Showing posts with label illustrators for children's books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label illustrators for children's books. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 5, 2016

new Polar Bear story... doodles & sketches

Thus far in my career I've illustrated 24 picture books. (#23 is "The Kid from Diamond Street" written by Audrey Vernick/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and #24 is "Puppy Princess" written by Sue Fliess/Little Golden Books Random House -are both being released this year.
In 2017 I will have picture books #25 and #26 published... one of them being "Goldenlocks and the Three Pirates" written by April Jones Prince/Farrar Straus & Giroux) 

But of all these published picture books, only four of the titles am I also the author: "Coco the Carrot"  "Little Tumbo"  "Harry Hungry"  and  most recently in 2015 for Abrams Books, "Wild Child."

So I am always writing new picture book stories. Right now I'm writing one about a Polar Bear who travels from his home at the North Pole to try and find out why all the ice is melting and the days are getting warmer. Because I'm an illustrator, the great advantage is that as I am writing the story, even when it's still in a very rough preliminary draft stage, at the same time I can also be doodling and sketching the characters of the story, which sometimes can help me figure out how to shape the narrative. Posted here are a few sketches which are developing the look and feel of the bear character. They are all created with ink and digital color.

Visit stevensalerno.com to see my picture books as well as my illustration portfolios for advertising, editorial, food, etc...

polar bear story sketch. visit stevensalerno.com

polar bear story sketch. visit stevensalerno.com
polar bear story sketch. visit stevensalerno.com

Saturday, November 22, 2014

WILD CHILD (Abrams Books 2015) -my next picture book poses the question: What is the scariest animal in the jungle?

My very first illustrated picture book was published in 2000. And in 2015 my 21st and 22nd illustrated picture books for children will be released... (see list of all my published picture books to date)

details:
In the spring of 2015 The Fantastic Ferris Wheel (published by Christy Ottaviano Books and written by Betsy Harvey Kraft) will be released. It's the true story of George Washington Ferris, the inventor and design engineer of the very first giant observation wheel, dubbed the Ferris Wheel, in 1893 for the Chicago World's Fair. (a post is coming soon showing how I created these realistic period illustrations... a ten month process from start to finish)

And in the fall of 2015 Wild Child (published by Abrams Books and written by me) will be released. (This is my 4th picture book as author/illustrator.)

My new picture book story Wild Child poses the question, what is the scariest animal in the jungle? And it isn't who you would expect! It's not the Lion, or the Gorilla, or the Hippo, or the Crocodile... not even the Snake or the Tiger! In fact, the absolute scariest animal of them all is very small, with soft skin, and just two tiny teeth... but it's the terror of the jungle and has all the other animals on the run! 

Wild Child tells how the jungle animals learn, through trial and error, to tame this terrible tiny creature. Because if they don't, they'll never have a moment of peace and quiet ever again!

This post is just a brief teaser... Soon I'll post again about my upcoming picture book, Wild Child -with additional views of storyboards, sketches, and how I created the jungle animal illustrations using inks, crayons, and gouache, combined with digital composing and additional color.


(above: promo view/ not the book cover) Wild Child is Steven Salerno's 22nd illustrated picture book for kids, his 4th as author & illustrator. It will be released by Abrams Books in fall 2015. Visit stevensalerno.com
(above: view of character sketches in progress) Wild Child is Steven Salerno's 22nd illustrated picture book for kids, his 4th as author & illustrator. It will be released by Abrams Books in fall 2015. 
(above: view of an illustration in progress) Wild Child is Steven Salerno's 22nd illustrated picture book for kids, his 4th as author & illustrator. It will be released by Abrams Books in fall 2015. 

See my web portfolios for advertising, editorial, packaging, and of course, children's picture book illustrations at stevensalerno.com

Saturday, November 2, 2013

MON PARIS... illustrating a travel article

On a somewhat regular basis over the past handful of years, I create small spot illustrations for the Westways group of magazines (which are the automobile AAA magazines) for their DriveSmart and TravelSmart columns. The Design Director I always work with is Eric Van Eyke... (see my earlier post about these assignments).

But recently, I was also contacted by the Westways Art Director, Lori Anderson about creating a full-page illustration for one of their feature travel articles on Paris, entitled MON PARIS. (I think it is for their January 2014 issue of Westways) I said yes to the project before even reading the manuscript, as I had been eager to work on an assignment for Westways other than for the small spot illustrations I usually do for the DriveSmart and TravelSmart columns.

The key to this travel article was visiting Paris and hanging out in one particular neighborhood and purposely not indulging in all the expected tourist venues, but rather enjoying the nuances of regular everyday life, like a Parisian. The writer describes people and things seen while sitting at the same neighborhood cafe each morning over cafe creme, croissants and reading the paper. It is this scene that I illustrated. 

Posted below is the sketch and final drawings I created. The final drawings were all scanned into Photoshop, and then positioned, modified, manipulated, and layered with color and textures, etc... to arrive at the completed illustration...


(above)
This is my initial sketch. It is simply a black crayon pencil sketch with just a bit of gouache color indicating the coffee. Of course, I go though an earlier much rougher version before this one, but the sketch shown here is the level of "tightness" in a sketch I like to show to an art director, because ultimately it saves time. If a sketch shown to an art director is too rough, they have questions about it which then prompts having the do a second tighter version anyway... so why not just give them that level right at the start. Particularly in the instance of working with an art director for a first time. The more you work with the same art director, the more and more you can get away with "sketch shorthand" because they begin to understand what your final art will look like, even from seeing just a very rough sketch.

(above)
This is what I then showed to the art director. It is my initial B&W sketch which I scanned into Photoshop and added digital color layers.... which as you can see I elected to use just monochromatic yellows/oranges in the background and limited full color in the foreground for the coffee cup and croissants. This sketch was quickly approved by the art director and editors, so I had the "green light" to proceed with creating the final art. 



(above)
This is a close-up view of the waiter character from the initial sketch.
(above)
Based on the preliminary sketch that was approved by the art director, this is the "final stage art" drawing of the foreground portion of the illustration, the cup of coffee, croissants, and the Le Monde newspaper. It was drawn with black crayon, and embellished with black gouache (with a brush).


(above)
Detail view of the croissant.


(above)
Based on the preliminary sketch that was approved by the art director, this is the "final stage art" drawing of the middle portion of the illustration. It is of all the characters seen sitting in the cafe, walking the sidewalks, and standing at the patisserie across the street. It was drawn with black crayon, black ink pen, and embellished with black gouache (with a brush). Some of the tones were created by smearing the ink line with a wetted finger immediately after having drawn the line.


(above)
Detail of the characters sitting in the cafe.


(above)
Based on the preliminary sketch that was approved by the art director, this is the "final stage art" drawing of two of the characters: the waiter and the woman seen at the top window watering her flowers. It was drawn with black crayon, black ink pen, and embellished with black gouache (with a brush). Some of the tones were created by smearing the ink line with a wetted finger immediately after having drawn the line. (The "mutton-chop" sideburns and pompadour hairstyle on the waiter was as described in the article!)


(above)
Detail of the waiter drawing.

(above)
Based on the preliminary sketch that was approved by the art director, this is the "final stage art" drawing of of the background portion of the illustration... the building facades, signs, etc...  It was drawn with black ink pen, and black crayon. As soon as I created this background drawing, I immediately knew I had made the line work much too dark... but did not worry, because I knew that once I scanned the drawing into Photoshop I could then manipulate the line to make it lighter.

(above)
This is a speckled texture I created, done by rubbing a toothbrush into slightly watery black gouache and then "flicking" the bristles of the brush with my thumb (held about 12" inches above the paper surface) such that a fine spray of dots hits across the paper. I also used a dark brown crayon to then draw horizontal streaks across the speckled texture. This texture was scanned into Photoshop and layered into my final illustration.
(above)
This is a view of all the above elements that I had scanned into Photoshop, which were compiled in layers to compose the final illustration scene. I altered the black lines of all the the middle ground and background objects/characters so that these lines were now more of a sepia/brown color instead of black. This was done so the "still-life" objects in the front (coffee/croissants/newspaper) rendered in black, would pop more in prominence. I also faded all the middle ground and background lines a little bit, to also make it all seem further back within the scene. On a new layer I added in the yellow color and "erased" some of the yellow (effectively creating white) to highlight the waiter and make the effect of the steam rising from the coffee. The "speckled" texture was added over the entire composition but then strategically "erased out" so that it remained in only some areas, like on the buildings and also streaked across the street a bit.


(above)
Next, I added a layer of darker orange to bring more graphic richness and definition... which I also used as the color of the coffee in the cup, to help relate the foreground with the rest of the scene. Employing such limited color in the middle ground and background assists in making a very
detailed/busy area of the image to become more unified, and brings some needed simplicity to the overall feel... and of course also acts as a way of bringing more attention to the foreground elements.


(above)
Here is the final illustration... with blues and greens and more yellow added into the foreground objects.

(above)
Detail view of the waiter and the woman sitting at the cafe with her little dog. Here you can better see how I orchestrated the use of the speckled texture sparingly. I love the subtle, simple descriptions of all the little characters seen in the background.


(above)
Detail view of the lovers kissing, and the old man carrying his baguettes. The street is Rue Vavin, and the cafe the writer was sitting at is named Cafe Vavin... and I think it is located in the 6th Arrondisement.


(above)
Detail view of the coffee.


(above)
I also created a small spot illustration of the Eiffel Tower, to accompany the large main illustration. It was created in the same step process as described above for the cafe scene illustration...

I am looking forward to seeing the final printed copy of Westways magazine, the January 2014 issue. Seeing the images in tandem with the words (within the designer's page design) for which they were created is what it's all about as an illustrator.


Visit my illustration web site, stevensalerno.com to view all my portfolio sections... make sure to see my NEW STUFF section and all my picture books for children!



Monday, June 10, 2013

BOOM! -is released this week by Disney

cover of BOOM! -illustrated by Steven Salerno   visit stevensalerno.com

My most recent illustrated children's picture book, BOOM! (written by Mary Lyn Ray/published by Disney's Hyperion Books) will be released tomorrow.

It's a comfort story, of a brave little dog (Rosie) who isn't afraid of anything in her daily life, that is except for thunder and lightning! Last weekend the New York Times Book Review reviewed the book, along with three other picture book titles also having a 'rain' or 'storm' theme. This is my first book for Disney.

Here is the link to the book review.

And here is the link to my previous post on the making of the illustrations for BOOM!

Visit stevensalerno.com to view many of my other picture books for children, including
Brothers At Bat -which was a New York Times Book Review Notable Picture Book for 2012

Saturday, February 9, 2013

BOOM! ...a new picture book


This year the picture book BOOM! will be released by Disney (Hyperion Books), my 19th illustrated book! (as I write this however, I am not sure if the book is slated for a spring 2013 or a fall 2013 release date...)

Visit stevensalerno.com to see my many other children's picture books, as well as other samples of my illustration art for advertising, packaging, magazines, etc..

cover of the new picture book BOOM!  visit stevensalerno.com
BOOM! is written by Mary Lyn Ray and is the story about a feisty little dog named Rosie who is not afraid of anything in her cozy life... well, not afraid of anything except for thunder! Like most dogs, Rosie understandably becomes unglued in the presence of loud claps of thunder and flashes of lightning!

When this story manuscript was initially offered to me by Disney (Hyperion Books) editor Kelsey Skea (it turns out she and I are both originally from Vermont), I told her that I'd get back to her in a few days as I needed some time to contemplate taking on the project. But in reality, I pretty much instantly knew I was interested in illustrating this particular story... it was well written, and essentially I am a sucker for drawing dogs! 

The title of the manuscript at the start was "The Dog Who Was Afraid of Thunder" -and the little dog character did not even have a name yet. I expressed that the title unnecessarily gave away the entire theme of the story without even having to look at the first page... but it turned out that the title was just a temporary title anyway. So, by the time I had completed the entire process of creating the sketches and final artwork, eventually the author and the editor landed on the official final title of BOOM! -which I thought was perfect.

For anyone unfamiliar with the picture book publishing process, once the publisher contracts a story from the writer, then hires the illustrator they feel will be a perfect match stylistically with the text, it then takes about 6 months (for me) to get the final sketches and final artwork completed and approved. Once I submit the final artwork to the publisher's designer (for BOOM! it was Tyler Nevins), it then takes time for the designer to finalize the book's design in preparation for the printer... and then even more time is needed to get preliminary color proofs printed and adjusted before the book can then be produced for the first edition print run. 

This is a simplified account of course. There is a lot of communication between myself, the editor, and the designer all throughout the time I am working on the sketches and final art. Most people think the writer is also in the loop during the sketch/final art process, but generally they are not ever involved at all, in the same regard that the illustrator has no input on the text. The magic is in the editor having the special talent to find the right illustrator for the right story, and the end result seems as if writer and the artist worked together closely from start to finish, but in reality they are two very separate entities that get fused together in the final printed book. In all, my guess it is about 18 - 20 months for a picture book see the light of day and be available to purchase in stores and online. (Of course, this process time frame does not include whatever time it took the author to write the story!)

Posted here are some sketches and final illustrations from the book...  
^ initial concept doodles directly on story manuscript     visit stevensalerno.com
^ initial concept doodles directly on story manuscript     visit stevensalerno.com
The above two images are the actual printouts of the story manuscript I received initially from the editor. As I read the story I also immediately begin the process of doodling my gut feelings as to how I will depict the actions and scenes, etc... The drawings are very tiny (maybe 1" x 1.75"), very crude, just to get the bare essence of the what the final illustration might be.

^ study of main character, Rosie. (crayon)      visit stevensalerno.com
^ multiple studies of main character, Rosie. (crayon)      visit stevensalerno.com
^ a color study of main character, Rosie. (gouache)      visit stevensalerno.com
The three images above are initial sketches of the main dog character, Rosie, to determine her final look. In the text she was described as small and brave -but there were literally no physical descriptions as to what the dog looked like at all. Which was great for me because I could be the one making the decision as to what she looked like. As you can see I settled on making Rosie kind of a hybrid blend of bulldog and pug. My reasoning was that if I made her a breed of dog which automatically kind of looks "brave" due to the inherent visual look of the breed, then it would be a bit more comical when she falls apart upon hearing loud thunder. In other words, if I had made Rosie a thin, nervous type breed of dog to begin with, there would not have been as much comic impact when she gets unnerved by the thunderous noise.

^ detail of storyboard sketches for entire story (ink)      visit stevensalerno.com
^ single storyboard sketch (ink)      visit stevensalerno.com
The two images above are from the rough storyboard I create of the entire story, to decide exactly how I will stage each page scene, to see how all the images flow together, as well as to begin positioning where the text will be placed relative to the illustrations. These rough storyboard sketches are purposely very small, about 3" x 5", so that I can make complete changes to an entire scene quite quickly. The bottom sketch (dog running alongside bike) is a view of one panel from this rough storyboard.

^ preliminary sketch (crayon)      visit stevensalerno.com
^ revised final sketch (crayon, digital)      visit stevensalerno.com
Based on the finalized small rough storyboard sketch, I then create the full size first stage sketch (top image). Next I create the full size revised final sketch (bottom image), which is the version presented to the editor and art director for their review. These full size sketches accurately indicate the gutter position and the exact dimensions of the final page trim size of the book. 

When all these "revised final sketches" are presented to the editor and art director it allows them to clearly see exactly how I intend for the book to be illustrated, as well as indicating my suggestion where the text should fall relative to the art images. I never create color final sketches, as I want to feel free to work out the colors as I am creating the final artwork... however, as I am doing all the preliminary sketch work I am pre-planning the colors for the final art images in my mind. I think with BOOM! the only discussion about color I had with the editor during the sketch stage was that the color of the dog Rosie was definitely going to be white. Since the text never indicated a specific color for Rosie, I therefore had my choice... and chose white specifically because I knew it would be much easier for white to work really well with whatever other colors were around it.

^ work in progress of final art (gouache)      visit stevensalerno.com
Once the editor has approved of all my revised final sketches, I can then proceed with starting all the final art images... With BOOM!, rather than creating each illustration as a fully comprehensive painting, instead I create each illustration by drawing and painting independent components from the scene and then compiling them in Photoshop and adding some digital color. The image above is the final gouache line painting of the dog Rosie in progress (based on the revised final sketch just above it). The dog, the boy on the bike, the background, and even the little houses seen along the horizon line were are created as separate art, scanned into Photoshop, then composed all together to create the final illutration "scene." 

^ detail of final art (gouache, crayon, digital)      visit stevensalerno.com

^ full final art scene (gouache, crayon, digital)      visit stevensalerno.com
The above two images are of the final illustration. As you can see, the final art follows the revised final sketch very closely. By creating all artwork of the elements within the scene separately, and then composing them in layers in Photoshop, it gives me flexibility to re-position things, re-size things, try various different color choices, etc...  but because each element was actually still drawn/painted by hand, the overall final look seems as if I painted the entire scene all at once, in the traditional way.

^ preliminary sketch (crayon)      visit stevensalerno.com

^ preliminary sketch detail (crayon)      visit stevensalerno.com

^ final art on top of sketch (on lightbox)      visit stevensalerno.com

^ final art detail (gouache, crayon, digital)      visit stevensalerno.com
The four images seen above are all from the scene where the police and fire department respond to a cat caught up in a tree... which is actually not based on text in the story at all. The text states that Rosie is not bothered what-so-ever by "postmen, garbage men, policemen, or firemen." So, I had to figure out a logical (yet charming) way for all these various characters to be at the same place at the same time. So I created a visual side bar of the "cat caught up in the tree" just to get the police and firemen to show up in the scene, which already included the garbage man and the postman. The top two images are the preliminary sketch (you can see that I am cutting and pasting in various elements of the scene until I get the sketch just right!) 

Once the final sketch is determined, I can then proceed with the final art... the third image above is a detail view the the final sketch on my light box, with the watercolor paper taped on top of it and I am beginning to draw the scene of the firemen and policeman standing near the mailbox. Once I complete it, this final art element will be scanned into Photoshop and composed together with the other elements from the scene. (as described in the "dog and bicycle" scene shown at the top.)

The bottom image is a detail view of the final completed illustration showing the cluster of characters standing near the mailbox. It is gouache, crayon and digital.

^ detail of storyboard sketch (ink)      visit stevensalerno.com
^ storyboard and preliminary sketch (crayon)      visit stevensalerno.com
^ preliminary sketch (crayon)      visit stevensalerno.com

^ revised final sketch (crayon, digital)      visit stevensalerno.com

^ detail of revised final sketch (crayon, digital)      visit stevensalerno.com

^ detail of final art scene (gouache, crayon, digital)      visit stevensalerno.com

^ detail of final art scene (gouache, crayon, digital)      visit stevensalerno.com

^ full final art scene (gouache, crayon, digital)      visit stevensalerno.com
The eight images above follow a sequence from the rough storyboard sketch, to the preliminary sketch, the revised final sketch... to the final completed illustration. You will notice that in the instance of this particular scene, the only significant difference between the preliminary sketch and the final revised sketch was the slight expression change in the dog's face. As described earlier above, my process is to draw and paint the various elements from a scene separately, scan them into Photoshop, then compose them all together to make the final illustration. In this case, the green grass background was painted separately, the tub and water was painted separately, the bubbles and soap were painted separately, the hose, brush and bottle were painted separately and the dog and boy were painted separately. All these various elements were scanned and layered in Photoshop, digital color enhancements were added, then the file was flattened to create the final illustration for the publisher. So in essence the true "final art" is the printed book page. For this spread, the story text appears in the upper left side where the light patch of green was created specifically to hold the type.

^ preliminary sketch detail (crayon)      visit stevensalerno.com

^ work in progress of final art (gouache, crayon)      visit stevensalerno.com

^ work in progress of final art (gouache, crayon)      visit stevensalerno.com

^ final art (gouache, crayon, digital)      visit stevensalerno.com
The artwork in the book consists of full page scenes, double spread scenes, as well as various vignette images... the four images shown above are of one of these small vignettes, in this instance of Rosie peacefully asleep in the bed, not in the least afraid of the dark. At the top is one of the early rough sketches, the next two images are of the final art in progress, and the final image is the completed final illustration. This small vignette was also repeated on the cover's inside jacket flap.

^ work in progress of final art (gouache, crayon)      visit stevensalerno.com

^ detail of final art (gouache, crayon, digital)      visit stevensalerno.com

^ work in progress of final art (gouache, crayon)      visit stevensalerno.com

^ detail of final art (gouache, crayon, digital)      visit stevensalerno.com
^ work in progress of final art (gouache, crayon)      visit stevensalerno.com
The above five images show final illustrations in progress, and below a couple of them are also the corresponding final completed illustration. 

As I stated at the start of this post, I am not sure if BOOM! is being released by Disney (Hyperion Books) this spring, or later in the fall of 2013. But be on the look for sometime it this year. (These sneak peek images of the book certainly do not give away the plot or the ending!) 

So, if you have a young child who is afraid of thunder (or even if you are still hanging on to some childhood fear of thunderstorms), Rosie's tale will help alleviate the anxiety about the loud noises and flashes of light. Or, even if you simply just love dogs, you'll enjoy this book. I certainly had fun creating the art... and it shows in all the final pictures. 

Visit stevensalerno.com to see my many other children's picture books, as well as other samples of my illustration art for advertising, packaging, magazines, etc...