Sonia Kretschmar Illustrator - Do Not Forget Australia

It's an exciting day on the blog! A blog tour and... one lucky reader will win a copy of today's book.

With ANZAC Day just a month away today's blog tour book 'Do Not Forget Australia' (Walker Books Australia) is the perfect choice for a home or school library. Author Sally Murphy and illustrator Sonia Kretschmar have been 'on tour' on blogs all over Australia, talking about the development, creation and inspiration behind this heart-warming picture book set during World War One in two towns a world apart; Villers-Bretonneux in France and Melbourne in Australia.

It is also the story of two little boys (Henri in Villers-Bretonneux and Billy in Melbourne), each missing their soldier father. While Billy is reluctant to attend school in Australia, Henri's school in France has been devastated by the encroaching war,

"It was as if a giant had squeezed the schoolhouse in its hand and scattered the splintered remains."

Today we are honoured to host award-winning illustrator, Sonia Kretschmar. I've asked Sonia if she would chat to us about how she progressed from initial sketches to final illustration for 'Do Not Forget Australia'.

Sonia has been kind enough to give us a preview peek at not only her final artwork for the page where little Henri and his mother stand in the schoolyard in front of the ruined school, but also the lead up rough sketches for this double page spread. How lucky are we!

Welcome Sonia to Under The Apple Tree.

Sonia: From the initial roughs I created, which were very much single scene pages, it was apparent from early on that the whole approach needed to be a lot more atmospheric and “filmic”. In the sample shown below, I firstly tried to compare the overwhelming nature of the devastation Henri and his mother faced with an emotional closeup, when it quickly became apparent that it worked much more effectively to simply have the characters surrounded by their environment. The body language of the pair needed to be tweaked to be read easily, but once the initial leap was made, the development of this spread was fairly straight forward.

For an experienced illustrator like you, Sonia, it might be straight forward, but, for those blog readers who are viewing the final illustration, the composition of the double spread is also worth noting. The careful placement of mother and son as focal point and the balance of light and dark are brilliant. Sonia deftly leads the viewer's eye from the white smoke pointing to the schoolhouse, around the curved form of the old woman and down her arm to her hand, where finally two sticks point back towards the mother and son. Perfect.

The story is told from two perspectives; Henri and Billy's. I was wondering, Sonia, what was your initial approach to the visual telling, and how did you decide on the medium used?

Sonia: The story is told concurrently, with scenes from both Australia and France during WW1, so I decided early on to use contrasting palettes – bright and warm for Australia, muted tones for France – to help differentiate between the two.

I chose the medium – Acrylic on paper and Photoshop - to give a sense of personality and warmth through texture, as well as to give me a greater sense of control within the finished art phase. All up, I think it took about six months from developing roughs to final art.

The 15 double page illustrations within 'Do Not Forget Australia' successfully evoke the mood and time of World War One. What was your process for gathering ideas and what influenced your artwork for this book?

Sonia: To get a sense of place and history I perused a lot of websites devoted to French historical postcards, I also took a couple of “tours” of  contemporary Villers Bretonneux (the village where the French portion of the story is set) courtesy of Google Street View. The Australian War Museum also has a great collection of images from the time, including the work of artists working on the battlefront. I was not that familiar with Army uniforms and paraphanalia, so it was very interesting to learn more about it all.

Research certainly is one of the most fascinating and rewarding areas of creating children's books. Thank you, Sonia, for sharing your time and creative processes with us today and good luck with tomorrow, the final day of the blog tour with Lorraine Marwood. It was lovely to have you visit Under The Apple Tree.

That was a fascinating insight to the planning and creative thought behind picture book illustration from Sonia Kretschmar.

I'm looking forward to your thoughts, so please leave a comment below and you will go in the draw to win a copy of 'Do Not Forget Australia'!

Good luck!

The 'Do Not Forget Australia' blog tour is below (You can still visit any of these tour days)

1st March 2012 Let's Have Words

2nd March 2012 Kids Book Capers

3rd March 2012 Running With Pens

4th march 2012 Read and Write with Dale

5th March 2012 Karen Tyrrell

6th March 2012 Writing for Children

7th March 2012 Spinning Pearls

8th March 2012 Katwhiskers

12th March 2012 Pass It On

12th March 2012 Kids Book Review

13th March 2012 Under the Apple Tree

14th March 2012 Lorraine Marwood. Words into Writing

Blog Tour Book Giveaway

As my first blog tour visit during the National Year of Reading 2012 I'm thrilled to be hosting award-winning Australian illustrator Sonia Kretschmar here on the 13th March. That's just a week away!

Together with author, Sally Murphy, Sonia is celebrating the launch of their picture book, Do Not Forget Australia.

'A heartbreaking yet ultimately uplifting tale. Henri lives in the French village of Villers-Bretonneux. Billy lives in Melbourne, Australia. These two little boys, who live thousands of miles away from each other, share one story that unites Villers-Bretonneux and Melbourne in history. A moving and inspiring story of World War One.'

Sonia will be sharing with us her methods of working, including the development of a double page spread, her reasons for choosing the mediums used in her artwork for this book and how she researched the historic elements behind the illustrations. You'll be inspired!

Now the other exciting bit of news is that on the 13th March I will also be giving away a copy of Do Not Forget Australia to one lucky blog reader who leaves a comment. 
How easy is that?

In the meantime the blog tour has already started and you can catch up with Sonia and Sally as they tour the country at the blogs listed here. (Live links are on the right).

1st March 2012 

Let's Have Words

2nd March 2012 

Kids Book Capers

3rd March 2012

Running With Pens

4th March 2012

Read and Write with Dale

5th March 2012

Karen Tyrrell

6th March 2012 

Writing for Children

7th March 2012 

Spinning Pearls

8th March 2012 

Katwhiskers

12th March 2012 

Pass It On

12th March 2012 

Kids Book Review

13th March 2012 

Under the Apple Tree

14th March 2012 

Lorraine Marwood. Words into Writing

Finding Your Images on the Web

Recently an artist friend of mine had an image of his artwork stolen from the web and then entered into a competition under the thief's own name. Luckily my friend was onto this quite quickly and filed a complaint with the competition organisers who withdrew the thief's entry.

But how do you know when or where an image or photo you created and uploaded to your blog, website or social media page is then taken and re-used by someone else? There are millions of sites out there. Your images could be anywhere, masquerading as someone else's creative talent, or simply used without any reference to you as the creator and copyright holder.

The answer is simple. Google has introduced 'Search by Image'. You can easily drag and drop an image from your computer into the 'Search Box' or upload one from your computer and then search the entire web for every website where your image appears. Just like magic!

The other handy use for 'Search by Image' is if you find an image on the web and want to find out more about it. Perhaps you want to know who the artist or photographer is. Simply copy the image URL and go to images.google.com, then right click on the camera icon and paste the URL; or if you have Chrome Extension or Firefox Extension you can just right click on any image on the web. Quite handy for research.

Of course I've tried this with one of my own illustrations, fully expecting to find my artwork on a heap of sites. It turned up on three: here on my blog, my website and the third was the blog of a friend of mine. That was fine with me, but she did forget to reference the image with my full name and a link to my website - online etiquette. If she had, it would've turned up on the Google Alert I have out on my own name and I would've been informed by email - another handy Google tool.

Have a go at searching for your own images and then come back and leave a comment on whether you found anything. Perhaps you'll uncover a following you didn't know you had or ... a den of online thieves!

Books for Children's Illustrators

I've been meaning to post about this for some time. As part of my Write and Illustrate a Picture Book workshop I lug around a pile of books, many of them on the art of the picture book and specifically aimed at Children's Book Illustrators.

Here is my list of delicious books to inspire, devour, own, borrow and pour over:

Writing with Pictures by Uri Schulevitz has been around for some time and is written in four parts: One - Telling the Story; Two - Planning the Book; Three - Creating the Pictures; Four - Preparing for Reproduction. This book is like attending a masterclass every time you open it.

Illustrating Children's Books- Creating Pictures for Publication by Martin Salisbury is a very popular reference. It's broken up into chapters on: History; Drawing; Media, Materials and Techniques; Character Development; The Picture Book; Illustration for Older Children; Non Fiction illustration; Design and Typography; Getting Published. I first discovered this one at the library and now have my own copy.

Making Picture Books by Libby Gleeson is for both writers and illustrators. Whichever you are, you need to read this book as picture books are a marriage of both crafts, and to do one well you must understand how they both work.

The Encyclopedia of Writing and Illustrating Children's Books by Desdemona  McCannon, Sue Thornton and Yadzia Williams is well worth a read. It's a book I usually borrow from the library and is on my 'must buy' list.  

Creative Illustration Workshop for mixed media Artists by Katherine Dunn. Just delightful.

The Encyclopedia of Illustration Techniques by Catherine Slade

Below is an overview from Amazon.

* A fully illustrated, step-by-step guide to more than 50 illustration techniques, from watercolors and pen-and-ink to collage and wood engraving 

* Offers professional guidance on all aspects of illustration, from mastering basic techniques to developing an eye-catching personal style 

* Provides information on getting the best reproduction results for your illustrations and tips on time-saving methods 

A year ago I bought myself the most useful book ever called Facial Expressions - A Visual Reference for Artists by Mark Simon. 

Normally I have a mirror handy when drawing a variety of expressions, but sometimes my eyes are squeezed shut, depending on the emotion, and that's where this book comes in handy. The book is filled with facial shots of male and female adult models of all ages and sizes and a range of ethnicities. Their expressions show a variety of emotions and some pretty crazy face pulling as well. It's a great reference book for illustrators. I've just purchased the companion book which has photos of 'Babies to Teens'. Can't wait for it to arrive!

Mark Simon also has an E-Book companion to his Facial Expressions books, which you can download at his website.

Lastly, I have a selection of good cartooning books to add to the mix, which I often refer to for a few tricks of the trade.

What are your favourite illustration reference books? I look forward to your recommendations in the comments below. Now let's go draw!

Art in Auckland

Recently I flew to New Zealand to visit friends and family and network with the NZ children's book industry. Below is a little sketch I did on the plane.

Auckland is my home town. This is where I first drove my car to uni, had my first date at the movies and made the friends I have for life. Whenever I go back, I like to visit some of my old haunts. I thought I'd share with you three of my favourite historic buildings in downtown Auckland.

The Civic Theatre. Built in 1929, when I was a kid it was a movie theatre and the queue would stretch up the hill and around the corner. I used to love looking at the twinkling stars on the blue night sky ceiling. After a complete restoration in 2000 it is now a live theatre venue. The inside is so beautiful it is heritage listed and people often miss part of a performance because they're too busy staring at the ceiling. It is internationally significant as the largest surviving atmospheric cinema in Australasia (and also one of the only seven of its style remaining in the world) in which lights and design were used to convey an impression of being seated in an outdoor auditorium at night.  

Top left of the photo is the Town Hall tower - where I graduated from uni many years ago.

Smith and Caughey's Department Store. A classic art deco purpose built store which has retained its character, charm, personal service and extensive range of quality goods. They've been in business since 1880, so they must be doing something right. It was about 1979 that I had my first 'application of make-up' lesson together with my besties in one of the rooms upstairs. We laughed so hard as we walked down Queen St later - none of us looked like our normal selves. 

This is the Auckland Art Gallery - Toi O Tamaki. Opened in 1888, it is New Zealand's oldest established and largest public art gallery. I used to walk past it every morning up the hill on the way to uni. And I always wished I could just stop and immerse myself in the art for the rest of the day.

So that's what I did on one of the days while I was visiting. Above is the new modern section and new front entrance of the Art Gallery which opened late this year. It joins the old building on the right and is just perfect!

Don't you love the vaulted wooden ceiling?

The floral installation above was a gift from the artist. Made from a type of parachute fabric, the petals open close on their own - just gorgeous and huge.

The interior of the old art gallery is breathtaking and beautifully restored.

A highlight of any visit are the many Goldies in the gallery's collection. Charles Goldie was a New Zealand painter well known for his portraits of Maori dignitaries.

Lunch with friends at the gallery. Life is good!

Even if it's raining outside.

A few days later I catch up for lunch with my cousin, Tania Sunde, who is also an Auckland artist. (It runs in the family). That's Tania below in the cafe which recently purchased her triptych in acrylics above the fireplace. It's just fabulous.

We are National Winners!

We won!!! 

We are the Eastern States Winner, open section!
and....
WE ARE THE NATIONAL WINNER, open section!!!

My writers group, Prana Writers have been awarded ‘National Winner’ and 'Eastern States Winner' for our book, The Coral Sea Monster, in the open section of the Write-a-Book-in-a-Day 2011 challenge!!!

Woo Hoo, Yee Haa!
In a single day, between 8am and 8pm, our Prana Writers team planned, plotted, wrote, illustrated, printed and bound a 16,500 word children’s book - The Coral Sea Monster.

and... raised $940 in sponsorship for the Royal Children’s Hospital in Brisbane.

And we did all of this without a single meltdown!

The team that worked on the Coral Sea Monster were: Tom Betts, Rob Brown (my husband), Margaret Choinski, Rebecca Fraser, Janis Hanley, Kerry McGuicken, Helen Stubbs, Angela Sunde and Amanda Worlley  (We also acknowledge the assistance of my daughter, Daniela Sunde-Brown).

The Coral Sea Monster was illustrated by Angela Sunde (me)!

And here are the Write-a-Book-in-a-Day judge's comments:

“The Winner of the Open Section this year is the most beautifully illustrated as well as the best written story of the bunch: ‘The Coral Sea Monster’ by Prana Writers. 

"The team was given the challenge to include a podiatrist, a sheep shearer and a sea animal in their work, as well as to employ the setting of a motorway and the theme of love.
“The result is an amusing and engaging story of a 13 year-old sheep-whisperer, Jack, whose hopes of competing in the shearing event at the Ekka showgrounds are shot through when a truck overturns on the motorway into Brisbane, blocking the traffic in both directions. The truck in question is carrying a sea monster, of course, and Jack and his new found friend, a teen podiatrist (yes, there is such a girl!), set out on a fun-packed adventure to save the sea monster from the clutches of Lionel Measly, the greedy Ocean-World curator who hopes to make a million out of the endangered species.

“A competition like Book-in-a -Day challenges all of its competitors to take an imaginative leap, to work together against the ticking clock, to produce something extraordinary and new. ‘The Coral Sea Monster’ is a delightful example of the best kind of new work this competition is capable of producing." Judge (Open Section) - Julienne van Loon, (Vogel Award Winner 2004), Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at Curtin University of Technology, Perth, WA.

In the words of Prana Writer, Janis Hanley (more photos of the day are on her blog): “Words that come to mind are cohesive, talented, creative, in tune – but that really doesn’t come near to describing it. Being there was like arriving and plugging into some sort of communal brain. We didn’t just network our laptops - we somehow networked our minds.” 
See more photos of our day here

So... just who are Prana Writers you're wondering...

Prana Writers are dedicated to the craft of writing. By supporting each other and sharing our knowledge with others we hope to develop, learn, and celebrate together, whilst also contributing to the community. Our work spans a range of genres including speculative fiction, children’s, young adult, chic lit, contemporary drama, literary fiction, short stories and more. We meet five times a year for a full day of workshops, free writing and critiquing and in between for coffee, drinks or special events.

Originally brought together through the Gold Coast City Council’s Creative Juices program, Prana Writers hope that winning the WaBiaD National Award will help to promote the Gold Coast as a centre for creativity and culture. 
Prana Writers are: Tom Betts, Margaret Choinski, Rebecca Fraser, Bridget Gray, Janis Hanley, Kerry McGuicken, Helen Stubbs, David Stringer, Angela Sunde, Nicola Tierney and Amanda Worlley. 

Find us on Facebook here.
And our blog.

Acknowledgements:
I'd like to thank Louise Cusack, who is not only our mentor, but also a close friend and lifetime member of Prana Writers. Louise worked with the Prana Writers group from 2009-2010 through the Gold Coast Council's Creative Juices development program in 2009 and the support of a RADF grant in 2010.

I'd also like to thank the Gold Coast City Council for bringing Prana Writers together through the Creative Juices Write That Book program in 2009. Three years on and we are great friends and writing buddies. We appreciate your support!

Thank you to the Katherine Susannah Prichard Writers Centre and the Write-a-Book-in-a-Day team for the opportunity to raise funds ($940) for the Royal Children's Hospital in Brisbane. With a twelve hour time limit it was tough going at times, but we knew it was even tougher for the kids in the hospital, and that drove us on.

Thank you to my husband, Rob, for all the muffins on the day, for taking photos and blogging throughout the challenge, for cooking sausages at lunch, for his cool calm serenity under stress as he and Amanda loaded all the chapters, placed the illustrations, formatted the book and emailed it off. Whew! I'm glad it wasn't me.

Thank you to my Prana Writers buddies. This last year has been so enriching and so much fun. I'm very glad to be on this journey together with you.

And finally, congratulations to all the teams who entered Write-a-Book-in-a-Day. The real winners are the many children we have helped through raising funds for children's hospitals around Australia.

Shortlisted for the Write-a-Book-in-a-Day Awards

In August this year I posted about the Write-a-Book-in-a-Day challenge. Our children's book, The Coral Sea Monster, is a shortlisted entry in the open section, and my writers group, Prana Writers have been waiting eagerly for the official announcement. We won't have to wait much longer... the announcement is tonight.

The Write-a-Book-in-a-Day challenge is a wonderful, fun, team building and writing experience, open to people of all ages and offered by the Katherine Susannah Prichard Writers Centre, WA.

Teams register 5-10 people in the Open, Secondary or Primary category and get sponsors to donate to their local state's hospital for children. Each book is also donated to their chosen hospital.

On the day of our challenge, our team was emailed a random setting, two human characters, a non-human character, an issue and five random words at 8.00am local time. Then we had twelve hours to write a book and email it to KSPWC by 8.00pm the same day.

Unfortunately we won't be able to attend the awards ceremony at the Katherine Susannah Prichard Writers Centre in Perth, West Australia, but I am expecting an email as soon as it is announced.

So fingers crossed everyone! We worked very hard for this.