Here's another 'Memory-Pix'

Here's another 'Memory-Pix'. I hadn't been past a school playground in years - but I passed by one going to the library - and took a 'memory-pix' of some of the kids. It was amazing to see how they were all in their own joyous little worlds - and all shrieking with happiness. It certainly seems like an antidote to the misery that seems to rule so much of the 'grownup' world.

I like the pastiche of blue shades to serve as a color - it seems to leave more to the imagination.

7 herons all together fell out of the sky

A lovely spring - today I saw 7 herons come gliding out of the sky all together as if they fell out of the sky

It's time for the herons to start building their nests, which they do in select trees nearby - the same trees every year. 

 Then I ran into an old friend who I thought had moved away - all very auspicious. Nature rules - News drools.

Memory - Pix

Many of the drawings I make are all done from memory - so here's a 'Memory - Pix' of one cute - but very angry  baby. I saw this squalling pink faced fellow one morning on my bike ride - and what struck me was the look of betrayal in his eyes - the angry disbelief that Mama would dare to change his diaper. lol!

Cherry Blossom Messages...

I could hardly believe my eyes this morning when I saw this scene - that I tried to sketch out. An impossibly elegant japanese woman with a baby on her back hanging paper messages on string from the blossoming cherry tree - while a group of ancient grannies stood around smiling. I've never seen paper messages like that tied to the already amazing ancient cherry trees.

There is some kind of magic that comes out at cherry blossom time here... the whole world swoons. It's the perfect antidote to the grim reality of the rest of the world.

My years with Sesame Street...

I love Sesame Street & Children's Television Workshop, since they saved my career at a point when I was just starting out - I remember one rough patch where I didn't have any other clients going except for CTW, who dependably kept me working for years. When I was in New York, I used to love going down to Lincoln Center to drop off my artwork - and I always hoped I'd catch sight of Jim Henson or Frank Oz or Big Bird in the lobby. But I never saw any live muppets.

Sesame Street kept sending me work after moving to Seattle. I spent many happy years painting Big Bird and Muppets.

By then I had two little toddlers of my own, so it all seemed natural that I would be painting Big Bird in my studio and my kids could see Big Bird on TV. Sometimes I'd have my toddlers help me finish up a painting - just adding a few dabs of color... before mailing it off to New York City, 2000 miles away. And it was always fun when the magazine arrived to point out 'my pages'.

I greatly enjoyed the documentary on Amazon: I Am Big Bird: The Caroll Spinney Story.

I know I've met trade book editors who shudder as the sight of 'muppets' in my portfolio. But I think the world Jim Henson created is unique and has a lasting magic. There's something so reassuring in the set designs - I could spend afternoons on those city stoops and back steps.

Anyhow it made me proud to have spent years working with Children's Television Workshop and the Muppets. They bring a lot of good into the world of childhood learning and making families whole. A noble cause.

Art & Text - the balancing act

One of the challenging aspects of bookmaking is fitting the text into the design of the page. This book was very challenging - both to write and to design the pages.

But somehow I managed. There were basically three text spaces on each spread and the art had to fit in around the text spaces. 

I can scarcely imagine doing a book this complicated without using Photoshop!  And these weren't even the most complicated pages - some day I'll have to put those up on the blog.

Prrrrrrr! Prrrrrr! Prrrrrr!

My little 15 minutes of fame...

For years I used to look at that great blog for children's books - Kathy Temean's 'Writing and Illustrating' and hope someday to be featured on it. So I guess it was my lucky day - because I finally made it! 

This is probably as close as I'll ever get to having a retrospective of my diminutive career.

https://kathytemean.wordpress.com/2016/01/30/illustrator-saturday-john-nez/

How do you make your illustrations?

Often I am asked: 'How do you make your illustrations?' 

Naturally people want to study a step by step method - to figure out how artwork is created.

Well I use photoshop and a wacom and pens and brushes. But very often I don't even know myself.  I know, that sounds mysterious... but it's true.

One very odd thing about working in a complicated digital method is that it becomes unthinkingly second nature.  Sometimes I can work the most complicated procedures with little conscious effort. I remember one project that required multiple groups of linked layers in folders all set to unusual masking characteristics - and I did it all more with intuition than with planning. I'm sure I could never explain how to anyone... including myself. It is mysterious.

I just click the keys without looking mostly - and when someone needs tech help I have to go back and look at the keys to remember which ones I used.

So it's largely intuitive... which I like.  And usually in Photoshop there are 3 different ways to achieve the same result, so really the medium is quite organic.

It's a little like how when Mozart was asked where the music came from, he would say he didn't know - it just appeared out of thin air. But I think it requires one to imbue the language of keyboarding into your thinking... learning everything about layers, masks, linking and artistry before that's possible. I know many people hate photoshop, which is understandable I guess. But this is the computer age and I find it a helpful skill to acquire.

Nature just keeps going...

On this afternoon's walk in the rain I saw my first crocus. Isn't it fitting how Nature just keeps going - despite all the misgivings of we striving people lost in the all the awful news of the moment. It's nice to just be painting, painting, painting - without scarcely thinking about it.

And after Winter, Spring springs forth...

And after Winter, Spring springs forth... 

It was fun to find a way to paint the backgrounds simply and mixing abstraction and detail.

A brush in hand is worth two pens in the bush...

Or so they say. But where does the brush-pen fit into this equation?