The "Ice Castle" Debuts

The Ice Castle, the second installment in the "Lexicon" series by Pendred Noyce, finally hit bookstores this week. Yay!

In this latest adventure, Daphne and Ivan discover their spoiled cousin, Lila has disappeared through a magical portal into the harsh and frigid Land of Winter.

They set out to bring her back, only to encounter bears and a gang of nomadic kidnappers. The three cousins soon find themselves thrust into a tumultuous society where social standing is determined by one's muscial abilities. This particular world is sharply divided between haves and have-nots, and reverberates with hidden plots and rebellious rumblings.

The Ice Castle was great fun to illustrate. It's a tale full of adventure and drama, memorable characters, emotion, humor, and wonderful imaginary places.

The Ice Castle at ALA in Anaheim

If you're planning on going to ALA in Anaheim this year, I'll be at the Publishers Group West booth (#2566) on Saturday, June 23 from 1-3pm. In addition to signing fresh-off-the-press copies of The Ice Castle, I'll be giving away "Ice Castle" inspired bookplates. Hope to see you there!

Illustrating "The Ice Castle" Part 2: Production Schedule

When you're a freelancer, juggling multiple assignments can be tricky. For some reason jobs tend to come in a tangle and a rush, all clumped together. I'm sure it's some kind of cosmic law - the same one that dictates that when you drop a slice of buttered bread, it always has to fall face down.

One of the benefits of working on a long-term project like a book is that you're given a production schedule that sets out the project milestones clearly and precisely. And although the dates aren't set in stone (publishing is a lot like the army - sometimes you have to hurry up and wait) you still have a pretty good gauge of how to pace yourself and when you can accept other assignments.

It also doesn't hurt if you stick to the schedule and try not to wait until the last minute to do your work -- unless you don't mind 24 hour days and being glued to your chair somehow feels nautral to you. Sometimes you can't help that - you're thrown a last minute change or the editor or art director decides something extra is needed. There can (and most likely will) always be emergencies, so, as my old girl scout leader used to say, be prepared.

I've included a copy of the production schedule for "The Ice Castle" (above). So far things have gone smoothly and with one exception we've stuck pretty close to the schedule. As you can see, even though the pub date isn't until August 2012, a lot of the work is due way in advance so that all of the elements: editing, illustration, book design, marketing, and sales can all come together to make a great book.

Illustrating "The Ice Castle" -- Initial Sketches

I'm in the midst of illustrating The Ice Castle, a middle grade fantasy adventure written by Pendred Noyce. I thought it might be interesting to share the behind-the-scenes process of creating a book from the illustrator's point of view.

Of course, it all starts with the manuscript. Once I get those, crisp, new pages in my hands, I read the manuscript several times. The initial reading is done quickly so that I can get the overall feel of the book. The second time, I go through the text more carefully, marking up the typescript and making notes to myself about possible illustrations. During the third review, I refine my list and make visual and written notes about the look and feel of the characters, costumes, and the settings. Most of The Ice Castle takes place in the imaginary "Land of Winter", so creating a fantasy world that is grounded in reality is very important to the integrity of this story.

During my initial conversations with the art director, we agreed that the book should contain about thirty black and white interior illustrations, a frontispiece, one iconic image that will appear at the top of each chapter, and of course, a color cover illustration. Working with the author, we each came up with a list of possible illustrations. Once those three lists were combined and edited, I had my working illustration list, although I was free to add or subtract scenes if I thought another would serve the story more effectively.

I was given a lot of leeway and creative freedom by the art director. She did urge me to tell the author's story visually -- in other words, it should be clear what the story was about without reading the prose. The Ice Castle is full of action, mystery and rip-roaring adventure, so it really lends itself to a cinematic illustration style. I was able to exploit unusual angles, close and medium shots and interesting POVs to underscore and heighten the action and emotion of the scenes.

Once I completed the initial sketches, the illustrations were reviewed and most of them were accepted as submitted. Some changes were suggested for existing scenes, one scene was eliminated, and two more were added.

The next step will be to submit those edited sketches and, once they are approved, I'll be able to begin on the finished illustrations.

In my next entry, I'll talk about deadlines and timelines.

Lost in Lexicon: Second Edition

The second edition of Lost in Lexicon, written by Penny Noyce, made its debut just this week. The book, featuring a new cover, is the first in a series of four "Lexicon" adventures that will be published by Scarletta Press.

It's been just about a year since I finished the illustrations for the first edition, which came out in Fall of 2010 under the Tumblehome Press imprint. It was an auspicious beginning for first-time author Penny Noyce; the book received glowing reviews, won several awards, and then, to top it all off, was chosen to serve as the debut novel for Scarletta's new line of books for children.

Now the fun begins again - we're off and running on the second installment in the series: The Ice Castle. Penny has turned in the final draft of the manuscript and I've finished the first round of sketches and have made a tentative start on the cover. The Ice Castle will be published in the Fall of 2012.

The Ice Castle

I've just started working on the preliminary sketches for The Ice Castle, the second in the "Lexicon" series of middle grade mystery/adventures written by Pendred Noyce. It's exciting to be revisiting characters from the first book, Lost in Lexicon, and to create new ones, like Daphne and Ivan's cousin, Lila. The series (there will be four books in all) is published by Scarletta Press.