Take Off

For the last page of my bird notebook:

The birds have found their wings.

Goodbye birds!

On to new adventures!

Magic Sky

No birds today.  Just wanted to play with the sky.

Collage and gouache in notebook.

A Balmy Day

What is that?

collage in notebook

various papers and gouache

A PS on the Mural

All Over Albany put together a little gif showing progression on one part of the mural.  Thank you again, All Over Albany. 

Note:  the two moments when we see someone working, it happens to be Barbara.  Thank you Barbara for your help during the process.  Mixing paints, filling in large areas, hiding mistakes, and let's not forget dealing with the Spill (black, all over my pants, shoes and sidewalk.) 

A mural called "Back Home"

A few years ago, I made this little comics page.  I am a fan of street art and fantasized doing my own.  But I knew it would never happen.  After all, I am a children's book illustrator!

And this fall, I was contacted by Tony Iadicicco, director of the Albany Center Gallery, to participate in a project of beautification of downtown Albany!  The project started last year, was financed by the Albany Parking Authority, and already included two very large murals.  They wanted to add three new pieces this year.  Rachel Baxter, Cara Henley and I were the lucky chosen ones.  

I had never done anything like it but I jumped at the chance.  Tony showed me a few available walls.  And I chose one.  I never knew one could get so fond of a blank wall.  It became MY wall.

Parking entrance on Green Street, between Hudson and Beaver.

I knew right away that I wanted to paint a parade of fantastic animals, as if they were living in the garage and going back home.  I was ready to extend the parade all the way into the garage, but, for security reasons, had to stop by the back door of the post-office.  (If curious passers-by were to go in and examine the art beyond the ramp, they might get hurt by exiting cars.  What a horrible thought!)

Followed sketches, submissions, much work on liability insurance, purchase of material, etc.  The painting itself had to be done quickly, so as not to hamper the garage activities too long, and to take advantage of the last warm days of Fall.  Followed 9 days of intense and happy work, during which I had to overcome my fear of heights.  (To a point:  Tony did help with the very top of the largest beast.)  How do others do with murals many stories high?!

From day #1:  Projection of the larger shapes, deciding size and placement, outlining with chalk.

From day #2:  Blocking in larger shapes.

From day #3:   Start of the black line work.

From day #4: More colors and some details.

From day #5: Start of the patterning work. 

From day #6: Things are shaping up.

From day #7:  Finally tackling the largest beast.

From day #8: The view coming from Beaver Street.  Cara's mural was done on day 3!

From day #9:  Touches of color were added, the piece was signed, time to be silly.  With Tony Iadicicco.
  

Some beasts are very large, some very small!

The mural seems to make people smile.  It is what I was after.  The Times Union came by.  (Click here to see the article.)  All Over Albany made a Vimeo.  (Click here to see it.)  And I am back to smaller work at home. 

An Egg?

Or is it a rock?  A ball?  A bomb?

One can't always tell at first.  

Animal Parade

A bit of whimsy to liven up the day. 

Dogs, dogs, dogs

   Sketching dogs.  Just because. 

Portfolio for Website

Taking some time to create a portfolio for my website. 

A Monster and his Huggy Bear

Lucy's Monster came to life, in real life too.  With his huggy bear, of course.

First Monster came out of Lucy's drawing.  Now he is out of the book altogether.  

All together!

Korean Copies

 A happy package this morning:  copies of ZIG in Korean. 

So this must be my name.  So pretty:
 

 

This is my favorite detail.  How well they duplicated my hand-drawn lettering.
  

Lucy and her Bunny

 

Played with clay over the weekend.  

Result: Lucy and her bunny (from GO TO BED, MONSTER).

And a renewed admiration for people who work in 3D.  

 

Zig in Korean!

How cool is that!  The type is so pretty with all these little circles.  Plus the hand-drawn text is exquisitely rendered.  Now I wish I could hear someone read it in Korean... 

ZIG reviewed in the NY Times!!!!!

What an incredible surprise today:  Zig is included in the 

NY Times Sunday Book Review.  

I sure got MY magic umbrella today!

SUNDAY BOOK REVIEW | CHILDREN’S BOOKS

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Rites of Spring

By MARIA RUSSO APRIL 22, 2015

New picture books welcome spring weather — even the downpours.

1. Photo

2. Photo

   
   

   CreditFrom "Zig and the Magic Umbrella"

   Zig and the Magic Umbrella
   Written and illustrated by Sylvie Kantorovitz
   Kantorovitz (“The Very Tiny Baby”) takes an umbrella — to a small child, a totally compelling and even magical object — and plays it for all it’s worth. Her Zig is an unusual, blurry-lined creature, blue all over with a rectangular nose and two mushroom-like protrusions on his head. He looks just right holding an umbrella painted in shades of red with squiggly brush strokes. It takes Zig on a journey through the sky and into a zany forest of crazily patterned blue, red and gray trees that look like lollipops, where he joins forces with a sweet yellow bird. By the end of this strangely satisfying book, Zig has used the umbrella in every conceivable way — as a bridge, a hook, a boat, a sword and a lever.
   32 pp. Dial Books. $16.99. (Picture book; ages 2 to 7)

Tiny Baby in CCBC Choice 2015

The Very Tiny Baby is included in the category of "Understanding Oneself and Others" in the CCBC Choices 2015 catalog.  (Cooperative Children's Book Center.  School of Education.  University of Wisconsin-Madison.)

Here is the last line of the review:
"The honesty of Jacob's voice and feelings stand out in this informative story illustrated to look like Jacob's own drawings of events as they unfold."

If one must have numbers: Tiny Baby is one of the 259 books chosen out of about 3,500 new books published in 2014.

https://ccbc.education.wisc.edu/books/choices.asp

Booklist review

Another very nice review of ZIG.  Booklist of February 15th.  

It's so nice when the reviewer's words echo one's intentions.  

Zig and the Magic Umbrella.

Kantorovitz, Sylvie (Author) , Kantorovitz, Sylvie (Illustrator)

Mar 2015. 32 p. Dial, hardcover, $16.99. (9780803739130).

When is an umbrella not an umbrella? When it is a bridge, a boat, or a lever, among other things. Little Zig, observing a rainy day through his window, is surprised when a red umbrella blows by. He grabs hold of it and is whisked away. He eventually lands near a yellow bird who needs help rescuing a flock of friends trapped in a cave guarded by a giant beast. 

While the umbrella is not so much magic as Zig is innovative in his use of it, the story certainly has its share of charmed escapades. The umbrella as a force for good is echoed in the final pages, when a grateful bird brings Zig a token of his appreciation: a red umbrellalike flower. While not a wordless picture book, the text is minimal. Author and illustrator Kantorovitz lets the rather geometrical illustrations tell the tale. Liberal use of white space makes the primary colors pop, even when there is a lot of activity on a page. A sweet, satisfying adventure for any day, rain or shine.

— Kara Dean

A good ZIG to hold.

YEAH!  My first copy of ZIG.  At the risk of boasting, I'll say it looks pretty darn good.  I am so happy with the printing, the chosen fonts and the layout.  Yes, all that hand-written looking text is a font.  Although there is also some hand-painted onomatopoeia inside.  (The book will be out March 17.  And not a speck of green in the whole book!)

First Review for ZIG!

A happy surprise in my inbox today:  a review of ZIG in Kirkus.  

ZIG AND THE MAGIC UMBRELLA

Author: Sylvie Kantorovitz

Illustrator: Sylvie Kantorovitz

Review Issue Date: December 15, 2014

Online Publish Date: December 6, 2014

Publisher:Dial

Pages: 32

Price ( Hardcover ): $16.99

Publication Date: March 17, 2015

ISBN ( Hardcover ): 978-0-8037-3913-0

Category: Picture Books

A magic umbrella transports Zig to a faraway place where adventure and friendship await. All seems blue on this dark and stormy day, until a red umbrella whooshes by Zig's treehouse. The Shrek-eared protagonist grabs hold of the umbrella, which pulls him to an unfamiliar land where dandelion-shaped trees and corallike plants have a mysterious, cheerful allure. When a bird he encounters asks for help, the umbrella becomes a tool to set a trapped flock free. Transformed by Zig's imagination, it becomes a boat, pick ax, bridge and lance. But its real magic lies in the friendship it forges between Zig and the little bird. Kantorovitz's mixed-media collage, full of pattern and texture, creates a vibrant fantasy landscape; the character designs and scenery recall the work of William Steig, Heinz Edelmann and Jill Bliss. For all its seeming strangeness, a comforting and familiar tale about a journey that ends in companionship and contentment. (Picture book. 3-5)

Update on Work Front

What's cooking on the book table since Zig was done? 

- Lots of time on SUZETTE.  Probably more than I should have. 

- Finally putting SOPHIE to rest.  A proposal I worked on for years.  It starts with an Ogre stealing a baby away and, during this economic time of duress, we can't have anything like that it seems. 

 However fanciful the story and soundly rescued said baby.  Oh well.  Better move on than dwell. 

For fun, here is a page from SOPHIE:

- Slow, slooooooow  progress on another project.  I have a story line.  In spite of the agony over its worth, I finally have a VERY ROUGH dummy.  And a couple of character sketches (top image.) Now I need to tackle that dummy and bring it to a readable state.  

Albany Academy Book Festival

Saturday was the Albany Academy Children's Book Festival.  This kind of day is  a bit draining for homebody me.  But it is also exhilarating: books, children, book lovers, and author friends, both new and old.  (Took only this one picture of Barbara Lehman and Diane deGroat.)

It was good to sit between Kyra Teis and Patrice Kindl.  It was good to decompress afterwards with many other authors, and have dinner with Jeff Mack.   It was good to share the pre-festival dinner with Yona Zeldis McDonough, Anita Silvey, Herman and Mary Jane Auch and more.  It is good to be back at work.