Book: Ana and the Sea Star

Sea Star Splash in So Po

Posted by on May 4, 2018 in Book: Ana and the Sea Star, Drawing, Illustration, Pastels | 5 comments

Thanks to Kim Campbell at the lovely South Portland Public Library, my recent book, Ana and the Sea Star, got a sweet splash last Saturday. I brought shells for touching. We, too, found a sea star once, but it had already dried up. It became the model I drew from when illustrating the book. After I read the story by R. Lynne Roelfs, kids drew sea critters and colored sea stars. I drew a rather unremarkable mermaid on a big pad, but the kids didn’t care, they wanted to add to it and draw, too! …like this adorable mermaid… A vigorous scribble can be really fun. My Maine...

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Pub Day for Ana and the Sea Star!

Posted by on Nov 7, 2017 in Book: Ana and the Sea Star, Children's Book Illustration, Illustration, Publisher: Tilbury House, School Visits | 6 comments

Finally, today is THE DAY!!! My twelfth book is real. Ana and the Sea Star by R. Lynne Roelfs is published! It is a small miracle when ideas manifest into a real book. When I first read the manuscript in July of 2016, it felt authentic, the story of finding a starfish. My photo below is evidence of that time a sea star washed into a Peaks Island tide pool a summer ago, and was gently placed back in the ocean. First I sketched out a rough storyboard, deciding what to show, the flow of the visuals, and varying points of view. I contacted some island neighbors to model for me. The lovely Schuit...

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