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Yasmin
Yertle the Turtle
Yetta
Yoko
Yuki
This is clearly just a short list of all the picture book characters I could come up with that start with the letter Y. If you can think of others, classic or more recent, please list them in the comments. Thanks!
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Xander
Xavier
Xavier
Xena
This is clearly just a short list of all the picture book characters I could come up with that start with the letter X. If you can think of others, classic or more recent, please list them in the comments. Thanks!
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Wemberly
Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge
Winnie-the-Pooh
Wolfie the Bunny
Woolbur
Mr. Wuffles
This is clearly just a short list of all the picture book characters I could come up with that start with the letter W. If you can think of others, classic or more recent, please list them in the comments. Thanks!
Congratulations to author/illustrator Linh Nguyen-Ng on the release of her new children’s picture book Mommy’s Little Wordlings, published by Anaiah Press. I’m happy to participate in this blog tour to help spread the word about this very special book.
Linh shares her thoughts on agents in the article below, but first, let’s learn a little bit more about Mommy’s Little Wordlings.
Little words hold big meanings. The Little Wordlings are children who use their simple words to express their feelings for loved ones. No one is more adored than the first person who made them smile. No one is more cherished than the person who gave them life. There is no one like Mommy. Join the Little Wordlings as they show Mommy how much she is appreciated and loved.
Sounds like the perfect book for Mother’s Day!
For more information, check out these links:
By Linh Nguyen-Ng
Thank you Lauri for hosting me on your blog!
So the question is Agent or No Agent?
I currently do not have an agent, and yes I would like one.
If you were given two keys, which would you choose?
A. a normal key that gets you through the door or
B. a golden key that allows you entrance through all the silver, gold or even platinum doors.
For me, I would pick the B—the golden key. I believe that having an agent gives you access to opportunities that otherwise might be hidden.
An agent is like your personal cheerleader. He/She loves and believes in your work. Having someone support you on this publishing path is extremely helpful, especially during times when you need advice or suggestions or just someone to discuss your manuscript with.
An agent will try his/her best to sell your manuscript to a publishing house, handling contract negotiations and become the buffer between you and the publisher. Without an agent, there can be friction and confusion between a writer and a publisher. A publisher’s main goal is to make money, a writer’s primary goal is to get the book into print, while maintaining the integrity of the story in the process, and also make some money.
Do authors need an agent to publish a book? The answer is no. Many authors submit directly to the publisher, like I did with my picture book, MOMMY’S LITTLE WORDLINGS. This is ok, especially in the beginning. But I have long term goals, and having an agent will help me achieve those goals a lot faster than doing it myself.
An agent will use their inside knowledge to place it with the right editor. For example, they know editor X at publisher Y doesn’t buy fantasy or horror stories. No point sending it to them – but I could have wasted six months finding that out, with only a cryptic rejection letter to show for it.
It’s like going fishing in either a lake or an ocean. For me, having an agent allows me to cast my net into the vast ocean. I just think there are more fish in the ocean for me to catch. So wish me luck on my quest to find my perfect agent!
Linh Nguyen-Ng–I live with my family in Massachusetts where I get to enjoy the four seasons. I love unique and interesting things—things that make a lasting impression. I am constantly looking for inspiration that I can use in my writing. Everything has a story to tell.
Website: http://www.linhnguyenng.com
Twitter: @linhnguyenng
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/#!/lnguyenng
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/29730214-linh-nguyen-ng
Title: The Amida Tree
Author/Illustrator: Bonnie Ferrante
Publisher/Year: Single Drop Publishing/2015
First Line: A little girl loved a wild apple tree.
The Amida Tree is a truly lovely story that touched my heart. It’s about a young girl and her relationship with a wild apple tree. And it is through this relationship that the girl learns to respect and care for nature, so much so that she goes off to university to learn more about the environment, and eventually even writes a book in order to teach children about the importance of wild fruit trees.
We watch the young girl grow and change and become an old woman and we know the tree is getting older too, and eventually it falls. And yet, though we are sad for the tree and for the old woman, we are left with a feeling of hope. New wild apple trees have sprung up and we know, thanks to the efforts of a girl who loved a tree, that the circle of life goes on.
When I was a girl, we had a wild apple tree in our backyard. This story brought back a lot of fond memories for me, of climbing the tree with siblings and cousins, of the wildlife that lived in it, and of my grandmother, who collected the apples and made the best apple sauce from them. The Amida Tree is worth a look for anyone interested in nature, or simply for the sweet, colorful, and nicely rendered illustrations.
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Verdi
Very Hungry Caterpillar
Violet
Violet
This is clearly just a short list of all the picture book characters I could come up with that start with the letter V. If you can think of others, classic or more recent, please list them in the comments. Thanks!
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Dear Blog Followers and Picture Book Enthusiasts, I searched high and low for picture book characters with names beginning with the Letter U and found none–zip, zero, zilch. This tricky letter of the alphabet has me stumped. If you know any picture book character’s names, not titles, that start with “U”, please list them in the comments. Thank you!
And thank you for following along with me so far in the Blogging From A to Z Challenge. I’ve been having a lot of fun listing the names of picture book characters beginning with each letter of the alphabet. There’s just five more to go, so stick with me. Let’s hope the remaining letters don’t turn out to be as Unusual, Unbelievable, Unsatisfactory, Unfortunate, and Upsetting as “U”. 🙂
I found one picture book character with a name starting with the letter U! Yay! And she’s pretty darn cute to boot!
Uan
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Thomas
Mr. Tiger
Tillie
Tilly
Timmy
Tommy
Tony
Traction Man
This is clearly just a short list of all the picture book characters I could come up with that start with the letter T. If you can think of others, classic or more recent, please list them in the comments. Thanks!
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Sal
Scaredy Squirrel
Scuffy
Shrek
Skippyjon Jones
Splat
Spot
Stellaluna
Strega Nona
Swimmy
Sylvester
This is clearly just a short list of all the picture book characters I could come up with that start with the letter S. If you can think of others, classic or more recent, please list them in the comments. Thanks!
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Mr. Rabbit
Rainbow Fish
Ralph
Red
Rocket
Roslyn Rutabaga
Miss Rumphius
Ruthie
This is clearly just a short list of all the picture book characters I could come up with that start with the letter R. If you can think of others, classic or more recent, please list them in the comments. Thanks!
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Queen Victoria
Queenie
Miss Quimby
Quinn
Quito
This is clearly just a short list of all the picture book characters I could come up with that start with the letter Q. If you can think of others, classic or more recent, please list them in the comments. Thanks!
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Paddington
The Peddler (I added this one just for fun. This is my debut picture book, set to be released September 1, 2015. It’s available now for pre-order on Amazon. 🙂 )
Pete the Cat
Peter Rabbit
Petunia
Phyllis
Pigeon
Ping
This is clearly just a short list of all the picture book characters I could come up with that start with the letter P. If you can think of others, classic or more recent, please list them in the comments. Thanks!
Aviator Owl Books co-founder Sarah Porcher is a young woman who has impressed me greatly with her creativity, generosity, ambition, and seemingly boundless energy. She first appeared on Frog on a Blog last summer and shared how she started Aviator Owl Books. She also said that the goal of Aviator Owl Books is to “inspire and educate children through print books, eBooks, online games, and apps”. And as if that isn’t enough, Sarah and her co-founder Chris Bill support charitable causes, such as First Book and the Make-a-Wish Foundation, through their book sales. You can read my interview with Sarah by clicking here.
Sarah is back to take us through her fascinating illustration process for her new book The Aviator Owls and Mina’s Garden. (As a writer, not an illustrator, I’m always intrigued by the art techniques that illustrators use for their books.) Take it away, Sarah!
Hi everyone! I’m so happy to be able to share some of my illustration techniques for our new book The Aviator Owls and Mina’s Garden! I’ll start with a brief introduction. My name is Sarah and I’m co-founder of Aviator Owl Books Inc. where I write and illustrate the books under the pen name S. A. Porcher. Today I’m going to talk a little bit about how I illustrated our newest book The Aviator Owls and Mina’s Garden, which is to be launched April 24 (2015).
So let’s get started! First, if you’ve seen any of our books before you’ll know that we have two different illustration styles: one using flat designs and vectors, and one with a digital painting technique. For any book with Aviator Owl characters, I use vector illustrations, so this post will be about that process.
I begin all of my illustrations with simple sketches on plain printer paper. I prefer to use ballpoint pens, but occasionally I’ll use pencil. The Aviator Owls were born on paper in 2009, so the basic character sketches have been finished for a long time. That made the illustration process for this book a little more streamlined.
After the character sketches are complete, I’ll sketch out extremely rough layouts for every spread in the book. And by “extremely rough” I mean that the only person on the planet who can understand them is me. Then I will organize them into a storyboard just to get a sense of the storyline. After this I have two options: 1. I scan in the rough layouts and add each one to a spread in Adobe InDesign (InDesign is my best friend) or 2. I use my Wacom Bamboo tablet and the pencil tool in InDesign to sketch the storyboard in by hand, using the physical sketches as a guide. Having the spreads in InDesign helps me a lot because as I fill in the illustrations I can scroll down and remind myself where I’m going next.
Storyboard
Rough Spread
Next up is starting a spread. I don’t start at any one in particular, I just sort of randomly choose. Now, because I have been working with the Aviator Owls for a long time, I am usually able to adjust them in Illustrator without having to refine my sketches too much. With a new book with new characters, at this point in the process I would have to pull out a pen and paper and sketch out a much more refined spread to use as a guide. But not the owls. Usually at this point they tell me where they want to go (It’s quite nice. I barely do anything at this point)!
I open Illustrator and start a new document, which I will save immediately as “Mina’s Garden”. Then I’ll open any document that has the owls I already designed and copy them into the new document. I work in layers in Illustrator, so I’ll use the same document for the entire book, but every new page will be on a different layer. The tool I probably use the most is the pen tool, and I’ll create (using my Wacom tablet) all of the vectors that are needed for the page.
Mina Duplicates in Illustrator
I pop over to Photoshop and start a new document with the correct dimensions for the book (Aviator Owl Books are all 8.5” x 8.5”) and copy in everything I need. I do touch-ups in Photoshop and then save the document. Unlike in Illustrator, in Photoshop every spread gets its own document. I try to keep these as organized as possible. Every book gets its own folder, and the Illustrator, InDesign and Photoshop documents are all dropped there. The Photoshop documents are named “MinaBook01” through “MinaBook14” so I can find it all later.
Spread in Photoshop
Then it’s into InDesign. Command + D lets me place the Photoshop documents into InDesign. This entire process – from Illustrator to InDesign can take several weeks – sometimes months – depending on the complexity of the book, the number of new characters/objects, and, of course, my schedule (I am still a full-time college student). I am generally a very impatient person, so as soon as I finish a spread in Photoshop, it goes into InDesign. Spread by spread, the rough sketches in InDesign turn into the Photoshop images.
Spread in InDesign
When I’m coming close to the end of the illustrations, I’ll start to fill in text. At this point it’s easy because I’ll have been working on the manuscript since the illustrations began. I’ll use the text tool in InDesign and write directly on top of the images. If something doesn’t fit well, or the text seems too out of place or “just three pixels too far to the left” (yes, I am that kind of person), I’ll go back into Photoshop and adjust the image to better incorporate the text.
Multiple Spreads
When it’s close to its final stage, I’ll export a low-res file and send it to the other co-founder of AO Books so he can look over it and bring a new perspective. Out of the entire process I think this is one of the most important parts. I am just one human, and after looking at the same project for several weeks it becomes very easy for me to miss things. Usually Chris will look over it and send back comments and we’ll go over them together. This back-and-forth will go on for as long as it’s needed. When it’s complete I’ll add the “book” information – ISBN (which I purchase from Bowker), the cover page, the pages dedicated to the charity we’re supporting through that book (for Mina’s book it is DIG), and then we send it out to CreateSpace for a proof copy.
Click the Logo to learn more about DIG.
And that in a nutshell (okay, a very big nutshell) is my illustration process for vector illustrations. I hope you enjoyed learning about how I illustrate, but if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to ask them here, or contact me at saporcher050@gmail.com. And for more information on Aviator Owl Books, be sure to check out our website at aviatorowl.com where you can find free printable activities, all the books, and news about The Aviator Owls and Mina’s Garden, due out April 24th, 2015.
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Oliver
Oliver
Olivia
Orq
Otis
Owen
This is clearly just a short list of all the picture book characters I could come up with that start with the letter O. If you can think of others, classic or more recent, please list them in the comments. Thanks!
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Ned
Miss Nelson
Noodle
Nora
The Numberlys
This is clearly just a short list of all the picture book characters I could come up with that start with the letter N. If you can think of others, classic or more recent, please list them in the comments. Thanks!
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Madeline
Mae
Maisy
Maple
Marshmallow
Martha
Max
Maya
Mike Mulligan
Mossy
Mr. Morris Lessmore
This is clearly just a short list of all the picture book characters I could come up with that start with the letter M. If you can think of others, classic or more recent, please list them in the comments. Thanks!
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Ladybug Girl (aka Lulu)
Leo
Leonardo
Lilly
Little Nutbrown Hare
Llama
Lola
The Lorax
Lyle
This is clearly just a short list of all the picture book characters I could come up with that start with the letter L. If you can think of others, classic or more recent, please list them in the comments. Thanks!
When I arrived home today, there was a package on my doorstep. What could it be?
O. M. Gosh, it’s my author copies of The Peddler’s Bed, direct from Ripple Grove Press!
It’s beautiful!
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Katie
Katy
Kiki
King Bidgood
Koo
This is clearly just a short list of all the picture book characters I could come up with that start with the letter K. If you can think of others, classic or more recent, please list them in the comments. Thanks!
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Jane
Jeremy
Jesse Bear
Jimmy
Johnny
Joone
Joseph
This is clearly just a short list of all the picture book characters I could come up with that start with the letter J. If you can think of others, classic or more recent, please list them in the comments. Thanks!
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Imogene
I.Q.
Irene
Ivy
This is clearly just a short list of all the picture book characters I could come up with that start with the letter I. If you can think of others, classic or more recent, please list them in the comments. Thanks!
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Hank
Hannah
Harold
Harry
Horton
This is clearly just a short list of all the picture book characters I could come up with that start with the letter H. If you can think of others, classic or more recent, please list them in the comments. Thanks!
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Gaston
Gator
George
The Grinch
The Gruffalo
Gloria
This is clearly just a short list of all the picture book characters I could come up with that start with the letter G. If you can think of others, classic or more recent, please list them in the comments. Thanks!
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Fancy Nancy
Ferdinand
Flora
Fly Guy
Frances
Franklin
Frederick
Froggy
This is clearly just a short list of all the picture book characters I could come up with that start with the letter F. If you can think of others, classic or more recent, please list them in the comments. Thanks!
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Ed
Mr. Elephanter
Ella Bella Ballerina
Elmer
Eloise
This is clearly just a short list of all the picture book characters I could come up with that start with the letter E. If you can think of others, classic or more recent, please list them in the comments. Thanks!
Lauri Fortino's Frog On A (B)Log 