Big News and an Update

Lots to announce today! It's been a long time coming, so let me start with this:


CHICKS RUN WILD by Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen and illustrated by me, Ward Jenkins! To be released by Simon & Schuster on January 25th, 2011.

My second children's book! I'm so excited. It's a fun one. Had tons of fun working on it, with all the little chicks going crazy throughout the story. I also enjoyed drawing Mama Hen and coming up with all the various ways of her reacting to her little ones.

In case you're wondering, you can pre-order the book HERE and also check out the official Facebook page HERE. I know! It's all very up-to-date and all!

By the way, if you do a search for the book, be sure to type "chicks RUN wild." Not "go" or "gone" wild. Just sayin'.

In honor of this occasion, I've updated my website - somehow, a bunch of chicks were set free and are now running wild all over the site:



See if you can find them all!

Along with a few added illustrations in the Portfolio, I've also updated the Books section to accommodate Chicks Run Wild. Once there, you can take a peek inside, follow along as I show you my process for making the book, and a few other surprises (soon).

My last bit of news is very VERY exciting for me: I am now represented by the wonderful Jennifer Laughran of Andrea Brown Literary Agency. If you’d like me to illustrate a book, a book cover, etc., please contact her via email. I really enjoy Jennifer's enthusiasm for the world of children's and YA literature. Outspoken, honest, to-the-point, and very engaging, Jennifer is the real deal. All the more reason why I'm so ecstatic about sharing this news with you all. Be sure to check out Jennifer's blog. She shares a great deal of insight into the publishing world. Don't miss out.

Alright! There ya go! Lots of good things happening here at The Ward-O-Matic. Very excited.

Big Site Update

I finally redesigned the website and it's now up and running! New section I'm happy to unveil: Books! Take a look around, click on all the fun clickables, see if everything is working correctly...

This intro page has only a few things different than the first version, but the redesign is all about the rest of the site found within. For instance, since I was brand new to iWeb for the first version of the site, I had no idea about centering the entire layout for each page, resulting in some wonky pages. Another thing I fixed: I didn't like having to scroll down a bit for each image in my Illustration portfolio. By shrinking the main header of "Ward Jenkins" and all the categories in the navigation bar at the top, I was able to keep it simple, allowing more space below. Now, practically all my portfolio images are viewable without having to scroll down.

Besides the new Books section, I've also split up my Illustration section into two categories: Personal and Published. Took down some old stuff, put up a whole lot of newer stuff.

Yes, an entire section devoted to my first children's book: How To Train With a T.Rex. You can check out some pages (as well as the sketches), lots of sketches on how I drew Michael Phelps, and, of course, the easter eggs found in the book. Since most who visit the Books section could possibly be kids, I'm thinking of creating an entire Kids section. Still need to mull it over, though, figure out the possibilities, how it would fit within the rest of the site.

Enjoy the new look!