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Making Picture Book Magic with Susanna Leonard Hill
Carrot Cake
Recently I was honored to be asked by author Susanna Leonard Hill to contribute some illustrations for her new how-to write children’s picture books course titled MAKING PICTURE BOOK MAGIC.
As I was already a fan of Susanna (my favorite books by Susanna are: Punxsatauney Phyllis, April Fool, Phyllis! and Can’t Sleep Without Sheep), I was honored to be asked to contribute some original artwork. Three new images have been added to my Digital Images gallery. One of the images, “Carrot Cake”, is shown above!
If you are interested in signing up for Susanna’s course, click on this link: MAKING PICTURE BOOK MAGIC
Clicking on the above link will give you details about the course and also acknowledges the artists that created artwork that accompanies the lessons. 
About the course:
Wouldn’t it be great if there was a picture book writing course you could take on your own schedule, that was designed to fit into an active, busy life, and that was also affordable?
Well, guess what? There is!
Making Picture Book Magic is a 4 week course that will teach you how to write a picture book… around the edges of your busy life… for a price you can afford… in a fun, friendly atmosphere. Making Picture Book Magic is designed to be delivered straight to your inbox. You will receive one lesson a day via email, five days a week for four weeks. You get weekends off to unplug, recharge, have family time or do the grocery shopping… or catch up if need be
Besides the weekly lessons, you also have the option of joining the Facebook group where you can get feedback and bond with other writers!
Spaces for the course fill up quickly, so contact Susanna write away (lol, play on words!) to see when you can join the course! Here is the link again: MAKING PICTURE BOOK MAGIC
Also posted in Cartoons, Children's Books, Happenings, Illustrations, News and Events, Projects, Writing
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It’s Groundhog Day!
Happy Groundhog Day!
Today, in the spirit of Groundhog Day, I am honoring Punxsutawney Phyllis, the plucky and determined heroine from author Susanna Leonard Hill’s picture book, “Punxsutawney Phyllis“!
Punxsutawney Phyllis is the niece of the famous Punxsutawney Phil. She knows she has the right stuff to succeed her famous, weather-predicting Uncle. However her family doubts her abilities. Can Phyllis predict the weather correctly and have a chance to be the next in line to be the famous Punxsutawney Groundhog? You’ll have to check out the book to find out!
Today on Susanna’s website, she is inviting people from around the world to print out the drawing of Phyllis that she has provided, color it, and photograph it so everyone can see what Groundhog Day looks like in their neck of the woods!
As you can see from the photo above, my neck of the woods is filled with snow. I woke up this morning to a blizzard. “Oh great”, I grumbled. After downing some coffee and shoveling the porch and driveway, I proceeded to my computer where I printed out my picture of Phyllis (I cheated, I used Photoshop to color her!) so I could photograph her outdoors.
That was a little adventure in itself; as I placed my picture of Phyllis on a small incline by some bushes in my backyard. She tipped over a bit, the wind blew snow in my face, and I dropped my little digital camera-TWICE- in the snow. But it ended up being worth it as I am happy with the picture of my own little personal Phyllis predicting the weather for Southeastern Michigan! Today it is a sweltering 19 degrees, with flurries expected. it appears that poor Phyllis is not dressed for the weather here; I could at least have given her my scarf!
As she did NOT see her shadow, she has predicted an early spring! Of course, that’s a little hard to believe right now as the snow is falling!
Wishing everyone a Happy Groundhog Day, and may there be an early Spring in your neck of the woods!
Also posted in Cartoons, Children's Books, Holidays, News and Events
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In Like a Lion, Out Like a Lamb
In like a lion indeed! This March is the warmest that I ever remember, and while I absolutely love the warm weather, it has also brought high winds, fog, tornadoes, and hail. Hopefully late March will bring us some of that “lamb” weather! The above cartoon is my slightly different slant on the “In like a lion, out like a lamb” saying. 
I have been behind in my personal blogging. I spend more time reading other people’s blogs, commenting, and following links to interesting articles and tutorials. Addicting!
These last few weeks have been quite busy for me: revising picture book manuscripts, writing new ones for the 12×12 challenge, sketching illustrations for another picture book for my next illustration group meeting, working on a sketch for the next SCBWI-MI newsletter, and beginning a new project, soon to be announced.
I also participated in the SCBWI-MI Critique Day 2012 and I am very pleased to now be a part of my very first writing critique group! Many of us were new to critique groups and I look forward to getting to know the other members and see how our writing grows and develops as a group.
In addition, I’m also learning more techniques in Photoshop and how to create art digitally. I wanted to share a digital painting tutorial (Digital Painting 101, below) that has helped me a lot on how to use different brushes and more ways to use color (and at the same time create a cute little monster!) Video courtesy of Monster Cutie.com
Have a great week everyone!
Also posted in Art, Cartoons, Children's Books, Happenings, Illustrations, Projects, Writing
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12×12 in 2012!
As well as working on my illustrations, I have also joined 12×12 in 2012, a group of authors and illustrators that are embarking on a journey to write one completed picture book manuscript a month for each month in 2012. While I am not short of ideas after partaking in the 2011 PiBoIdMo (Picture Book Idea Month) which was a challenge to come up with 30 ideas for picture books in 30 days, to actually sit down and write them out, revise, structure, and complete them is another challenge all in itself. Still, I find that having an amazing support group and people encouraging each other and sharing ideas goes a long way towards completing what I’m setting out to do: sending out picture book manuscripts to publishers in 2012. I currently am working on rough sketches for one completed manuscript, and also writing another for the first month of 12×12 in 2012. Good luck to all that are participating!
Also posted in Cartoons, Children's Books, Happenings, Projects, Writing
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