AJ Smith Picture Books Blog

NEW ADDITIONS

2011-01-17T12:58:00.000-08:00

Updated my website... reworked the navigation for the whole thing and finally added an ANIMATION/DESIGN page:
http://ajsmith.net/anim.html
and a TECHNICAL ILLUSTRATION page: http://ajsmith.net/tech.html

Author / Illustrator Event at BOOK RACK in Nbpt

2010-11-02T14:00:00.000-07:00

Take the train up from Boston or wheel down 93/95 from NH!

Mundane Museum of Boring Grown-Up Tedium

2010-08-02T13:34:00.000-07:00

Can you think of anything more boring to kids? Lots of room to stuff in some BORING! ... yawn.

"Jumbonormous" conceptual sketches

2010-02-10T17:26:00.000-08:00

visual brainstorming a new picture book project...

submarine

2010-02-07T18:14:00.001-08:00

quick illo for the Maine Illustrators' site... which BG looks best?
http://www.maineillustratorscollective.org/

The Year In Review: 2009

2010-01-20T09:05:00.000-08:00

It was a different year for me, to say the least. On a personal level, it was a wonderful year with a new house and a new baby (although technically she arrived 12/08). Professionally, things were a bit stagnant, like a lot of areas of our economy. 2006, 2007, 2009 all saw me do very well as a full time freelance illustrator. But after turning down a 6 book deal (because I was Daddy Daycare), I had no book offers come my way all of 2009. Pictured below are some of the jobs and personal projects I dabbled with.

rejected drawings

2010-01-11T09:51:00.000-08:00

"fight", "fort" and "flakes"

rejected images from an illustrated icons project i am working on.

Hard Hab-It To Break

2010-01-04T14:02:00.000-08:00

I suffer from the unfortunate affliction of being an obsessive hockey fan, particularly a Montreal Canadiens fan. I wish I could stop, sometimes. I have been able (until very recently) to keep my hockey watching urges in check by not ordering cable. I am, however, unable to keep myself from hanging on each review from online bloggers like Apon Basu's daily hab-it http://dailyhab-it.blogspot.com/. In a weak attempt to validate this addiction, I've offered to do a logo design for his site. As such, here are some of the ROUGH first brainstorms:

I want the image to be clear but with a retro NFBC-esque feel.

FINISHED LOGO:

Best Nest

2009-12-19T06:24:00.000-08:00

Rough layout sketches for a birds' nest poem.

fun stuff

2009-11-23T09:33:00.000-08:00

playing around with some ideas...

and Humpty Dump...

(pretty corny joke but i like how it came out)

opening spread (maybe?) for new "duck" book

For a "Re-imagining the Classics" show in Maine

2009-10-29T20:40:00.001-07:00

Newburyport Harbor

2009-10-25T17:21:00.000-07:00

sketch Lisa Ann II in the Merimack River. I plan on doing a whole series of these, provided I can find some good brush pens soon.

dog portrait commission color mock-up

2009-09-30T19:31:00.000-07:00

rough color:

and final:

Is this a plausible scenario??

2009-09-25T15:13:00.000-07:00

Would a 4-5 yr old read (or look at the pictures) of a picture book under the covers with a flashlight (in lieu of sleep)?

I know the idea of a kid with a flashlight under the covers is oft-used prototypical imagery (and that's OK with me) BUT at WHAT age do they do this? I know I did it but I feel like it wasn't until older... I don't know.

I do have to swap out the Mad magazine parody in favor of a picture book (4 yr olds wouldn't be reading mad--wouldn't get the joke)

I have to nail the age logistics.

HELP!

bobcat maze

2009-09-08T09:26:00.001-07:00

initial rough drawing:

revised rough:

and final:

A or B?

2009-08-14T06:11:00.000-07:00

the only difference is the monster kids in the "background" of the bus.

ducks unlimited

2009-08-03T19:47:00.001-07:00

quicky quackies

more old vs new

2009-07-21T13:20:00.000-07:00

old

new

monster character sketches

2009-07-20T17:48:00.000-07:00

Fooling with some character ideas for two little monster brothers...

old vs new

2009-07-15T13:36:00.000-07:00

old (cut paper style--didn't go over so well):

new (digital paint):

too subtle a difference? i toned down and simplified the palette, worried less about line and tried to retain some sketchiness, and blotted in color with bigger brush and generally tried to be looser (like the post below).

too rough?

2009-07-09T16:15:00.001-07:00

Is this too rough a drawing/style to be considered a finished piece for a picture book? It's been so hard to let myself be this loose and simple. Does it work?

I think most immediately of James Marshall and Quentin Blake (and more recently, Mo Willems) as examples of rough but simple PB illustration.

rough maze illustration

2009-06-30T10:48:00.001-07:00

Maine Illustrators Collective: WORKING ARTISTS SHOW, Kennebunk Library

2009-06-22T19:33:00.000-07:00

WORKING ARTISTS SHOW, organized by some of the artists in the MEIC, is being held in a gallery space, at the Kennebunk Free Library in Kennebunk, ME.

Show runs July 2nd-July 31st

Artist's Reception is in Hank's Room, Kennebunk Free Library
July 8th 4:30-7:30pm The public is welcome.

In addition to myself, the following artists will be participating in the exhibit:
Gabe McPhail www.workshop31.com
Joel Zain Rivers www.obioncomics.com
Nicole Fazio www.nicolefazioillustration.com
Nancy Cooper Funk www.nancycooperfunk.com
Jamie Hogan www.hoganbraun.com.
Jessica Lynn Clark http://jessicalynnclark.blogspot.com
Judith Hunt www.huntjudith.com
Patricia Sharp SHARP DESIGN’S STUDIO & GALLERY Milbridge, Maine
Pat Wooldridge www.wooldridgeequineart.com
Leticia Plate www.leticiaplate.com
Christia Siravo www.csiravo.com/
Katie Diamond www.katiediamond.com
Michael Boardman www.coyotees.com/illustration
Helen Stevens www.helenstephens.com
Roz Davis www.rozdavis.com
Wade Zahares /www.zahares.com

MEICwebsite is http://www.maineillustratorscollective.org Blog: http://mecollective.blogspot.com/

School Is For Nincompoops pages 8,9

2009-05-23T11:07:00.000-07:00

UPDATE: 6/18/09--Editors aren't going for the color palette and "mass market" look of this illustration and others I've done like it... I'm going to have to take a hard look at my stuff and reevaluate my strengths and weaknesses... I've GOT to figure SOMETHING out!

Bear Food

2009-05-03T11:42:00.000-07:00

After much deliberation, I've opted to go with a less is more approach regarding line work...