Gnomes & Ungnomes: Poems of Hidden Creatures will be published in November of this year! The poetry anthology, published by the Writers Loft, highlights the work of dozens of authors and illustrators. As a contributing artist I was lucky enough to illustrate the work of five amazing poets in the anthology including my friend Alison McCabe (almost exactly a year ago (!) I wrote about my and Alisonâs original submission to the anthology) as well as Krista Surprenant, Amanda Smith, Robin Wechsler, and Cindy Greene.
Today I am sharing a few peaks at my contributions, all mythical creatures are remaining hidden! (Check back in in November for the big reveal!) Today I am just highlighting a few of the âsupporting charactersâ that made their way into the spreads.
This first illustration appears in a two-page spread of two Maine based mythical creatures. These poor lumberjacks are getting wicked spooked in the forest, but a little gnome is keeping them company by the fire. Here is my sketch:
And here is the final art, created with collaged cut paper. The paper is mostly watercolor paper that I painted for this project (or âreclaimedâ from not good paintings) and âfound papersâ (love receiving a brightly colored envelope in the mail!)
These illustrations appear in another two page spread of a woodland scene, but at a much smaller scale! These musical grasshoppers and midnight snack eating mouse cohabitate with another friendly (and sometimes mischievous) mythical creature. Again, here is my initial rough sketch:
And here are the sneak peaks at the final art. Again all cut-paper collage.
Fine lines (like the stars or squiggly blades of grass) are draw on digitally.
I canât wait to reveal the full spreads and put all these characters in context! More to come in November!