PANTALOON -remake of the 1951 Little Golden Book classic

To see all my illustration portfolio samples, visit stevensalerno.com

In 1951, publisher Simon & Schuster's imprint for children, Little Golden Books, released another picture book in their long line of hundreds of little slim storybook gems entitled, PANTALOON, written by Kathryn Jackson and illustrated by Leonard Weisgard.

I think every kid in America, and millions of children in countries throughout the world as well, have owned or read one of these many Golden Books titles. Pokey Little Puppy, Taxi That Hurried, Tootle, and Saggy Baggy Elephant come to mind.

At the end of 2007 I was contacted by Roberta Ludlow, the children's book art director at Random House (Random now owns the rights to all those hundreds of Little Golden Book titles from the '40's, '50's, '60's, etc...) and was asked to illustrate their re-release of PANTALOON. (slated for release later in 2009 or possibly early 2010) This new version of PANTALOON will be a full-sized, hard cover edition. Random editor Diane Muldrow later informed me that their original intention was simply to re-release PANTALOON with the original Leonard Weisgard illustrations, but that Weisgard's estate could not locate the original art for digital scanning. So Random made the decision to have a contemporary illustrator give a new visual spin to the 1951 classic... me!

I was thrilled to have been chosen for the task to illustrate this tale about the baker and the over zealous poodle, Pantaloon. Who could pass up creating images about a baker, tons of pastries, and a dog who rides a bike? I also wanted to be a part of the Golden Books history!

In my earlier blog posts, you can view sketches and some additional spreads from this new book project. I also have images from the book on view on my own web site, in the children's book section.

http://stevensalerno.blogspot.com/2008/12/picture-book-sketch-to-finish-stages.html

http://stevensalerno.blogspot.com/2008/09/pantaloon-view-of-work-in-progress.html

I created all the images using brush and gouache, painted onto Arches 260 lb hot press watercolor paper, then scanned the paintings into Photoshop where I digitally enhanced some colors and moved some elements within the image to make it better fit the layout relative to the placement of text.

The text in PANTALOON is of course the same as it was in 1951... but my spin on it was to really bring out the nutty, frenetic character of the poodle Pantaloon, far more than in the original book. I did so by giving him a quirkier style bicycle, more animation to his movement (I love the original illustrations but they have a more static quality) and in one scene I combined his actions of playing the guitar, trying on hats, and taking a bath (which were all separate scenes in the original book) to purposely expose Pantaloon's goofy nature.

Posted at the top is my new cover art version and below it is the original cover art from the 1951 edition. Below the covers are spread illustrations I created for the new version of the book, with the corresponding illustrations from the 1951 edition just underneath.

I cannot wait to see the preliminary printing of the book!

Teens need an etiquette guide??

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Good manners have always been in fashion and always will be. Of course, that doesn't mean quite few a children, teens and adults, are not in immediate need of a little guidance on the subject of manners from time to time.

I remember a rather jolting scene one hot summer a few years ago here in NYC when I was in line at a drug store behind a big, hairy man wearing a tank top. He placed a few items down on the counter to purchase, one of which was a deodorant. The young woman behind the counter took his money and then as she began bagging the items the man nonchalantly popped off the cap of the deodorant and applied it under both his furry-mammoth underarms right there at the counter, then strolled out the store! The young clerk and I both looked at each in shock, probably to confirm someone else had also witnessed this gross violation of public manners! It is quite easy to see how children of such a man might not be learning the essential basics of proper social decorum, and would be in dire need of a manners guide.

Which brings me to a book project I completed recently. I had the good fun to illustrate the upcoming Emily Post book "Prom and Party Etiquette" How Teens Can Prep for Their Big Night ...written by Cindy Post Senning and Peggy Post. The project consisted of me creating a color cover image, and about 45 one-color line illustrations for the inside of the book, all on the subject of guiding teens in the proper way to conduct oneself for all sorts of social gatherings, both informal and formal, leading up the pinnacle of teenage social events, the Prom. I am not sure when the publisher, Harper Collins, will be releasing the book... probably this fall.

The initial art director on the book was Matthew Adamec, then the responsibility was passed over to Jeanne Hogle, all under the watchful eye of Martha Rago, the Creative Director on the project. I created all the images in Adobe Illustrator, drawing directly with a pen tool on my Wacom tablet. In fact I did not even do sketches for the project. 45 inside illustrations were required, so I just by-passed the sketch stage and directly drew about 70 final images based on the chapter text, of which the editors then selected their required final 45 images. Of course, some of the 45 images needed re-working... mostly modifications to the character's hairstyles and clothes. The reason why I by-passed the sketch stage was because the inside illustrations were all simple line art, and depicting simple scenarios, and so it was just faster and more efficient for me to draw the final images from my mind directly to the screen.

Posted here is one of the designer's early cover layouts, next is the final cover illustration depicting a row of teen friends as if they were posing for an informal photo. There are two versions of this: a limited color version, and a full color version. (I think the full color version is being used on the final cover design.) Next are a handful of the inside illustrations. In the book these images will be printed in just black & white... but posting them here in the blog, I added a splash of background color.

If you have a teen approaching their prom years, this guide really is a fun, practical gift book that they will use.

WILL RETURN BONUS -recession drawings

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The saying goes: A picture is worth a 1000 words.... but in these difficult financial times, the artist is forced to give back at least half of those words, so, currently a picture is only worth, at best, 500 words.

Posted above are a few of my quick, doodle-ish "recession" drawings from a sketch book. At the top Uncle Sam is looking bewildered sitting in one of his sweet bail-out cars. Next is a man hanging from a cliff burdened down with the weight of 2008, 2009, and 2010. Next is a drawing depicting an out-of-work Wall Street exec with a sign stating he'll give back any bonus money given to him... and at the bottom is the screen shot detail of the inxart.com homepage.

INX is a weekly collection of editorial illustrations satirizing current happenings in politics and society, which are leased to newspapers and other publications around the country and abroad for use on their Op/Ed commentary pages. The Creative Director is Martin "KOZ" Kozlowski. I showed my "Will Return Any Bonuses" drawing to Martin, and he selected it for inclusion into the collection of INX images for this week.

Fat Legs? Hairy Back?? -no problem!

To see all my illustration portfolio samples, visit stevensalerno.com

I illustrated the book The Style Guy (Ballantine), written by Glenn O'Brian (columnist for the men's magazine GQ), and I am just now getting around to showing a couple of the images here in my blog...

It is a fun, witty, lifestyle guide for men, giving advice on dress, manners, sex, grooming, dating, etc... and I was asked to contribute about a dozen illustrations, though I did not illustrate the cover. Posted here are just a couple of the images... the first image is about ways to dress to slim down your large legs, and the next concerns what to do about an excessively hairy back!

The Naked Truth...

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Every month I create a series of spot illustrations for Westways, Orange County Westways, and San Diego Westways magazines, which are the publications of the Automobile Club of Southern California, art directed by Creative Director Eric Van Eyke. Actually the illustrations are contracted to also appear in a number of their other car/travel publications as well each month. (Hawaii Westways, Texas Journey, New Mexico Journey, Alabama Journey, and Northern New England Journey magazines)

They are always on a variety of subject matter all revolving around your car, travel destinations, etc... and a recent spot image was for an article on the possibility of having to sell your car in the face of repossession during these very difficult financial times.

Posted above are a few of the illustrations... the top image is of an unemployed man, his last worldly possession being his car, and he's forced to sell it. (actually this is a rejected image. At the last minute editors decided showing a half-naked man was inappropriate, so I ended up doing a different image) The middle image (SALE tag) was about cheap travels rates to well known destinations, and the bottom image (two gas pumps) was for an article about how to choose the correct gas octane rated gas for your car.

PARK LANE -an ad project through latitude TRG/Dallas

To see all my illustration portfolio samples, visit stevensalerno.com

Usually, magazine and newspaper assignments have the quickest illustration deadlines due mostly to the simple fact that they need to ship the page designs out to the printers every week or every day. Advertising projects have more time, because the ad agency works in advance, and they require more rounds of sketch (comp) revisions and their client also take longer to approve final sketches and give the green light to proceed to final. Of course, my children's book projects have the longest deadlines...a couple months for sketches and a few months for completion of final art, but, all these various illustration assignment deadlines all overlap, so it seems I have deadlines all the time.

Last Thursday, late in the afternoon I received a call from Tammy Lucas, the art director at latitude (a division of The Richards Group) in Dallas, Texas. Her client, Harvest Partners, are the developers of a new retail/residential complex in downtown Dallas named Park Lane, opening next month.

Tammy had found her way to my work samples on the web, and felt I was a good style match for a series of advertisements they were designing for Park Lane... the first one being a depiction of the fountains that are a feature within the retail complex. The catch was that the final art would be due on Monday...

Most of Friday was spent back and forth negotiating and confirming the contract, signing forms, and receiving the art directors ad page "comp" (that had already been shown and approved by the client) which indicated the position of the ad copy, and that the image must be of of a bold, playful vertical spire of water from a fountain and use a specific green color, in my style. The ad image will be appearing in print ads (newspaper & magazines), direct mail, large format outdoor advertising, and web advertising.

Thursday night and part of Friday, I spent time creating numerous black gouache brush paintings of various decorative squiggles, swirls and curls of suggested fountain sprays of water, and scanned them all at 600dpi CMYK into Photoshop. (because I needed to create a high-resolution file, due to the fact that the design firm would also be formatting large size versions of this ad)

Friday night and half of Saturday I then created (in Photoshop at low-resolution 100dpi) about seven various comp versions of the ad image, dropped into the ad page template, and sent them off to Tammy in Dallas. These initial early comps used the different "brush strokes" I had created, all with added different simple background shapes. My intention was to keep the image simple, light, elegant, and with a playful feeling. And simple was the only graphic approach to take considering that final art was due on Monday!

Tammy then focused in on two of the initial comps, and I then developed those particular images further... but eventually just one approach was selected and even that one went through various mutations. The plan was to have the client review the "final comp" first thing Monday morning, approve it quickly, then allowing me most of Monday to complete the actual high-resolution final image. But the client ended up liking one of the earlier comps... so I went down that avenue on Monday, but that image was eventually rejected for the "final comp" Tammy and I had originally presented.

Now the deadline for final art was shifted from Monday to Wednesday morning! Part of Tuesday was spent fine tuning the final comps several times. Because this image was graphically very simple, the comps were allowing the AD and client to essentially see almost exactly what the final art would look like. A more graphically complex final image cannot have equally detailed sketches or comps. By late afternoon the "final(revised4x)comp" was finally approved, and I then spent until about midnight completing the final art and uploading it to latitude's ftp site. Whew! I was a hermit for five straight days, but it was a job that ended well, and the client was happy with the result.

Initially, my goal was for the image to be simple, elegant and a bit funky. The image ended up being much more funky, but it works. Viewers will love it's fun and energy... and a few may even hate it, but the image is definitely striking and will certainly stand out in the crowd. I applaud the client for going forward with this stylish approach, when they could have just as easily gone with a conservative one. I look forward to others in the series and working with Tammy Lucas again.

HARRY HUNGRY! -my latest children's picture book is released

Steven Salerno, Harry Hungry!; illus. by the author

40 pp. Harcourt 2/09 isbn 978-0-15-206257-6 $16.00(Preschool)
No measly Cheerios for this insatiable infant. Harry needs a more substantial snack, such as a mailbox, his father’s car, the neighbor’s house—and that’s just for starters. This sly caricature of the havoc a demanding baby can cause features an oversized, oval-headed cartoon tot whose disposition is ruled by the “GRRRRRR” of his rumbling tummy. At first, Momma tries to feed him, but after he hefts the refrigerator over his head and dumps its contents into his gaping mouth, she panics and calls for reinforcements. Yet what Momma, Papa, the army, and the navy can’t control, sleepiness can. Shrunk back to size, snuggled in his crib next to his teddy, the beast is tamed—at least until breakfast. To the retro-sixties line and colors popularized by such artists as Mo Willems and Bob Shea, Salerno adds an anarchic, very contemporary energy that’s all his own. (c.m.h) -HORN BOOK

Steven Salerno, Harry Hungry!; illus. by the author

40 pp. Harcourt 2/09 isbn 978-0-15-206257-6 $16.00 (ages 3-6)
Harry is hungry! And with his mouth open wide, he makes sure that everybody knows. Momma rushes in with a snack, but is not enough. Blueberries, cookies, the entire contents of the refrigerator- plus cars, a mountain, even the sky- nothing can satisfy Harry's voracious appetite. Will there be anything left for Harry to eat? More importantly, will there be anything left at all? Done in his trademark retro style, Salerno's bright, sweeping illustrations and offbeat perspectives instantly capture this tiny tot's insatiable energy, which is made all the funnier by his incongruously innocent-looking kewpie 'do. The chomp of Harry's mouth reverberates across the page, as does the grrrrrrgrrrrrr of his prodigiously rumbling belly. Luckily, just as Harry is about to reach up and munch on the moon, another familiar feeling comes over him. Harry is... sleepy. Children will delight in growling loudly along with Harry's tummy, turning story time into a rumbling, tumbling feast. (Picture book. 3-6) -KIRKUS


To see all my illustration portfolio samples, visit stevensalerno.com

My newest children's picture book Harry Hungry! (as both author & illustrator) is released in bookstores this week, and is already gaining positive industry reviews. Top image is the actual book cover... and below it is the first initial concept doodle I had for the cover image. The industry review posted at the top is from the upcoming March/April 2009 Horn Book publication... the next review is from the December 2008 Kirkus publication. You can see more samples from the book, as well as sketches by visiting the Children's Book section of my web site. 


Buy a copy now before they are gobbled up!