current picture book project: Goldenlocks and the Three Pirates

It seems I alway have one foot in the current year (2015), and the other foot in some other era depending on whatever picture book I am working on! 

For example in 2012 - 2013 I was working on the intense illustrations for the picture book, The Fantastic Ferris Wheel (written by Betsy Harvey Kraft -release date October 2015 by Christy Ottaviano Books) -the true life story about American engineer George Ferris, creator of the first giant observation wheel built for the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, and nicknamed, of course, the Ferris Wheel! I was immersed in the iron and steel, steam powered world of 1890's America... the fashions, architecture, and design of everyday objects like telephones, automobiles, phonographs, horse-drawn wagons, steam trains, etc...  See my earlier post on the making of the illustrations for The Fantastic Ferris Wheel

Then in 2014 and straddling into 2015, I was working on the illustrations for the upcoming picture book, The Kid from Diamond Street (written by Audrey Vernick -release date spring 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) which is the true life story about a girl from Philadelphia name Edith Houghton who at age ten (in 1922) became a professional baseball player! -and at age 13 (in 1925) played for an all-female American baseball team that toured Japan competing against their male teams. Later in her adult life Edith Houghton became the first female scout for Major League Baseball! So while working on the illustrations for that book my mind is filled with the fashions and automobiles of the roaring '20's decade. See my earlier post sneak peek at the cover of The Kid From Diamond Street

Now, suddenly, I am working on my next picture book project, Goldenlocks and the Three Pirates (written by April Jones Prince -release date 2017 by Farrar, Straus & Giroux) the whimsical retelling of the classic story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears... but this time with a fun pirate spin. So of course all during the preliminary sketch stage process my mind is filled with period sailing ships, cannons, swords, treasure chests, skull & crossbones, peg legs, and all the pirate era accessories... in an effort to bring my illustrative flavor to this tale. 

Posted here are a handful of the preliminary sketches and character studies. I just this week sent off all the final sketches to the editor on this book at Farrar, Straus & Giroux, Margaret Ferguson. So once the back and forth fine tuning of the sketches is concluded, hopefully in the beginning of November I'll be commencing with the final illustrations. Once the entire illustration process is fully concluded, and submitted a more detailed posting on the sketches and final art images.

preliminary sketch: introducing the three menacing pirates

preliminary sketch: Goldenlocks is lured to the pirate's sloop

preliminary sketch: the three pirates searching ship for the intruder

character study: developing Papa and Baby pirate

character study: developing Mama pirate

character study: developing Goldenlocks

And in-between all the above picture book projects, I also illustrated my very own story WILD CHILD ...which was released by Abrams Books for Young Readers in August of 2015.

It's the fun romp about the scariest animal of them all in the jungle -and how all the other animals do their best to try and tame it, otherwise there will never be any peace and quiet in the jungle ever again. To date I have illustrated 24 picture books, and Wild Child is the fourth book as both the author & illustrator. Here's the cover!

WILD CHILD -written & illustrated by Steven Salerno

Visit my web site stevensalerno.com to view samples of my illustration work for advertising and editorial, as well as my many picture books for kids.

-latest illustration for The New York Times.... "City Sounds"

Posted here is a detail from my recent illustration for the The New York Times (art director: Carol Dietz) which will appear on the cover of the Real Estate section this Sunday, August 16th, 2015.

(see link to NY Times on-line to view full illustration)

The article is from the point of view of apartment living in the city, and all the sounds in the air, from the lovely to the annoying -depending on the listener. My illustration depicts an apartment building with different sounds emanating from each of the windows.... the detail view shown here is of a rocker playing his guitar. (It was created with charcoal pencil, gouache, and digital color.)

detail of illustration by Steven Salerno for the New York Times 8/16/15

I've been creating illustrations for the NY Times since 1980, just out of design school! As usual, it's always a bit of pressure to meet their tight deadlines....you just have to jump into it, fly by the seat of your pants and make all the visual decisions quickly, and hope for the best.

Visit stevensalerno.com to view all my various illustration portfolio sections and picture books for kids.

Project: goat cheese packaging label/ "billy"

Throughout my illustration career I have created many food and beverage illustrations and graphics for clients…. such as Williams Sonoma, McDonalds, El Paso Chili Company, Carrabas Italian Grill, etc… plus for many food related magazine articles and cookbooks as well. (visit stevensalerno.com and click on the ‘just food’ portfolio)

Recently I was asked to create some preliminary drawings of a goat character for a goat cheese label project. Unfortunately I ended up not getting the assignment from the agency (you know how that goes, you win some you lose some) but posted here is a prototype label graphic, incorporating one of my simple goat drawings. The simple drawing was created digitally: white line on a black textured background.

label illustration by Steven Salerno  visit stevensalerno.com

Visit stevensalerno.com to view my various illustration portfolios, for advertising, editorial, food, picture books, etc…

ARRRRRGGHHHH! Pirate themed picture book is next...

I am beginning preliminary sketch work for a new picture book project for publisher Farrar Straus & Giroux. It's written by April Jones Prince, and is a fun pirate-themed twist to a classic children's story... I am not going to mention the book's title quite yet, as it's not slated for publication until 2017.... best to keep it under wraps at the moment.

Like Father, Like Son... Pirate Style. Character sketches for next picture book project.

My normal process in creating the illustrations for a story, of course after already having read the manuscript a million times and after making visual shorthand notations on ideas for scenes... is to then create preliminary sketch studies of the characters within the story. Once all these studies are completed I then create a rough storyboard of the entire book, working out the scenes, compositions, balance and flow of the spread scenes, full page scenes, and vignetted images, plus the relationship of the text and image placement, etc... 

Once the storyboard is completed (which by the way is not shown to anyone) I then proceed to making all the full-sized final sketches based on the storyboard, making adjustments and improvements along the way. It is these final sketches which are then formally presented to the editor, art director, and design director at the publishing house.

She wields a better sword than ladle... Character sketch for next picture book project.

All the sketches were created with crayon, gouache, and with added digital color. 

Anyway... I am at the very start of the whole process, and what you see posted here are early sketch studies. So, the characters I have created thus far could certainly change and evolve further during the storyboard and sketch stages.....

A fair lass... Character sketch for next picture book project.

In 2015, I have two new picture books being released:  

WILD CHILD (written & illustrated by Steven Salerno -August 2015, Abrams Books for Young Readers) It’s a story about a new kind of wild creature that dominates the jungle, and how all the other animals try and tame it to restore peace and quiet. But nothing they try works. The wild creature just getswilder… until the clever Gorilla finally figures out a way.

The Fantastic Ferris Wheel (written by Betsy Harvey Kraft, illustrated bySteven Salerno -October 2015, Christy Ottaviano Books) It’s the true life account of American engineer George Washington Ferris, inventor of the giant observation wheel built for the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, and dubbed the “Ferris Wheel”. Visit my illustration web site stevensalerno.com to see the many picture books I have illustrated, as well as to view my portfolios for advertising and editorial projects…

For the past 8 months I was working on another picture book illustration project… this one titled, The Kid from Diamond Street. It’s my 22nd picture book thus far in my career… and the second time illustrating a story by author Audrey Vernick. (our first collaboration together was on her previous baseball themed picture book, Brothers at Bat -which was named a New York Times Book Review Notable Picture Book (2012), and also won the prestigiousCalifornia Young Reader Medal in Picture Books (2015).

Posted here is a sneak peek (cropped view) of the cover. This picture book will be released in 2016 by Clarion Books/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

The Kid from Diamond Street is the true story of remarkable Philadelphia girl Edith Houghton… who became a professional baseball player at age ten, playing for the Philadelphia Bobbies, and at age thirteen (in 1925) Edith was star player on an all-female USA team that toured Japan and competed against that country’s college-level male baseball teams. As an adult Edith went on to become the first female scout in all of Major League baseball.

The period illustrations I created for this picture book capture the essence of this talented and spirited young woman, as well as the look and feel of the 1920′s era… Flapper fashions, automobiles, ocean liners, etc… It is a lovely picture book, a compelling true story that girls, boys and adults will all enjoy.

See an earlier post about this picture book.

Look for The Kid from Diamond Street in spring 2016!

Visit my illustration web site stevensalerno.com to see the many picture books I have illustrated, as well as to view my portfolios for advertising and editorial projects…

In 2015, I have two other picture books being released:  

WILD CHILD (written & illustrated by Steven Salerno -August 2015, Abrams Books for Young Readers) It’s a story about a new kind of wild creature that dominates the jungle, and how all the other animals try and tame it to restore peace and quiet. But nothing they try works. The wild creature just getswilder… until the clever Gorilla finally figures out a way.

The Fantastic Ferris Wheel (written by Betsy Harvey Kraft, illustrated bySteven Salerno -October 2015, Christy Ottaviano Books) It’s the true life account of American engineer George Washington Ferris, inventor of the giant observation wheel built for the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, and dubbed the “Ferris Wheel”. 

Wild Child -first review from Publishers Weekly

cover art for WILD CHILD, written & illustrated by Steven Salerno
(Abrams Books for Young Readers, August 2015)

WILD CHILD
written & illustrated by Steven Salerno
Abrams Books for Young Readers, $16.95 (32p) ISBN 978-1-4197-1662-1
release date: Aug. 4, 2015/ available now online at Barnes & Noble, and Amazon

Publishers Weekly 
picture book review (May 25, 2015)

“The jungle can be a scary place,” begins Salerno, and his battle royale of an opening scene proves it, as an elephant and rhino point sharp tusks at each other, a gorilla swats at a vulture, snakes and leopards hiss, and a lion and crocodile leap into the fray. But the arrival of a “wild child” who is “Constantly grabbing, pinching, and pooping!” and “Forever pulling, kicking, and crying!” has these kings and queens of the jungle desperate to soothe the ill-tempered babe. Working in mixed-media, Salerno uses slashes of black crayon to outline his characters—it’s perhaps the perfect medium for conveying unadulterated rage, either human or animal. With fierce frowning eyebrows, a scribble of hair, and not a stitch of clothing, the wild child looks like a feral cousin to the star of Salerno’s Harry Hungry!; the animals’ attempts to sooth the child with bugs (the anteater) or roaring (the lion) only fuel its anger. Forceful writing and the improbable gracefulness Salerno bestows on this kicking, biting, punching machine make this a furiously fun read. 
Ages 4–8. (Abrams Books, Aug. 2015)

Visit stevensalerno.com to view my illustration portfolios, as well as my many picture books for children.

WILD CHILD ...my next picture book!

In August 2015 Abrams Books will release my latest picture book, WILD CHILD -my 22 illustrated picture book for kids, the 4th as both author & illustrator. (My first book with Abrams Books, and working with the wonderful editor Tamar Brazis)

Posted here is the final cover... a sneak peak!

It's the story of a new kind of creature suddenly appearing in the jungle and terrifying all the other animals with its annoying, relentless, bad behavior. Out of desperation to restore peace back to their jungle each of the animals try to tame this wild new creature, but without results. It just becomes wilder! Then the Gorilla finally figures out a way to tame it, at least for a little while...

The picture book will be officially released in August, but will probably become available on-line at Barnes & Noble and Amazon even earlier...

Sometime soon I will post more samples from the book including sketches, how I created the illustrations, etc...

Visit stevensalerno.com to view my illustration portfolios and all my picture books for kids.