William Marchant

GOOD READS - From Dinosaurs to Amazing Grace!

My mom, the elementary school librarian, brought me a few new books to take a peek at yesterday...

The first was Judith Viorst's Lulu and the Brontosaurus, illustrated by Lane Smith.  I didn't read the whole thing--a lot of words this one--but, I paid close attention to the pictures.  It was good to see Smith going back to more of a hand drawn approach (just black and white drawings) instead of his usual computer perfected illustrations.

The second book was The Robin Makes a Laughing Sound: A Birdies Journal, by Sallie Wolf, designed by Micah Bornstein. This one has really great pictures. A mixture of sketchy drawings with watercolor along with a bit of "collaging" or handcrafted cutting pasting. The story is told through a bird's journal entries (if you couldn't tell by the title.) Very clever and a great read.

The third book was Jerry Garcia's Amazing Grace.  This book features the Amazing Grace lyrics by John Newton along with a CD with the song performed by Garcia, David Grisman, and Tony Rice...the band of Garcia's bluegrass days.  The pictures are Garcia's paintings and sketches, which really make the book something special, not just for kids.  

Besides the wonderful drawings, the best part of the book is the introduction written by, widow, Deborah Koons Garcia.  Fantastic stuff!

So go run to your library or local independently owned bookstore and grab these gems!

There's Crap All Over the Loop!

Actually there's just Crap at a couple places on the Delmar Loop in St. Louis.  My first zine (mini-comic), Crap for the Crapper: "The WG Part One," is available at Subterranean Books and Star Clipper.  There might be a couple more locations that pick it up...but details haven't been worked out yet.

If you don't feel like traveling to one of those fine locations...check out CrapfortheCrapper.com to order a copy or download it to your smartphone!

 

Is the App the Future of the Picture Book?

When it comes to the children's book market, trying to get published the old fashioned way is tough.  Especially nowadays.  I know that I am stating the obvious, but ambitious authors/illustrators, such as myself, need to hear that as much as possible.  Personally, I like hearing it because it makes me try harder.  Also, it forces me to accept the possibility (rather likelihood) that I will never be published the old fashioned way.  So, I am compelled to consider other options such as self-publishing. 

But wait...isn't self-publishing just a lower form of "doing it the old fashioned way"?

If I'm going to self-publish, why not be cutting edge, ahead of the times...a pioneer!  I'm talking about going electronic.  GASP...is he really talking about ignoring the tradition, the beauty, the personal experience of print media!?!

Lane Smith's Curious Pages Explanation of "It's a Book"

In this FANTASTIC blog post, Lane Smith talks about why he wrote "It's a Book," how he came up with the illustrations, and his lifelong influences as an author/illustrator/humorist.

I truly found this fascinating so I just wanted as many people as possible to see it...

LOOK AT THE BLOG POST HERE

Also, check out the book, "It's a Book," at your local library OR GET IT HERE!

An Illustration Makeover:Reworking "That One Big One"

In the past year, I've gone through several stages with the children's book that I've been working on called That One Big One.  Every time I had a critique or discovered something new, it changed.  The rhyme wasn't working so I made the rhyme tighter.  Then I decided to drop the rhyme all together and tell the story straight.

Well, now I am in the process of reworking the illustrations.  As painful as it was to admit to myself that the illustrations weren't working (because it was also admitting that I had wasted 3 months illustrating the entire thing), it had to be done.  So now I have come up with a style that is much more "me".  With my first illos, I refused to use the computer (Photoshop) as much as possible.  I went for a more "hand crafted" look, which I still like, but I don't think I mastered it in this particular project.  So for the reworks, I am using the computer a lot more...something that I have come to embrace as the medium of my era.  Lane Smith, my idol, embraced the digital medium...so why wouldn't I!

As you see in the page spread above, I am trying to keep the characters looking very much the same, only more clean and finished.  Also, based on a SCBWI critique, I am adding more perspectives in each illustration...whereas in my previous illustrations, I simply showed each scene/character "straight on."

I plan on doing 5 or 6 page spreads before putting together more submission packages.  So check back soon for my progress!

The Art of Reading

I was lent this book a while ago and finally got around to giving it a genuine flip through (reading some of it, but mostly just admiring the pictures like always).  In the book, The Art of Reading, forty illustrators celebrate the 40th anniversary of RIF (Reading is Fundamental, the largest non-profit literacy organization in America) by talking about some of their major influences. 

Basically, they discuss books that they feel are highly necessary for developing young readers.  Everyone from Eric Rohmann talking about how Millions of Cats by Wanda Gág inspired him to leave things to the imagination of the reader, to David McPhail telling the story of how The Five Chinese Brothers by Claire Hughet Bishop and Kurt Wiese turned him onto reading as a young child. 

The highlight of the book is where William Joyce discusses (albeit briefly) his major influence, Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are.  "I got lost in that book and haven't come out since," Joyce states.  After reading Joyce's George Shrinks for the first time, I immediately thought of Where the Wild Things Are...and I don't think I've gotten out of either book just yet.  Joyce's illustration on page 60 of The Art of Reading (illustrated specifically for this book) perfectly depicts the amount of influence Sendak's book had on him.  I wish I could add a pic of this illo, but will not as to avoid copyright issues...plus, it's more the reason for you to check out the book!

Moral of my story: It will be hard for the lender of this book to get it back from me!

GET THE ART OF READING ON AMAZON.COM NOW!

A Fitting Musical Tribute to Shel Silverstein

I figured this appropriate because it combines two things I love: Good music & picture books...

A tribute album was recently released called, Twistable Turnable Man: A Musical Tribute to Shel Silverstein.  It caught my attention because Silverstein is one of my favorite children's author/illustrators.  What really got me though was the musicians/bands that contributed to this album...such as My Morning Jacket and Dr. Dog!

Can't wait to check it out...

CHECK IT OUT FOR YOURSELF ON AMAZON.COM

What Were They Thinking: "Saranohair"

In the spirit of Curious Pages (a blog I have been reading lately that points out those "what were they thinking!" kinds of children's books), I would like to briefly recommend one such "inappropriate book for kids."

I bought a book from Goodwill for 30 cents a few months ago called Saranohair (A Gillian Johnson Tale).  The soft green cover with black and white ink drawings, reminiscent of Edward Gorey, caught my eye.  I finally got around to actually reading it just a few days ago....and wow, this book is nuts!

If you want to creep your kid(s) out by talking about little kids being turned upside down and inside out, next to characters with double-chins that jiggle and others named "Chapeaufilia"....read them this book.  Also, this was one of the hardest books to actually hold while reading due to its vertical orientation...which I still don't understand the decision to make it vertical.

I am glad I found this though...it is one of those unique gems that really adds to my collection. If you look at it from the right age group perspective, it is really a great book that I would have LOVED as a kid.

"Lane Smith's Closet"

Check out this blog I just found in which the great Lane Smith showcases some rare artwork that I've never seen before (a rare gem from an '89 Rolling Stone shown at left).  Some of it is published...other stuff is just sketches. 

It doesn't look like he's posted since December 2009...but there's enough on there already to keep yourself busy for a few minutes. 

Great stuff as usual Mr. Smith...keep this blog going!

CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT LANE SMITH'S CLOSET

"Fishing for That One Big One (My own way)" - A Child's Critique

As I have talked about in the past, my mom is an elementary school library teacher.  Having her in that position gives me a great advantage in growing as an author/illustrator of picture books.  Not only does she offer insight to what is going on in the market as far as new titles and emerging author/illustrators go, but she is also able to give me the perspective of her kids.  She lets me know if her students would think something was funny or wouldn't "get" something else.

A few weeks ago, my mom read my book, Fishing for That One Big One (My own way), to a couple of her classes (1st grade and 3rd grade classes).  She was able to show (on her Promethean Board) the PowerPoint "Book Dummy" that I put together.  After reading/showing the book to them, they discussed what they thought, and she had them write comments on slips of paper.

These comments were some of the most valuable input I've gotten since I started showing my book to people.  The kids were very honest, they told me what they thought was funny/good as well as what they didn't like so much.  More importantly though, I was able to see what worked and what didn't in respect to the story.  It seems that they did indeed get the point!  Many of them were fairly accurate in summarizing the moral/point of the story!  After mulling over their comments, I went back into my manuscript and changed a few things to strengthen it...and it is definitely stronger.

Thanks kids!