Got kids on your Christmas gift list who like, love or need books?

Allow me to hook you up with the 4:00 Book Hook, a fantabulous e-newsletter dedicated to children and YA literature. The latest edition features their annual holiday book gift guide and I’ve gotten the okay to post that section online :).

The holiday gift guide features author reviews and recommendations of some of their favorite children and young adult books on the market. With the wonderful variety of books for kids and teens, you’re sure to find something for your selective young reader.

For your convenience, I’ve uploaded the entire Holiday Gift Guide section of the 4:00 Book Hook–just click on the page links below:

4:00 Book Hook Page 2

4:00 Book Hook Page 3

4:00 Book Hook Page 4

BTW, my recommendations for three of my favorite recently-published picture books are on page 4.

Oh, and please don’t forget to buy your books from your local brick ‘n mortar bookstores or at independent bookstores online–not that nameless shameless one using books as loss leaders :(. This holiday season especially, let’s show support and love for true book-loving booksellers… just sayin’. :-)!

Happy gift giving and reading!

P.S. 4:00 Book Hook is a free e-newsletter for people who share books with kids: parents, home-schoolers, teachers, grandparents and librarians. Contact the 4:00 Book Hook at this email address for your free subscription: thebookhook@gmail.com

(The above image came from this article).

I was thrilled to work on the poster for this year’s Oakland Youth Chorus’ Holiday Concert. The title, Peace-ing It Together: Peace, Love & Music posed an interesting challenge since it was a rush job and I had to come up with a concept quickly. I put my attention on the word Peace-ing and thought of a dove. Christmassy, yes?

Then I sketched out the dove and placed a Treble Clef in its beak. This says “music,” right?

I played with a few drawing tools, comparing the various renditions in pencil, pen and chalk pastel. The chalk pastel won out. To give the artwork some extra oomph (plus, tie in with the young singers), I added a collage of digitally modified photos of the youth chorus on the wings and body of the dove. After tweaking the layout and type-speccing… Viola! A completed poster!

Be sure to check out OYC’s holiday concert this Saturday, December 10, 2011, 6 PM. Visit Oakland Youth Chorus’ site for more info.

Painting imaginary worlds is one of the best things about being an illustrator. I simply tune out the world around me and “access” an inner realm where colors sing, stories unfold and imagery pours forth in surprising ways. This is especially true when I listen to music as I work.

Lucky me: This summer, I worked on CD cover and booklet illustrations for award-winning musician, Kira Willey. Having worked with Kira on Dance for the Sun, her first CD, I was beyond thrilled to illustrate her new one, Kings & Queens of the Forest. I tried to capture the wonder and joy of the title song, Kings and Queens of the Forest, which celebrates our magical connection with nature.

Kira described her vision for the cover and I listened to the early tracks from the CD for further inspiration. Once I got the flavor of the music, I sketched out several rough concepts and showed Kira a tight pencil sketch (above). It took a few more weeks to complete the image which was painted with gouache, colored pencil and pastel (below).

Find out more about Kira, her music and yoga work with kids on this podcast.

When I first set out to blog, I fancied I’d be a happy, avid blogger. As an artist and writer, I love to share and exchange information. There were no how-to manuals six years ago when my earliest efforts were on Blogger under a different name. My method of blogging comprised of “winging it” and posting topics on a whim. So, I applied what I did to Just Sketch the blog I created when my first book was published.

Over time, the lack of structure made blogging lowest priorty and “life,” work, you-name-it, took precedence. I noticed that other bloggers were doing cool new things on their blogs–using videos, dong blog carnivals, etc. but by that time I had fallen out of touch with the world of blogging. I’d procrastinated and felt like I’d failed. I was not happy, nor was I avid blogger, after all.

But I didn’t want to give up blogging. According to a 2009 State of the Blogosphere report by Technorati, “70% of all respondents say that personal satisfaction is a way they measure the success of their blog.” I realized that I liked blogging for a whole host of reasons and personal satisfaction ranked high on my list. If I could find the fun in blogging again, I could be satisfied, as well.

So, how was I going to bring back the fun of blogging? I decided to get serious. :p… I attended a SoCal SCBWI “Cyber Promo Workshop” in Santa Barbara to learn from some fantastic kid lit and online promo experts– Alexis O’Neill, Greg Pincus, Lisa Yee, Anastasia Suen and others. It turned out to be a wonderful event hosted and attended by kid lit authors and illustrators from Southern CA. (I think I was the only northerner there!) I learned so much! (And yes, I’ll post something about it in the future!) I became enthusiastic about blogging again. (more…)

My clumsy sketch was made into a colorful image for Illustration Friday using Photoshop.

Last Friday, as soon as I found out the theme, I grabbed a ball-point pen and a piece of paper and started drawing the first thing I laid my eyes on: a little toy hen that resides at my desk. It was an experiment in expressing the theme using my left hand!

Here’s the original sketch:

Note: I am not left-handed. Can you tell?

I decided to modify a version of Botticelli’s Birth of Venus around the time I quit pursuing publishing. That was close to ten years ago. I spent several years prior with a very strong focus on picture books but that gradually gave way to frustration.

The industry was changing. While I was repped at the time, I had a hard time with the change. Externally, things looked all right. Internally, I was at odds with myself. I painted my heart out—pouring all my feelings onto canvas. I took three years off. When I returned, I was able to look at the painting with a “fresh” set of eyes.

Finding Your Path in Kid Lit

Sometimes I’m approached by people who want to write and/or illustrate children’s and YA books. I might sound like a broken record but I always utter the initials: S C B W I. It stands for the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.

One  thing I did upon returning to children’s books was join the SCBWI. It has been instrumental in helping me reach my goals. I do the work, stay focused, yada, yada. However, the SCBWI provides a ton of resources and helps me make important connections—even now that I’m published. I can’t speak highly enough of it.

Check out the SCBWI here.

Edited to Add: I’m attending the national SCBWI Summer Conference in LA in a few days. Can’t wait! Perhaps I’ll see some of you there? Cheers!