EYEWITNESS REPORTS: A charity art auction in support of 826LA

Please visit the site for all the official info: http://theeyewitnessreports.com



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eye witness reports!

Here is my piece for the Eye Witness Reports fundraiser that benefits 826LA, inspired by the book "Oh No!" by Mac Barnett and illustrated by Dan Santat. The artwork will be on exhibit at the Nucleus Art Gallery and will run August 14, 2010 - August 17, 2010. Stay tuned for more information about the auction (as soon as I receive it, Dan, hint hint!)....

go oscar!

Macmillan/McGraw-Hill just purchased the rights to reprint Super Oscar for their Treasures Reading Program for both the California and Texas school systems. This is one of those books, I resigned to being a sleeper, so to have this happen is very exhilarating, in fact, I cried. It's on my dream list of "things I'd like to see happen to my books" --- just below "selling the movie rights" and one notch above "finding a copy of my book face out in the store, not by me". Looking at the contract, the number of reprints is staggering. We're talking over 275,000 copies in print alone, not to mention the digital and transparency media. Granted, they will be educational re-prints, but still!!! I may see a royalty yet.

So my humble advice to all my fellow author/illustrator friends: Don't ever give up. Hey, I think that will be my letter to Gabrielle (another post on that coming soon)....

scarletta: the not-so-famous pig opera

I feel like I've been talking about this project since forever- it's actually been about 8 years. I committed myself to it when I was interviewed for the "Something About the Author" series. It was listed as a work in progress. Just now, I finished the last sketch. Don't get too excited though, it's only just made it to my agent's desk. She's been waiting patiently for about a year for me to revise it and put together a partial dummy. It feels really good to finally have it off my desk so I can move on to my other projects, and bonus, you won't hear another peep from me about pigs & opera...at least until I have news to share. Good night Scarletta!

cool stuff

In honor of National Bring Your Child to Work Day, I am the guest blogger today.
Here's what happened this morning: I got to skip school this morning (which made me really happy) and my Mom and I worked on her manuscript for her new book that she's writing. I helped her edit out all the passive writing. We also took out most of the adjectives she put in there because mostly everything had adjectives by it. Then at the end of the day, we drew the picture above. We took turns drawing different parts of the sea monster. I drew the sea monster's eyes, mouth and that weird poptart in a boat. Those of you lucky enough to participate in National Bring Your Child to Work Day probably had a great day like me
Peace Out! :P
Claire M
(P.S. My mom really gets mad when I post Owl City on my Facebook so I'm posting it here instead... ;) she also gets mad when i listen to it anywhere near her)

study in sea monsters #1

While researching sea monsters for my opera (yes, still working on it), I decided that I really wanted to draw a giant octopus, mostly because of the lines. The delicate dangerous curves of the Kraken it turns out. Funny how stuff works it's way into your head. I have to laugh when I hear the clip from the new Clash of the Titans, "Release the Kraken!". That Kraken is really horrifying. My sea monster research took me all over the place from Norse mythology to Celtic folktales. I think I'm enjoying the research a little too much. Now I just have to figure out how to fit my sea monster into the drama...

nice reviews

Sometimes I forget. I forget that people actually have nice things to say and that they "get it". You know, get what I was trying to accomplish. I try not to read too many reviews, because despite all the good stuff, once in awhile someone will post something fairly insensitive. Mean, even. They don't really understand what we've gone through to sell a book idea, make the book or even what's going on in our personal lives at the time we are actually working on the books. Honestly, we are all truly trying to make a product someone will love. So when I stumble upon a good review, it really makes my day. Thank you "Lisa Reviews"! Um, no relation to me, I swear.

next...

Wrapping up a project today for a company called Vergo Marketing. I made a bunch of nurse avatars for their website. With minimal input and few changes it was probably the best project I've worked on in awhile. They were a pleasure to work for and the idea that they wanted "my" style was refreshing, the best kind of WFH an artist can hope for, though it was still a challenge shutting out my internal editor. While in the midst of the project I had an absolute explosion of ideas for some of my own personal works. Can't wait get my hands on my sketch pad...