Catching Up and News

Hi all,

Clearly I took a bit of a break from blogging. Just a quick reminder that while I don't necessarily post here very often, I do regularly post tons of sketches and artwork (and pictures of my cat...) on Instagram @lisa.anchin. Here's just a small sample from my feed:


It was a busy end to 2015 and start to 2016. I spent much of the fall and winter holed up in the studio, working on what was then a super secret project, but which was officially announced in February in Publishers Weekly's Rights Reports.


As soon as I can share images or process work, I will. It was such a fun project to work on, and last week I turned in the final piece of artwork. It was a mad dash to the finish line, but it's all done. (Many thanks to Orli Zuravicky, Patti Ann Harris, and Doan Buu at Scholastic for their tireless and amazing work.)

And this week, I did an interview over on the Cynsations blog about this little guy

who was a finalist (!!!!) in SCBWI's Illustrator Showcase at the Bologna Book Fair. You can check out a the list of the other winners and finalists on SCBWI's Big Winners and Shortlist page. I am incredibly honored to be featured among such a talented group of artists. (A huge thank you to Angela Cerrito and Chris Cheng.)

A Penguin Named Patience

Hi all,

It's been a busy 2015, and I took a brief hiatus from blogging. But I'm back and with process posts and art and an event coming up mid-May!

First, and most importantly, mark your calendars! A Penguin Named Patience is out in and about in the world, and on Saturday, May 16th, I'm going to be at Books of Wonder in NY doing a panel with Bob Shea and Greg Pizzoli!

I'm definitely geeking out and doing a bunch of ridiculous penguin-dancing. My first book panel is with two crazy talented illustrators! (More exclamation points needed!!!!)

In honor of the upcoming panel, I thought I'd share a little of my process work for the book over the next week in a series of posts.

After Sleeping Bear sent the manuscript, the first thing I did was grab a pencil. Those three little penguins are some of the very first sketches I ever did of Patience. They weren't the only ones, though. For a few days, all I did was draw penguins...

Paint penguins...

Look at pictures of penguins...

And watch videos of penguins.  The aquarium in New Orleans where the story takes place actually has a series of videos of the penguins featured in the book.

Stay tuned... next up on the blog: thumbnails and scribbly penguins.

For more info about me and Suzanne Lewis and of course the book, check out these two interviews that Suzanne and I did for the KidLit 411 blog. Links to the interviews can be found here (KidLit411-Lisa) and here (KidLit411-Suzanne).

And for more sketches, process work, and cat photos, you can also find me on:
Instagram: @Lisa.Anchin

Twitter: @LisaAnchin

Facebook: Lisa Anchin Illustration

KidLit Interview

So remember how last week, I mentioned that I'm going to be contributing to KidLit Artists?

Well, now it's official!

I did an interview for their page and was featured on the blog. Weee!! Check it out here!

And because I would hate to leave you without something ridiculous to look at... here are some elephants ice-dancing.

Guess what! Guess what!

Blog readers!

Guess what, guess what!

I have exciting news... my first ever real life interview as an illustrator is live today!

Kathy Temean, the former Regional Advisor of New Jersey's SCBWI chapter writes an amazing blog on children's writing and illustration. Each Saturday she does a spotlight feature on an illustrator, and yours truly is October 27th.

That's today!

Check it out!

It's here!

The post includes all kinds of art work including a bunch of process work for this recent warm-up painting. Meet Hurricane Zelda. I'm sure you'll be seeing more of her.

Many thanks to Kathy for the amazing opportunity. For anyone out there also interested in this field, her blog has a wealth of information. If not just for the interview, definitely head on over.