Monday, August 5th, 2013
A brief interlude
"Wait, what's with the Monday post, Anderson? I thought you posted on Fridays."
Oops, sorry for the lack of posts here over these past weeks. Summer got in the way. I've been busy writing, painting and Cheryl and I were off on a little vacation with my family. But I do have some news- I've been working on something very special. It's a FUN, new project. I'll be announcing it right here very soon.
Stay tuned...
Friday, July 19th, 2013
Two new reviews
I try to keep an eye out for reviews of my books. My publishers send all the reviews from the traditional literary critics- Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, School Library Journal and Booklist. But there are bloggers, newspapers and all sorts of online publications that also publish reviews of children's books. Sometimes friends will send them my way when they spot them and occasionally I'll stumble across them on my own. Here are two recent reviews of two of my books...
From the Washington Times Communities (Washington, D.C.)
In their "Big Reads for Little Hands" section, Brighid Moret does a beautiful job of summarizing Waking Dragons and spotting those subtle additions to the world and the story that can easily be missed if you're not on the lookout for them. Brighid says, "Parents will find the humor in the story, as waking a dragon is just as difficult as waking a child for school, and possibly just as perilous."
And she goes on to say, "...this is a timely and imaginative children's book that sword-wielding children will love."
As artists and authors, we have to let the work speak for itself, so it's always refreshing when readers recognize those touches. Thanks, Brighid!
To read the full review, click HERE.
From North Shore News (British Columbia)
Columnist Fran Ashdown writes about birthday books in her article for North Shore News in British Columbia. She includes a terrific review of Happy Birthday, Hamster ending with this... "Cynthia Lord is a Newbery Honor author and Derek Anderson is the illustrator of the delightful Little Quack books written by Lauren Thompson. Happy Birthday, Hamster with its oversize format, funny rhymes and delightful illustrations is an inspired partnership."
Thanks to Fran for the nice writeup!
To read the full article, click HERE.
Friday, July 12th, 2013
Walking the walk
You can talk about the things you want to do. Talking is good. Sometimes that's our way of summoning up courage and testing our ideas with those we trust the most. But if you ever want to progress past the dream stage and make something happen, you have to set a goal, make a plan and begin taking steps.
Philippe Petit took steps. He's the man from France who, in 1974, miraculously strung a high-wire between the World Trade Center towers and proceeded to walk back and forth for more than an hour without any safety harnesses. If you haven't seen the documentary Man on Wire, you should. It's a film about a man who had an impossible dream. He lived half a world away and had no idea how he would accomplish it, but he made a plan to walk on a wire high above New York City and he followed through.
It doesn't matter why he did it. Years before the World Trade Center towers even existed, he was sitting in the waiting room of his dentist's office, looking through a magazine. He found an artist rendering of what the towers would look like when completed. He tore the picture out of the magazine and knew, from that day on, that he would do this. It was his Everest.
The film is a fascinating account of the event. It follows Petit and a small group of friends through interviews and home movie footage as they planned the walk and prepared for every aspect over the course of years as the towers were being built. Was it illegal? Yes, it was. Was it courageous? Absolutely. Did they use creativity to accomplish this feat? At every turn. Remember, that wire wasn't there. They had to string it between the towers. That, alone, is a great creative act. Even the police were baffled by what he'd done. When filling out the police report, an officer didn't know what to write for the complaint, so he simply put 'Man on Wire' which is where the movie gets its title.
At the end of the movie, Petit has a profound quote about living this life:
"To me, it's so simple that life should be lived on the edge of life.
You have to exercise rebellion, to refuse to taper yourself to rules,
to refuse your own success, to refuse to repeat yourself. To see
every day, every year, every idea as a true challenge.
And then you are going to live your life on a tightrope."
If you want to be both inspired and entertained, you should check it out. You can watch the movie trailer HERE.
Friday, July 5th, 2013
Just breathe
"There is more to life than increasing its speed."
It's July. Go get lost in an endless blue sky. Turn off your gadgets, go feel the sun... and breathe.
Friday, June 28th, 2013
An example of "partial bleed" from the book Waking Dragons
#2: Bleed
When artwork goes all the way to the edge of the page we call it "bleed." That means the art "bleeds" off the edge. It isn't an elegant term, but everyone in publishing knows what it means. If a picture bleeds off three sides or less, we call it a "partial bleed" and if it bleeds off all sides of the page, we call it "full bleed." It's very important for book artists to understand. Printers can't print to the very edge of the paper. So they print on large sheets and then trim them. If I'm painting a picture that bleeds, the original painting can't stop at the trim line. I have to make the painting larger and paint beyond the trim line so the color will fill the edge of the paper when it's cut.
An example of "full bleed" from the book Waking Dragons (before the paper is trimmed)
An example of "full bleed" from the book Waking Dragons (after the paper is trimmed)
You could take the term to mean there's extra work beyond what you see. But then that's the truth in books. Not only is there extra work beyond the edges of pictures, there are hundreds of hours of planning, sketching and painting that you'll never know about. My job isn't to dazzle you with my artwork or make you marvel at the colors and painting effects I spent hours creating. Don't get me wrong- the artwork should be great. But you shouldn't notice the bleeds, the pacing or the visual narrative. If I've done my job, you'll open my book and get lost in its pages.
Friday, June 21st, 2013
The always lovely Miss Cow from the book Story County: Here We Come!
demonstrating the location of a book "gutter."
#1: The gutter
We all read books. We pick them up at bookstores, libraries or online and get lost in their contents. But I wonder how many readers stop and think about the actual physical book. When your job is to make books, you have to consider every detail a reader will see, from the front cover to the back cover and everything in between. My editor, art director and I toss around terms on a daily basis. We all know what they mean. Do you?
You've probably heard of a book spine. And everybody knows what the cover is. But do you know about the gutter? The "gutter" is a term used in publishing to describe the center of an open book where the pages meet. An author doesn't need to concern him or herself with the gutter- the art director will always make sure your words stay a safe distance from the gutter. But an artist has to pay close attention to it. It's particularly important when creating artwork for a book to keep your characters and all important details out of that area. If you aren't careful, crucial elements can disappear into those folds. When sketching a book, I always draw the gutter line in so I know exactly where it will fall in the artwork.
When I meet beginning illustrators out in the world, they often ask if I have any advice about making books. I have a few things in my back pocket to offer. But the one twenty-four carat, diamond encrusted, absolutely critical cardinal rule that no picture book artist should ever forget- stay out of the gutter. It's the best advice I could give anyone.
Stay out of the gutter- both in books and in life.
Friday, June 14th, 2013
The Art of Drawing
You wouldn't believe how often people tell me they can't draw. It's almost an automatic response after telling them what I do. They're wrong. When someone says, "I can't draw," they actually mean they can't draw the way they think they should be able to.
Forget realism, it's overrated. Everybody has a camera in their phone now, if I want a realistic picture, I'll snap one with my camera. Art is about expression, not perfection. Lines don't have to be straight, perspective doesn't matter, and it doesn't make one bit of difference what anyone else thinks of it.
Whether you believe it or not, everybody has the ability to draw. The first thing you have to chase out of your head is the expectation that you should draw a certain way. You're you. It makes sense that your drawings won't look like mine or anybody else's. They shouldn't. Your drawings should look like they're yours.
It doesn't take courage to draw. Every kid does it from the time they're able to hold a crayon. It doesn't take a steady hand, the perfect idea or a special pencil. It takes you, a piece of paper and something to draw with. The only thing standing between you and drawing is an obstacle you invented yourself. It's all in your own mind.
Get over it and go draw something...
