REAL LIVE COVER ART!

My brilliant editor Joe Bongiorno is busy doing the layout for our Oz book -- and to prove it, here's the work he's doing with the fabulous Gabhor Utomo's cover art.  This is the first time I'm publishing an actual piece of art from the book and I'm totally tickled.  From left to right, the characters are:  Ojo the Munchkin boy, Princess Ozma, Grandma Natch, and Button-Bright.  Enjoy!

INTRODUCING TERESA JENELLEN DAVIES

INTRODUCING TERESA JENELLEN DAVIES

 

It’s been a while since my last post, but I’m back with news about the wonderful Teresa Jenellen Davies.  She’s the third illustrator for my upcoming Oz book, The Law of Oz, and other stories.  We found Teresa at the same website where we found Gabhor Utomo, http://www.childrensillustrators.com/illustrator-details/tjenellen/id=1435/

If you visit her portfolio – and I strongly recommend it – you’ll see exactly what we fell in love with.  She has a magical way of seeing right into the hearts of her subjects, which is the very thing we wanted for the second story, The Lost Boy of Oz.  There’s an intimacy about her work that pulls the viewer right into her world.  She usually paints in full color, but she’s doing soulful black and white work for this project.  By the way, her portfolio includes a terrific portrait of our old friend Dorothy Gale, complete with Toto.

 

If you know anything about Welsh names, you won’t be surprised to learn that Teresa herself is Welsh.  Moreover, she speaks Welsh fluently – a rare thing these days, even in Wales.  In addition to her illustration, she has produced fantastic poster art and has designed for the theater.  Her most recent theatrical credit is Aberystwyth Art Centre’s The Dreaming Beauty.  Teresa studied art at Aberystwyth University, where she received her BA in 2008 and her MA in 2012.

 

Teresa’s work for us is not quite done yet, but the end is in sight – both for her and for us.  What a long road it’s been since we set out!  We’ve got to get it done, though, because finished copies of the book are due this June at the next convention of the International Wizard of Oz Club, where I’ll have my first ever Display and Trade Table.  My editor Joe Bongiorno is doing the layout for the book as we speak.  Am I nervous?  Oh, brother!