Animal Parade

A bit of whimsy to liven up the day. 

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

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.  

Diverse Children

Reviewed the spot images of school visit page on web site.  Feels good.  (Drawings were from a project that never found a publisher.  As it happens with so many projects.)  Eventually need to replace a couple of images on portfolio but need to create some good horizontal pieces for that.  

Check it out!

First 6 double spreads

 

Just finished the 6th double spread of ZIG.  Bits of paper everywhere, glue, music...  I am having such fun.  Planning to send them to Dial for review before going on with work.  Hope all goes well. 

Zig sample art

 

Zig in the Magic Forest...

 

... and in the Monster's land.  

2 finished pieces of sample art for editors to see what I have in mind.  Hope they like it and finally give me the "go ahead" for final art.  I enjoyed myself.  Bits of paper everywhere...