We love to showcase emerging authors and illustrators on Middle Grade Mafia, sharing their work with our audience. Today we have the amazingly talented Dora Mitchell. She was nice enough to share about her work, process, and her love for coffee. Middle Grade Mafia: The cover art you created for EXTRAORDINARY SAM AND THE ADVENTURER’S GUILD is full of great details and clearly shows that the story is filled with magic and adventure. How much [...]
I am a big fan of Debbie Ohi’s illustrations and love both of the picture books she illustrated for Michael Ian Black, I’M BORED and NAKED so when I learned that she was illustrating the new covers and interior art for the update to my favorite Judy Blume books, I had to ask Debbie for an interview for our blog. Alison: Debbie, I have to start with asking you to share how you got the [...]
In our ongoing series to highlight the great artist who create the amazing cover art of MG novels, we had a chance to get to know the talented Keith Campbell. His work has been on a number of MG covers, as well as PB, but you may have seen his work in the Newberry Award winning book FLORA & ULYSSEYS. Middle Grade Mafia: Keith, when you get hired to illustrate a book cover and/or interior art, what is the first thing you [...]
“In 1998, Jeff Kinney came up with the idea for Diary of a Wimpy Kid, a story about a middle-school weakling named Greg Heffley. Jeff worked on his book for almost eight years before showing it to a publisher in New York.” – www.wimpykid.com As both a writer and an illustrator, I was excited to have the opportunity to interview Jeff for the Middle Grade Mafia. His books, which have changed the genre to include [...]
While PB illustrators get their names on the front cover, the artist who create beautiful covers for MG novels is hard to come by. We tracked do Neil Swaab, the artist behind GIRL ON A WIRE, and asked him a few questions. Luck for us, he agreed to answer! Alison Hertz: When you get hired to illustrate cover and/or interior art, do you read the book or skim to get an idea? Neil Swaab: I [...]
In the effort to introduce the wonderful artist behind the great MG covers, Brian Biggs took the time to answer a few of our questions. You may have seen Brian’s amazing work on such MG books as the ROSCOE RILEY RULES series and the FRANK EINSTEIN books (you’re actually getting a sneak peek of the new book cover prior to its release!). Now to the questions… Middle Grade Mafia: When you get hired to illustrate cover and/or [...]
I was excited to have the chance to interview Beegee Topla. She is the very talented illustrator behind THE WINNIE YEARS series’ covers and has illustrated picture books, such as EVERYONE SAYS I LOVE YOU and THE SMALLEST TREE. Middle Grade Mafia: When you get hired to illustrate cover and/or interior art, do you read the book or skim to get an idea? Beegee Topla: If they give me the manuscript, and the deadline for the art permits, yes, [...]
In our ongoing illustrator series, we had the awesome opportunity to interview the wonderful Stephanie Graegin. She has created beautiful cover art for book such as DON’T FEED THE BOY and THE ART OF FLYING. Middle Grade Mafia: When you get hired to illustrate cover and/or interior art, do you read the book or skim to get an idea? Stephanie Graegin: I read the entire book, first to see if it’s a book that I would [...]
The Mafia's resident illustrator, Alison Hertz recently had the pleasure of interviewing the great Gilbert Ford. You may have seen his artwork gracing MG titles such as THREE TIMES LUCKY, ESCAPE FROM MR. LEMONCELLO'S LIBRARY, and PETER NIMBLE & HIS FANTASTIC EYES. Middle Grade Mafia: When you get hired to illustrate cover and/or interior art, do you read the book or skim to get an idea? Gilbert Ford: I take the weekend to read the book, jotting down [...]