How about some Ward-O-Matic Holiday Stamps?

Thanks to Dani of Rubber Soul, I've got my own line of holiday stamps! Check 'em out! They were a lot of fun to draw.


I drew a whole lot more for this collection, but Dani had to edit down to those particular stamps that would make it fun & easy to be able to tell a story. You know, it's not easy coming up with stamps that are simple and clear enough to be able to tell a story. I credit Dani with her extensive knowledge of stamp making to be able to select from my drawings a great collection of fun holiday-themed images you see here. I mean, there were some that I thought would be perfect for stamps, but Dani knew what she was doing. I trusted her. And the stamps are very well made. Great job, Dani! I'm so happy to be a part of this endeavor with Rubber Soul.

We're hoping that if there's enough interest with this collection then I'll do some year round stamps. Dani and I have been coming up with some other neato themes that could see the light of day after the holidays.

I'm thinking of doing a giveaway, but not sure about how to go about doing this. Need to talk with Dani about it first.

But right now, I'd like to put this out there: if any of you guys buy some of these stamps and create your own cards (or anything) featuring these stamps, please email me pictures of your creations! I'd LOVE to see what you guys come up with!

Enjoy!

In-Store Appearance Today!

Getting prepared for my in-store appearance later on today at Barnes & Noble, people. Kinda nervous, but hey! kinda not! I'm very excited about it. Hope to see you guys there! In case you're wondering:

Saturday, November 7th from 2-3pm, at the Barnes & Noble at Lloyd Center Mall here in Portland, OR, my first in-store appearance and book signing! Check the event's page on Facebook for details. I'll be reading the Michael Phelps book I illustrated, How To Train With a T. Rex and Win 8 Gold Medals, show some original drawings from the book, maybe draw a few things, who knows! Remember, it's for the Boise Eliot Bookfair. (Boise Eliot is a school here in Portland.)

Hopefully, I'll have photos of the event to share later on!

This Week Vacation Guide 1949

This Week Magazine: Vacation Guide, 1949. No mention of illustrator. Lowell Hess, perhaps?

This is a wonderful cover to a rather dull magazine. It's one of those informational publications, with no ads, a few photos, but mostly information like travel times from city to city, etc...- actually, it says that This Week is part of The Sunday Magazine, "issued jointly by 24 big city American newspapers." The "official govt. map of the U. S." was not found inside. Too bad. Would've been interesting to see that.

Things to consider: I love the way that the artist sets the family apart from the background by creating a light source directed on them. See the cast shadow? It's like they are up on a stage. Also, I love how there's a story being told with the dog interested in something off-camera left. Check out how each family member's pose moves from left to right as you go from dog, kid, mother, father: a nice triangle grouping. Genius! Also, I see a chevron pattern going down from the dog and back up through the kid's legs to mother's head, where the apex is. The mother is a triangle shape herself. Interesting stuff going on here. Incredible work.

Okay, I'll let you see it larger.

This is the Ward-O-Matic...5 Years Later

Today marks FIVE years I've been writing The Ward-O-Matic, if you can believe it. Wow. Five years! I can't believe it. So much has transpired since November 3rd, 2004 when I published my very first post. I look back on some of my old posts and wonder, who is this guy? Like flipping through an old diary or thumbing through an old sketchbook, I read some of these words and look at some of these old drawings and try to imagine what was going through my head at the time. It's like I'm reading someone else's blog—it doesn't really feel like me.

2004: I was an animation director at Primal Screen in Atlanta and was getting caught up with all these new animation blogs that were popping up like wildfire at the time. I was so inspired by what I was reading and viewing that I felt like I had enough of a voice to enter the fray. Having enough to say has been an issue at times, but that's okay. I'd just let my drawings speak for me. Or just scan in some dusty pages from a long forgotten children's book. Sharing some of my collection has really kept this blog going for me. Whenever I'd feel like wrapping it up here, all I had to do was sift through some old pamphlets or cookbooks in a box found in the back corner of the attic and I'd want to share it with you immediately. Like a giddy kid on Christmas morning, that's me in a nutshell with this blog. Especially if it was something that I knew hadn't been seen before. The lost, the forgotten, the diamonds in the rough—having a place like The Ward-O-Matic to share all these and more with faceless usernames behind computer screens has been a great joy for me. I think it shows through my writing when I talk about these neglected items. Even if you couldn't get behind my interests, if anything, I'd hope that you'd join me in finding out who these forgotten and anonymous illustrators from the past were. It pained me to open up some form of beautifully decorated ephemera from the midcentury era and never see any credit given to the artist. The gall! I'd think, of the careless employers and/or clients who mindlessly printed up page after page of gorgeous and vibrant illustrations, without giving one hoot about putting a credit line on the back page or something. Just writing about it irks me still. But hey! That's what I love about this "Web 2.0" or whatever-you-want-to-call it: filling up internet space with information and knowledge about these long-lost artists, so that some day, either they or their family members will by chance do a search for the artist and find out that yes, someone else out there cares about their work and want to know all about the who, what, why & how of them.

While I've been up front and center with certain things here on the blog, I've pulled back on others. I don't talk about the family or post photos of the kids as much anymore, for instance. The same goes for Ava Thursday, you might've noticed. The reason being is more complicated than what I can muster to write, or perhaps it's a simple fact of wanting to maintain (or regain) a little bit of privacy for myself and my family here. With the photos, that's easy. While I'd love to share with you guys all the fun and silly things that the kids do through photos, all it took was one idiot to snag one of my photos of Ezra off my Flickr and use it without permission for a video on YouTube, and that was it. I immediately privated a good deal of my photos of my kids, and to this day am wary of sharing any new photos I take of them. The situation shook me to the core at the time (YouTube was able to remove the video, thank goodness), and made me take a second look at just how much I'm sharing with complete strangers. Had a fellow reader of my blog not found the video by chance, who knows just how far the offender would've taken it? And there would've been no way of me knowing about it, too. All I have to say it this: be careful with what you share, especially when it comes to photos of your kids. Be smart about it.

With Ava Thursday, it was completely different. Even though I'd been thoroughly enjoying picking out a fun little drawing by my daughter and sharing it with you all on a weekly basis, I found it harder and harder with each passing week to justify why I was doing it. Of course, I was the proud dad, more than willing to share with anyone anything that my little girl would create. I thought it was cool to see Ava develop artistically throughout the months. However, at one point it seemed like the drawings weren't really "ours" anymore. By sharing with others my little girl's artwork on a constant basis, the specialness of each drawing seemed lost. Basically, Andrea and I wanted these wonderful Ava drawings for ourselves. These things were precious, made with extraordinary little hands that we loved, and I'm sorry, we kinda wanted to keep them in the family. Being her parents, we were entitled to be a little selfish. Simple as that.

Of course with all that said, Ava wants to show you one of her latest drawings. She drew this on Sunday, obviously during that glorious post-Halloween glow. Click on image to see larger:



She's into cats right now. She really really really really wants a cat. After Babycat's passing last year (did I ever mention that here?), the kids have been pining for a new cat. We'll see.

Okay, back to the issue at hand: five years. It's five years of The Ward-O-Matic and hopefully I've made it interesting for you. I know it's definitely been interesting for me.

In-Store Appearance this Saturday at Barnes & Noble

Hey Kids!

This Saturday, November 7th from 2-3pm, at the Barnes & Noble at Lloyd Center Mall here in Portland, OR, I'll have my very first in-store appearance and book signing! Check the event's page on Facebook for details if you dig that sort of thing, or you can just read on:

So, YES! I'll show up, read the Michael Phelps book I illustrated, How To Train With a T. Rex and Win 8 Gold Medals, sign some copies of the book, show some of the original drawings, maybe juggle a few stuffed animals, you name it! It'll be for the Boise Eliot Bookfair. (Boise Eliot is a school here in Portland.)

Added bonus: If you come in and get a sticker from the Boise Eliot folks then anything you buy on the day of the bookfair will go as credit towards Boise Eliot's bookfair total at no cost to them--you just say you're purchasing on behalf of the bookfair if you wish to purchase something on that day--this applies to everything in the store minus the purchase of gift cards.

Hope to see you there! Yippee!

Good Halloween Fun

I'm always a big fan of Halloween! However, the Jenkins household has now turned into the Den of Sickness. Ava was out of school for an entire week two weeks ago and now, both Andrea and Ezra have been hit with the same bug. It's only a matter of time for it to hit me, I guess. In the meantime, I've scanned some pages from a cool textbook reader originally published in 1957. Checkit:


From Billy's Neighbors, a reading textbook by Follett Publishing Company. Authors are Alta McIntire & Wilhelmina Hill. Illustrated by the very talented Janet LaSalle. ©1957; this edition, 1962.

If I could scan this entire book, I would. Illustrated on almost every single page, filled with incredible artwork by Janet LaSalle. I've talked about Janet before. (See previous post and this set for her earlier style, and this.) Just check her stuff out. Amazing talent.











Have a great and safe (and healthy) Halloween, kids!

Where The Wild Things Are: an Observation

Where The Wild Things Are, by Maurice Sendak. All images here © 1963, HarperCollins Publishers.

With all the talk about the film, I thought I'd share with you some observations about the iconic children's book by Maurice Sendak from 1963.


Have you ever noticed the way Sendak constructed the story for Where The Wild Things Are visually? There's a lot more going on. Notice how small the first image of Max is here. He's completely surrounded by white space - a victim of being boxed in. A reason for his mischief? Who knows. It's possible.


You turn the page and now the actual image has grown ever so slightly.


As Max is sent to his room, the image grows a bit more, allowing him now to build upon his own imagination.


Now, as we slip out of reality and into fantasy, the image grows even more, just as his forest grows. Notice how even the trees break free from the stiff borders, adding to the fantasy element.


Max is happier now that his own version of reality (or alternate reality) continues to grow.


It is here where the image completely covers the page. There is no more white surrounding Max and his world.


But wait! It's not over. Turning the page, we notice that the image continues to grow even more. If you think about it, this makes sense as Max starts out on his journey.


Several pages over and Max has come to the place where the wild things are. At this point, the overall image now stretches from left to right, with white still shown below.


While Max is now at the place where the wild things are, notice how the image still continues to grow. It's such a subtle thing, but subconsciously, I think the reader knows it's happening. Roughly at about the two/thirds mark in the book, the wild rumpus starts and as we turn the page....


...the image now completely covers the entire spread. There is no more white space, no more words. Max is deep within his world here, and we are completely engrossed by this visual cue.


After about three spreads of pure images (the wild rumpus), the story takes a turn back to reality. Max stops the rumpus and now, white space reappears on the page and the image starts to shrink for a few pages.


Max's journey back home is similar to when he left - completely filling one page and then spilling out onto the other.


And now, for the last image of the book, Max is back home, room back to normal, now filling the entire page. No more white space surrounds him (I'm not counting the other page), suggesting that maybe Max worked out his issues. Perhaps? It's possible. All is right in the world, as he can now eat his supper. Still hot.

As I child, I remember a few things about this book. I don't think we owned it, but probably checked it out of the library. Sendak's style and the way he drew the wild things definitely left a strong impression on me. They were unlike anything I'd seen before. What hits me the most is when the tone of the book changes. It's when the wild things want Max to stay. When they yell out that they'll eat him up! This evoked a strong sense of fear and danger in me when I was young. Wow - a kid's book where the bad guys want to actually eat up the kid! I thought. It was dangerous. And compelling.

I haven't seen the movie yet, but I want to. I plan to see it soon.

Monster Cereals Disco

Okay, so I'm trying my best at not getting riled up by the fact that General Mills (the company behind such wonderful cereal products as Cocoa Puffs, Cookie Crisp and more) seems to completely ignore the Monster Cereals. Even though the cereals are still being made (evidence here), the powers that be at GM still won't make any new animated commercials for the cereal line. Why is that? Look, guys. It's a no-brainer: three cereals (originally five: Fruit Brute and Yummy Mummy aren't made anymore) that have a built-in audience - an audience, mind you that is now grown up and has children of their own. This audience ("Gen-X"ers, I guess you could call them) share a deep devotion to their childhood (well, who doesn't, right?). I'm pretty sure there's a story to be told from anyone who grew up watching Saturday morning cartoons during the 70's and remembers these three colorful monsters gracing their television set: Count Chocula, Franken Berry, and Boo Berry. For me, I was a big fan of Franken Berry (never liked how Count Chocula tasted). However, what I really, REALLY wanted was Boo Berry. But it was not to be. For some reason Boo Berry was never available in the metropolitan area of Atlanta. Why? What was so bad about Atlanta that General Mills deemed it Boo Berry free? I had no idea. With each viewing of every Monster Cereals commercial, my anger raged at the fact that Boo Berry would never be in my grasp. It was my white whale. I know, obsessive Ahab tendencies at such a young age.

Back to the moment at hand: there are some who want the Monster Cereals back on the small screen and have started a blog totally devoted to the ghastly three: Monster Cereals Blog. There, you can check out lots of images and movies and anything related to Count, Frank, and Boo. If you're an artist, it might be of some interest for you to know that October is Fan Art Month. I'm thinking of participating. Once I find the time, of course!

Anyway, what I want to share with you all are a couple of videos that these particular Monster Cereal fans have made, each sharing the same audio (with voices taken from various commercials and from a flexi-disc record that was free on the back of boxes in 1979 - hence the disco reference), but having two entirely different visuals. The first features original animation by...well, I don't know. Anonymous? Checkit out:



For those who remember the commercials, you'll dig the second, "classic animation" version, featuring a wide assortment of clips throughout the years. Ahh, yes:



I want to see the Monster Cereals back in action on TV. Badly. So, here's the thing: word has it that if there's enough interest in these videos, in the blog, in the Monster Cereals Facebook page, etc. - if there's a big enough ground swelling of Monster Cereals Mania, then there's a possibility that General Mills might cave in. I want them to cave in, see. I want them to cave in BIG TIME.

Pass the word on.

Step-by-step: King of Putdowns

Hi guys. Thought I'd enlighten your day by sharing with you a sort of step-by-step process of how I created the illustration I did for Guide Magazine, The King of Putdowns (see previous post). Since I didn't take screengrabs while I was working, I can at least show you some of the layers by themselves, with a chance to view the images closer. I know that everyone has their own way of working, and by all means I'm not suggesting that any of you work exactly like me - this is just a hey, check it out! kind of thing. Hope you enjoy!

Roughs


After reading the short story for Guide magazine, it was suggested that maybe we could use a low perspective, looking up at the scene. I went with this and created this first sketch in my larger sketchbook. I did a couple of extra drawings for the main character and his hand, along with the girl climbing up the playhouse. (It's a playhouse situated in the back of a school's playground, abutted up against the woods.)


This is the first rough I sent to Guide after I scanned in all the elements and put them together in Photoshop. I don't normally do the grey painting for the various background items (such as the tree and playhouse here), but I think I like it. It helped me keep an eye on how the tones and colors might work in the final version.

Final Pencils


Once I get the okay, I then print out the rough and create tighter pencils of each item by tracing over the rough. At this stage, I may change a couple of things as I'm going along - like the girl's expression, for instance. I also changed the pose of the main character, pushing it further, making him more in opposition of the girl climbing up. I also changed the other boy's pose - he looked strange hugging the playhouse in the rough version.


Here are the final pencil scans of the playhouse, people in the background, and some leaves. I ended up not using any of the leaves over on the left, save those two that are not touching any other leaves. I then used those, along with the others on the right side of this scan, to create the leafy pattern for the final version. Lots of duplicates. Lots. On the bottom there, you'll see the teacher looking disapprovingly at the situation, along with two classmates. There are a few kids in the background as well. All these extras ended up getting nixed in the final version. I felt that it was taking away from all the action going on at the playhouse.

Color


Closer look.

Again, sorry I don't have a step-by-step of my process on this piece, so I have a couple of the layers spotlighted for you. Here, you'll see the background color layer (as well as the tree color layers). As you can see in my layers on the right, I have two main layers for each item: line and color. Sometimes (not always) I'll put the pastelly-brushy effect on its own layer, separate from the color layer. That way, I can do alternate versions if necessary. But honestly, that requires time and usually I don't have much of that when I'm working.


I never merge the line layer with the color layer. Never! Even if the line will be the same color as the color layer underneath. I just never do it. I've learned my lesson throughout all the years I've done this. As you can see, I ended up adding a pine cone in the girl's hand (I drew and scanned this hand with pine cone separately) after re-reading the story and realizing that the girl ended up throwing a pine cone at the main character while she was climbing up the playhouse.


It's rare when I see the layer like this. I always keep the line layer open so I can see the two layers together.


Closer look.

And here are all the layers together. For the girl, since I had a different hand, I ended up separating the throwing arm from the body just in case I needed to shift it for a better composition.


Courtland is this boy's name. His brushwork I did differently because he had a pattern on his shirt and shoes. Instead of trying to work out the brushy look on the color layer (where the patterns were), I did all the brushy shading on a separate layer, usually sandwiched between the line and color layers (here, the shading layers are on top). Well, as you can see, the shoes and shirt each had its own brushy shading layer (in case I needed to alter the opacity for each item, which I did). I do this only when the pattern underneath will be difficult to work with when it comes to the shading. Otherwise, I'd much rather work with the colors themselves instead of relying on a basic color for the shading. FYI: I never work with black or grey for the shading, unless the main color is grey itself. In order for the shadows and shades to be richer, fuller color, always work off of the original color.


For Courtland's color layer, I did all the brushy shading like I normally do on all the sections without patterns: the hair, skin and jeans.


Closer look.

And Voilá!! Courtland all colored and done. Here's the final again:


Closer look.

This process is a holdover from my days working in animation. I still use my animation disc and even use leftover animation stock paper when I work on the final pencils. Having pegbars and pegbar holes to better register the paper works perfectly for me. My entire children's book How To Train With a T.Rex and Win 8 Gold Medals was created using this method and it's worked pretty well for me so far. The concept of separating all the elements and then putting them all together like puzzle pieces is pretty much how we do animation, if you think about it. A sure fire way of making sure I don't get caught having to do extra work than necessary.

If you have any thoughts, questions, suggestions about this post, feel free to leave a comment below! I'd love to hear from you.

King of Putdowns

Recent illustration I did for an upcoming issue of Guide Magazine. That boy at the top of the playhouse likes to put his classmates down with snarky remarks and insults. It prompts the girl to pick up a pine cone and toss it at him.

I'm very proud of this illustration. I was given ample time to work on it, allowing me to sketch and re-sketch the concept out, to get the best possible poses and overall composition. I was able to really take my time on the painting, too. It's nice to have a comfortable turnaround time. Many thanks to Brandon Reese. You're awesome, man.

Ramón Makes a Trade

I guess you could say that this is "Messy Week" here on The Ward-O-Matic. Spotlighting vintage children's books that offer a messier aesthetic than what we're used to seeing from that time. Something outside the norm, you could say. Today's book is:


Ramón Makes a Trade by Barbara Ritchie, illustrated by Earl Thollander. Published by Parnassus Press. 1959.

Excellent picture book that is told in both English and Spanish. Nice bold ink lines and characters by Earl Thollander, who worked as an artist-reporter for many years. He illustrated many children's books, even writing a few of his own. Earl died in 2001 at the age of 79.

Some links about Earl Thollander:
Earl's biography.
Earl Thollander on Amazon
Earl Thollander Family Archives (with a photo of the artist).

Earl's bio in the book:

Earl Thollander lives in San Francisco with his wife and two children. From his home and studio he can see the Golden Gate. He not only was born there but has lived there most of his life, except for service as a naval officer in the South Pacific during World Ward II. He has traveled in Mexico and Europe as an artist-reporter. Whereever he goes, he paints the people of the country. He has received many awards for his work, and has been exhibited in San Francisco, New York and Japan.

A look inside the book (click on each image to view larger):

Chichibio and the Crane

Chichibio and the Crane, by Giovanni Boccacio. Adapted and illustrated by Lele Luzzati. An Astor Book, Ivan Obolensky Inc., NY. 1961.

Wonderful little children's book featuring illustrations by Emanuele (Lele) Luzzati. Here's what it says about the artist on the back French flap of the dust jacket:

Emanuele (Lele) Luzzati, one of the most versatile and active graphic artists of post-war Italy, was born in Genoa in 1921 and graduated from the School of Fine and Applied Arts in Lausanne in 1945. Since then he has worked with an inexhaustable [sic] freshness and fantasy in many fields, including stage and costume designing for all the important Italian lyric and prose theatres – La Scala, the Venice Festival, the Florence Maggio Musicale, the Rome Opera, etc. As a ceramicist he won first prize in 1955 at the International Ceramic Sow in Cannes. As an industrial designer and decorator he won commissions from companies all over the world. He is responsible for some of the décors of the new Italian liner Leonardo Da Vinci. He has recently completed his first animated cartoon. This is his first book for children.

NY animator Michael Sporn has plenty of information about Luzzati on his "Splog". Look through the category of Luzzati & Gianini. Luzzati often teamed up with Giulio Gianini on various animated films and theatrical performances.

What I love about Luzzati's work is that it's very expressionistic - the stocky characters depicted in scribbles and ink blots evoke emotion even through their somewhat limited poses. The emotions come out through the medium and materials used. In some ways Luzzati's work is the antithesis of all the perfectly rendered characters and scenes painted in the Little Golden Books and schoolbook readers (Dick & Jane, for instance) mass produced around the same time. He was the UPA to Dick & Jane's Disney.

Lele Luzzati died just two years ago, in 2007. He was 85.

Links:

Lele Luzzati's official site.
Lele Luzzati on YouTube. (I highly recommend checking out his animated films. Wonderful stuff.)
Obituary in The Guardian.

Click on each image to view larger:








I really dig this spread. Love the use of negative space to depict the table there.




Even with his black & white illustrations (the book is half color, half b&w), we can get a sense of color through Luzzati's expressionistic brushwork and lines.




And finally, the endpapers. Love the pen and ink characters up against that pattern.

See and Say by Antonio Frasconi

See and Say by Antonio Frasconi. A Voyager Book. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., NY. 1955.

Fantastic picture book featuring brilliant woodcuts by artist Antonio Frasconi. What's so cool about this book is the fact that it's in four languages, with the word for each object given in English (printed in black), Italian (blue), French (red), and Spanish (green).

In the intro to the book, Frasconi writes:

Since I was brought up in a home where more than one language was spoken, I was given at an early age the knowledge that there is more than one nation and one way of speaking in our world. The idea that there are many nationalities speaking many languages is to me one the most important for a child to understand.

See and Say has grown from this belief and from my experience and personal need in living with and teaching my son Pablo.

There's no one place to learn about Fasconi, but here are a few links to check out about the man:

Antonio Frasconi on Artcyclopedia
Antonio Frasconi at Davidson's Galleries
Google Image Search for Antonio Frasconi

The dude was born in 1919 and is still living at age 90. Awesome. This was his first children's book.

All images © Antonio Frasconi.

My Goatee Weighs a Ton

It really does.

If you caught the reference here, you get a cookie.

Mos Def

I know it's weird for me to say this, considering that I illustrated an entire book featuring an Olympic celebrity, but caricature is not my forte. It takes me a long time to get to the point where I'm happy with capturing the essence of a particular subject. I'm still not sure about this one, but I went ahead with it because I was digging the direction I was going. Trying something new with the colors in the background as well as the whole framing device. Something different.

This is Mos Def. He's an emcee.