I’ve told this story before, but one thing Marshall Arisman taught me is that a good story deserves to be retold. In 1984, I was a bartender at the 8th Street Tavern in Hoboken and doing occasional illustrations for The New York Times and The Village Voice. I learned from an ad in the Times that The School of Visual Arts was launching a new MFA program. The chair was Marshall Arisman and the program was then called “Illustration as Visual Journalism.” I applied and met Marshall in his office at SVA on 23rd St. He was wearing a tan cashmere sweater. I did most of the talking. He laughed a bit.
A Radiant Monkey, ink and gold leaf by Marshall Arizona
My application included the requisite 20 slides, some Voice cartoons and not very good travel sketches I’d done in Viet Nam during the war. I didn’t have a Bachelor’s degree when I applied. I convinced Marshall to let me enroll by promising to finish that undergrad degree while also getting my MFA at night in his program.
Marshall seldom used paint brushes. He would apply the paint on paper or canvas with a palette knife, a q-tip swab, or the pop top from a soda can. He smoked unfiltered Gauloises cigarettes even while he was painting in oils.
Drawing by Marshall Arisman 2017
Marshall died in 2022. I wept when I heard it as if I lost family. SVA had an exhibition of his work in their Gramercy Gallery this winter. It closed last week. I am so glad I got to see it. His artwork is powerful and plentiful. The personal memorabilia was also fascinating. I had to laugh seeing his rejections slips, including one from J. Carter Brown of the National Gallery of Art. There were touching anniversary cards drawn for his wife, Dee Ito.
I was not sure I was cut out to be a teacher. I wanted that vanishing (even, then, in 1985) job as a freelance illustrator. Marshall learned of a job as sabbatical replacement for an illustration prof at East Carolina University. He persuaded me to take the job. I taught there for a few years, then 30 years at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania.
Photo form the SVA exhibition: “Marshall Arisman: Does That Make Sense?”
I would always tell students what Marshall told us. Think of yourself not as an illustrator, but as the author of your own projects. Make something personal and then find a place for it. Of course, the work does not always find a place, but, at least, it gets done. I think about Marshall often and try to get back to work.
Radiant Monkey, ink and gold leaf, Marshall Arisman
Tara Hannon is on a roll! She graduated from Kutztown University’s Communication Design program in 2006. In 2024, she will celebrate the publication of her first graphic novel for kids, Birtle. She shares her journey in this Q. and A.
Q. What was your first design-related job after college?
My first design related job was a marketing position for a security company. I didn’t love it. I spent a lot of my time there dreaming about a more creative career. I began to draw greeting cards on my lunch breaks and those greeting cards eventually became the catalyst to begin freelancing illustration.
Q. Any organizations that helped you on the road to publication?
SCBWI was a big help finding information on how to get published, and I still love their webinars. But early on, I think 12×12 was the most helpful. 12×12 is a private online forum (they open for membership at the start of every year) where you can post your manuscripts to be critiqued by other members. Before joining 12×12 I was writing alone without peer review. My writing improved substantially after finding critique groups and people in the writing community that I enjoyed working with and learning from. I found my first critique group through 12×12 in 2017 and four of us from that group are celebrating our debut books this year. I think that’s so cool!
Q. Is Birtle your first graphic novel?
BIRTLE is my first published graphic novel. I created a middle grade graphic novel that went on submission before BIRTLE, but it didn’t get picked up. Before that I focused mostly on picture books. My agent and I sent 4 picture book dummies and one middle grade graphic novel on submission before BIRTLE. BIRTLE was the first book I got an offer on as an author illustrator! Before that, I was also hired to illustrate two board books, which was really fun. I love working in different kid lit genres!
Q. How did you get an agent?
My first agent, Jordan Hamessley, contacted me through Twitter. I had tweeted my portfolio website and one of her clients retweeted it. (Thanks, AJ!) It caught her eye and she emailed me. (I had been in the query trenches for a long time, so receiving that email totally blew my mind.) I sent her some work and after she reviewed it, she offered rep! It was really awesome and a great example of how social media can work for artists. A few years later, I found myself back in the query trenches and a friend of mine in the writing community contacted me to say, “I think my agent might be a good fit for you.” (Thanks, Christine!) My friend connected me to her agent, Elizabeth Bennett, who reviewed my work and decided we would be a good match! I was thrilled! Querying can be soul crushing at times. But both of these moments are an example of how incredible the kid lit community is!
Q. How did you agent help you?
When I started writing, I was laser beam focused on writing and illustrating picture books. My first agent, Jordan, thought my art would be well suited to illustrate chapter books. I remember the exact moment she said it to me because I was shocked but I also thought it was very cool that she saw more for me than I did.
A few years later when my picture book, The Only Ghost In School, went out on submission and didn’t get picked up, she encouraged me to try writing it as a chapter book. I did and we got an offer from Penguin Workshop (Woop!). Chapter books were not on my radar, until Jordan encouraged me to try it. Now I LOVE writing longer format books. Who knew!?
Q. How would you describe Birtle?
Birtle is an early reader graphic novel. It is playful and funny and about loving ourselves and each other just as we are. Some people might read it and think it’s a just cute friendship story. And that’s great, because it is a cute friendship story, but when I simmer it all down, it is truly a book about belonging. While I was writing Birtle I heard this quote from Brene Brown, “The opposite of belonging is fitting in.” (Oof, I still love that quote.) I kind of picture Birtle being the book version of that quote. Teeny and Tootie’s friendship is an example finding true belonging with someone who loves you just the way you are.
Q. What do you daughters think of your success? Did they get to witness you unboxing Birtle?
Good question! They are in Elementary School, (Kindergarten and Fourth Grade) and it is really fun writing books that they will read. Tootie and Teeny come up in conversation often, we have named many fish after them. And they have loads of ideas for future Birtle books!
I’ve worked from home since they were born, so they have seen so much of the work that goes into creating a book. I read them drafts and get their feedback, which is often quite good! They root for my characters when they go out on submission. I appreciate that they have a front row seat to the wins and the rejections. And it was a really special moment when my oldest read Birtle on her own for the first time – every giggle made my heart swoon.
Q. Has Birtle gotten any reviews ?
Birtle has gotten some early Goodreads reviews and they seem to be good! Phew! One review in particular made me really happy. The reviewer started by saying, “Foster and adoptive parents READ THIS WITH YOUR KIDS!” My sister and brother-in-law foster children, so this felt awesome. It is really rewarding to see my creation through the eyes of other people’s experiences.
Q. Can you say any more about your future books?
Yes! I am writing and illustrating a chapter book series with Penguin Workshop! The series called, The Only Ghost in Town. It’s about a ghost who moves from Scareville to a human town which is a big shock — for everyone. Not only does Ghostie have to navigate being the new kid, everyone is afraid of him.
My first chapter book will be, The Only Ghost In School, and the second book will be, The Only Ghost at Summer Camp. The series explores the subjects of friendship, belonging (surprise!), and being the new kid. I am SO excited for this book. It will be full color and highly illustrated! I hope the colored art on the pages helps engage and encourage kids who are transitioning from picture books to chapter books. And I love drawing Ghostie, so that’s a big plus!
Many thanks, Tara,It’s wonderful that all your hard work is bringing you such success! Birtle will be published in January by AMP (Andrews McMeel Publications) and is available for preorder wherever books are sold.
In 2019, in Seattle, I shared a table at a library conference with one of my heroes, the great Ivan Brunetti. He was there to promote his TOON book Comics Easy as ABC. I was there to promote Snails Are Just My Speed.
Fantagraphics invited Ivan and me to an after party at a taproom miles from the Convention Center. We said we’d never find the place. Tom Kacyzynski of Uncivilized Books offered to drive us. Great! Tom had flown to Seattle from Minneapolis on a red-eye flight and was beyond exhausted. Beneath the Seattle Convention Center is a warren of subterranean parking lots extending for blocks. Tom could not recall where he had parked. I asked him if he remembered taking a left or right turn into the lot. He thought left, maybe. I asked what the car looked like. He thought it was a white compact. He pressed the button on his fob and we clambered over diagonal barriers from one parking level to the next. At one point Ivan was astride a steel barrier and said, “You go. Just leave me.” Ivan may have been kidding, but we refused to leave him in the catacombs.
Tom kept clicking the key fob and we thought could hear the car beeping back. Eventually we found the rental car. It was little and white.
New Yorker covers by Ivan Brunetti
When we got to the party there were a half dozen artists sitting on a stage with a microphone. The moderator asked the speakers, “Is there any sort of comics you don’t like? The response, “Anything by old white guys!” was met with approving laughter. So for me, the party was less fun than finding the car.
From COMICS:EASY AS ABC by Ivan Brunetti
I am doing a presentation for the Pennsylvania Art Educators Association on the best books to teach the art of creating comics. Ivan’s Comics Easy as ABC is, in my opinion, the best book to teach elementary schoolers how to make comics. Full disclosure, I contributed a drawing to this book.
His Cartooning: Philosophy and Practice is geared for adults and published by Yale University Press. In it Ivan insists that the lessons be done in the precise order that are presented in the book. I told Ivan I thought that was a bit bossy. He said that rule was meant for college students and that as a professional I was permitted to skip around.
He has a new kids’ book,Shapes and Shapes, coming in October from TOON Books.
The FREE Cartoonist Certificate
This summer Ivan posted a somewhat curmudgeonly, yet wonderful screed on instagram. He was frustrated by aspiring cartoonists sending him comics and asking for feedback. (He made an exception for students enrolled in his class at Columbia College Chicago.) I suggested making an auto-reply to send corespondents, – a Cartoonist Certificate. I was thinking of the certificates bestowed by the Wizard of OZ. I am delighted to report he ran with my suggestion. See Below…
Ivan Brunetti, photo from Yale University Press
FROM IVANBRUNETTI.COM: “Today, the Curia shares one of the Foundation’s most recent pro bono efforts to bolster the confidence of aspiring cartoonists everywhere: The Cartoonist Certificate.
These certificates have been consecrated by Mr. Brunetti himself and thus are to be considered Holy Writ. Like an indulgence. They can be dowloaded as a high-resolution PDF file . Simply fill in your name and date the document, and you are now a cartoonist. Mr. Brunetti blesses you.
We simply ask that you make a serious commitment to the venerable and timeless Art of Cartooning before downloading this sacred and legally/morally binding document. The certificate merely takes your internal dedication and gives it an external form, one that can easily be resized to accommodate your printing and framing needs. Go forth and draw. Don’t ask Mr. Brunetti for feedback, as you no longer need it. You are very welcome.“
The Procreate iPad app is a great bargain. It cost $12.99 in the U.S. It was under $10 when I got it in 2020, half the price of my monthly Photoshop subscription. Procreate is intuitive. It comes with lots of crisp tutorials, but I wasn’t able to teach myself to the point that I would want to share my work. I found a class that helped me a lot.
In January, 2022, I enrolled in an online course in Udemy called Procreate Solid Foundations. The teacher, Simon Foster, is based in Manchester, England. The class has 18 hours of video tutorials. Simon, pictured below, is affable and knowledgeable.
I recommend this course for anyone just getting Procreate. If you do a search for Udemy coupons you can often find this class on sale for $20 or less.
Lately, I’ve been drawing a comic strip for the Sunday HaHa. The Sunday HaHa offers free comics ever Sunday by children’s book creators, including the page’s founders Mika Song and Jen De Oliveira.
95% of ‘Small Word Rat and Big Word Rat’ is done in Procreate. It is easier to refine the type in Photoshop, so I haven’t given up my Adobe subscription. I’ll share some images here to give you an idea of my process.
I begin, as always, with pencil and paper. Then ink. Above is the very rough ink over the even rougher pencil sketch. Below is the finished strip for the Sunday Haha.
Here is how I do the lettering. First I letter the text, then I draw the speech bubble around it on a separate layer. I spill white into that bubble, then rearrange the layers so the text on top. I added the “?” to the text before exporting the final art.
I drew a dozen “Small Word Rat and Big Word Rat” strips before I realized the little bird should have a name. It needed to be short enough that Small Word Rat could say it. She is a Wren named Jen.
Not only am I getting a feel for Procreate, I’m getting a feel for the characters. If someone uses small words it doesn’t mean they are are unintelligent. Both Small Word Rat and Big Word Rat are clever. They understand each other most of the time. Sometimes we need Jen to ask for a bit of clarification.
I hope to do more strips to the Sunday Haha. Meanwhile, I’ve posted more Small Word Rat and Big Word Rat on my website HeyMcCloskey.com. See you there.
As the subtitle explains, it is a book about the making of a classic. I like the fact the Stadtlander’s cover art uses the same forest green as the original.
Robert McCloskey came up with the germ of his most famous story as an art student in Boston observing a duck family in the park. By the time he got to working on Make Way for Ducklings he had moved to New York City.
That man could draw. In the days before Google images, illustrators in New York City would go the New York Public Library’s picture collection for photo reference. I am old enough to remember doing this myself. Robert McCloskey took his research a step further and visited the Museum of Natural History to draw from taxidermy specimens. Finally, he decided he needed to get some real ducks as models.
Robert McCloskey with his ducks on the subway.(detail) Art by Becca Stadtlander
Robert McCloskey drew his beloved duck illustrations with a litho pencil on zinc plates. They were printed in a sepia-toned ink. Becca Stadlander’s full-color illustrations are done in gouache and colored pencil on watercolor paper. Stadtlander’s art does not resemble Robert McCloskey’s work, but it evokes a midcentury charm appropriate for the story.
Text by Emma Bland Smith Art by Becca Stadtlander
Emma Bland Smith’s story emphasizes Mr. McCloskey’s determination to perfect his craft. She also describes how a good editor contributes to a book project. May Massee of Viking Press is credited for her crucial role in bringing McCloskey’s book into print.
What Wine Goes with Duck?
Speaking of editors, I am certain Emma Bland Smith is familiar with my favorite story about the creation of Make Way for Ducklings. Believe it or not, Robert McCloskey fed his ducks red wine so they would slow down and be better models. Amazing story, but no editor would allow this episode to appear in a 21st century kid’s book. The red wine story can be found in Gary Schmidt’s definitive 1990 biography, Robert McCloskey, which Bland Smith credits as a primary source.
Art by Becca Stadtlander
Spoiler alert: Robert McCloskey did not eat his ducks. His downstairs neighbors complained about the constant quacking and water from his overflowing bathtub. He released them at a friend’s country home. Full Disclosure: I received a review copy of Mr. McCloskey’s Marvelous Mallards -The Making of Make Way for Ducklings from the publisher, Calkins Creek, an imprint of Astra Books for Young Readers. Astra bought TOON books this year, so my Giggle and Learn series is also published by Astra.
Hey McCloskey, What’s in a name?
The McCloskey Coat of Arms
Robert McCloskey is not related to me. He was born in 1914 in Hamilton, Ohio, around the same time my McCloskey grandparents immigrated from Donegal, Ireland. Way back in 12th-century Ireland we likely had a common ancestor named Bloskey O’Kane, but we are not closely related.
Make Way For McCloskey
Growing up in New Jersey, I learned about Robert McCloskey at the Elizabeth Public Library. Librarians took my library card and invariably remarked, “McCloskey? There’s famous author named McCloskey.” I knew that already because I was a vain, perhaps delusional, child.
I would look up my own name, Kevin McCloskey, in the card catalog. I liked to imagine I had written a book, but suffered from amnesia and had forgotten about my own great work. I’d find Robert McCloskey’s many books when I looked up my name.
Somehow, Robert McCloskey inspired me. If one McCloskey could write a book, so could I. This groundless idea stuck with me for life. In 1991, I published my first children’s picture book, Mrs Fitz’s Flamingos. It, too, is a book about birds in the city, but I never thought to fill my apartment with flamingos.
I do school visits. Kids ask, “What made you want to become and author and illustrator?” I tell them my silly, superstitious idea based on finding the name McCloskey in a card catalog. I ask them their names and repeat them back. Sometimes I can blurt out a writer with their name: Garcia; Song; Johnson; or Singh. Other times I tell them to look their surname up on the internet. They will surely find an author or artist with their own name. And for some of them it might prove a lucky charm.
McCloskey Varnish label from the collection of Daniel C.Kirk, author and illustrator.
Lastly, the I want to share a this old paint can label. McCloskey Varnish has nothing to do with me or Robert McCloskey. But I was taught in school every essay needs a good finish and McCloskey varnish makes a wonderful finish!
P.S. I sent a copy of Mrs. Fitz’s Flamingos to Robert McCloskey c/o his publisher, Viking Press. Months later a I received a note from the great Robert McCloskey, his return address simply was Deer Isle, Maine. He wished me success from one McCloskey to another.
Daniel McCloskey, the creator of the new graphic novel Cloud Town, is my son. That’s my full disclosure. So, take what I say with a grain of salt. Daniel is a genius. I write kid’s books for TOON Books, so some might assume Daniel learned to make graphic novels from me. Not so.
Dan and me in my Kutztown, PA studio.
I taught illustration for 30 years at Kutztown University. Daniel was never in my class. In fact, he never studied illustration, precisely. But he has always been a storyteller and image maker. When he was 12, Dr. Tom Schantz gave him keys to Kutztown University’s animation studio. Dan made wild stop-motion animations. He studied printmaking at Kutztown University with Evan Summer. Then he studied writing at Pitt and spent a formative semester in Tokyo studying manga at Temple University Japan.
If you want to know about his Kutztown years, the Comics Beat published Dan’s 6-part autobiography. You can read it here: Failing to Quit.
The pages below will give you an idea of what Cloud Town is all about. His publisher, Abrams Comic Arts, calls it a Young Adult title, but old adults have enjoyed it, too.
Bill Boichel of Copacetic Comics, Pittsburgh, summarized Cloud Town‘s plot: “Hold onto your hats and get ready for 220 pages of non-stop, high-school-oriented, manga-inflected, duo-tone comics action! It’s a new school for Cloud Towners, Pen and Olive, and that means new friends, new enemies and new challenges, not the least of which is helping to protect Cloud Town from gigantic monsters that come through “The Rip” (as in, a tear in the fabric of reality, a rending of the space-time continuum) by learning to pilot a giant-size android known as a Care Corps Storm Catcher … all while managing family responsibilities and shredding the town.”
Example of Lettering and Onomatopoeia
Cloud Town is 224 pages long. More pages than my last 5 books! Dan did everything in Cloud Town: story, pencils, inks, lettering, and coloring. He is a master storyteller and deserves a black belt in onomatopoeia! BOOSH!
Big sister Zoe (left) had custom hats made for Cloud Town’s launch at Mission Comics, S.F.
Dan lives in Oakland, CA. He sometimes works at Mission Comics in San Francisco. He spent the month of June doing an East-Coast mini-tour. He signed books at Phantom of the Attic in Pittsburgh, the Cecil County Children’s Book Festival in Maryland, Firefly Bookstore in Kutztown. I got to join him on a road trip to the American Library Association Convention in Washington, D.C. We had a blast.
Dan is now back in California. He got to sign a stack of Cloud Town at San Diego ComicCon. Want to know a secret? He is working on a sequel.
Daniel Signing at the ALA Convention, Washington,D.C.
“McCloskey’s debut graphic novel is a story of compatibility and divergence as two friends explore and adapt beyond the confines of their relationship and their own self-imposed limitations. . .Weirdly and unexpectedly wonderful.” ―Kirkus Reviews
“McCloskey’s detailed art does a great job of emphasizing the emotional highs and lows of high school and mech combat. The gritty, textured look makes the characters and settings feel real and helps create a seamless transition between reality and the more fantastical elements of this adventure.” ―School Library Journal
Cloud Town is now available at over 150 libraries worldwide and wherever books are sold. Visit www.danielmccloskey.com if you want to get in touch with BeanCan Dan. He is happy to do school and library visits, virtually, or in real life!
I met Jonathan Case and his daughter Dorothy in Artists’ Alley at the American Library Association Annual Conference, Wash D.C. The conference was back in-person. Masks and vaccinations were required, so it it was a different Artists’ Alley. Odd, but felt safe and far better than a virtual conference. Artists can apply for a free Artist’s Alley table if they donate an artwork to the ALA scholarship fund.
Jonathan is no stranger to comics. He won an Eisner for Green River Killer, and worked on Batman ’66. His new book, Little Monarchs, though, is a labor of love.
Little Monarchs is a wonderful young adult “natural science fiction” graphic novel. Set in 2101, 10-year-old Elvie is on a mission to save humanity with the help of a medicine created by monarch butterflies. Like the fictional Elvie, Jonathan’s daughter Dorothy is 10 years old.
He started the book 10 years ago. “I was going to be a Dad,” he said, “and was worried I didn’t have any practical skills, so I came up with a MacGuffin to do a book set exclusively in real locations.” He spent a lot of time outdoors. “I learned things about foraging, knot-tying, star navigation.” These survival skills inform the graphic novel set in a future where almost all mammals are extinct.
Survival skills in Little Monarchs
Jonathan camped along the monarch butterfly’s migration path to research the book. All the actual locations are re-imagined in the 2101 future. Pictured below is of one of Jonathan’s backcountry campsites.
from wwwjonathancase.net
The science in Little Monarchs is grounded in reality. The project even got technical support from The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation. The Xerces Society is a world leader in the battle to save monarch butterflies. Reviews have been stellar and the book earned a Junior Library Guild gold seal.
Little Monarchs is a remarkable book on so many levels. The premise and artwork are fantastic and young readers will find it thrilling. Available everywhere books are sold. Or visit JonathanCase.net and he’ll send you a packet of milkweed seeds with your book order to help save the monarchs.
all art @ Jonathan Case 2022
P.S. I was at ALA’s Artists’ Alley assisting at my son Daniel McCloskey’s table. He was sharing his debut graphic novel, CLOUD TOWN. I’ll write about that next time.
Translation to English by Sofía Huitrón Martínez U.S edition, Graphic Universe, Lerner, pub date: April, 2022
The graphic novel Amazona, like Disney’s animated musical Encanto, takes place in Colombia. Two stories of refugee families forced off their land by violence could not be more different. Encanto‘s giddy Madrigal family sings about their refuge calling it a ‘casita,’ or little house. Their house is more like a casona, a mansion, so saturated in Disney-color the rainbow seems redundant.
On the other hand, Amazona is a starkly drawn graphic novel. It is mostly black graphite pencil on rough white paper. Ink washes and spots of color are used sparingly to reflect a very different take on the refugee experience.
The artist Canizales was born in Cali, Colombia. In his story an indigenous refugee family is relocated to a dilapidated casita in a Cali slum. Andrea, the young heroine, describes her new surroundings: “In the place where we live now, and forgive me if I don’t call it home, you’ll find: my sisters and brothers . . .My cousins and aunts and uncles . . .My neighbors, grandmothers, and grandfathers . . .And boys and girls who lost their own families. A total of thirty-eight people sharing a 600-square-foot space. The place is divided into two rooms with no windows, a bathroom with no door, a kitchen, and a patio.“
Canizales now lives in Majorca, Spain where he is a professor of illustration and an award-winning author/illustrator. Most of his artistic output consists of early reader picture books and bright bubbly board books. While his board books would not look out of place in a Disney store, Amazona is clearly a passion project. It is fiction, but based on real people and places. Canizales pledges a portion of the book’s profit to aid indigenous people via Resguardo Indígena Nasa de Cerro Tijeras.
The storytelling has tremendous momentum. I intended to simply glance at the review pdf that came my way, but I read it in one sitting. Canizales’s tale is an important story, not a pretty one. There is racism and violence, including an attempted rape. While the vocabulary is deceptively simple, Amazona is not a children’s book. It is a graphic novella for adults, including mature young adults.
I admit there were plot twists in Amazona that I found hard to believe. – Latin American magic realism? However, Amazona undoubtedly delivers more insight to the Colombian refugee crisis than Encanto. Hundreds of talented artists, writers and colorists are credited at the end of Encanto. Don’t get me wrong, Encanto is a great entertainment product and I appreciate full employment for artists, but it is not food for thought. Encanto was never intended to build empathy with the poorest of poor.
In contrast, one artist, Canizales, born in Cali, Colombia, created Amazona. Sure, he had editors, art directors, and in the case of the U.S. edition, a wonderful translator. Yet, Amazona is basically the act of a single focused imagination, a single hand. Amazona is an extraordinary achievement, worth the journey.
by Philip Hoare Pegasus Books, NY, 2021, 304 pages.
There is some achingly beautiful writing here. I will read anything about Durer and the sections about Durer’s life and work are wonderful. Other parts seem to be very personal digressions. On several occasions the narrative stops so that the author can take a swim in a harbor, river, pond, or fountain. David Bowie is referenced obliquely several times as the starmen. I have no clue what the starmen has to do with Durer.
Greyhound by Albrecht Durer Wikimedia public domain image
There are wonderful descriptions of dogs. O.K., Durer did love dogs. Musings on the poet Marianne Moore’s bed partners and her move from Greenwich Village to Brooklyn struck me as odd. After several pages we learn Moore wrote poetry about Durer and whales. Durer’s face is described as a face on a train, though there were no trains in Durer’s time. My loss, but I have never seen anyone who looked remotely like Durer on a train, even been on a train in Nuremberg.
Self Portrait Albrecht Durer, oil, 1500
Speaking of dogs, there is a legend that Durer’s dog saw his master’s self-portrait and licked the face on the canvas.
Hoare declines to use quotation marks. It is hard to tell if he is paraphrasing or musing on what he imagines an individual might have said. I know Durer loved typography, but the typography here is peculiar. The text changes fonts when referring to the city of LA. “LA” is several points smaller than the words in the sentence leading up to it.
Melancolia, copperplate print by Durer 1514
This book will be released in paperback this year. The hardcover edition has many welcome illustrations throughout. The illustrations help to explain details in the text. The black and white printing is fuzzy, even as Hoare rightly praises the extraordinary precision of Durer’s prints. The 8 pages of color plates at the end of the book are nicely printed. They are referenced in the text by plate numbers, yet are printed without captions or numbers.
Dog From Durer’s Netherlands Sketchbook
Despite my misgivings about the digressions, I look forward to reading more by Philip Hoare. To give an idea of his writing style – here he is describing his aged and beloved pet dog, Tangle: “That summer he struggled to keep up with the young dog inside of him, the dog he knew, the dog beneath my skin. He led us through the woods hung with moss to a shallow pool and gently lowered his body. We heard him sigh.”
It is true pleasure to read such evocative prose. I just wish more of the prose had evoked Albrecht Durer. View all my reviews
I’m an illustrator/designer with the in-house publishing department at American Reading Company. We create literacy curriculums for K-12 readers. I design and illustrate books about various subjects ranging from non-fiction (science and history) to fiction (fairytales and fantasy). I really enjoy working here because it combines my passion for art and education. Also, so much of my work revolves around social justice through educational equity. I get to create books that highlight diversity, and I also get to learn really weird science facts which is a fun bonus.
Personal work, Omair Ali
I started working here around the time the Corona Virus pandemic hit the states hard, so I’ve been working remotely for almost a year at this point. In fact, I worked for about a week in office before our company decided that it was time to go remote.
Q: Are there images you can share?
Science book illustrations by Omair Ali for The American Reading Company
Q: How did you feel about Kutztown University’s Communication Design Program?
I think KUCD was overall a beneficial experience, and I look back at it fondly. At first, the program felt very demanding, especially as a student coming from community college. But after a semester or so of adjusting, I began to develop relationships with my classmates and instructors. My coursework wasn’t any less labor-intensive, but the community of students and instructors in the program provided a lot of resources to encourage me.
Omair Ali and fellow students pitching design at KU Designathon ,2019. photo; K. McCloskey
At KU I finally felt like I was among my tribe, working alongside other talented artists, gaining insight and feedback from professionals. It all felt right to me. I felt confident in my choice to be a graphic artist, and KU helped me feel like I belonged.
I returned to school in my late twenties after spending my early adult years working hourly jobs and living paycheck to paycheck, and battling my share of personal demons. I had to address why I wasn’t living up to my full potential. Part of the negative feelings I had toward myself came from my history with education. I was a terrible student when I was younger, and very self-destructive. So, one of the steps toward beginning the journey to self-love was pursuing something I have always been passionate about. So, when I finally made the decision to return to school I was determined to make the best of it.
Meat-Flavored Cereal, Packaging Design Project by Omair Ali.
I tried to take something of value from every class I took, from foundation courses all the way to the senior seminars. I believe in having an open mind, especially in an academic environment. I mean, if you’re gonna pay for school, you may as well take it all in.
I think school is not for everyone, and it certainly doesn’t guarantee that you’ll land the job of your dreams. But for me, it was important, because I needed the structure and the discipline to build confidence in myself. I walked out of Kutztown with a great portfolio, thanks in large part to KUCD. But, I also credit the curveballs life threw me; they allowed me to adjust my perspective about self-improvement.
Q: I wonder if you felt discrimination at KU?
I wasn’t ever really overtly racially discriminated against while attending Kutztown. There’s a level of soft racism you sort of come to expect in areas that are predominantly white. By the time I had entered KU I had a pretty strong sense of situations to avoid, and I was used to often being one of the few people of color in spaces that lacked diversity. So, things like being asked to model for added diversity were typical, for instance, which I was usually fine with (depending on the person asking of course).
By the time I was at KU, I had a lot of experience navigating social awareness and how to deal with bigotry. I had also developed a much stronger sense of duty to speak out against discrimination of any kind simply by merit of dealing with it so much as a kid. I was in middle school around the time of the 9/11 terror attacks and it pretty drastically impacted me.
I’ve struggled for years being afraid of coming across as a monster, or some kind of extremist because of all of the negative connotations with being Muslim. As I mentioned, I was used to being one of the few minorities among large groups of white people, often feeling like I didn’t fit in. But, I also largely did not feel like I belonged within the Pakistani or Muslim communities, either. My passion for art didn’t fit into the mold of the model minority and I was a deeply emotional, chubby, introverted nerd, and that sense of isolation molded my perspective. A lot of my artwork while in school revolved around addressing the relationship I had with my identity because it seems so intimately linked to my journey through school.
Q: What are you working on currently?
One of the illustrations I provided is from a book I’m working on called “Sleepy Yet?” about a kid who visits his grandpa’s farm and tries to trick him into letting him stay up past bedtime.
Q: What is your dream illustration project?
My dream project would be to do a graphic novel in the style that weaves between my stories of growing up, and the videogames, movies, comics, and other media coinciding with those different periods of my adolescence.
Last Question:Where can people find more of your work?
Instagram. I share artwork regularly on my primary instagram @owair and my ongoing personal project @breathe.owair.
Illustration Concentration 