uni the unicorn

Today is a very important day.  Today, Uni the Unicorn comes out!

I know I've mentioned this before, but one the big bummers of working in publishing is that you have to wait a loooooooooong time before you can really spill the beans and share a project.  I finished the art for this book last November, and since then I've been going crazy because honestly, I love this book. And that's not the babbling of an ego-maniac, either!  A book is a group effort, with the illustrator, writer, art director, designer, editor, and MANY others working together.  It's just very rare and special when everyone is on the same exact page throughout the process.  So, so, SO very rare and special!

I knew I wanted to illustrate this book as soon as I read the text.  This is kinda (usually) how it works: my agent will send me a text, that's just the words of the book, and I'll read through it and think about it, and talk to her about it, and try and decide if it's something that's right for me to illustrate.  This process did not happen on Uni.  I got an email with the text attached to it, I read it, and I immediately called my agent and said "GET ME THAT BOOK!  GET IT! I WANT IT!!!"  That was in December of 2012.  Feels like a billion years ago!

The process usually continues like this: I get in touch with the editor and receive art notes (written notes about what image should be on what page) and then start sketches.  For Uni, I got to make the art notes myself, which was so fun and awesome, and I almost can't believe that a total kid's book rock star super pro like Amy would trust me enough to do that, but she did!  

So much of the book is about Uni's wishing, and thinking, and dreaming about having a little girl for a friend.  I tried to show those ideas, but the way a child would experience them.  Like when you are 6 years old and obsessed with having a bunny and all you draw is bunnies for months on end.

You know that feeling.  That's the feeling that Uni has!

I'd also like to point out that Uni is not specifically a boy or a girl...there is no pronoun ever used to describe how Uni is feeling or what Uni is doing!  I've read a few reviews that describe Uni as a "she" and I find it odd...I was always thinking of Uni as this magical, genderless creature!  

Thinking of Uni as just Uni was helpful to the book overall I think, because let's be honest: a book about a unicorn?  That could have ended up completey pink and fluffy and rainbow sprinkles and cotton candy looking (which I have nothing against, by the by).  I think it's much more interesting as is though, since it never quite veers into completely "girl" territory.  It could have easilly been a story about a little boy and a velociraptor, if you switched out a few words.  

But yeah, there are some rainbows in there too, because c'mon, how could you NOT have rainbows in a book about unicorns?!

covers + news

Hellow out there in the bloggaverse!  Here's a funny thing about working in publishing: you finish working on something and then it usually takes about a billion years for that thing to actually BE published and released into the world.  I have a constant backlog of things that I can't share, even though I WANT to.  

So here's a couple of those things!  This is a book cover I did for a re-issue of Enid Blyton's Tales of Toyland.  Just so you know, if you happen to pick up this particular version, I am NOOOOOOTTT responsible for the interior illustrations which are...very bad.  Anyway, I finished this super long ago.  About last August.  I just got a proof in the mail last week!

This is the proof!  It changed a little bit but that's normal.  I think it looks preeeeeeetttty cool.  

I also did a cover for a middle grade novel (shown here with the bleed edge intact!) about a sassy middle child, Confessions of a So-called Middle Child by Maria Lennon.  It's not out til August but it's pre-order-able on Amazon. I had a lot of fun with this one, doing hand lettering with brush pen!  I also did all the little doodles in the bg in brush pen and then scanned them (and yes most are relevant to the story).  And I made a ton of watercolor textures for this one, too, which is also super fun.  

Covers are FUN.  It's just really low-stress to be only responsible for a single image.  Usually I've got a whole book's worth of stuff to think about, and continuity to consider, and all that!  But covers are just one picture you can concentrate on.  It's a nice change of pace. 

Other things that are fun: illustrating books for awesome children's book writers.  Below is a screen shot from Amy Krouse Rosenthal's website.  I'm illustrating a book by her about a little unicorn!  Yaaaaaaay!

Her website is: whoisamy.com

This won't be out for a LONG time, but this is a sneaky peek!

Another thing that won't be out for a while (but which I received proofs for) is a 12 Dancing Princesses themed alphabet flashcard set.  I'll post all kinds when that's done, but for now enjoy this photo of my cat using the proofs as a playground.

She does not take my work seriously.  

Or anything, for that matter.  

Some other 12 Dancing Princesses goodies are heading down the pike too...stay tuned!

And yes, I AM busy.  But I did have time to clean up my desktop and take a photo of it.  It will be fun to look back on a few weeks when it's a total mess again.  

Oh yeah...and one more little fun thing: I got a new tattoo!  A little anchor.  

perfect princess day

The e-book (that's electronic book) that I did for JibJab Jr. is now available!  It's specifically designed for the iPad (which I guess technically makes it an ibook, too?), and like JibJab's most well known internet goodies, it has a special customization aspect to it: you can insert your little darling's FACE right into the picture!

Or your own face, I suppose.  

This is really only a tiny selection of the final illustrations...there are 22 pages of girly goodness in all.  

Here are a few pages from Perfect Princess Day:

This book has lots and LOTS of animation in it!  All kinds of stuff moves!  I didn't animate it though.  Some talented cats over at JibJab did.  

Because it was meant to be animated, and I knew that someone was going to rummaging through my photoshop files (which usually never ever happens in illustration), it was super important to keep all the layers organized and labeled and separated.  Which was extremely time-consuming, but also absolutely necessary.

Another thing unique to this project was the whole insert-your-face-here idea.  It took me a while to adjust my brain to the concept that there would be, and there was meant to be, a photographic face in the midst of my illustration.  I know it doesn't seem like a big deal but I was trippin', regardless.  That grey void is where your face is supposed to be.  

Considering the animation aspect was a new thing, too!  Although my background is in animation I honestly hadn't thought much about it in...well, a long time.  Setting things up and allowing room for limbs and wings and faces to move around was a (kind of) new experience.  

I had the chance to imagine my own versions of the classic princesses: Cinderella, Snow White, Rapunzel and Sleeping Beauty.  That was fun!  Because the photo head would inevitably be a child's, I wanted to keep the body proportions child like so it wouldn't be like, a baby head on a grown up lady's body.  Ick. The rest of the princesses are ageless but very young versions of themselves as well.  Also, I took every opportunity possible to make Sleeping Beauty asleep.  Lazy girl.  

Oh yeah, and I got to draw fairies, too!

What does it look like animated, you say?  Here are some clips from JibJab Jr.'s Vimeo:

Perfect Princess Day - Page 18 from JibJab Jr. on Vimeo.

There are  more clips on their channel, too!

You can get the JibJab Jr. app and this book from the iPad Book Store!  Oh yeah, and you have to have an iPad to read it.  (I don't have one either.)