curiosities

Lucky Luis: Children’s Book Cover Step-By-Step

admin — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 07:10:58 +0000

I’m really excited to share the latest book that I illustrated, LUCKY LUIS, which was written by the great Gary Soto. It came out on March 1st. It’s a story of a little league baseball player that develops a superstitious routine before playing each game.

Many do not know, but Gary Soto actually gave me some of my first illustration work out of college. This was back when I was working on my comic, Pablo’s Inferno and desperately trying to find work in the field that I studied: Illustration. Gary enlisted a friend and I to illustrate covers for a special series of Chicano ‘zines, The Chicano Chapbook Series, which was a huge honor to take part of. Gary edited, funded, and distributed these books on his own, in hopes of trying to get more exposure to up and coming writers. I always thought that this was an amazing way of giving back, Gary himself being a legendary Chicano writer, and taking steps himself to introducing emerging writers. Fast forward 15 years later and our amazing editor matches us up by coincidence to work on the same book! I hope you’ll give this book a chance, I’m very proud of it and the opportunity to work with Gary again, after all these years.

LUCKY LUIS COVER STEP-BY-STEP

I’ve always enjoyed seeing what goes into making a painting or an illustration by other artist’s tutorials, so I thought I’d attempt one myself. I’ve always meant to do one, but this was the first time that I remembered and had a camera handy. Let’s start with the sketch.

The first steps in the process of doing the cover for LUCKY LUIS, was coming up with different sketches and different ideas. I even played with a baseball-type logo for the title in these sketches.

Another cover sketch that was similar to the final cover, but not as exciting.

I sent them to my editor at Putnam and she suggested we go with this one of Luis reaching for the ball, in a forced perspective shot. This was the original loose sketch that I submitted and I was asked to flip it. The reason for flipping it was to have it read more clear and have the action happen from left to right- good suggestion!

Here’s the sketch flipped and ready to transfer onto the canvas. A little backstory is that these characters were supposed to be regular kids, but my editor suggested we try animals. I chose rabbits to play up the LUCK and superstitious qualities, to reinforced the story.

Next, I add a sepia- colored wash over the canvas to kill the white of the canvas and serve as my underpainting. I pick a canvas big enough to leave room on each side for the bleed, so it can get cropped later.

Once dry, I transfer the drawing with carbon paper onto the now sepia-colored canvas.

I had a color copy nearby of another illustration in the book to serve as a guide to the colors and also the setting. This scene takes place towards the end of the story, so I wanted to use the same family members, bleacher stand, trees, clouds, etc. for the cover.

Here we are a few steps ahead. You can start to see the background take shape. I’m using mostly Liquitex acrylics and some Golden brand paints. I purposely use a canvas over just an illustration board, to try and keep the texture to reproduce with the final printing. Also, just a side note: I highly recommend the paint palette/container seen on the right. It’s called Sta-Wet Premeir Palette by Masterson and if you use any acrylics, this thing keeps your paints moist while you paint and lasts for days when sealed. It has kept me from wasting paint/money and keep colors that I mix, fresh!

Here’s one more step. It’s getting closer at this point. The spectators just need to be added along with some details. For the spectators I try not to add any real dark colors to push them back. All the darks are kept for Luis to make him pop in the foreground.

Here it is, everything seems in place, now.

(Here’s a close-up detail)

That wasn’t the best step-by-step, but hopefully an okay first attempt. I would get in the zone sometimes while I was painting, and forget to take pictures! Well, thanks for reading and don’t forget to pick-up or check-out LUCKY LUIS from the library! Thanks everyone! If I missed anything or you have any questions about process, please ask in the comments section.

~Rhode

I Know It’s Almost Christmas, But…

admin — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 19:32:49 +0000

Around Halloween time I had a Halloween Kid Exquisite Corpse creative writing contest exclusively on my Facebook page. Folks were asked to submit 3 sentences to weave a new yarn-of-a-tale for The Halloween Kid. Many entered, but there was only one winner: Omar Karmally! Congrats again Omar! For the prize, Omar received an original 11X17 inch black and white drawing depicting his entry. Thanks to everyone who entered! Here is the prize COLORED, like in The Halloween Kid children’s book. I added part of the dialogue that he entered into the colored piece. Here it is:

For the rest of the writing entries and to be part of more contests like this, make sure to check out my Facebook page!

~Rhode

The Halloween Kid Round Up 2011!

admin — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 19:00:19 +0000

Yee-Ha-lloween everyone! Just thought I’d share some Halloween Kid news! I just did 3 back to back school visits in Petaluma, CA, thanks to Copperfield’s Books. A year later since the book came out, it looks like the kids are still hankerin’ for some Halloween Kid- so that was nice to see. The students also enjoyed a new activity that I recently introduced to the school and store visits- A toilet paper mummy wrapping contest! This is based on the first villains that show up in the book- Toilet Paper Mummies! The kids go bonkers for this part. (I did not plan for this loud frenzy when I did the contest at the Brooklyn LIBRARY- oops!) They have to wrap their partner as fast as possible and the prize- a HUGE bag of 100+ candy! It was also during the school visits that I learned that the book is on it’s third printing- a first for me! Thanks for everyone who has supported the book!

Here are some action sketches of The Halloween Kid:

Here were two examples of the welcome signs that the students did when I arrived at the recent school visits:

This was a student’s drawing which immediately stood out amongst the rest when I walked into the auditorium. I later learned his name was Anthony. You could just tell this kid has a natural talent, because no one else’s sign came close to it. The level that he was at for his age was advanced. I had a small talk with Anthony later and told him that he has something special and that he should keep practicing. I expect great things coming from this kid!

Finally, here are some super drawings that my friend Britt’s kid, Oliver, did based on some characters in The Halloween Kid book- pretty fun! Good job Oliver!

Toilet Paper Mummy!

Goodie Goblin!

Pumpkin’ Suckin’ Vampire!

The Giant Miami Werewolf! Raaaaawr!!!

Also, for those that may be interested, The Halloween Kid is on Facebook:

Click Here!

May your Halloween be full of magic. YEE-HA-LLOWEEN!

~Rhode

It’s The Great Halloween Compilation!

admin — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 19:36:59 +0000

Hi Boils and Ghouls!

As the most magical holiday approaches, I thought I’d compile all the Halloween images that I’ve ever done! (Well, at least the ones on my computer.) So here they are! Happy Halloweeeeeeen!!! ~Rhode

Facebook Contest Prize: Frankenstein Meets The Wolfman!

admin — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 13:59:41 +0000

Hi all!

Recently, I had a surprise contest just for those who are on my Facebook art page, where everyone was asked to name some of my favorite movie scenes. Unbeknownst to contestants was a “special” prize. At the end of the contest, it was revealed that the winner would receive a drawing of MY rendition of THEIR favorite movie. It was a heated contest and participants even named some obscure scenes that I thought would surely stump them. After 21 entries, the winner was Michael Cobra! Congratulations again Michael! For his favorite movie, Michael chose a classic, FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLFMAN. Here is the original 11×17 inch inked drawing that I sent to Michael:

(click to enlarge)

It depicts the final confrontation in the movie that takes place in a laboratory that is falling apart. It was a fun challenge drawing these two classic movie monsters!

Here is a sample of some my 21 favorite movie scenes that were on the Facebook contest:

To participate in more surprise contests like this, see exclusive peeks and more, please join this page on Facebook. Something might be around the corner…

Thanks for reading!

~Rhode

Halloween…It Begins!

admin — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 13:00:26 +0000

Hello Folks,

It’s my favorite time of the year and the big day is right around the corner! There is lots going on and I hope to share whatever I can on here. I was recently invited to be part of a Halloween-themed art show this month at Stranger Factory. Stranger Factory is a gallery in New Mexico owned by the super-creative dynamic duo, Kathie Olivas and Brandt Peters. The BEWITCHING show opening was on October 5th and these were my contributions:

The show had lots of really nice 2D and 3D pieces. You can see many of them here! Thanks Brandt and Kathie!

Also, coming up, I will be doing a special reading of THE HALLOWEEN KID at one of the greatest children’s book stores, BOOKS OF WONDER! This event is from 12:00- 2:00pm on Saturday October 15th. If you are in the New York area, please join me along with more creators reading their books, including:

PETER BROWN- You Will Be My FriendMARGIE PALATINI- Goldie and the Three Hares
JODI MOORE - When A Dragon Moves In
FIONA ROBINSON - What Animals Really Like

GARY RUBENSTEIN - The Girl Who Never Made Mistakes
GEOFFREY HAYES - A Poor Excuse for a Dragon

MARK SIEGEL - Moving House

More information here. All ages are welcome!

More soon!
~Rhode

Day Of The Dead Art Show In Mexico!

admin — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 21:31:42 +0000

Hello Everyone!

I recently was invited by THE AUTUMN SOCIETY to contribute to a Day of the Dead/ Dia de los Muertos event in Mexico! I couldn’t say no! We were asked to pick an icon, living or passed, (non-fictional) that would be done with a Day of the Dead treatment. THE ICONOCLASTIC DEAD exhibit will be at Guru Gallery in Mexico City (Opening is this Saturday, October 1st). Can you guess who I picked? Many thanks to Chogrin who invited me to participate! If you are in Mexico, I hope you’ll check out the show!

(click to enlarge)

Check out the nice flyer by German Orozco!

Also, here is a trailer for the show:

SKELETOWN In This Sunday’s BALDO Comic Strip!

admin — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 15:15:02 +0000

Hello Everyone!
I know it’s been awhile, but lots of things have been in the works. I was really honored when I was recently asked to be part of a Sunday comic strip, BALDO! BALDO is America’s first Latino comic strip family! I’ve always wanted to do a comic strip. I used to cut my favorites from the Sunday paper when I was little, so this is a big dream come true! Check your local newspaper Sunday, September 25th! This was for BALDO’S Hispanic Heritage Month celebration, where they invite different artists to collaborate with their comic strip. You can see a little bit of my SKELETOWN world in the strip! Thanks to Hector Cantu and Carlos Castellanos! I’m really excited to see it in print. Here is a small sneak peek:

(I will share the final piece after it comes out or visit THIS SITE on September 25th)

New Skeletown Tote Bag And More!

admin — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 18:13:36 +0000

These are $6 with FREE shipping (order as many as you like!). Also there is no one week purchase time limit on these.

I also have a new Skeletown shirt design plus new buttons on the way. If they get in sooner than later, I’ll offer them up on here, as well. Thanks for reading! ~Rhode

NOTE*** If you are reading this on Facebook and see no Paypal link to purchase, please click to go to the original blog posting HERE!

Fantastic Fan Art!

admin — Fri, 27 May 2011 04:36:02 +0000

I’m very happy to share some recent fan art that I received. The first is from one of my favorite artists, Olivia! Olivia is 9 years old and from Bakersfield, California. She drew an EPIC spread featuring ALL of the characters from my HALLOWEEN KID book and the main characters from the MELVIN BEEDERMAN series. With her attention to detail, I have no doubt that Olivia will be a great artist. Thanks for sharing Olivia!

Olivia even drew a portrait of me at the bottom that looks just like me with pencil and paper in hand! Nice Job!

This next fan art is the FIRST fan art that I’ve ever received for my SKELETOWN book. This is pretty fun and drawn by the talented Akira, who is age 7. She is from Stockton, California. Make sure to read the letter she wrote, it is my favorite!

This last image of a skeleton with muscles is fun, too!

Thanks for sharing Olivia and Akira! If anyone else has fan art please send it to my email on the contact page at rhodemontijo.com and I’ll post them periodically!

Thank you!

Rhode