Wow. Stop doing something for a few months and it becomes hard to get into the habit again. I meant to pick up the daily doodle again after finishing the art for Smoky, but you know what they say about good intentions.

I guess I should not be so tough on myself. It’s not as if I haven’t been trying to put out all the fires that started while I was working so single-minded on the book art. My to-do-right-now list was several pages deep. I am finally seeing a light at the end of the tunnel, but it’s the train of my book signing tour coming to whisk me away from the studio for much of the rest of the spring.

I start out with a trip down to Texas, a new state as an author/illustrator. I’ve been there twice before. I have a cousin and her family living in a suburb of Houston. I thought about giving her a call and trying to meet up with her, but the logistics are just too hairy. I will be about an hour north of the city and without my own vehicle.

If you are in Texas, I’ll be at the CMA Beltane celebration from April 13-18. I will be out of the studio longer than that as it’s a couple days drive down and back. My poor husband quipped that I am abandoning him. I’m sure he’ll be fine.

In other news, a writer friend of mine put out a call to other middle grade authors. I was one of the 2 dozen writers that answered her call. We are banding together to form a web site focused on the middle grade audience. For those who are unfamiliar with that designation, it refers to books for the 9-13 old age group. Charolette’s Web is a famous book in this bracket. I had the total audacity to volunteer to be the webmeister. So in the time between now and my travels, I will be throwing together a multi-layered web site to promote the wonderful books aimed at younger readers. More info as it becomes available.

Next post will have some photos of the masks I have been feverishly working on to take with me to Texas. See you then!

Please give a big welcome to Meredith Johnson. A prolific illustrator with 100 or so picture books to her name. Her bio on Picture Book goes like this:
“So do you have kids?” the editors ask, and Meredith always says “Yep, they’re my scrap.” Picture scrap, that is. Twenty-three years of illustrating children’s books and she’s not out of material, yet. Meredith lives nestled in the foothills of La Cañada, California.
Thanks for joining us today, Meredith.

When did you get started illustrating for children? What did you do before?

I did my first books in 1985. I was working as an art director in an advertising firm, Olgivy & Mather in LA. I simply did books nights and weekends for years.

Tell us a little bit about the recent books you illustrated, The Princess Twins and the Abby and Tess Pet Sitters series.

The Princess Twins and the Tea Party is a series of 4 easy readers for Zondervan, full color, 2 little girls as princesses sort of in the Middle Ages. Goldfish Don’t Take Bubble Baths (Abby and Tess Pet-Sitters) is a series of 8 chapter books. Each features a different adventure in pet sitting a different exotic pet. Each book has about 12 B&W illustrations for each chapter. These were fun to do because the stories are zaney.

What are you working on right now? Do you have any other books or art projects you’d like to talk about?

I’m working on an author’s self published picture book now, about a little girl and manners. I’m working with the book designer, a close friend,  all the way though, so it should be a very cute book. I’m also working on two easy reader picture books and a little bit of educational work in between.

Do you illustrate full time? If not, what else do you do?

I have been illustrating full time for the past 12 years, since getting out of full time agency work.

Your signature style has been consistent for years. Have you ever wanted to experiment with something different?

I do have  a signature style, and it would be nice to experiment, but I manage to stay really busy, so I stick to what I am comfortable with, and what I’m hired for.

When you illustrate a picture book how do you decide what scenes and details to draw?

When I first get the manuscript, I read it over several times to get the ebb and flow, and the feel for what the lead character should look like. Then I do really rough pencils, just thinking on paper. The pictures are meant to tell the story as much and more than the words, so I suppose it’s my way of “telling” what the author wrote.

When illustrating picture books do you include a visual storyline not mentioned by the text or include animals or people you know?

I always show more than the words show. I just about always add a pet as a sidekick, for more action in the pictures. A well written picture book is sparse on description, to let the pictures to be a grand show. A different illustrator would have a much different take on the same text.

Can you explain your art process?
My process is pencil or pen line, and markers on bond paper. This comes from years and years of storyboarding when I worked as an art director. I worked on Mattel Barbie commercials for 22 years, and every commercial had to be storyboarded several times. I was also doing 4 to 6 picture books a year then, so my most comfortable fit was marker made to look as much as possible like water color. My web site is meredithjohnson.net

Do you use models/source pictures or do you draw from your memory/imagination?

I don’t use models, but I do use Google to look up visuals of things I don’t have a good working knowledge of, like animals I’m not familiar with, things like that. Mostly I draw from memory. Because I draw children so much, I keep catalogs or magazines once in a while to use for ideas about the latest of what kids wear, and what they do with their hair.

If you could be anything other than an artist, what would you be?

I can’t think of anything I’d rather do than books, but publishing is getting smaller and leaner, so maybe I’d like to travel more instead of working all the time at a desk.

Is there a children’s book illustrator whose work you gravitate towards in the bookstore now?

The books and illustrators I admire are Carl Larsson, Arthur Rackham, Rien Poortvliet, Lisbeth Zwerger, Trina Schart Hyman, Sergio Martinez, Shirley Hughes, Hilary Knight, to name a few.  At bookstores now I get overwhelmed at the lovely art everywhere….there’s a lot of competition out there!

Thank you so much for taking time out of your hectic schedule to give us a peek into your illustrator’s life.

I have been putting out fires since finishing the illustrations for Smoky and the Feast of Mabon. I uploaded all the files to the publisher and they only had a few minor changes. I received color proofs last Monday and they looked great! The books are in production now according to the publisher and I expect to see my F&Gs in early April. (An F&G is the picture book equivalent of an ARC for a novel.) Somehow, when I get the F&G the book finally feels “real” to me. I can’t wait.

One of the things I finally got around to was the last touches on the kitchen/dining room renovations. See the photos here. Chuck still has to help me get the last piece of furniture up from the basement, but I decided to take the pictures this afternoon after hanging the curtain rods and curtains in the dining room.

I am so pleased with the huge change. The rooms do not look as if they are even the same house as before. And it’s all so clean! It feels so much bigger, too.

Next home renovation project — the bathroom. SO not looking forward to that. There needs to be major plumbing replacement, so most of the budget will be spent on stuff that no one sees.

Guest Interview: Wendy Martin on Critique Groups « Becky Levine.

It seems an artist’s work is never done. I finished the art for Smoky and the Feast of Mabon on Monday. It is now in the hands of the publisher.

I had a pile of correspondence to catch up on and one of those things was this interview about critique groups by Becky Levine. She was especially interested since I both write and illustrate.

When you head over to her blog be sure to leave her a comment! We bloggers live for comments!

Red Lemon Club: Online Self Promotion for Creatives.

I am still working hard on the final illustrations for Smoky and the Feast of Mabon by Catherynne M. Valente. The book is now up on both the publisher’s web site and amazon for pre-order which really puts the pressure on me because people are ORDERING the book already. LOL

After I finish up with the book, the next big project on my to-do list is to make this site fully functional and work harder at bring me paying illustration jobs. I am learning all about marketing and SEO specifically geared toward creatives. The link above is my newest find.

Of course, having the info and taking it and implementing it are two entirely different animals. I have yet to figure out a good way to go about the implementing part where I actually follow through before another project distracts me. I have been on Twitter for a few months now (@lyonmartin) and the community I have found there tells me this is a common failing among my fellow artists. Seems we are all easily distracted.

I am itching to get back to my daily doodle. And my daily exercise routine. I don’t know why, but the stuff I do to keep myself sane the rest of the time slips away when I am finishing a book. The drug of choice this book has been cheese doodles. Go figure.