Introducing My Next Oz Illustrator!!!

You’ve already met Patricio Carbajal, the illustrator of the first story in my Oz book.  As 2012 winds to a close, two other incredible artists are working on the remaining stories.  To say that it barely seems real is an understatement!  But it must be real after all, because a few days ago I was thrilled to receive a set of preliminary sketches from the great Gabhor Utomo.

 Sadly, I can’t share any of those sketches with you – you’ll have to wait till the book comes out to see Gabhor’s vision of Oz – but I can point you to the website where my editor and I first found his work:

http://www.childrensillustrators.com/illustrator-details/GUtomo/id=2006/portfolio

 

Did you know you can go hunting for illustrators on the Internet?  Perhaps it isn’t so surprising, since you can scour the Internet for almost anything else known to humankind.  In fact there are sites for amateur artists and up-and-comers, and there are sites for established pros.  It was among the pros that we found Gabhor.  We immediately loved his compassionate, humane, child’s-eye-view of the world, as well as the sheer aliveness of his characters.  And it didn’t hurt that he bothered to post some of his line drawings as well as his paintings – a surprisingly uncommon thing these days, when kids’ novels mostly don’t have the beautiful and plentiful line drawings that were common in L. Frank Baum’s time.  Check out some of the other artists at http://www.childrensillustrator.com and you’ll see what I mean.

The sketches that Gabhor sent us are entrancing, and I know you’re going to love his Oz.  Of our three artists, his vision is closest to the traditional vision of Baum’s chief illustrator, John R. Neill.  But the pictures also have a look and a spark that’s all their own, as well as a clear and direct understanding of the feeling behind each scene.  The story that Gabhor is working on – The Law of Oz – is the longest in the book, so you’ll see a lot of his pictures inside.  And you'll see more of his work on the outside cover, since this is the title story.  I couldn’t be more excited!

You can see Gabhor’s other work at his own website:

http://gabhorutomo.com/

 And here is his bio:

 Gabhor Utomo was born in Indonesia.  He moved to California to pursue his passion in art.  He received his degree from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco in spring 2003.  Since his graduation he has worked as a freelance illustrator and has illustrated a number of children’s books.  His first children’s book, “Kai’s Journey to Gold Mountain,” is a story about a young Chinese immigrant on Angel Island.

 Gabhor’s works have won numerous awards from local and national art organizations.  His painting of Senator Milton Marks is in a permanent collection at the California State Building in downtown San Francisco.

 Gabhor lives with his wife Dina and his twin girls in Portland, Oregon.