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.

MY ILLUSTRATORS:  MEET PATRICIO CARBAJAL

I promised you posts about the three illustrators of my own Oz book.  Here comes Number One!

It was my amazing friend and editor Joe Bongiorno who persuaded me that self-publishing is do-able, and that we could hire illustrators to make the thing look like a real Oz book.  It seemed to me at the time – and still does seem – incredible that artists would actually go to the trouble of producing pictures to go with my stories.  That kind of thing is for real authors, not for the likes of me.  But Joe found our first candidate, the Argentinian artist Patricio Carbajal, and sent me links to some of his work. http://patart-pat.blogspot.com/   If you’re like me, you will not look at Pat’s work and immediately think Oz!  It’s very grown-up, often sexy, and photographically precise.  You’ll find more of the same in his bio, at the end of this post.  But I believe in Joe, and Joe believed in Pat, and we struck a deal.

Almost immediately, Pat starting sending us character studies – and that was the end of my doubts.  He got the right idea at once.  In his enthusiasm, he even sketched some well-loved characters who barely show up in my stories!  Here are two of those:  Ozma and Dorothy.

 

I loved them right off the bat!  One of the cool things about Pat is that he respects the classic images while still putting a lot of himself into the characters.  For instance, Ozma appears with her usual poppies and the famous OZ insignia on her circlet – just as John R. Neill drew her – but she’s also looking very comfortable in sandals, which is a new idea.  Her outfit is distinctly different and lovely too, and so is her graceful, dancer-like pose.  Dorothy is very much in the Neill mode – shoulder-length blond hair rather than Garland-esque pigtails – but with an energy all her own.  Though these particular sketches will not appear in the book,  some of Pat’s character sketches will – including the ones for my two heroes, Button-Bright and Ojo, as well as several brand-new new characters who are making their debuts in this story.  In addition, there will be nine wonderful full-page illustrations.  I hope you’ll like them as much as I do!

The story that Pat illustrated is called Time Travelers of Oz – an adventure in ancient Oz history.  His work is complete now, but it was a joy and a pleasure to work with him and I’ll be proud to see his art in the pages of my book.  Now, as promised, here’s his bio:

Artist Pat Carbajal started as a political cartoonist at various national newspapers in Argentina.  He then changed directions and started working on realistic portraits for the financial newspaper Ambito Financiero, a local version of The Wall Street Journal.

He started producing art for the American market in 2007 with illustrated covers for Adamant Entertainment’s Tales of Fu Manchu and Foe Factory:  Modern.

Timeline of The Planet of the Apes, by Rich Handley, marked his first collaboration with Hasslein books.

In 2009 he painted the cover for Bluewater Productions’ Female Force:  Sarah Palin, a biography series based on the lives of influential American women. The controversial comic book sold out and it’s currently in its third printing.

Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon were all subjects of biographical comics in the Political Power series, with covers painted by Pat. Other politicians portrayed in Political Power were Vice President Al Gore, Senator Ted Kennedy and General Colin Powell.

These biographical comics have gained international media attention.

Rock stars were the next subject for Pat.  Bob Dylan, Jim Morrison and Jimi Hendrix were the legends featured in Rock and Roll Comics:  The Sixties, followed by Ozzy Osborne, AC/DC and Guns n’ Roses in Rock and Roll Comics:  Rock Heroes.

The first graphic novel completely illustrated by Pat was Allen Quatermain, written by Clay and Susan Griffith, published by Bluewater, marking his first foray into the realm of sequential art. Quatermain was adapted as a radio drama by Colonial Radio.

Together with Clay and Susan Griffith he created the character of “The Raven” for Vincent Price Presents, a classic horror comic book starring Hollywood screen legend Vincent Price, published by Bluewater.

Pat debuted as a writer in the following issue of Vincent Price Presents.

The next biographical comics were dedicated to legendary comedians, in the series created by Jaymes Reed, Comics.  The first issue was dedicated to Lucille Ball, followed by Saturday Night Live, Eddie Murphy and WKRP in Cincinnati.

Back at Hasslein Books, Pat illustrated the covers and interior art for Lexicon of the Planet of the Apes and the newly published Back in Time:  The Back to the Future Lexicon.  Forthcoming is The James Bond Lexicon.