What’s happening, friends?
This blog was supposed to be a monthly thing but as we all know, things don’t always go as planned. After a break from the blog and social media, I’m excited to share what I’ve been up to!
Tea cakes and a goose I saw in the park. Painted in gouache with washi tape collage.
Big British News! I’ve made the permanent move to the UK: Birmingham, England to be exact.
I’m originally from Texas, USA but after meeting my wonderful English husband and getting married, we took the plunge and moved to the UK permanently. It was scary to think that I’d be in a totally different place but I’m adapting to my new country fast. In a weird way, it kind of feels like this has always been the home for me.
A few things I’ve seen in England so far: Horrible Histories book covers from a Martin Brown exhibit, beautiful architecture in Bath, an 18th century metal cruising ship in Bristol, and some stuffed Natterer’s Bats at the natural history museum (these might be my favorite kind of bat now…).
This year has already been such a whirlwind. Getting married, moving to a new country, books coming out and more. My two cats, Baby and Chica, even traveled over the Atlantic to be at home with us in England. Did you know that pets have accents from their own countries? The vet swears my cats still sound American…
Thoughts about a picture book workload.
The last couple months, I was in a mad dash to finish two more picture books. They’re finished now and I love how they turned out, but books can take a LONG time to finish. Sometimes the whole process can take six months to a year from start to finish and it can become grueling.
The part of the process that always gets me is finishing finals. I tend to lock myself away in my office, most likely in pajama pants with a good podcast or Star Trek on in the background, and I just double down on finishing artwork on my Ipad. Unlike the sketching phase, finishing artwork doesn’t take as much brainpower but it is a LOT of physical work.
Spending almost every waking hour drawing? You may think, Marissa, that sounds like heaven! But sometimes it can be really draining.
I was probably drinking too much coffee in a day, I sometimes forgot what the outside world looked like, and I definitely didn’t stretch enough. At points, I began thinking to myself, what does a good picture book even look like? There’s even the occasional thought of giving up. But I think most children’s book illustrators go through this at one point or another. You find that it’s always is worth it in the end when you feel that finished book in your hands.
So my final thoughts on finishing those two books: making books can mean long hours, hurt shoulders, and bags under your eyes, but I wouldn’t change it for the world.
Esme’s Birthday Conga Line came out on May 10th!
Pull the confetti cannons and smash the piñatas, Esme and her trusty cat sidekick are out in the world! I’m sure you’ve heard me talk about this book because I can’t stop thinking about it. And I can gladly say that Lourdes, the author, and I are not the only ones who love it. Esme now has some great book reviews out in the world, like this one:
Organized into 12 short chapters, the playful text features zippy dialogue, bullet-pointed lists, and plenty of pleasing repetition for beginning readers. Valdez’s colourful, animated cartoon illustrations extend the celebratory fun and offer a peek inside apartments on each floor of the “topmost best building.” Like the best bashes, this early-reader series debut is amusing and inviting.— Linda Ludke, Booklist
All that being said, I wish I had a little more time to celebrate this book on its debut day. In my head, I was planning on flying to Florida to surprise Lourdes with piñatas and cakes with Esme’s face on them and hand-sewn plushies of Esme’s cat, El Toro.
But life gets in the way! And I’m trying to celebrate this book as much as I can NOW even if I couldn’t on it’s release day.
Who knows, maybe I’ll fly over to Florida one day? Maybe I can make a cake at home for an Esme Halloween extravaganza? I DID get to make Lourdes an Esme style piñata which you can see on her instagram here. Even if I didn’t get to hand it to her in person, it still felt nice to show her how special Esme is in a small way. AND I’d love to make a how-to sheet on making your own Esme-inspired-piñata in the future! I’m realizing that there’s no expiration date for a celebration.
If you want to celebrate Esme too, grab it from your local bookstore or check it out at your local library if you can!
P.S. If you do see Esme and El Toro out in the real world, don’t forget to tag me and Lourdes (@marissaarts and @lourdesheuer) on insta so we can share in the Esme love ❤️
Hattie Harmony: Worry Detective debuted as #1 New York Times bestseller 🤯
Hattie Harmony, written by Elizabeth Olsen and Robbie Arnett, published by Viking Books, totally blew my expectations wide open by debuting as a #1 New York Times Bestselling children’s book! Incredibly, this means that I’ve gotten, as an illustrator, a number one spot on the New York Times bestseller list TWICE. I have to admit that I feel completely strange tooting my own horn so hard. Hello, imposter syndrome vibes…
But at the same time, I’m so incredibly proud of this book. The team at Viking, our editor Tamar Brazis and our art director, Jim Hoover, knocked it out of the park with being kind, patient, and understanding throughout the whole bookmaking process. It’s wonderful to see Hattie and the entire Hattie team getting some good ol’ praise.
If you’d like a copy of Hattie Harmony, grab it from your local bookstore using this link or check it out at your local library if you can! Libraries are great!
My Domestika course: Creating a Children’s Illustration Portfolio.
Take a peek at it using this link. I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned this class a few times in my newsletter but it officially came out in early May.
Honestly ya’ll, creating this course was a challenge. I had never created a class in such depth; in fact, I had never created ANY class for illustration before! When the good people at Domestika initially contacted me about creating a course with them, my initial thought was “NO WAY”. But my mantra for the past couple of years has been “take risks” and this felt like one great big, fun risk.
It took around six months to create the syllabus, class workflow, course examples, and four intense days shooting on set with the New York Domestika crew to film the four hour long course. As an example for the class videos, I created a new picture book character, Francis-stein. Unexpectedly, I fell in love with her and her story so much that I plan on creating a Francis-stein book in the future! Unexpected things like that tend to happen with art, don’t they?
The whole process took a lot of time, but it was completely worth it. I remember when I first started off in the children’s illustration world. IT. WAS. SCARY! I didn’t know where to find information to help me down my new career path. I finally found my way through podcasts, SCBWI, and social media but it was always hard figuring out where to go next.
So being able to provide ANY useful info, tips, or encouragement for artists starting out in this is industry feels like my duty. And as illustrators, we never stop growing; I’m constantly learning something from other artists in and out of the children’s book industry.
Let me know if you’d be interested in hearing more about the process of creating a Domestika course in the comments. It was a lot of fun, and like I said before, I want to share what I’ve learned.
If you’re interested in either taking this course or gifting it to a friend, use this link here to sign up and take 15% off the course with the promo code: MARISSAARTS-KIDLITPB. (expires 09/26/2022) Thanks!
I had fun painting this snail in gouache and collaging the pencil, snail’s shell, and accents with kraft paper and washi tape.
It feels like sometimes things are going too fast and I’m happy things are finally slowing down so I can take in more of the world. Happily, I’ve found time to spend experimenting with my artwork (like the paintings in this blog!) while still making time for hobbies and my family.
I bless these slower times but I don’t think I’d be happy without the fast times as well. We’ll see what the future holds!
Lovely to get back into blogging again and I’ll make sure to keep all of you lovely people up-to-date. Hope your life has been fast, slow, or in between, whatever you’ve needed it to be ❤️
Me on a beach in the UK flabbergasted by donkey rides!