I’ve always considered myself a colored pencil artist. Most, though not all, of my children’s book illustrations have been created with colored pencils. Being things as they are, this year I felt drawn to work in watercolors. Love them! I am currently illustrating my 34th picture book - using colored pencils, but I’m looking forward to a future book where I use only watercolors.
In this retelling of The Gingerbread Man, the cookie still gets into the same situation.
It was fun to put my own stylistic spin on things.
John Nez - A page from my book 'Stella Almost'.
Here's a page I can totally relate to... Stella is giving up on writing since no one even bothers to look at her work. But I'm sure Stella will find that even with all that rejection, she still had ideas that need to be written down! Poor little Stella...
John Nez
www.johnnez.com
A spread from The House of the World, a picture book I wrote and illustrated for Japanese publisher Benesse, commissioned as part of their picture book reading scheme for English language learners. The book is in English (though published in Japan), and was my last commission before I left Japan in late 2007 - I remember painting the artwork for this in my father's spare room in the UK while coming to terms with all the sudden changes, so it was a somewhat cathartic experience - painting was a refuge, and this spread, symbolising images conjured by English folk music on an accordion, to some degree helped to re-set being back in the old country.
John Shelley
 |
| Another ice cream please... |
