Characters

Details from Sleepytime Me written by Edith Fine, published by Random House.

Detail from Sleepytime Me illustrated by Christopher Denise

Detail from Sleepytime Me illustrated by Christopher Denise

Friends

Friends.

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#fireflyhollow #christopherdenise #illustration #kidlit #kidlitart #art #artwork #photoshop #kids #artstagram #draw #picturebook #picturebookillustration #childrensbooks #instaart #illustrator #best_of_illustrations #ncwyeth #alisonmcghee #firefly #sketch #drawing #draweveryday #sketchbook #sketching #dailydrawing

From Firefly Hollow by Alison McGhee, illustrated by Christopher Denise

Detail part 2

Following up on yesterdays post regarding digital vs. traditional work and texture.

This image is a detail from my most recently published picture book Groundhug Day written by Anne Marie Pace.

With Groundhug Day I was going for a slightly more washy layered look so it will look a bit different than the pastel detail from The Great Redwall Feast that I posted yesterday. Nevertheless, I see the two sets of work as similar. It can be a bit tricky to compare the two works so directly as The Great Redwall Feast was published in 1996 and Groundhug Day was published twenty-one years later in 2017. As you would imagine some of my technique, regardless of medium, has changed.

from Groundhug Day written by Anne Marie Pace, illustrated by Christopher Denise

#christopherdenise #illustration #kidlit #kidlitart #art #artwork #artstagram #photoshop #painting #childrensbooks #instaart #best_of_illustrations #paintingdetail #draw #draweveryday #artstagram #custombrushes #dailydrawing #illustratorsoninstagram #groundhugday #digital_pastel #annemariepace #brianjacques #characterdesign #redwall

Current work

current book project detail

A detail from my current project. I’ve really loved having the excuse to go back and really study the line work of E H Shepard again. Most are familiar with his work from the Pooh books and of course, The Wind in the Willows.

#kidlitart #screengrab #trees #childrensbooks #beatrixpotter #christopherdenise #photoshop #drawing #digitalpainting #illustration #illustrator #picturebook #picturebookillustration #ipadpro #imac #apple #mac #wacom #sketch #sketching #studiolife #christopherdenise #applepencil #illustratorsoninstagram #instaart #backgroundart #winniethepooh #ernestshepard #pooh #hundredacrewood

Starting to feel like summer!

Pretty incredible moon when I left the studio last night. 

art from Sleepytime Me, written by Edith Fine, Random House 

#edithfine #christopherdenise #illustration #kidlit #kidlitart #art #artwork #photoshop #artstagram #draw #picturebook #picturebookillustration #childrensbooks #instaart #illustrator #best_of_illustrations #sunset #moon #illustratorsoninstagram #setdesign #bedtime #sleepytimeme #night #evening #digitalpainting 

School visit and a ninja squirrel

Catching up on some posts that never made it to my blog!
A quick little account of a recent school visit and a fun link to the now famous "Ninja Squirrel"

December 8th: Super fun day meeting the students at Moses Brown in Providence R.I. today! This picture shows a pig that we all came up with but the best part was when the subject of my live ipad drawing demo was taken over by the second and third graders. You can see our "Ninja Squirrel" on my Instagram feed. https://www.instagram.com/p/BcdLpu8FMyX/ 

Screen grab series.

An in-process screen shot from a book that I finished up recently.Groundhug Day by Anne Marie Pace. Look for it this winter.

Happy belated tax day?

Another installment from my "belated" post series!
You can always check my Illustrator page (Christopher Denise Illustrator)  on Facebook.

Lucy's Lovey

As you can see, I work quite quickly. Any given piece usually takes about 30 seconds. From "Lucy's Lovey" by Betsey Devany. From Henry Holt this September.

Firefly Hollow development part 2: Curiosities.

This is part two of a short series of posts about the development of my most recent book, Firefly Hollow written by Alison McGhee. See my post from June 26th to read part one.

Putting a story together, or rather discovering one and unearthing it, is tricky business. Steven King describes it this way:

“Stories are relics, part of an undiscovered pre-existing world. The writer’s job is to use the tools in his or her toolbox to get as much of each one out of the ground intact as possible. Sometimes the fossil you uncover is small; a seashell. Sometimes it’s enormous, a Tyrannosaurus Rex with all those gigantic ribs and grinning teeth.” 

What parts of my story did I have? Not much. I had a few sketches that were resonating and some notes about the characters, but still no real sense of the story yet.

I tried asking myself questions about the characters: Who is this vole? Where does he live? I caught a few glimmers of things but any sort of narrative remained elusive.

So, I did what many illustrators do when they are stuck: Research. 

I started collecting images of voles, crickets and paintings of water that I really loved. I looked up rafts and boats, grabbing  anything that caught my eye. Some of the images I already had in a folder that is constantly updated called "curiosities".  In his book on creativity "Catching the Big Fish", David Lynch calls these collections "firewood". I love the term, and it is perfect the way he describes it, but I shied away from naming my folder likewise. I didn't want to burn through my material too quickly! I started putting things up and soon I had a wall of the shed covered in images. 

Writing is hard work, I happen to think that it is MUCH harder than illustrating though many of my writer friends disagree with me. Writing good picture books is particularly difficult, you will know this if you have ever tried. Trying, as I was, to write something like the final manuscript of Firefly Hollow Firefly...was....lets just say that it is like showing at Wimbledon and trying to compete because you beat everyone in your family at badminton. Nevertheless, I tried to write the picture book version of my story-numerous times. They were terrible; really, really bad. 

As an illustrator, I respond to a text and then begin to add my own voice. Ultimately, I try to create a corresponding visual narrative that enhances and supports the written word-basically creating a parallel emotional narrative. That is a summarization, and I don't think about it that way when I am working, but its the closest I can come to describing the process. I had nothing to respond to so I continued on with what I felt right...the pictures. I sketched little visual "notes" about things that I thought would be fun to paint. 

I was still on hold for the project in my desk so I scanned a few of the sketches and painted them up in Photoshop (just for the fun of it) as a color studies. 

Firefly Hollow detail-revisited

Back on November on November 18th, I posted a sketch from the work on my desk that day. I just remembered that I planned to share a glimpse of the same part of the finished piece. 
Both are details of a larger painting from my forthcoming book Firefly Hollow written by Alison McGhee. 
Cheers.
Chris

Deadlines!

Be sure to visit my facebook fan page, Christopher Denise Illustrator:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Christopher-Denise-Illustrator/385062757194

Firefly Hollow-WIP

A sneak peak of the current project! See my post from December 2nd to see a screen shot of this piece in an earlier stage. Blogger still seems to be automatically auto correcting the color. If you are interested, the color looks more accurate on my professional Facebook page-Christopher Denise Illustrator.

Firefly Hollow work.

Different approach with this book. Working up the drawings in charcoal (digital) and layering in color. The designer and I were looking for a jewel tone range of soft colors. Takes a fair amount of restraint not to just rush in and try to paint over things but seems to be working!

Perhaps little updates are better?

I have been updating my professional facebook page, Christopher Denise Illustrator, but keep putting off updating my blog so I may try a new approach.
I had been posting some sketches and there seems to be some interest in process. I had been thinking about a longer post on the delights of drawing in my digital charcoal space but it may be some time before I get around to it. I think Ill just let out little bits here and there and go back later (summer 2015 probably) and sum up some thoughts.
In any event, I have found myself drawn back into a world of miniatures. It takes a certain mindset to stay in the right place and I have been helped along by the music of Jonsi and Alex-specifically Riceboy Sleeps. The duo are best known for their amazing work as Sigor Ros. 
So today I put on the headphones again and begin working up this aerial nighttime drawing. It be painted up in the next day or two. Here is a little detail.  I can't share full pieces just yet. If you guys like it...maybe I can try to check in once a week and show little glimpses and let you know what I am listening to.

Baking Day at Grandma's review in Kirkus!

KIRKUS REVIEW

A rollicking, rhyming salute to the grandmother-grandchild bond.

Three independent, bundled-up young bears set off across the snow and past the pond for Grandma’s cottage, all smiles, as “It’s baking day at Grandma’s!” Everything at Grandma’s house—from the fire and old-fashioned stove and Victrola to her pink shawl and the woodsy cabin decor—points to coziness and love....

Read the rest here:

https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/anika-denise/baking-day-at-grandmas/

Sleepytime Me, new art-the back cover that never was.

Final cover for Sleepytime Me by Edith Hope Fine

The cover for my most recent book, Sleepytime Me by Edith Hope Fine, came together very quickly. Those of you who are in the business picture books know this is a rare occurrence. We all loved the image of the house and wanted to stay with that theme. I could have done a wrap but was enjoying painting the images so much that I wanted to produce another piece of art. I was so excited when I had the idea of painting the same scene after the kid went to bed and the moonlight and stars had shifted that I went ahead and painted it. I loved painting the moonlight on the leaves and having it dapple over the house. Sadly, the art was never used but the incredible designer I worked with, Jan Gerardi, came up with a wonderfully elegant solution. Her design was beautiful but even with that we almost had the cover changed on us at the eleventh hour. Fortunately, we were able to compromise and meet the needs of the marketing department by zooming in on the house and character. For fans of the book, here is a look at never before seen art! Which one do you like?

Original cover art ©2014 Christopher Denise. I remember stargazing from the bedroom.

Original back cover art ©2014 Christopher Denise. ".ooo..what a little moonlight can do..."

How it might have looked...

My proposal

Jan Gerardi's design. I loved working with Jan! Love her type on this version.

Bookmaps and Storyboards using Photoshop. Part 1-Why digital tools?

In January I gave a series of talk at Kindling Words east and can now share a bit of what I talked about during the breakout sessions with the illustrators. May 27th will mark the release date of Sleepytime Me by Edith Fine, my next book with Random house so it best to focus on this title for this series of posts.

First I need to address the question of why I am using digital tools. Not for myself, but because I am asked...all the time. Technique and materials are really of little interest to me. Photoshop is a tool. Pastels and charcoal are tools. I am more interested in what you create with them. However, the question is always in the air so I will give you the cliff notes version of my thinking on the debate.


I started using photoshop when I began work as a visual development artist working on animated films and have found the program to be an invaluable tool in my book production work. First a quick note to all the skeptics who ask: "Don't you miss traditional materials?"Quick answer: No. While there is a learning curve, I have been able to customize my tools to create a process that not only replicates my traditional technique but removes many of the limitations of working in pastel and acrylic. Here are two examples of work. The one on the left is from my pastel work on the Redwall  picture books, the image on the right is a detail from my book due out at the end of August 2014,  Baking Day at Grandma's by Anika Denise. The image on the right was created using only digital tools.

I am impatient with my art. I work best when I can act and react. With digital tools changing the piece as it begins to emerge is far easier and I can get to the fun stuff faster. The goal is not necessarily to shorten the production time, though in this day  of ever tightening deadlines and shrinking advances this is clearly a very good byproduct. The goal is to get as much of original inspiration down on the page as possible. With digital tools, I can cut right to the chase and then have the flexibility to edit, change, and repaint the piece to suit the needs of the entire book.

In the next post I will focus on the previously time consuming process of creating a bookmap with Photoshop.

A look at my desktop earlier this week.

Classically inspired digital pastels. Like the days of Redwall without all the dust!

A few weeks ago, I promised a few more images..

Back at Halloween I promised a few more images from an Egyptian underworld film pitch that I worked on. The film was never made but I think the these images look pretty cool. Pardon the rough bits. If you ever worked on a development team you know how quickly these paintings need to be made!