After over two years of posting here at WordPress.com… Walking in Public is MOVING! I now have a brand-new, sleek and professional site over at AnnieBethEricsson.com, and I made the decision to host my blog there as well.
As you’ve probably noticed, I haven’t been posting a lot (at all) here in the past few months, and that’s mostly because I’m overwhelmed keeping up with multiple platforms and social media sites online. Now that all of my content is in one place, I’ll be sure to update with new artwork and blog posts more frequently – so please subscribe and check back there often!
If you’re sad to miss Walking in Public, do not fear! All of the old posts are available on AnnieBethEricsson.com, and this site will stay available, if dormant, to take a walk down memory lane.
It’s finally time to resurrect my blog from its long hiatus! I’ve actually missed being on Walking In Public… digging up blog content has always kept me engaged with the publishing/art/design industries, and it motivates me to write and draw regularly. So, I’ll be back on the blog for a long while, with all-new features and updates on my journey to success in the children’s book world!
What have you missed while I’ve been away from the blog? Here are the best things that happened, circa 2011:
Annie’s Top 5 2011 Professional Developments
1. Illustrated and designed the Little Farmer app.
You may remember that I began a project working on a toddler game app, called Little Farmer, back in May. Well, after months of illustrating, designing and developing, we released it for sale in the iTunes store in October! It has been a really wonderful experience working with a talented developer, Anita Hirth, to create artwork that children can interact with, right there on any iPhone. There’s much more to say about the process of creating an app, and my future in the digital world… but those are subjects for bigger posts!
In the meantime, purchase the app here, or watch the video trailer, above!
2. Joined the Children’s Book Council’s Early Career Committee.
I’ve been attending events for young adults in the publishing industry for awhile, so it was exciting to be asked to represent Penguin Young Readers (and designers everywhere) on the Children’s Book Council’s Early Career Committee. This organization creates opportunities for those in the first 5 years of the children’s book industry to network, learn, and become more involved in their fields… so their mission is right up my alley! Since becoming a part of the team this summer, I’ve had a TON of fun making great friends with 20-somethings in different houses, through planning creative programming. I’m also having a blast designing fliers, making good use of my design time and talents.
If you haven’t already, make sure to catch up on the CBC and ECC’s fabulous social media enterprises – Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest!
3. Made friends with WordPress.org.
One of the biggest hurdles in creating marketing materials for Little Farmer was: what to do about the website? A website is obviously essential for promoting any business or product, but my knowledge of web design is spotty at best. I’ve taken a class on Flash, but I gotta admit, coding scares the bejeezus out of me. So I turned to the platform I knew best – WordPress, home of this very blog! WordPress.org is actually slightly different from its blogging sister WordPress.com. In a day or two, you can create practically any site imaginable, using existing templates, posts and pages, and update new content anytime – hardly any coding required. The process is worth a separate future post, but here are the first two sites I made:
What was I up to at my real job? Designing wonderful titles with Putnam and Nancy Paulsen Books! In addition to my regularly scheduled board books, anniversary editions and novel interiors, I had the opportunity to have my own picture book assignments. My first book, Half-Pint Pete the Pirate, was quickly followed by Dave Horowitz‘s hilarious, “spaghetti-western-style” Chico The Brave. I also was honored to redesign Jan Brett‘s Beauty and the Beast reissue, and also redesign the jackets of a few international imports. My favorite? The Aussie “new classic”, Maudie And Bear.
5. Freelanced Projects.
Lastly, I’m happy to report that in addition to my busy schedule and pet app project, I also picked up a few freelance gigs. Chief among them was an exhibition catalog for the Simms Tabackretrospective at the Museum of Ventura County.
I’ll never forget that I was able to get to know Simms and work with him on this 16-page booklet of his work, in the few last months before his death this December. He was a truly exceptional man with a kind heart, a keen eye for design, and an inspirational wealth of artistic creativity. It was always wonderful to speak with him, and I loved that he was so involved with every aspect of his craft. It does give me comfort, though, that before he passed, he saw the publication of his final book, Postcards from Camp, the opening of the exhibit, and travelled with friends and family. He will be sorely missed!
Read more about Simms’ amazing life and work here.
. . .
And now, looking forward to 2012… keep reading here for more posts, new content, and as always, a love of illustration, books and design all around!
Well, it’s been another one of those times where my blog has hit a bit of a lag! My life these days is crazy busy, personally and professionally, so I really can’t complain. Unfortunately, it doesn’t leave a lot of room for writing about my experiences or keeping up with my social media presence. So now that I’m comfy on the recliner on vacation in Bemidji, it’s time to play a little Walking In Public catch-up…
First off, if you haven’t headed over to my new gig as a columnist on the blog, Publishing Trendsetter, you want to go to there! The site is full of great advice and insight from young professionals on those either in their first few years, or looking to get into the industry. As for me, I’ll be bringing the visual inspiration with the column, Design Candy.
A few weeks ago, I kicked it off on Trendsetter with my favorite design finds, head-to-head, from the publishing extravaganza of the year, BEA. But I had a lot of favorite moments that didn’t make it onto that post. For some reason, most of the Big 6 publishers disappoint – their large space isn’t utilized with books, but posters/video screens that don’t make an impact. It’s the indie publishers (plus the usual suspects in Chronicle, Candlewick and Abrams) that make up the best exhibits.
Missed BEA the first time around? Check out my highlights now:
Chronicle Books: Is designer heaven – no one even comes close to these guys in my book.
Abrams: They always pull out all the stops, this time with a giant snowglobe.
International: Saudi Arabia is by far the friendliest, but I love looking through all the foreign-language books.
Candlewick Press: No pics of the display, but note the presence of actual kids’ books.
Mo’s Nose: These self-publishers pulled out all the stops with cool display and marketing. Plus, I think the idea of an app based on a scratch-and-sniff book is hilarious.
Hyperion: Okay, I have to be honest, this is not on my favorite list. I just have to ask… what is with the harvest cornucopia?! I can’t help but laugh at this one.
Time for a little spring cleaning, aka. link updating. If you haven’t noticed, down the column on the right are a bunch of fantastic blogs that I read regularly, and I try to occasionally go through and add/delete links so the list stays fresh with active bloggers. It’s a great place to turn to when I’m lazy busy here at Walking In Public!
I’m sure I’m missing blogs, though, so if you’re reading this and want me to add yours or a friend’s, add a comment below (note: I try to keep it to blogs only, not static websites).
Speaking of friends, can we discuss how amazing are Pratt student Sarah Mimo‘s hand-crafted clocks (above)? I’m astounded at her innovation and stunning detail . . . wow. Talk about a senior project that deserves buzz. Her new artist blog is full of more clocks, as well as some lovely textural illustrations, so make sure to head over there, pronto!
As you may have already noticed, I’m taking a break from blogging for a couple weeks to celebrate (read: run around like crazy) during the holiday season. So while I’m too busy sledding to post, I hope you had a very merry Christmas, and see you in bright and early 2011!
Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed – just like Ian Falconer’s Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk by David Sedaris.
Phew, what an exciting week we had on the blog for the 1st annual Illustration Week! To be honest, when I first put out the idea, I completely underestimated what an amazing response I’d receive from my talented fellow illustrators, and what a positive reception the entire idea would get on the internet. Thanks to everyone for tuning in!
While I don’t think I could ever keep up with posting daily, I will continue to feature up-and-coming illustrators. I personally learned a lot from the artists who were interviewed, and I can’t wait to expand it more. So if you are/know someone who would be great for the New Artist Showcase, do let me know!
In the meantime, here’s a round-up of all the artists of this week (in case you missed any), and don’t forget to check out today’s finale illustrator, Chris Harrington!
… to let you know that my list of Top 10 ALL-TIME favorite picture books is posted today over at Brooklyn illustrator Sergio Ruzzier’s blog! If you don’t already know Sergio’s work, you should definitely check out his work online or at the Drawn In Brooklyn! exhibition at the library. Thanks, Sergio!
Making a Top 10 list was tough… and a lot of fun! I even had to call home to make sure I didn’t miss anything on the ol’ childhood bookshelves. There were several that immediately came to mind, and a ton of others that I believe are essential to children’s literature, but didn’t ultimately make the list. In the end, I decided to go for the ones that weren’t always the most important to the rest of the world, but gave that little extra tug at MY heartstrings. Because isn’t that what’s REALLY important, anyway?
As you readers know, my blog has not just been about illustration, but about the process of becoming one. So, to celebrate the first Illustration Week, I’m not talking about my own journey – I’m showing off others!
Starting Monday, look forward to (at least!) daily interviews of young illustrators – those who are in their first year or two in the industry. I’ll ask a few questions and get a chance to show off their incredible work.
I’m SO excited about this, as I’ve had an amazing response so far from my talented Pratt classmates . . . but if you’re reading this now and are (or know someone who is) a recently-graduated or about-to-graduate illustrator, feel free to contact me and I’ll be happy to interview you!
As my dear online stalkers will have noticed by now, Walking In Public and anniebethericsson.com have gotten a makeover! Web design has never really been my thing, and I’ve struggled in the past with trying to create a professional and consistent online presence that is also easy to update.
Enter my hero, flavors.me! This new site allowed me to create a personalized custom website by embedding existing social media outlets (like WordPress, Twitter, and LinkedIn) into one hip, designed package. I’m loving this alternative to a Flash site because it’s not static – my work and online life is constantly changing and updating, and I need something that reflects all that I’m learning and doing, day by day, no coding included.
To complement my new look at anniebethericsson.com, I also freshened up my other sites to match. Since I can’t add content directly to flavors.me, I created a Tumblr blog simply for my illustration portfolio, but made it look similar to the home page (you can also view slideshows of more work on the Tumblr site that you can’t on flavors.me, so it’s worth checking out separately).
And since the Walking In Public blog and Twitter design was outdated, I whipped up some new puffins MUCH more reflective of my current style. And . . . I just realized, that all I paint anymore is birds. Oops!
Walking In Public 