PINA

Pina by Elif Yemenici is a unique story about a not-so unique feeling: social anxiety.

Let's Talk Illustrators #106: Soyeon Kim

I got a chance to talk to paper cut extraordinaire Soyeon Kim about her newest book You Are Never Alone, written by Elin Kelsey. I have admired her illustration style for many years, and it was such a pleasure picking her brain about how she makes each new book with Elin feel unique. Enjoy!!

Let's Talk Illustrators #105: Kelly Pousette

I caught up with Kelly Pousette, debut illustrator of Little Things. Written by Nick Dyer, Little Things focuses on a young girl who takes time every day to notice the little things around her and appreciate the details. Kelly creates dioramas full of small, paper-cut images with TONS of details. A match made in heaven? I think so!

THE VISITOR

The Visitor is yet another stunning book by light box dioramist Antje Damm (who I interviewed last year).

Let's Talk Illustrators #52: Elly MacKay

Elly MacKay might be the most patient illustrator I've ever spoken with. If you aren't already familiar with Elly's work, you should know that she creates light box dioramas, or paper theaters, from scratch and then photographs them. Every character, mountain, and leaf is hand-cut and then placed into a small 3D world she has created. Elly's process is highly unique, and you can read about it more on her site here, but for the purposes of this interview we focused mainly on her new book Waltz of the Snowflakes, which, in addition to being her first wordless book, sets out to explore visual narratives in an entirely new way. Enjoy the read! 

Let's Talk Illustrators #44: Antje Damm

Author-illustrator Antje Damm has created over twenty-five books in German, and though she ventured into English books about fifteen years ago with Ask Me, I'm excited to say that her latest English book Waiting for Goliath marks the beginning of a much stronger and prolific foray into the English market. She was such a thoughtful person to interview, and I hope you enjoy our conversation.

Illustrator Spotlight: Yuyi Morales

Yuyi Morales is one of the most versatile illustrators I've ever come across. She does such an incredible job of molding her illustration style to the text and tone of the story, and her books are always rooted in family and self-identity.

   

Mel's MoMa Visit!

So the theme of this week's post is "books Mel bought at the MoMa when she visited NYC last week." Admittedly, it's not the tightest theme I've ever come up with, but hey, why wait?

First up is Snappsy the Alligator (Did Not Ask to Be in This Book) by Julie Falatko and Tim Miller. This book breaks the fourth wall so many times! I've long been in love with existentialism and meta-humor, and Snappsy totally delivers. Poor Snappsy the Alligator just wants to be left alone to shop for his party. But his pesky narrator won't...stop...talking. And following him. And generally being annoying. So Snappsy decides to take things into his own hands. Will Snappsy escape his narrator's all-seeing eye? The brush, ink, and digital illustrations are bordered by a black line to follow the storybook format, as though we're only getting a peek into Snappsy's world from the narrator's point of view. But here's the best part--that border goes away when the narrator shows up in Snappsy's world! Once she reveals herself to Snappsy, the illustrations stretch beyond the borders of the page, no longer contained by the rigid, storybook format. A fantastic touch by Miller. The ending is too abrupt, as though the final illustration should show us something we're not getting from the text (unless I'm missing something?), but the characters are engaging and the story is extra fun to read aloud with the different voices. And the book cover versus the book jacket?! Amazing.

Miniature Sets

This week we're talking about illustrations created from photographing miniature sets. An illustrator creates each piece of the illustration on a stage, from the characters to the landscapes, and then photographs it. And the end result is absolutely stunning.

Butterfly Park by Elly Mackay is a great place to start. Mackay has a great page on her process for creating her illustrations that's very interesting and fun to watch. In Butterfly Park, a girl reluctantly moves from the country to the city, lamenting that she has to leave behind the natural beauty of the country, specifically the butterflies. When the girl sees one in her neighbor's yard, they work together to try to catch it, slowly befriending neighborhood kids along the way. Ultimately the entire neighborhood comes together to build a butterfly paradise next door to the girl's house, making the girl feel welcome and at home. The story is fine, but it's really the illustrations that bring this story to life in a major way.