Comments on: fishbird sketches

By: Sarah Blum-Smith

Sarah Blum-Smith — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 21:57:28 +0000

Jonah, your work is just beautiful. It sounds like you have had amazing adventures. As a profoundly un-artistic person who teaches first grade, my thoughts on children’s books might be coming from a very different perspective, but here goes. In terms of use of language, I think some of the best working authors are Jaqueline Woodson and Angela Johnson, both of whom convey deep, complex meaning through simple, poetic language. Angela Johnson also has multiple books illustrated with beautiful watercolor by David Soman. Kevin Henkes and Robert Munsch have a fantastic ear for the way that children really talk, but are more on the humorous side. Ed Young is an author and illustrator who uses perspective in very interesting ways that play with your sense of reality. He has a Chinese retelling of Little Red Riding Hood called “Lon Po Po” that has these fascinating illustrations using multiple frames on one page, as well as some extraordinary dedication that I can’t quite remember the specifics of that is about how human beings have projected our own evil onto wolves in storytelling. Patricia Polacco and Faith Ringgold are two other wonderful author/illustrators who do a lot of work on family history, and family stories intersecting with broader historical moments and themes. I wish you all the best on your project. -Sarah

By: natty

natty — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:24:39 +0000

hey jonah! great to hear what you’re up to over there – I think working on a children’s book is a wonderful project. here’s some more books and illustrators, if you need any more – some everyone knows, others maybe not…
Ezra Jack Keats - The Snowy Day – great collage work.
Chris Van Allsburg – all his books, they’re all very different, with very unique charcoal/paint/pastel illustrations
Robert McCloskey – Time of Wonder – one of my favorites. the watercolors and the text of the book captures summer for children. his other books are great too – great pen and ink.
Peter Spier – Noah’s Ark – beautiful, intricate watercolors. this was the book I read the most as kid. beautiful example of storytelling only through pictures.
Barbara M. Joose – Mama, Do You Love Me? – probably the book my mom read to me most when I was really little.
can’t wait to see what you come up with!

By: jonah

jonah — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 04:31:39 +0000

...such great suggestions here and on facebook. can't wait to make my way through them. josh's "great green turkey monster" link unveiled this amazing site however that i have to mention. the author of Vintagechildrensbooksmykidloves.com posts a new review almost every day, and has been doing so for years. some of your favorites, and some you've probably never heard of. she includes photos for each book - she actually buys all of them to reread and scan pages ( and resells them via etsy to keep it mildly sustainable ). it's a mammoth project and obviously a labor of love. big up:) again thanks so much for pointing me in great directions, getting me to think about things differently, and of course for all the love:)

By: Erika

Erika — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 03:57:46 +0000

oh joooonnaaaaah!

i LOVE this! childrens book! beautiful! jonah imagination! love it all of course of course.

here are some of my favorite kids books/illustrators/illustrations

Wave by Suzy Lee– discovered and bought this one recently, beautiful sketches using only black, white and blue

Trina Schart Hyman has always been my favorite illustrator of all time. I love the way she expresses people, and also all the detail she puts in. Lots of magic, nature and cool woodland creatures. I especially love her Peter Pan illustrations.

Carin Berger- she has some wacky, whimsical paper collage illustrations, ive seen her on some kids poem books i’ve used at school!

Elisa Kleven- always loved her crazy, moving, colorful and jam-packed watercolors! Something very, bright, happy and erika about them…!

ok, thats enough for now, i got into this! more to come as i think of it…

miss you!
Erika

By: Josh

Josh — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 23:48:10 +0000

Really dig the collage stuff, especially bits like the shadow. The subway one is my fave. The cut-out/layered quality makes it easy for me to imagine them animated!

Some children’s book touchstones for me:
-William Steig
-Arnold Lobel
-Tomie de Paola
-the great green turkey creek monster
-Leo Lionni

By: sethness

sethness — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 02:10:48 +0000

Dude… again… blown away by your ability to obliterate the blank page with the mighty force of your visual imagination. I truly envy it. you better lock it up every night before you go to sleep, or else im gonna find a way to kidnap it.

Books i remember as a child:
1. Where the wild things are. (yes yes we all know it)

2. Anything Shel Silverstein. Especially the “missing piece”. great b&w illustrations that leave tons of room for a kids imagination to play around.

3. A book, I forget the name, about pasta and spaghetti and something, i dunno. This one is interesting for me, because while it was supposed to light hearted and all, well, it would make me really sad. like deep sorrow, maybe even spring a tear or two. I felt so bad for the character who didn’t get to eat. really. I distinctly remember this sadness. can you imagine the mindset of a 6 year old seth who is brought to tears by a funnystory about pasta? i know. me neither. absolutely ridiculous.

Kids (little one’s that is) are beautifully and completely bat-shit out of their minds, or rather, out of any sort of mind us adults can get a grip on. the lil buggers are many years closer to the truth of the universe than we are. you know? they’re just a few years out of the void. we adults are many years out and have totally confused ourselves. but the kids, they’re hyper-creative, super contemplative, little beings charged with making sense of everything through these 5 new senses.

seems to me, in thinking about this that there is a certain balance to aim for in a kids book. A balance between trying to help the child find their way to an adults mind (and this MUST be done if only to cater to the parents who are going to actually buy the book) and trying to cater directly to the rawer nature of a child’s mind. I’m typically inclined to get my niece and nephews toys and books which cater to the ridiculous nature of their ridiculously awesome lil kid frames-of-mind.

phew….pardon my rant, but the wheels got spinning.

I think its gonna be rad. no matter what you guys put together I have faith for some reason that it is definitely going to be something I get for my sister’s kids. I trust you with their minds, guys so don’t let me down. Go nuts and stay crazy!

By: martha c

martha c — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:03:04 +0000

Hi Jonah –

Nathan (you used to babysit – or Hebrew school sit – for him way back when) loved all the Shirley Hughs books..watercolors of British children at home, their garden, their world…

and I never got tired of them either, so that says a lot!

Your paintings are lovely, I especially like the one of the temples and the smiling koi

By: Morgan

Morgan — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 04:36:24 +0000

I am so excited for this beautiful collaboration… My son is 5 months old and I have recently been rediscovering my favorite stories… We started reading to him when he was just a few months old and he already knows and loves story time… His favorite is Goodnight Moon… And I am so looking forward to the day that I can read The Giving Tree to him… What a wonderful project!

By: Ray Rosenstock

Ray Rosenstock — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:06:51 +0000

Dear Jonah, these are terrific sketches, and your verbal description is so nice. My old t’ai-chi teacher in New York, Ed Young, is also a children’s book illustrator, and his work has been widely praised–maybe see what he has done too. This is an exciting project! (I also remember a children’s book called “The Carp in the Bathtub.”)

Love,
Ray

By: Phil

Phil — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:06:30 +0000

Jonah, these are beautiful!!! I love the collages. Can’t wait to see what you guys put together. Seems too like the perfect project for a new relationship.

Much love,

Phil

By: Margaret

Margaret — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:01:25 +0000

Hey Jonah! Rob linked me here and I think this is such a cool idea! The final sketches in this set, the one that combines the collage and watercolor, is especially impressive. And your favorite children’s books are a great list– I can totally see a touch of Tomie dePaola in your watercolors.

I think my favorite children’s books lately are the mouse books by Kevin Henkes. If you ever have time, check out Chester’s Way. It’s extremely funny.