Bunny with Balloon

One of these days, it will be spring...

Meanwhile, blizzard conditions prevail!

Couldn't capture the swirling snow,

but it's blowing hard!

Sophia's Journal by Najiyah Diana Helwani

Doing a book cover is not the same as illustrating a story.

You have to basically sum up the whole book in 

one picture.

And what if you haven't even read the book???

Sophia's Journal seems like a very interesting read - 

definitely one I'd like to curl up with.

Meanwhile, I do still need to submit a couple of

sketches for the cover, and here is what I did.

One is still a very bare sketch, as you can see.

The book was first published back in 2008 or thereabouts,

and it will be reprinted again,

with a fresh new cover.

The story features a time-travel adventure to Kansas, 1857,

when it was rife with issues of slavery and human rights.

What a great premise for young adult fiction!

According to the synopsis,

American teenager Sophia falls into a river and

wakes up to find herself in an era from way, way back.

And the adventures begin!

Readers on Amazon.com gave this book 5 stars across the board,

crediting the author, Najiyah Diana Helwani,

with accurate depictions and a great, well-written story.

I can't wait to read it myself, and I feel

really honored to be considered for its cover art - 

thank you, Najiyah!

Illustration in British Sign Languge

Sahera Khan, a UK writer, is creating a book for deaf children,

and she asked me to submit a sample.

The entire book will be in British Sign Language, or BSL.

BSL is two-handed, as opposed to ASL, which uses one hand.

The brief was to keep the imagery very spare,

and the colors solid. And to show various cultures.

I did these two drawings for her.

And then I developed the first sample into this:

There are several other illustrators also submitting samples,

and I may not be the one picked,

but it was lovely to explore yet another 

facet of human communication.

In between I also did a small illo for Azizah.

This was for a piece by Julie Mair,

for whom I illustrated a sweet book called 

"How I Help My Neighbors"

some time ago.

Julie writes wonderfully,

but my picture was too obscure for the mag,

and it was not picked.

The article was about how the 

whispers of our own heart sometimes

lead us astray.

Meanwhile, Azizah is doing a profile piece on me

(I still can't believe it!!!),

which should be out soon!  YAY!

Faces!

The BB kids from Discover magazine

now have...

faces!!!

This was Issue 17, and I'm already working on Issue 18,
so there's more to come :)

Feeling woodsy...

Meanwhile,

coming soon....

more pics for the book about Haneen

sample pics for a project in British Sign Language

an editorial illustration for Azizah

and of course, my monthly submission for Discover.

Whew :)

More of Haneen

And her teacher!

Haneen...taking shape.

In a previous post I mentioned Haneen,

a character I'm developing for a new book.

This is the look so far:

I'm really enjoying the process - this picture was entirely digital;

I did not begin with a paper sketch since it was a pretty simple image.

But the 'painting' part was so much fun!

Other pictures will likely have to be sketched on paper first.

If the author does not like it I still have a cute pic for my portfolio.

Crystal Forest

These pics don't capture it at all, but it was magical today.

All the trees were draped in crystals, 

and the sun came out for a bit set them all ablaze.

I only had my iPod, and it died in about a minute,

plus I was in a parking lot, not out in the woods

(which I could see at a distance and they were GLORIOUS)

but it was still very pretty!

The first one is a puddle :)

More flowers, and a new character

More flowers!!!

I'm liking the grungy brush effects I got.

This is the great thing about using programs 
like PhotoShop and Illustrator.

Although I have only the ancient versions (CS3)
there's still so much to discover and play with!

On the work front, I'm developing

a character for a new book.

Meet Haneen!

The book is by Ghada Alo.  

Some months ago I illustrated a story for her,

called I Love My Dad.

Now we're doing

I Love My Teacher!

Haneen is about 9, and she is the one taking

us through her day with her teacher.

We're still working on the look -
 this is just the 'first draft'.

No Ordinary Day

The outside is draped in snow - everything is white.

This drawing gave me something colorful to do :)

And another version:

City cousin, country cousin, and what happens when they visit each other

Discover issue 15

I visited the UK several years ago,

and although I saw London`s landmark buildings

I have no pictures of them. Not one.

So it was cool to draw them.

I think this is the first time I drew 

so much architecture for an illustration.

For the NanoBot

Midnight snow

Midnight snow.

We're not there yet,

but it's comingggg!!!

Also, I'm excited about being featured in Azizah again!

This time they will be publishing my painting,

Blue Drops:

as well as an illustration I made for them:

Can't wait to see it in print!