Books and Smiles for Haiti!

Hello Authors, Illustrators and children's book community!

Please join me in sharing your wonderful stories and books for the 
lovely children in Haiti.  The gift of books will brighten their day, 
and let them know that we are thinking of them.  

A big thank you to President Steven Mooser of

The Society of Children's Books for Writers and Illustrators

for kindly donating two boxes of books and jump starting the campaign!

The amazing people of Life Connection Mission are dedicated to 

getting the books to the children.  They are a non-profit organization

serving the poorest children in the Western Hemisphere.

Photo courtesy of Life Connection Mission

I am collecting board books, pictures books, beginning readers, and

information books with pictures, such as animals, computer/science, space, etc.
  

My goal is to have an incredible collection by the end of the school year.  

And I see school and church bake sales in my future, to raise money

to ship the books to Haiti.  I am very excited and look forward to partnering 

with our talented children's book community.

Photo courtesy of Life Connection Mission

I will update often with books that are collected, and together
we will see our efforts grow.  Please spread the word!

It warms my heart to see the smiles on the children's faces when they

received my books this past summer.

If you are unpublished and would like to donate new book(s),
the children will love it!  

Thank you for your kindness.  I look forward to hearing from you!  
chieuurbanstudio@gmail.com

From Idea to Publication!

An interview I'm working on inquires about my children's book process.
Great idea!  I hope sharing a post about my Away We Go! book journey 
will be helpful for inspiring authors and illustrators, and fun for everyone. 

Many of my ideas stem from restless sleep.  
Instead of counting sheep, I'm thinking of new concepts.

The idea of die-cut shapes working into transportation vehicles 

transpired from my original idea, of shapes and animals.

I start off by sketching and brainstorming in my sketchbook.

I don't think my drawings and writing are comprehensible to anyone but me.

Yes, I'm a very messy thinker.

This sketch illustrates my efforts to work the die-cut layers into 

each spread, so they fit together nicely.  The die-cuts make this a novelty book,

and the most challenging process of the book format.

Once I start working on a project, I'm always thinking:

in restaurants, waiting rooms, and in the car at the school pick-up line.

When my sketchbook is not handy, I'll draw on any piece of paper.

After fleshing out the design, and feeling really good about it;
I'll create artwork and put together a dummy, complete with die-cuts, 

cut tediously by hand.  Artwork for Away We Go! was created 

on the computer, in Adobe Illustrator.

Upon completion (a big YAY! moment), I make a video of the dummy 

with page turns, and demonstrate each spread and die-cut feature.

I upload the video and submit a link along with my proposal for publishers,

and hope with fingers crossed, for the best!

Away We Go! was acquired by Scholastic, roughly 8 months

after submission, and published approximately two years later. :)

And the fun starts all over again, with my next restless night!  LOL

Celebrating!

Woo Hoo!  I can't believe I'm finally getting this blog together.  Welcome!

I'm gearing up for the launch of my children's book, 

Away We Go! A Shape and Seek Book published by Scholastic. 

Stay tuned for some fun shapes and transportation activities, 
and cute food crafts for kids.