Drawings and sketches and art, oh my! Several children’s illustrators participated in November’s PiBoIdMo challenge by moleskining their way through the month. Below you can see what makes an artist’s brush tick…err, I mean flick.
And…this is just Gallery #1 in a series of 3. More illustrators and galleries to come!
Courtney Pippin-Mathur
“I’ve had these ideas bouncing around in my head for a while now, thanks to PiBoldMo, they are now on paper where they hope to grow into picture book dummies one day.”

The Bodyguard

Fritz
Erin Nowak
“Attached is a sketch of the two main characters I got from this little sketch session: Warm & Toasty. Warm is a sweet cup of hot cocoa, and Toasty is her buttery wheat bread buddy. The VERY rough idea is that they’re used to being served up together on cold winter days, but the problem they’re having is that neither wants the other to shine too brightly. A friendship dealing with a little jealousy I guess. I also included my entire sketchbook page from that day as well, complete with scribbles and misspellings, just to give insight into the different ways illustrators work.”
Bonnie Adamson
“The working title is “Robot Rodeo,” made up this summer while illustrating the bookshelf of the main character in Heather Burnell’s picture book, Bedtime Monster. It popped back into my head when I was trying to come up with an idea for day three of the PiBoIdMo challenge. The title was about all I had until I started sketching, and then the robot steer with his knobs and levers began to take on a sort of gentle steampunkish look, which gave me a bit more of a hook for the story. I’ve got a very rough first draft down, featuring a showdown between one of the battered old cowboy robots, Piston Pete, and the ‘shiny stranger,’ who’s, um, not from around here.”
More galleries to come, kidlit fans! Stay tuned…
11 comments
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December 16, 2009 at 11:10 am
Jannie Ho
WOW! Love all the creative energy that is flowing around here! The sketches are amazing!
December 16, 2009 at 11:25 am
Lynn Bemis
I love it. What a treat to see how life on paper begins. Great job ladies. Thanks again for you efforts Tara.
Lynn~~
December 16, 2009 at 11:27 am
Southpaw
So fun. Thanks for sharing.
December 16, 2009 at 11:55 am
tammi sauer
These were so great to look at! 🙂
December 16, 2009 at 4:03 pm
Corey Schwartz
Wow, so cool. I wish I could illustrate!!!
December 16, 2009 at 6:25 pm
Heather Burnell
Great sketches everyone! They are so fun to see. And Bonnie, it delights me to know that you had a book inspiration while illustrating Bedtime Monster! Robot Rodeo looks adorable. I hope it will turn into a full-fledged book someday.
December 16, 2009 at 8:10 pm
Bonnie Adamson
Thanks, Heather–lol–I’m glad your main character is the type of little fellow who needs a bookshelf in his room!
And thank you, Tara, for posting these. I was a little shy about mine, but your being so supportive in wanting to showcase PiBoIdMo illustrators gave me the extra push to keep developing the idea.
Great job, Erin and Courtney! Can’t wait to see the next installment!
December 16, 2009 at 11:39 pm
IllustratorErin
This was so fun to be part of. Courtney’s bodyguard made me laugh out loud (Something about the baby in the carrier on a man like that!) and I definitely want to know more about Bonnie’s Shiny Stranger! Thanks Tara!
December 17, 2009 at 9:30 am
Sheri Dillard
How fun! Love the sketches! 🙂
December 17, 2009 at 1:09 pm
Loni Edwards
Love these! Great job Erin, Courtney and Bonnie! Thanks for posting these Tara!
December 17, 2009 at 2:18 pm
Debbie
Ha, I love seeing all these sketches and works-in-progress! Thanks for posting these, Tara.