BEST-SELLING BAILEY SCHOOL KIDS SERIES OPTIONED FOR TV

Posted on October 19, 2020 by marielamba

So excited to share this news! Here’s the press release:

NEW YORK, NY– TV rights to the iconic best-selling Scholastic book series THE BAILEY SCHOOL KIDS by Debbie Dadey and Marcia Thornton Jones have just been optioned by Bardel Entertainment, Inc. and its Italian-based parent company Rainbow S.p.A. Brokered at auction, the deal was negotiated by Marie Lamba and Jennifer De Chiara of The Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency, and film agent Stephen Moore of Paul Kohner, Inc. Bardel and Rainbow will jointly produce the live-action series with Bardel’s CEO Rick Mischel, independent producer Kimberly Guidone, and authors Debbie Dadey and Marcia Thornton Jones serving as Executive Producers. Screenwriter Arne Olsen, best known for Power Rangers: The Movie and All Dogs Go to Heaven 2, has come aboard to translate the book series to screen.

With more than 30 million titles sold to date, THE BAILEY SCHOOL KIDS reigns as one of Scholastic’s top-selling series of all time. The chapter books feature a group of classmates that investigates adults who may or may not be monsters.

“With their clever blend of friendship, laughs, and chills, these books are a perfect fit for TV,” said De Chiara. “It’s no wonder we received so much interest in this incredibly valuable IP.”

According to Lamba, the series, which debuted in 1991, still holds a special place in the hearts of its original readers. “Many of these super-fans have shared the books with their own kids. Now we all can’t wait to see the BAILEY SCHOOL KIDS stories spring to life on the TV screen, reaching a whole new generation of fans.”

Guidone, who pitched the books to buyers, is especially excited to have Bardel and Rainbow on board to bring this series to television. “As a leading brand of successful children’s entertainment, I know they will build an exciting global franchise. This is a dream team for what is sure to become a red-hot TV property.”

*Marie is an author of YA novels and of picture books, and she’s a Literary Agent at The Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency in New York City. To keep up with all her posts, subscribe to her site.

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Agent Monday: New JDLA Agent Tara Gilbert

Posted on August 10, 2020 by marielamba

28424320-1340289906116529-7144543962448628714-o Happy Agent Monday, everyone. I hope you are all keeping healthy and safe. And, hopefully, you writers out there are creating lots of wonderful material to brighten the world. I’m so happy to introduce you to one of our newest agents at The Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency: Tara Gilbert. Let’s get to know her with a Q&A right now!

Thanks so much for talking with us today, Tara! How did you get into agenting?

TG: I was fortunate enough to find a wonderful writing group on Twitter that had several interns in the industry. When Entangled Publishing was looking for more interns, my friend Andrea Walker (now an agent at Olswanger Literary) suggested I apply! That’s when I received my first internship in publishing. The following summer, I received my first agency internship with Corvisiero Literary Agency and felling love with agenting.

Can you share some details about yourself, and how these have shaped who you are as an agent and as someone working with authors?

TG: I worked as a Staffing Manager for over a decade before I decided to make a career change. A lot of the skills working as a headhunter are very similar to those of a Literary Agent. I have great intuition, I can negotiate with the best of them, and I’m very outgoing despite being an introvert. Before that, I held many roles in business administration like Buyer, Planning Assistant, Assistant Accountant, Payroll Specialist, and many more. I like to say I’m a jack of all trades, which gives me a strong sense of business and professionalism that agents need.

What types of projects are you representing? Anything you are especially hoping to find in your inbox?

TG: Adult, YA, and MG in most genres. I have the best clients, and I’m so excited for their books to be out in the world. However, they all like dark and tragic stories, so I’d love to sign an author who writes romance or happy books. Someone hilarious, but can make me cry (like TJ Klune’s books do). I’d also love to see more works from authors in underrepresented communities.

Can you give us an example of one of your favorite books in each category that you represent, and why it’s your favorite?

TG: It’s soooo hard to pick one.

Adult – VICIOUS by V.E. Schwab, I love a villain story, but what I love even more is the complicated relationship between Eli and Victor. I love how it’s a story about “superheros/villains,” but it doesn’t feel like a typical sci-fi, and it focuses more on the relationship aspects.

YA – THE RAVEN BOYS by Maggie Stiefvater, I love how her fantasies feel real in the sense that it could happen in real life. She has a literary style to her voice as well, which I love in commercial fiction. Her worldbuilding is smooth and flawless. The friendship of the group is also one of my favorites in fiction.

MG – Anything by Rick Riordan. I think his Percy Jackson series was the first time I ever read a MG book with a gay character in it. I love how diverse his books are and how thoughtful he is with the representation. The voice is perfect for MG and always hilarious. Also, I’m a fan of any mythology.

To help folks understand your point of view, what are some of your favorite TV shows and Movies?

TG: I tend to watch TV shows more than movies, but I will do my best!

TV – Schitts Creek, Gilmore Girls, The Dragon Prince, Killing Eve, Haunting of Hill House, Anne with an E, and so many more.

Movies – Howls Moving Castle ( I love the book too), Stardust (I haven’t read the book, I need to), Booksmart, Dead Poets Society, Little Women (most versions), Anne of Green Gables (1985), 10 Things I Hate About You, and so many more.

Note: I love sci-fi and high fantasy in film, but rarely as books, so I didn’t include a lot of my favorites. 🙂

What’s in your reading pile?

TG: About 500 books (I love buying ebooks). Top of my list is CINDERELLA IS DEAD, FELIX EVER AFTER, THIS IS HOW YOU LOSE A TIME WARE, SILVER IN THE WOOD, MEXICAN GOTHIC, HOUSE OF THE CERULEAN SEA, and CEMETERY BOYS.

I’m currently reading THE NEWSPAPER CLUB and AND I DRAKEN.

What makes a successful query to you?

TG: Short and sweet. I love queries that open with a strong hook/logline. If you can summarize your query into one to two paragraphs, that tells me you have a high concept pitch. Although, sometimes, that can mean a very generic query/plot, so be sure to make it precise and include unique elements.

What are some common query mistakes that will result in an immediate rejection?

TG: I wouldn’t call them mistakes. The most common reason I pass is because I wasn’t connecting with the premise/concept of the book. I also pass because I wasn’t connecting with the writing style (not because the writing was bad, but just because it wasn’t pulling me in).

I will pass if the writing needs more work, but I will usually note that in my pass email. Sometimes the worldbuilding isn’t there, or the author is telling vs. showing the character’s actions and emotions, or the author infodumps and uses too many expository details.

Are you a very editorial agent? What does that mean to you?

TG: I would say I am, but not so much that I become a copy editor. I focus more on plot, character/relationship arcs, and refining voice.

What is your idea of an ideal client?

TG: I love my clients. Each one of them is collaborative and easy to work with, so I would say that’s my ideal client. They each take feedback very well, especially since I am a very blunt agent and don’t always sugar coat everything.

Where can folks go to follow you online?

TG: Facebook: @taragilbertlitagent

Twitter: @literary_tara

Instagram: @literary.tara

Your link for submission guidelines?

https://www.jdlit.com/tara-gilbert

Anything else you’d like people to know about you or what you are looking for?

TG: I love character-driven stories. I love all kinds of voices and writing styles, but I love it when they are especially unique.

Thanks so much for sharing more about yourself here, Tara! Wishing you lots of great submissions from lots of great writers. 🙂

*Marie is an author of YA novels and of picture books, and she’s a Literary Agent at The Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency in New York City. To keep up with all her posts, subscribe to her site.

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On Magical Father-Daughter Walks

Posted on February 19, 2020 by marielamba

Me (then Marie Busterna) age 5 in front of my Wyckoff, NJ home

When I was a little girl growing up in Wyckoff, NJ, my father and I would often explore through wintry landscapes, my mitten in his gloved hand. “Look,” he’d say. “Do you see?”

He’d point out colors and shapes. Suddenly, together, we’d notice that snowdrifts had purple shadows. Red weedy canes rose up from the field. And golden poofs topped long grasses that nodded in the wind. That dreary winter day transformed from a dull slushy gray, into one that was filled with colors and shapes and stunning beauty.

This “noticing” is something I still manage to do every day. Driving by a large open field, I can’t help but pick out russet-colored branches, dusty blue puddles, and swaths of golden and red weeds. And I’m always struck by the subtle beauty that is all too easy to overlook.

These experiences inspired my picture book A DAY SO GRAY (illustrated by Alea Marley, Clarion Books). The story is about two friends out for a walk in winter. “This day is so gray,” one grumbles. “No it isn’t,” the other says, and together they discover colors and beauty all around them. I’ve dedicated this book (not surprisingly) to my dad Santo Busterna. Kirkus noted that the book has an, “almost magical way of seeing and appreciating the world”.

If there is a magic to seeing, it’s a simple one we can all conjure up. It’s one that we can pass like a treasured spell book from parent to child.

Call this magic “mindfulness” if you like. Akin to meditation, mindfulness is said to ground us in the moment, reduce stress, and get us out of our anxious brains and into feeling more alive. Therapists share mindful exercises with their patients. Schools have even enacted mindfulness units to soothe today’s over-programmed kids.

My father, Santo Busterna, and I (note his carved cane!)

My dad was born in the 1930s, long before mindfulness was a thing. He grew up in the then-undeveloped wilds of Long Island. His father, my Nano, was a gruff Sicilian who spent long days building houses, lugging heavy cement blocks by hand. And my Nana was up to her elbows in hot soapy water as she cooked and cleaned for her husband and four children. His parents surely didn’t give him mindfulness exercises to help him notice and relax.

So I asked my dad recently, how did this happen? How did you become someone who noticed so much all the time?

“Well,” he said, “I just did. Back then, we had nature all around us. You stepped out your door and right there were the woods and fields for you to play in and explore.”

Of course nature can certainly be full of beauty, and it’s soothing to boot. But I’ve met plenty of people who grew up in natural surroundings, yet who are still stuck in their own heads. And I’ve known others who have had no real access to nature who still have a mindful eye for details.

In my dad’s case, I think the noticing came easily to him because he was a born artist. Artists are the epitome of mindful because they have to look closely and always observe things in order to then create.

He sketched from an early age, and he loves to tell me of the time he sculpted a dog out of clay. “I was about six years old, and this dog was so perfectly done and so detailed that my teacher insisted I was a liar. That one of my parents must have made it.” For college, he wanted to go to art school, but his father made sure he studied something more practical: Chemistry. Degree in hand, Dad turned to the most creative career he could find, becoming a Perfumer. In his spare time, though, he carved countless original works in wood and in stone.

As for me? I’m not exactly a born artist. And I didn’t grow up surrounded by wild landscape. Instead, my childhood was suburban, full of tidy lawns and clipped azalea bushes, with a few patches of woods between properties. For me, I notice so much simply because my dad showed me how. And because of this I have become a writer, a close observer of the world.

When an adult presses the proverbial pause button to spend time with a child, to share the joy of noticing, well, that’s powerful stuff. This is something we can all do, and it can happen anywhere, at any time. Out on a winter walk. In a muddy park looking for early signs of spring. Strolling along a city sidewalk past busy shops. Even while cozied up on a couch with a picture book on our laps.

Noticing is a special magic, and sharing that experience with someone you love is pure enchantment.

I’m grateful that, no matter how busy my dad might have been, he always took the time to hold my mittened hand in his gloved one so that we could actively see some of the world together.

“Look! Do you see?”

Yes, Dad. I do.

*Marie is an author of YA novels and of picture books, and she’s a Literary Agent at The Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency in New York City. To keep up with all her posts, subscribe to her site.

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A DAY SO GRAY – my book birthday!

Posted on October 29, 2019 by marielamba

Today is the book birthday for my new picture book A DAY SO GRAY!!! Woo hoo!!! As of today, this book is available for purchase everywhere in bookstores and online. It’s illustrated beautifully by the talented Alea Marley, and published by Clarion/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

In this book, warm friendship and a fresh way of seeing things transform a snow-covered landscape from bleak to beautiful! Kirkus says, “The thought-provoking and poetic text effectively celebrates balanced, helpful relationships and a positive, almost magical way of seeing and appreciating the world….Cozy up with this book to start a conversation about finding what’s bright when things seem dull.”

Please join the “party” and help me celebrate this birthday! How? Well, there are a bunch of ways to help this author (and any author you know). Here are a few (and any one of them will be much appreciated):

Obvs, buy the book, if you can. Here’s the link to sites everywhere
Share this post and other posts about the book on social media
Know someone with a grandchild, a baby, or who needs a gift for one on the way? Suggest they check out A DAY SO GRAY.
Attend a signing/reading that I’ll be at – and come and say hi! Don’t feel you have to buy the book there. Your presence will make a huge difference! Here’s where I’ll be, when.
Read and review the book on your own sites, on book sales sites, and on Goodreads.com
Mark my book as “to read” on Goodreads – that means others who are friends with you there will see it too
Belong to a library? Then you can go onto the library’s site and key in this book as a requested purchase for your library system
Are you a teacher/librarian, or do you know one? Perhaps you or they would want to use A DAY SO GRAY for a wintry story time, or for one about colors or mindfulness
Tell anyone about the book who might be interested. Word of mouth is the best way to share!
Be seen in the wild reading this book. Perhaps take a selfie and share it.
If you see A DAY SO GRAY on the shelf somewhere, take a pic or a selfie with it and share online
If you’d like to have me on your blog, or podcast, or chat with you for an article, send me an email at marielamba@hotmail.com
Thinking of booking an author for a school visit? Check out my school visit pages here.
A high five of any sort, whether online or in person, means a lot. Seriously, your support in any way, shape or form, makes a huge difference to this writer. Writing can sometimes be a long and lonely path, so just knowing there are so many good people in my life who are cheering me on? Well, that means the world!

Thanks, everyone! Thanks to my family for their support, always. Thanks to my fabulous agent Jennifer De Chiara. Thanks to my gifted editor, Anne Hoppe, and the wonderful and caring team of editors, designers, publicists and marketing team members at Clarion Books. And thanks to you!

No day is gray with all of you by my side!
🙂 Marie

News! Now Seeking Non-Fiction to Rep!

Posted on June 4, 2019 by marielamba

Hi everyone! I’m so excited to announce that, in addition to representing fiction and memoir, I’m now also representing non-fiction projects. I’m actively hunting for non-fiction works, so hit me up with your query if you think our interests align.

As you may know, I’m a Literary Agent at the Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency in NYC. I’ve done deals with major publishers, including Simon & Schuster, Random House, Scholastic, Harper Collins, etc., and I’ve secured film and TV deals for clients as well. So far that’s all been within the realm of children’s and adult fiction. I’m really looking forward to jumping into the world of non-fiction too!

For children’s non-fiction, I’m open to looking at most subjects. In the adult realm, I want memoirs with strong voices and unique, inspiring stories (especially foodie memoirs, or ones with a celebrity or pop culture connection). And in adult non-fiction, I’m seeking narrative non-fiction, pop culture, history (little known or unique view of well-known), science and technology for the rest of us, art, biography (especially unknown/little known sides of well-known people), parenting, cooking and food, health and wellness, lifestyle, advice and relationships, and personal finance.

Overall, I’m especially looking for non-fiction that is inspiring and hopeful. I have a special interest in social justice, in titles that elevate and celebrate women and diverse people, and in books that aim to improve our society and help our environment.

Do you have a non-fiction project that seems to fit? Then send it my way. Please follow my submission guidelines, though, which you can find by clicking here. Along with my guidelines, you’ll also find some more specifics about the type of books I gravitate towards.

I look forward to seeing what you have!

*Marie is a Literary Agent at The Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency in New York City. To keep up with all her posts, subscribe to her site.

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Webinar for YA Writers – with Critique and Q&A!

Posted on July 3, 2018 by marielamba

MP910220840 Hot summer tip time… Attention writers of YA novels! Literary agent Cari Lamba and I (we’re both from the Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency in NYC) are teaching the live Writer’s Digest Webinar “Write And Sell Your Young Adult Novel – Must-Know Info For Getting Published” on Thursday July 12th at 1 p.m.

This 90 minute webinar will help you craft and sell a novel that literary agents, publishers and readers will love. It covers the YA market (including the 10 things the top NYC editors are asking for right now), tools that will help you craft a strong and focused YA novel, and details on how to create a professional and artful query letter that will impress literary agents.

The webinar includes a Q&A plus a personal critique of your query letter and your YA novel’s opening pages.

A bit about us… Cari and I are both agents at The Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency in New York. We represent authors of fiction for children through adults, pitching their novels to all the major publishers. In addition, I’m an author of picture books and young adult novels (including the Random House novel WHAT I MEANT…, and the novels DRAWN and OVER MY HEAD), so along with our literary agent point of view, I’ll bring my YA author perspective to this webinar as well.

*Can’t attend the live webinar? Registration still entitles you to a copy of the on demand webinar, plus the critique. So you can still go for it!*

Interested? Act quickly, the webinar is SOON! Eep! For info and registration click here.

*Marie is a Literary Agent at The Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency in New York City. To keep up with all her posts, subscribe to her site.

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GREEN GREEN’s Book Birthday!

Posted on May 9, 2017 by marielamba

green-green-front-cover “They say it’s your BIRTHDAY!” Yup, it’s true. Today is the official publication day of GREEN GREEN: A Community Gardening Story!!! It’s my debut picture book, co-authored with my husband, Landscape Architect Baldev Lamba, and illustrated by the phenomenal artist Sonia Sanchez. School Library Journal calls it, “An attractive read-aloud for beginning lessons on gardening.” This book is available everywhere books are sold. To purchase it, please contact your wonderful local bookstore — they will be happy to help you! Or, to order online, click here for a number of choices.

In the book, green grass is wide and fresh and clean for a family to play in, and brown dirt is perfect for digging a garden. But when gray buildings start to rise up and a whole city builds, can there be any room for green space? The neighborhood children think so, and they inspire the community to join together and build a garden for everyone to share in the middle of the city.

This is a fun and busy book, full of action, digging, construction stuff, nature, silliness and engrossing pictures. Every time I look through the pages, I discover something new and delightful! Can I just say I’m in awe of Sonia’s illustrations?

And at the end of the story, the book includes easy ways children and families can be more GREEN GREEN, including ways to help threatened honeybees and Monarch butterflies. There’s even a fun craft for kids!

Community gardening is such an important movement throughout the country, bringing together people and transforming the ground into lush gardens that feed and delight. GREEN GREEN is all about sustainability, something so close to my heart. And this book shows how children can make a real difference in our world. I especially love the diverse cast of children throughout the pages.

Just as a community garden needs many busy hands in order to grow, GREEN GREEN required the care and talent of so many wonderful folk. Thank you to my amazing agent, Jennifer De Chiara, to my editor Susan Dobinick, who planted the seeds, to my editor Grace Kendall, who helped this book grow, and to the wonderful team at Farrar Straus Giroux/Macmillan for, oh, just EVERYTHING they have done to bring GREEN GREEN into the hands of children across the world.

DSCN5510 And thank you to the many folks in my life who continue to support this wacky writer! My family, my wonderful friends, my network of amazing writer buddies…my community! You’ve all helped me grow. 🙂 And thank you to the fabulous network of bookstore friends, librarians, and schools who are sharing GREEN GREEN! And to readers out there? Adults who take the time to sit with a child in their lap and make a book come to life for a child? Wow. You are the real heroes of any book.

Yup – I’m a bit gushy here. But, hey, it is a birthday party, after all. 😉 Okay… just wanted to close with a huge THANK YOU to the fabulous indie bookstores Doylestown Bookshop in Doylestown, PA, and Clinton Books in Clinton, NJ for hosting us on our book launch weekend! (Both stores have author-signed copies of GREEN GREEN on their shelves right now for sale. To snag one, call or stop in at these stores.) And for an updated listing of where I’ll be doing future book signings and story times, you can check out my appearances page here.

*Marie is a Literary Agent at The Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency in New York City. To keep up with all her Agent Monday posts, subscribe to her site.

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Be GREEN GREEN!: Bee Friendly Weed Spray

Posted on April 22, 2017 by marielamba

GREEN GREEN – a new picture book by Marie and Baldev Lamba, for more info click here

Honeybees are dying off. One of the reasons? The use of herbicides, chemicals and pesticides. Honeybees play a vital role in pollinating fruits, vegetables, and herbs. Did you know that about a third of all food Americans eat is directly or indirectly derived from honeybees? Now imagine our world without them. Yikes! We need them, and now they need us! What can you do to help? Ditch those harsh chemicals!

Here’s an easy formula for a BEE FRIENDLY WEED SPRAY. You’ll help save the bees, you won’t have to worry about spraying gunk that will be dangerous for kids and pets, AND you’ll save a ton of money, too. Win win all around.

BEE FRIENDLY WEED SPRAY RECIPE:

Fill a spray bottle with…
1 gallon of vinegar
1 ounce of liquid dish soap

Some tips: This spray works best in full sun. Spray on a day without rain to let it take effect. You’ll see results almost immediately. When weeds die down, it’s a good opportunity to remove any extra soil or plant debris from sidewalk and walkway cracks that would encourage future weeds. Keep a spray bottle on hand to zap any weeds that come back.

How well does this work? Here’s my sidewalk’s BEFORE:

And just a few hours later:

And the next day… a great AFTER:

I just removed the dead vegetation. Best of all – no bees were harmed! No animals either. Please spread the word and share this post with others. You can Bee the solution!

Want your kids to think green? Then check out my new picture book GREEN GREEN: A COMMUNITY GARDENING STORY (Farrar Straus Giroux), which is available in stores and online wherever books are sold. For more info and for links to retailers, please click here. This book celebrates the joys of gardening, and includes ways kids can help the world be more GREEN GREEN. School Library Journal calls it, “An attractive read-aloud for beginning lessons on gardening.”

*Marie is co-author of the new picture book GREEN GREEN: A COMMUNITY GARDENING STORY and a Literary Agent at The Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency in New York City. To keep up with all her posts, subscribe to her site.

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Agent Monday: 6 “To Do’s” if You Write

Posted on April 3, 2017 by marielamba

Mixed Race girl on floor with a computer Happy Agent Monday, everyone! I know, I know — it’s been a while since I’ve posted here. But I have been SO busy in a really good way with doing agenty stuff. Okay, so I’m STILL really busy, but I do think it’s time to get our Agent Monday show back on the road, don’t you? So here is my “6 To Do’s if You Write” post. Are you doing these 6 things? And if not, shouldn’t you?

Last week, I was honored to be the featured speaker at Franklin & Marshall College’s Philadelphia Alumni Writers House. As I prepped for my talk, I began to think about what would have helped me when I was in college. Back then, becoming a published author still felt like a distant dream. As an aspiring author, what I really needed were guideposts that would help me truly get where I wanted to be.

Now looking back, I realize there were 6 things I did that definitely helped me achieve my dream of being a published author, plus these ensured that writing would be my life-long career. I hope this list will help you, whether you are just starting out, or are in the thick of things, yet feeling stuck.:

IDENTIFY YOURSELF AS A WRITER – Even if it doesn’t seem to make sense, believe that you ARE a writer. Tell yourself that, and tell that to everyone you know.
DON’T BE DETERRED – Plenty of things will get in your way…lack of support…writing that isn’t quite ready for prime time…tons of rejections. Just remember that the only thing that can really stop you from writing is you.
BE STUBBORN — BUT NOT TOO STUBBORN – Yes, believe in your voice and vision, and persist in getting your work out there. BUT also be open to revision and constructive criticism. And move on to write the next book, and the next.
EXPECT MAJOR SETBACKS – AND TAKE A LONG VIEW OF THINGS – Bad things will happen in your writing life and in your personal life. REALLY bad things. But see what you can take from them and look ahead. You can get beyond it (see Don’t Be Deterred above).
MAKE IT WORK IN THE REAL WORLD – Realize that there is nothing romantic about a starving writer. Fit writing in, live within reasonable means, AND find a way to make money. Most published authors do this.
KNOW THAT WRITING IS AN ART, BUT PUBLISHING IS A BUSINESS – While your writing is very personal to you, for publishers it’s a way to make money. If they pass on acquiring your work, it’s not personal, it’s business. Learn how to act professionally (lots of posts on this blog will help you with that), and it’ll help you share your art with the world. And don’t forget to be appreciative to those on your team. Publishing is made up of humans – a lovely thank you goes a long way!

*Marie is a Literary Agent at The Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency in New York City. To keep up with all her Agent Monday posts, subscribe to her site.

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Agent Monday: Halloween Treat – Behind the Scenes with Illustrator Lee Harper

Posted on October 31, 2016 by marielamba

TTTCover Happy Agent Monday – Halloween style! For a special treat, I’m excited to have a guest post from our talented client, author/illustrator Lee Harper. He’s going to take you into his studio for a behind the scenes look at how he created the images for Wendi Silvano’s too-funny TURKEY TRICK OR TREAT (Two Lions). Lee’s currently hard at work illustrating the sequel to Leslie Helakoski’s wonderful WOOLBUR picture book, titled WOOLBUR GETS READY FOR SCHOOL (Harper Collins). To see his portfolio, and get info on his books, visit his website here.

****LAST MINUTE UPDATE! I just found out that TURKEY TRICK OR TREAT is read aloud by Scandal’s actor Guillermo Diaz on the show BOOK-A-BOO. The reading has fun animations and is available for streaming here. Perfect treat for kiddos of all ages. 😉

Okay, take it away, Lee!

Tricks Behind Illustrating Turkey Trick or Treat
by Lee Harper

After I received the manuscript for Wendi Silvano’s Turkey Trick or Treat, I started by filling up sketchbooks with drawings. In the beginning, I let the story and my imagination take me wherever they wanted to take me without worrying about how it would all come together. A lot of the character development happened during the sketchbook drawing stage. There were a lot of animal characters to develop.

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There were also a lot of human characters to develop, each with their own costume.

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All the characters needed to look like they belonged to the same reality.

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Only a small percentage of my early stage drawings made it into the book. As a result, I have a vast collection of storyless characters as this illustration shows.

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I mixed in some experimental painting during the drawing process to make sure the drawings would work in color. This sheriff turkey didn’t make it into the book but gave Wendi an idea for another turkey story!

When I had a general idea of the characters and an overall visual theme in mind, I started the dummy by creating a storyboard with thumbnail sketches on Post-its. At this time I also gave myself a drawing schedule that kept me moving along. I like to do this part fast, in one fell swoop. Details can wait for later.

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The great thing about storyboarding with Post-its is you can quickly mix and match images —like putting together a puzzle — and because each drawing is small, it’s impossible to delve prematurely into too many details.

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When the storyboard was done, I began a more detailed dummy by drawing each individual element of each page, scanning it, and placing it in Photoshop.

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I then arranged all the elements of each page, including the text. Since each element of the drawings was an individual layer in Photoshop, I could easily re-arrange things and make revisions.

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Once I had all the drawings completed, I saved each two-page spread as a JPEG file and created a PDF dummy to email to my editor and art director at Two Lions. After revising the sketches according to their notes, I printed out the pages 10% larger than actual size and traced them onto watercolor paper using a light table.

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After the lightly drawn drawing was complete, I soaked the watercolor paper with water and stretched it on a board to keep the paper flat during painting.

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While painting I referred to photo-reference material I collected during the drawing stage. I needed to show the farmer’s feet in one of the illustrations so I photographed my son Dan’s pants and boots. (There’s nobody in there.)

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This is the illustration with the boots and pants.

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Because Turkey Trick or Treat was the third in a series of books about the same character, I regularly referred to the first two books to make sure I kept things somewhat consistent.

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Here’s my watercolor palette while I was working. This is actually the first book in which I use a black pigment. Usually I make darks by mixing other colors, but for Turkey Trick or Treat I wanted a very pitch-black sky.

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I have an unusual painting process that involves spraying a mist of water in the air and swinging the painting through the mist. It eliminates hard edges.

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Here’s a painting under construction.

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And finally, an illustration comes to life.

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Thanks so much, Lee, for giving us such a great behind the scenes look into your studio and fun creative world!

Happy Halloween, everyone. And keep your eyes peeled tonight for Turkey trying to steal some of your treats!

*Marie is a Literary Agent at The Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency in New York City. To keep up with all her Agent Monday posts, subscribe to her site.