Character Art: Little Raindrop's New Friends!

Hi There!


I've been working on new character designs this week! Little Raindrop will be meeting lots of new friends on his travels, and I've been sketching up all kinds of water drops to see what I come up with! Here is the whole gang, as I have been drawing them so far:

There will be more, and I'll keep you updated, as always! Until then, keep checking my sketchbook to see if anything new pops up!


Thanks for visiting!
~Miss Melanie

Mr. H's Class to the Rescue!

Hello, Readers!


A part of my job as illustrator is to not just draw the pictures, but to also draw them again and again! An illustrator does multiple sketches for each illustration to test out layouts and different ideas. Sometimes it is very hard to decide which idea to follow through with, and the artist will get feedback from friends, family, and other art professionals.


Lucky for me, I have Mr. H's class to help me when I need some feedback!


This happened recently, when I could not decide between three different layout designs. I sent my designs to Mr. H and he took a vote from the class:

    

The group decided which layout they liked best... and they even wrote to tell me why!

Thanks for all your help, kids!


To learn more about how a book is made, check out "How A Book is Made" by Aliki! It looks like this:

 Have a great week!
~Miss Melanie

New Activity Page: Predator Pairs and Crabby Cumulonimbus!

Hi Kids!


I've just about finished sketching up all of Chapter One in Little Raindrop's chapter book. And the cool thing about that is... at the end of each chapter is a fun Activity Page! Woo hoo!

Here is a sample of what it will look like:

Mr. H and I wanted to test out the activity pages on his class of third-graders. They are EXPERTS on activity pages! Here is some of what they did:

Mr. H also drew up an activity page to help the kids understand the water cycle a bit more. This is what it looks like:

And this is what some of the kids did with their pages:

GREAT JOB, Everybody!!! 


It looks like we're on the right track with these activities! I plan to make them less sketchy looking and more official looking, and you'll be able to view and print them from the main Activities page when they are complete! Although, I won't be able to share ALL of the activities from Little Raindrop's book... you'll have to wait and see once the book is finished!


Thanks for reading!
~Miss Melanie

Sneak Peek: The Art of Pages 2 & 3!

The text is TOP SECRET! So we erased it before sharing the art!

To learn more about how this page was made, click here!

My #NY12SCBWI Adventure!

Hiya Little Water Heroes!

Boy oh boy, did I have an AMAZING weekend! I went with my illustrator Melanie to the SCBWI conference in New York City! If you wonder why it rained... well, golly, that was me and my rain buddies! But Melanie was kind enough to carry me around in her water bottle, so I could meet lots of neat new people.

And you know what else she did? Melanie brought with her a partial Book Dummy of my story to display next to her portfolio in the Portfolio Showcase! We learned that about 300 professionals from the children's book industry got to see it! What's a Book Dummy? Well it's a rough copy of what the book will look like when it's done. It isn't the finished product, but it's still a great sample to share with friends!

This is what it looks like right now:

Isn't that neat?!?! I think so too!

Do you know what else is neat? You can be a Water Hero by asking your parents to fix that leaky faucet! Lots and lots of gallons of fresh drinking water can be saved by just doing that one little thing. Clean drinking water is very special and important to protect, so keep up the good work!

Later, alligator!

~LR

December Update!

Hey Everybody!

Can you believe December is almost over? Today marks the first official day of Winter, and you know what that means... I get to be a snowflake! Yahoooo!

December also brings great news about my story! Richard, (whom I shall call Mr. H from now on), Miss Melanie and I have been gathering our thoughts and putting our heads together on how my story will be told best. And we've decided that my story is in fact THREE stories in one! It looks like we're working on a potential trilogy! Isn't that amazing?! I'm about to burst with happiness!

We also want to wish you all a very happy holiday season, full of love and friends and good food! But most of all, I hope you'll have some fun in the SNOW! Hee hee!

Be good Little Water Heroes and keep your showers short! I know you're feeling chilly but a sweater will do the trick in a jiffy! Oh, and check out this neat song about the Water Cycle: http://havefunteaching.com/songs/science-songs/water-cycle-song/

See You Around!
~LR

Little Raindrop: Character Art

Hey there, Kiddos!


Today I sketched a lot of character art for how we want Little Raindrop to look in his book. Little Raindrop was kind enough to pose and make faces for me for inspiration, and he did a swell job! Our next step is to decide which style we all like best, though Little Raindrop can't make up his mind; he says one style looks more like his mom and the other looks more like his dad! You can see what I did here on my blog!


I've also been working on a scene for an Ocean Habitat! I don't want to spoil the surprise but I can tell you this much: one of the underwater creatures in the ocean scene has eight wriggling arms! But, shhh! Don't tell anyone I told you that!


Keep on conserving! ;D
~Melanie, The Official Illustrator