"Journey of the Sea Glass" Book Trailer

Check out the book trailer I just finished for my new book, Journey of the Sea Glass! The book is due out next month, July 16th (I think!!). 

So finally here's a sneak peek at the book that I've been working on so hard for

 a                     very                     long                     time                     !         

I really hope you enjoy it. Be sure to check out the book as soon as it hits stores. You can find it on the DownEast website, Amazon and local Maine stores, right away. And then hopefully many more stores nationwide soon after!

I owe a great big THANK YOU to the wonderful and talented Billy Libby, whose beautiful song, Bus Ride (off his latest album, "Pitter Patter"), was playing in my head as I was putting together this trailer. He so graciously shared an instrumental version of this song that I love so much, for use in the trailer video. It fits so perfectly, I just love it. I'm sure you will, too, so here's a link to his website to hear more: billylibby.com

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Let me know what you think! I want to hear from you all with your thoughts or any questions! Follow me on Twitter @Fazillustration or find me on Facebook to keep in touch! Thanks!

Cute cute cute

Have you seen this commercial? I dig it.

"By uniting Book People like you, Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) is igniting a movement to get books to kids who need them most. Join us.www.bookpeopleunite.org

Mission

Getting books and literacy resources to kids who need them most

Company Overview

Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) prepares and motivates children to read by delivering free books and literacy resources to those children and families who need them most.

Founded in 1966, RIF is the nation's largest children's literacy nonprofit organization. RIF’s highest priority is reaching underserved children from birth to age 8. Through community volunteers in every state and U.S. territory, RIF provides 4 million children with 15 million new, free books and literacy resources each year.

For more information about RIF, visit us at www.rif.org. "

Great Art for Under $10

You can have lots of great art around your home, even if you're on a tight budget, like me!

Dave spotted some great pieces while we were shopping at Artist & Craftsmen the other day (yeah, he's good like that), and I thought I would pass along our trick to having lots of great art in the house on the cheap!

Jessie Wilcox Smith, "Don't be Scared"

The not-so-secret secret? CARDS! Sometimes even the smallest prints and original art can come with a rather hefty price tag, but I think everyone can and should be collectors of art. Using cards as prints is a great way to have little pops of color and beauty around your home, without shelling out a ton of cash. I do think, though, that when you come across a print or original piece of artwork that you just love, you gotta go for it. Art is one of those things that when you have a reaction to it, and you really, really, really LOVE it, you should really, really, really HAVE it! Especially because you don't know if you'll be able to find it again, so grab it when you love it.

Anyway, I digress.

We like to keep our eyes peeled for quality cards to frame and hang or place around our home. I also keep nice cards that people have sent me. Just cut it down the fold so you're left with the cover of the card. Mat that puppy, and pop it in a cute or simple frame! No one can tell it's just a regular old greeting card, and you get to enjoy the art for a great steal. This is a fun way to spruce up the spare room before guests arrive, or change out the art in any room as often as you like to fit your design!


Here are a couple that we just got that prompted this post, each one ended up costing around $10.

I just adore the work of Jessie Wilcox Smith, don't you? This one is so sweet and reminds me of the way I snuggle Riley, sometimes–when she lets me! 

So this was a 5"x7" blank card that cost, I think, $4.50. The 8"x10" frame is a MainStays frame from Walmart, which you can get most anywhere for around $2. I had leftover matte board, which I cut myself, but you can usually find pre-cut matte at places like Michales for a few dollars (sometimes frames will come with a matte already and that's even less work you for you. Score!).

This Alice in Wonderland piece, below, one is the other we just put together, and really adds a lot to this little plant table and is so nice to have for inspiration. Same costs.

This illustration is from the old Alice in Wonderland. Got to love that line work and the colors just can't be beat.
Love it, my man has a good eye!

And here is a 4"x6" letterpress card that my sister gave me several years ago for my birthday. I really loved it and wanted to keep it, so I put it in a plastic frame that I got on sale (the back is broken for hanging, but it still works just fine as a tabletop frame!) and I really like the combination. 

So if you're like me and want to be surrounded by beautiful art all the time, this is a great way to have champagne taste on a beer budget! Pick up affordable frames as you see them, so that when you receive a beautiful card from a friend, or find a greeting card of your favorite painter, you can whip up some art in under 10 minutes. Enjoy!

New book trailer for My Maine

I just finished putting together a book trailer for My Maine! It was fun to make, and I'm in the process of making one for Journey of the Sea Glass next.  I had been seeing more and more of these book trailers coming out for children's books and just had to create one. It's a great way to offer a little preview of the book before buying, or to pass along to friends and family as recommended reading.  

Please enjoy this little tour around the Pine Tree State with My Maine 
& if you like it, do share it!

And a big thank you to miss Livvy for the lovely voiceover work!! Good job, girl!

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For more information on how to order your copy of My Maine, click here.

Interview at MomsInMaine!

I was recently approached by a fantastic, brand new (and already rapidly growing!), "mommy blog" website for an interview about being an illustrator, my children's books, and living in Maine!
MomsinMaine.com is a great local resource for parents raising their children in Maine, and I was more than happy to be featured on their site. It came at a perfect time, too, as I am beginning to promote my newest children's book, Journey of the Sea Glass, coming out next month! I hope that the readers of MomsinMaine will enjoy it and spread the word. This was my first interview of any kind, so I apologize if I rambled on at times – it's all still so new to me! I'm honored to be one of the very first interviews/articles on this new Maine resource, that I believe will be a huge success.

Here is the link to the blog, where I'll be right there on the front page for a few weeks. 

Just follow the link to "read more": 

www.MomsInMaine.com

(After that, the link to the interview will move to the archives, 

where it will remain so that you may always read it in the future.)

I made the front page! 

Thank you for this fun opportunity, Michelle! 

Happy World Penguin Day!

Well I saw on a fellow illustrator's Facebook page that today, April 25th, is World Penguin Day! Did you know that? I certainly didn't, but now we do! Penguins are my favorite, so what better excuse for a little blog post; I thought I'd share a few little penguins with you today.

The flip book is from many years ago; a little side project (called Moving Stationary) of flip book greeting cards that I started researching and made a batch of books, but never really had the time or money to put into full effect. Still like the idea and will hopefully look into it again someday! Anyway, this excited little penguin just wants to chill (har har har) with you. I had fun making it waddle :)

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This one was given to me as a birthday gift in college, by a dear friend and magically talented [2D and 3D] illustrator, Sean Bixby. Everyone has always known about my love of penguins, it's no secret. The expression and personality captured in this little crafted bit of clay is just so great. I've always kept it in my studio to brighten up the mood. Like I said on my Facebook page about it, you better believe I'll be hanging on to this little guy forever–a Bixby original will be worth millions one day! Be sure to check out his new and improved website if you have a minute, to see more of his creations.

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Over the past couple of years, I've taken some trips to the New England Aquarium in Boston, either for fun, or to take reference shots for Down East in the Ocean (which was also still fun, of course). Though penguins have yet to be the subject matter of any of my books or illustration jobs, I still spend way too much time at the penguin area of the aquarium every time. It takes all my will not to climb the barrier and go try to hug and pat them, but I could just watch them for hours and take lots of photos. This first one above was one of our favorites on a trip that I took for "Down East" with a couple friends. He was one badass little penguin, definitely the king of that sprinkler, and wasn't afraid to let everyone know it…it was pretty comical, at least to us.

I mean, it's just begging for a hug, right?

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Here's a Christmas card that I got from my sister a while back and hung on to. I really love the simplicity of the illustration here, such a great style and design.

 Simple and charming.

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Below is the piece that prompted me to do a penguin-post today! Illustrator Will Terry's "Penguin Party", digital illustration. He had posted this to his blog a few months ago and well, of course, I fell in love with it. Look at the light and those textures, not to mention the composition! 

All of his work is incredible, you must see!

Copyright © Will Terry 2012

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And another illustrator who got in on the World Penguin Day action, Hazel Mitchell, who's whimsical illustrations are always so sweet and full of life!

Copyright © Hazel Mitchell 2012

•••

Even our Riley girl loves penguins…

…and by love, I mean she loves chewing on their faces.

Giveaway #2-Winner!!

Congrats to 

Nancy K., 

winner of the Loon Family original watercolor giveaway!!!

Giveaway #2: Original watercolor with pen and ink, approx. 5"x5"

 Nancy wasted no time on this one, and was the second person to comment/enter to win. 

I'm excited for you to have this piece, Nancy– it'll be in good company with those puffins! :)

I'll be doing another giveaway soon! Thank you to everyone who entered!

Giveaway #2! Loons with their fledglings

The first giveaway last month went really well! I got some new interest to the good ol' Facebook Page, and lots of hands up wanting the little Box Turtle, who went to the first lucky giveaway winner, Farah!

 Let's do it again! 

Who wants some free art?

Loon Family;  Original art, Sepia ink and watercolor on Arches watercolor paper. Approx. 5.5" x 5"

This is a cropped portion of a page from Journey of the Sea Glass. I decided that I wasn't quite happy with the way it was turning out (colors were a little too dark), so I started this particular page over again and was much happier with the second version. It still makes for a fun little painting, though, I think!

So, same rules as last time. If you like this one, and you would like to own this original as my gift to you for supporting my work, it's pretty darn easy.  Here's how you'll be in the mix to win:

1. "Like" my Facebook page and/or "follow" this blog. 

Already do? Bravo, you're halfway done!

2. Leave a comment either on this blog post, or on the corresponding Facebook post on my page 

and/or "like" the image on the Facebook post HERE.

3.  Enter all week, and I'll post the winner on my blog and on my Facebook page on Friday, April 20th. I'll send the winner a private email or message, as well to get in touch with you privately for your mailing address.

* AND if you get a friend to Like my Facebook page, or follow the blog, your name will be counted twice!

The winner will receive the art signed and matted within a week or so of winning.

Easy enough, yes?

Enjoy!

The fine print: I'll use a random number generator (like random.org) so there's no cheatery. 

Peter & Connie Roop

I stumbled upon this article today, a quick little interview with Connie Roop, who wrote Down East in the Ocean with her husband, Peter, which I illustrated last year. I haven't had a chance to meet them yet, other than a few friendly emails. They live in Wisconsin most of the time, and travel to Maine each year. I hope to have an opportunity to join them for a book signing sometime this summer if they are back in my neck of the woods! They are accomplished authors of hundreds of books. One of their most cherished, and one of my personal favorites as a child, Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie, was even featured on Reading Rainbow many years back, and is still in publication. I was honored to be the illustrator for Down East in the Ocean and lend a small hand in their extensive collection.

Click here to read the full interview. I learned some interesting things about these folks!

The Journey of "Journey of the Sea Glass"

Hello! It's been quite a while since I've posted anything, and it was because I was working like a mad woman to finish my latest book! Journey of the Sea Glass is finally done, and will be available this summer!

It's a 32 page picture book for all ages that follows the journey of a piece of sea glass, beginning in the 1940's as a young boy's bottle of Lemon-Lime Soda Pop which breaks, travels through the skies with sea gulls, floats through the ocean with an octopus and a whale, crashes through years and years of waves, and eventually ends up in present day, where it's discovered by a curious young girl and her grandpa at the beach.

Coming soon, summer 2012!

This book was by far my biggest artistic challenge to date. It was a completely different format from my other two books, in that there was no manuscript. So, other than the publishers coming to me with the basic concept, and a few little ideas that they wanted to see implemented, the rest was all up to me. The whole story was on my shoulders, which was really exciting, but also a big endeavor to tackle in the same amount of time that I would have had to just illustrate a story. I decided to use sort of a simplified graphic novel style, combining several "panels" of scenes on top of full bleed illustrations. So in total, there were almost 60 pieces that made up this book! Huge difference from my last book, Down East in the Ocean that had I think 11 total, plus cover.  I also decided to really push the ink work in this book, and even though there are washes of watercolors, all the underlying value and shading, line work and details, were all done using the pointillism technique, which is my favorite. Using very (very!) fine tip Rapidograph pens and sepia ink, I stippled relentlessly for many months, to get the look just right. It ended up being much more realistic and detailed than anything I've done in the past, which I hadn't really planned on one way or another, but it just happened that way! That's the direction my style likes to take these days, I suppose. I used the same technique in Down East in the Ocean, the only difference being that the scenes in that book were much more simple, big and bold, and in this book, there were lots of little details and much more space to cover.

I have to say, it feels fantastic to be finished, and I'm really excited for you all to see it. Like I said, it was my first ever attempt at a wordless picture book and being an "author", so I really hope that when it's out in the world it makes sense to eyes other than my own!! It was a ton of work, I was quite literally nocturnal for a while there toward the end of the project, pulling lots of all-nighters (shout-out to my Starbucks Double Shot Espresso energy drinks, and our little Riley Dog for keeping my company and refusing to go to bed until I did) and napping during the day.  I think my family and friends forgot what I looked like after not seeing me for so long! But I think it was all worth the effort, because I've already had interest from several book stores to carry it, as well as scheduling local book signings, and really kind words from my editor at Down East Publishing, which is always a huge relief. I hope this will lead to more exciting projects in the future...though I will probably bite off a little less to chew next time, for the sake of sleep and sanity. ;)

Here are a couple sneak peeks from the interior of the book, enjoy!

First page spread in Journey of the Sea Glass, which starts in sepia tones, and eventually ends in full color.
©Nicole Fazio

A coloring transition spread in Journey of the Sea Glass.  ©Nicole Fazio

I'll be doing another post soon with one of the pages post stipple/pre watercolors with some details. Stay tuned for that!