Covers - The Wind Dancers

After reaching temperatures of 111 degrees yesterday (insane! This is Seattle! The highest temperature recorded here *ever* previously was like 96), the intense heat and air stagnation have tangibly broken. It is still supposed to be warm for the foreseeable future, but in a much more reasonable, mid-80s sort of way (our norms for July run more in the mid-70s, so this is still hot for here). With the temperatures finally more bearable, I'm able to resume working rather than just sitting in front of a fan panting... :-)

If you have followed this blog at all, you will have noticed me mentioning the series I've been working on for the past couple of years, The Wind Dancers, written by Sibley Miller, co-illustrated by myself and Jo Gershman and published by Feiwel & Friends in association with Breyer. The first four came out late last year (for which we've done promotional videos, presentations, book signings and TV appearances at Breyerfest. I've also discussed the vagaries of color matching here). It's been quite a fun ride.

The next couple of books are listed on Amazon for pre-order.

With the next pair to follow shortly after...

Currently, we are working on the final four books in this series. Even as I type, I am working on the next four covers, which I've gotten permission to post WIPs as I go, so watch over the next little while and I'll try to post the process and thinking behind covers in an ongoing series.

Til then, it's cool enough that I think I can even sleep tonight!

Book Signing Event & Sunday Sketching -

Today was a book signing event at my close-by, independent book store. It was a fund-raiser for a small, private school in the area. They had asked me and a couple of other area authors to be on hand to sign and chat with the attendees.


Royce Buckingham was one of them. (I met him at the last event I did.) He is charming and very personable and has very interesting things to say about his experiences in entering the world of children's publishing. Fun to chat with.


I got to sit at a table covered with books. :-) They had 9 of the 12 published Fairy Chronicles and all 4 of the just-released Wind Dancer series. There were a number of fairy-loving girls in attendance so I got to chat and sign a nice number of them (and then they didn't let me leave until I had signed the remainder for the bookstore...)

One of the fairy-girls noticed me sketching in my sketchbook during a lull. She asked if I would draw *her*. I said, sure, as long as she could hold somewhat still for a few minutes.


It was harder than she had expected :-) but we managed a quickie drawing of her.

***

So after drawing in church today and the above drawing, I have now finished with my purse sketchbook and ready to move on to my shiny new Moleskine! *That* should make me draw really well, shouldn't it?

Book Release -

Today is the official book release date for the first four Wind Dancer books. I received a large box this afternoon with a number of lovely copies of each book.

And I am happy to report that the final printing color is *much* closer to the original paintings than the versions that are up on the Macmillan website that I posted about a few days ago. (You can see some of the 'sparkly' cover aspects reflected here). They are beautifully printed and put together. And aimed at 7 year old girls.

This Sunday I will be on hand at Parkplace Books in Kirkland for a booksigning event featuring a number of local artists and authors. I think they plan to have the Wind Dancers as well as the Fairy Chronicles on hand for me to sign.

Speaking of the Fairy Chronicles, also recently arrived are my copies of the latest in the series.

I only did the cover for this one. Not my favorite... I'm having a heck of a time with my greens. I'm rather enamoured of yellowy, earthy greens at the moment - but they seem to be the most difficult to scan and reproduce true. (Even my new, nifty, fairly expensive scanner has a heck of a time with them if they are not thoroughly saturated). Anyone else have that problem?

At any rate, the studio is overflowing with book copies!