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| © Jane Smith • Shop "Sincere Thankfulness" Photo Card Design |
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| © Jane Smith • Shop "Tribal Trance" Photo Card Design |
Thursday, April 28, 2016
NEW Super Jane Thank You Photo Cards from Mpix
Thursday, April 14, 2016
Tuesday, April 5, 2016
Super Star Interviews: Emily Balsley
Welcome to my
monthly interview feature! I’m so excited to be interviewing all the fabulous
artists, illustrators and designers I’ve meet over the years (both personally
and virtually!) and sharing their artwork and experiences here on Bird Meets
Worm. Look for a new interview on the first Tuesday of every month.
This month I’m pleased as punch to be chatting it up with the fantastic
Illustrator, Emily Balsley. I’m a big fan of Emily’s graphic style and unique
characters! Emily lives in Madison, Wisconsin with her
sweet, creative daughter and loving, yogi husband. When she’s not drawing or
hanging with the fam, she loves riding her bike, doing DIY house projects,
perusing Instagram and chilling with her friends. You can view more of her artwork here!
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| I totally wanna hang with this hilarious bunch! Don't you?! |
A: Aw,
thanks! I really do have fun coming up with my characters, so I'm glad you like
them! Inspired by mid-century illustration, my characters start with basic
shapes and minimal color palettes. Sometimes, depending on their position, I
add sharp angles and long lines to accentuate certain movements. When it comes
time to add the features and details, I layer my lines and patterns on top,
trying to find a good balance of minimal line work, but with the most visual
impact. I am often inspired by the work of Swiss-American illustrator Roger
Duvoisin—the way he created amazing textures and environments by layering line
over shape—but in a thoughtful way—it blows my mind. I also love geometric
patterns (in design and life in general!), so I tend to incorporate a lot of
stripes and polka dots into my characters' outfits.
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| 10,000 Thrills indeed!!! |
A: Thank
you! For 10,000 Thrills, I wanted to find a theme that wasn't gender-specific,
incorporated animals and bright colors, and would be able to showcase my love
of geometric shapes and patterns. A circus theme seemed like the perfect fit!
Plus, the different acts would offer a lot of opportunity for fun little
vignettes. In fact, I started with those vignettes: I filled pages of my
sketchbook with them - trying different positions and angles. Once I had a
handful I liked, I fleshed them out a bit more. My goal was to incorporate
several different characters performing several different activities. I knew my
hero pattern would include most of them—but thinking ahead to the rest of the
collection, I would have an opportunity to zero in on specific sub-themes. For
example, when sketching, I was really enjoying drawing the performing dog. We
have a dog, who is a silly brown hound mutt, so I loved the idea of making her
the star of my tightrope pattern. Dressing her up in different outfits as she
tip-toed across the tightrope just made me smile. Yet, it still fit with the
circus theme!
Regarding the colors, I've always loved
the combo of pink and red. Pink COULD be seen as feminine, and as I was going
for a non-gender-specific collection, I decided to go with a bolder
"hot" pink as opposed to a bubble gum pink. It seemed to have a
harder edge to it. Plus it would pair well with the white and black that my
color schemes usually include.
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| Circus sketching awesomeness!! |
Q: You exhibited for the first time at Surtex 2015
with your art collective Happy Happy. During the year that has followed, how
would you say that that experience has influenced: your artwork? your client
list? your promotional efforts? And are you planning to return again this year?
Why or why not?
A: Yes,
after walking the Surtex 2014 show, I thought exhibiting in 2015 would be a
great experience and a good way to gain more exposure. And that it was!
Creating work and collections to show at Surtex was a first for me, as I hadn't
ever licensed my work. It was interesting building a portfolio of work that
wasn't for a specific customer. I created work that made me happy and hope that
it stuck. I had some success at the show, but generally speaking, I learned
that licensing probably isn't for me—at least at this point of my career! I
really like to work with clients closely to create work that best represents
their brand. On the other hand, though, I met some amazing people and made some
fantastic contacts. It was so nice being able to talk to people in person and
show them my work and ask them about their needs and start developing
relationships. My client list has definitely grown since showing at Surtex—as
has my confidence. The experience allowed me to build an extensive portfolio of
new art which has gotten a lot of positive feedback and the validation that I
can do this. All the work and stress and sleepless nights over the last few
years is paying off! That said, I will not be returning to Surtex this year. I
have been busy busy with lots of new work (including working with dream
clients!) and just don't have the time!
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| "Take me out to the ball game! Buy me some peanuts and crackerjacks..." |
Q:
Dish with us about your MOST favorite illustration projects: one from the past
& one from the present.
A: Ooo—that's a
tough one! I have to say, I love my job so much and I put my heart and soul
into each and every project, so it is REALLY hard to narrow it down. I can tell
you why each project is so special to me. Ugh!
...Okay—I just looked through my entire
site, and I responded the best to my "Women in Baseball"
illustration. I created it for Wisconsin Storytime,
a 2014 collaboration for Project Wisconsin. My assignment focused on the
inception of the All-American Girls Baseball League. As a former softball
player, I have very fond memories of throwing the ball around with my dad as a
kid. In preparation for this project, I re-watched A League of Their Own, and
fell in love with the movie and story all over again. I had a blast doing
research, poring through old photos of these female baseball players and then
drawing them was even better! This piece was one of the first times I started
incorporating my new shading texture technique and the color palette is so
"Emily". All of it—the nostalgia, the female empowerment, the drawing
process—made (and makes!) me so happy. I feel it really exemplifies who I am as
a person and artist.
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| How awesome is Emily's mural?! Fantastic!!! |
Q:
What do you know now that when you first began your design & illustration
career you wish you’d known about: art licensing? business? self-promotion?
A: Gosh, I feel
like I'm learning something new every day! In a broader sense, way back when I
first started freelancing, I wish I knew more about the business side of my
art, specifically talking about money. Like I said earlier, I love what I do. I
still can't believe that I get to make art every day. But this means that
because I love something so much, I often de-value my art. It was hard for me
to charge what it was worth because I found so much joy in creating it. And
then common sense started kicking in and I realized that my love and joy in
creating my art wasn't paying the bills. So I had to figure out how to charge
more and have those money conversations with clients that made me feel so
uncomfortable. Today, I see that it goes hand-in-hand. I know what I'm worth
and I can talk about it. It's not always easy, but it is a necessity.
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| So cute! So charming! So fun! |
Q: Describe your most perfect day.
A: My
perfect day would start with sleeping in to about 7:30am. I would have
breakfast with my family and then go for a long walk with the dog and Stella on
her bike. Then I would want to make some art! Drawing on the front porch while
my family hangs out sounds awesome. We would then grab our bikes and ride
downtown for lunch by the lake and play a couple games of UNO. In the afternoon
I would work on my computer for a few hours, followed up by a grill out on the
back deck. After dinner we'd veg out a bit on the couch while I work on a
weaving project. After everyone is in bed I'd head out for a drink with my
friends and toast my amazing day!
Thank
you SO much, Emily! We had a hoot chatting with you here at Bird Meets Worm and
can’t wait to see what you create next!
Friday, April 1, 2016
NEW Geo Pets Collection
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| Geo Pets Collection • © Jane Smith |
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| Geo Pets Shapes Coordinate • © Jane Smith |
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| Geo Pets Main Repeat • © Jane Smith |
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| Geo Pets Floral Coordinate • © Jane Smith |
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| Geo Pets Collection • © Jane Smith |
Thursday, March 31, 2016
Hooray for Chloe Zoe!
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| Super Jane Smith celebrating her new picture book, "It's Easter, Chloe Zoe!"! |
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| Super Jane Smith reading to the kiddos!! |
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| What a fantastic crowd!! SO much fun! |
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| Have you gotten your Chloe Zoe books signed yet?! |
Tuesday, March 1, 2016
Super Star Interviews: Ken Min
Welcome to my
monthly interview feature! I’m so excited to be interviewing all the fabulous
artists, illustrators and designers I’ve meet over the years (both personally
and virtually!) and sharing their artwork and experiences here on Bird Meets
Worm. Look for a new interview on the first Tuesday of every month.
This month I’m happy to be catching up with the superstar Illustrator,
Ken Min! Ken was amongst the very first illustrator friends I made when I first
moved to Los Angeles. We met at the SCBWI’s annual conference and have been
friends & crit buddies ever since. Ken
grew up on the works of Margret & H.A. Rey, William Joyce, and DC Comics.
He was born and raised here in Los Angeles and studied illustration at Art
Center, College of Design. He has storyboarded for various commercials and
animated TV shows such as Futurama, Fairly Odd Parents and
Pig, Goat, Banana, Cricket. His illustration work has been recognized
numerous times by the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators
(SCBWI). In 2012, the first picture book he illustrated, Hot, Hot Roti For Dada-Ji, received the Picture Book Honor Award for Literature from
the Asian Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA).
These days, you will find Ken illustrating,
storyboarding, writing, and dreaming up stories for children. You can see more of his fabulous artwork here.
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| Gesundheit! Gesundheit! Gesundheit! |
Q:
You have not just one, but TWO fabulous new picture books releasing this Spring
(2016)! Give us the full scoop on both Ah-Choo! and What Does It Mean To Be An Entrepreneur?—how the projects came to be, how you developed them
and what you love the most about each—you know, all the good stuff!
A: For a time, I
was privileged to help organize the local SCBWI Illustrator's Day event for Los
Angeles. One year I met the art director for Sterling Publishing and we became
friends. On and off, over time, I'd joke with her that we should work on a
project together. She'd laugh and say when the right book came along, she'd let
me know. And that project arrived in 2014. Ah-Choo! is a story about a
boy who would really like to have a pet, but his sister is allergic to animals.
He brings home a different pet and his sister pretty much sneezes throughout
the whole story (thus—the title) but in the end, they find a pet that works
out. I had a lot of fun designing the characters and all the animals. If memory
serves, there are 33 potential pets in all—such a range of different animals
that I had to Google about half of them since I wasn't familiar with all of
them. Since the sister sneezes throughout the tale, I thought it would be fun
if her sneezes (Ah-Choos) were different each time. Different graphics,
different looks/incidents. My first thought was depicting wooden letter blocks
young children play with and spelling out "Ah-Choo!". I liked how
that came out and tried coming up with different hand lettered type for the
rest of the different scenes.
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| Hmmm? Who to choose?! |
With What Does It Mean To Be An
Entrepreneur? (Little Pickle Press) my agent sent me the manuscript to look
over. Even though I was hip deep in working on the Sterling book, there was
something in the manuscript that appealed to me. When I can start to imagine
what I might do visually with a story, it's hard to walk away from a project.
On the surface, the manuscript doesn't necessarily have a narrative direction.
It doesn't give you a situation or structure. It's not set in a zoo or a farm
or something like that. But there was something inspirational in the words that
I thought would be encouraging to kids and possibly spur them to action. I
tried thinking of different activities that a child might do as a business—selling
lemonade, cookies, etc. I used to wash the family cars as part of my allowance
and somewhere in there, combined with dogs and the notion of a doggie (car)
wash came about. My art director liked the idea, but wanted to add a
fantastical element to it. She mentioned space and robots and I hooked in on
the idea of robots. Since a lot of car washes have automated elements, I
thought it would be fun to put robots in those places. Plus it gave our main
character a bit of a science/engineering background.
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| Super smart engineering girlie—awesome!! |
Q:
You are a talented animator & storyboard artist, having worked on TV shows
such as Futurama, Fairly Odd
Parents and Pig, Goat, Banana,
Cricket. How have your experiences working in animation influenced your
work in children’s book publishing?
A: Working as a
storyboard artist, the whole idea there is STORY. Visualizing how the plot is
narrated. What information you are feeding the viewer. Telling the story
visually, but also keeping it simple and straightforward without a lot of
clutter. Focusing on the key idea of each scene. All those learned techniques
really do carry over into working on a picture book. All of those attributes
for storyboarding are also the same in telling a picture book story.
Q:
In recent years, the movement to inspire, create and support more diverse books
for children has become a force. As an Asian American illustrator, what efforts
in the children’s book publishing community would you praise? And what changes
would you like to see?
A: The fact that
it's being discussed is a good step forward. And people talking with one
another, leads to action like we have seen with the "We Need Diverse
Books" campaign.
As for changes, I think individually, we
need to assess each story we write or each manuscript we're offered and look
carefully and decide what is the make up of the character we are going to
envision. Does it automatically become a "white" character or could
it be someone of a different ethnicity? Could the heritage of a character of
color add shading and depth to the story that wasn't seen on a first impression?
Definitely consider all avenues. Because what we produce goes out into the
world and should reflect what is going on. It starts at square one and is carried
forth from there.
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| Oops!!! That's SO cold! |
Q:
What was your most treasured picture book as a child? What is your most
favorite picture book now? Why?
A: That's a tough
one—coming up with a treasured picture book from the past. I don't have a
strong recollection from that time. Maybe Curious George. I always had a
fondness for the adventures of that monkey. And Pooh—although it might have
started with the Disney version before I came to appreciate the A.A. Milne
original. I do recall having this one book that was an album of dinosaurs that
I looked at constantly. I will say, the book that really got me
thinking about illustrating for picture books is William Joyce's George
Shrinks. I came across this while working at a bookstore. I think it was
the first time in a while that I really "looked" at picture books and
was just taken by all the different styles of art that was out there in the
market today. I had recently finished up art school and was looking for a
direction and finding that book really made an impression on me. Ten years
later... :)
As for a recent favorite book, that
would have to be Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen's Extra Yarn. I really like
the rhythm and the cadence of the story. When I'm trying to work on my own
picture book ideas/stories, I like to read other books to get my head in the
right space and this is always the first book I like to re-read. And the art is
just amazing.
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| It's all blue skies and good times! |
Q:
Describe your most perfect day.
A: It can be a
combination of different things, really. Working on a painting—when I get into
a nice groove, there is a nice flow happening that's euphoric. It can also be
spending time browsing through a favorite bookstore or lunch with my friends
that I haven't seen in a while. It can be watching a really good movie and
leaving the theatre on a high and savoring those choice moments. Taking in a
ball game and having your team come from behind to win. It can be a
"Ferris Beuller" style of day or a simple, laid-back day with a good
book. All in all, it probably comes down to finding those moments in life that
make you smile.
Thank
you so much for catching up with us here at Bird Meets Worm, Ken!
Congratulations on your fabulous new picture books!!
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