Picture books are my favorite form. I love that every one requires its own unique design process in addition to its own unique design solution.

More times than I can remember/count.✨

There’s some cosmic forces involved when #kidlitartpostcard day coincides with an art call from Brian LaRossa! My wonky characters & shapes (affectionately referred to as ugly vegetables by my mentor) won’t do the trick this time but I can think of many kidlit friends who should answer this call.

Today! 💙❤️

Related: I’m looking for an illustrator with a textured, painterly, elevated, serious, realistic, literary style to illustrate a lovely sports themed jacketed, hardcover picture book.

Feel free to respond w/ samples + folio link. Please no emails/DMs.

💙❤️ #artcommissions

Guess what we’re up to?????!

Just realized tomorrow is #kidlitartpostcard! Will be scrolling.
💙❤️

Miiine toooooo

Album cover: UNKLE PSYENCE FICTION

Just remembered this album.✨

Words that come to mind when I work with IvyMazarin. 🤔 Sharp. Precise. Assertive. Articulate. Exacting. And, obviously, stunning.

vertical image of a still retention basin and sunlit sky. the sky is split starkly down the middle, clear on the left, gray clouds on the right, sun at the center. the cloud line is reflected perfectly on the basin surface below the horizon. photo by Lindsay Schiel NEORSD

not ‘shopped. not cropped. not stock.

straight from the phone of stormwater inspector Lindsay Schiel snapped yesterday at a basin in Hudson.

Publishing Industry People! The origin of the word “blurb”!

Timothy Snyder is one of the most important and urgent intellectual voices of our time, and the author of On Tyranny, and most recently On Freedom. He is the latest guest on my podcast Design Matters. Link to listen is here: tinyurl.com/dmwtimsnyder

A political sign reading "SAY NO to war with Iraq," but the "q" has been covered over with an "n"

Did some sadly appropriate recycling #nokings

Holy New York.

Today! 💙❤️✊🏻

Confidence is a pendulum that swings as a natural function of the creative process. Have confidence you confidence will return.

Joy is worth changing everything for, if changing anything is an option for you right now.

💙❤️

“Nothing can be changed except ourselves!” All of a sudden I can’t stop listening to Op Ivy.

I haven’t!

Chat bubble: I think it builds on the idea that design can be a weapon

Damn I LOVE teaching design criticism. Let me tell you, my students get all the way down to the heart of things.

I work with very talented people.

Less light, more life: New York's plan to transform its nights starting in 2028 New York sets a national milestone against light pollution by implementing strict rules to turn off or shield outdoor lighting across the city

I just stumbled on this by accident! Great news for New York and for biodiversity!

“The ambitious legislative project seeks to turn off unnecessary outdoor lights after eleven at night to restore star visibility to one of the most illuminated cities in the world.”

latination.com/new-york-pla...

It was the theatrical cut! I think I just used to be easier to impress lol.

Just showed my kids Donnie Darko, which I remember LOVING, and, uh, I didn’t love it lol.

Investors!

Yay! I will! I will!

In the early 20th century ppl did it by first buying a small publisher, thus buying a backlist, which they then used to fund their front list.

💙❤️!

Sometimes I think it would be fun to work for a little publishing house or imprint that only publishes 6 picture books per year, all awards quality. Maybe I should start a little publishing house that only publishes 6 awards quality picture books per year. It could be called “little house.”

I did 20 SCBWI events last year. So far this year I’m only scheduled for 2. I think ppl got tired of hearing me talk abt figure/ground contrast lol, which is totally understandable.

But really, whether we’re talking about typography or illustration, figure/ground contrast is everything.

💙❤️ #kidlit