The Monster in my Basement

I love this time of year - cool nights, leaves turning colors, and monsters being born! Yes, you heard me right! MONSTERS. I say monsters being born because I just finished my 5th picture book.  It's a book about a monster. I have been working on it for a year now, with the last 6 months being the painting of the artwork, so in a way you could call it a creative birth. :)

I turned the artwork over to the publisher on Monday and now I get to tell you about it. We don't have an official title for it yet, (that's the publisher's job) but it's about a 4 year old boy who discovers a hungry monster in his basement. So, I am calling it "The Monster in my Basement".

This monster is really hungry! And really big!

What should the boy do?

Maybe the monster wants some fruit or tuna fish? Chicken or a hotdog? Or ice cream in a dish? How about spaghetti or sweet potato pie?

Or just maybe... the monster wants something else? (GULP!)

If you want to find out what the monster DOES EAT you won't have to wait long! The book will officially launch fall 2020, but I will have several dozen advance copies for my collectors this holiday season! First-come-first-serve basis. Come see me at one of my holiday shows or contact me on e-mail through my website: www.heatherlynnharris.com

Fall 2019 Show Schedule

November 11 WNY Childrens Book Festival Buffalo Convention Center

November 22 - 24 Rochester Holiday Bazaar Rochester Science Museum

December 7 - 8 Roycroft Christmas Show Roycroft Campus, East Aurora, NY

December 13 - 14 WNY Book Arts Center Buffalo, NY

SCBWI Traveling Sketch Book

Wow!  It's May and I'm just getting around to posting this piece of art I made back in March.  Well, I think you are going to like this even though it's a bit late. 

 

So here is the story....I belong to the Society of Children's Books Writers and Illustrators and we have a local chapter for those in New York state.  Back in the fall, the leaders of the local chapter (WestCenNYSCBWI) decided to start a sketchtravel, which is a traveling sketchbook that moves from illustrator to illustrator.  I signed up to participate and wound up being the last person on the list to add a sketch before the book went off to our annual spring conference.  That means I got to see all of the art before anyone else did, not even the organizers of the sketch travel got to see it before me.  How did I get so lucky?  

When I received our traveling sketchbook it was like receiving gold in the mail!  I was so excited to see the contributions of everyone and wondered what I would contribute.  When I opened the sketchbook I was blown away!  The most amazing art was in there and each piece has it's own personality.  There was no theme to follow, just sketch whatever your heart desired.  It was very inspirational to see the work and the mediums people chose to work in. 

 

Here I am receiving the sketchbook in the mail.

To start I made a little video of the whole book for you to see, then I'll post some of the art individually, and lastly my contribution.

Now, here are a few pieces from the sketchbook that just blew me away...

And my contribution.....

When I painted this it had snowed again for what felt like the thousandth time.  I was dreaming of spring and wishing it would hurry up and come.  I thought of all the creatures that were sleeping the winter away and wishing I could do the same:) 

Below you can see how the painting came together... I started with references and then made a sketch the size of the book.  You can't imagine how nervous I was painting in this book that had so many wonderful pieces of art in it.  I transferred my sketch into the book ever so carefully and then put tracing paper between the pages to prevent bleed through.  I put a piece of plastic underneath it to keep the cover clean and I even moved my water to the other side of my work surface so I wouldn't spill it.  Could you imagine...  

Starting with a watercolor wash for the sky, I then moved to acrylics for the majority of the painting.  I added in details with colored pencil and pen and ink.  

 

I hope you enjoyed seeing the WestCenNY SCBWI Sketchtravel.  I would be honored to participate in a project like this again.  It was truly magical:)

TTFN! 

What I have been doing lately?

Cory and the 7th Story Update

Back in December I previewed for you a new project that I am working on called Cory and the 7th Story.  I shared with you the characters, some environment studies and even the character's little homes.  Since then I have been working on the story board and roughing out the pages.   I am at the color roughs stage and hoping to have these finished by the end of the month (Yikes, that's only a few days away!)  I thought you might like to see the characters I introduced you to in a few scenes with a little narration from the story.

Cory is a little raccoon who loves to read stories.  

He loves all kinds of stories, but mostly he loves stories that end with "happily ever after".  Cory lives in the old village, along the clear stream, near the edge of the deep forest, within the broad meadow with his woodland friends.  

Normally the old village is a happy place.  But recently, Cory's friends don't seem so happy.  Some seem scared, like rabbit, and try to run away.

  Others seem conniving and try to drive others away.

Still others seem to fight all the time...

This makes Cory very sad and he doesn't know what to do.  Why are his friends not happy?

That is till a poet came to town one day.  The poet was a creature that no one had ever  seen before and she seemed to have magical words.  

The poet shared a story that no one had ever heard before...the animals were amazed.  And then.....

Well, what do you think?  Wanna read it?  Keep coming back, I'll have more to share and maybe even a surprise from the story!

TTFN

Sneak peak of a new project I'm working on!

Cory and the 7th Story

I have another picture book in the works that I am super excited about!   I have been working on it for about three months now fleshing out the characters, environment, and flat plan.  I thought you might like to see a few things I have created.  These are all just sketches and ideas, but if you are like me, that's the art that I love to see:)

Logos and characters and environment oh my!

When I begin a picture book project I need to think through some of the building blocks of what will become the picture book.  This requires research and studies and lots of little messy drawings.  But if I take the time to think through this stuff up front, the rest of the picture book process goes much more smoothly.

Visual Logos:

Imagery, such as small vignettes that act as visual logos is a nice way for me to think about the essence of the story, and they become good little pieces of art to represent the project.  I created two such pieces of art and above is the one I like the most.   It's just a pen drawing on layout bond with prisma color marker at this point.  I love prima color marker because you can lay down color quickly and get a sense of what final art might look like.  But at the same time I often find the colors are too saturated.  I guess I haven't figured out the best way to work with them yet, but I keep trying:)  I will eventually paint it in oil

Characters:

Characters of the story is the next thing I need to think about.  I try to push myself to think about variety of shape and size (something I learned while at the Academy).  I had a good friend of mine tell me that you should be able to recognize a character by it's shadow.  Meaning their shape is so distinctive that you would know if anywhere! I think that is a great way of thinking about it!  I haven't perfected that yet, but I do keep that in mind as I develop my characters.  Below is the character line up I created.  There are a lot of characters!  I love the variety of animals I got to work with and imagining their environment was even more fun!

Environment:

The next thing I had to think of was the environment where these little guys live.  I focused in on these words from the manuscript....Cory lived in the old village, along the clear stream, near the edge of the deep forest, within the broad meadow.  I created a little painting of what this might look like, you can see it below.

Then I had to come up with all of the houses that these animals would live in.  That was even more fun!  I drive through a small ski village on my way to work.  As I was driving through I noticed all these cozy little homes that people rent out during the ski season.  They made for the best visual reference for the homes I imagined my characters living in.  One day on my way to work, I took time out to stop and walk through the village.  I brought my camera and took all kinds of photo reference of the homes to give me ideas to work with.  Then I went back to my drawing table and come up with houses for each of my characters.  You can see a sample of them below.

  

Now for the fun part....

See if you can guess which animal lives in which house!

I hope you enjoyed learning about Cory and the 7th Story.  I will have more to post about it in the coming months as I work through the pages and introduce you to my wonderful authors!  You are going to love this story!!!!

TTFN

National Lollipop Day!

Today is national lollipop day!  What better way to celebrate than with a painting of a sweet little girl enjoying one:)

Fun facts about lollipops (according to national calendar.com):

- It is thought that lollipops have been around since pre-historic times as a way to preserve nuts and berries in honey.

- George Smith invented the modern style lollipop in 1931

- The lollipop got it's name from it's inventor's favorite racing horse, Lolly Pops

- The best way to celebrate National Lollipop Day is to buy a bag of lollipops and share them with your friends!

Melancholy Art

Thinking of Nicole...

Anticipating snow....

They are calling for snow this weekend in my part of the country. We have avoided it up to now which is pretty amazing seeing as it's already November 17th!  We usually have at least a dusting by Halloween, but this year we have had beautiful sunny days and cold nights.  A perfect fall really.  So with snow on the radar, I thought I'd post my newly completed family of foxes.  I need help with a title for this painting. Maybe something with snow and snuggle?  Or family retreat?  I can't decide so please give me your ideas - I would love to hear them!  Just put them in the comments section below.   

Thanks and enjoy! 

Foxes in Limbo

Thought I'd share with you a new composition for my next picture book called, "The Fox Went Out on a Chilly Night".  I have been working on this book for a while now and have just returned to it now that I have Clover and the Shooting Star launched. 

This artwork is done in a style that my friend and colleague MJ-K calls "in limbo".  In other words it is silhouetted or without a background, just a white ground.  I have been told that my artwork is stronger when I work this way, so I thought I'd give it a try with this piece.  What do you think?

This is just a color study for a finished painting that will be much larger.  In addition to the color study I also do a value study as you can see below.  The value study actually comes first and then the color study, but I wanted to put the color study at the top because it i more eye catching:)

  

I like the fun rhythm that the little foxes bring to the piece.  There are 10 little foxes so I have to be careful to draw each one anytime the text of the story refers to them.  I know that when I read to my children we would always take the time to count the characters any time the text referenced the number of them, so for all the future moms who may read my book, I have to give them something to count!  What do you think of this piece of art?  Do you like the "in limbo"?  Have I placed the foxes in a way that invites counting?  Any suggestions for improvement before I go ahead and lay it out to paint it?  Post your thoughts in the comments section below.  And thanks for your help!

Wonderful Weekend at Keuka Arts Festival

I had another wonderful weekend at the Keuka Arts Festival in Penn Yan, New York. I just love this festival!  Every year we seem to get thrown some crazy weather, last year rain, this year wind, but it never dampens the spirit of the festival goers or the artist participants:)

I was able to introduce Clover and the Shooting Star to the festival goers through an early print sample.  My publisher provided me with a postcard with our pre-sale link so people could order the book if they wanted it.  The response I received was wonderful!  So many people loved the book and took the postcard to be able to order it.  I was really glad to see that the story touched others in the same way I had intended it.  

Look at this sweet little baby who was mesmerized by the pictures.

And here is another little fan!  They were so adorable!

Thank you Keuka Arts Festival for another wonderful show and thank you to the people of Penn Yan for coming out to support me:)

Paper and scissors and glue, oh my!

What might be going on here?  Experimenting with collage....Stay tuned to see the final work!

Winter Quote

Since we have been having sub-zero temperatures, and a lot of snow this winter, I thought I'd post a quote that is a nice reminder of why we love the season despite the hardship:)  The Robert Ingpen illustration above from The Wind in the Willows written by  Kenneth Grahame, is the image that always comes to mind when I read this: 

Winter is the time for comfort,

for good food and warmth, 

for the touch of a friendly hand

and for a talk beside the fire:

it is the time for home

- Edith Sitwell

Enjoy winter and look for every opportunity to be with family and friends in the warmth of home:)

Another Letter from Father Christmas

In time for Christmas Eve here is another letter from J.R.R. Tolkien's book Letters from Father Christmas.  This is one of my favorites so I had to share.  That Great North Polar Bear is at it again....poor Father Christmas.  Enjoy and pass along for others to enjoy on this Christmas Eve:)

Cliff House, Top of the World, Near the North Pole
Monday December 20th 1926

My dear boys, 
I am more shaky than usual this year.  The North Polar Bear's fault!  It was the biggest bang in the world, and the most monstrous firework there ever has been.  It turned the North Pole BLACK and shook all the stars out of place, broke the moon into four - and the Man in it fell into my back garden.  He ate quite a lot of my Christmas chocolates before he said he felt better and climbed back to mend it and get the stars tidy.

Then I found out that the reindeer had broken loose.  They were running all over the country, breaking reins and ropes and tossing presents up in the air.  They were all packed up to start, you see - yes it only happened this morning: it was a sleigh load of chocolate things, which I always send to England early.  I hope yours are not badly damaged.

But isn't the North Polar Bear silly?  And he is't a bit sorry!  Of course he did it - you remember I had to move last year because of him?  The tap for tuning on the Rory Bory Aylis fireworks is still in the cellar of my old house.  The North Polar Bear knew he must never, never touch it.  I only let it off on special days like Christmas.  He says he thought it was cut off since we moved.

Anyway, he was nosing around the ruins this morning soon after breakfast (he hides things to eat there) and turned on all the Northern Lights for two years in one go.  You have never heard or seen anything like it.  I have tried to draw a picture of it; but I am too shaky to do it properly and you can't paint fizzing light can you?

I think the Polar Bear has spoilt the picture rather - of course he can't draw with those great fat paws 

Rude!  I can - and write without shaking.

by going and putting a bit of his own about me chasing the reindeer and him laughing.  He did laugh too.  So did I when I saw him trying to draw reindeer and inking his nice white paws. 

Father Christmas had to hurry away and leave me to finish.  He is old and gets worried when funny things happen.  You would have laughed too! I think it is good of me laughing.  It was a lovely firework.  The reindeer will run quick to England this year.  They are still frightened!...
I must go and help pack.  I don't know what Father Christmas would do without me.  He always forgets what a lot of packing I do for him...

The Snow Man is addressing our envelopes this year.  He is Father Christmas's gardner - but we don't get much but snowdrops and frost-ferns to grow here.  He always writes in white, just with his finger...

A merry Christmas to you from North Polar Bear

And love from Father Christmas to you all.

 

Merry Christmas from me too!

First Copy of The Swing!

IT'S FINALLY HERE!  THE FIRST COPY OF THE SWING!

I met my publisher in the parking lot the other day to receive from her the very first copy of my picture book.  It was a little funny....like a hand off of something illegal...LOL!  We were trying to find a time in our mutually busy schedules to meet so she could give me the book to look at and approve.  Since we were like two ships passing in the night she finally suggested a strip mall parking lot that was half way for both of us.  There, under the light of the street lamps (cuz it's now dark by 5pm!) she handed me the first soft cover version of the book to come from the printer.  It was like being given gold!  It felt so special to me.  I was incredibly pleased with the quality of the reproduction of my artwork.  The hardcover version of the book is still being printed so I will have to wait till tomorrow or Saturday to see that, but if it's anything like the soft cover, I will be overjoyed:)

So here is a sneak peak for you all!  Hope to see you at the launch on Sunday!