The Ward-O-Matic

Andrea Brown Holiday Card: Step by Step

2012-01-17T11:55:00.006-08:00

I thought for sure I had shared this here, but apparently the craziness of the holidays took its toll on me and I completely forgot. Better now than never, right? Well, I had the wonderful opportunity to illustrate the annual holiday card for the Andrea Brown Literary Agency. My agent, Jennifer, is of course, one of the agents and she asked if I could offer my talents for such an honor. I immediately said yes. Here's a little step-by-step of my process working on the card (click on each to view larger in Flickr):

Here are my first initial ideas put together and presented to the powers that be at the agency. Idea A was too similar to an earlier card that was done several years ago (and I think that I might've remembered my agent mentioning the idea to me and just had it in the back of my mind - by the way, the agency is based out of San Francisco, hence the 'painted lady' reference). Idea B would've been too involved, considering that our time was of the essence at the time (trying to get it out before the holidays, of course!). They went for Idea C, which I thought would work best anyway.

After getting all the reference photos of the agents together and doing some rough sketching in my sketchbook, I then scanned what I thought were the best rendition of each agent and put them together to see how it would all look. As you can see, the background was a separate drawing and I just shifted and moved around the faces until I liked what I saw.

After getting the composition down and all the agents in place, I drew over the rough pencil sketches on my Cintiq a more refined sketch - this was then printed out in greyscale and I drew over that (on my animation disc) the final pencil lines for each of the agents. They are all drawn separately, in order for me to have the freedom of moving them around, just in case.

If you look at the final, you can see that I changed the hair for two of the agents, as they had since changed their hairstyles. No biggie!

And violá! The end result:

I had such a great time working on this card! It's always a pleasure for me to do something Christmas-y or wintry - the ribbon-like lettering was really fun for me to work on as well.

Hope you enjoyed this process post! If you have any questions as to how I work or my thoughts on what I did here, feel free to ask away in the comments.

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T09:18:00.001-08:00

I've posted this several Christmases before and it's always worth posting again: The First Noel, a small Golden Book illustrated by the brilliant husband-wife team of Alice and Martin Provensen, 1959.

You can view the book in its entirety HERE.

Here's to a very Merry Christmas to you and your family.

Peace,
Ward

Peeping Covers

2011-12-09T16:53:00.004-08:00

Well, would you look at this! How about a peep at the covers for the two new books that I illustrated for Chronicle Books to be released next May 2012? Yes, you read that right - not one, but TWO new books:

NEW YORK, BABY!

SAN FRANCISCO, BABY!

This is the start of a fun series aimed at the traveling baby and/or toddler - a way of looking at each of these iconic cities through their eyes. I had such a fun time working on these books! Hope you can see my enthusiasm through my artwork.

Check out the first mention of the books by Elizabeth Bird of A Fuse #8 Production on the SLJ blog the other day: Librarian Preview: Chronicle Books (Spring/Summer 2012)

Yay!

New Sketches from New Books

2011-12-03T11:27:00.005-08:00

Well, hello there. I'm finally poking my head out from the long sabbatical I've taken to share some sketches with you. Character sketches done for two books that'll be released by Chronicle Books in May 2012. I'm quite happy with the final results - the final designs have some slight changes made to the eyes. The books are the beginning of what we hope will be a continuing series focusing on young kids (toddlers or younger). It's been a long road from start to completion, but the final results I think are wonderful. Very happy with everything (and I just so happened to see the color proofs earlier this week!). So, take a gander! (Click on each to view larger.)

Saul Bass's Henri's Walk to Paris to be reissued in February

2011-09-06T11:33:00.004-07:00

Okay, so this is big news to those of us who collect neat old children's books: Universe (the wonderful imprint of Rizzoli who reissue the marvelous "This Is..." series by M. Sasek) are reissuing one of the rarest children's books out there (well, at least in the circles I hang out in): Henri's Walk to Paris by Leonore Klein and illustrated by designer Saul Bass. As far as we know, it's Bass's only venture into children's books, and it's a doozy: incredible, bold colors, with glorious use of type and design. The best way to check out the book is by visiting Grain Edit, from a post in 2007:

(All images via Grain Edit.)

Based on how Universe has printed up the Sasek series, I have no worries in quality and color for Henri's Walk. Looking forward to ordering it come February 2012!

Summer Vinyl Fun

2011-07-28T14:07:00.004-07:00

Summer is in full swish here in the great NW! I know that most of the country is getting cooked right now, but here in Portland it's been hanging around the mid-70s to low 80s. Very nice. Anyway, let's put on some cool, fun records, shall we? Yes, let's.

The Firehouse Five plus Two: Good Time Jazz (sometimes listed as "Part Two"). Illustrator listed as "Le Goullon." Even though liner notes say: "During 1950 (when the eight numbers on this LP were recorded)...", I've been told that the LP was probably packaged and released in 1953.

Musicians listed:
Danny Alguire: coronet
Harper Goff: banjo
Ward Kimball: trombone
Clarke Mallery: clarinet
Monte Mountjoy: drums
Ed Penner: tuba
Frank Thomas: piano

The Firehouse Five plus Two was a dixieland jazz band that played around the LA area (and beyond) from the late 40s on into the 70s. The band is of particular interest to us animators mainly because most of the members worked at Disney at the same time - most particularly, Ward Kimball and Frank Thomas, two of Disney's "Nine Old Men." Clark Mallery and Ed Penner also worked there, while Harper Goff was an art designer for several movies (for instance, THE THING).

Big Moments LP, 1955. Cover illustrated by the awesome Gerry Gersten.

The dude is still alive at 84! Did caricatures for MAD Magazine, NY Times, TIME, Newsweek, Rolling Stone, you name it. You can always tell if illustrations like this are done by serious artists or not. Here, I can tell by the way he draws the arms, faces, the details in the clothing, dresses, etc. Very intricate linework that can't be duplicated by anyone with lesser talent. Believe me, I've seen some illustrations (like in vintage cook books) that look pretty pathetic. Here, though, Gerry does some wonderful work that's upbeat and lively.

Stars and Stripes Forever (1954). I know I'm a little late on the July 4th thing, but it's better late than never, right? Very Jim Flora-ish, it's illustrated by Ed Sorel. Interesting to see such a different style than what Ed's usually known for.

And now, to end this post on a good note, an ACTUAL Jim Flora cover! Checkit:

Memorable Music From the Movies (1956). Illustrated by the one, the only Jim Flora.

Sometimes you just never know with these covers, since I've seen many who would rip-off of Flora's work (see this one for example). However, just found out that this is, indeed, a genuine Flora cover. Here's a list of his covers, in case you might have one in your collection. You never know!

Very busy busy

2011-07-21T16:14:00.005-07:00

Been very busy lately, working on two books at the same time (a third, even, for a short while!). There's so much I'd love to talk about and share with you, but because of papers signed and so forth, I have to keep my mouth shut until the proper moment. I promise it'll be worth the wait. The late nighters are getting to me, however. Gallons of coffee has been consumed, and I'm only halfway done. Oh, well! In the meantime, I've updated my postcards to pass out, thanks to my awesome agent, Jennifer Laughran. The front features one of my favorite illustrations, Speaking in Color. Here's the back (click on image to see a bit larger in Flickr):

Self promotion is always a tricky thing. A great deal of artists I know hate to do it, or are just too busy to figure out a decent way to do it themselves. I'll be talking about this particular subject, along with a bunch of other things having to do with freelancing, being an artist and illustrator, children's books and publishing, as well as making the transition from full-time to freelance on the blog soon. All of this will be discussed just as soon as I finish up these books and get a few nights of decent sleep. So, stay tuned!

By the way, if you have any questions in regards to what I've mentioned here, or if there's something you'd like to talk about on this blog, drop me a comment or email (see profile page or my website) and I'll bring it up in conversation. Until then, I'll just go ahead and head back down to the basement.

Listener: Wooden Heart

2011-06-09T16:39:00.003-07:00

Listener "Wooden Heart" from Nathan Corrona on Vimeo.

A rare opportunity when visuals match the raw tone and spirit of the music and words perfectly. Shot and directed by my brother-in-law Nate. Music by Listener.

Watch it big. It's worth it.

Interviews With the Ward-O-Matic

2011-05-10T09:16:00.006-07:00

It's been a nice thing to say that I've been busy lately. Busy a LOT, actually. It's a good thing to be busy, yes. But I didn't plan on having several different things going on at the same time. Multiple deadlines and overlapping schedules are not my speciality. However, I've been able to manage it to a certain degree. It's just that I have to pull a few all-nighters or wake up at 4 in the morning in order to stay on top of things.

In the meantime, I'm happy to say that I've been asked to do a couple of interviews, which is always a good thing in and of itself. Shameless self-promotion, right? Never hurts. Plus, it helps when you dress up in a chicken suit.

Firstly, I was asked by Scrawl Brawl to be interviewed for their podcast Chat With a Brit. You can check out the (yes!) audio interview here: Chat With a Brit #8: Ward Jenkins. Amazing how modern technology is these days: three people conversing via Skype from two separate countries. Good guys, that Blazel (the Brit) and Victor. It was a lot of fun. Thanks for having me, guys!

Secondly, I was interviewed by the folks at Pinterest, the site where you "pin" images and things that you like, similar to an inspiration board. Not unlike a Tumblr, but not like it either, Pinterest sports great design and a clean overall look that's very appealing to me. Occasionally they'll interview some of their "pinners" on their blog, and they approached me right when I was deep in the muck of three projects going on at once. After hitting several deadlines, I finally answered their questions and now you can read the interview here: Interview with Ward Jenkins.

Actually, there'll be more. I know! How awesome is that! Seriously, I'll be interviewed by a few of my favorite blogs that I feel really encapsulate the midcentury vibe as well as the thrifting culture - definitely something that hits close to home for me. I'll be sure to let you guys know about these interviews when they're up as soon as possible.

Before I let you go, here's something I did for the Washington Post (it was one of those deadlines I had to hit last week). I had a lot of fun with this one! Always love the travel stuff. This one was about the resurgence of the travel agent:

Okay! Back into my dungeon and hit these deadlines as they're fast approaching. Will reconnect soon.

CHICKS RUN WILD Photo Essay Contest

2011-04-01T10:49:00.004-07:00

How do you RUN WILD? We (as in, the writer and the illustrator of CHICKS RUN WILD) want to know! Teachers and educators, this contest is a chance for your class to go crazy and run wild! Send entries to Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen and you may win!

And if you're not a teacher, send this to one you know! Here's a downloadable version for you:

CHICKS Photo Essay Contest Poster BIG

Mr. Handlebar Mustache

2011-03-30T13:48:00.002-07:00

To understand just why I would draw such a character, go to Seven Impossible Things and read up on the Drawing Duel illustrator Dan Santat and I participated in. If you create some snappy captions, there's a chance that you'll win copies of our books, signed even! And Tami Sauer's newest, as well!

The Chicken Suit

2011-03-08T16:39:00.005-08:00

Yup. It happened. The chicken suit was acquired and promptly donned on a beautifully grey day in Portland this week. Portlanders, in case you're wondering who that was dressed up as a bright yellow chicken walking across the Burnside bridge or crossing the road (har!) in front of Powell's, or having a Maple Bacon doughnut at Voodoo Donuts, it was me. I'm an illustrator. I drew a children's book titled "Chicks Run Wild," hence the chicken reference. This silly stunt was part of a crazy promotion to get people to know about the book, written by Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen.

I have to say, it was a lot of fun. Honestly, I probably would've worn the darn suit even if we didn't get 300 fans or friends on Facebook. But I'm happy to see that we exceeded our goal—a full week before the deadline! That's awesome.

So, here you go, Portland. Here you go Oregon. The United States of America. THE WORLD... Ward Jenkins in a chicken suit:

My Presidential pose.

My Profile pose.

Oh, hey. Look at that. I'm about to cross the road. IMAGINE THAT

Why did I cross the road? To read Chicks Run Wild, of course.

Chicken admirers. Sadly, I wasn't Bieber.

It's hard work, this shameless promotion-thing.

This is my favorite part of the whole book-drawin' experience: reading the book to the kiddos.

I paid a visit to the library to sneak a copy of the book in the bookshelves.

The librarian totally caught me!

More photos soon. To see more check out:

The Chicken Suit on Facebook.
Chicks Run Wild on Flickr.

Now you know, I'm a man of my word.

Chicks Caught Out in the Wild

2011-02-28T11:50:00.004-08:00

One the greatest experiences of illustrating a book is seeing it in the bookstores. The first time I saw my first book was so exciting - and to have my family there to experience it with me made it all the more sweeter.

The first time I saw Chicks Run Wild out in the wild was at A Children's Place, an excellent independent bookstore on NE Fremont - who "offer a wide selection of children's books for readers aged newborn to young adult." I was with Ezra, who was in a mood. He did NOT want to get out of the car. Too bad, bucko. You're coming with me.

Allow me to beam a bit as I share with you some photos of my first Chicks sighting:

Such a great little bookstore.

Regarding the cover: I've never been a big fan of the bold blue with yellow & orange letters, but I do have to say it makes it hard to miss the book. That particular color combination is not evident in the book itself - I wanted to go with a more tanish/salmon-like color with bold red letters (which would better connect with the pages within), but sometimes you just have to choose your battles.

It's in my contract to make this face when I see my book anywhere.

Ezra. Notice he's got his arms crossed, brooding. Oh, what a HORRIBLE dad I am, forcing my kid to go to our local bookstore! OH! the humanity!

Be sure to visit Chicks Run Wild on Facebook: I've been posting reviews (so far, very good!), photos (like these shown here), and sketches & artwork, etc.

And YES, the chicken suit is happening. Word on the street is that it'll happen this week.

Some Post-It doodles

2011-02-11T11:12:00.002-08:00

I got the urge to do a few doodles on some Post-It notes the other day:

Sure, why can't kids drink coffee?

I love how Post-It notes offer you a tiny square area to do whatever you want. I tried to keep it quick and simple. Minimal erasing (if any at all). Just throw it out there, see what sticks.

Jules Verne: The Man Who Invented the Future

2011-02-08T15:38:00.005-08:00

As I recuperate from several all-night work sessions because of three maddening deadlines, all within a week of each other, and before I start calling costume rental places asking if they have any chicken suits available, thought I'd share with you all some wonderful illustrations from this neato book on the futurist author Jules Verne. Considering that it's Mr. Verne's birthday today, consider this a little celebration for a man who stirred many an imagination with his wild and hairy stories, well over one-and-a-half centuries ago.

Jules Verne: The Man Who Invented the Future by Franz Born illustrated by Peter P. Plasencia ©1964 Prentice-Hall, Inc.

A great book, with even greater illustrations by Peter P. Plasencia, who, as you may recall, illustrated the wonderful Space Alphabet book. I love seeing how Peter utilized the gouache to create various depths of field by the use of the subtle shades of grey. All the while, flattening the space within the composition. Superb work. Love it.

Great use of flattened perspective here.

LOVE this piece. Fantastic composition!

This illustration accompanies the text that Jules Verne's works greatly inspired the explorer Richard Byrd, who flew over the Arctic (pictured here).

I know Verne is not an official "futurist" or "futurologist," but I'd like to think of him as such.

Actually, I'd love to become a futurologist, just so I can say, "I'm a futurologist." Sounds real nice when it rolls off the tongue.

Box full o' CHICKS

2011-01-27T09:30:00.003-08:00

A box arrived at my doorstep the other day. This is what I found when I opened it:

It's always a happy moment to open up that box and see your books all printed up and looking nice. A very happy moment indeed.

It's even better to hold the book in your hand.

It's quite an honor to have something like this printed up and see it on the bookshelves. Well, I haven't been out that much lately, so I'm assuming the books are in bookstores at this time. Seeing as the book was officially released on the 25th, I'd like to think that yes, the books are available NOW! Go now! Buy buy buy! Spend spend spend! AND, if you could, go to your local independent bookstore to buy your copy of the book there. They'd thank you for it.

Coming soon: more photos. (Of course!) And a CHICKS RUN WILD photo contest! Stay tuned.

You Did It

2011-01-20T11:19:00.004-08:00

Well, you guys did it! We reached 300 friends (or likes) on CHICKS RUN WILD's Facebook page and now I will dress up in a chicken suit and prance around downtown Portland (and other locations in the city) for all to gawk and ponder at in the very near future. (I've been very busy lately and haven't had the time or energy to do anything chicken suit-related.) I'm actually looking forward to doing this stunt. Very curious to see the reactions I'll get when I walk around town. Pretty sure some witnesses won't even break stride.

To offer some sort of prize for everyone who participated, here are some scans of the very first sketches I did for the book. I already had the ball-like look of the little chicks in mind when I first started drawing some ideas in my sketchbook oh, so long ago. (These drawings are dated August 30th, 2009 - I've been done with all the artwork for CHICKS since February of last year!) Enjoy:

To keep up to date with anything happening with the book, including listings of any appearances or readings that both the author, Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen, and I will be doing for CHICKS, as well as sketches, drawings, artwork, reviews, etc., be sure to like us on the CHICKS RUN WILD Facebook page! If any kids get inspired to draw their own wild runnin' chicks, we'll post them there as well. Should be a lot of fun.

CHICKS RUN WILD will be released on January 25th - in FIVE DAYS. Can't wait!

Happy New Year & Happy Chicken Suit

2011-01-15T10:12:00.002-08:00

Happy 2011! I know it's two weeks into it, but better late than never, right? Well, what better way to start off the new year than to post a pic of me in a chicken suit?

Nothing like good ol' fashioned shameless self-promotion to get the ball rolling for 2011. Yes! My newest children's book, CHICKS RUN WILD will be released later on this month, on January 25th. If we get 300 friends (or "likes", however you want to say it) for CHICKS on Facebook, then I'll wear a chicken suit out in public. Seriously. I'll get my wife, Andrea, to take photographic evidence (both photos and video) for those doubting Thomas's out there, and will post it all here and on the CHICKS Facebook page for everyone to gawk at. I mean, c'mon! Who wouldn't want to see your favorite neighborhood illustrator don a big suit of feathers and make a big fool of himself? Out in public? I thought so.

We've been stalled at around 232. Go tell your friends!

Go here: Chicks Run Wild on Facebook.

If you'd like to take a look at what's inside the book, you can check out the CHICKS pages on my website HERE.

hello, little snowflake

2010-12-29T13:37:00.001-08:00

Thank you for showing up today.

The Golden Bible: New Testament by The Provensens

2010-12-24T23:20:00.003-08:00

Alice and Martin Provensen created some beautiful work for this giant Golden Book edition of The Golden Bible: The New Testament from 1953. Absolutely brilliant. I find it hard to take my eyes off these pages. When I look at their work, I feel hopeful, joyous, optimistic. Much like the idea of what Jesus's birth was meant to be: the promise of something new. Of joy and peace. Happiness. When I look at these illustrations, I am happy:

The Golden Bible: New Testament; Edited and arranged by Elsa Jane Werner; Illustrated by Alice and Martin Provensen. © 1953, Simon and Schuster.

I'm sitting here looking out at a scene that's covered in over a half foot of freshly fallen snow. It is Christmas Day. I feel peaceful, I feel optimistic. I wish the same for your Christmas.

A very Merry Christmas to you and yours,

- Ward Jenkins

It's that time of year again

2010-12-23T18:59:00.002-08:00

Here's a recent Keyword Analysis done for The Ward-O-Matic. These are keywords that have been used in various search engines and therefore were directed to my blog. Yeah, I think it's Christmastime here at ye olde blogge:

9 Hits 6.08% -- Polar express creepy
6 Hits 4.05% -- ashley wood
6 Hits 4.05% -- polar express eyes
5 Hits 3.38% -- polar express uncanny valley
5 Hits 3.38% -- toot whistle plunk and boom images
5 Hits 3.38% -- underground shelter
4 Hits 2.70% -- The Polar Express creepy
4 Hits 2.70% -- the polar express uncanny valley
3 Hits 2.03% -- Making of the Polar Express
3 Hits 2.03% -- nice pamphlet
3 Hits 2.03% -- polar express analysis
3 Hits 2.03% -- polar express characters
3 Hits 2.03% -- the making of polar express
3 Hits 2.03% -- the making of the polar express
3 Hits 2.03% -- the polar express eyes
3 Hits 2.03% -- toot whistle plunk and boom
2 Hits 1.35% -- "Redux Riding Hood" rapidshare
2 Hits 1.35% -- explain the polar express movie
2 Hits 1.35% -- fallout shelter
2 Hits 1.35% -- guy polar express
2 Hits 1.35% -- how was polar express made
2 Hits 1.35% -- nightmare before christmas characters
2 Hits 1.35% -- polar express making of
2 Hits 1.35% -- polar expresss was creepy
2 Hits 1.35% -- polarexpress making of
2 Hits 1.35% -- the polar express
2 Hits 1.35% -- uncanny valley polar express
2 Hits 1.35% -- wardomatic
1 Hit 0.68% -- " figure model" stories
1 Hit 0.68% -- "joseph kennedy" "john canemaker"
1 Hit 0.68% -- "why the polar express is so creepy"
1 Hit 0.68% -- blogspot.com/2005_02
1 Hit 0.68% -- bomb shelklters
1 Hit 0.68% -- christmas 1956
1 Hit 0.68% -- christmas ideals issue 1956
1 Hit 0.68% -- christmas in the air
1 Hit 0.68% -- creepy polar express
1 Hit 0.68% -- dream worlds картинки
1 Hit 0.68% -- etiquette blogs
1 Hit 0.68% -- fallout shelter handbook
1 Hit 0.68% -- fallout shelter schematic
1 Hit 0.68% -- falout shelter
1 Hit 0.68% -- Gerald mcboing hellboy
1 Hit 0.68% -- how did they make polar express?
1 Hit 0.68% -- How did they make the polar express
1 Hit 0.68% -- how do they make polar express animation
1 Hit 0.68% -- how much money did polar express make?
1 Hit 0.68% -- image blogging etiquette
1 Hit 0.68% -- John lasseter draw
1 Hit 0.68% -- Kids in space
1 Hit 0.68% -- kind of animation in Polar Express
1 Hit 0.68% -- mad men party
1 Hit 0.68% -- MELODY TOOT WHISTLE PLUNK AND BOOM
1 Hit 0.68% -- motion capture polar express
1 Hit 0.68% -- nuclear shelter
1 Hit 0.68% -- old fallout shelters scotland
1 Hit 0.68% -- polar express
1 Hit 0.68% -- polar express actors
1 Hit 0.68% -- polar express animation
1 Hit 0.68% -- polar express animation sucks
1 Hit 0.68% -- polar express engineer picture
1 Hit 0.68% -- polar express horrible aimation
1 Hit 0.68% -- polar express how it was made
1 Hit 0.68% -- polar express movie animation creepy
1 Hit 0.68% -- polar express performance captures
1 Hit 0.68% -- polar express zombie
1 Hit 0.68% -- polatr expres creepy eyes
1 Hit 0.68% -- provensens
1 Hit 0.68% -- suzy sparrow
1 Hit 0.68% -- The Christmas Angel book
1 Hit 0.68% -- the nightmare before christmas cemetery images
1 Hit 0.68% -- tom hanks polar express side by side pictures
1 Hit 0.68% -- TWICE UPON A TIME download
1 Hit 0.68% -- twice upon a time john korty
1 Hit 0.68% -- uncanny valley the polar express
1 Hit 0.68% -- uncle wiggly images
1 Hit 0.68% -- virtual polar express
1 Hit 0.68% -- ward jenkins
1 Hit 0.68% -- ward jenkins etsy
1 Hit 0.68% -- wardjenkins
1 Hit 0.68% -- what kind of animation is polar express?
1 Hit 0.68% -- what kind of animation was used to make the polar express
1 Hit 0.68% -- what style of animation is polar express?
1 Hit 0.68% -- who animated polar express

For the uninitiated, grab a coffee and take a little time to read these two posts of mine I wrote back in 2004:

The Polar Express: A Virtual Train Wreck, Part 1 and Part 2.

If you really want to get to the meat and potatoes, read Part 2. Some good stuff there.

So far, nothing's really changed, even after 6 years of new motion capture technology. Robert Zemeckis's constant (and ill advised) use of the format doesn't look any better than when he first had Tom Hanks suit up in black leotards with big white balls glued on. However, I was very impressed with AVATAR and how John Cameron pushed the boundaries for motion capture. With Cameron, the future for mo-cap is bright. With Zemeckis, it's dark. Very dark.

Happy Holidays!

Here's to Safe Travels

2010-12-20T13:45:00.003-08:00

This is a huge State Farm Road Atlas from 1950. No mention of illustrator. It took six scans and lots of photoshopping to put it all together and get rid of all the scratches and torn areas. It was in pretty bad shape, but now you can enjoy it looking as close to what it's supposed to look like back in the day.

Click here to view larger.

Hope you stay safe in your travels this Holiday Season!

You know, Santa Claus and ho-ho-ho, and mistletoe and presents to pretty girls...

2010-12-18T05:38:00.001-08:00

I would say that about a third of my old stuff collection consists of little booklets, pamphlets, brochures and various forgotten bits of ephemera that were printed as some sort of promotional insert or handout for companies, obviously trying to get in good with your typical consumer at the time. Most would include fun illustrations, which, of course, is the reason I collect them. Here are a few Christmas-themed ones, perfect to get you in the Christmas-y mood:

A Treasury of Christmas Ideas: Not sure who put this out, but it says on the inside cover "Published by Raymond A. Sholl & Co., Upper Darby, PA." Everything is based on electricity - electrical gifts, lighting, appliances. With some recipes thrown in for good measure. No date, but guessing late 50s to early 60s:

It's illustrations like the woman with the present that make me grin like a fool.

Always a good thing to include all the latest stereo equipment and consoles.

Rit® Fun Fixings for The Holidays: Now, here's a fun little booklet from 1962 on holiday trimmings and whatnot printed up by Rit Dye. Cute illustrations. Yeah, I said cute:

Candles! More candles!

More great illustrations to share with you soon.

You know, deck them halls and all that stuff?

2010-12-16T11:39:00.001-08:00

CHRISTMAS! Can't wait for it!

The following ads were found in Collier's Magazine, December 24, 1954. This issue had part of the on-going saga of "The Body Snatchers" by Jack Finney. This story, of course, would eventually be published a year later as "Invasion of the Body Snatchers." So fitting for the Season, you think?

The Minstrel 3-Way Portable Radio ad with some fun characters at the top there.

Esterbrook pens ad. I love the individual characters for each of the pens shown. Looks a lot like JP Miller, but I'm pretty sure it's not. No illustrator credit given. Notice all the females have clerical or secretarial jobs. Typical!

Here's a high-res version of it for you: Esterbrook Pens BIG. It was very difficult to get the right levels and tones here - the subtle grays in the illustrations were so fine and delicate, it was hard for me to find the right look without blowing the image out too much. Sorry.

Fun Jell-O ad illustrated by the awesome Jack Welch.

This was part of a big campaign. You can check out more of the ads by clicking HERE.

Classic Santa Coke ad illustrated by Haddon Sundblom, of course. Not what I typically post here, but thought that it was a pretty cool ad to share. Plus, I love Christmas. And Coke. So there.

The following ad was not from Collier's but from Everywoman's Magazine, December 1957. The cutest little cook you'll find this Season using tin foil:

Not that Christmas-y, but still cool nonetheless, this illustration was done by Herschel Levit. Apparently he taught at Pratt at one point.

Hope you're enjoying the Season so far. I know I am. I've been listening to nothing but Christmas music all day long. Not tired of it one bit. Well, not yet, anyway.

Good Housekeeping's Christmas Cook Book 1958

2010-12-14T17:39:00.005-08:00

Good Housekeeping's Christmas Cook Book, ©1958. Illustrations by Davi Botts. Davi was busy during the midcentury era, illustrating many paper doll collections, not to mention other cook books. She illustrated another edition of the Good Housekeeping series of cook books: Book of Cookies. Cakes & Tortes was another one (but not GH). Her work shines off the page with joy and fun. A perfect fit to illustrate the Christmas cook book for GH, wouldn't you think? Click on each image to view it larger:

Here's a selection of various spot illos.

Fun use of the separation between the columns here.

A selection of various section headers.

Now, eggnog - that's what I'M talking about. Actually, I dig it without the alcohol. I know, I'm weird.

More links for you to clicky-click:

My Vintage Christmas set
My Vintage Cooking set
My Fun Ephemera set

and...

Vintage Cookbooks Group
Vintage Christmas: 1945-1970 Group
Midcentury Illustrated Group

The Discriminating Lush

2010-12-06T13:40:00.003-08:00

The holidays are in full thrush here at the Jenkins household. So excited! I love the Christmas holiday season. Looking forward to having egg nog 24/7 and throwing a log into the hearth and starting a fire whenever I dang well please. And the music, too, of course. Now I can stop pressing 'skip' when a Christmas-themed song comes up in my iTunes shuffle. Yeah, I never got rid of my Christmas songs from last year. So sue me!

The sale in The Ward-O-Matic Shop was a success—I thoroughly enjoyed sending out prints to new customers in various new places. Always a big thrill. Hope you all enjoy the prints!

A new illustration to share. This was for the Boston Phoenix, for their holiday supplement. This guy is labelled "The Discriminating Lush." Whenever I need some help with fashion for any of my subjects, I call upon my good friend Robert Pope of Dagnabit! He knew exactly what my character should wear. I followed his advice and I'm very thankful for it. Many thanks, Pope! You big lush. And by the way, kids, don't drink and drive.

Vintage stuff to share with you soon. Don't shop too hard, people!

because we all should be so lucky

2010-11-28T14:53:00.002-08:00

I love watching my wife take photographs. It's like witnessing magic happen right before your very eyes.

Taking a walk with Andrea on a foggy November morning as the trees slowly emerge from the mist is nothing short of awesome.

Autumn. Trees. Color. Yes, the obligatory leaves-changing shot.

A little beaded home. She probably took all night to work on it, too.

The Thanksgiving Story

2010-11-25T19:31:00.004-08:00

The Thanksgiving Story by Alice Dalgliesh, with illustrations by Helen Sewell. © Charles Scribner's Sons, 1954.

Nice illustrations by Helen Sewell in this children's book about the first Thanksgiving in America. Helen won a Caldecott Honor for the work done on this book. More about Helen Sewell HERE.

On the first page, there's an Author's Note:

In writing the text and making the pictures for this book, Helen Sewell and I have kept them both very simple—so they tell the story of one family and of the changing seasons.

The Pilgrims and settlers were chiefly a group of country people—farmers, weavers, and other workmen. They wore the clothes of the time—perhaps less elaborate—and they wore colors. The wide, tall hats were expensive, so the men and boys had knitted and cloth caps for ordinary occasions.

There's a certain flattening of the scene that Helen does that makes it look like cut paper in some of the illustrations.

I noticed that the boy in the lower lefthand corner is actually a cutout - the artist must've painted him separately and glued him in place there. I've seen this done before many times.

Here's wishing you all a very Happy Thanksgiving, people. Hope you're enjoying your time with your family and friends. I know we are.

Big Birthday Sale in The Shop

2010-11-22T07:17:00.003-08:00

In honor of my 42nd birthday coming up, I've decided to mark all my prints 42% OFF in The Ward-O-Matic Shop! Hurry and take advantage of this while the holidays are sneaking up on us! Stock up on all your favorite Ward-O-Matic prints! You know, the ones that you've been pinning over for months and months and never had a decent reason to finally make that purchase? Welp, now's your chance!

42% OFF means:

All 8.5 x 11" prints are now $14.50.

All 5 x 7" prints are now $6.96.

This is for a limited time! Hurry!

(Gah! I feel like I've stepped out of one of those crazy late-night mattress ads.)

Here, you can see my two most recent additions to the shop. Fun!

Big News and an Update

2010-11-19T06:54:00.001-08:00

Lots to announce today! It's been a long time coming, so let me start with this:

CHICKS RUN WILD by Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen and illustrated by me, Ward Jenkins! To be released by Simon & Schuster on January 25th, 2011.

My second children's book! I'm so excited. It's a fun one. Had tons of fun working on it, with all the little chicks going crazy throughout the story. I also enjoyed drawing Mama Hen and coming up with all the various ways of her reacting to her little ones.

In case you're wondering, you can pre-order the book HERE and also check out the official Facebook page HERE. I know! It's all very up-to-date and all!

By the way, if you do a search for the book, be sure to type "chicks RUN wild." Not "go" or "gone" wild. Just sayin'.

In honor of this occasion, I've updated my website - somehow, a bunch of chicks were set free and are now running wild all over the site:

See if you can find them all!

Along with a few added illustrations in the Portfolio, I've also updated the Books section to accommodate Chicks Run Wild. Once there, you can take a peek inside, follow along as I show you my process for making the book, and a few other surprises (soon).

My last bit of news is very VERY exciting for me: I am now represented by the wonderful Jennifer Laughran of Andrea Brown Literary Agency. If you’d like me to illustrate a book, a book cover, etc., please contact her via email. I really enjoy Jennifer's enthusiasm for the world of children's and YA literature. Outspoken, honest, to-the-point, and very engaging, Jennifer is the real deal. All the more reason why I'm so ecstatic about sharing this news with you all. Be sure to check out Jennifer's blog. She shares a great deal of insight into the publishing world. Don't miss out.

Alright! There ya go! Lots of good things happening here at The Ward-O-Matic. Very excited.

Halloween Avatar Trickery

2010-10-29T16:21:00.007-07:00

San Francisco was a major blast. I want to share all that we got to experience and see, but all in due time. In the meantime, I've been having fun with my avatar, leading up to Halloween. Here's the original:

Now, here's a skeletal version:

How about a zombie version? I can haz brainz?

And now, a special nod to Nightmare Before Christmas, natch:

I might do more. It's been a lot of fun.

Happy Halloween!

UPDATE: Here's more!

Built Like This

2010-10-19T06:26:00.003-07:00

So, for the weekend this is happening: Built Like This and I couldn't be more proud of the wife. She's got some serious Polaroid skills, that hulaseventy chick. I should know. To see her photos enlarged and up on walls is a sight to be seen. Come this Friday for the opening reception from 7 - 9pm at Arkay Workshop in the Mission, San Francisco. It'll be cool to finally meet you. I mean, you've been talking about it for like, forever.

Oh, and on the same weekend, this is happening:

It's filled up, but worth noting because, well, it's my wife! And she's heading up a Through The Viewfinder workshop!

It's a hulaseventy weekend in the City by the Bay, this weekend, folks. Hope to see you there!

Exaggerating

2010-09-21T16:09:00.001-07:00

I could be, actually.

Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child

2010-09-04T15:13:00.002-07:00

I must see this film. It's currently playing at Living Room Theaters in downtown Portland. Hello, I must see it now:

Watching Artists Work

2010-08-26T09:40:00.001-07:00

I don't know about you, but I love watching artists create, whether it's drawing, painting, sketching, doodling, pasting, sculpting, whatever. I love it. There's something about the process - the in-progress piece of work - and seeing it come about as it happens that totally appeals to me.

So, here's some videos of artists doing their thing:

Jackson Pollock:

Jean -Michel Basquiat (he's shown painting around :45):

Basquiat with spraypaint (From DOWNTOWN 81):

The great Picasso:

More Picasso:

Henri Matisse drawing:

Henri Matisse cutting out shapes:

Now, this is interesting. In 1985, Quantel invited David Hockney to try out painting on their Paintbox. Here's part 1 (of 5):

Part 2:

Part 3:

Part 4:

Part 5:

EYEWITNESS REPORTS: Auction for 826LA

2010-08-24T15:41:00.006-07:00

Writer Mac Barnett and illustrator Dan Santat have a new book out titled, OH NO! (Or How My Science Project Destroyed the World) It's about a little girl with a science project that runs amok in the city. It's a brilliant children's book, with excellent artwork by Mr. Santat. An added bonus is the book jacket: it folds out to reveal a one-sheet movie poster on the inside. Brilliant, I tell ya!

As part of the release of the book, Dan's started a show called EYEWITNESS REPORTS, that opened several weeks ago. He gathered over 30 artists (including Calef Brown, Mo Willems, Jon Klassen, Tom Warburton, Kelly Murphy, and myself, plus many more) to create some artwork to be auctioned off to support 826LA. Here's Dan's words on this event:

As a parent I can relate to the frustrations many parents must have in finding any decent place to help educate their kids. Here in California we suffer from state budget cuts and schools continue to suffer from even more budget cuts when they already have nothing left to lose. So I gathered up some friends. A little over 30 children's book artists (any more and my head would have exploded), and they did their own interpretations of Mac's book "OH NO! (Or How My Science Project Destroyed the World)"and starting August 23rd people can begin buying pieces off of eBay. (There will be two auctions, one starting August 23rd, and another starting on August 30th.) There will also be a gallery show where all the pieces will be on display at the Nucleus Gallery starting August 14th. I will also be selling very limited edition prints from the book to go towards the charity as well as copies of the book itself.

So, yes, the first auction has begun for this week! My piece is featured in this group and you can bid on the artwork HERE.

Here's the official site for the show: Eyewitness Reports.

Here's Dan's blog post on the show and auction: Eyewitness Reports: A Charity Art Auction in Support of 826LA.

Gallery Nucleus's page on the show: Eyewitness Reports.

Oh, and here's a video to promote the show as well (made by Dan himself):

Hope you all can support a great cause here. Best of luck to ya!

Mad Men Party

2010-07-14T10:26:00.006-07:00

What happens when a collector of 50s-60s ephemera, books and various what-not gets a chance to illustrate a Mad Men-themed party? Well, here you go. For The Boston Globe G Magazine. Big thanks to Martin Gee for being such a swell client.

In order to pull this off, I had to endure an all-nighter - which, by the way, gets harder to recover from the older I get. Not like it was when I was in college, that's for sure. But anyway, it was worth it. I'm quite pleased with how this looked after sleeping throughout the next day. I think I was worried that it was looking too busy, with some of the colors looking jumbled and crazy. But I simplified the colors to the partygoers in the far background, near the top, and that seemed to do the trick. I also played around with the starburst in the middle of the composition. I know that it's something I tend to do a lot, but here, it worked out pretty well since we are focused on the TV in the middle. Plus, the starburst motif is mirrored by the starburst clock in the upper right corner.

I'll do a step-by-step progress post on this illustration once all the dust settles.

Boston-ites, this will be for tomorrow's Boston Globe: Thursday, July 15th. Look for it! Here's a sneaky-peek before it goes to press, thanks to Martin:

Summer in Full Effect

2010-07-07T17:44:00.001-07:00

It's here. It's definitely here and we can feel it. Summer has arrived in Portland—they say that the summer usually doesn't "officially" arrive here until around July 4th, and by golly, they're right. We're expecting temps in the 90s this week—I know that's no biggie to most of you on the eastern seaboard, but over here in the great northwest, it's kind of a big deal.

To kick it off, here's some summery vintage scans for you:

Fun Avis ad from Sunset magazine, January 1962.

At bottom:
"Now! If you want safety belts, you can have them up front at no extra charge on most '62 models."

Umm...gee, thanks, Avis!

Seattle Welcome Guide
Nice little pamphlet from the Seattle Convention and Tourist Bureau. 1959. No illustrator credit.

Dubble Bubble ad in Family Circle magazine, August 1953.

From Music 'Round The Clock, Follett Publishing Company, 1955. Illustrator is Val Samuelson.

Summer is the time for jungle gyms and freaky kids, apparently.

Ooo! Some leftover fireworks from 4th of July:

Mayflower Dairy Magic

Fun little booklet for Mayflower dairy products. No date, no illustrator credit. Thinking it's probably early 50s, based on the look and style of the photographs they have on the back cover (not shown in my Flickr or here). The little cook there is so fun. Yay! Cooking!

Anytime you've got a little cook with a wand pointing to a big star with the word CHEESE in the middle, I'm going to scan it, people.

Yay! Cottage cheese! Ice cream! Yay!

Summer is here.

Happy 4th!

2010-07-04T08:56:00.006-07:00

Happy 4th of July to my fellow Americans. To celebrate, here are some independence-related scans from a couple of wonderful Fireside song books, each filled with amazing illustrations by some incredibly talented people.

The first selections will be from Fireside Book of Favorite American Songs, selected and edited by Margaret Bradford Boni. Arranged for the piano by Forman Lloyd. Illustrations by Aurelius Battaglia. © Simon and Schuster, 1952:

Hail Columbia
View larger.

The Liberty Song

Yankee Doodle

Chester

Next spread is from From Fireside Book of Folk Songs, selected and edited by Margaret Bradford Boni. Arranged for the piano by Norman Lloyd. Illustration by Alice and Martin Provensen. © Simon and Schuster, 1947.

The Star Spangled Banner
View larger.

The last is not from a song book, but from the cover to a 45 vinyl record:

American Songs To Sing, complied by Judy Wathen. Illustration & design by Abner Graboff. © Scholastic Records, 1976. As many of you know, I featured Abner's work last year when I was able to interview his son, John. This record belongs to one of our buddies here in Portland—I HAD to borrow it to scan so I could share it with you guys.

Okay, that's it! Hope you enjoyed this little bit of liberty-minded inspiration for this 4th of July! Have a great holiday!

Aurelius Battaglia featured in my Flickr.
The First Noel by Alice and Martin Provensen.
Abner Graboff featured in my Flickr.

Hipster Bird

2010-06-28T12:41:00.004-07:00

Hey look! It's a new post! And with a drawing? Even better!

This is in response to Jared's bird.

Big Site Update

2010-05-20T17:05:00.005-07:00

I finally redesigned the website and it's now up and running! New section I'm happy to unveil: Books! Take a look around, click on all the fun clickables, see if everything is working correctly...

This intro page has only a few things different than the first version, but the redesign is all about the rest of the site found within. For instance, since I was brand new to iWeb for the first version of the site, I had no idea about centering the entire layout for each page, resulting in some wonky pages. Another thing I fixed: I didn't like having to scroll down a bit for each image in my Illustration portfolio. By shrinking the main header of "Ward Jenkins" and all the categories in the navigation bar at the top, I was able to keep it simple, allowing more space below. Now, practically all my portfolio images are viewable without having to scroll down.

Besides the new Books section, I've also split up my Illustration section into two categories: Personal and Published. Took down some old stuff, put up a whole lot of newer stuff.

Yes, an entire section devoted to my first children's book: How To Train With a T.Rex. You can check out some pages (as well as the sketches), lots of sketches on how I drew Michael Phelps, and, of course, the easter eggs found in the book. Since most who visit the Books section could possibly be kids, I'm thinking of creating an entire Kids section. Still need to mull it over, though, figure out the possibilities, how it would fit within the rest of the site.

Enjoy the new look!

Social Networking vs. The Faceless Entity

2010-05-07T10:24:00.007-07:00

Ever see a cool commercial and wonder who made it? I do all the time, but that's because I've directed a few and have worked in the industry for some time. And after seeing said cool commercial, do you ever try to find out who made it by searching for the thing online? I do, but of course, that's just me. And when I do, I hit a brick wall almost every single time. Why is it so hard to find out who made a commercial these days? Especially during this day and age of social networking, of Google, YouTube, blogging, Facebook, Twitter, et al? Are production companies scared of these networks? Of sharing? Of getting their work out there?

It's not the same for all of these companies, I'm sure. I see some ads (and entire ad campaigns) that are promoted to the hilt online. If it's done right, it gives a face to who makes them. A persona, if you will, and makes me more than curious to see what else they'll do. If it's done wrong, this self-promotion can come across as being gaudy and superficial. A thin line to cross, apparently.

But I'm perplexed by the double standard of how production companies promote themselves. There's plenty of boasting about who they are and what they do on their websites, touting all the latest awards and recognition they've received, and how long they've been receiving these awards. Most will update their sites solely for the purpose of letting us know what they've done lately. If they're smart, they'll mention each of their directors with a list of all the ads these directors have done for the company. But all of this is for....who? Me? No, of course not. Potential clients, right?

Problem with this type of promotion however is that it's blandly informative, not at all personable.

The last two companies I worked for, I constantly talked with certain people about starting a company blog - one that would be regulated by the principles of the company, by someone who would know what to say and how to say it, to promote the company as an entity that had a face. A voice. A vision. But nothing ever came of it.

I'm happy to say that since then, one of my former employers has started to embrace social networking through both Facebook and Twitter. No blog, but still, they've started to create a presence online, outside the usual incestuous circles that most commercial production companies usually confide themselves in. They mention the latest project they've recently completed and will occasionally post an interesting link or video. I like that.

The other company is still faceless online. In fact, their website hasn't changed since its inception. That was 2005. Five years in the online world is like an eternity. No blog. No Facebook. No Twitter. What are they afraid of?

The biggest fear is probably the aspect of sharing too much information. They think social networking would expose "company secrets" which is TOTAL BUNK. I don't buy that. Not if these blogs or Facebook or Twitter accounts are monitored by a PR person who would know what would be too much to share if anything gets too "sensitive." The nature of the industry is wrapped in secrecy, though - with nondisclosure agreements a staple for anyone working on a each and every project, of which I completely understand and respect. But there are plenty of ways to work around any questionable content and generate buzz or interest solely on the fact that they're working on something awesome. Take a lesson from some ad agencies. It can be done. (Side note: Clients themselves must break free from this cloak of secrecy, however. Some big-name companies are too slow and so far behind the times that they don't realize just how backwards this way of thinking is. Wake up, people.)

These companies who eschew any sort of connecting online are missing the boat and make it extremely difficult for someone like me to be positive about what they're doing, even if what little they show is "cool."

What are you working on, companies? What are you doing to get us, the AUDIENCE, to know about what you're doing? Do you realize that if you talk about your work outside of your industry and trade magazines and design award shows that maybe, just maybe, your current clients will like you even more? And, if you're a buzz generator, do you realize that more people (read: potential clients) might be interested in what you do?

Just a thought.

FLIP Interview

2010-05-03T06:48:00.002-07:00

Thought I'd let you know that I'm this month's featured artist for the excellent online magazine, FLIP. Editor Steve Moore interviewed me about my style, how I approached my style, and my graffiti background. Hopefully I didn't ramble. Well, hopefully I didn't ramble too long. I'm very honored to be included in such a fine online publication! Many thanks, Steve!

The Question of Versatility

2010-04-21T13:22:00.006-07:00

Several years ago I wrote about Lou Peters and his propensity to be diverse in various illustrative styles. (Still no new information on exactly what this mystery person was all about. Anyone?) While it's obvious I'm in awe of such talent - to be able to go from style to style without making it look difficult is quite a feat for any artist - this had me thinking, "Is it worth it to be a versatile artist? Was it beneficial for Lou Peters? Would it be beneficial for me?"

I've often wondered about this throughout my career as both an illustrator and animator. While in animation (especially of the hand-drawn variety) it usually works to one's advantage if they were an artistic chameleon, aping the look and style of every character and show that they've been assigned to work on. Throughout my time as director in broadcast animation, I often told my assistants this: Forget your own style; you have to be a chameleon. Sounds harsh, but it's a harsh reality in this industry. If they didn't completely conform to how a particular show was being drawn, they would be politely assigned to another project (which wasn't too often, I'm happy to say). Time is money,right? If an artist wasn't drawing the characters correctly, it was a waste a time - therefore, a waste of money.

This constant aping of various cartoon styles served to be both a blessing and a curse for me. I throughly enjoyed being assigned a new project, diving into all the research that went into it, watching shows frame-by-frame to see exactly how the characters moved and acted, grabbing screengrab after screengrab of faces, walkcycles, and characters. With my thirst for knowledge, the pre-production stage of each project was my favorite part. However, there were issues with how much time I devoted to research on the onset - did I really need 40 frames of Astro licking George Jetson's face? (In hindsight -yes, but that's just between you and me.) Could it be that too much information is, well, too much?

I digress. Back to the issue at hand. For an illustrator, the question of being diverse is different. It might look on the onset that being a versatile artist would be beneficial to an independent illustrator as well - to be able to address a look and style that fits each job offer that comes their way should work to their advantage, right? If a client is looking for illustrations that imitate Soviet propaganda posters, or mirror Roy Lichtenstein's pop art characters (which, in of itself is ripped from comic books, of course), or perhaps copy the pen and ink feel of Maurice Sendak's Where The Wild Things Are, then who's to say it would be wrong for an artist to not turn these projects down? Especially during this day and age of an unsure economy? But would the artist be compromising his own vision? Most freelance illustrators are in the business because they have a "voice", with their own unique look and style and use it to their advantage. In order to stand out, you have to be unequivocally forging ahead with your own distinctive style.

Or do you?

Let's take a look at the fantastic work of Mel Crawford. He's done plenty of children's books during the 50's, 60's, all the way through the 70's and 80's. (He's still alive and painting, by the way!) I've mentioned Mel before. Here's the cover to his take on Uncle Wiggily from 1953:

Bright, lively work, Mel captures the fun and energy of the story and brings this vitality through on each spread of this book. The colors are bold and the characters are posed wonderfully. Plus, I love the textures that he shows for the surroundings, such as the trees, grass, the house. All around, a brilliant book.

Now, let's look at another Little Golden Book he illustrated, Tommy's Camping Adventure, from 1962:

I had this book when I was a kid. When I saw it in the fleamarket, I bought it right away. A wave of nostalgia washed over me while turning the pages of this book. I remember it fondly.

Notice how Mel framed Tommy with the use of the tree and branches, and silhouettes the boy by the much lighter yellows and light greens behind him.

I remember looking so intently at this spread when I was a kid - the details, oh! the details! I could almost feel the ridges of the rings on the tree stump here. So wonderful. Take a closer look.

With the use of an extreme diagonal, Mel allows our eyes to go from the family down to Tommy, and finally, to what he's looking at: a little wood rat.

Again, the diagonal. Love that huge tree on the left there. Also, notice how Mel uses the tree on the extreme right to help guide our eyes to Tommy, so we don't go off the page.

Now, let's take a look at Casey The Clumsy Colt, also illustrated by Mel Crawford (from 1965):

What's interesting to me is the fact that Mel uses white in almost every single spread of this little book from Whitman Publishing. Whitman made small, easy-to-afford books for children, similar to Little Golden Books. They weren't known for their quality, however. Most Whitman books I own are in terrible shape because of weak binding and eager little fingers wanting to tear them apart throughout the decades.

Even on a busy spread, the details that Mel put in are simplified here - there's not too much to take away from the story, or the overall aesthetic.

Mel's characters are perfectly designed - simple, yet give off enough personality in each pose.

Even when there's more information painted in the background, white is evident.

The man definitely has a grasp on details and knowing how to pare back on what's necessary to show in order to get the story across. I've been looking at Tommy's Camping Adventure and Casey side-by-side and it's so fascinating to observe what Mel shows, and more importantly, doesn't show. What's clearly evident in all three books I've shown here is the fact that Mel Crawford is simply a great artist. He's able to take on any form of illustration technique and apply his talent and skills to the story at hand. Each book has its own "voice", which is very important for the reader. When I open each of these books, I'm transported to their respective worlds, and am able to be fully immersed in the story, without any doubts.

(Oh, by the way, check out some more Mel Crawford in my Mel Crawford Flickrset.)

With this in mind, I was curious about what others thought about being versatile in this industry. I put this question out to my Twitter followers, to see what they thought:

Do you think it helps or hinder your career to be diverse in styles as an artist?

I received some interesting answers:

@eimhin The canned answer is "Hurts", as we're always told to pare down to an identifiable style. ADs can't decide if we fit, otherwise...However, I think it ought to be seen as an asset. You just need to market each style differently, and not to same people. (from Even Jensen)

@matt_gavenda from my experience. you'll be asked at some point in your working years to do multiple things. only can help, i think. (from Matt Gavenda)

@hipphop If you are diverse in style, no, diverse within your style, yes. I have learned it gets looked at as inconsistent. (from Ryan Hipp)

@mary_longshore It is my opinion that it helps to have as many styles as possible. Versatility is important for success as an artist. (from Mary Longshore)

@AJB_Design A distinct style identifies an artist, but maybe limits their jobs. A generalist might be more versatile, but less memorable. (from Andrew Brozyna)

@arthurmount I'm for diversifying. While it may dilute the impact of having one style, it broadens your reach and creates new audiences. (from Arthur Mount)

@curtisdickie I believe it is good 2 be internally diverse-but u need to create an outward focused style 2 create your brand as an artist. (from Curtis Dickie)

@ohmgee personally, i have several styles. to hire, i want consistency. know what to expect. but sick of 1-trick pony graf artists. (from Martin Gee)

@suceda you should be able to work in different styles that are right for you, I wouldn't want to limit myself to just one media. I don't think I have ONE consistent style, I think & draw a certain way, but the actual execution of piece depends on subject. (from Santiago Uceda)

Illustrator Zack Rock then asked: "How do people with multiple styles represent themselves professionally? Different promos, sure. But different sites?" I replied: "I would think that artists w/different styles showcase them on their sites: as separate sections." At least, that's what I would probably do. I've seen others do this—if they have two or more distinct styles, they'll have different portfolios on their site, showcasing them separately.

Finally, I get this tweet from designer and typographer Mark Simonson:

@marksimonson 25 years ago, Mary Grandpré asked me that. I thought she should diversify. She didn't follow my advice.

If you didn't already know, Mary Grandpré is most known for the illustrations for the covers of the entire Harry Potter series.

What do you think? Does it help or hinder an artist to be versatile? I'm curious as to what you have to say.

-------------

LINKS:

Mel Crawford's official site
Mel Crawford's official blog
My Mel Crawford Flickrset
Mel Crawford featured on The Retro Kid
Mel Crawford on Golden Gems blog

Photobooth Friday (finally)

2010-03-19T00:20:00.001-07:00

It's been a long, long time since my last participation in Photobooth Friday (Wow. Not since April of 2008?), but I'm glad to say that a trip to the Ace Hotel this past Sunday was worth coming back for.

We (Ava, Ezra & I) call guys with big beards here in Portland "Mr. Beardy" - "Look Daddy! There's a Mr. Beardy!" If you want to see a prime example of a Mr. Beardy (besides myself), check out the dude who works behind the counter at Stumptown right next to the Ace. You'll thank me for it.

Currently enjoying:

• My wife's polaroid collection.
• Hansen's Vanilla Cola: real cane sugar FTW.
• My new(ish) Cintiq 21UX: thank you, Hugh. You're awesome.
• German visitors: Mathias & Jördis (and little Mari), best house guests EVER.
• Almonds: magical nuts that are supposed to change my life.
• Twitter: because Facebook can be annoying. Like real life.
• MY SECOND KID'S BOOK IS DONE.

Not enjoying:

• Third anniversary of my Aunt Bo's passing away because of stupid cancer. I miss her.
• Andrea out of town. Again.
• German visitors having to leave to go back home. Goodbyes suck.
• Waiting to get paid.
• Waiting. Period.

Daytrippin with Kitsune Noir

2010-03-12T17:19:00.002-08:00

Bobby of the excellent Kitsune Noir asked me to do a bicycle-themed illustration for his Desktop Wallpaper Project. You can download the size of your choice here:

The Desktop Wallpaper Project Featuring Ward Jenkins

One thing I like about wallpapers is using the design as a way to organize your folders. Even though the arrows here are part of the composition behind the girl riding her bike, they also offer the user a chance to group certain folders together, for fun or whatever. For instance, all your folders that feature current projects can go on the bright green arrow, the ones that need immediate attention go on the red arrow, etc.

Enjoy!

My Favorite Quotes

2010-02-23T11:44:00.003-08:00

Thought I'd share with you some of my favorite quotes that speak to me on so many levels. I notice a theme here. See if you can pick up on it:

"I have forced myself to contradict myself in order to avoid conforming to my own taste." - Marcel Duchamp

"Rules are what the artist breaks; the memorable never emerged from a formula." - William Bernbach, co-founder of legendary DDB ad agency.

"I never had to compromise myself. It was always me, doing what was comfortable, and relaying the message that I didn't have to be taught to be creative and do good things. I guess what I'm saying is that I'm here and I want to be heard. I come from the streets, I painted on subways, and I feel my work is important. I want people to see it —I want to influence others." -Dondi White (aka DONDI - RIP)

Limbo

2010-02-16T10:24:00.002-08:00

Hi guys, sorry for the inactivity lately. Still working on the book, among other things. Trying to manage my time wisely and well, that's a pretty hard task for me apparently. But I'm almost done, and soon I'll have some stuff to share here. I promise.

Thanks for hanging on. I promise the wait will be worth your while!

Starting the Year Off Right

2010-01-10T01:25:00.005-08:00

I think 2010 is going to be a great year for me. Heck, 2009 wasn't anything to sneeze at, I have to admit. It was pretty much a great year, if you ask me. 2010, now, I think will be another winner.

It's certainly starting off well: I'm currently working on my second children's book. To be published by Simon & Schuster in the Spring of 2011. I know, a whole year off, but I'm sure you can manage.

Deadline is looming, so I best be on my way.

Christmas Angel Book

2009-12-26T16:10:00.002-08:00

Merry Christmas, everyone.

With love,
The Ward-O-Matic

The Christmas Angel Book by William Dugan. ©1965 Golden Press, Western Publishing Company, Inc.

William (or Bill) Dugan is one of my favorite illustrators, creating some of the more interesting and colorful books for children during the midcentury era. There were certain details that Bill focused on for some of his pieces, like the hair and fabic, that stood out from the usual stuff.

We read this each year for Christmas.

At least you've got the spirit

2009-12-23T22:41:00.002-08:00

If you never saw a white Christmas back in the day, you didn't have to fret. The stores always carried some instant snow for you to spray on your windows, right? To make it even more festive, you could also grab some stencils and make some pretty nifty snow decorations up on the windows themselves. Nice. Here's a couple of packs of Christmas stencils from the 50's for you to check out:

All the stencils in this Paas Christmas Stencil Kit are intact and have never been punched out.

I think this is the time when you say "How jolly!" Because that's what we say when we see a Santa Claus face. He's a jolly fellow.

All the stencils are still in this one, too, but have been punched out—two with some paint residue. Guess they didn't want to use the fake snow. Love the cool illustration on the cover of this kit. Dig the kids.

The ones that have paint on them are the "Merry Christmas" one (they used red AND white) and the angel praying.

And here, you've got a can of Instant Snow:

I took this photo last year, during the freak massive snow storm that hit Portland around Christmas time. There's a winter wonderland right behind me when I took this shot.

On the back there's a warning:

CAUTION

Contents under pressure. Do not puncture. Do not throw into fire or incinerator. Keep out of the reach of children. Do not allow children or pets to eat snow.

Gotta remember that last one.

Some Seasonal Ephemera

2009-12-21T10:42:00.000-08:00

Howdy, kids. Hope you're getting into the Christmas-y mood. I know that there's snow on the ground over half of the country right now (well, I'm pretty sure it is, I think), so that's a good thing, right? Unless you're having to go out in said weather and get stuck in parking lots and long lines at the Post Office. In that case, sorry.

Well, to help you get in the mood, I've been saving these things for you. A couple of booklets, one from 1958, the other from 1954:

KVP Season's Greetings: Christmas 1958: a booklet of carols for Christmastime. Illustrator: Hank Kolodziej.

In case you want to know, KVP stands for Kalamazoo Vegetable Parchment Company. You're welcome.

By the way, I did a little research on Hank Kolodziej, and all I could find was this item on Ebay and a mention in this exhibit on automobile ads during the 60's and 70's, called Drawing Power: Motor City Ad Art in the Age of Muscle and Chrome. Awesome. Sounds like my kinda guy.

Here's some of the other spreads in this booklet (there's more in my Flickr):

The image above is the inside cover, front (on left) and back (on right).

The following is a little book on Christmas Trees, barely 12 pages long. Something I found in a bundle of various ephemeral items at some antique shop. Didn't really know what it was, but once I opened it up and saw all the wonderful drawings, I had to get it. Plus, the text is by T. S. Eliot. I mean, c'mon! Great stuff.

The Cultivation of Christmas Trees, by T. S. Eliot. Typography, binding and decorations by Enrico Arno. ©1954, 1956.

Enrico Arno has a great style here. This book looks pretty interesting. I might have to buy it.

The note in the corner says: "Merry Christmas and Happy New Year - Ward Taylor 1956." Now, what are the odds that a guy named "Ward" actually gave this as a gift over 50 years ago? And that another Ward found it? Boggles the mind.

Oh, and one more thing. Thought I'd get into the spirit of things by creating a new icon for Flickr & Twitter. 'Tis the Season! Here's to a great and wonderful Christmas Season, guys.

Free Shipping ends tomorrow!

2009-12-05T12:07:00.003-08:00

A gentle reminder that the Early Bird Special: FREE SHIPPING over at The Ward-O-Matic Shop ends at the end of the day TOMORROW! That's Sunday, December 6th.

If this'll make it easier for you to decide on whether or not you'd like to order a print, I doodle something different on each and every shipping invoice that's included with the shipment. Here's one example (actual doodle on an actual invoice, scanned for your pleasure):

The character varies, but always done with a smile.

It gets better, too. I also draw something special on the front (and back!) of each envelope I mail out. Done with marker on study cardboard mailer, I never sketch anything out first, just start drawin'! The character on the front is almost the same, called "The Dreamer", he (or she) conjures up the addressee's name and address for each envelope. (Sorry, didn't get a scan or photo for this post. Maybe next time.) On the back, something unique to every single buyer. Here are two examples:

I've had people tell me that they save the envelopes, which totally makes me happy.

Now, don't you want to buy a print today? Of course you do.

Merry Christmas!

Electronic Games Mag: December 1982

2009-12-01T10:14:00.006-08:00

To start off December, how's about a magazine from my childhood: Electronic Games, 1982. Yes, this is the actual magazine—I've kept it ever since. Awww, yeah. I was a gamer, circa 1982. Nothing but Atari, Activision, Colecovision, Intellivision, coin-ops, arcades, etc. for me, thankyouverymuch.

And for the record, I'd rather keep the term "retro" for anything older than 1980.

Also related: if you're ever in Portland, and you dig old arcade games from that early gaming era, you should stop by Ground Kontrol, at 511 NW Couch Street. It's a bar/establishment where you can play pretty much of all those classic arcade games. The original ones, of course. While working in Old Town during the summer, I would take a lunch break by going in to play a couple rounds of Tempest. Oh man, good memories playing that game. One of my favorites of all time. Didn't make it to the red levels, though. Next time.

Early Bird Special: Free Shipping all week at The Ward-O-Matic Shop

2009-11-30T13:12:00.004-08:00

Well now, the Christmas rush is upon us and to start it off right, I'm offering an Early Bird Special at The Ward-O-Matic Shop all this week! What's the special? Well, FREE SHIPPING - how's that? This includes international orders, so all you Etsy shoppers from across the way should definitely hit me up on this offer while it lasts! In fact, the Special will end this Sunday, December 6th. Woo HOO!

To remind you guys what's for sale in the Shop, here's a few of my best sellers (click on image to go to each item's respective page at Etsy):

Speaking In Color

Calico Elly

Looks Like Rain

Jazz

Bookgirl

And let's not forget the B-Boy Series:

Top Rock 2

Freeze 1

Kangol

All this and MORE! at The Ward-O-Matic Shop!

(End hucksterism.)

Where I talk about getting older

2009-11-27T15:18:00.001-08:00

I used to not like having my birthday so close to Thanksgiving. It took away from all the attention that was supposed to be spent on me. (When you're a kid, it's supposed to always be about you, right?) It was even worse when my birthday would actually land on the holiday itself. "Here comes our Turkey Birthday Boy!" or something similar would be blurted out by family members at our annual family Thanksgiving get-together. It was quaint, I had to admit.

After a while, I got used to my birthday being where it was. And now, I actually enjoy it. It's comforting to know that we'll have a family reunion of sorts each year, within close proximity to my birthday. It works out alright. On top of all the turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and all the usual holiday feast-havings, there'll be a nice, big birthday cake for all to enjoy by the end of it. See? It works out for everyone, doesn't it? You can thank my parents for that, guys. We get to have cake as well as pumpkin pie for dessert! What a deal!

This year, my birthday was two days before Thanksgiving and it was fantastic. A perfect day to celebrate being born. Starting with a cinnamon bun topped with a trick candle (nice try, Andrea), my day got better as I spent several hours in various bookstores and antique malls, getting the tips of my fingers dirty by digging through old books and magazines, finding some wonderful old ephemeral treasures. Case in point, this incredible Fortune Magazine from July 1952:

Jerome Snyder has be my new favorite illustrator. Just look at the shapes and colors he uses for this piece. Simply wonderful.

Later on, we had pancakes for dinner ("pancakes for dinner, you say?" yes—pancakes for dinner, I say) at the month-old Slappy Cakes on Belmont Street, which turned out to be such a fun experience we're thinking of going here for every one of our family member's birthday, even more so.

To end the already fantastic day on a high note, we had passes to see a sneak preview of Fantastic Mr. Fox. It was pitch-perfect. I have so many good things to say about this film, I'll have to put it all in an official review here on the blog later on. Such a great film, and everyone in the family enjoyed it immensely. Ava wanted to see the movie again immediately afterwards, which is a high compliment, I should say. Go see it. Seriously, I'm not cussin' with you.

So, having a birthday so close to a holiday where you ponder over what you're thankful for isn't half bad, really. If anything, it enhances my own birthday experience, maybe even merging it with the holiday in a way. I'm thankful to be alive, to experience a birthday yet one more year. And am thankful to be able to celebrate my birthday with my family, who laugh and grow with me, day in and day out. For without my family, my life would be empty and souless, like the puppets of Mr. Fox, once the lights are turned off by the end of the day. Andrea, Ava, and Ezra: all three of you give me that determinable spark in my heart, that sparkle in my eye. Thank you for making my birthday oh so fantastic.

New Print up in Etsy: Speaking In Color

2009-11-19T11:00:00.003-08:00

I'm happy to report that there's a new print up in The Ward-O-Matic Shop!

Called Speaking In Color, it features this wonderful little girl (possibly, maybe inspired by Ava?) spreading happiness to the world through her gifted tongue, speaking out against the dull and drab out there. Hooray! I guess you can call her The Color Ambassador. She'd like that.

Buy Speaking In Color as a 8.5x11 inch print, or as a 5x7 inch print.

Sketches

2009-11-15T10:29:00.005-08:00

I was recently interviewed on Alex Mathers' excellent Ape On The Moon site recently about my sketches and where my favorite place is to sketch. This prompted me to make a new Flickrset called, appropriately enough, Sketches.

Most of the drawings that you see featured on this set are done while I was sitting around, doodling, or just working on some ideas for myself. Playing around. Observing. Exploring. Nothing devoted to any particular job. Sketches done for work is an entirely different thing. Even though some of the drawings might look similar in style, drawing for an employer has a direct reason for being: money. However, I try to instill that same sense of wonder and exploration while sketching for work. I'll probably scan some work sketches for another Flickrset in the near future.

In the meantime, take a gander at some drawings done while in church. I know, so horrible of me to do such a thing while in a house of God. But really, it's a lot of fun. And it's a no-brainer, too. Think about it: you've got a vast variety of subjects who are not going to move much for about 30 minutes. Even though it's the back of their heads, it's still a great exercise. And I find that I actually listen better when I do draw during the service, believe it or not. Like a mental stamp, I can look at a particular section of a drawing and know what was being said by the pastor. It's hard to explain, but I think you'd understand if you're an artist. Haven't you ever had the TV on while working on a painting? The following day, you might look at the right arm of your subject in the painting and realize to yourself, "hey, I was watching Laverne & Shirley when I painted that". I do it all the time. Not sure what you'd call this, but "memory stamping" sounds about right.

Anyway, here's a couple of other sketches from some of my sketchbooks throughout the years. Enjoy:

There are three approaches I take to sketching:

1. From observing what's around me.
2. From photographs, magazines, tv, etc.
3. Off the top of my head, freestyling.

All of it is part of who I am as an artist, looking at what I see around me and hopefully creating something different in the process. Plus, it's a lot of fun.

How about some Ward-O-Matic Holiday Stamps?

2009-11-11T16:54:00.003-08:00

Thanks to Dani of Rubber Soul, I've got my own line of holiday stamps! Check 'em out! They were a lot of fun to draw.

I drew a whole lot more for this collection, but Dani had to edit down to those particular stamps that would make it fun & easy to be able to tell a story. You know, it's not easy coming up with stamps that are simple and clear enough to be able to tell a story. I credit Dani with her extensive knowledge of stamp making to be able to select from my drawings a great collection of fun holiday-themed images you see here. I mean, there were some that I thought would be perfect for stamps, but Dani knew what she was doing. I trusted her. And the stamps are very well made. Great job, Dani! I'm so happy to be a part of this endeavor with Rubber Soul.

We're hoping that if there's enough interest with this collection then I'll do some year round stamps. Dani and I have been coming up with some other neato themes that could see the light of day after the holidays.

I'm thinking of doing a giveaway, but not sure about how to go about doing this. Need to talk with Dani about it first.

But right now, I'd like to put this out there: if any of you guys buy some of these stamps and create your own cards (or anything) featuring these stamps, please email me pictures of your creations! I'd LOVE to see what you guys come up with!

Enjoy!

In-Store Appearance Today!

2009-11-07T08:35:00.003-08:00

Getting prepared for my in-store appearance later on today at Barnes & Noble, people. Kinda nervous, but hey! kinda not! I'm very excited about it. Hope to see you guys there! In case you're wondering:

Saturday, November 7th from 2-3pm, at the Barnes & Noble at Lloyd Center Mall here in Portland, OR, my first in-store appearance and book signing! Check the event's page on Facebook for details. I'll be reading the Michael Phelps book I illustrated, How To Train With a T. Rex and Win 8 Gold Medals, show some original drawings from the book, maybe draw a few things, who knows! Remember, it's for the Boise Eliot Bookfair. (Boise Eliot is a school here in Portland.)

Hopefully, I'll have photos of the event to share later on!

This Week Vacation Guide 1949

2009-11-05T08:46:00.002-08:00

This Week Magazine: Vacation Guide, 1949. No mention of illustrator. Lowell Hess, perhaps?

This is a wonderful cover to a rather dull magazine. It's one of those informational publications, with no ads, a few photos, but mostly information like travel times from city to city, etc...- actually, it says that This Week is part of The Sunday Magazine, "issued jointly by 24 big city American newspapers." The "official govt. map of the U. S." was not found inside. Too bad. Would've been interesting to see that.

Things to consider: I love the way that the artist sets the family apart from the background by creating a light source directed on them. See the cast shadow? It's like they are up on a stage. Also, I love how there's a story being told with the dog interested in something off-camera left. Check out how each family member's pose moves from left to right as you go from dog, kid, mother, father: a nice triangle grouping. Genius! Also, I see a chevron pattern going down from the dog and back up through the kid's legs to mother's head, where the apex is. The mother is a triangle shape herself. Interesting stuff going on here. Incredible work.

Okay, I'll let you see it larger.

This is the Ward-O-Matic...5 Years Later

2009-11-03T22:29:00.002-08:00

Today marks FIVE years I've been writing The Ward-O-Matic, if you can believe it. Wow. Five years! I can't believe it. So much has transpired since November 3rd, 2004 when I published my very first post. I look back on some of my old posts and wonder, who is this guy? Like flipping through an old diary or thumbing through an old sketchbook, I read some of these words and look at some of these old drawings and try to imagine what was going through my head at the time. It's like I'm reading someone else's blog—it doesn't really feel like me.

2004: I was an animation director at Primal Screen in Atlanta and was getting caught up with all these new animation blogs that were popping up like wildfire at the time. I was so inspired by what I was reading and viewing that I felt like I had enough of a voice to enter the fray. Having enough to say has been an issue at times, but that's okay. I'd just let my drawings speak for me. Or just scan in some dusty pages from a long forgotten children's book. Sharing some of my collection has really kept this blog going for me. Whenever I'd feel like wrapping it up here, all I had to do was sift through some old pamphlets or cookbooks in a box found in the back corner of the attic and I'd want to share it with you immediately. Like a giddy kid on Christmas morning, that's me in a nutshell with this blog. Especially if it was something that I knew hadn't been seen before. The lost, the forgotten, the diamonds in the rough—having a place like The Ward-O-Matic to share all these and more with faceless usernames behind computer screens has been a great joy for me. I think it shows through my writing when I talk about these neglected items. Even if you couldn't get behind my interests, if anything, I'd hope that you'd join me in finding out who these forgotten and anonymous illustrators from the past were. It pained me to open up some form of beautifully decorated ephemera from the midcentury era and never see any credit given to the artist. The gall! I'd think, of the careless employers and/or clients who mindlessly printed up page after page of gorgeous and vibrant illustrations, without giving one hoot about putting a credit line on the back page or something. Just writing about it irks me still. But hey! That's what I love about this "Web 2.0" or whatever-you-want-to-call it: filling up internet space with information and knowledge about these long-lost artists, so that some day, either they or their family members will by chance do a search for the artist and find out that yes, someone else out there cares about their work and want to know all about the who, what, why & how of them.

While I've been up front and center with certain things here on the blog, I've pulled back on others. I don't talk about the family or post photos of the kids as much anymore, for instance. The same goes for Ava Thursday, you might've noticed. The reason being is more complicated than what I can muster to write, or perhaps it's a simple fact of wanting to maintain (or regain) a little bit of privacy for myself and my family here. With the photos, that's easy. While I'd love to share with you guys all the fun and silly things that the kids do through photos, all it took was one idiot to snag one of my photos of Ezra off my Flickr and use it without permission for a video on YouTube, and that was it. I immediately privated a good deal of my photos of my kids, and to this day am wary of sharing any new photos I take of them. The situation shook me to the core at the time (YouTube was able to remove the video, thank goodness), and made me take a second look at just how much I'm sharing with complete strangers. Had a fellow reader of my blog not found the video by chance, who knows just how far the offender would've taken it? And there would've been no way of me knowing about it, too. All I have to say it this: be careful with what you share, especially when it comes to photos of your kids. Be smart about it.

With Ava Thursday, it was completely different. Even though I'd been thoroughly enjoying picking out a fun little drawing by my daughter and sharing it with you all on a weekly basis, I found it harder and harder with each passing week to justify why I was doing it. Of course, I was the proud dad, more than willing to share with anyone anything that my little girl would create. I thought it was cool to see Ava develop artistically throughout the months. However, at one point it seemed like the drawings weren't really "ours" anymore. By sharing with others my little girl's artwork on a constant basis, the specialness of each drawing seemed lost. Basically, Andrea and I wanted these wonderful Ava drawings for ourselves. These things were precious, made with extraordinary little hands that we loved, and I'm sorry, we kinda wanted to keep them in the family. Being her parents, we were entitled to be a little selfish. Simple as that.

Of course with all that said, Ava wants to show you one of her latest drawings. She drew this on Sunday, obviously during that glorious post-Halloween glow. Click on image to see larger:

She's into cats right now. She really really really really wants a cat. After Babycat's passing last year (did I ever mention that here?), the kids have been pining for a new cat. We'll see.

Okay, back to the issue at hand: five years. It's five years of The Ward-O-Matic and hopefully I've made it interesting for you. I know it's definitely been interesting for me.

In-Store Appearance this Saturday at Barnes & Noble

2009-11-02T11:48:00.003-08:00

Hey Kids!

This Saturday, November 7th from 2-3pm, at the Barnes & Noble at Lloyd Center Mall here in Portland, OR, I'll have my very first in-store appearance and book signing! Check the event's page on Facebook for details if you dig that sort of thing, or you can just read on:

So, YES! I'll show up, read the Michael Phelps book I illustrated, How To Train With a T. Rex and Win 8 Gold Medals, sign some copies of the book, show some of the original drawings, maybe juggle a few stuffed animals, you name it! It'll be for the Boise Eliot Bookfair. (Boise Eliot is a school here in Portland.)

Added bonus: If you come in and get a sticker from the Boise Eliot folks then anything you buy on the day of the bookfair will go as credit towards Boise Eliot's bookfair total at no cost to them--you just say you're purchasing on behalf of the bookfair if you wish to purchase something on that day--this applies to everything in the store minus the purchase of gift cards.

Hope to see you there! Yippee!

Good Halloween Fun

2009-10-29T15:32:00.002-07:00

I'm always a big fan of Halloween! However, the Jenkins household has now turned into the Den of Sickness. Ava was out of school for an entire week two weeks ago and now, both Andrea and Ezra have been hit with the same bug. It's only a matter of time for it to hit me, I guess. In the meantime, I've scanned some pages from a cool textbook reader originally published in 1957. Checkit:

From Billy's Neighbors, a reading textbook by Follett Publishing Company. Authors are Alta McIntire & Wilhelmina Hill. Illustrated by the very talented Janet LaSalle. ©1957; this edition, 1962.

If I could scan this entire book, I would. Illustrated on almost every single page, filled with incredible artwork by Janet LaSalle. I've talked about Janet before. (See previous post and this set for her earlier style, and this.) Just check her stuff out. Amazing talent.

Have a great and safe (and healthy) Halloween, kids!

Where The Wild Things Are: an Observation

2009-10-17T15:40:00.008-07:00

Where The Wild Things Are, by Maurice Sendak. All images here © 1963, HarperCollins Publishers.

With all the talk about the film, I thought I'd share with you some observations about the iconic children's book by Maurice Sendak from 1963.

Have you ever noticed the way Sendak constructed the story for Where The Wild Things Are visually? There's a lot more going on. Notice how small the first image of Max is here. He's completely surrounded by white space - a victim of being boxed in. A reason for his mischief? Who knows. It's possible.

You turn the page and now the actual image has grown ever so slightly.

As Max is sent to his room, the image grows a bit more, allowing him now to build upon his own imagination.

Now, as we slip out of reality and into fantasy, the image grows even more, just as his forest grows. Notice how even the trees break free from the stiff borders, adding to the fantasy element.

Max is happier now that his own version of reality (or alternate reality) continues to grow.

It is here where the image completely covers the page. There is no more white surrounding Max and his world.

But wait! It's not over. Turning the page, we notice that the image continues to grow even more. If you think about it, this makes sense as Max starts out on his journey.

Several pages over and Max has come to the place where the wild things are. At this point, the overall image now stretches from left to right, with white still shown below.

While Max is now at the place where the wild things are, notice how the image still continues to grow. It's such a subtle thing, but subconsciously, I think the reader knows it's happening. Roughly at about the two/thirds mark in the book, the wild rumpus starts and as we turn the page....

...the image now completely covers the entire spread. There is no more white space, no more words. Max is deep within his world here, and we are completely engrossed by this visual cue.

After about three spreads of pure images (the wild rumpus), the story takes a turn back to reality. Max stops the rumpus and now, white space reappears on the page and the image starts to shrink for a few pages.

Max's journey back home is similar to when he left - completely filling one page and then spilling out onto the other.

And now, for the last image of the book, Max is back home, room back to normal, now filling the entire page. No more white space surrounds him (I'm not counting the other page), suggesting that maybe Max worked out his issues. Perhaps? It's possible. All is right in the world, as he can now eat his supper. Still hot.

As I child, I remember a few things about this book. I don't think we owned it, but probably checked it out of the library. Sendak's style and the way he drew the wild things definitely left a strong impression on me. They were unlike anything I'd seen before. What hits me the most is when the tone of the book changes. It's when the wild things want Max to stay. When they yell out that they'll eat him up! This evoked a strong sense of fear and danger in me when I was young. Wow - a kid's book where the bad guys want to actually eat up the kid! I thought. It was dangerous. And compelling.

I haven't seen the movie yet, but I want to. I plan to see it soon.

Monster Cereals Disco

2009-10-16T19:39:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I'm trying my best at not getting riled up by the fact that General Mills (the company behind such wonderful cereal products as Cocoa Puffs, Cookie Crisp and more) seems to completely ignore the Monster Cereals. Even though the cereals are still being made (evidence here), the powers that be at GM still won't make any new animated commercials for the cereal line. Why is that? Look, guys. It's a no-brainer: three cereals (originally five: Fruit Brute and Yummy Mummy aren't made anymore) that have a built-in audience - an audience, mind you that is now grown up and has children of their own. This audience ("Gen-X"ers, I guess you could call them) share a deep devotion to their childhood (well, who doesn't, right?). I'm pretty sure there's a story to be told from anyone who grew up watching Saturday morning cartoons during the 70's and remembers these three colorful monsters gracing their television set: Count Chocula, Franken Berry, and Boo Berry. For me, I was a big fan of Franken Berry (never liked how Count Chocula tasted). However, what I really, REALLY wanted was Boo Berry. But it was not to be. For some reason Boo Berry was never available in the metropolitan area of Atlanta. Why? What was so bad about Atlanta that General Mills deemed it Boo Berry free? I had no idea. With each viewing of every Monster Cereals commercial, my anger raged at the fact that Boo Berry would never be in my grasp. It was my white whale. I know, obsessive Ahab tendencies at such a young age.

Back to the moment at hand: there are some who want the Monster Cereals back on the small screen and have started a blog totally devoted to the ghastly three: Monster Cereals Blog. There, you can check out lots of images and movies and anything related to Count, Frank, and Boo. If you're an artist, it might be of some interest for you to know that October is Fan Art Month. I'm thinking of participating. Once I find the time, of course!

Anyway, what I want to share with you all are a couple of videos that these particular Monster Cereal fans have made, each sharing the same audio (with voices taken from various commercials and from a flexi-disc record that was free on the back of boxes in 1979 - hence the disco reference), but having two entirely different visuals. The first features original animation by...well, I don't know. Anonymous? Checkit out:

For those who remember the commercials, you'll dig the second, "classic animation" version, featuring a wide assortment of clips throughout the years. Ahh, yes:

I want to see the Monster Cereals back in action on TV. Badly. So, here's the thing: word has it that if there's enough interest in these videos, in the blog, in the Monster Cereals Facebook page, etc. - if there's a big enough ground swelling of Monster Cereals Mania, then there's a possibility that General Mills might cave in. I want them to cave in, see. I want them to cave in BIG TIME.

Pass the word on.

Step-by-step: King of Putdowns

2009-10-12T12:35:00.001-07:00

Hi guys. Thought I'd enlighten your day by sharing with you a sort of step-by-step process of how I created the illustration I did for Guide Magazine, The King of Putdowns (see previous post). Since I didn't take screengrabs while I was working, I can at least show you some of the layers by themselves, with a chance to view the images closer. I know that everyone has their own way of working, and by all means I'm not suggesting that any of you work exactly like me - this is just a hey, check it out! kind of thing. Hope you enjoy!

Roughs

After reading the short story for Guide magazine, it was suggested that maybe we could use a low perspective, looking up at the scene. I went with this and created this first sketch in my larger sketchbook. I did a couple of extra drawings for the main character and his hand, along with the girl climbing up the playhouse. (It's a playhouse situated in the back of a school's playground, abutted up against the woods.)

This is the first rough I sent to Guide after I scanned in all the elements and put them together in Photoshop. I don't normally do the grey painting for the various background items (such as the tree and playhouse here), but I think I like it. It helped me keep an eye on how the tones and colors might work in the final version.

Final Pencils

Once I get the okay, I then print out the rough and create tighter pencils of each item by tracing over the rough. At this stage, I may change a couple of things as I'm going along - like the girl's expression, for instance. I also changed the pose of the main character, pushing it further, making him more in opposition of the girl climbing up. I also changed the other boy's pose - he looked strange hugging the playhouse in the rough version.

Here are the final pencil scans of the playhouse, people in the background, and some leaves. I ended up not using any of the leaves over on the left, save those two that are not touching any other leaves. I then used those, along with the others on the right side of this scan, to create the leafy pattern for the final version. Lots of duplicates. Lots. On the bottom there, you'll see the teacher looking disapprovingly at the situation, along with two classmates. There are a few kids in the background as well. All these extras ended up getting nixed in the final version. I felt that it was taking away from all the action going on at the playhouse.

Color

Closer look.

Again, sorry I don't have a step-by-step of my process on this piece, so I have a couple of the layers spotlighted for you. Here, you'll see the background color layer (as well as the tree color layers). As you can see in my layers on the right, I have two main layers for each item: line and color. Sometimes (not always) I'll put the pastelly-brushy effect on its own layer, separate from the color layer. That way, I can do alternate versions if necessary. But honestly, that requires time and usually I don't have much of that when I'm working.

I never merge the line layer with the color layer. Never! Even if the line will be the same color as the color layer underneath. I just never do it. I've learned my lesson throughout all the years I've done this. As you can see, I ended up adding a pine cone in the girl's hand (I drew and scanned this hand with pine cone separately) after re-reading the story and realizing that the girl ended up throwing a pine cone at the main character while she was climbing up the playhouse.

It's rare when I see the layer like this. I always keep the line layer open so I can see the two layers together.

Closer look.

And here are all the layers together. For the girl, since I had a different hand, I ended up separating the throwing arm from the body just in case I needed to shift it for a better composition.

Courtland is this boy's name. His brushwork I did differently because he had a pattern on his shirt and shoes. Instead of trying to work out the brushy look on the color layer (where the patterns were), I did all the brushy shading on a separate layer, usually sandwiched between the line and color layers (here, the shading layers are on top). Well, as you can see, the shoes and shirt each had its own brushy shading layer (in case I needed to alter the opacity for each item, which I did). I do this only when the pattern underneath will be difficult to work with when it comes to the shading. Otherwise, I'd much rather work with the colors themselves instead of relying on a basic color for the shading. FYI: I never work with black or grey for the shading, unless the main color is grey itself. In order for the shadows and shades to be richer, fuller color, always work off of the original color.

For Courtland's color layer, I did all the brushy shading like I normally do on all the sections without patterns: the hair, skin and jeans.

Closer look.

And Voilá!! Courtland all colored and done. Here's the final again:

Closer look.

This process is a holdover from my days working in animation. I still use my animation disc and even use leftover animation stock paper when I work on the final pencils. Having pegbars and pegbar holes to better register the paper works perfectly for me. My entire children's book How To Train With a T.Rex and Win 8 Gold Medals was created using this method and it's worked pretty well for me so far. The concept of separating all the elements and then putting them all together like puzzle pieces is pretty much how we do animation, if you think about it. A sure fire way of making sure I don't get caught having to do extra work than necessary.

If you have any thoughts, questions, suggestions about this post, feel free to leave a comment below! I'd love to hear from you.

King of Putdowns

2009-09-28T00:22:00.003-07:00

Recent illustration I did for an upcoming issue of Guide Magazine. That boy at the top of the playhouse likes to put his classmates down with snarky remarks and insults. It prompts the girl to pick up a pine cone and toss it at him.

I'm very proud of this illustration. I was given ample time to work on it, allowing me to sketch and re-sketch the concept out, to get the best possible poses and overall composition. I was able to really take my time on the painting, too. It's nice to have a comfortable turnaround time. Many thanks to Brandon Reese. You're awesome, man.

Ramón Makes a Trade

2009-09-23T10:15:00.004-07:00

I guess you could say that this is "Messy Week" here on The Ward-O-Matic. Spotlighting vintage children's books that offer a messier aesthetic than what we're used to seeing from that time. Something outside the norm, you could say. Today's book is:

Ramón Makes a Trade by Barbara Ritchie, illustrated by Earl Thollander. Published by Parnassus Press. 1959.

Excellent picture book that is told in both English and Spanish. Nice bold ink lines and characters by Earl Thollander, who worked as an artist-reporter for many years. He illustrated many children's books, even writing a few of his own. Earl died in 2001 at the age of 79.

Some links about Earl Thollander:
Earl's biography.
Earl Thollander on Amazon
Earl Thollander Family Archives (with a photo of the artist).

Earl's bio in the book:

Earl Thollander lives in San Francisco with his wife and two children. From his home and studio he can see the Golden Gate. He not only was born there but has lived there most of his life, except for service as a naval officer in the South Pacific during World Ward II. He has traveled in Mexico and Europe as an artist-reporter. Whereever he goes, he paints the people of the country. He has received many awards for his work, and has been exhibited in San Francisco, New York and Japan.

A look inside the book (click on each image to view larger):

Chichibio and the Crane

2009-09-22T09:10:00.001-07:00

Chichibio and the Crane, by Giovanni Boccacio. Adapted and illustrated by Lele Luzzati. An Astor Book, Ivan Obolensky Inc., NY. 1961.

Wonderful little children's book featuring illustrations by Emanuele (Lele) Luzzati. Here's what it says about the artist on the back French flap of the dust jacket:

Emanuele (Lele) Luzzati, one of the most versatile and active graphic artists of post-war Italy, was born in Genoa in 1921 and graduated from the School of Fine and Applied Arts in Lausanne in 1945. Since then he has worked with an inexhaustable [sic] freshness and fantasy in many fields, including stage and costume designing for all the important Italian lyric and prose theatres – La Scala, the Venice Festival, the Florence Maggio Musicale, the Rome Opera, etc. As a ceramicist he won first prize in 1955 at the International Ceramic Sow in Cannes. As an industrial designer and decorator he won commissions from companies all over the world. He is responsible for some of the décors of the new Italian liner Leonardo Da Vinci. He has recently completed his first animated cartoon. This is his first book for children.

NY animator Michael Sporn has plenty of information about Luzzati on his "Splog". Look through the category of Luzzati & Gianini. Luzzati often teamed up with Giulio Gianini on various animated films and theatrical performances.

What I love about Luzzati's work is that it's very expressionistic - the stocky characters depicted in scribbles and ink blots evoke emotion even through their somewhat limited poses. The emotions come out through the medium and materials used. In some ways Luzzati's work is the antithesis of all the perfectly rendered characters and scenes painted in the Little Golden Books and schoolbook readers (Dick & Jane, for instance) mass produced around the same time. He was the UPA to Dick & Jane's Disney.

Lele Luzzati died just two years ago, in 2007. He was 85.

Links:

Lele Luzzati's official site.
Lele Luzzati on YouTube. (I highly recommend checking out his animated films. Wonderful stuff.)
Obituary in The Guardian.

Click on each image to view larger:

I really dig this spread. Love the use of negative space to depict the table there.

Even with his black & white illustrations (the book is half color, half b&w), we can get a sense of color through Luzzati's expressionistic brushwork and lines.

And finally, the endpapers. Love the pen and ink characters up against that pattern.

See and Say by Antonio Frasconi

2009-09-21T00:35:00.001-07:00

See and Say by Antonio Frasconi. A Voyager Book. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., NY. 1955.

Fantastic picture book featuring brilliant woodcuts by artist Antonio Frasconi. What's so cool about this book is the fact that it's in four languages, with the word for each object given in English (printed in black), Italian (blue), French (red), and Spanish (green).

In the intro to the book, Frasconi writes:

Since I was brought up in a home where more than one language was spoken, I was given at an early age the knowledge that there is more than one nation and one way of speaking in our world. The idea that there are many nationalities speaking many languages is to me one the most important for a child to understand.

See and Say has grown from this belief and from my experience and personal need in living with and teaching my son Pablo.

There's no one place to learn about Fasconi, but here are a few links to check out about the man:

Antonio Frasconi on Artcyclopedia
Antonio Frasconi at Davidson's Galleries
Google Image Search for Antonio Frasconi

The dude was born in 1919 and is still living at age 90. Awesome. This was his first children's book.

All images © Antonio Frasconi.

My Goatee Weighs a Ton

2009-09-09T12:04:00.002-07:00

It really does.

If you caught the reference here, you get a cookie.

Mos Def

2009-09-07T01:01:00.004-07:00

I know it's weird for me to say this, considering that I illustrated an entire book featuring an Olympic celebrity, but caricature is not my forte. It takes me a long time to get to the point where I'm happy with capturing the essence of a particular subject. I'm still not sure about this one, but I went ahead with it because I was digging the direction I was going. Trying something new with the colors in the background as well as the whole framing device. Something different.

This is Mos Def. He's an emcee.

And Counting

2009-09-05T22:45:00.002-07:00

Andrea gave this card to me for our anniversary last year. Felt it was appropriate to post it now. It's a great image. Love the characters here. If you notice, the wife's blouse has actual sparkles on it. The same for the centers of the flowers on the husband's apron. Nice touch. When you open the card up, it says: "Everything sure PANNED OUT fine for YOU TWO! Congratulations!" (There's an illustration of two eggs cooking in a pan. har har!)

Here's to 15 - heck, 50 more, Mrs.

Love you.

xoxoxoxox,
me

(magic fifteen on hulaseventy.)

15 Years

2009-09-03T17:53:00.002-07:00

Happy Anniversary, Andrea.

It's been a fantastic 15 years together with you. Looking forward to many, many more.

In the Long Haul

2009-08-27T04:18:00.004-07:00

I'm up late because I'm supposed to be working on a piece for this weekly newspaper on the East coast. So, instead of working, I've decided to write a post here. How's that for productivity? I've got standards, I tell ya.

It's been a little quiet around here on The Ward-O-Matic only because it's been a hectic summer. After a three-week hiatus, visiting Florida, Atlanta, and Illinois, the Jenkins clan hasn't stopped once since we've been back in the great NW. And school's going to start soon, making it even busier for us around here. In the meantime, I've been working full-time at Fashionbuddha, in downtown Portland, working on a project that needs a great deal of hand-drawn assets done by me. It's an interesting project, but one that has a crazy turnaround time. When have I ever worked on something that didn't have a lighting-fast deadline? It's the nature of the business, I'm afraid.

So, while I've been working throughout the day, Andrea's been getting ready for Squam, teaching a couple of classes on Through The Viewfinder, or TtV, for short. Each day has been filled with ordering things, organizing, getting prepared, etc. Not to mention, the kids need to get fed. Okay, so when do we get another vacation. Like, now?

While in Illinois earlier this month, Andrea and I got to visit a good number of thrift stores and antique shops with her mother, Ava & Ezra in tow. Above, you can see my haul from the trip. I actually found a way to pack all of that in my various luggage pieces for the trip back home. I'm still reeling from that travel day, by the way. It was NOT the best trip I've taken on a plane at ALL. Maybe that's a story for another day.

How To Train With a T. Rex Easter Eggs

2009-08-17T09:20:00.005-07:00

Easter eggs are a staple in today's modern entertainment. Whether it be animated films, cartoons, DVD special features,...and yes, even children's books. I'm sure you're quite aware of the multitude of easter eggs found in Pixar's films, as well as the vast majority of hidden gags in Looney Tunes throughout the years. I, myself, have snuck in countless inside jokes in almost all of my work since I've been working in the industry. Check out this ID for Animania and see if you can find me: Animania Superhero ID.

Why do we do this? Boredom. Either that, or it's just a lot of fun.

Being an animator, it was almost inevitable that I would somehow slip a couple of inside jokes into the first children's book I illustrated, How To Train With a T. Rex and Win 8 Gold Medals. Some are obvious. Others, not so much. I knew that it would make it fun for my friends and family to read through the book to see something familiar. An extra connection that I knew would be enjoyable for my loved ones.

The first one you'll encounter is on pages 16-17 (click on all images to view larger):

Say, what's the name of that pizza delivery service?

Ah, yes. Ava's Pizza, named after my daughter. She loved seeing this.

Turn the page, and you'll find pages 18-19:

Say, what's the name of that broccoli delivery service?

Ezra's the name of my son, of course.

He did NOT like this at first. He thought that old guy was him and got all grumpy about it. I reassured him that it wasn't him, but the truck driver. "See, you hire him to do the delivery of all the broccoli!" That seemed to work. He likes seeing his name in the book now.

And the "Ol' Man" bit was something I took from one of Ezra's sayings. He would call us "ol' man!" every once in a while. He's quite the entertaining fellow, that Ezra.

Next, is page 22:

This was a dozy of a page. With the deadline looming, I knew it would be crazy to work on all the details of the basketball players, so I tried a simple approach at first. It didn't work out. I just had to face the music and create each and every one of these guys with all the different colors and line colors and shading, etc. It was crazy. But worth it.

Say, doesn't that look like some artist/animator you might know?

Couldn't resist putting myself in this. Just too easy. I'm the only guy wearing purple and red: my little homage to Prince.

Other faces:

The bald guy right next to me is my brother in law, Von.

Two above him, with the full beard and wearing purple and white (for the school he went to in Cincinnati) is my other brother in law, Nate.

Directly above him in the fu manchu mustache is their father, my father in law, Jim Corrona. Otherwise known as "Coach". I drew him as he looked in the late 70's, when he was the head basketball coach at Salem High School, Salem, Illinois. Their school colors were dark green and white.

The rest are just various faces and people culled from various sources, mostly from NBA team sites. Some are actual players, but I wouldn't know what their names are for the life of me.

Pages 26-27 was an interesting spread to work on:

It's always fun to turn the book on its side, right? This spread gave me fits! I couldn't for the life of me work out a decent concept for the text. That is, until I decided to make it vertical. Violá!

Say, those hikers in the bottom lefthand corner look kinda familiar to me....

The hikers on the left are loosely based on me and Andrea when we went to Italy back in '99. A stretch, I know, but that was what I was thinking of when I started to draw this couple.

Why am I showing a close up of all the little people underneath the Eiffel Tower(s)? My daughter, Ava, helped out with the coloring of some of them! I showed her how to work the stylus and Wacom tablet in Photoshop and let her go to town. She had a LOT of fun with this. She's very proud of her work.

On the last page of the book, page 32:

The very last image of the book, we have Michael relaxing with his dog, Herman, on a couch. Surrounding him are items and photos that remind the reader of Michael's journey that he spoke of throughout the entire book. Hints and clues around the room, similar to the ending of The Usual Suspects, where we find out that Kevin Spacey's character's tale was all fabricated, made up by looking at various things around the office. (I'm not suggesting that Michael's story was made up, mind you!)

Take a closer look at the toy model of that NY subway car....

If you put a subway car in a children's book, I'm bound to bomb it with a tag: CANON.

Okay! How's that for your Monday? Hope you enjoyed this little tour of easter eggs found in my book. Never sure if I'll ever have a chance to do this, but it's always a thrill when I do have the opportunity. Makes it all the more special for the readers, I hope.

If you haven't checked the book out, I hope this might encourage you to buy the book solely for the sake of impressing your little ones that you know who Ava and Ezra are, and know that the illustrator can be found on that one page filled with basketball centers. Who knows, it just might work.

Michael Phelps on Tonight Show

2009-07-15T06:20:00.000-07:00

In case you missed it, here's the clip of Michael Phelps on Conan O' Brian last night, where they mention How To Train With a T. Rex and Win 8 Gold Medals. They don't talk about the book until about the 4:15 mark.

As typical of such situations, the illustrator is not mentioned, but that's okay with me. I'm happy that the book is getting some press!

Watch Conan Tonight

2009-07-14T13:33:00.003-07:00

Michael Phelps will be appearing tonight on the Tonight Show with Conan O'Brian. He'll be plugging some crazy kid's book titled How To Train With a T. Rex and Win 8 Gold Medals. Not sure if you've heard about it. Yeah, some yayhoo artist illustrated it. He lives in Portland, and since that's on the west coast, I'm assuming he's all hippy and vegetarian with his hipster beard, wearing flannel shirts and hugging trees on a daily basis. Or, maybe not.

But I digress—don't forget to tune in and watch Conan tonight!

Recent Reviews of "How To Train With a T. Rex"

2009-07-10T00:40:00.005-07:00

First book sighting at Barnes & Noble, June 6th, 2009.

Saw it at Powell's about a week and a half later.

The book's been out for over a month now, so to pass the time, I've gathered a few reviews of the book. There's not many, but I'm hoping that'll change throughout the course of the summer. I was told that Michael Phelps himself will do a PR run (morning and late shows, etc.), but that hasn't happened yet. Looks like the summer is a busy time for the Olympian with all those swimming competitions. Each time I check to see what the guy's doing, he's always in some city swimming in some 'nationals', or breaking world records, or something. But hey, the guy's gotta do what he's gotta do!

UPDATE: Just found out that Michael will appear on Tonight Show with Conan O'Brian, this Tuesday, the 14th to talk about the book! Warm up the TiVo!

Here are a couple of reviews, for the curious:

Publisher's Weekly:
"Swimming champ Phelps provides a playful account of what his preparation for the Beijing Olympics entailed. The text jumps from one analogy to the next, beginning with the six years he trained: “That's a kindergartener's whole life! That's the same as 42 dog years!” Some comparisons wow more than others, as when Phelps equates the 12,480 miles he swam while training to swimming the full length of the Great Wall of China three times (“Perfect! Now do it two more times,” says his coach in the accompanying illustration, which shows the Great Wall as a pool that zigzags across mountains into the distance). Humorous but less compelling spreads demonstrate the time he spent napping during these training years. Many of the comparisons are downright silly, including the one that inspires the book's title, in which Phelps tallies the number of dinosaurs he could hypothetically leg-press in a single workout (nine tons worth). Debut illustrator Jenkins's digital cartoons comically mine this and other quirky references, depicting Phelps as a cheerful, larger-than-life caricature. Sports fans with a love of statistics should be both amused and impressed. Ages 4–8. (June)"

Pretty happy with this review from Publishers Weekly. A big time site on everything about the publishing industry. Quite an honor to get a decent mention! I, of course, bolded that part about me. Sorry. I like that they mention the Bob Bowman gag. That was not part of the text—it was something that I added into the book myself. Nice!

Barnes & Noble: Kirkus Reviews:
"The titular T. Rex only puts in a cameo but readers will still be wowed as super-swimmer Phelps recaps the six-year regimen that put him in shape to win a record eight Golds at the last Summer Olympics. He livens his recitation of laps and reps considerably with comparisons-"I trained for six years! That's a kindergartener's whole life! That's the same as 42 dog years!"-and after swimming 17 races in nine days to reach the finals won the 100-Meter Butterfly by 1/100th of a second: "about the length of a fingernail." In blocky digital paintings Jenkins stacks up pizza boxes, whole sports teams, Washington Monuments and herds of dinosaurs to back up the claims about distances run, calories consumed and weights lifted, and closes with a view of the athlete lounging on a sofa, holding a bowl of broccoli and thinking up new goals. (Perhaps appropriately for the audience but possibly compromising the book's timeliness, the athlete's suspension for smoking pot goes without mention.) Motivational and self-aggrandizing, like most of its ilk, but not too heavy-handed with the Message. (Informational picture book. 6-9)"

Okay, this one baffled me. Why ON EARTH would we even mention the suspension??? First of all, the book was done at least a month before The Photo was leaked to the press. Secondly, it's a KID'S BOOK. It's ludicrous to think that something of that nature would even be mentioned in a children's book! Third...well, there's no third. That's all I got, but it's enough to go on. No more explaining needs to be done, don't you think? I know that the reviewer was probably trying to make a joke, but still. The last line is nice, though. Have to give 'em credit for that.

Booklist Online:
"Gold medalist Phelps takes readers through the regimen he kept for six years that eventually led him to eight gold-medal victories at the 2008 Summer Olympics. Digitally rendered cartoon-style artwork depicts Phelps going through his training activities juxtaposed with the representations of comparable activities and measurements. This puts his activities into terms that young children can understand: six years equals a kindergartner’s whole life; his daily three-hour nap equals three whole summer vacations; and so forth. The title and the cover, showing Phelps working out with a dinosaur, are misleading, as the T. rex is only mentioned as a comparison to show the strength of Phelps’ legs: “I could leg-press a Tyrannosaurus Rex and 10 velociraptors!” This will not win any medals, but it is deserving of an audience. Share with children who enjoy How Much Is a Million? by David M. Schwartz (1985), or Mount Olympus Basketball, by Kevin O’Malley (2003)." — Randall Enos

Baltimore Sun's Kevin Van Valkenburg has the best one I think so far:
8 gold medals not child's play, but Phelps' tome for tots is.

The entire review is a little long, so here are some excerpts:

"I wanted to make a bunch of jokes about a cartoon version of Phelps telling a cartoon Ms. California that everyone deserves the right to get married, and reminding kids that cell phone cameras will be confiscated every time he and his cartoon posse walk into a room.

But the truth is - and maybe this is the result of having a kid of my own on the way - I kind of liked it. There isn't exactly a narrative there, and the inclusion of a Tyrannosaurus Rex makes very little sense, even in the illogical world of children's books. But it has a nice message and some cool illustrations by Ward Jenkins."

WOOT!

One of the things I've noticed is that the first thing most people do when they see the book is make fun of it. I mean, c'mon—it's a joke waiting to happen. (Even Conan mentioned the book in his monologue!) But then they end up liking it because of the message and (hopefully) the artwork. Interestingly enough, Kevin's review goes on to talk about Michael's dedication to children & fans. Because he's from Baltimore, the reviewer has a chance to see this first-hand:

"All that said, Phelps does genuinely care about kids. I've seen him sign autographs for junior swimmers at meets for more than an hour, even though he was exhausted from a day of competition. And at Meadowbrook Aquatic Center in Mount Washington, he is famous for his patience with kids who want to take his picture or tug on his sleeve and ask for an autograph. So while I'm a natural cynic, I'm also inclined to believe there are sincere motives behind this book."

----------------------------------------

I'm behind on a lot of things right now. Namely, my site. I need to update it to include a page solely devoted to How To Train With a T. Rex And Win 8 Gold Medals. Also thinking I need a mention of the book on the intro page, as well. Also thinking that I need to basically redesign & tweak the entire site while I'm at it. Ah, details. They'll be the end of me, I'm sure.

More photos from the first sighting:

Hey it's me with that book.

It was wild to see it up there on the wall with all these other books. Wild, I tell ya!

Showing Ava the dedication page. Aww.

My eyes hurted after this.

If you haven't bought the book yet, then what are you waiting for? Support your favorite blogger! I'll be solely dedicated to you from here on out, I promise.

I'm currently gathering sketches and drawings together and will post some behind-the-scenes stuff on the making of the book. How does that sound? Actually, before I do that, I'll probably be featured on a children's book illustrator blog coming up. I'll keep you posted.

The Art & Life of Abner Graboff Part 2

2009-07-02T06:13:00.004-07:00

Concluding my interview with Jon Graboff, artist and illustrator Abner Graboff's son, we talk about animation, the numbers game, and music:

W: I'm curious, do you know if your father did any work in animation? Abner's work would've fit in perfectly with various studios that were producing interesting work during the 50's, especially UPA Studios. Do you know if he had any connections in the animation industry?

J: Anyone old enough to remember the Danny Kaye Show during the 1960’s might remember my dad’s animation of a cartoon marching band parading along the bottom of the screen at the beginning and end of the show. I asked him once why he didn’t do more animation and he said, with pained look “it was too time consuming” and that he didn’t want to draw the same character over and over with an arm, here then there and so on!

UPDATE: Stu Shostack of Shokus Video has found the animated opening of The Danny Kaye Show and graciously uploaded it for all to see on YouTube! The segment that Jon speaks of, the marching band of people, doesn't appear until around :40, and is cut off, but it's still cool to see Abner's characters in action. Big thanks to Stu for doing this for us! See for yourself:

Top and above: great photos of Abner in his studio, 1951.

W: Ha! Yes, animation can be quite tedious. I'd love to see this opening, if possible.

Back to books, I have a 8 year-old daughter and a 5 year-old son. I recently released my very first children's book. What was it like to grow up with your father creating children's books and working as an artist? Any interesting stories to tell?

J: I remember the numbers game. My brothers and I would write a number down on a piece of paper and my dad would work it into a drawing… it’s kinda hard to describe. And dad making roman style armor out of yellow flexible art cards. A painting of a cowboy on the inside of my brother Mike’s closet and the barrels of the six shooters had clothes hooks screwed into them. My father restored an old snow sled and stenciled rocket on it. It was pretty cool. The funny thing about growing up with a book illustrator is that we knew virtually nothing of other well known children’s books. I didn’t know anything about Potter or Sendak until much later in life!

It’s funny that you mentioned “Dick and Jane” style illustrations because I remember elementary school, and using the “Dick and Jane” stories when we were learning to read, and thinking that they were very lame compared to dad’s work!

I think the enduring interest in my father’s illustrations comes down to one very important thing. They were fun and they were funny! He loved kids and had a big heart and a keen sense of humor and those qualities always came through.

From Mrs. McGarrity's Peppermint Sweater, 1966.

From Something For You, Something For Me, 1960.

W: Did he have any musical interests, and/or musical talent? If so, did he influence you as a musician?

J: Here’s an amazing memory. My mother was a very talented violinist and there was always music in the house and my brothers and I took up band instruments in elementary school. Michael learned the trumpet, I played the French horn and my other brother Paul played the clarinet. Paul only seemed to be able to create one sound on his clarinet, which was reminiscent of a higher pitched foghorn… way off in the distance… whooooo. One night, we were sitting around the living room watching television and suddenly heard real clarinet playing from somewhere in the house. We looked around at each other with puzzled looks and realized that dad wasn’t there. We all bounded up the stairs, threw a bedroom door open and found dad playing the clarinet… and rather well. We all expressed our astonishment because he’d never even hinted at knowing how to play an instrument! He bashfully explained that he was a big Benny Goodman fan and had taken up the clarinet in high school. But he said his music teacher was a “Nazi” about the “correct” way to play “correct” music, and quit. This was the first time he’d picked up a clarinet in 25 years! He was actually pretty good.

He had collected small combo jazz 78’s as a teenager but later in life, listened almost exclusively to classical music. He loved Mozart in particular.

W: About your siblings, are they also artists and/or musicians?

J: My twin brother Paul, who died of pancreatic cancer in 2004, followed in my father’s footsteps and was a graphic designer. My older brother Michael is actually a very talented musician but became the family rebel by becoming a businessman. He lives in Munich, Germany and has two children.

W: Tell us a little about yourself. Can you tell me what your earliest memory was in regards to music? Were there any songs, band, events or concerts that had a major impact on you and your musical upbringing?

J: My earliest musical memories are of my mother singing a made up song about being on the swing as she pushed me higher and higher and my father singing me to sleep. Oddly enough, the song was the old depression era song, “Hallelujah I’m A Bum”. And honestly, I can’t remember a time when I was not thinking about music.

Vivian & Abner, 1972.

W: I see that you've collaborated with a great number of people, such as Ryan Adams, David Byrne, Willie Nelson, Ben E. King, Jon Spencer, to name a few. Any particular collaborations stick out in your mind? How long have you been performing? I'd love to hear how you got involved with the music industry.

J: Music became an all-consuming passion for me and I left home when I was 16 years old to join a band. I’ve played with lots of remarkable musicians over the years… some more so than others, but I like to think that I learned something valuable in each and every time. I think maintaining the attitude that I don’t know it all, and I can glean something from every situation, is something that I got from my father. He was artistically and intellectually curious by nature and he was always saying things like, I wonder why… I think that he believed that when you stop asking why, when, where, and what’s next… it’s all over.

Last photo of Abner. 1986.

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This concludes my interview with Jon Graboff. I want to thank Jon for taking the time to talk with me about his father. I can't tell you how exciting this entire experience has been for me, a huge fan of Abner's work. It's one thing to enjoy a particular artist's work at face value, but it's quite a different experience once you know more about the artist and learn of his/her background. Thank you, Jon, for providing us the perfect opportunity to get to know your father, and for sharing with us your memories about his life & work.

It's unfortunate that Abner wasn't able to make much money off of his incredibly vibrant children's books. My hope is that there'd be enough interest in Abner Graboff's books that some publisher out there would be willing to reprint his titles, much like Rizzoli has done with M. Sasek's successful "This Is..." series. One can least hope, right?

More family photos:

A night out: Abner, Vivian, and Ira (Abner's brother). 1945.

Gift giving: Vivian & Abner at Christmastime, late 1940's

More images from Abner's books:

From 10 Little Indians, 1963.

From Old MacDonald Had a Farm, 1969.

From It's a Picnic!, 1969.

From The Abelard Folk Song Book, 1958.

Previously:
Who was Abner Graboff?
The Art & Life of Abner Graboff: Part 1 of my interview with his son, Jon.

More on Abner can be found here:
My Abner Graboff Flickr set
Abner Graboff in The Retro Kid
Abner Graboff on Biotope (Japanese site)

The Art & Life of Abner Graboff

2009-06-30T01:39:00.009-07:00

Recently, I had the excellent opportunity of interviewing Jon Graboff, asking him if he could enlighten us about his father, illustrator and designer Abner Graboff. Jon was gracious enough to share some fascinating stories, as well as family photos! (All photos courtesy of Jon Graboff.)

So, who was Abner Graboff? Let's find out....

Ward: First of all, there's not much out there on your father and his career. For what little I've gathered, all I know is that he worked in the commercial art world (advertising, etc.) as a designer and art director, as well as an illustrator, and then he worked on children's books. I'd love to hear about Abner's early career: how he got into art and design. Did he go to school? If so, where?

Jon: My father, the first of two sons, was born on June 28, 1919 to a couple of Russian immigrants, Joseph and Sonia, who owned and operated a laundry business in East Orange, New Jersey. Ira, his younger brother who would later become a Cooper Union educated architect, was born 6 years later.

Date unknown, but possibly late-1930's.

Abner Graboff is in the back middle, with his parents on the left (his right). The other adults are unidentified. The boy in the shadow might be Abner's younger brother Ira, but it's hard to tell.

The family business, which had already been struggling through the depression, was dealt another blow by Joseph’s death of colon cancer at the age of 48… sometime during the mid 1930’s. Both my parents were heavily impacted by the depression and is some ways, were classic depression kids. When my father died, I found about a half dozen bank accounts with small amounts of money stashed in them. I guess he didn’t want to concentrate his wealth… in case any occurred… which it didn’t!

I’m not exactly sure when my father became interested in art, but he was apparently set on that path because he applied and was awarded a full scholarship to Parson’s School of Design in New York City after finishing high school. He told me that, at that time, Parson’s “wasn’t a very good school” and he transferred, with another full scholarship to another school where he completed his education. He told me that this school no longer exists and I don’t recall its name.

At the start of America’s involvement in WWII, dad took advantage of a draft deferment in light of the needs of the family business. He said that that was fine with him having no keen interest in entering the armed forces. However, as the war heated up and more and more men were being called into service, he told me that “it was a matter of time before he was drafted and thought that the best way to “have some control as to where he ended up”, was to enlist and request an area of service other than the infantry. He entered the army signal corps and, because of his background in art, was sent to drafting school and learned the “art” of drafting schematics for radios. After his army drafting school experience, he told me that it was his ambition for the duration, was “to never do anything army related again”. With the exception of being assigned the task of painting big white stars on the sides of jeeps for a day, he seemed to have successfully attained his service ambitions and a series of watercolor paintings, done overseas in England and France, resulted.

A side note to the star painting episode, my father said he couldn’t remember the formula for drafting a five pointed star and was scratching versions of it in the dirt when another soldier wandered by and asked what he was doing. This fellow knew how it was done and showed him, and Sergeant Eddie Rader of Brooklyn, New York would remain my father’s closest friend until the end of dad’s life.

After my father’s discharge, he met and three months later, married another East Orange native, Vivian Linde, started his career as a freelance graphic designer and raised 3 sons. Michael, born in 1951 and twins Paul and me in 1954.

Abner Graboff with wife Vivian (née Linde), 1945.

Brother Ira, wife Vivian, and Abner Graboff, 1945.

Abner created this card, announcing the arrival of their twins Jonathan & Paul in 1954. The top part is the front of the announcement, and the bottom part is the back.

By the way, this is the first time it's being shown outside the family. Many thanks to Jon Graboff for sharing it with us!

Abner Graboff in the Winter of '56. Looks like older son Michael in the shot (hard to see).

Abner with sons Michael (in back), and twins Jon & Paul.

W: Did he start in the commercial/advertising world right away, or did he do other types of jobs before working in that field?

J: I don’t believe that my father ever worked for anyone, preferring freelance work and I don’t recall my dad doing a lot of work in advertising. He was a bit of a left-winger and didn’t enjoy the corporate world… it reminded him too much of his army experience. I do remember a time when he had been offered a huge job for Dow Chemical in the late 1960’s. It was at the height of the Viet Nam war and Dow Chemical was the largest manufacturer of napalm which was being dumped in huge quantities all over southeast asia. He talked about feeling conflicted by his obligations as a breadwinner and his moral objections to war and warfare… he turned the job down.

He apparently did a lot of work in the early days of television when graphics were done on clear celluloid and scrolled in front of a camera lens. My brother Michael told me that dad mentioned to him that he had designed the CBS “eye” logo but didn’t receive credit for it. The credit went instead to the chief art director at the network. Perhaps I’m unduly influenced, but that logo does remind me of my father’s graphic style a great deal.

W: Are there any interesting stories that he'd tell you about his work?

J: Throughout my father’s career, he did hundreds of book jacket designs and I once asked him, in a slightly condescending way, if he enjoyed that kind of work? He said he loved it because he had to nail the vibe of the book in a single illustration and when he got it right, that it was very satisfying. There was a long period of time when I could walk into a bookstore, look around, pick up a book and look at the jacket design credit… and more often than not, find his name. Later on, I started to get fooled. Other designers were either copying or being heavily influenced by his style.

A collection of various dust jacket designs by Abner Graboff from 1957 to 1981. (Click on image to read details.)

From The Hamburger Cook Book by Esther K. Schwartz. 1950.

From The Abelard Folk Song Book, 1958.

W: How did he make the transition from commercial artist to children's book illustrator? Did he do both at the same time?

J: There never was a “transition” from one area of my father’s career to another… it was all simultaneous. He never compartmentalized his design interests. As he got into children’s book illustration, he carried on with all the other work he was doing. One has to remember that he was a freelance designer with a young family and couldn’t afford the luxury of doing just one thing. Knowing him, I don’t think he ever wanted to do just one thing… he enjoyed it all.

I asked him why he stopped illustrating children’s books. He said he “had a bad agent and never made any money” doing them! He continued drawing these characters and they would turn up in letters, and book treatment ideas that never went any farther. When he died, I found something fascinating as I was going through the stuff in his office. My mother had told me that dad’s annual income could fluctuate by as much as a third depending on how much self-promotion he did… something he never felt very comfortable doing. Going through a file cabinet, I discovered files labeled with the names of art directors. I realized that when he wasn’t particularly busy, he would stockpile personalized cartoons, which he would slip into an envelope from time to time and mail to remind people that he was around and thinking of them.

W: One thing I love about your father's children's books is how radical a departure he took from what was considered the "norm" at that time during the 50's: he definitely did not do your typical "Dick & Jane" style of illustration. I'm curious, did your father ever mention who his influences were?

J: My father seemed to dislike complicated work. He’d say “too fussy”. He was drawn more toward artists who worked in bold strokes like Picasso (he liked his sense of humor), Braque and Miro’s later collages… and abstract impressionists particularly Kline and Rothko. He adored Rockwell Kent and I have a Kent illustrated copy of Moby Dick that dad bought when he was in art school and is dated in my father’s hand, 1940.

It’s hard for me to access his style as a “radical departure”… they were the books that were around as we were growing up and he was far too modest to crow about these kinds of things. I do have a friend who was doing some work with Maurice Sendak quite a few years ago. He generally described Sendak as intentionally oblivious to any other illustrators and claimed to be unaware of even the most well known ones. My friend happened to mention that he was heading into the city to meet me for dinner, and Sendak asked if I was any relation to Abner Graboff? Sendak astonished my friend by saying, “I wonder what ever happened to Abner Graboff… he was really good”.

From Mr. Angelo, 1960.

From I Know an Old Lady, 1961.

W: I love the stylization of his characters, the way he used simple shapes and color to create sophisticated compositions. Do you happen to know what materials he used? Cut paper? Ink? Pencils?

J: Dad used just about every medium in his work. Pen and ink, felt markers, cut paper (even cut sandpaper), string, toothpicks, leaves and what ever else was on hand. He was the first illustrator that I know about who would build a character out of paper and let it float over a background and photograph it using a single, hard light source to cast shadows so it appeared three-dimensional on the printed page. “Do Catbirds Have Whiskers” is a good example of this.

From Do You Want to See Something?, 1965.

W: As mentioned before, I have what was listed as the first children's book he illustrated, "The Sun Looks Down", done in 1954. How many books did he illustrate that you know of?

J: Below is a list of my father’s books that I compiled from the Internet. I’m not sure if it’s complete or not:

Books Illustrated by Abner Graboff

1954 The Sun Looks Down, by Miriam Schlein, pictures. by Abner Graboff. Abelard-Schuman.

1956 Rainbow In The Morning, by Carl Withers, pictures. by Abner Graboff. Abelard-Schuman.

1957 A Tale Is A Tail, by Katherine Mace, pictures. by Abner Graboff. Abelard-Schuman.

1958 Abelard Folk Song Book, by Norman Cazden, pictures by Abner Graboff. Abelard-Schuman.

1958 I Want To Whistle, by Anne Alexander, pictures by Abner Graboff.

1958 The Daddy Days, by Norman Simon, pictures by Abner Graboff. Abelard-Schuman.

1959 Of Course, You’re A Horse!, by Ruth Shaw Radlauer, pictures by Abner Graboff. Stella Greenwald.

1959 Merry Ditties, (song book for piano and guitar), by Norman Cazden, pictures by Abner Graboff. Bonanza Books.

1960 Something For You, Something For Me, by Mabel Watts, pictures by Abner Graboff. Abelard-Schuman.

1960 Noise In The Night, by Anne Alexander, Pictures by Abner Graboff. Rand McNally & Company.

1960 Mr Angelo, by Marjory Schwalje, pictures by Abner Graboff. Abelard/Schuman.

1961 Please Don’t Feel Horace, by Miriam Young, pictures by Abner Graboff. A Dial Junior Book.

1961 I Know An Old Lady, by Alan Mills, pictures by Abner Graboff. Rand McNally. Scholastic Book Services.

1962 Weeks And Weeks, by Mabel Watts, pictures by Abner Graboff. Abelard-Schuman.

1963 A Fresh Look At Cats, by Abner Graboff. F. Watts

1964 The Hungry Goat, by Alan Mills, pictures by Abner Graboff. Rand McNally

1964 No Sort Of Animal, By Mary B. Palmer, pictures by Abner Graboff. Houghton Mifflin.

1965 Heat, by Howard Liss, pictures by Abner Graboff. Coward-McCann

1966 Mrs. McGarrity’s Peppermint Sweater, by Adelaide Holl, pictures by Abner Graboff. Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co,, Inc.

1965 Do You Want To See Something?, by Eve Merriam, pictures by Abner Graboff. Scholastic Book Services.

1967 Do Cat Birds Have Whiskers? By Abner Graboff. G. P. Putnam’s Sons

1967 Willie & Winnie & Wilma The Wicked Witch, by David C. Whitney, pictures by Abner Graboff. Franklin Watts, Inc.

1968 Skippy The Skunk, by David C. Whitney. Pictures by Abner Graboff.

1968 Would You Put Your Money In A Sand Bank?, by Harold Longman, pictures by Abner Graboff. Rand McNally & Company.

1968 Crystal Magic, by Eugene David, Pictures by Abner Graboff. First Cadmus Edition.

1969 Limpy The Lion, (See and Say Sounds Series) by David C. Whitney. Pictures by Abner Graboff. F. Watts

1969 Old Macdonald Had A Farm, by Abner Graboff. Scholastic Book Series.

1969 It’s A Picnic!, by Nancy Fair McIntyre, pictures by Abner Graboff. NY Viking

1969 Ann’s Ann-imal, by David C. Whitney, pictures by Abner Graboff. Watts.

1975 Do You What I See? No! I See Something Else, by Abner Graboff. Scholastic Book Series.

1976 In A Cat’s Eye, by Abner Graboff. The Bookstore Press.

This is the end of Part 1 with my interview with Jon Graboff.

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Next: The Art & Life of Abner Graboff Part 2
Previously: Who was Abner Graboff?

You can see more of my scans of Abner's books in my Abner Graboff Flickr set.

Who Was Abner Graboff?

2009-06-29T09:20:00.008-07:00

Abner Graboff is one of those artists who's fallen through the cracks of time. An enigma, if you want to call him that. Not a whole lot written about him, and what little there is, well, there's not much to glean from. I first found out about him through my Flickr group, The Retro Kid. On there, illustrator Eric Sturdevant had posted some fantastic pages from several of Graboff's books. I immediately made a mental note to remember this artist and his brilliant use of shapes and color, as well as overall design. Soon afterwards, I stumbled upon a book written by Miriam Schlein and illustrated by Graboff titled, "The Sun Looks Down". The dust jacket was literally falling apart, but still somewhat intact. Reading the inside back flap, I found a brief bio for the artist:

ABNER GRABOFF is a young artist, well-known in the field of commerical art, who makes his bow to the world of children's books with his pictures for "The Sun Looks Down".

When asked to tell the publisher something about his hobbies, Mr. Graboff said his only hobby was painting. The fact that he enjoys his work shows clearly in the humor and wit and careful attention to detail in these pictures.

Miss Schlein worked closely with Mr. Graboff when his pictures were still in the planning stage and feels that he has caught her mood perfectly.

The copyright for the book is dated 1954. Here are some spreads:

Notice how Graboff utilizes the space in each spread. I'd like to contribute this to his background in design. He was listed as designer and artist for a few notable ads featured in graphic design annuals around the time, but I couldn't find much more on him. There's no way of telling if Abner started in graphic design and then moved onto children's books, or did the books as an aside, or how long he illustrated children's books, etc. The inside dust jacket of "Sun Looks Down" didn't really tell me anything, save for the fact that he was known for his commercial work and that this was his first book.

Well, now we can know. Even though Abner passed away in 1986, I was able to contact his son, Jon, and ask him a few questions about his father's life and work. Jon Graboff is an established musician and producer, having played with Ryan Adam's band, The Cardinals, among a wide variety of artists. Jon took time out of his busy schedule to answer my questions, most of which probably bordered on fan boy obsession. I'm forever indebted to Jon for doing this for me, as well as for the multitude of current Abner Graboff fans who've longed for more information about this intriguing artist who's touched so many lives with his lively body of work.

Throughout this week I'll feature the interview as well as showcase some books that Abner had illustrated throughout his career. Stay tuned!

Next:
The Art & Life of Abner Graboff: Part 1 of my interview with Jon Graboff. Jon shares some fascinating stories, along with family photos.
The Art & Life of Abner Graboff Part 2

More on Abner can be found here:
My Abner Graboff Flickr set
Abner Graboff in The Retro Kid
Abner Graboff on Biotope (Japanese site)

Terrible Yellow Eyes

2009-06-23T15:44:00.004-07:00

I'm sure you've heard of Terrible Yellow Eyes by now, right? If not, please click on the link to visit Cory Godbey's wonderful tribute site. His words:

Terrible Yellow Eyes is a collection of works inspired by the beloved classic, Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak....We share a love and admiration for Sendak's work and the pieces we present here are done as a tribute to his life and legacy.

I want to thank Cory for coming up with this great idea. And I want to thank him for allowing me to be a part of it. Above is my submission.

And, of course, I want to thank Mr. Sendak for being so wild as to create such an inspirational bit of children's literature.

And the Winner Is...

2009-06-19T08:40:00.001-07:00

#159: H. A. Weaselton

CONGRATULATIONS, H. A.! You win a signed copy of my new children's book How To Train With a T. Rex And Win 8 Gold Medals, as well as a 5x7 print of your choosing from The Ward-O-Matic Shop. Take a look around, see what you like. Choose wisely, my friend.

THANK YOU ALL for participating in this book giveaway, guys. Wish I could give a copy to each and every one of you all who commented here. I had a lot of fun working on the book—it's a great pleasure for me to finally share it with everyone out there. Be sure to come back to check out some work-in-progress stuff I did for the book, like rough sketches and drawings. I think you'll find it interesting. At least, I hope.

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Coming up: I'm very excited about this one post I've been working on, featuring an interview with the son of an influential illustrator from the 50's - 70's. Stay tuned!

Take a Look Inside the Book (and a Giveaway)

2009-06-15T12:38:00.005-07:00

Now that the veil has been lifted, allow me to show off what I've been keeping under wraps since January. Yes, a bit of self-indulgence, but this is my very first children's book and I CAN'T HELP MYSELF! I'm extremely excited to share with you all some spreads of How To Train With a T.Rex and Win 8 Gold Medals. If you like what you see, why not click on the book title and order it? It'll make me happy. And my family. We're counting on you. No pressure.

(However, if you want a freebie, I'm offering a BOOK GIVEAWAY further down in this post!)

Allow me to take you on a visual tour of the book:

Holding up the cover, you can see the gold foil lettering and gold medals. Looks pretty cool, I think. Hard to photograph, though.

I like what my art director did with the back cover here. Lucy took what I had drawn for page 5 and put it on the back. Nice.

I like how this spread looked. Simple and basic.

The dog is Herman, Michael's very own pet bulldog. I looked at pictures and video that was available of Herman (not much actually) and tried to match the color patterns found on his coat.

The audience on the right was a pain. I didn't want it to look like I just drew 10 shapes of people and copy pasted the heck out of it. I really went in and drew and touched up almost every single "person".

This was a fun spread, showing the relative time it took for Michael to train leading up to the Olympics (it goes to 2003, but who's counting). We decided to go with a boy growing up, alongside his pet bulldog, from birth to six years old. Even though it's not really Michael here, I made it look like the kid's really into swimming (he reads a book called "How to Swim Like a Dolphin", for instance).

The whole eating up to 10,000 calories thing is fascinating to kids, so it was fun to visualize the fact that it would be like eating tons of pizza. Of course, eating just pizza would be sorta not healthy, so that's why you see a "I could never eat that much pizza!" line.

Easter Egg alert: the name of the pizza delivery service is "Ava's Pizza".

When in doubt, DINOSAURS! I had a blast drawing this spread—I mean, who doesn't love T. Rex's and Velociraptors?

I was *this* close to putting my graffiti tag on that subway car.

Wrapping it up. Getting near the end of our journey, as we recap all the things that Michael had to endure to reach his goal at Beijing.

Okay, one more shot.

------------ BOOK GIVEAWAY!!! ------------

Now that the book is officially released, I'm going to celebrate by offering a signed copy of the book! (Sorry, not signed by Michael, just me.) I'll make it even MORE worth your while by throwing a 5x7 print from my Etsy shop into the mix. How's that? Yeah? Yeah!

Okay, what you need to do is leave a comment on this blog post by midnight (PST) Wednesday, June 17 and I'll have one of my kids pick a number out of a hat. The winner will be announced this Friday, the 19th.

GOOD LUCK!

UPDATE: Comments are now closed. Thanks for participating, guys!

How To Train With a T. Rex and Win 8 Gold Medals

2009-06-12T08:21:00.004-07:00

It's here!

It's official, guys: my very first children's book that I illustrated is now available: How To Train With a T. Rex and Win 8 Gold Medals. I had so much fun working on this book, thanks in part to art director Lucy Cummings and editor Alexandra Cooper at Simon & Schuster. Those two made the project worthwhile for me as I was neck-deep in deadlines and redos. It was a great pleasure to work with such fine people. Thank you, Lucy and Alex!

It feels so good to finally talk about this thing! I'll post a couple of shots of the inside of the book later on this weekend, so be sure to check back later. I'll even talk a bit about the making of some of the spreads, including sketches. I promise it'll be fun.

A big hug goes out to my wife Andrea, and to Ava & Ezra for being patient with me during the months it took to complete the book. I am nothing without you guys.

And one last thing: a big thanks to all of YOU for being so supportive of me! The love & support from family, friends and fellow artists goes a long, long way, believe me. Thank you.

FTW! WTF?

2009-06-08T23:07:00.002-07:00

Just an idea I had hanging out in the confines of my brain. For the record, I had no idea what "FTW" meant until several months ago. And really, I thought it was just a funny way to say "WTF" but backwards. Oh, nevermind.

Forcing Myself to Contradict Myself

2009-06-07T09:09:00.005-07:00

Realizing it's been a long time since I've posted anything from my sketchbooks. So here's a sampling of some pages below. You can click on each image to go to a slightly larger version on its Flickr page. If you'd like to see any one of these even larger, let me know and I'll put a link up for you. Sorry that I don't make these images large in the first place, I'm just a little wary of posting high res scans of my artwork. Hope you understand!

Andrea and I watched a documentary on photographer Annie Leibovitz last night. Here's a quote from her: "The camera makes you forget you're there. It's not like you are hiding but you forget, you are just looking so much."

When I draw and sketch people and places around me, I lose myself in the process. Even though I have a certain knowledge of how to start each sketch or drawing, it's still a surprise to me how it turns out. And when I look through my past sketchbooks, I'm constantly surprised by the results I see on each page, each drawing. And I can remember the process I took for each drawing: from how I approached the subject, all the way to its completion. It's a funny way of looking at your work, and I like it. It's good to be surprised by your own work—that way, you know you'll never do something the same way twice. At least, that's how I look at it.

I might've mentioned it here on the blog before, but it's worth the mention again: one of my favorite artists of all time is Marcel Duchamp and there's a quote that's attributed to him that pretty much sums it up for me and how I look at what I do as an artist:

"I have forced myself to contradict myself in order to avoid conforming to my own taste."

I guess you could say that I have a fear of repeating myself. Even though I might approach each drawing differently, I know that my overall style comes through, creating an overall artistic signature, or 'voice', that can't be denied. The end result might look similar to the viewer, but, I know personally, I took the 'road less traveled', and that my artistic journey was one of newness and wonder with each page, each drawing.

New Update in The Shop: b-boys now in 5x7!

2009-06-05T13:12:00.003-07:00

Until I can actually talk about the children's book I illustrated, thought I'd update The Ward-O-Matic Shop with all 7 prints of the b-boy series now available as 5"x7"s! I'd been meaning to do this long ago, but life got in the way, of course. Nice to have a less expensive option for these images, plus they look pretty cool in a smaller size.

Enjoy!

Box of Books

2009-06-02T12:27:00.001-07:00

We found a package on our front doorstep the other day, addressed to me. It was a box, filled with several books, all the same book.

What does this mean? Hmmmm?

Willamette Weekly: This is Lents

2009-05-27T12:03:00.004-07:00

Oh look! It's an actual post! And it's of something that I've actually drawn! The miracles never cease here on The Ward-O-Matic, I tell ya. Willamette Weekly is a weekly freebie newspaper here in Portland, OR. I did the cover for the May 27th, 2009 issue. Read article here, if you're curious. Lents is a neighborhood in the SE section of the city that's experiencing a possible re-birth. I actually went to the area to take photos of various buildings, parks, corners, etc. to get the look & feel of the neighborhood. Took the kids to Lents Park and had ice cream. It was a great day.

Got the call on Saturday, and had to turn it around by Tuesday -- yes, on Memorial Day weekend. So it goes.

Of course, this is based off those wonderful vintage large-letter postcards. What's in each letter? See below:

L - New Copper Penny: restaurant & bar on SE 92nd & Foster.
E - The new Beavers Minor League Baseball Park being proposed for Lents Park.
N - I-205: the highway split the neighborhood in two.
T - New MAX stop scheduled to open shortly.
S - Building near 92nd & Foster.

In case you're wondering how "Willamette" is pronounced, there's a saying that the locals say to any newbies: "It's Will-AM-ette, dammit!"

What you see here is the image I sent - the way they comp'ed it together looks rather nice, so i'll take some shots of the actual cover and post them here later on today.

Oh! Hey -- Andrea's got some new prints up in her Etsy shop. Check them out. Stunning images. By the way, I'm getting ready to update my Etsy with some 5x7 versions of the b-boy series. I think they look pretty stinkin' cool, but that's just me.

Coming soon: my children's book will be released on June 2nd!

Fun Greeting Cards

2009-05-08T10:48:00.004-07:00

More vintage inspiration, this time from several cool mod cards, made by Sunshine Cards. The imprint on the back says "A Studio Card". No illustrator credit. No date, but probably late 60's-early 70's. I say "early 70's" because of the numerical code on the back suggests it might be 1971. But you can never tell with these things. These cards belong to a full set that feature the same looks and concept: fun stylized characters with a bit of real fabric or yarn, collage-like. The real bits of fabric (yarn for these two cards) are not actually on the cards themselves, but rather a photo. Adds a nice dimensionality to the cards, if you ask me. An extra bit of character to the characters.

"MINI HAPPY RETURNS!"

"But so is THE MORTGAGE, THE GROCERY BILL and the PAYMENT ON THE CAR!

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY anyway!"

Har har! Always with the corny jokes.

I'll have to scan the rest of the set. The box they came in is pretty cool as well.

Kretschmer Wheat Germ Recipes

2009-05-06T11:59:00.002-07:00

More inspiration for you guys, this time from Kretschmer Wheat Germ, circa 1971. Even though it's dated a little later from what I normally post, the illustrations found in this little cookbooklet (yes, I made that word up) are fun, colorful and lively. It's an interesting group of illustrations here because they almost serve as a bridge from the cheerful & simplistic 50's cookbook illos to the more decorative and graphic, pen & ink style of spot illustrations seen in the late-60's and 1970's. I'm no expert on this, just a simple observation.

Kodak Ektachrome booklet from 1955

2009-05-04T10:08:00.000-07:00

How about some nice Monday morning inspiration? Yes, I thought so: here's a nifty booklet on Kodak Ektachrome film, 1955. No illustrator credit given. The few illustrations that are present are fabulous throughout, with fun linework offset by bold shapes of color. Nice use of type and lettering, too. Click on each image to go to its respective Flickr page.

Hello sun!

2009-04-27T17:36:00.003-07:00

Made this today. It's been sunshine-y lately and so I got inspired. Hello, sun. I want more of you, please.

Thinking about selling this as a print on my Etsy. What say you, dear peoples?

Philosophy & Good Design at the Thrift Store

2009-04-24T09:48:00.003-07:00

Thrift stores are a funny thing. Each time I walk into one, I'm both appalled and exhilarated. Appalled by the excessive junk that we dispose of on a daily basis, and exhilarated by the potential of finding something overlooked and forgotten. The exhilaration of possibility is what drives me. Wednesday, I walked into a thrift store that we haven't visited for quite some time and I stumbled upon some wonderfully forgotten paperbacks on philosophy and theory. Forgotten textbooks, discarded after a yard sale, perhaps. I wasn't actually seeking out these particular books, but the covers were what piqued my interest. Nice, simple graphic covers, with bold colors and text. I guess you could say on a philosophical level that I didn't find these books, but rather they found me. How profound.

The Worldly Philosophers by Robert L. Heilbroner. No mention of cover designer. Simon & Schuster, ©1953, 1961.

Physics and Philosophy: The Revolution in Modern Science by Werner Heisenberg. Cover design by Guy Fleming. Harper & Row, NY. ©1958, this edition 1962.

This last one isn't on philosophy, but was found in the same section:

The Enduring Art of Japan by Langdon Warner. Cover design by Roy Kuhlman. Grove Press, NY. ©1952.

Not sure what was erased in that upper right-hand section—original price, perhaps? Instead of photoshopping it out, I decided to leave it be.