New Projects and Pieces

This past month has been full of great projects, both for clients and for the portfolio. In addition to my continuing work on the Pirate School series, I have also had the chance to work on a magazine cover for New Moon and an illustration for an ad agency. I can't wait to see the pieces in print! Plus (speaking of seeing your work in print), I was thrilled to receive my advance copies of Pirate School Book 6 today. The books are actually being released in May 1, 2008. I really like how the illustrations printed in this book. I feel like the contrast and subtlety that was in the original black & white art was reproduced well. Also, this particular story had great opportunities for letting the illustrated characters "ham it up", so it was great to flip through the book and remember how fun it was to envision the scenes during the sketch stage so many months ago!

I have also enjoyed having more time to create new pieces for my portfolio. Particularly I have been experimenting with anthropomorphic subject matter and contemporary children's scene. Right now, I am working on a slumber party piece, which I hope will make a fun addition to my portfolio! My husband also surprised me with a new set of paints. I love them! The colors are so vibrant, and the pieces are really enhanced by this new variety of color choices. The cover for the New Moon Sept/Oct magazine, the cover for Pirate School 8 and my Porcupine at Summer Camp portfolio piece were all painted with these new watercolors.

I hope you are all enjoying a wonderful start to spring! I'm off to go start some new sketches....while sitting outside on my porch - so wonderful after spending so many winter months inside!

For anyone wishing to purchase Pirate School 6, you can do so via the purchase section of my website. Thank you!

A New Chapter

For the past few years, I have been existing in two worlds. By day, I was a creative director for a multi-media marketing company. By night (and weekends), I was a children’s book illustrator. I enjoyed wonderful successes in both arenas, but eventually, my part time illustrating grew into a full time commitment. So, this past month it was time to officially make the long-awaited transition out of a full time staff position and into full time freelance illustration.

I am very pleased that what began as a part time fulfillment of a dream has evolved into a full time career in which I can find fulfillment and use my talents. I believe that this opportunity to devote my energies more completely to my craft will afford me the time to explore techniques and perfect my craft – ultimately benefiting my clients.

I have also been able to take a part time job for enjoyment. I now work a few hours a week at my local library. This is such an excellent fit, as it allows me to stay in touch with the children of the community, and have access to hundreds of children’s books, both classic and newly released. Being surrounded by the works of such excellent writers and illustrators is encouraging and inspiring.

Currently, I am enjoying being able to take on more projects at a time. At this time, I am working on a magazine cover, Pirate School Book 8 artwork and an illustration for a medical advertisement, as well as some new promotional pieces!

Many thanks to everyone who has helped me reach this new chapter in life, especially to my ever-patient husband, who cooked and cleaned the house so that I could spend nights and weekends illustrating and pursuing my dream!

Dino Day at the Fun Park

I had no idea I could paint so fast! This past weekend brought a new challenge. My agent has been helping me to flesh out my portfolio, and fill gaps in subject matter, particularly with animals and contemporary subject matter. As she continues to show my art to editors, it is becoming increasingly important for those gaps to get filled.....quickly. So this past weekend, I turned around this piece: Dino Day at the Fun Park.

It was challenging to get the piece (from concept to completion) done in just one weekend, but the tight timeline also forced me to get a bit innovative, and to make some departures from my usually style. I really wanted to use bright color, and to focus on getting greater contrast than in my past 4-color pieces. So I applied the paint more thickly than I normally would start off with, and began building up shadows aggressively. Normally, I will paint a piece, and then add some finishing touches in colored pencil. This time, to define forms more quickly and to add texture, I integrated the colored pencil as I painting - going back and forth until the colors were what I wanted. The result is a brighter, more textured look that I am pleased with overall. I also enjoyed the freedom to experiment with paint-pencil color combinations, and plan to continue to explore this technique in future pieces. I also enjoyed being forced to use animal subject matter, and the playfulness that those characters add to the piece.

Hope you all had a fun and creative weekend as well!

"Jennifer Zivoin", presented by....

I am happy to announce that I am now exclusively represented by MB Arists.

For a while now, I have been investigating getting an agent. I first needed to decide "Is representation right for me?" For some artists, signing on with an agency might not be best for them. After talking to many artists, some represented and some not, I decided that an experienced agent would be better at expanding my client and project base than I would be on my own.

And so, I began the search for an agency that would be a good fit for me. I knew I wanted representation in New York, the major publishing center of the US. After searching through various promotional directories, agent listings, etc, I finally narrowed the search down to 4 agencies that I thought would be appropriate. I sent samples and letters of inquiry. It is a two way street. Agents don't have to take you on board, so I expected some rejections. MB Artists showed the most interest, and we began dialog right away. After talking to Mela, going through the legal particulars, and talking with some of her represented talent, I became convinced that this agency was right for me. It was especially exciting to hear from the artists themselves, and to learn about their experiences and how MB Artists has played a role in their career developments. I was very glad that Mela also felt I would be a good addition to her talent base, and it is with great excitement that I now join the MB Artist family.

I am looking forward to meeting new clients, taking on unique projects, diversifying my portfolio and continuing to grow as an illustrator. I am also looking forward to focusing more attention on my artwork, and stepping back from the marketing side of the illustration business. I feel that this more concentrated focus on creating art will ultimately benefit my clients, both current and future, as well as provide me with a deeper satisfaction in my work.

Plus, now that I'll be making some trips to New York to connect with MB Artists & clients personally, I have an excuse to plan an exciting working-vacation in NYC!

Scene or Story?

I had some free time over the holidays to work on a personal piece. I have always wanted to illustrate a scene from my childhood. My family is Italian, so I have many memories of making meatballs on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon. Well, the artistic side of my emerged early when, as a child, I thought to myself, “Why make meat BALLS when you could make a meat DINOSAUR!?”

I actually did two versions of this piece. In the first, I was very focused on the scene and capturing the memory. However, when the piece was complete, I felt dissatisfied with the result. It was missing something. I posted the piece on the SCBWI critique forum, with the intention to gain feedback, and rework the piece. Thanks to the members who replied, I realized that I was holding the SCENE so near and dear to my heart that I had forgotten to make the piece tell a STORY – which is the essence of illustration.

So, back to the drawing board. This time, I approached the piece as I would an assignment – a concept to be illustrated. I moved the camera angle to create more visual depth, and to focus on the girl making the meat dinosaur. This also created a visual hierarchy, which helps to make the mind read the elements of the composition in a particular sequence – creating story. I also tried to envision what led the girl to begin sculpting with the meat. I imagined her lining up the meatballs, and suddenly realizing that she was making a caterpillar. From there, she got the idea to make additional animals. By putting in these details, we can infer a sequence of events leading up to the moment pictured.

From a technical standpoint, I pushed the background back into the background by non underpainting the “far away” elements. This kept the colors more washed out. In the foreground, I underpainted the characters and objects, to give brighter, richer color. This helped the main actions pop visually.

I am much happier with how this second version turned out. It was great to have a reminder that drawing from experience is excellent inspiration and makes for unique concepts, but that those concepts must be woven into a story. Now I have a fun promotional piece, as well as a beautiful illustrated memory from my childhood. As for the first draft? My mom loved the scene, and has the piece hanging in her kitchen so that she can look at it while she rolls meatballs.

Pirate School Book 5 Released!

Pirate School Book 5: Treasure Trouble has been released and is now available in stores or online at Amazon.com!

This was such a great book to work on, mostly because by this point in the series, the characters' personalities had become well developed. This allowed me to take artistic liberties with the illustrations. It was fun to think about the characters in each scene, and imagine little details or expressions that may not have been described in the text, but were part of that character. For me, creating the illustrations was like hiding little inside jokes for the author, the art director, and readers who have followed the series.

My favorite drawing from the book is Gary sneaking into the pirates' bunks. For some reason, I just love imagining what pirate pajamas might look like. I especially like the skull & crossbones hanging off of one of the sleeping pirate's polka-dotted night cap!

I hope you enjoy the latest Pirate School adventure with Pete, Inna, Gary, Vicky and Aaron! Yo, ho, ho!

Book Signing

Last night I had a wonderful experience at a book signing to promote Pirate School. The local Barnes & Noble is kind enough to consistently host my events, which include a chapter reading, illustration activity, discussion and book signing. It is great to be able to connect with the local kids to talk about books, art and the Pirate School characters!
I was a little afraid that not many kids would be able to show up for this particular signing due to the snow, but we actually got a pretty good turn out. This time, all of the children were girls, so I was able to let the kids be more involved. For instance, normally for the illustration demonstration, I choose the character that the kids will learn to draw, because if I let the kids choose, the boys will all want a boy character, and the girls will all want a girl character. This time, I let the children pick, which they enjoyed. As I expected, they wanted to draw Inna, who is the most "pretty." The activity was very engaging for all of us, and I was thrilled by the girls' participation. They actually discussed and commented on the drawing process while we were going through the demonstration! They were all very observant, and came up with interesting analogies for the shapes we were drawing!

For the chapter reading, I read from book 3, chapter 1 - which is very humorous and engaging even if one has not read the other books. The chapter ends at a "cliffhanger" in which the pirate kids head off to yet another rotten lesson with Rotten Tooth. After the chapter was over, the girls took turns guessing from looking at the cover what the lesson was going to be about. It was great to see their involvement and excitement.

That is my favorite part of the book signings - to see the kids get engaged. I am always surprised by the children's comments and observations. My favorite comment at a book signing actually came over this past summer during the question & answer portion of the presentation. A little girl, no older than 4, raised her hand and asked, "What is your web URL address?" All the adults laughed....I was half expecting the child to pull out a palm pilot and look it up on the spot! I guess that is a true sign of the age that we live in!