Mid-century school kids
book promotion, illustration processHere's Ignatius Thistlewhite and his school chums from The Year Without a Santa Claus. Phyllis McGinley wrote the story in the 1950s, so I liked the idea of keeping it set in that time.
Most people, when they think of that era associate…
Warm light in a cool environment
book promotion, illustration processTwo scenes from The Year Without a Santa Claus—both show Santa in a neutral or cool-colored environment. The bedroom is gray; the snowy night is gray and blue. Close by Santa, however, is a warm orangey-yellow light source.
This is an…
Color script for Santa
book promotion, illustration processI've written before about color scripts—an idea that animators use to tell a movie's story with color. Here again is the color script I created for The Year Without a Santa Claus. This is a longish book—40 pages instead of the usual…
Merry Christmas!
book promotion, illustration process'For yearly, newly, faithfully, truly, somehow Santa Claus ALWAYS COMES.'
Some seasonal sketches
book promotion, illustration processSome outtakes from The Year Without a Santa Claus—the group of 6 crying kids was whittled down to three; the spots showing kids' gifts to Santa were cut to make more room; the sleeping boy was replaced with the shot of two kids looking through…
Entering Santa’s workshop
book promotion, illustration processI took a cinematography class when I was a teenager, and one of the movies we studied was The Bicycle Thieves. A poor man gets a job putting movie posters up around Rome, but his bicycle—without which he can't put up the posters—is stolen. …
Santa’s sleigh
book promotion, illustration processReference, thumbnail sketch, tight sketch, final painting. From The Year Without a Santa Claus—
I didn't take these photos; they're from auction sites I found on the web.
Santa’s eyebrows!
book promotion, illustration process
My friend Jerry Russell (whose fantastic work you can see here) observed that in The Year Without a Santa Claus I "made Santa’s eyebrows black, instead. For more expressive impact, I’m guessing."
It's true that the darker eyebrows make…
Santa’s bed
book promotion, illustration processHere's a shot of Santa getting out of bed from The Year Without a Santa Claus.—the thumbnail sketch and the tight sketch. Luckily I came to my senses and realized that Santa wouldn't sleep in a four-poster—but a sleigh bed!
Santa’s house
book promotion, illustration processThe Year Without a Santa Claus opens with a long shot of Santa Claus' house—the establishing shot, as they say in the movie biz. It's early morning, dark, with light coming from one bedroom window—the only warm spot in the picture.
For…
