Friday, May 28, 2010

THE new illustration style =)

Real quick, I just received this tonight... *much anticipated*... I saw the model sheets of the sport princess characters from this illustrator, Kristin Abbott, earlier this week, and loved them right away. You can see more of her portfolio at http://www.abbottillustration.com/. I wanted to post this full illustration so you can see the new style we are most likely going with for the Sport Princess series! We will have an official decision by Leo Publishing Works next week, and then after some minor tweaks to the characters themselves, new BIO pictures and style on here, soon.
More details to be continued...
UPDATE: it's official, Kristin Abbott is the new illustrator! We will have new character bios and images up as soon as they are completed... finalizing now!

3 days left for the Sport Princess photo contest!

In good faith, we are still doing the Sport Princess photo contest even though the publication date of the first book has been pushed out while it is being illustrated again! Click on the Sport Princess Photo Contest link at the top of the page for full details... You have until May 31st midnight to email a photo!! There aren't many entries so far, so that's good for you... Your chances to win are very high! We have received some super cute sporty pictures that will be posted On June 1st. There are two grand prizes... And two ways to win. One is completely random, we will use random.org to pick the winner! Everyone has an even chance. The second way to win will be by voting all next week during the contest period! Could be an easy way to pick up some quick cash and some fun sporty princess gear:) Send a cute sport picture you already have, or pull out your cameras this Memorial Weekend! Spread the word if you have a friend that has a little girl and could use the money rift now! Cheers:)

Saturday, May 22, 2010

The many faces of The Soccer Princess "Jo"

I don't know why I've put this off... because from what I've heard so far, this news I'm about to share has been received enthusiastically. And now that I'm looking through older illustration examples again, I'm getting a kick out of this thing called starting over. Since getting signed with my lovely Irish Literary Agents... and in talking to several overseas publishers and marketing companies at the London Book Fair, I heard a consistent message:

"LOVE the idea. Illustrations look a little old or off for the younger target audience though. Change that and you have something that could go international, too"

And then it hits me, too, as so apparently obvious that I don't know why we didn't see it sooner. So with the big picture in mind, and what's best to get all our little girls to love sport princesses and spread the idea... we all agreed to push off the first publication date of The Soccer Princess, (still in 2010!) while we start over on the illustrations! It was perfect - blessed - timing at the Book Fair, because my publisher had just received the proof sample from the printer in Minnesota, and we were at that point to either plow forward with the printing, or make any revisions.

I'm waiting for a new sample illustration from a fantastic agented illustrator right now that we've been in negotiations with, and my publisher will be able to make that decision by the end of next week. In the meantime though, I want to show you several of the faces of Josephina that I've received since the beginning from different freelance illustrators!! The first two (uper-amatear) drawings are my own... how I initially pictured Jo. The rest are several different styles and mediums based on different artist perspectives!

Have fun looking through all these examples!! I would LOVE your feedback and opinion. Several of these are obviously not her exactly, but some are closer than I originally considered... is there a style here that you love for little girls? Is there one that you think is close? Or right on? Have your daughters look through it with you too!
Stay tuned as we continue the search for the right match......

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J.
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Monday, May 3, 2010

Sporty surf-style clothing line... ATHLETA!


Have you seen this new magazine for women's clothing yet? I have fallen in love with it! I receive nothing from ATHLETA for making this pitch... I genuinely highly recommend ATHLETA! Here is their motto from the Design Director:

"Everything that makes its way into the Athleta assortment comes from our own personal love for both fashion and sport ... Our design team is made up of women athletes and we have pretty much every sport you can imagine represented by a member of our staff"

The have loads of beautiful sun dresses... knee length shorts, skirts, beach cover ups, swimsuits. And as far as online shopping goes, it's the same shipping as with Old Navy, Gap, Banana Republic etc:) You can shop by sport categories:

Yoga/Studio
Run/Walk
Hike/Explore
Gym/Training
Adventure Travel
Swim/Surf/Paddle
Golf
Tennis
Cycling
Triathlon

Check it out! http://www.athleta.com/
And lots of sporty tips and stories on their blog at http://www.athleta.net/chi/