Category Archives: color palette

The Watermelon Seed and an interview with Greg Pizzoli

13 May 2013

13 Comments

TheWatermelonSeed

by Greg Pizzoli

{published 2013, by Disney Hyperion}

I’ve been looking forward to this book for a long time, mostly because that cover is SPECTAZZLING. But also cause I follow Greg Pizzoli on Twitter, where he is clever and quippy and shares things like THE ENDPAPERS. And then this is what the publisher teased us with, so I was pretty much in love with this book right away:

With perfect comic pacing, Greg Pizzoli introduces us to one funny crocodile who has one big fear: swallowing a watermelon seed. What will he do when his greatest fear is realized? Will vines sprout out his ears? Will his skin turn pink? This crocodile has a wild imagination that kids will love.

Yeah. SO INTO THAT. The Watermelon Seed hits stores TOMORROW, May 14th, so you might want to go ahead and get in line. After you meet Greg, of course.

So I’ve also been looking forward to this post for almost as long. I’m thrilled to have Greg Pizzoli in for a visit. Welcome, Greg!

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I call him “Kroc”. Sometimes my editor calls him “K-Roc” or “The Krocster”. Boy, does he hate that.Greg2My background is in printmaking, and I built a silkscreen shop in my studio, which is how I generate a lot of my work. I think my preference towards limited and deliberate colors comes from the printmaking. It could be laziness, but I’m going to say printmaking.

Even the first sketches of this book were in just a few colors. It just made sense to make the whole book feel like a watermelon. Plus, he’s a crocodile, so the green is already there.
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Everyone at Disney*Hyperion was very supportive of my trying out different inks and paper choices to get the feel just right. We did CMYK v. Spot color tests and there was just no comparison. I think it would be tough to get that pink, and that green with CMYK. At least for me. We tried a few different paper stocks, too. I’m super picky.
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Greg3Basically you make a drawing in black and use that to make a stencil on a screen. Doesn’t matter how you make that drawing – by hand on tracing paper, with construction paper, in Photoshop – whatever you can use to get a drawing in black. Your screen, which is a frame of aluminum with a fine mesh stretched across it, is covered in photographic emulsion, and you expose the screen to light. Wherever the light hits the emulsion, it hardens and becomes water resistant.

BUT if you put your black drawing between the screen and the light source, the emulsion that is blocked by your drawing (which remember, is black, thus very light blocking-y), that emulsion stays soft. And you can wash it out with water. So everything that wasn’t blocked by your drawing is water resistant, and your drawing washes out of the screen, making a water resistant stencil in the shape of your drawing. You make one of those for each layer, or usually, color. WATERMELON was offset printed obviously, but I did a lot of screenprinting textures, etc to make it feel very printy. The spot colors definitely help there, too.

I’ve been teaching screenprinting for about 4 years at The University of the Arts in Philly. It’s where I met Brian Biggs. He took a continuing ed class I was teaching in 2009. He introduced me to my agent. I dedicated a book to him, but it hasn’t come out yet. I still owe him big time. I still teach! I love it.

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Humor usually keeps me interested in whatever I’m doing.

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I like to work with texture for sure, too. And shapes. Shapes, yeah, shapes are good. I know this is great interview material here. Breaking news, Greg Pizzoli “like shapes”. Today on Buzzfeed, 23 shapes Greg Pizzoli likes most.

Anyway . . . I was really into shapes and texture with THE WATERMELON SEED, and the next book I’m doing with Hyperion (NUMBER ONE SAM, Summer 2014) comes from a similar place. We’re doing spot colors for that one, too. But four this time, which opens up a lot of possibilities in terms of overlapping layers and colors.
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Like most people, I like lots of stuff. I never get tired of looking at Eduardo Munoz Bachs posters. He obviously had a lot of fun making his work. A lot of people you’d suspect probably, Sendak, Ed Emberly, Tove Jansson, Charles Schultz, etc.

Carter_007text007I’m really lucky to have so many talented buddies in the Philly area, too. I host occasional drink ‘n’ draws at my studio and Zach Ohora, Matt Phelan, Bob Shea, Tim Gough, Amy Ignatow, Brian Biggs, Lee Harper, Gene Baretta, Eric Wight, and several others have come by. It’s a good time. Sometimes we do this thing where we each draw for five minutes and then pass the paper to the right and draw on top of that drawing for five minutes, until we get all the way around the circle or run out of beer. You can imagine just how bad these things look. Joe Strummer, Iggy Pop, David Bowie. They’re my heroes.

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No way! I love coffee. I think I quit for a while last year and it just floated around my online profile for a bit. I did stop drinking as much. I am down to like 2-3 cups a day which feels great for me. I was drinking like 8-10. Oh yeah. I’m nicer now.

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Greg Pizzoli, people. Is he awesome or what?

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So yeah. That’s pretty much my favorite thing on the internet right now. Did you catch the part where the period at the end of the sentence becomes a spotlight for good old K-Roc?! I love that detail.

The Watermelon Seed! Greg Pizzoli! Thanks for hanging out here! We love your book. And you are top notch, too.

ch

Penguin and Pinecone

18 March 2013

21 Comments

by Salina Yoon

{published 2012, by Walker & Company, an imprint of Bloomsbury}

And! Penguin has a very cute blog!

I’ve been meaning to write about this book ever since I met Salina at an event in December. December!

2013 has been a time warp, but at least I’ve been surrounded by lots of great books.

I love that tiny Penguin and his dapper orange scarf Salina drew for me. (She’s just as adorable, too.) And this might be one of my favorite title pages of all time. The bed of pine needles, the heart…sweet, sweet foreshadowing.

Salina’s compositions are all striking, with a calming sense of space and subtle mood-building color palettes.

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Remember the Rule of Thirds? Salina’s ground to sky ratio is a beautiful example of it. And I love that she chose the cool and crystal clear sky to be the dominant feature. It’s a wide open space, but Penguin still feels chilly and at home.

Every shivering pinecone needs an orange scarf right? Which is certainly a lovely thing to use as clothing for a penguin, but doesn’t it also magnify how freezing Penguin’s world is? It makes sense, but it also plunges the reader into that arctic blast.But since pinecones don’t live in the frigid air, Penguin sets off with his friend on a sled to return him home.And this spread. So pretty, and so sweet. There’s that bed of cozy needles from the title page, see? The contrast in worlds here is magnified by the color. Penguin’s home was cool and blue, and Pinecone’s neighborhood is warm with yellows, browns, and greens. Later, Penguin returns in search of his friend, and this left hand side of the most perfect spread is a mashup of their two worlds’ color. And I can’t show you the right. Cause, spoiler alert! But it’s spectacular and you just have to see for yourself. Trust me.

It’s easy to fall in love with Penguin and Pinecone, and since you probably already have, be on the lookout for two more of their adventures! Penguin on Vacation is coming in April, and Penguin in Love is coming before the end of the year. So dear, so perfect, so chilly.

ch

Color + Colors

28 February 2013

22 Comments

I have no children. I have board books. Is this weird? Maybe. But these in particular are little graphic design studies. I will not literally try to chew them, but they are definitely droolworthy.

Do you know Alexander Girard? He was a midcentury designer, specializing in color and textiles. I’m crazy about the Nativity set at that link. And while most people have heard of Herman Miller, Girard was the designer that sizzled up their furniture line with his palettes. He said this, which made me fall in love a little: “People got fainting fits if they saw bright, pure color.” 

He did it anyway.

So this little book is a huge celebration of his style, color, and desire to make you faint and fall in it.


How about Charley Harper? He took a vibrant love of color from the natural world, and distilled that into his pictures. I adore that on first glance, whimsy and delight dances around, but a longer gaze reveals storytelling ingenuity. He said, “When I look at a wildlife or nature subject, I don’t see feathers, fur, scapulars, or tail coverts—none of that. I see exciting shapes, color combinations, patterns, textures, fascinating behavior, and endless possibilities for making interesting pictures.”

And this tiny treasure explodes with his search for endless possibilities. And it’s lovely.


Was I right about that whole droolworthy thing? I know.

ch

theisland

The Island

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Wasn’t Monday morning a thrill? I tweeted this, which pretty much summed up my morning:

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And I wrote (and squealed) a little more about it here, where there’s a really beautiful picture thanks to Caryn Schafer’s beautiful blog!

There’s a billion and one things to love about Jon Klassen, and one of them is his mastery of color. Even if you picture the covers to Extra Yarn and This Is Not My Hat, you get an insta-glimpse of what I mean. Color rules. It’s easy to read, easy to feel. And it’s what stands out to me about this book, The Island.

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by Marije Tolman and Ronald Tolman

{published 2012, by Lemniscaat USA}

I bought this book based on its cover, before I even turned a single page. Look at it! It’s dreamy and sparkly and enchanting and soft and calm and it just speaks.

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And the story is just as dreamy and sparkly and enchanting and all those other things. A polar bear climbs down from a ladder in the clouds. Wordlessly, he pokes from page to page, from thing to thing, from story to story, from island to island.

The landscapes are muted and quiet, and the living characters are saturated and strong. The color palette is transporting and calming and breathtaking.

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I adore being able to read a different story every time I carefully thumb through it. I’m not sure if it means something small or something big, and I don’t really care. I just enjoy it and soak it in, and feel my imagination bursting at the seams.

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And something else that is delightful and surprising: a father-daughter duo created this one. Something about that feels extra special.

ch

Pepi Sings A New Song

21 January 2013

9 Comments

  by Laura Ljungkvist

{published 2010 by Beach Lane Books}

I’m a huge fan of Laura Ljungkvist’s sophisticated and playful style. Remember Follow the Line?

Pepi Sings a New Song is a delightful romp through a world of words. Pepi meets and greets his neighbors, from Manuel at the bakery to Cynthia at the dog park, all in search of stanzas for a new song.

ElementOfDesign.ColorThe vibrant color on each page adds life and zest to Pepi’s journey. It separates each pit stop, and subtly references the full circle journey Pepi makes in search of a song. And? It’s just darn beautiful.

That baker, Manuel, lives on pretty pastry pink pages.

Aurora’s art studio is framed by a cool, creative, blue.

Clive’s music studio is on a brassy, golden orange, which perfectly echoes his trumpet. (And his awesome plaid pants.)

Love this book, love Pepi, and once again — love Laura Ljungkvist.

ch

Over and Under the Snow

24 December 2012

5 Comments

OverAndUnderTheSnow

by Kate Messner and Christopher Silas Neal

Settle in for a bit. This book will warm your soul.

Absolutely zero snow falls in southern California this time of year, or any time of year really, but this book makes me feel like I am deep in the middle of a winter wonderland.

Kate Messner’s words are hushed and poetic; she is such a beautiful writer. And we tweeted each other once about Ramona Quimby, so I’m an extra huge fan. I love this post by her editor on her words’ rhythms. And Christopher Silas Neal’s art is stunning. The tiny animals are vibrant against the stark snow, and page by page, this quiet walk bursts with life. This post by both Kate and Christopher is a great glimpse into the process of making this book. Go ahead.

You certainly don’t have to be a writer or artist to appreciate this book, but those bits in me make me crazy for this one.

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I especially love the use of color in the illustrations. The cool grays and blues are balanced by our girl’s red knits, a pouncing fox, and a roaring bonfire back home.

White snowflakes scatter over the shadows.

And the sky — I love the sky — it changes from a warm blue, to a cloudy purple, to a deep midnight navy over the course of the book. A gorgeous transformation over the course of this jaunt through the snow.

Add this one to your winter collection! And this little blog wishes you a lovely holiday season. See you back here in 2013?

ch

Red Sled

3 December 2012

9 Comments

by Lita Judge

First. You have to read the interview with Lita Judge over at Jules’ Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast blog. That studio! That giant cat! Doesn’t she sound like the kind of person you want to have poached eggs and lemongrass tea with? Yes.

Red Sled is a perfect book for a cold and cozy winter. (Even if you are in the land of perpetual seventy degree weather. Still perfect.)

It’s mostly wordless, but the words that do exist capture the sounds of the crispy, crunchy snow, and the wheees and whoops of a whimsical winter bunch.

The palette is quiet and bright; the winter whites are a highlight. But then! There’s a red sled. A peek of a red cap. Tiny bursts of color on an otherwise muted scene.

Also, I adore how Lita used a border to contain the scenes in the pages. Something about that feels extra cozy and warm. Instead of bleeding to the edge of the page, the pictures are all wrapped in a wintry white blanket. Perhaps a nice reminder of the snug-and-settled-in-ness of the season?

And any book that ends with a mouse tangled up in moose antlers is a guaranteed smile-getter.

ch

Alice In Wonderland

1 November 2012

12 Comments

by Jennifer Adams and Alison Oliver

If you’re nursing a Halloween hangover, try this eye candy instead. (Too easy?!)

Still.

Confectionary colors, a delight on the eyes.

So obviously then, a beautiful celebration of hue. And all wrapped around the familiar story of Alice In Wonderland.

Ha! Bitty black patent leathers sticking out of the rabbit hole!

Such a powerful combination of shapes, patters, and texture, filled in with a dazzling palette.

I do love this. Can’t wait to grab the other Babylit books, either!

Baby shower coming up? Or just looking for a pretty book to ooh and ahh over? This is it.

As Alice said…

“And what is the use of a book,” thought Alice, “without pictures or conversation?” 

This Is Not My Hat

17 October 2012

16 Comments

by Jon Klassen

So I love this book. Like, the “well, why don’t you marry it?!” kind of love.

I read it in June at the Candlewick Booth at ALA. The people were lining up to meet Gary Ross (Big! The Hunger Games! Seabiscuit, even!) and I was huddled over F and Gs of this book with my friend, Dianne de Las Casas. We giggled and poked and and pointed and just delighted over this thing.

And then in August at the SCBWI Illlustrator’s Intensive, Jon Klassen shared an earlier draft of this book. It had a different title, different characters, but the same charm and an even more wicked sense of humor.

It was like I had run away with the Hope Diamond and the Smithsonian security guards just nodded and let me escape. (Ask me about the time my dad chaperoned the 5th grade field trip and one of the boys smuggled a whoopee cushion into the Natural History museum.)

Anyway. Seeing his process was capital UNREAL.

A fish. A stolen hat. A sleeper. Awakes. A chase. A resolution?

Jon Klassen’s art is both dazzling and understated. This book, like I Want My Hat Back, has a desaturated and limited color palette. But here, the black and white helps tell this stark story.

The gutter separates the white space for the text from the black of the ocean depths. Or on a spread dominated by the deep, the text is bound to a crisp horizontal stripe at the top.

And the characters themselves are quite a different pair. The massive victim fish that quietly exacts revenge contrasts the tiny, hat-stealing, filmflammy fish.

Would the story be as fantastic if their size was more similar or if the colors were not so vastly different?

Knowing Jon Klassen, probably. But do those decisions perfect this book? Absolutely.

Check out this hysterical interview with Jon Klassen over at Travis Jonkers’ blog, 100 Scope Notes. And this post, from the Horn Book’s Calling Caldecott blog, written by Lolly Robinson. Both of these blogs should take up residence in your mess of bookmarks, by the way! Always smart, always impeccable taste.

And the trailer! Mesmerizing.

In My Tree

14 October 2012

8 Comments

by Sara Gillingham and Lorena Siminovich

Board books always scream texture to me. I imagine that is because by their very nature they are tactile…grubby little hands paw all over them. And maybe chomp on, too – but isn’t that a whole different story?

And this one is darling.

A curvy, concentric die cut is one thing. (It’s awesome.) A curvy, concentric die cut hiding a goggly-eyed orange owl? (More awesome.)

Each page turn reveals a bright color palette, contrasted with the colors of the previous page. That’s what makes those concentric circles especially dynamic.

And the collage of textures…whoa. The pages feature cut paper or fabric-like overlays which frame that felted owl with a beautiful connection.

Lovely little book. Surely you know someone HOO needs it?! (Couldn’t resist. So sorry.)