T Rex on a trampoline

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Thumbnails and tight sketch from Dear Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Dear T Rex cover

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My computer had a nervous breakdown in March and I thought I'd lost all my images from this title, Dear Tyrannosaurus Rex.  Here are some that follow the development of the cover art I found on a disk. The story's about a girl who sends a…

Elizabeth Varadan’s Fourth Wish

Elizabeth Varadan reviews The Famous Nini at her blog!

7 Imp

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My pal Jules over at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast has a fab new post featuring the Famous Nini!

Festival in Venice

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There's a scene in The Famous Nini when the king declares National Nini Day and everyone celebrates. Kerry Martin, the senior design editor, wasn't happy with the scene as I'd depicted it in the thumbnail sketch with crowds on a bridge over…

Howcome?

I see that Despicable Me has a tie-in with IHOP—some kind of merchandise giveaway thing.  Toy Story 3 has all kinds of merchandise and tie-ins at Walmart: from T shirts to action figures to characters' images on boxes of crackers. All that's…

Umberto & Margherita

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The improbably mustachioed King Umberto and Queen Margherita come to visit Nini in his caffè— (By the way—yes, this is the Queen Margherita for whom the pizza is named.)

Dean Cornwell

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The jacket for The Famous Nini, and Dean Cornwell's inspiring illustration of a Venetian night scene.

Jacket art for Famous Nini

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Of all the images for a picture book, the jacket art gets the biggest going-over.  I sent 4 rough thumbnail ideas to Kerry Martin, the senior design editor (in the olden days there was an art director and an editor; Kerry's title reflects the…

Giuseppe Verdi & Nonna

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Giuseppe Verdi makes his entrance in The Famous Nini. More research for Nonna's costume can be found here.