Ian Schoenherr

Trick Bird

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Schoenherr) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 17:36:00 +0000

Good words about The Apothecary from Fuse #8.

Ann Patchett on The Apothecary on Martha Stewart

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Schoenherr) — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 17:15:00 +0000

Check this out - The Apothecary talk starts at about the 3.26 minute mark.

The Apothecary on The Martha Stewart Show

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Schoenherr) — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 13:36:00 +0000

The Apothecary was just featured on The Martha Stewart Show!

The Tennessean’s Celebrity Column tells all about it:

Nashville local and New York Times best-selling author Ann Patchett dropped by The Martha Stewart Show to promote her new local bookstore, Parnassus Books, and share her top 5 picks for books this holiday season.

“The best thing about owning a bookstore is recommending books,” Patchett told Stewart in the episode, which airs at 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. today and again at noon Monday on the Hallmark Channel. “I’ve been forcing books on people my whole life, and now I can do it professionally.”

As for the books she thinks people should read this time of year, Patchett suggests The Family Fang by Kevin Wilson, Binocular Vision by Edith Pearlman, The Hare with Amber Eyes by Edmund de Waal, One Writer’s Garden by Susan Haltom and Jane Roy Brown, and The Apothecary by Maile Meloy.

Audience members walked away with all five books, as well as Patchett’s latest book, State of Wonder.

Parnassus Books is at 3900 Hillsboro Pike in Nashville.

Book Signing on Friday, November 25th

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Schoenherr) — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 19:34:00 +0000

I’ll be signing copies of Maile Meloy’s The Apothecary - and my other children’s books, too - this Friday, November 25th from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Clinton Book Shop. They’re located at 12 East Main Street in Clinton, New Jersey.

And, as usual, while you're in Clinton, get some breakfast, brunch, or lunch nearby at The Fine Diner - owned and operated by my beloved sister and brother-in-law.

An Illustration from The Apothecary

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Schoenherr) — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 12:58:00 +0000

This is one of my favorite illustrations from The Apothecary and one of the ideas that came to mind when I first read the manuscript.

But sometimes the most simple ideas are the most difficult to execute. I couldn’t get the sky or the waves “right” and kept painting over and over again, getting nothing but more unhappy.

When I was in almost tearful despair, my cat Buzz jumped on my scanner and sent it clattering to the floor, and so I decided to see if it still worked by scanning my frustrating picture. And then I started tinkering with the image in Photoshop and within a few minutes I finally got the “feeling” I’d been after since that first read. My Photoshop skills are pretty rough, though, so I spent the next few days copying in ink and paint what I’d done on the computer.

The Apothecary on PW’s Best Books 2011 list

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Schoenherr) — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 17:28:00 +0000

Hey! Publishers Weekly put The Apothecary on its list of Best Books 2011: Children’s Books...

Meloy’s first book for young readers is a wonderfully imagined alternate history, set as cold war tensions between the U.S. and Russia are reaching critical mass, and a secretive group of apothecaries conspires to protect the planet from all-out destruction. With magic, history, adventure, romance, and smart writing, it’s truly a story with something for everyone.

Wired Wild About The Apothecary

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Schoenherr) — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 15:35:00 +0000

More about The Apothecary at Wired - including this nice comment...

Oh, and one more thing: the cover and interior art, by Ian Schoenherr, is gorgeous and pitch-perfect. There’s one image at the beginning of each chapter (and just a few scattered illustrations elsewhere); each one hints at something that will come later in the chapter, but without being too explicit. It’s a delicate balance, drawing the reader forward without giving away too much, and Schoenherr does a superb job. One look and you’ll see why Meloy said one of the most rewarding things about writing a kids’ book was getting to have illustrations in it.

The Blue Horse Auction is Underway!

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Schoenherr) — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 15:11:00 +0000

If you’d like to take this blue horse back to your stable, now’s your chance:

He’s up for auction and can be found on The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse Charity Auction website and on Ebay.

The auction ends Wednesday, October 26, 2011, at 9:01 p.m. (Pacific Daylight Time) - which is just after midnight October 27th on the East Coast.

Bid early. Bid often. Support a worthy cause. Help a horse out.

NYTBR Likes The Apothecary, Too

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Schoenherr) — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 21:17:00 +0000

The New York Times Book Review devotes a whole page to The Apothecary in the issue of Sunday, October 16, 2011...

Meloy weaves fantasy into a fine work of historical fiction, bringing to life the cold-war era when everyday life was permeated by fear of nuclear disaster and Russian spies lurking everywhere. More important, though, she brings to her first book for young readers the same emotional resonance that has won acclaim for her adult fiction, grounding her story in the intricacies of family love, friendship and loyalty, blended here with the complicated fluctuations of adolescence.

The review even reprints one of my interior illustrations. The cropping - or, rather, the lack of cropping - leaves something to be desired (all of my deliberately unfinished stuff around the edges is revealed), but I’ll take it.

Wordstock Interview: Maile Meloy

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Schoenherr) — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 12:24:00 +0000

A great behind-the-scenes discussion of The Apothecary from the Wordstock Festival via GeekDad via Wired.com.

“And there's illustrations! SO MUCH PRETTY.”

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Schoenherr) — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 21:46:00 +0000

“I have so much love for this book, guys!”

- Harmony’s Radiant Reads.

“A gem of historical fiction”

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Schoenherr) — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 13:27:00 +0000

More love for The Apothecary from the Los Angeles Times.

Maile Meloy on Writing & The Apothecary (& Me!)

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Schoenherr) — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 23:08:00 +0000

Early sketch for The Apothecary jacket, September 2010

From another interview with Maile Meloy, this time all the way from Australia:

Ian Schoenherr did the beautiful illustrations, and he’s incredibly talented. He really captured the texture and the fantastical element of the book, and because he has a wonderful realistic, technical drawing ability, the magical aspects feel real. He was the perfect illustrator for it.

Maile Meloy Interviewed About The Apothecary

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Schoenherr) — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 21:07:00 +0000

A terrific little interview with Maile Meloy (that mentions me!):

Q: The Apothecary features some great illustrations by Ian Schoenherr; what do you think is the best way for a writer to collaborate with an illustrator?

A: I think it should be just that: a collaboration. I had put clip art at the beginning of each chapter, with a picture of something that would appear in that chapter. Ian used a few of those objects, and continued the idea that the opening image should build suspense about the chapter, but he went way beyond my little boxed images. I was limited by what I could find in photographs. He chose perfect moments and scenes from the book to illustrate, and his paintings wrap around the text, across the top or bottom of the page. They’re so beautiful, and Ryan the designer and Cecilia the art director showed me the sketches as they came in, so we could have a dialogue about it. There’s a character in the book with a wooden leg, and in the manuscript it was just a peg, but Ian drew an articulated leg with buckled straps, a boot, and visible nails to hold the sock up. I started to say, ‘Oh, that’s not the right kind of…’ and then I shut up and went back and changed the text. His leg was better.

A Blue Horse?

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Schoenherr) — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 19:43:00 +0000

For better or ~~horse~~ worse, I’m becoming a specialist in painting forlorn animals in old clothes - as seen here, here, here, and here - and now here:

“Blue Horse in Black and White” by Ian Schoenherr (2011)

I painted this sad creature for a good cause, though:

The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse Charity Auction is a silent auction to benefit the NEA Foundation’s commitment to help improve arts education in schools across the nation. The initiative was inspired by Eric Carle’s picture book The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse, which celebrates imagination and artistic freedom.

The directive was to create “a piece of original artwork featuring [my] interpretation of a horse in any color, size, shape or medium of [my] choosing, inspired from [my] reading of The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse” on an 8 x 8" canvas (on which the legend seen in the picture was printed, by the way; my lettering isn’t that good).

I guess I interpreted this directive broadly.

Anyway, this could be yours, once the online auction begins on or around October 17, 2011. The site www.BlueHorseAuction.com will be up and running once all the entries are received and photographed. I’ll post a reminder and more details as they come.

Fondness for The Apothecary

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Schoenherr) — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 01:32:00 +0000

Some nice comments about The Apothecary from...

The Picky Girl: “this is an absolutely beautiful book”

Beth Kephart: “a book that (if the preview pages on Amazon are accurate) features some very beautiful illustrations by Ian Schoenherr.”

Forever Young Adult: “We already know that you can make something cool by putting a bird on it, but this cover is so much more than a hipster cliche. I love the old school style, which beautifully captures important elements of the book. This cover is the reason why book frames should be invented, because it needs to be on my wall STAT.”

Publishers Weekly Gives The Apothecary a Star

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Schoenherr) — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 23:34:00 +0000

Publishers Weekly just gave The Apothecary a starred review. And they even liked the pictures!

With evocative, confident prose and equally atmospheric spot art from Schoenherr, adult author Meloy’s first book for young readers is an auspicious one.

Little Raccoon in Strange Company

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Schoenherr) — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 13:26:00 +0000

This bit of nostalgia from my well-evolved childhood friend, Carl Zimmer.

Dreamy About The Apothecary

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Schoenherr) — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 22:52:00 +0000

Nice comments about The Apothecary at There’s A Book:

Book Dreaming is just that. It’s a feature I’m going to use to highlight those books that make you dreamy or possibly just end up making you dream about them. It could be anything from newly released books to ones that are already out that I can’t get out of my head to those I can’t seem to get my hands on soon enough!

Today’s Book Dreaming pick is The Apothecary by Maile Meloy and Illustrated by Ian Schoenherr...

Trailer for The Apothecary

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Schoenherr) — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 11:25:00 +0000

I just got an advance copy of The Apothecary - and it looks great. And now there’s a way-cool trailer for the book, which uses a few of my (MANY!) illustrations.

Not since the oak-tag flip-book I made of a motorcyclist jumping over garbage cans in the 6th grade has any of my work been semi-animated.

A Kiwi Reviews The Apothecary

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Schoenherr) — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 13:24:00 +0000

A great review of Maile Meloy’s The Apothecary - all the way from New Zealand:

This is a stunning new book about magic aimed at Intermediate junior secondary students with reading ages 12-15 years.

Set in the era of the early Cold War in the year 1952 when McCarthyism was starting to take root in America and nuclear testing was starting with first the Americans then the Soviets and later the British. Spying was rife.

Into the story comes an American girl Janie whose parents are script writers for a new British series on Robin Hood. She goes to a private English school and comes in contact with Ben, the son of an apothecary or pharmacist in modern lingo. The father has a powerful book called the Pharmacopoeia which contains magic potions that can transform humans into birds, make people tell the truth and even vanish.

Soviet spies want the Pharmacopoeia and Janie and Ben are caught in a spy action story that ends up at the Soviet testing site of Nova Zemblya. To tell you any more would ruin it, but just imagine if it was possible to negate the effects of radiation with a potion made from plants.

I loved this novel as it was so original. I would describe it as an historical Science fiction adventure fantasy. Is that possible? Read it and find out.

Headless Child Reviews The Apothecary

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Schoenherr) — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 22:27:00 +0000

Take a look here.

The Apothecary Discussion Guide

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Schoenherr) — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 13:54:00 +0000

This bit of ephemera featuring my jacket painting for The Apothecary recently found its way to me. Its a “Discussion Guide” for the book which includes some details about the book and 19 “Discussion and Comprehension Questions” as well as list of “Extensive Activities” and tips on “How to Start Your Own Book Club”. Now, if I could just figure out how to get more of these flyers...

Growth Chart from Brooklyn Public Library

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Schoenherr) — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 14:07:00 +0000

Do you live in Brooklyn? Do you have a child in your life who is somewhere between 12 inches and four feet tall? Then participate in Summer Reading 2011 at your favorite Brooklyn Public Library branch and get a “Growth Chart” featuring my illustrations for Read It, Don’t Eat It!

It’s full-color, 6.25 inches square, and unfolds to a length of 37.5 inches. You can chart your child’s height, but also the breadth of their reading.

And it comes in Spanish, too!

Irritable Fox and Annoyed Pig

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Schoenherr) — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 14:55:00 +0000

An experiment for the sake of experimenting - in this case in ink and watercolor. (I wanted to see what could be done using a limited palette - specifically one recommended by Beatrix Potter - but I’ve since mislaid the list of colors.)