Published in "Erik the Great"

How exciting!
I've just been published in Erik The Great's Blog http://thiskidreviewsbooks.com/2012/07/13/its-a-utales-triple-play/
What an honor!!
Erik is an amazing book reviewer! You really should have a look at his bolg!
He is only 10 years old & until I read about him I had no idea!What a privilege to be mentioned in his blog!!
Go Erik!
2 of my 3 books that I have illustrated for uTales are mentioned : 'Snug Snag ' by Laurel Heger and "The boy who cried Shmutz"  by Sandi Hershenson

The Boy who cried Shmutz

Finally!

I am so proud to share the thoughts and ideas behind my wonderful new book "The Boy who cried Shmutz" by the truly gifted author Sandi Hershenson

Firstly I'd like to mention that I felt everything I'd ever done or thought has prepared me for this book, it just felt like pieces of a puzzle coming together

It all started November 2011 when I discovered uTales (a fantastic group of writers & illustrators looking to collaborate) I responded to an invitation from Sandi looking for illustrators, she liked my portfolio and sent me the story.

The minute I read the story I was hooked! I loved it & felt really attached to it!
It is a retelling of "The boy who cried wolf" and filled with Yiddish vocab ,funny, sweet & beautifully written!

Sandi & I, although miles away (she lives in the States) had so much in common and we forged an instant connection. Both being mothers to 4 kids we keep strange & busy hours and total different time zones, but what I loved best was that every minute of the day one of us was awake & pouring love & good energy into our book!

For the next couple of months I lived, ate & slept "Shmutz" I was constantly thinking of ideas, watching people & collecting information. I fell in love with the main character and based him on my youngest son Etai, who became the "shmutz" patroller in our house!

Etai laughing his "tuchus" off



Etai with his cheesey grin



A family trip to Bulgaria greatly inspired me with the house & buildings. One of my darling friends became the "soap lady" and even Sparky (our dog) got a part in the story.

 

Bulgaria



I had the book printed for Etai (as yet it’s a digital book-although Sandi & I totally believe we will get it published) and to this day he insists upon reading it every night!



Ok so I thought I'd share a bit of the process with you

I first did some rough sketches, uploaded them into our book (uTales has a draft book format available-which is simple & user friendly) Sandi supplied the text. On approval I slowly worked into the finished artworks .

  

Rough sketches



Drawing them onto good quality paper with my most loved pencil & leaving my faithful HB pencil lines to shine through, giving it, I believe a really nice feeling .I then painted with my Dr Martin's inks, shaded with my caravan ache pencils and scanned the pictures one by one.

Hershel coming alive on my notice board

scanned picture of the buildings with Hershel

Working on Photoshop I added different dimensions, textures, and patterns …basically playing around with the images…letting them have a role in their destinations! Then because it is a digital book I was able to have some fun with special effects & "animation"

We then decided that the text would work better if I did it on InDesign with my drawings, which is what I did. I made a PDF for Sandi so that she could see it all & check for any mistakes or changes we need to make. She was as excited as me! So I then saved them all as jpegs & uploaded them into our book…added some sound effects & movement here & there ….AND  finally after 5 months we were ready to submit our book for approval…fingers crossed

Hershel on "Shmutz" patrol

Hershel laughing his "tuchus" off

The villagers "kvetching"

After a bit of twigging here & there our book was published! Most exciting!!!

Thank you Sandi for the wonderful opportunity!!! Together we will move mountains!

And thank you uTales for a fantastic site!!

Snug Snag

A couple of months back(more than 4 actually) Laurel Heger contacted me through uTales (a wonderful platform for illustrators & authors to collaborate in creating eBooks) & asked me if I would be intererested in illustrating a poem she wrote called "The Snug Snag"...
What is a snag ,you may ask?!I also didnt know!..my first thought was Dr.Seuss...but no thats a "thneed"...well I went online & discovered that  its a tree that is no longer living ,but becomes alive with all the creatures living in it!a home for many!And so began the journey of our book together
Laurel lives in Washington state & I'm here in Israel,so we could catch up my early mornings or early evenings.It was easy & good fun to communicate!
I researched all the animals in the poems & printed out some pictures &  inspirations
I drew my sketches & planned my pages

Sketches

Then I drew the pictures with my lovely new pencil (which by the way I could'nt find again when it ran out ...so when I did I just about bought out all the stock!

some of the gorgeous animals that make this snag their home

and then colored it in on photoshop(because its an ebook I wanted to use RGB colours-vibrant & fun!)

Laurel was always possitive ,encouraging & understanding ... a pleasure to work with!

After some basic "animations" we sent it for approval to uTales

And to my suprise it was loaded right up!

So do yourselves a favour & have a look at our new book!: "The Snug Snag" by Laurel Heger and illustrated by me!

Thanks Laurel & thanks uTales for this wonderful opportunity!!!!

The Snug Snag

Update from Dear Japan: App is released on iTunes store® on 2012.3.11

Ooooooh how exciting!!I just got a letter from Art Ehon 
I'm so proud I took part in this worthy cause & its been so great to see it take form & finally be released!
Well done to ArtEhon!
 http://en.art-ehon.com/dear-japan/index.php
 

"Dear Picture Book Artists,

It is with great pleasure that we announce the release of "Dear JAPAN"

app on Apple's iTunes store on March 11, 2012, on the first anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake.

All 136 illustrations and messages sent by those of you who had kindly supported our cause are included in this app, and a part of sale will go towards the relief organizations to help support the reconstruction efforts.

A year has passed since this catastrophic event has befallen us, but still a great deal more of time, effort, and support need to go into those afflicted regions.

If you have an iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad, please let us know, and we will make an arrangement to allow you one download of the app.

"Dear JAPAN" illustrations and messages have already been shown in libraries, schools, and exhibitions in various locations in Japan, including the afflicted regions. We intend to continue organizing charity events and activities so that we can share your messages with a greater audience.

For details of our past and upcoming activities, please see:

We would be most grateful if you would help support our endeavor by forwarding the attached press release to your friends, family, and colleagues.

Thanking you for all your support in the past year, and with our kindest regards,

Tomoko Yamamoto

President

Art Ehon, Ltd."

My first Digital Book!!!!

Wow!!!!
It's finally happened!
After 3 months of hard work,research and painting,collecting patterns and textures(which by the way I managed to erase off of my photoshop...but thats another story)
Enid Richemont, a well known and published Author from the UK,and I  worked together through uTales collaborations,Enid was great to work with!
I am very proud to show you our lovely book called 'More'
I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed illustrating it!
and of course because its an eBook I could 'play' around with all kinds of interesting sounds & actions.uTales has a very user friendly program and made it great fun...so you can hear magic,animal sounds ,rain and the Maharajah can actually have a temper tantrum!

I thank Enid for her contstant support, motivation, advice and compassion!
and uTales for bringing us together!
may it go many places!!!!

The cover of MORE

A collection of pictures from our book MORE
http://utales.com/books/more

Ebooks for kids - MORE - uTales

Ebooks for kids - MORE - uTales

Liebster Blog Award

A huge thank you goes out to the wonderful & talented Sandra Hershenson for awarding me the Liebster Blog Award!!
Liebster is a German word meaning dearest, and the award is given to up-and-coming bloggers with less than 200 followers.
The origins of the Liebster Blog award are somewhat unclear but the general consensus is that it originated in Germany, Liebster meaning favorite or dearest, to showcase bloggers with fewer than 200 followers. Upon accepting the award the recipient must then pass it on to five more blogs of note.

If you receive the award, you should:
1. Thank the giver and link back to the blogger who gave it to you.
2. Reveal your top five picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.
3. Copy and paste the award on your blog.
4. Hope that the people you’ve sent the award to forward it to their five favourite bloggers and keep it going!
This is the nice side of a chain letter. It’s always good to be appreciated and too often we are all quick to criticise and slow to praise. So here are some virtual pats on the back to five of my favourite bloggers.

I am awarding the Liebster Award to the following blogs:
1. Sandra Hershenson a special friend and the author of a fantastic book that we are doing together!
2. Rebecca Bermeister a great friend ,wonderful woman and a fantastic writter!!!
3.Miss Marple's Musings for a wonderful blog & interviews a different artist every Wednesday!
4.Marjorie van Heerden  an amazing South African Illusrator & author who inspired me to become an illustrator!
5.Enid Richemont  a long-established UK children's author,with whom I have had the honour & pleasure of working together with on an eBook for uTales.


We are supposed to add 5 interesting facts about ourselves...phew the pressure's on!
here goes:
1.Although all my life I dreamed to be a kindergarten teacher I studied to become a Textile Designer and today I illustrate kiddies books!you never quiet know where life will take you!an amazing journey!
2.I can't spell to save my life!(as you have by no doubt already realised!)
3.I can never quiet get rid of the ever-growing mountain of washing!
4.I'm blessed with 4 glorious kids!and each one has a different colour hair
5.my cat loves eating cucumbers

uTales -The Friendship Alphabet

Wow this was a wonderful experience! I belong to a group called uTales started by Nils von Heijne.It has over 200 members and is very welcoming,caring,warm and helpful.It is composed of writers & illustrators & together we collaborate to make absolutely amazing books!

Anders Lindholm started the idea of doing an ABC book together authors & illustrators.I ,for some reason had it in my mind to do W but it was already taken so I thought I'd missed out!

Then Sandra Hershenson author(and friend) asked me if I'd like to illustrate "A" with her!I was chuffed! I must confess a little scared too -its the first letter & if its not good will people carry on reading?the pressure was on!

The whole process was lead & guided on uTales & it was sooo exciting to see how we all came together!Everybody was so helpful and supportive!Over 30 different illustrators & writers from more than 15 countries came togeter to write 1 book!Simply amazing!and whats more the proceedes go to Pencils of Promise to build new schools in developing countries.

Sandi wrote a lovely poem for A with children whos names all sarted with A ...and I thought it would be fun to make them animals so began the alligator,ape,armadillo & antelope.Ofcourse the ants had to join in all the fun!See if you can spot some more words starting with "A"

Amy ,Alex ,Adam & Annie skipping about!

 





 I am so greatful to Sandi for giving me a  part in this wonderful adventure and look forward to our next book coming out!keep posted guys !its going to be fab!

Ok so did you find 9 more?

anklet ,almond blossom ,apple ,autumn leaves ,Africa ,apron ,All Stars ,artist ,acorn
you see all the other illusrations and buy  this wonderful book at:
http://utales.com/books/the-friendship-alphabet
I have met so many very  special people on uTales !what a wonderful site!

Miss Marple's Musings

http://joannamarple.com/?p=2769
wow how cool is this!!!
my first interview!
what fun!
thanks Joanna
lots of blessings!!

"Milly"

Wow!my very first hard cover printed book!Its finally been published!...
A bit dissapionted in myself for not standing up for my opinion,because now I have a book out there for the world to that could have been better....but well, one learns lessons in life!


 Hopefully the rest of my techniques & colour make up for the crazy eyes!

The cover




Milly's daughter,all grown up



Milly passing her special gift to the next generation









 

"Staying Healthy"- Middle Eastern Treasure

How cool is this! yay!
My work (Middle Eastern Treasure-a winter salad) has been chosen for the main jumbotron of Sali & Nate's "They Draw & Cook" ,in a colletion called "Staying Healthy"
Here's the link: http://www.theydrawandcook.com/
What a great way to start the day!

Bursts of colour!

oooh what fun!
 A full selection of coloured backgrounds for one of my new books,really excited to get started!

Middle Eastern Treasure

Here's a way to put the sparkle back into winter
My Winter Salad for "They Draw & Cook" yes it was the 2nd one that I made for the competition,the one that wouldnt save!
But seeing that I'm so hooked on pomergranets at the momemt ,I decided to send it in today...I love the richness of natures colours!

Enjoy!