KidShannon

12/07/2017

New book by Mary Sullivan “Nobody’s Duck”

08/10/2017

Illustration by Charles Lehman

07/12/2017

"Dog Trouble" Illustrated by Eda Kaban

03/22/2017

Husband. Father. Artist. Carbon-based.

John Herzog is a writer, illustrator, and character designer. He also teaches illustration classes at Ringling College of Art and Design. He lives in Florida with his wife, two kids, a pair of tarantulas, and a fish.

Let's welcome John Herzog to the Shannon Associates Team!

03/03/2017

Artwork by Kelley McMorris

02/20/2017

Happy Presidents' Day!
Artwork by Amy Bates

02/14/2017

Happy Valentine's Day!

Art by Josh Talbot

02/01/2017

"Frankie", by Geisel Honor-winning author-illustrator Mary Sullivan, features two adorable puppies with big personalities as they struggle to get along and find their places in the pack. We love Treat and we love Frankie!

10/10/2016

Here are 3 new books illustrated by Shahar Kober for Paper Rock Press Australia. How to Brush Your Teeth includes a toothbrush and a press-out teeth model, How to Tie Your Shoes includes a press-out shoe model and shoelaces, and How to Tell the Time includes moving clock hands and press-out clock model.

05/09/2016

Some of the latest work by the talented David Miles! See more of his art here: shannonassociates.com/kidshannon/artists/davidmiles

05/04/2016

Check out Scott Brundage's covers for the illustrated editions of Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson! You can read more about the project here: brandonsanderson.com/alcatraz-is-back

05/02/2016

My Neighbour Totoro illustration by Charles Santoso. See more of Charles' work here: shannonassociates.com/kidshannon/artists/charlessantoso

I first saw My Neighbour Totoro when I was high school and didn't go past the title scene. I finally watched the whole movie when i was in university and realised that I was a big fool to skip it - it was a big learning experience to me. To this day, this movie is still my personal top three of Hayao Miyazaki's film (the others are Porco Rosso and Mononoke Hime). :-)

What are yours?

#totoro #pencil #tribute #miyazaki #ghibli #fromthevault

04/27/2016

Please give a warm welcome to our new Kidshannon artist, Fiona Hsieh! Check out her portfolio here: shannonassociates.com/kidshannon/artists/fionahsieh

04/20/2016

Merrilee Liddiard has announced her new series of board books, Fairy Friends! See more of Merrilee's art here: shannonassociates.com/kidshannon/artists/merrileeliddiard

04/18/2016

Check out this great interview Vivienne To did with LitPick! And see more of Vivienne's art here: shannonassociates.com/kidshannon/artists/vivienneto

Joining LitPick as the first artist to return for an Extra Credit interview is Art of Vivienne To! Vivienne joins us from Australia where she is an illustrator and visual development artist working in film and publishing. She has designed characters and creatures for both animated and live action feature films including “The LEGO Movie,” “Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole,” and “Walking With Dinosaurs.” Vivienne is the art director on “The LEGO Batman Movie" and has been an artist for Hyperion Books, Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, and Scholastic.
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***When you are creating artwork for a book, are you given a copy of the book to read first, or how do you create artwork that relates to the story?

I’m given the full manuscript to read most of the time. This is particularly important when I’m also illustrating the interior art, or for cover work when I’m asked to pitch a much wider range of ideas. That’s when I’ll really need to have my own interpretation of the characters and action and the essence of what the book is about. Occasionally, when the art director has a much more specific brief in mind, I’ll work with detailed excerpts instead. In these cases I rely on the art director’s thorough knowledge of the story along with helpful input from the editor and author.

***In your artwork, do you ever use a person you know or some of their features?

I don’t use specific features, but I do sometimes shoot reference for difficult poses. Things like action poses can be tricky without reference because of the more extreme angles. It’s usually either me or my (very patient) partner posing and the shoots can end up pretty hilarious. I remember one cover I worked on had several sword-wielding characters. Unfortunately the closest thing to a sword that we had on hand was a vacuum cleaner tube. It worked great for reference, but we definitely did NOT look very cool! I could barely take the shots because I was laughing so hard.

***Do you ever get artist’s block, and what do you do to overcome it?

Absolutely. I’ve found artists block usually happens when I’m not sure of what my end goal is or what story I’m trying to tell. It can help to ask myself a lot of questions about what the story is and what the characters' backgrounds and motivations are. We do this a lot in film work when we design our characters. Research really helps with this phase too.

If I’m still really stuck, sometimes after reading the book and roughing out a few ideas, I’ll jump onto another project and leave the tricky one aside for a while. Coming back to things with fresh eyes can do wonders.

*** Have you ever found it especially difficult to create artwork for a particular book? (You don’t need to name the book.)

Some projects are definitely harder than others. One series I worked on had a lot of epic battle scenes and it was one of the first books I illustrated when I was new to publishing. I was used to film work - I came from a background where I worked with images in wide landscape format. Suddenly I had to illustrate chaotic battles in a much tighter portrait layout. It kind of did my head in and took me so much longer than it should have. By the time I did the next books in the series I’d studied more examples and gotten the hang of it, but that first one was a really big challenge for me.

***Is there a book for which you would have liked to have done the artwork, whether or not that book had artwork in it?

I remember reading “The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe” when I was in school and being blown away by it. It would be great to revisit that as an illustrator.

***If you could have lunch with one other artist (dead or alive!), who would it be?

There are so many amazing artists out there it’s hard to choose! I think I’d have lunch with Arthur Rackham and pick his brain about storytelling in his work and also the golden age of book illustration.

***Wild Card Question: You illustrate books and you work on movies. Are these two types of work similar, and which one do you prefer?

This is a tough one! Both film concept art and publishing illustration use similar skills, in the sense that you need to draw and you’re creating visuals for a story…but they have very different end goals. In film, your role is to explore and come up with ideas to design characters, sets and props. This can mean doing a LOT of versions and revisiting designs again and again within a larger team. The approved designs then get handed down to the next department to create for the movie and so on. What ends up on screen is the collective effort of hundreds of people.

Book illustration on the other hand is about creating the final images that people will see to help tell the story. Usually only one artist is responsible for the final look of the illustrations, working closely with a small team at the publishing house. Though we're not always in the same country! I actually haven’t met most of the art directors and designers I’ve worked with in the US. We do everything online, whereas film work often needs to be in person in the studio. So the short answer is that I like aspects of both because they’re quite different. I just wish there were more hours in the day to do both!
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Vivienne, thank you for visiting LitPick again and letting us get to know you a little better. All of your answers were interesting, but we found it fascinating to know that your work for books is done online and you have not met most of the art directors and designers you have worked with.

Links:
Website: http://www.vivienneto.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ArtOfVivienneTo
Twitter: https://twitter.com/VivienneTo
Instagram: http://instagram.com/vivienneto

04/14/2016

The cover for the second Pennyroyal Academy book, illustration by Antonio Javier Caparo, has just been released! Additionally, the series was recently optioned by actress and producer Reese Witherspoon for a possible movie adaptation! See more of Caparo's art here: shannonassociates.com/kidshannon/artists/antoniojaviercaparo

04/11/2016

Congratulations to Nathan Hale, who writes and illustrates Hazardous Tales. The latest book in the series, Alamo All-Stars, debuted as #1 on the New York Times Graphic Novel Bestsellers List!

03/16/2016

Shannon Associates

We're so excited to announce the newest Shannon Associates artist, Sabrina Miramon! Be sure to check out the rest of her art here: shannonassociates.com/artist/sabrinamiramon

03/14/2016

By Merrilee Liddiard. See more of Merrilee's work here: shannonassociates.com/kidshannon/artists/merrileeliddiard

"The shared a love of flight and become fast and loyal friends." #littlebitsbymer #merillustration #mermagnaturecrafts

03/09/2016

Illustration by Ricardo Tercio. See more of his work here: shannonassociates.com/kidshannon/artists/RICARDOTERCIO

O Saguão / Mini Streets

03/07/2016

Check out some of the latest work by Brenna Vaughan! And see the rest of her portfolio here: shannonassociates.com/kidshannon/artists/brennavaughan

03/03/2016

Come Over to My House by Dr. Seuss, illustrated by our very own Katie Kath!! See more of Katie's work here: shannonassociates.com/kidshannon/artists/katiekath

03/01/2016

We're excited to announce the addition of our newest Kidshannon artist, Kim Gatto! Check out her art here: shannonassociates.com/kidshannon/artists/kimgatto

02/29/2016

Neil Swaab's second Secrets to Ruling School book will be released this fall! Be sure to add it to your list, and check out more of Neil's work here: shannonassociates.com/kidshannon/artists/neilswaab

I’m psyched to announce The Secrets to Ruling School: Class Election! This book, of course, is the sequel to my first book The Secrets to Ruling School (Without Even Trying) and follows Max Corrigan as he helps you run for class president. It comes out September 13th, 2016—just in time for the national election. Here’s the description from the publisher, Amulet Books:

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Middle school expert Max Corrigan is back in the second book of this hilarious middle-grade series, and he wants YOU to run for class president. This book by comic artist Neil Swaab, which follows the hit first book, The Secrets to Ruling School, is a perfect read in advance of the 2016 elections and ideal for budding republicans, democrats, and independents.

The competition is fierce, but luckily, you’ve got a killer campaign manager on your side. With Max’s help, you’ll conquer all the steps of running for office and winning votes, including advertisements, endorsements, campaign speeches, and more. Along the way, you’ll learn more essential skills for thriving in middle school, including making a viral video, trading your lunch in the school cafeteria, and putting a positive spin on any situation.

Neil Swaab once again combines comics, kid-friendly humor, and direct-address narrative perfect for reluctant readers in an innovative format reminiscent of video games that is “sure to hit the mark with middle schoolers in the trenches” (Publishers Weekly) and with fans of the Big Nate and Terrible Two series.

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The book is available for pre-order NOW! For information, check out http://neilswaab.com/books/the-secrets-to-ruling-school-class-election/.

More news to come as I’m able to share things!

02/26/2016

Aaron Zenz's art is now available as wall decals for your kid's bedroom, playroom, whatnot! See more here http://wall-ah.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=aaron+zenz

02/24/2016

Owlkids Books recently did an interview with our very own Qin Leng! Check out the article here:http://www.owlkidsbooks.com/Portals/0/Petit_Proust_QinLeng.pdf

02/18/2016

"Old MacDonald Had a Truck", illustrated by Eda Kaban, will be released March 1st! Be sure to order your copy now, and see more of Eda's work here: shannonassociates.com/kidshannon/artists/edakaban

02/16/2016

We're excited to introduce our newest Kidshannon illustrator, Charles Lehman! See more of Charle's art here: shannonassociates.com/kidshannon/artists/charleslehman

02/15/2016

Happy Presidents Day! Illustration by Tristan Elwell, see more of Tristan's work here: shannonassociates.com/kidshannon/artists/tristanelwell

02/11/2016

By Jennifer A. Bell. See more of Jennifer's work here: shannonassociates.com/kidshannon/artists/jenniferabell

Winter sketching

02/10/2016

THE UGLY DUMPLING by Stephanie Campisi , Shahar Kober | Kirkus Reviews

The Ugly Dumpling, illustrated by Shahar Kober, was given a starred review by Kirkus Reviews!

A bright, multicultural twist on a classic tale.

02/08/2016

Happy Chinese New Year! Year of the Monkey illustration by Charles Santoso. See more of his work here: shannonassociates.com/kidshannon/artists/charlessantoso

02/04/2016

How to Catch a Leprechaun, illustrated by Andy Elkerton, is out now! See more of Andy's work here: shannonassociates.com/kidshannon/artists/andyelkerton

02/03/2016

Doug Holgate will be illustrating the graphic novels Wires And Nerve, Marissa Meyer's spinoff from her bestselling Lunar Chronicles series!