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| Facebook banner for Dino Tracks' book launch at the Smithsonian |
In the last post I mentioned that I was excited about the book launch for
Dino Tracks at the Smithsonian. It was originally scheduled for October 12 and then came the government shut down. So now we have a new date, December 7 and it sounds even better because it's part of a larger weekend holiday celebration. There's going to be musical performances, films, book signings, trunk shows, crafts for kids and more. I won't be able to make this one but Rhonda Lucas Donald, the amazing author of
Dino Tracks will be there with bells on.
And if you'd like some background into how Dino Tracks was created here's an
interview by Sylvan Dell Publishing and a
radio interview, with the author, Rhonda Lucas Donald. Enjoy!
Now for a sneak peek at
Dino Treasures, also written by Rhonda Lucas Donald, published by Sylvan Dell Publishing and illustrated by me which comes out autumn 2014.
I'll be showing more artwork along the way. It's all very much in progress for now.
Thanks for taking a look. I hope you like dinosaurs.
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| Front and back cover wrap image |
I wanted to give you a little behind the scenes of what it's like illustrating a
picture book for Sylvan Dell Publishing. Their picture books are fun
stories to read but also very popular in schools, libraries and museum
gift shops. So they need to be correct. To ensure this they are vetted by
an expert in their field. In this case it's a paleontologist - that's a
person who studies the history of life on Earth based on fossils. But
most paleontologists specialize in one aspect of their field. Some
paleontologists specialize in dinosaur poop, otherwise known as fossilized feces or
coprolite. They're called Coprologists. Other fields of study are
paleobotany, the study of plants, or micropaleontology, the study of
organisms with only one cell. It goes on and on. So my editor sends each
spread to a specialist to make sure both Rhonda, the author and I have done our
research and what we're showing is correct. And if it's not correct we fix it.
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| Interior spread of Sue the T-rex. Sue was discovered by paleontologist, Sue Hendrickson in 1990, so that's how she got the nickname, Sue. She's also one of the best preserved Tyrannosaurs rex specimens ever found. |
I'm just showing you a small section of the comments from a paleontologist at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, the home of Sue. The scientist who
vetted this went to a lot of in-depth facts about Sue - how she lived, her injuries and how
they suspect she died. I'm always fascinated as well as intimidated by what the vetters
have to say. I really hope that what I show is accurate so I don't have to redo the artwork. But much better to rework the art before going to press so that we're all happy with the final picture book. Thanks for taking a look!
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| Interior spread with vetter's comments |
