Last week, we worked on putting together your brand new Physical Portfolio on the post “How to Put a Children’s Illustrator Portfolio Together”. Today, I will try to expand on what we briefly touched on Image Selection and Flow & Continuity on last week’s post while sharing my 2011 and 2012 Portfolios.

Why am I sharing my 2011 and 2012 Portfolios?
For two reasons:
1Every year I considered attending the SCBWI Los Angeles Conference, I looked at the information for the Portfolio Showcase and the list of winners from previous years. Every year, I wished I could see their winning portfolios. The portfolios were not available. I want to change that now by sharing my portfolios.

2The Portfolio I put together in 2011 earned me 1 of the 5 SCBWI Los Angeles Conference Illustrator Mentorships offered that year. A year later, my 2012 Portfolio was awarded SCBWI Los Angeles Conference Portfolio Showcase Grand Prize Winner.

Sharing the selection of illustrations may show what the judges were looking for those years. Hopefully that will help you win a portfolio award, an Illustrator Mentorship or the Grand Prize at the Portfolio Showcase this year.

2011 SCBWI Los Angeles Illustrator Mentorship Portfolio

Each year during the Portfolio Showcase, the Illustrators Committee members and a guest Mentor select 5 to 6 portfolios for the Illustrator Mentorship Program. By entering your portfolio to the Portfolio Showcase, you automatically have a chance to be part of the Illustrator Mentorship Program. The Program helps push your work to the next level.

Here are the illustrations included in my 2011 Portfolio. Illustrations were shown in the same order in which I present them here (left to right, top to bottom).

In 2011, the Mentors were David Diaz, Priscilla Burris, Cecilia Yung, Pat Cummings and E. B. Lewis. Each one of them gave me a 15 minute portfolio critique. Here is the list of some of the comments I heard that day:

{ Design vs. Decoration } Every time I sketched and found myself adding more and more elements to a page, I stopped and asked myself if the elements would help communicate the emotion. If they didn’t, I removed them. I continue to practice this exercise the most. I continue to struggle with this point the most.

{ Characters } I tried to know my characters. Once I started making them someone I knew, I achieved more emotion and personality. The “Ant and Grasshopper” pieces were the perfect project to practice this.

{ Patterns } I had to paint the final art for “Dana’s Trip” after the Conference. It gave me a chance to experiment with patterns, folk art and culture.

{ Color } It had been a year since I switched from colored pencil to mixed media. I was more comfortable with the new technique but I felt my palette felt right out of the tube. I reduced the amount of colors in my palette and tried more muted pieces.

The pieces below were the results of my attempts to fix the problems pointed out by the Mentors. And this is specifically what I did when I was putting the portfolio together:

2012 SCBWI Los Angeles Grand Prize Winner Portfolio

These are the illustrations in the 2012 Portfolio. Illustrations are shown in the same order in which I presented them. The judges for the Portfolio Showcase that year were: Neal Porter, Tamar Brazis, Deb Warren, Jennifer Rofe and Stefanie Von Borstel.

Curious what other Grand Prize Winner Portfolio looks like? Check Eliza Wheeler‘s post: Portfolio Comparison: What made an SCBWI winner. Eliza much like me was a Mentee and the Grand Prize Portfolio Winner the following year.

Want to learn more about the Illustrator Mentorship Program? Watch this video where Cecilia Yung, Art Director and Vice President at Penguin Books for Young Readers in the U.S. and SCBWI Illustrator Committee member, tells you all about it.

Know of any other Winning Portfolios shared online to add to the list? Have any questions? Leave a comment. Please, do come back and let me know if this post helps you this Conference Season.

Best of luck to you and until next Tuesday for the new and last post in this Portfolio Making Series. We are also closing with a Giveaway! A brand, new, 11″x14″ Kolo Newport Album. Come back for that! :)

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With that in mind, I thought I would write a Blog Post Series about The Craft of Portfolio Making.

Today we will focus on the making of the Physical Portfolio. We will be talking materials and how to best present your work for a Portfolio Show or a face-to-face Meeting. When we are done (post purchases and put-togethers) you will be walking around town with a new portfolio under your arm. Let’s get started!

1. Portfolios.

There are several options of what to use to display your artwork. You can make one from scratch or you can purchase something made and customize it a little. I personally prefer the latter. With that in mind, I will list some of the Portfolio options I have seen used that I think looked wonderful. Please click on images for enlarged views.

{ Pina Zangaro } This company makes portfolios that are beautiful. With a large variety of cover options, you will definitely find one that fits your personality. For an extra fee, you can laser etch or color print your logo on the cover. If you opt for that, congrats! They look fantastic! Most of the portfolios come in 8.5″x11″. Some are also available in 11″x14″. Their screwpost design allows for easy adding and subtracting of pages. Refillable. Price: $60 and up. Images courtesy of Molly Idle.

Molly Idle’s Pina Zangaro Portfolio

{ Kolo } These are my personal favorites. With 12 cloth cover options, you are bound to find one that fits your brand. Black leather cover also available. Screwpost design for easy adding and subtracting of pages. Available in 9″x12″ and 11″x14″. Each album comes with 10 cloth-hinged sheets. Extra sets of 10 sheets are sold separately. Sheets can be off white or black. Refillable. Price: $30 and up.

Juana Martinez-Neal’s Kolo Portfolio

{ Blurb } An uncommon but really nice looking option. It demands a bit more time and some design skills but if you have both, you will end up with a GREAT looking portfolio. Only Con: when it is time to replace an image, you will have to print a new book. Price: $30 and up. Images courtesy of Santiago Uceda.

Santiago Uceda’s Blurb Portfolio

You also have all the other portfolios that are easily available at any art store. Most of the time, these are not refillable which leaves you with too many or too little pages. Another dislike, the plastic sleeves. They reflect light at times which makes the art hard to see. Sleeves also get scratched and wrinkled easily.

2. Image Selection.

Select 10 to 12 pieces. Those pieces will introduce your work to Art Directors and Editors. How do we best tackle that? Here is how to accomplish it in 5 easy steps:

{ Step 1 } Create a folder on your desktop and save .jpg files of what you consider to be your strongest work.
{ Step 2 } Come back the next day and make your selection smaller. If you are like me, it is clear we have picked too many. 15 to 20 will do.
{ Step 3 } * Grab your calendar and call the cavalry! Find a date that works for your core group of children’s illustrators and write it down in your calendar. You are getting together and debating the selections.
{ Step 4 } * Make high resolution prints on high quality paper of your best 15-20 pieces. One image per sheet. Print them as large as you will show them in your portfolio. Good reproductions are key to represent the work well.
{ Step 5 } * Make it to the meeting. Show your reproductions to your friends. Together you will select your 10 to 12 best pieces. Once done, continue celebrating. You are out of the house and with friends. Take advantage of it!

* These may be challenging if you live far from civilization. What to do instead? Meet via Skype, Facetime or Google Hangout. Don’t like stepping in front of a camera? Create a Dropbox folder, move your selection of images there and share it with your online critique group. Don’t want to have your work up in the cloud? You can always email your selection to your closest illustrator friends. They can reply with their votes.

Next Tuesday, I will share the images and thought process while I was putting together my 2011 and 2012 portfolios in my post: “Mentee Portfolio vs. Grand Prize Winner Portfolio”. Make sure to come back for that.

Image Selection for the 2012 Portfolio Showcase

3. Mounting the Work.

Mounting your work can be as easy as putting your images in a plastic sleeve or mounting your reproductions to a page. If you choose to use a { Kolo } album, you will have to cut and mount your pieces on the sheets.

On May 28th, I will share the details and secrets of how to do that in my post: “The Craft of Portfolio Artwork Mounting”. The post will include a Giveaway. What would you get? A brand new { Kolo } Newport album. Come back and enter!

In the meantime, here are some images from May 28th’s post.

Mounting the work for the 2012 Portfolio Showcase

Mounting the Work for the 2012 Portfolio Showcase

4. Flow and Continuity.

This is something Molly taught me: You must think of your portfolio as a book. Pay close attention to the order in which you have placed your pieces. One page should lead you to the other. If you feel one illustration stops the flow, move it somewhere else or take it out completely.

Once you are satisfied with the flow and continuity of the illustrations, put it away. Look at it with fresh eyes a couple of days later. If you are happy with it then, Congratulations! You have done it! You have put a fantastic portfolio together!

Now you can carry it around town, bring it to the Portfolio Showcase or proudly take it to your face-to-face meeting.

5. Examples.

Before I leave, I want to share pictures and details of some great portfolios. Please make sure to visit the illustrators’ websites. I have included the portfolios of:

Click on images for enlarged view. See image captions for credits.

Santiago Uceda’s Blurb Portfolio

Santiago Uceda’s Blurb Portfolio

Santiago Uceda’s Blurb Portfolio

Debbie Ohi’s Handmade Portfolio by Beckett Gladney

Debbie Ohi’s Handmade Portfolio by Beckett Gladney

Greg Pizzoli’s Pina Zangaro Portfolio

Greg Pizzoli’s Pina Zangaro Portfolio

Brian Won’s Blurb Portfolio

Brian Won’s Blurb Portfolio

Laura Jacobsen’s Custom Portfolio

Juana Martinez-Neal’s Kolo Portfolio

Juana Martinez-Neal’s Kolo Portfolio

Juana Martinez-Neal’s Kolo Portfolio

6. Other Posts.

Two Portfolio Winning Children’s Illustrators have also blogged about Portfolio Making. Here are the links to their posts. I would say read it and decide for yourself what YOU want to make of your portfolio:

Thought of any more portfolio brands to add? Have any portfolio tips? Have links to add to the list of Other Posts? Leave a comment. Please, do come back and let me know if this post helps you this Conference Season.

From here, all my good vibes to you! Until next Tuesday for the new post in this Portfolio Making Series :)

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2 Portfolio Awarded. By June, I knew we were expecting. I also knew it would be a while until I would make it to Los Angeles for the SCBWI Summer Conference. I decided to make the trip and enter the portfolio. At the Portfolio Showcase in August, the Illustrator’s Committee called the winners one by one and then at the very end called my name. I had won the Portfolio Showcase Grand Prize. I was floored. Thank you to Neal Porter, Tamar Brazis, Deb Warren, Jennifer Rofe and Stefanie Von Borstel who were the judges last year.

3 Full Circle. I met Stefanie on Saturday after the Portfolio Winners were announced. We kept in touch for a few months and after a while it was clear we could work well together. Now, I’m proud to announce that since mid-November Stefanie Von Borstel of Full Circle Literary is my agent. I couldn’t be any happier. Her support and encouragement have been incredible throughout these months!

4 New Books. A couple of new books came out within the last 12 months: “Dana’s Trip” (Kalimat, November 2012), “Poppy Aprende Algo Especial” (Nido/Nestlé, August 2012), “The Night Before My Birthday” (2012) and “The Messy One” Mini edition (Capstone, January 2012). Also, “Lena Jellie Beana – Science Matters” (January 2013).

5 Storybook Brushes. Another highlight of the last 12 months. A few of us children’s illustrators joined forces and started Storybook Brushes. Our first mailer was a 2013 Wall Calendar. You can get a copy at my BigCartel Shop.

6 New Magazine Work. A few assignments for Babybug and Ladybug came last year. All of them where fun and whimsical. You can also read an interview at Babybug‘s blog here.

7 Back To Instagram. I stepped back from the online world while I was pregnant. Just last week, I reopened an instagram account. I post sketches (and the occasional family picture). You can find me as @juanamartinezn

8 Back To Work. As of Monday, April 22nd I’m back to work after 3 months of maternity leave. I’m full of tasks to accomplish and projects to complete but you will hear more about that later.

And with that my time is up! Life is good and I am happy. Until the next post, I hope you are happy. Thanks for reading!

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The Three Little Pigs

Penelope Dullaghan has decided to leave Illustration Friday. It is sad to see her go but I’m excited to see what she does next! She created a fantastic community where so many of us illustrators started getting the courage to show work. I was one of them :)

Good luck, Penelope!

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During the Banner Ironwood Medical Center event.

Banner Health has launched a new program to get a Mobile Health Unit to schools. The “Banner Children’s Healthmobile” will travel throughout the Valley to provide primary care to underinsured and uninsured children.

The “Banner Children’s Healthmobile” is a licensed outpatient treatment center that will operate just like a mobile doctor’s office, offering children up to 21 years of age treatment for health problems, physicals for camp or sports, and routine annual check-ups.

Walk-ins are accepted at the mobile clinic, but reservations are preferred. To make a reservation, call 480-412-6344.

Children from across the Valley can visit the mobile clinic, which is a licensed outpatient treatment center, for concerns ranging from earaches to neurological conditions. A parent or guardian must be present.”

Banner Health has organized 2 events as part of the “Banner Children’s Healthmobile” Open House. The events are free and run from 10am to 1pm. At both events there will be games, a bouncy castle, music, healthy activities, healthy food and a Coloring area. Children can participate and enter the Coloring Contest. Each Saturday a winner will be picked and the winning Coloring Page will be reproduced and hang in the unit. Great way to encourage art and health!

Last Saturday, I participated helping the children in the Coloring Area at the Banner Ironwood Medical Center in Queen Creek. This week’s we were going to be Banner Estrella Medical Center in Glendale. This event has been cancelled due to unusually heavy rain here in the Valley. I’ll keep you posted if and when it gets rescheduled.

You can read more about the Health Unit in the Banner’s Press Realease.

'Banner Children's Healthmobile' Photo courtesy of Banner Health.

Event Poster.

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Our giveaway closed last Sunday at 8pm Arizona time and we announced the winner Monday. Who is he or she?! It was Miss Megumi Lemons. For those of you who didn’t win, you can order a copy by clicking the link below.

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Now that I got my copies of the Storybook Brushes Calendar, I can hold the GIVEAWAY! Whoop!

It’s not only me having the Giveaway. Katriona and Maria also are and so will Angela a little later this week.

What would you get? We are giving away 1 copy of the Storybook Brushes 2013 Calendar and a print from one of us. If you enter here and you win, you will get one of my prints. If you enter Kat’s giveaway by posting a comment on her blog and win, you will receive the calendar and a special gift from here. The same goes for Maria and Angela. No limit of entries, no matter where in the world you live. Now you probably want the details!

You are probably thinking, how does it work?! You can enter the Giveaway by:
1. Liking the Storybook Brushes FB page.
2. Following @storybookbrush and tweeting: I want my 2013 @StorybookBrush Calendar now! #giveaway
And don’t forget to come back here and post a comment telling me what you did. Each one counts as an entry.

Can’t wait and need your calendar RIGHT now? Not a problem, order your copy here:

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I have no recollection of how I found Constanze work. All I know is that as soon as I saw her work, I fell in love with it! Madly! Constanze is always surprising me with her compositions, textures and color choices. She paints like I dream of painting when I grow up.

When it came time to choose my 4 illustrators for this year’s Series, I had to ask her. I had a feeling she would say yes. Sure enough, she agreed and now I have the immense pleasure to introduce you to the fascinating world and work of the German children’s author/illustrator Constanze Von Kitzing.

Constanze has been drawing and painting ever since she was able to hold a pencil. She started off with countless images of pricesses and horses, then already showing great love for details and a subtle humor in her characters and scenes. The evening stories, read to her by her parents, inspired her so much that she decided to become a professional children’s book illustrator.

Today, Constanze works for a wide variety of international publishers, has won several illustration prizes, and is happiest to see children enjoying her books and illustrations.

To learn more about Constanze, you can visit her website: www.constanzevonkitzing.de and follow her Blog.

Illustration from 'Gebete für Kinder' (Bahá'í-Verlag 2009) illustrated by Constanze Von Kitzing

Enthusiastic, funny, easily stressed, committed, people-person.

Now, please tell us how you got started in picture book illustration (in more than five words):

As mentioned before, I’ve always been drawing and fascinated by picture book, but from childhood dream to the actual profession it’s still a long way. I attended an art school for children for 10 years, after finishing school, I did a year of voluntary service in South Africa, doing educational dance and drama for a change, but then ending up producing flyers and posters there too. Back, I thought about being an arts teacher or graphic designer, I started with graphic design and discovered that I actually could focus not only on illustration but on children’s book illustration, so I switched schools and painted and painted. I was VERY proud when my diploma and first books (a series of a little lion) got published by “La Joie de Lire”, a French publisher I’ve done projects with ever since. It was also quite challenging to find a niche, as for some markets I was too artistic and for others I wasn’t artistic enough, so I learned to be flexible and to see the whole of Europe and later the entire world as my working field.

Illustration from 'C'est Moi Lei Meilleur' (La Joie de Lire 2009) illustrated by Constanze Von Kitzing

If you had to describe your work in terms of your artistic influences, you would say it is:

A mixture of Stepan Zavrel, Bernadette Watts and Eric Carle’s illustrations (my three childhood heros), that keeps being challenged by very many contemporary amazing illustrators.

Of the six fundamentals of 2D design (line, shape, volume, perspective, shading, and color): Which is your greatest strength? Which poses your greatest challenge?

Strength: Color and shape. Challenge: Perspective.

Illustration from 'C'est Moi Lei Meilleur' (La Joie de Lire 2009) illustrated by Constanze Von Kitzing

Given that illustration is different than many day to day jobs, how to you manage your time and maintain a daily routine?

Sometimes I don’t… As my husband is a musician without a regular time table too, our life tends to be rather chaotic, I try to start work after breakfast, but get distracted by housework, the desire to go for a walk, to make some tea, the internet… usually i start with paper work and emails and in the afternoon I paint. THAT I can do for hours and hours! Now that we have a little daughter, everything is different yet again.

Illustration from 'Gebete für Kinder' (Bahá'í-Verlag 2009) illustrated by Constanze Von Kitzing

What’s the best piece of career advice you’ve been given as an illustrator?

- Do what you love doing and try to be as good as you can be (my parents).
- If you see something you like, be not afraid of copying it, as it will come out very differently in your own hand (my professor).
- Love yourself and your own work (me, I have to remind myself regularly!!!)

What’s your favorite marketing tip or strategy?

Maintain personal relationships with editors and clients, quality not quantity – if you manage do both! :-), never give up, believe in the fact that what you have to offer is wanted and needed.

Illustration from 'Gebete für Kinder' (Bahá'í-Verlag 2009) illustrated by Constanze Von Kitzing

What new projects have you got coming down the pike?

A very cute gnome story; David and Goliath, a series about animal patterns for very small kids. Next week I will be attending the Frankfurt Book Fair, maybe some new things work out there…

'Gatito y el Balón' (Kalandraka 2012) illustrated by Constanze Von Kitzing

'Mais Qui Va Là' (Joie de Lire 2012) illustrated by Constanze Von Kitzing

And this ends the Mini-Interview with Constanze. Thank you so very much, Constanze! You are closing my series with the prettiest bow!

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Storybook Brushes: Logo

Collaboration is a wonderful thing and we all have worked together, really hard to get Storybook Brushes to where we are now.

Shortly after my initial “YES!”, emails started flowing back and forth and they haven’t stopped. We had so much to do! We had to pick a name, decide on an identity, get the calendar designed, sort publishers and take care of our website. And that was just to get started!

At times, we banged our heads against walls and bedframes – together and alone. Now, a few months later I can proudly introduce you to our group: Storybook Brushes. And who are we? In alphabetical order, with you the Storybook Brushes illustrators:

Storybook Brushes: Members

Our 12 new, fairy tale illustrations are completed. The design of the calendar is done and our 2013 Storybook Brushes Calendar is being printed right now. Publishers will receive copies as promotional mailers. If you are an Art Director or Editor interested in receiving one, please subscribe here.

If you are neither an Editor nor an Art Director but still would like to get a copy of the Calendar? You can PRE-ORDER a copy of the Storybook Brushes Calendar for only $10 plus cost of shipping from my BigCartel Shop (USA), Katriona’s Shop (UK) or Maria’s Shop (Germany). The 8.5″x5.5″ calendar will arrive in time for this 2012 Holidays with a print from the Illustrator’s store you shop at! All proceeds from the Calendars we sell will cover our printing costs so help a children’s illustrator out! :)

For now, we include the cover and 1 month so you can see what it looks like. We will be posting product pictures as soon as we get them back from the printer so stay tuned.

2013 Storybook Brushes Fully Illustratred, 12-month Calendar - Pre-order Now!

2013 Storybook Brushes Fully Illustratred, 12-month Calendar - Month of May

Pre-order your 2013, 12-month, wall Calendar from:

Juana’s Shop Katriona’s Shop Maria’s Shop

What? What are you saying? What are those piggies? Oh, well… I’ll tell you about them since you asked. The piggies illustration is 1 of the 3 I completed for the calendar.

It was time to get back from my self-prescribed piggy-break and what could have been a better fairy tale for my withdrawal than illustrating “The Three Little Pigs”. But 3 piggies weren’t cutting it. I needed more piggies, more piggies, MORE PIGGIES! And, I ended up with 10 little piggies.

'The Three Little Pigs,' final sketch.

'The Three Little Pigs,' final Illustration used for the Month of May for the '2013 Storybook Brushes Calendar'.

While the Storybook Brushes wait for the calendars to arrive, we are posting one piece at a time on our blogs. So stay alert or follow us on Facebook or Twitter! You don’t want to miss our next fairy tale delivery. I promise I’ll post one more piece in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, support our group by ordering your calendar. And with that I sign-off for now :)

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I found Greg’s work on Twitter about 4 years ago. With my love to everything that is old-school printmaking, I fell in love with his work immediately. Greg’s sense of design and color are a punch to the eyes. His characters are fun and minimal without being too simple – a hard balance to accomplish successfully. So when it came time to pick my 4 guests for this year, Greg came to mind right away.

He graciously agreed to the interview and now I am sharing all the info that he shared with me. Please enjoy, the Tuesday Mini-Interview with Greg Pizzoli.

Greg Pizzoli is an author, illustrator and screen printer from Philadelphia. His first children’s book will be published by Disney*Hyperion Books in May of 2013. Greg’s work has been featured in Communication Arts, 3×3 Illustration Annuals; and he’s won two Portfolio Honor Awards from the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.



After college, Greg spent two years as a full-time volunteer in AmeriCORPS from 2005-2006. In 2009, he received his MFA from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, where he now teaches.



He recently gave up drinking (as much) coffee.



His screenprinted works have been exhibited in the United States, Canada, Spain and The Netherlands.

To learn more about Greg, you can visit his website: www.gregpizzoli.com. You can also follow his work at his Blog and Tumblr. Greg is also on Facebook and Twitter.

'Food Truck' by Greg Pizzoli

I’m just a modern guy.

Now, please tell us how you got started in picture book illustration (in more than five words):

People ask me this question all the time, and I feel weird answering it because I am so early on in my career – my first book comes out in May – so I am very much still figuring things out; how I like to work, what kind of projects I really want to invest in and so forth. Also, I think my experience was somewhat unique, so I feel bad because I have to preface with “Ok, I’ll tell you how it happened for me, which will probably in no way help you, but…” – so anyway, here goes: I studied English Lit in college, with a minor in studio art, and immediately after college, I joined the AmeriCORPS VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) program for two years. While in AmeriCORPS, I started to work with kids and I began to silkscreen and draw a lot more in my spare time.

'Treasure Chest' by Greg Pizzoli



After two years of volunteering full-time I went back to school to study art at the graduate level, this time in Printmaking and Book Arts in Philadelphia. Before grad school I was mainly focused on making rock posters, mini comix, and zines, but while in school I become more and more interested in writing, and picture books in particular. As part of my graduate thesis I wrote, illustrated and hand-printed two editions of totally weird (and in retrospect, somewhat dull) children’s books. After getting my MFA, I immediately started teaching silkscreen at The University of the Arts, in both the undergraduate and continuing education programs. 



By some miracle, author/illustrator Brian Biggs was enrolled in my first CE class, and we fast became friends over our mutual interests in silkscreen, children’s books, and Indian Pale Ales. Unbeknownst to me, Brian sent my website link to his literary agent at Writers House, Steven Malk. Steven and Brian ended up coaching me through my first meetings with publishers, guiding me as I expanded my portfolio, designed promotional postcards, and created a new website. I was working a full-time dead-end kind of job, gambling that the work I was doing in my studio would eventually pay off. It was a long two years, and Steven, Brian, along with Bob Shea, became great mentors to me. In the summer of 2010, after about a year of emailing, Steven took me on as a client and we continued to work together to get my work to the point where it needed to be. His advice was to slow down, be patient, and to only put my best work out there. I spent a lot of time at the library, learning about picture books: what works, what doesn’t, and figuring out my voice as an author/illustrator.

'Where the Night Train Goes' by Greg Pizzoli (Unpublished)


I did my best to follow their advice while teaching part-time at night and working a full-time job in an office. I did most of my drawing and writing early in the morning or after work. In January of 2011, I attended my first SCBWI conference in NY, and was lucky enough to win a Portfolio Honor Award which got my work in front of a lot of publishing people. A few days later an editor from Disney*Hyperion emailed asking if I had a story to go along with my piece from the conference, and I didn’t, but I got to work on it. At that same time, I was showing other ideas to my buddies Bob Shea and Mac Barnett who helped me develop the next story, which became “The Watermelon Seed”, which is coming out in May of 2013. Another picture book I wrote (and will draw soon) will also be published by Disney*Hyperion in the Summer of 2014, and both are with my wonderful editor, Rotem Moscovich, who found my work at SCBWI.


This past summer, Steven and I started getting requests from publishers for me to illustrate stories written by other authors, which I am working on now. I’m doing a Halloween counting book with FSG, and a book about a brave spider with Candlewick.

'Hippos' by Greg Pizzoli

If you had to describe your work in terms of your artistic influences, you would say it is:

Obviously we’re all influenced by too much to even remember, but here are some things that I’ve been looking at a lot recently, and some which I’ve carried always: The Muppets, Sesame Street, Peanuts, etc. Cuban poster art, with the greatest influencer from that genre being Eduardo Munoz Bachs. I’m also always impressed by images from Seripop, Landland, Zeloot and Michael Deforge. Philadelphia has an amazing concentration of talented illustrators: Tim Gough, Zach Ohora, Brian Biggs, Matt Phelan, and Bob Shea who isn’t from Philly, but visits often. I have a pretty obscene collection of picture books and I probably most often grab those drawn by Maurice Sendak, Jim Flora, Will & Nicolas, Tove Jannson, Carson Ellis, Richard Scarry, Tomi Ungerer, James Marshall, Ed Emberley. I also really love Blex Bolex’s work. Many more.

'Wonka' by Greg Pizzoli

Of the six fundamentals of 2D design (line, shape, volume, perspective, shading, and color): Which is your greatest strength? Which poses your greatest challenge?

Color seems to be the thing that people most frequently comment on in my work. My work process is grounded in the traditions of printmaking, where every additional color means hours and hours of work, so my palette is usually limited to five colors or less, which means I’m pretty deliberate with my color choices. The watermelon seed was printed in three spot colors, instead of CMYK, and I think it will really stand out because of the limited palette and the inks and paper we chose.
Challenge: Probably volume? I don’t know. I took a life drawing course this spring to exercise those muscles a bit, and I was satisfied that I can still draw from life when I want. It seems I rarely want to. The illustrators and designers I’ve always been attracted to have created very flat worlds, I guess when your biggest influences are Ed Emberly, Richard Scarry, Sendak, Quentin Blake, etc, its unavoidable. But I also think its just what I’m doing now, and who knows where I’ll be in the future. I’m 29, things could change.

Given that illustration is different than many day to day jobs, how to you manage your time and maintain a daily routine?

I’m a big user of to-do lists. I also have a program on my computer that blocks facebook/twitter/tumblr/etc for however long you choose, which is good. A typical day looks something like this: wake up, coffee, ten minute walk from apartment to studio, on a good day getting there right around 9am, an hour of emails and general putzing, make a to do list and then doing my best to blow through the list. Some days I teach in the mornings or evenings, so I may spend time prepping for a class. I like to have several projects going on at once, and I can dip in and out of them depending on my deadlines, and mood. I typically work on whatever until about 8 and then go home.


'Tattoos' by Greg Pizzoli

What’s the best piece of career advice you’ve been given as an illustrator?

Work hard and be nice to people is a cliche, but for good reason. Also, just make a ton of work. If you keep making stuff, and don’t obsess over failures, you’ll end up getting better. It’s inevitable if you make enough.

What’s your favorite marketing tip or strategy?

Regular postcards definitely helped me – it’s can be expensive but it gives you something new to be able to give people and direct them to your website, which should be clean, and NOT play any music.


'Klip Klop' Zine by Greg Pizzoli

What new projects have you got coming down the pike?

Well, probably the thing I’m most excited about right now is that my first picture book, “The Watermelon Seed”, is being published this upcoming May. I did the writing and the drawings and I’m really pleased with how it came out, and incredibly excited to have other people enjoy it. It comes out May 7th, and the huge-online-retailer-that-should-not-be-named has it available for pre-order now. I have another picture book coming out with Disney*Hyperion in 2014, it’s another one with my fantastic editor Rotem Moscovich. 


I have also been fortunate enough to be asked to illustrate books that other people have written and am working on one for Candlewick, and one for Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux. They are both fun books and I’m excited about them. The FSG one will be out Summer 2014, and the Candlewick book will come out Spring 2015. I also just finished a new zine about a con-man who sold the Eiffel Tower for scrap metal, which is based on a true story. It’s called “Tricky Vic” and is a bit of a diversion for me. The art is much more graphic, more like editorial illustration. I’ve wanted to make this zine for 3 years or so and just haven’t ever found the time, but I was able to audit an offset printing class at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia and make “Tricky Vic” in the class. I designed the whole thing mainly at night over a few weeks. It feels really loose and graphic, and I’m digging it. It will be available on my etsy shop in December for only ten bucks. Other than that I’m storyboarding the book trailer for “The Watermelon Seed”, and sketching out new book ideas. And I still make screenprints, etc to keep me on my toes.

'The Watermelon Seed' (Disney Hyperion 2013) written and illustrated by Greg Pizzoli

'Tricky Vic' written and illustrated by Greg Pizzoli

And with that, we conclude Greg’s visit and interview. Thank you, Greg! I will see you next week here when I’ll be interviewing and sharing the amazing work of Constanze Von Kitzing.

But wait, also this week on the Mini-Interviews we have:

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