u2019s 7 Kicks is a weekly meeting ground for taking some time to reflect on Seven(ish) Exceptionally Fabulous, Beautiful, Interesting, Hilarious, or Otherwise Positive Noteworthy Things from the past week, whether book-related or not, that happened to you. New kickers are always welcome.<\/p>\n

* * * Jules’ Kicks * * *<\/strong><\/font>
<\/center><\/p>\n

Kicks one to seven this week: My friend, Robin. <\/p>\n

What about you? What are YOUR<\/font><\/strong> kicks this week? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I love the first Sunday of each month here at 7-Imp, because that’s when we all get to see the work of student or debut illustrators. Today, author-illustrator Mika Song visits. She’s not a student, and her newest book is not her debut. But she’s still relatively new to children’s lit, and I’m happy to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-seven-good-things-before-monday","category-picture-books"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4364","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4364"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4364\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}