THIS SITE HAS MOVED. Inkygirl posts are now part of DebbieOhi.com.
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Debbie Ridpath Ohi reads, writes and illustrates for young people. Every once in a while she shares new art, writing and reading resources; subscribe below. Browse the archives here.
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*NEW!* Also see my Broken Crayon resource
Writer comics by Debbie Ridpath Ohi are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
More details: Comic Use Policy
Welcome to Inkygirl: Reading, Writing and Illustrating Children's Books (archive list here) which includes my Creating Picture Books series, Advice For Young Writers and Illustrators, Writer's and Illustrator's Guide To Twitter, Interviews With Authors And Illustrators, #BookADay archives, writing/publishing industry surveys, and 250, 500, 1000 Words/Day Writing Challenge. Also see my Inkygirl archives, and comics for writers. Also check out my Print-Ready Archives for Teachers, Librarians, Booksellers and Young Readers.
I tweet about the craft and business of writing and illustrating at @inkyelbows. If you're interested in my art or other projects, please do visit DebbieOhi.com. Thanks for visiting! -- Debbie Ridpath Ohi
No guarantee that my middle grade novel will ever be published; that's out of my control.
I'm trying to focus on what I can control:
(1) Writing the best book I possibly can, and
(2) FINISHING the book.
I was incredibly honoured to find out that SAM & EVA (Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers) has been nominated for The Canadian Children's Book Centre Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award. I am especially honoured, considering the other finalists in the same category. For more info about each of these books as well as other finalists in the CCBC Book Awards, see this press release from the Canadian Children's Book Centre.
I am SUPER-excited about the upcoming launch of I'M SAD, a new picture book written by Michael Ian Black and illustrated by yours truly, published by Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers! I'm leaving tomorrow to visit schools and bookstores from June 5-11, and author Michael Ian Black will be joining me for part of the tour! You can see a list of scheduled events on our I'M SAD Book Tour page.
I'm delighted by the press and feedback so far! Kirkus says our books is "Bibliotherapy done right....Happy to see such a well-done feelings book." I'M SAD is on the Kids' Indie Next list: "....A funny and surprisingly sweet examination of those days when you wake up and just aren't at your most cheerful."
I love Michael Ian Black's story so much. I cried when I first received the manuscript from my S&S editor (because of what was going in my life at the time). It was a good kind of cry. I also laughed out loud (also much needed). My hope is that our book helps kids understand that emotions can sometimes be complicated and hard to express, and to help them acknowledge their emotions....even the negative ones. Something I'm still learning, as a grown-up!
John Schumacher (aka Mr. Schu) asked Michael what inspired him to write I'M SAD. Michael's answer:
"So often, when our kids (or our friends or co-workers or whomever) are sad, our instinct is to try to make them feel better instead of just being there for them in a supportive way without necessarily trying to 'solve' their sadness. We all feel sad sometimes, and when we do, it’s good to know we have people (or potatoes) in our lives who won’t think any less of us for feeling the way we feel and who will still love us no matter what."
And here's a great video about I'M SAD from teacher Colby Sharp:
You can find a Teacher's Guide, bonus info and resources, print-ready resources and the I'M SAD Bonus Page.
*** GIVEAWAY: I am giving away copies of both I'M BORED and I'M SAD as well as some original art! ENTER HERE. ***
Thank you so much for your support of me and my work! I so appreciate it.
Also, I understand that picture books are expensive and not everyone can afford to buy them. If you'd like to support me (or others who have books coming out), there are so many other ways you can show your support.
THANK YOU again, and I look forward to seeing some of you in person June 5-11th!
;)
I am THRILLED and HONOURED to announce that I will be illustrating a picture book by Linda Sue Park. The announcement appeared Publishers Weekly Children's Bookshelf last week while I was out of town:
Announcement in Mar. 22, 2018 issue of Publishers Weekly Children's Bookshelf
Things have been crazybusy lately, so I've only had a chance to post about this now. And of course I NEED to post about this, because how often am I going to have a chance to say that I shared a stage with the amazing JUDY BLUME?!? Needless to say, I was a wee bit excited:
Thanks to those of you who gave me the heads-up about my website being on this list.
And thanks to The Write Life! See their list of 100 Best Websites For Writers in 2018 for other recommendations.
I've been gradually compiling my "How This Picture Book Was Created" resources, advice from the children's book writers and illustrators I've been interviewing, and the thumbnail sketch and layout templates I use for my own writing and illustrating process. Here's the link to my CREATING PICTURE BOOKS resource.
There is no charge. All I ask is that you pay it forward someday.
Thanks to The Write Life for including Inkygirl in their list of 100 Best Websites For Writers 2018!
My I'M SAD f&gs (printer's proofs) just arrived along with a sweet note from my editor at Simon & Schuster Children's! You can see the full cover/jacket designed by Laurent Linn as well as find out what inspired Michael Ian Black to write the story over in Mr. Schu's blog today!
Thanks to Writer's Digest for including Inkygirl.com in their annual list of best websites for writers again! So honored. What they said:
"Artist and children's book author Debbie Ridpath Ohi is perhaps best known for illustrating award-winning children's books (including several for Judy Blume), but her online presence is equally vibrant. At Inkygirl, she couples writerly inspiration with adorably endearing doodles - you can spend hours browsing without even realizing it."
Thanks also to Dee Romito for the heads-up in her Twitter feed at @writeforapples; I had missed seeing this news!
The first MITZI TULANE, PRESCHOOL DETECTIVE picture book launches next Tuesday from Random House Children's! Here's some insider info from the dedication page: mine is for my mom, who died of cancer when I was in my 20s.
Woohoo, RUBY ROSE, OFF TO SCHOOL SHE GOES! dances into the world today!!!
Ruby Rose loves to dance while she's brushing her teeth, eating breakfast, and even on her way to class. But there's NO DANCING at school! Or...is there? With a little luck and a lot of rhythm, Ruby Rose finds a way to get everyone up on their dancing feet. A perfect back-to-school book for budding dancers!
Just got permission to make this public: I am ***THRILLED*** to announce that I will be illustrating I'M SAD, a sequel to I'M BORED written by Michael Ian Black, coming out from Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers in 2018!
I'm excited to be working with editor Justin Chanda and art director Laurent Linn again.
CAN'T WAIT CAN'T WAIT CAN'T WAIT.
I had a FANTASTIC time during my WHERE ARE MY BOOKS? Book Tour earlier this month. Thanks to Simon & Schuster Children's for making the book tour possible for me, and to all the schools, libraries and bookstores who participated.
For those interested, I've posted links to my photos and recap at DebbieOhi.com/2015booktour, including what I learned along the way.
Thanks to Writer's Digest for including my website Inkygirl.com in their list of 101 Best Websites For Writers! I haven't seen the full list yet but just got the congrats letter. List is in the most recent issue of the magazine. Congrats to all the others in the list!
I'm delighted and honoured to be a Sharp-Schu Trifecta guest today. Please do go visit their blogs today to find out more about how I helped create the new look for Judy Blume classics like Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret and Freckle Juice.
On the Mr. Schu Reads blog, K-5 teacher-librarian John Schu congratulates new book releases and then explains the Sharp-Schu Trifecta, with links to my Nerdy Book Club guest post and Colby Sharp's interview with me about the Judy Blue project. He also provides some wonderful Judy Blume videos, quotes and resources. Do read to the end of his blog post, where you'll find a great anecdote about meeting Ms. Blume for the first time.
On the Nerdy Book Club blog, I wrote a guest post with help from my Judy Blume project art director Lauren Rille. Find out why I was terror-stricken as well as ecstatic when I found out I was going to be a Judy Blume illustrator, how the new covers got created, samples of my early sketches, insights from Lauren Rille about the process, a request from Ms. Blume about cultural diversity.
On Sharpread, Colby Sharp does a 5,4,3,2,1 interview with me, which means he gave me five questions which I need to answer with 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 sentence. :-D I had a lot of fun with this.
Thanks so much to Colby Sharp and John Schu for inviting me to be part of their Trifecta today, and to Cindy Minnich for her help with my Nerdy Book Club guest post!
UPDATE: To see sample illustrations, final covers, photo of me meeting Ms. Blume in person, see DebbieOhi.com/judyblume.
So in Part 1 of my Judy Blume news, I mentioned that I was thrilled to be illustrating the covers of the seven middle grade editions of classic Judy Blume novels that are being reissued by Simon & Schuster Children's.
Well, that's not all.
Just got word that I can make this public: I am also excited to be illustrating the covers of three Judy Blume classics that are being reissued as chapter books AND PROVIDING THE INTERIOR ILLUSTRATIONS AS WELL.
These books are Freckle Juice, The One In the Middle Is The Green Kangaroo and The Pain And The Great One. (***Edit May 12, 2014: Hardcover editions come out June 3rd, paperbacks on May 27th, 2014***)
My history as a Judy Blume fangirl:
Like many others reading this, I'm a longtime fan of Judy Blume's work. Her books reassured my younger, angsty self that I wasn't the only one having all these bizarre thoughts and feelings and impulses. I was way too insecure and introverted to ever talk frankly about many of these topics with anyone. Books like Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret comforted me, helped me gain the confidence to ask questions, to not feel so much like a freak. Reading her books, it seemed as if Judy Blume knew me.
My sister helped introduce some of Judy Blume's work to me, like Deenie. Ruth read the book just before she was diagnosed with scoliosis herself, and told me later that Deenie's experiences with wearing a Milwaukee Brace were very similar to hers. "Except I didn't have a guy fall in love with me while I wore mine. :-)"
At the SCBWI Summer conference in 2011, Judy Blume was on the faculty and I was struck by her down-to-earth good humor and easygoing manner. I was too nervous to consider approaching her during the weekend, but as I was about to head off to the airport, I came across Richard Peck and Ms. Blume in front of the hotel. On impulse, I asked if they minded if I snapped a photo and they kindly agreed:
Fast-forward two and a half years later. LOOK what Judy Blume tweeted a few days ago:
I have, of course, printed this tweet out and put it up in my office. I'm also going to print out and laminate a smaller version which I plan to carry around with me FOREVER, to remind myself that childhood dreams sometimes do come true.
How I became the illustrator of Judy Blume's revamped middle grade & chapter books:
On Dec. 19, Justin Chanda (my editor at Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers and also publisher) emailed to see if I was interested in auditioning for a book project "of great proportions" but that also had a very tight deadline. Intrigued, I said I was interested. Here is a transcript of the email exchange that followed...
---- Transcript begins ------
9:07 pm, JUSTIN:
Did you perhaps read Judy Blume growing up?
9:08 pm, ME:
OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGHOMHOG
OMG
9:10 pm, JUSTIN:
Ok good. We'll talk tomorrow morning.
9:11 pm, ME:
OMGOMGOMGIMGOGGGGG
Very much looking forward to chatting tomorrow
OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG
---- Transcript ends ------
What I needed to do: come up with cover illustration sketch ideas for three of the books. Justin and I brainstormed and I also had notes from brainstorming sessions that took place at S&S Children's with Namrata Tripathi. Thanks also to some of my Torkidlit friends (whom I swore to secrecy) and a few others for helping me come up with some extra sketch ideas.
I had been warned that I may not get the job, so I knew that there was a good chance I'd be working through the holiday season and still get passed over, but I couldn't say no. I mean....JUDY BLUME!!!
Shortly after I began sketches, however, the Toronto ice storm hit and we lost power in our house. My friend, Cathy Rutland, came to the rescue and offered to let me stay at her apartment until our power came back on. Jeff (MY HERO) took a break from trying to keep our water pipes from freezing and moved my scanner, iMac, Wacom stuff and other hardware I needed over to Cathy's apartment.
Meanwhile, Justin and I were in constant touch. He and I were exchanging emails, sketches, feedback on sketches pretty much every day throughout the holidays except for Christmas Day and New Year's. [Correction: Justin reminded me that we actually did exchange email on New Year's as well. :-)]
Because the books were coming out in April and they had not yet found the right illustrator, timing was tight. I estimate I drew over 150 sketches during that time and sent Justin 50 of those. When everyone else got back after the holidays, I continued the brainstorming and sketching process with Justin, Dan Potash, Namrata Tripathi and Lauren Rille.
Side note: I've noticed some mistakenly think that I did the cover redesign. I want to emphasize that Lauren Rille did the wonderful new cover designs, not me. I just provided the illustrations.
Up to this point, I had mainly been focusing on hand-drawn sketches that I scanned into Photoshop, but Dan Potash asked if I could redraw some of their favorites into vector-line style. This wasn't my usual illustration style but I love creative challenges. :-)
Finally we came up with some cover samples that were good enough to send to Judy Blume, and then I waited to hear if she liked them or not. This is when I posted the following on Facebook:
The waiting was AGONY. I was such an airhead at home, forgetting where I put things, only half paying attention to what was going on around me. I burned meals. I also put dish soap in the rinse agent compartment of our dishwasher....there were suds everywhere! Jeff was incredibly patient. :-)
Justin called me on January 16th, 2014. I remember noticing the 212 area code and immediately thinking newyorknewyorkohpleaseohplease and then picking up the phone and JUSTIN TOLD ME THAT JUDY BLUME LOVED THE COVERS YAAAAAAAAY *AND* that they wanted me to also do the interior illustrations for the three chapter books. (!!!!)
I freaked out. I became aware I had started screaming at Justin, tried to calm down and be professional, but then started screaming again. At one point, he had to reassure me that "Yes, this is really happening." After the call, I immediately called Jeff at work and screamed at him and then I emailed my sister and my agent at Curtis Brown, Ginger Knowlton (by that point my throat was sore from all that screaming :-)).
Some of you may have seen my "Blooming" found object doodle recently:
The material came from a congratulatory bouquet of flowers from my friend Cathy, who said they were blooms for my Blume news. :-)
And this brings me to why I can't attend SCBWI-NYC this coming week:
Because the chapter books are coming out in May, the deadline is tight. Cover details are still being tweaked. And I've been madly working on the b&w interior illustrations, which need to be finished in the next couple of weeks. I'm using a much looser illustration style for the interiors; I'll post samples when I can.
I had to cancel my trip to NYC and the SCBWI Winter Conference and have been working through weekends and many evenings, turning down social invites. Jeff treks down to my basement office every once in a while to check on how I'm doing. He and I have been getting takeout a lot lately.
But every so often I'll force myself to press pause, sit back and appreciate the moment. I AM ILLUSTRATING BOOKS BY JUDY BLUME.
JUDY BLUME.
My husband has gotten used to me sending him random texts during the day consisting of just the following:
Early in the process, Lauren Rille and I were chatting about being Judy Blume fangirls, and how absolutely COOL it was we got to read and reread Judy Blume books and say it was part of work.
One thing I noticed as I was rereading her books: Judy Blume books are as relevant and inspiring now as they were years ago, dealing with universal issues and feelings while growing up. At the L.A. Times Festival Of Books, Judy Blume had advice for grown-up fans of her work who want to introduce their children to her books.
"First, invest in one with a new cover," she says. "Even if you like the old, original covers. Second, don't give it to them. Just leave the books strategically placed around the house and then occasionally say: 'Oh no, you're not reading that -- you're not ready for it yet.' " Heh.
You can find out more about Judy Blume and her work at JudyBlume.com, including tips for aspiring writers.
Meanwhile, I'd better get back to work. THANK YOU for all the kind words, congratulatory messages and encouragement. They are so much appreciated.
Jeff and I got back from BoardGameGeek last night. After being away for a week, we had a pile of snailmail to go through. Mine was Very Nice Snailmail and included:
(1) Check from Penguin Books for the use of one of my writing comics. I love checks. :-)
(2) Note from Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers that I'M BORED has gone into a third printing, WAHOO!!! Considering that the book just came out late last year, I'm pretty happy.
For those who haven't been following my work up to now, I'M BORED is a picture book written by Michael Ian Black, illustrated by yours truly. More info on the Simon & Schuster website plus I have tons of bonus material, activities, print-ready goodies available on the I'M BORED Bonus Page including some Thanksgiving-themed greeting cards and activity sheets.
(3) Advance signing check (did I mention I love checks? :-)) for SEA-MONKEY AND BOB, a picture book written by Aaron Reynolds, to be illustrated by MEEEEE, coming out from Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers in Fall 2015. I just recently created a Facebook page for SEA-MONKEY AND BOB, by the way, and would soooo appreciate any Likes. :-)
Back home, and I HAVE NEWS.
I am delighted to announced that I am going to be writing AND illustrating two more picture books for Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers.
Many thanks to Jeff, Ginger Knowlton, Mina Feig (who works with Ginger at Curtis Brown) and my MiG Writer critique partners (especially Andrea Mack) for helping me get my picture book dummy for SAM AND EVA polished. I sent it to my editor, Justin Chanda, around 10 pm and he responded at 8:30 the next morning:
Absolutely 100% love this!
Wow!
Ginger… I'll be in touch.
When I read his reply, I yelled and jumped up and down in my office (no lie) and then ran upstairs to wake my husband up to tell him. Jeff is not a morning person, but I figured he wouldn't mind in this particular case. :-)
I'll be posting more about how I put together this particular picture book dummy in my "Writing & Illustrating A Picture Book With Simon & Schuster BFYR" series:
Justin was the first editor to ever offer me a contract for a children's book, and I continue to be grateful to him and Simon & Schuster Children's for their continuing support of my work.
SAM AND EVA (title likely to change) will be published in Fall 2016. The second picture book is yet to be written and illustrated, and is tentatively scheduled to be published in 2017.
You can see an updated list of my upcoming book projects at DebbieOhi.com/books.
On Facebook, you can be kept up-to-date on my writing projects at https://www.facebook.com/DebbieOhiBooks.
I am delighted to announce that I'm illustrating SEA-MONKEY AND BOB, a new picture book by Aaron Reynolds (author of CREEPY CARROTS and the recently released CARNIVORES), scheduled for publication in Fall 2015.
Veryvery excited about this project for so many reasons, including:
1. I love Aaron's work! Check out his website for more info about his many wonderful book projects.
2. I've been soooo wanting to illustrate an underwater creature story.
3. I've had quite a history with Sea-Monkeys, and once had Sea-Monkeys named Lettuce and Abdul The Destroyer.
I'm so looking forward to working on this book. :-)
Monday, April 8, 2019 at 9:49 AM