Tuesday, February 12, 2013

"I love your book muc."

About a week ago I received what may be the best thank you card ever. In an earlier post, I wrote about my visit to a kindergarten class in Brooklyn late last year for some coloring and a presentation of Sylvia’s Spinach. It’s such a delight to have this gorgeous, oversized card full of creative portraits of me and scenes from the book, now prominently displayed in my living room. I wish I could share all the drawings here—see below for a selection. 

Some kids chose to draw me in the middle of my opening anecdote. I told them about how much I loved to draw at their age, but had a hard time remembering where mustaches should be placed on a face—above the nose, below the mouth? Interpretations of my confusion can be seen in their drawings.

A reciprocal thank you goes out to my buddy Cooper’s teachers, and to his parents Matthew and Lori for organizing the event with this great group of kids, and for buying each of them a copy of the book!


Friday, February 8, 2013

duck week! (February 9–16)

It’s official: I’m proclaiming February 9–16 “Duck Week” on Ornithoblogical. That’s right, seven ducks in a row. Look for an original duck illustration to post on the blog each day at noon. I really hope it gooses your gander.

Thursday, February 7, 2013

★ the WORLD RAT DAY trailer ★

Book trailers are all the rage in children’s publishing these days, so in preparation for its publication in March, I wanted to give World Rat Day proper attention. 

This meant investing a considerable amount of time teaching myself Adobe After Effects, but I think it was time well spent. As an illustrator, it’s so rewarding to make still images you’ve been working on for months and months actually move. If this weren’t already part of my profession, I’d take it up as a hobby.

So without further ado, here it is. Enjoy, share, post, tweet, whatever you choose, but mostly I hope it puts a smile on your face. 


Oh! One more thing—as if I hadn’t mentioned it a million times before—World Rat Day is available for pre-order here. :^)

Monday, February 4, 2013

new website!

I’m very pleased to announce the relaunch of annaraff.com today. 

Admittedly, a revamp was long overdue, but at last I can share selections from a few of my upcoming book projects. Images from the aforementioned World Rat Day, by J. Patrick Lewis are there, as well as some from Things That Float and Things That Don’t, a non-fiction picture book to written by David A. Adler to be published by Holiday House this fall.

I hope you get a chance to poke around. If so, thanks for looking!