Posts Tagged ‘animals’

Chris Haughton | Candlewick Press 2012

Author of Little Owl Lost, Chris Haughton has published a new book about the travails of an undisciplined hound called Oh No, George! The story is simple—if left alone will a dog do as he says and be good? We know he won’t but we are drawn into the subconscious of George as he struggles with his own canine demons. Many of us say to our dogs, “be good” when we close the door, knowing they are just going to sleep. George does everything you fret except get into the liquor cabinet—but that’s another book. Against his own will, he devours the cake, the cat, and unearths the flowerbed. The fun in this book is Chris’ graphic and expressive style of drawing and coloring with his festive (Mexican) palette and super graphic scale. George is a bad dog, but not without redemption as told in the second half of the book.

The trailer is as cute as the book:

Thanks you Chris for sharing a few of your early sketches in making this devilish hound and strange owner.

iTunes 2012

If you recall, I designed an animal alphabet called Living Letters based on the Adobe font Critter that I designed 20 years ago. Well, with the brilliant help from the folks at Daily Interactive Networks, we have just released Living Letters for the iPad! I can’t explain it but there is something totally magical about touching the screen and watching a big fat letter turn into a full color critter. You’ll find favorites but I’m partial to the raccoon, the otter and the zebra. It has a sweet little voice that pronounces the animal name, if you choose to turn it on. Also included are a game and a typing keyboard so you can type and send your own words or names. If you upload it, submit your comment no only on the iTunes store but here on 36pages, I’d love to hear what you think!

Antoinette Portis | Harper Collins Publishers 2006

There are two things I’m attracted to in a kid’s book. The first is simplicity and the second is illustrations that tell me that things aren’t always as they appear. Not a Box has both in a big way. Antoinette Portis made a book that does so much with so little. An adorable little rabbit—drawn in a single line—challenges us to think and see outside the box. Absent a storyline, it presents us with a series of challenges to see what the simple box really becomes. Every page has surprise and delight as the black and white drawing becomes a 3-color demo on how to see beyond the box.
Deceptively simple, this is the kind of book that plays to a kid’s strength and helps parents ‘get back’ to that wonderful kid’s place where anything is possible. This book reminds us that big ideas often come in small boxes.

Craig Frazier | 60 pages

Some projects take more time than others. This one took about 20 years! Living Letters is a reincarnation of a typeface (and book) I designed in 1989. The original book was called The Alphabet Critter Playbook, which caught the attention of Adobe who then asked me to create the font Critter (1992). Initially drawn by hand and inked on vellum, the font was translated digitally at that time using Adobe Illustrator and a program called Fontographer.

About 4 years ago I began to redraw the Critters bringing more detail and more life to them. I was particularly interested in depicting accurate features like eyes, ears, fur and color. The internet proved invaluable in sourcing animal reference—far more than I had in 1989. The challenge was adding considerably more detail to each animal while maintaining its recognition as a letterform.

I have partnered with Adobe and HP in announcing the release of Living Letters. Adobe has created a pop-up store in San Francisco and for two weeks the public can visit Russell Brown’s (Photoshop guru) Extreme Imaging corner of the store and get a custom t-shirt digitally printed on the spot with the letter of your choice. You may also pick up a digital copy of the book produced by MagCloud or go to their site and order a book with your choice of 26 covers. The books are ‘magazine’ style with soft cover and are the best digital printing I have seen to date.

Roaring Brook Press | May 2011

In anticipation of the release of Bee & Bird, I’ve created a website and a video trailer put to the 70’s hit by Can. Enjoy!