November 2013 Desktop Calendar featuring art for the cover of Marty Chan's The Ehrich Weisz Chronicles Demon Gate!

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Yes, you guess it- I'm going Steampunk for my November calendar, to celebrate the launch of  Marty Chan's  newest book, The Ehrich Weisz Chronicles Demon Gate. And if you happen to live in Edmonton, Marty's launch takes place November 26th, at Audry's Books at 7pm.  

 

I created  the Infinity Coil medallion artwork for the cover and back cover. What the heck is an Infinity Coil, you ask? Well, you'll have to grab a copy of the book and read it to find out. I'd lend you mine but I'm still happily immersed. And boy is it gooooood! :)

 

 The medallions are on the bottom left of the calendar. And I had to include the book, of course. Tanya Montini, the cover designer and Christie Harkin, our editor, did a smashing job on the cover- it's spectacular!  And if you flip over Marty's book you'll see the chimera side of the Infinity Coil medallion. Mmmm... "chimera" such a cool word...I haven't gotten a change to say that word much since my days in the lab. LOL!

 

 If your wondering... noooo, this isn't made in plasticine.  I created both of these medallions in metallic polymer clay with actual watch pieces inlaid on various levels. Yup, mixed media!

 

 Marty's description of the Infinity Coil in the book is fantastic, and it took me and Christie a few attempts to wrap our brain around  his idea. But I think, after lots of sketching and discussions with Marty, I was successful in creating a visual representation of his idea. It was a such a fun project that I am now totally addicted to Steampunk. Maybe I'll do a Steampunk picture book one of these days? My sketch book is brimming with ideas...

 I am thankful to Christie for running with my ideas, and giving me the opportunity to show that I can do edgy, MG or YA artwork too.

 

Later this month, I plan to do a proper  process post of how I created the artwork. This post will also feature a few words from the man himself, Marty Chan and lots of process pics. So please check back again soon.

 

To download your snazzy Steampunk desktop calendar, just click on the screen resolution you require above. Then right click and "save to desktop". Enjoy :)

October 2013 desktop calendar

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October has arrived, and the leaves are starting to show their glorious colours. Oh, how I love Fall.

I thought this little spot illo from Skink on the Brink captured this feeling perfectly!

To download this desktop calendar please select the screen resolution above then right click and "save to desktop".

Enjoy!

 





Inkygirl Interview

Lisa and I had the great pleasure of being interviewed by the lovely and uber-talented Debbie Ridpath Ohi for her blog, Inkygirl. Thank you Debbie :) Lisa and I share the creative process behind the making of Skink on the Brink and our paths to publication. Please check it out.

The Making of Skink on the Brink

(courtesy of Debby Ohi)

Word On the Street

We had a super time this past Sunday at Word On the Street, Toronto. Lisa and I had a fantastic turn out of over 100 kids for our Skink on the Brink reading and plasticine "Make-Your-Own-Stewie" plasticine activity. They were a lively and super-talented group of kids. Lisa and I had a blast! Here are some pictures from the event.

 

 Yes, that is THE Michael Martchenko at the Athour's signing table with us!

 



 At the Fizhenry & Whiteside booth with Lisa Dalrymple, Editor/Children's Publisher Christie Harkin,

and Jan Dobly and Joyce Grant

September 2013 Desktop calendar

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While September ushers in another school year and signals the end of another fun-filled summer, September 1st is also a day of celebration for the Del Rizzo family. It happens to be my third son's birthday. He'll be 8 years old tomorrow- Happy Bday Little Man! I can't believe how fast they grow up....
So this month's desktop calendar is dedicated to him. He has a huge fascination with the animal kingdom and  loves animal non-fiction books and TV shows like Nature and Wild Kratts. He wants to be a marine biologist when he grows up- LOVE IT!!
This is one of his favorite illustrations- it makes him giggle at the thought of a big camel nibbling his hair...what a sloppy kiss!
I hope you enjoy it.
To download, simply click on your screen resolution above, then right click and "save to desktop".

SCBWI LA Conference 2013

I have been meaning to post about my experience at my first SCBWI LA conference all month, but between a tight deadline with very cool steampunk novel cover project(which I will share in a post soon) and squeezing in some summertime fun with the kiddos before the summer comes to an end, the poor blog had to come a distant third on my priority list. Now that the final art is in, we have all our back-to-school shopping complete and sneaked in a few family fun-day treks, I am finally able to post  few pictures and some take-away moments.
Overall I felt my first SCBWI LA conference was a very positive experience. But I must say I was blown away by the sheer size of the event. It was enormous! Just look...this is a snapshot of about 1/3 of the grand ballroom where all of the keynotes took place- humongous!

And being my shy self, it took me a few stomach churning moments every morning to thrust myself back in there. But I am proud to say that I pushed myself to talk to my neighbors and not keep my head down. I was so pleased to met up with new friends that I had met over the years via Twitter- that was indeed a highlight.

Priscilla Mizell, Alvina Kwong, and me

I also met most of the Simply Messing About Blog and a bunch of the #kidlitart Tweet chat crew in person finally- Tracy Bishop, Laura Zarrin, Christina Forshay, Diandra Mae, Jannie Ho( who was also on the faculty this year)... gosh, I'm sure I must be missing a few. It was so hectic I am embarrassed to say I barely took any pics. 

A major highlight for me was attending David Wieser's keynote and breakout sessions. I have been a huge fan for years, and it was a thrill to hear him speak about his craft and share his process, from idea generation to thumbnails, all the way to finished art. It was reassuring to hear that even he takes a long time(often years) to "get it right", for the story to come together. He reminded us all to " follow the story" and let it take you where it needs to go. Love it! He even shared his newest book, Mr.Wuffles, due out this Fall! 

I brought some of Skink on the Brink to sell at the PAL book sale. I sold a few, which was indeed a nice surprise, and met some other authors and illustrators at the book sale. :) As an interesting aside... apparently nobody has heard of plasticine in the US. So, until I started saying " modelling clay" I got a look of confused looks. Huh? Who knew...

I participated in the portfolio showcase as well. The caliber of art was just incredible.  I also attended some great breakout sessions with US art directors, like Laurent Linn, and Giuseppe Castellano.  And it was very cool to see Laurent discuss our friend, Debbie Ohi's fun book I'm Bored. Yay, Debbie! I just happened to be sitting beside her at this breakout session when this image came up-*quiet squeals of delight* came from our general direction, LOL.

Laurent Linn

The only drawback I found with attending SCBWI LA was that, due to the large volume of attendees, I found it very hard to find a moment to approach an AD, to give them my business card/postcard, or have any sort of chat. I didn't want to be one of those people who swarmed the speaker after their talk, or jumped into an elevator convo- that just isn't my style. So I think for me anyway,  I will aim to attend a smaller conference next year, where there may be a better chance to make more connections. 

Speaking of conferences, the SCBWI CanEast Montreal Conference( Oct. 4-6th) is coming up. I reeeeeally wish I could attend this year because the line-up and illustrator stream looks fantastic. To find our more about it, check out all the SCBWICanEast "The Art of Story" conference details. 

Stay tuned, tomorrow I will be posting my  Sept. 2013 desktop calendar. :) 

  

August 2013 Desktop Calendar and Pictures from Book launches other SKINKTASTIC stuff!

Wow, July has flown past at lightning speed. Maybe it felt that way because Lisa and I have been on the road almost every weekend for various launches and events to celebrate Skink on the Brink. I guess you could say it's been a super-SKINKTASTIC month!

Before I share some of the photos of some of our events, here is my August desktop calendar.

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As always, to download one for your computer simply select the screen resolution you'd like, right click and "Save to Desktop".  Lisa had mentioned how much she'd love one more Stewie themed desktop calendar...so Lisa, I made this one specifically with YOU in mind ;)

 

The official book launch of Skink on the Brink took place at Story Planet on July 6th. Thanks to everyone who stopped by to share in our celebration. As you can see, a good time was had by all and the plasticine activity table was a bit hit with the kiddos!
 

On July 20th Lisa an I had the honour of taking part in The Pinery Park's Savannah Festival. Lisa gave a stellar presentation and reading in the amphitheatre.

 

Then after lunch, Lisa and I spent the afternoon in the gazebo doing plasticine activities. We were very lucky to have Tanya Berkers(the field biologist that was Lisa's primary contact for her skink research) on hand to answer the children's lizard related questions. But I must say Lisa did a fabulous job of quizzing the kids to get their Savannah Festival passport stamp, she's quite the skink expert herself now.

 

 Last weekend we were in Lisa's hometown, Fergus Ontario, at Roxanne's Reflections for the Fergus launch.  We were both tickled pink...no make that "Stewie-blue", to have such a warm reception and fantastic turn out. And I want to send a special thank-you to the many sweet author and illustrator friends who made the trek to Fergus to join us. We felt very blessed. :)

 

 And tomorrow I am hoping on a plane and heading to the SCBWI conference in LA. I'm feeling nervous, anxious, and super-excited all rolled up into one.  I can't wait to share that experience(and lots of pics) with you too! :)