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\nWelcome to the first Sunday of the month, which here at 7-Imp means the art of an illustration student or one newly-graduated. Today, I welcome April Zufelt<\/a><\/strong>, who has previously studied with (and I believe still studies with) illustrator Marla Frazee<\/a><\/strong>. <\/p>\n
Let’s get right to it. I thank April for visiting and sharing some artwork today. <\/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 My kicks this week, one to seven, are that I VOTED EARLY!<\/font><\/strong> And please tell me you’re going to vote, too? I have all fingers crossed that on Tuesday we can turn this country in a different direction. <\/p>\n What are YOUR<\/font><\/strong> kicks this week?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Welcome to the first Sunday of the month, which here at 7-Imp means the art of an illustration student or one newly-graduated. Today, I welcome April Zufelt, who has previously studied with (and I believe still studies with) illustrator Marla Frazee. Let’s get right to it. I thank April for visiting and sharing some […]<\/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-4752","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\/4752","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=4752"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4752\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nApril<\/font><\/strong>: I am an illustrator based in Los Angeles. I\u2019ve always been an artist who loves to draw stories.
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\nPicture books are my favorite form of storytelling. In the same way you watch your favorite movie many times, picture books are meant to be read AND enjoyed again and again. I think of picture books as mini movies. You have the visual narrative of the illustrations, combined with the performance (read-aloud) of the text. It becomes a little piece of theatre. I love that there is the structure of 32 pages, but you have the creative freedom to play with the 32-page format to tell a specific story.
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\n![](\"http:\/\/blaine.org\/7pics\/2018\/11\/aprilchicken.jpg\")
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\n![](\"http:\/\/blaine.org\/7pics\/2018\/11\/Shark.jpg\")
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\nMy favorite type of story to tell is funny with heart. There\u2019s nothing better than making someone laugh. Most of my stories have been inspired by real life situations \u2014 for example, a weird dinner party, sibling rivalry, a polar bear\u2019s hygiene habits. I carry a tiny notebook with me at all times, because I never know when inspiration will hit.
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\nMy go-to mediums are a combination of ink and watercolor or digital. I love the messy, loose quality that can be achieved by both. I do enjoy exploring different mediums to find the perfect one that helps best tell the story I\u2019m working on. I\u2019ve used cut paper, doll furniture, amd clay. That\u2019s the fun part of picture book illustrations: the possibilities are endless, and you can really get creative!
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\n![](\"http:\/\/blaine.org\/7pics\/2018\/11\/aprilskull.jpg\")
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\nAll images reproduced by permission of April Zufelt.<\/em><\/p>\n
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