Let's read!

Here is the best thing that happened to me over the Christmas Break. In my home town paper
The New Milford Spectrum) I saw this picture; Two boys holding two different books ( Diary of a Wimpy Kid and The Last Apprentice: Revenge of the Witch ) both designed by me.

For the most part my family really doesn't get what I do so to have this as a piece of evidence of my profession is deeply satisfying even if they still think I drew the pictures. Oh me.

I have begun to collect all my files from the development of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid cover.
I hope to explain the development of the cover design, process and concept that it went through. To explain the process in full from the author's point of view I am enlisting Jeff Kinney to give his take. ( As soon as he finishes book 3) It should be interesting and I am excited to get started on it.

100 ideas

100 ideas

12.20.07 Playlist

Currently Listening To:


Marquee Moon—Television,
Black Country Rock—David Bowie,
Let's Get Funky—Hound Dog Taylor and the
Houserockers,
Gentle on my Mind—Johnny Cash,
Girl Of My Dreams—Charles Mingus
Samskeyti—Sigur Ros,
Cloud Cult—Chemicals Collide,
House of Cards—Radiohead,
Come As You Are—Nirvana,
Glass, Concrete and Stone—David Bryne,
Big Rock Candy Mountain—Tom Waits,
In Transit—Albert Hammond, Jr.,
One Thought Is Flickering—Die Romanik,
Friends—Chris Holmes,
I Don't Really Love You Anymore—The Magnetic Fields,
A Prayer For England—Massive Attack,
These Days—Mates of State,
Things To Try—Terry Reid,
The Great Escape— We Are Scientists,
Daisy—Chuck Coleman,
Rise—Eddie Veder,
Plans—Grizzly Bear,
In the City—The Jam,
Radio, Radio—Elvis Costello,
So It Goes—Nick Lowe,
The Blues Are Still Blue—Belle & Sebastian,
Jesus, etc.—Wilco,
Where To Begin—My Morning Jacket
Lloyd, I'm Ready To Be Heartbroken— Camera Obscura,
New York, New York— Ryan Adams,
Prelude To A Kiss—Phineas Newborn Jr.,
M.I.A.— Foo Fighters,
Good Vibrations—Brian Wilson,
Cars and Telephones—The Arcade Fire,
Thank You For Sending Me An Angel—Talking Heads
Postcards from Italy—Beirut,
London Calling— The Clash
No More Heroes—The Stranglers

Al Roker’s next Today Show book club pick

Book 1: The Fairy Tale Detectives

will be Al Roker’s next Today Show book club pick
this Friday December 21 at 9:30am est. This is an amazing media hit and a terrific follow-up to the reappearance of the series on the New York Times bestseller list in October.


You can see previous club picks and the types of online resources that will be made available by visiting this link:
http://today.msnbc.msn.coPublish Postm/id/18179145/


Book 1 will be the focus of the club pick, the just-released book 5 will get a plug, and all of the other books in the series will be shown on the set.

Pictures and Words

Writers Who Are Painters. Creativity Without bounds. Pictures and Words.

The Best Thing Ever— Wimpy Kid Beats out Billy'O

A New Way of Seeing—Samuel Palmer

There are some artist who give us a new way of seeing: Samuel Palmer is one of them. He painted familiar scenes—trees, sheep, villages, the night sky, fields, —but in a way that had never been done before, before Palmer. Subsequently, his rich forms and vivid colors have inspired many artist including myself.

Seurat at the MoMa

Though Seurat is most often remembered as a Neo-Impressionist, the inventor of pointillism, and the creator of the painting,
A Sunday on La Grande Jatte, his incomparable drawings are among his–and modernism’s–greatest achievements. Working primarily with conté crayon on paper, Seurat explored the Parisian metropolis and its environs, abstracted figures, spaces, and structures, and dramatized the relationship between light and shadow, creating a distinct body
of work that is a touchstone for the art of the twentieth century and today.

Even though Seurat saw his drawings as only a means to an end, research for his painting. I find them even more poetic than his actual paintings. Transient. His figures dissolve into the landscapes becoming part of there surroundings.
So quiet yet charged with the vibrations of there presence.

The drawing, most of them made in his studio, focus on light and its shaping and modeling of the figures. The resulting tones informed color relationships in the final work.
If you haven't gotten yourself down to the MOMA you need to. I am planning to go back for seconds. And if your're there say hi to Andrew Wyeth's Christina's World she is lonely.

A Evening with the De Brunhoff's

I am currently working on Laurent de Brunhoff's next installment of Babar and family's adventures, BABAR'S USA.
Babar and his family travel to the U.S. in this new Babar adventure. Among
the places they visit: NYC, Key West, Los Angeles (Hollywood), San
Francisco, Grand Canyon, and Vermont (skiing).

Laurent has created a new medium for the images: he places the drawn
characters of Babar and his family into photographs of the actual places. A
very humorous and appealing approach!

Phyllis Rose de Brunhoff used her keen wit to spin an incredible text to accompany the images.
She also gave me some great recipes. ( That I actually used)

We sat down over a glass of scotch and went over layout in his Upper East side apartment. It was a surreal moment to be working on a Babar book. When not too long ago I was being read one and not over a glass of scotch. Who was I too be telling him what I thought, right! Well I guess that's what I do now. Kinda amazing.

Phyllis Rose de Brunhoff used her keen eye to look over the text and gave me some great recipes. ( That I actually used)

I 'll post pics of the art when the book gets closer to being done.

Advisement: Babar reminds his readers that this a work of fantasy, and only elephants should try to place their young on the backs of buffalo.

Frannie in Pieces to appear on CBS Sunday Morning

GREAT NEWS….TUNE IN!!!

Delia Ephron is scheduled to appear on CBS Sunday Morning,
Sunday, December 23rd,
to promote FRANNIE IN PIECES.
The segment will also focus on her being a screenwriter.

Sample Pages for Something to Blog About

Something to Blog About is divided into two sections. The first, Libby Fawcett's Blog entries. Second, the rest of the story. I tried my best to make the blog pages act like a real Blog page. Complete with Blog entries, scroll bars, and Blog header. Christine Norrie ( illustrator of the amazing jacket art ) drew those sweet characters on the title page.

When ever I am designing an interior I try to keep in mind the reluctant reader (me). I want to have an enjoyable visual experience when I am reading. Almost like a reward for reading. Adding this visual experience adds to the experience of the reader and reading itself. An ambitious goal I know, but it's what I strive to accomplish in my work. Something to Blog About I think is a good example of this idea.