Posts Tagged middle grade illustration

GHOSTED ~ An Interview with Cartoonist and Author Michael Fry

Welcome to my interview with cartoonist and author Michael Fry! He’s the successful cartoonist of the internationally syndicated comic strip OVER THE HEDGE. His website is full colorful imagery and loads of humor – two of the wonderful elements you’ll find in GHOSTED, his new heavily illustrated middle grade novel. The book beams with Michael’s amazing artwork. It’s absolutely delightful! In the words of Publishers Weekly, GHOSTED “balances a serious premise with a gleefully manic energy” and how “Fry’s black-and-white linework—vibrant and just a little over-the-top—adds hilarity.”

I’ve seen the book, and couldn’t agree more!

GHOSTED: The Book

From the best-selling author of the How to Be a Supervillain series comes this laugh-out-loud, heavily illustrated story of a shy boy, his best-friend-turned-ghost, and their bucket list of adventures and dares. Perfect for fans of the Timmy Failure and Diary of a Wimpy Kid series.

Larry’s got a few problems. In school, he’s one of those kids who easily gets lost in the crowd. And Grimm, Larry’s best friend in the whole world, has ghosted him. Literally. One minute Grimm was saving a cat in a tree during a lightning storm, and the next, he’s pulling pranks on Larry in his new ghostly form.

When the two best friends realize that there’s something keeping Grimm tethered to their world, they decide that finishing their Totally To-Do bucket list is the perfect way to help Grimm with his unfinished business. Pulling hilarious pranks and shenanigans may be easier with a ghostly best friend, but as Larry and Grimm brave the scares of seventh grade, they realize that saying goodbye might just be the scariest part of middle school.

For more: HMH Books

The Interview

We are very excited for your visit and super excited to hear more about GHOSTED. Please share with our readers what sparked the idea to write this story?

Ghosted is a work-for-hire. HMH came to me with the basic idea: Larry, his dead/ghost friend Grimm and the Totally To-Do List and I filled in the rest.

What about your two main characters, Larry and Grimm? Tell us about them.

Larry and Grimm are opposites. Larry is shy and introverted. Grimm is loud and outgoing. Grimm pushes Larry to be more than he is. Larry pushes Grimm, eventually, to realize WHO he is. Also, Larry is alive and Grimm is dead.  So, there’s that.

Grimm’s realization gives me shivers. I love how these two play against each other, yet for each other. 💖

The subject of death is always in the background throughout the story. Share how you showed the internal growth of this unique friendship and how the character’s faced the inevitable.

I tried to write Ghosted as realistically as possible. I tried to imagine what it would be like, in the real world, to have a best friend come back as a ghost. On the one hand, it’s very cool. On the other, it’s very sad. Grimm exists, but he can’t touch anything. Nothing can touch him. He’s present, but he’s not really there. It’s an exaggerated version of losing any loved one. You feel their presence, yet they’re gone. At points in the story Larry wonders if what he’s experiencing is real. He wants Grimm to be there, but I don’t think he’s ever really sure if he is.

The way you worded this is so touching. I’m sure many young readers, as well as their parents, will ponder the truths of this tale. What was your favorite part of writing GHOSTED and why?

I liked writing the therapy stuff. I’ve had a lot of therapy and it gave me a chance write from experience. The bit where Larry cries when Dr Hank (as an adult) expresses sympathy is very personal. As a kid, you don’t always expect adults to be so sensitive. When they are, it can be overwhelming.

Is there anything about the story that surprised you while working on this book?

I was worried about mixing comedy and pathos. It’s hard to do well. Too much of one and not enough of the other is a danger. But I think it worked out. It’s silly and sad.

For our readers who might be interested in adding illustrations to their writing or those simply just curious, what differences do you find in being a cartoonist from telling a story as an author/illustrator?

Room to write!  I’ve been a syndicated cartoonist for over 35 years and comic strips have gotten smaller and smaller. I’m of the age now where I can barely read my own strip in the papers.  I really love stretching out with a novel. There’s plenty of room to wander around.

What are your processes for both?

I write the story in Word and leave blue boxes with notes for the art. Later I rough out the art as I rewrite. Writing is rewriting. My books go through dozens of drafts.

Insight🔮

Give us one aspect of publishing that most readers aren’t aware an author/a book goes through before release.

Not so much on Ghosted, but there can be a lot of back and forth worrying about taking offense. On a previous book of mine I had a kid super-hero character whose superpower was reading minds. The problem was he’s dyslexic. I thought it was a really clever joke. My editor worried that kids (mostly parents) would think I was making fun of kids with dyslexia. I argued that was certainly not my intention and I think my intention matters. I eventually won out. But, the truth is, whenever I would read that passage to kids on author visits it only got a laugh from the adults in the room (teachers, librarians). Not the kids. It’s really an adult joke. So, maybe my editor was right.

What written middle grade novel (or any novel, really) would you like to see told in illustrations or graphic novel format?

Huckleberry Finn. It’s my favorite work of American literature. I bet it would make a terrific graphic novel.

Fantastic choice! It would be wonderful to read Finn’s tale in the setting of a graphic novel. Hint, hint . . . Thank you for taking the time to stop by and for sharing GHOSTED with us! It’s been a pleasure.

Mixed-Up Readers – have a young reader who loves illustrated books or graphic novels? Check out this STEM illustrated book featured HERE.

🗒️The Cartoonist & Author✏️

Michael Fry is the best selling author of the Jimmy Patterson Presents How to Be a Supervillain series. A cartoonist for over thirty years, Michael is the co creator and writer of the Over the Hedge comic strip which was turned into a DreamWorks film starring Bruce Willis and William Shatner. He lives near Austin, TX.

WEBSITE | TWITTER

An Illustrated Novel For The Spooky Season – NO PLACE FOR MONSTERS – Interview With Kory Merritt

‘Tis the #spookymg season, Mixed-Up Files Family! I’m excited to welcome Kory Merritt, author and illustrator of a super creepy new novel, NO PLACE FOR MONSTERS, for an interview, today.

Willow and HeckbenderMeet Willow & Heckbender ~ Monsters

This is one of the first images I saw related to NO PLACE FOR MONSTERS. Just look at these two character monsters! And they’re reading books. 💚#thud-lud, #thud-lud

Kind of explains the reason I couldn’t resist chatting with their creator, right?

But I must warn you. Be patient as you scroll through this interview for more illustrations await you – even a page or two from within the book. It’s amazingly written and illustrated with all the shrills and shrieks the October season beckons for . . . and spooky readers adore.

Let’s take a peek, shall we?

 

The Book📙Book - NO PLACE FOR MONSTERS

In this spellbinding, lavishly illustrated story that Diary of a Wimpy Kid author Jeff Kinney calls “wildly imaginative and totally terrifying,” two unlikely friends face down their worst fears in order to stop their small town—and themselves—from disappearing.

Levi and Kat are about to discover a very dark side to their neighborhood.

Nothing ever seems out of place in the safe, suburban town of Cowslip Grove. Lawns are neatly mowed, sidewalks are tidy, and the sounds of ice cream trucks fill the air. But now . . . kids have been going missing—except no one even realizes it, because no one remembers them. Not their friends. Not their teachers. Not even their families.

But Levi and Kat do remember, and suddenly only they can see why everyone is in terrible danger when the night air rolls in. Now it is up to Levi and Kat to fight it and save the missing kids before it swallows the town whole.

Interview🎩

Welcome to our Mixed-Up Files home, Kory! We’re excited to have you stop by. I have to start by asking you: NO PLACE FOR MONSTERS has all sorts of spookiness oozing from the pages. Did you like spooky stories as a kid? If so, why do you think you did? Any favorites?

Oh, yes! I’ve always loved spooky stories. As a kid, my favorite book characters were always the creatures—Gollum from The Hobbit, the sea-rats from Brian Jacques’s Redwall series. Even as an adult, I still love reading books with strange and imaginative monsters: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, The Jumbies series by Tracey Baptiste, numerous classics by legends like Stephen King and Tananarive Due. Now more than ever, it’s fun to escape to monster land.

Would you give us a peek into this story in five words?

“Lost kids battle memory monsters.”

Ooh . . . now, what made writing this story spooky and fun, but also important to you?

Much of the story revolves around stolen memories and forgetting—or being forgotten by—loved ones. My grandmother, who died two years ago, suffered from Alzheimer’s, and it was horrific to see the disease steal her memories and entire identity. NO PLACE FOR MONSTERS is mostly creepy-fun (I hope), but there is that memory-loss angle that is a bit deeper, I think. So that was important.

I’m very sorry about your grandmother.Mending Heart I’m sure many families will relate to this.

Did you set out to create an illustrated middle grade book? Did the images come first, the writing, the characters . . .? Briefly share this process, please. We’d love to know!

I used to be an elementary school art teacher, and I wrote and illustrated stories and comics for fun. They were published on a syndicate site called GoComics. The creatures and basic story that became NO PLACE FOR MONSTERS originally appeared on GoComics in 2011 and 2012. I think the creatures came first—they usually do. I was obviously inspired by Stephen King books I’d read as a kid, plus the Neil Gaiman stuff I was reading at the time. I met the amazing superstar agent Dan Lazar through my work with the game site Poptropica and its book series. He encouraged me to try my own spooky kids’ story. So I dug up the old GoComics stories and he and my awesome editor helped me shape them into what would become NO PLACE FOR MONSTERS.

Wow, this is super interesting! What an author/illustrator’s journey you’ve had. It’s well-known that middle grade readers love stories that scare them. But there needs to be more to create a successful story. What’s the more in NO PLACE FOR MONSTERS?

I hope the memory-loss angle hits hard. Family members forgetting you can be a terrifying concept. Also, I like that the two main kid characters, Levi and Kat, are not friends at first—they have issues. Both of them have social trouble, and they both have to work together because of circumstance. They have a lot of difficulties with each other.

There’s plenty of mystery going on in Cowslip Grove, the location of this story. What would you say makes the mystery these kids have to solve unique?🔍

I guess the mystery becomes extra difficult for the kids because no one remembers them, their own town is no longer welcoming and views them as strangers, and familiar faces and places are now strange and untrustworthy. And they are being stalked by bogeys that no one else can see.

Creative FunCrayon

I must go back to the artwork. It’s fabulously done! What is your favorite part of illustrating in general and then for this story?

Thank you! Oh, I love drawing strange creatures, wildlife, old trees, rocks. I tried to squeeze a lot of tiny details into the rocks. Some of the book’s unanswered questions are actually answered (or at least hinted at) through tiny hidden fossils and lichen shapes in the rocks.

(*#Teachers, #Librarians – your students are going to totally fall for this book.) Here’s a few illustrations:

 

Would you please share a little about your main characters and why you believe middle grade readers will relate to them.

The two main kid characters, Levi and Kat, both have a lot of social interaction difficulties. Levi is very introverted and doesn’t like leaving his home or being with anyone but his sister. Kat has trouble controlling her emotions, has outbursts, and frustrates most people around her. They aren’t friends at the start, but are quickly forced out of their comfort zones when strange things happen to their lives. They make a lot of mistakes along the way. They’re brave, but also scared. I think a lot of middle grade readers could relate to one or both of them.

What do you hope readers take with them once they’ve finished the book?

A little strangeness can be a good thing. Appreciate weird creatures. And excessive lawncare is ridiculous—stop using weedkiller.

Haha! Perfect.

For our writing readers, any advice for writing spooky stories?

Read, write, and draw as much as possible! Read lots of books: prose books, books with lots of pictures, books with no pictures. Books by a wide variety of authors. Books outside your comfort zone. Write and draw and try to get things published locally. You’ll write and draw stuff that will be embarrassing in a few years, but hopefully you’ll have developed and honed your style. And have fun! You should love writing and drawing even if only a few people see it.

For scary stuff . . . I don’t know. I guess think about the stuff that creeps you out and try to create your own twist on it?

A silly scenario:
a. You’re in a dark alley with monsters lurking toward you. You notice a small box at your feet. Opening the box, you find chalk in all colors. What do you draw to get you out of this mess?

Oooh! I take out the chalk and start to draw an elaborately detailed cephalopod that will no doubt awe the monsters and inspire them to drop and worship the Supreme Chalk Squid. But as usual, I get carried away with the details, miss my window of opportunity, and the monsters eat me before I finish.

Oh my! This is hilarious. *snorts . . . then apologizes*

Lastly, do you have any upcoming projects you care to share with our readers?

I’m doing another book with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for Fall 2021. It’s a follow-up to No Place for Monsters, with some of the same characters, and plenty of new creatures. It’s set in a haunted school. As a former art teacher, I find the school setting easy to write about. Much of it is told through “found footage”—illustrations seen through the view of cameras and phones. Sort of like an illustrated Blair Witch Project. It’s experimental. Hope it works!

This sounds fabulous! Thank you  for sharing your monsters and humor with us. Your wisdom and joy for reading and writing is inspiring.

All the best from your Mixed-Up Files Family.

About the Author

Kory MerrittKory Merritt—a former public school art teacher from Rochester, NY—enjoys drawing and writing (and reading) strange stories, strolling through old forests, and peeking under rocks for weird creatures. Keep up with Kory: Website | Instagram | Twitter

 

 

As Promised . . . two pages from NO PLACE FOR MONSTERS!

Want more illustrated or graphic novels for middle grade readers? Here are a few past posts that will help! LINK & LINK

Share your thoughts on Kory’s new book! We’d love to know.

Meet the Illustrator: Lauren A. Mills

laurenmillsToday we’re lucky to have a behind-the-scenes peek at the work of award-winning author/ illustrator, Lauren A. Mills. Many people know Lauren as a picture book author and illustrator, but Little, Brown just released her first illustrated middle grade novel, Minna’s Patchwork Coat.

Interestingly enough, the idea came from one of her picture books, The Rag Coat. For those unfamiliar with this heart-tugging story, Minna can’t go to school because she has no coat. The town mothers pitch in to quilt her a coat made of rags. When classmates bully and tease her, Minna stands up to them and shows them how they are all connected through her quilted coat.minnacover@72small.

Lauren has agreed to share her process of writing and illustrating the book, which was inspired by the song “Coat of Many Colors,” sung by Emmylou Harris and written by Dolly Parton.

To begin the illustrations, Lauren made preliminary drawings in her sketchbook. “I sketched very small at first (thumbnails sketches which are about 1” by 2”), so I could think and draw ideas quickly. The best designs turn out this way. I then enlarged them on a printer and sent those into Little, Brown for their comments and approval. The two editors, Deirdre Jones and Andrea Spooner, along with the art directors gave me much feedback.”

Thumbnails2
ThumbnailSketches
Not all sketches an illustrator turns in are accepted for the final book. Lauren shared this sketch of Minna with an angry man, which the editors rejected because “they thought the scene looked too scary for children.”

BlueRidge_sm

BlueRidgereference

Lauren hiking the Blue Ridge

Once the layouts were approved, Lauren gathered reference materials. She says, “I took over 100 photos and did many thumbnails sketches, but only 50 final drawings ended up in the book. The photographs were taken in Massachusetts, where I live, and in Virginia, where I teach in the summer, and at the West Virginia Coal Mine Exhibition. The school I used as a model for the Rabbit Ridge School is the Nash Hill School, built in 1786 in Williamsburg, Massachusetts.” She even hiked the Blue Ridge Mountains to get pictures of the setting.

OldSchoolHouse

Old Schoolhouse

“My process is to sketch out the thumbnails, then gather the reference to look at, and then I draw from my original thumbnail sketches and the photos, a combination of both.” Here’s Lauren hard at work at her drawing board wearing a scarf she felted. To get herself in the right mood to sketch,  Lauren “listened to lots of bluegrass music and wore clothing similar to what would have been worn during this time period.”

AtTheDrawingBoard

“At times I didn’t have the reference for a certain scene and went only from my sketch. Other reference, besides photographs, included actual items, such as the antique crazy quilt that hangs in our home, dolls, and the vintage-looking clothes.”

Crazy Quilt

Crazy Quilt

Minna&Mama

vintage-look clothes

Vintage-look clothes

Nora&Minna

“The dolls were my daughter’s dolls. She was in college, and it was difficult to wrangle Belini Bear away from her, but he behaved very well during the model session.”

ModelsPosingDrawingFromModelsPosing

Lauren even drew layouts and elevations of the cabin interior and exterior.

LogCabinInteriorDesAnd as a sculptor and dollmaker, she created a lifelike doll of Minna.

Minna doll Lauren made

Minna doll Lauren made

She was lucky enough to find children who looked like the characters she’d envisioned for the book. “Alexandra, the model for Minna, and her actual father posed for Minna and her father. He happened to be a musician and provided a genuine handmade Appalachian banjo for me. Lester, a key character and musician in the story, is also from a musical background.”

MinnaTitleMinna&Papa

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Other models included adult friends, school children and even live animals – goats, lambs, chickens, sheep. It’s not surprising that goats made their way into the book: Lauren used to raise goats. Once she even helped to deliver one!

MoreModelsPosing

MinnaLesterGoats2

Minna, Lester, and goats

Here’s a quick overview of Lauren taking a sketch from preliminary layout to finished artwork. The illustrations were done in graphite pencil on Arches paper.

Line to Transfer

Line to Transfer

Step 2

Step 2

Step 5

Step 6

RabbitAlthough the interior illustrations are in black and white, Lauren painted watercolors of a rabbit and a mockingbird for the book’s jacket flap and back cover. Both of these animals have a special significance in the story, with Rabbit becoming Minna’s “totem.”Mockingbird

To create tMinnaWoodshe cover, Lauren began with an underdrawing. She printed it out, glued it to a board, and covered it with matte medium. Then she painted on top of it with oils, allowing some of the pencil to show through on the trees.

MinnaPortraitIsn’t the final artwork (below) gorgeous?

 

 

 

To see more of Lauren’s beautiful artwork, you can visit her website. Teachers and librarians can click on these links to find out about Lauren’s presentations and educational resources, including a core curriculum guide for Minna’s Patchwork Coat.

Thank you, Lauren, for sharing your wonderful process with us!

About Author/Illustrator Lauren A. Mills

Lauren A. Mills is the award-winning author and illustrator of The Rag Coat and The Goblin Baby, and she has retold and illustrated Thumbelina, Tatterhood and the Hobgoblins, and The Book of Little Folk. She is also the author of Fairy Wings, Fia and the Imp, and The Dog Prince, all of which she co-illustrated with her husband, Dennis Nolan. Her work has been exhibited in galleries and museums across the country, including the National Museum of Women in the Arts. Her stories have been performed by storytellers and actors across the country and on the radio, and The Rag Coat was performed as a ballet by the University of Utah. Mills is a visiting associate professor of drawing in the Children’s Book Writing and Illustrating MFA program at Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia. She invites you to visit her website.

About the Blog Author

Laurie J. Edwards is also an author and illustrator, who was lucky enough to have Lauren Mills as her drawing professor in the Hollins University MFA program in Children’s Writing and Illustrating. Edwards is the author of more than 2200 articles in magazines and educational databases as well as twenty books in print or forthcoming. Read more about Laurie J. Edwards and her books and art at her blog and website, or connect with her on Facebook and Twitter.