Don't Call Me Pruneface!, written by Janet Reed Ahearn and published by Disney- Hyperion will be
released the first week of August. I thought I would post the cover and a interior image
along with some isolated ones.
I had a great time illustrating this book and I think in it Janet cleverly deals with two interesting personalities and the rocky road to friendship.
Prudence is the inelegant new arrival to a conventional neighbourhood and is not eager to make friends with Paul who is rebuffed with a escalating symphony of insults as he tries to break through
to her and her troublesome cat, throwing his life out of whack and not finding much comfort in
his Grandmothers short missives of advice.

What I loved about the book is how Paul is tenacious in his attempts at friendship with a girl who doesn't share his sensibilities but obviously feels he has a connection with, wants to hang out with, resulting in a crisis point.

Parents (or Grandparents) are not always around to help or give you a obvious solution, sometimes you can't help getting angry and it can open a door to a solution, its ok to mess up are interesting ( but not politically incorrect,at least not to me) ideas this book tackles with what can happen on the road to friendship.



Rather than pointing out some of the troubling personality of Prudence by overly brooding images, I hoped that
by juxtaposing the troubling inner conflict going on within the characters with images of a brighter,ordinary world around them that kids would be able to find jumping off points of discussion with what is going on in the book and how they would resolve such situations on their own.



I think Janet wrote a funny, multilayered story as well as a simple, fun to read, slice of life adventure.
Hope you like it.






I'l also be doing a giveaway of three signed copies of the book.
All you have to do is email me drazenart@rogers.com with Pruneface! as the subject and I will
put the names in a hat and on the second week of August I'll put my hand in this hat and randomly select 3 winners. First prize gets a sketch incuded.

Hey, hey my box of Julia Gillian and the Dream of the Dog arrived!
Scholastic did a beautiful job with the printing and I think it looks beautiful and a big thank you to Tracy and Marijka over there who made this such a wonderful experience.
And a super duper thank you Alison for writing such a wonderful series and letting me be a part of it! Its been a great 3 year adventure in Julia Gillian's neighborhood!

And a congratulations to Jon Terada for winning the grand prize!
I'll be notifying Jon and the other four winners by email and sending out the books in the next week.


Its always a exciting moment when the box of books arrives at the door
and you open it and see them for the first time in its final form.










Its always a little surreal to see images you've been working on over months and staring at on paper
and on the computer screen between boards with a dustjacket.
I'm very happy with the feel and printing of these books in the hand. And as I've said previously,
this is my favourite of the three books and Alison wrote a funny, heart wrenching and uplifting book.

Thanks to everyone who has put there names in to receive a free copy of Julia Gillian and the Dream of the Dog! Above is an image from the book. I've decided to wait till the weekend of July 9th to draw the five names to make sure I have recieved copies of the book myself and can mail them out the following week. I'll be giving away 3 hardcovers of Dream of the Dog and 2 copies of Julia Gillian and the Quest for Joy. All you have to do is email me at drazenart@rogers.com with the title Hypnotik Eye and I'll throw your name in the hat. The book should be in the stores in a week or two and is my favourite of the three Julia Gillian books.

Beautiful 1905 edition of Noah's Ark by Boyd Smith.

X were fantastic last night!

Some pics from up at Gravenhurst. Apart from relaxing with with friends I began sketching out a new picture book that I'm very excited about.

Sketch from a little a time up in Gravenhurst.

Another 5 year anniversary that is coming up for me is the starting of this blog, so as Julia Gillian and Dream of the Dog is coming out in a month I thought I would have a little contest. I'll be giving away 5 books ( the first 3 will be the new hardcover of Dream of the Dog with a special bonus for first and the other two will be the softcover of Julia Gillian and the Art of Knowing)
If you are interested in having your name thrown in the hat for a prize, email me at drazenart@rogers.com with the heading Hypnotik Eye and in 3 weeks I will pick the 5 names from the mentioned hat ( a stylish hat to boot).

Its just about 5 years ago (end of June) that the first children's book I illustrated, the wonderful Diary of a Fairy Godmother by Esme Raji Codell was published by Hyperion. I feel fortunate to have worked on this book. It lead to working on other great books over these years. I've got some sketches of these witches that I need to post one day soon.

Had to get some files from a external hardrive and came across these old pieces.
The middle one is a sketch for a story the other two were sketches that got a little further worked up.

Going to see the Buzzcocks tomorrow so Vive le Rock!

Julia Gillian and the Dream of the Dog will be out in a month and I previously posted some sketch's.
Here is one final and the initial sketch. I did almost 100 interior black and white illustrations
so posting one can't hurt.

Last night I finished Making Mischief: A Maurice Sendak Appreciation by Gregory Maguire. Its a fairly quick read and filled with a nice career overview of illustrations if you don't have the two large Sendak Monographs (which are fantastic). The book
compares various themes and influences/inspirations in his work and being more compact gives a good indication of the wide variety of styles and techniques Sendak used on various books.
Still have to see the Spike Jonez documentary that came out recently