Funny Faces: Pop-Up Board Books

I'm pleased I finally get a chance to show these off! They are a series of pop-up mask books published by Campbell Books. The spreads are masks with a little pop-up on each one.

Spread from Funny Faces: On the Farm   Modeled by my husband :-)

Spread from Funny Faces: On the Farm

Spread from Funny Faces: Fancy Dress    Modeled by yours truly. Hi there!

Spread from Funny Faces: Fancy Dress

So of course I had alot of fun with these! And seeing the final pop-up in the book was really satisfying. There will be two more books in this series coming in the fall- I can't wait to reveal those.

They are available on Amazon UK!

Muddle London

I got a chance last year to work with a UK publisher, Campbell Books. They are so friendly and easy to work with and I really had fun with their projects. This is a magnetic play book titled Muddle London, being released today! There are a set of magnets in which you can position onto the pages.

As much as I would like to think I'm a world traveler, I have never been to London before, so it was alot like doing research before a big trip. Now I know exactly where to go and what to do if I was to go there. Some day!

It was also a good challenge for me to do a spread with a map scene (something that is based on real info.) I've come to enjoy doing them and hope to do more of these.

Its available on Amazon.co.uk! Wish I could see this in the stores in the UK!

German Children's Books

I just came back from a great vacation with my girlfriends to Germany. A good friend moved there a few years ago and now live in Fehmarn, a beautiful island in the Baltic Sea that is about a hour and a half from Hamburg. I'm always fascinated by children's books in other countries so here are two books I picked up.
This mini, wordless book is very cute which follows people in a town for 12 months (12 spreads). It is very fun to flip through each spread and see what happens to the various people, with lots to details to find.

(one of the spreads)

And one of the books I'm working on right now consists of transportation so I picked up the other book for inspiration. Plus, look at all the cut out little cars! (they are also magnets!)

Stuff I got for Inspiration

Its been a while since I posted! Wow, it was really interesting to hear everyone's situation in this economy from the last post. A positive outlook is the way to go. I hope each and everyone of you out there is surviving in this economy.

Thought I would share some of the goodies I got for inspiration. I finally got around to framing a few prints I got...here is what is on my dresser at the moment.
Above from left to right: Many faces of Mook by I love Grey Skies (etsy seller), Robot by Allan Sanders, and The Host by Ana Galvan (from Thumbtack Press.)

I also bought this book:
Ricehead's Revenge by YiYing Wang. Honestly I did not buy it for the art but for the fun story, and I like the fact that there is a list of characters in the beginning of the book:
Plus, they have a really cute website: www.Noodoll.com!

And last but not least, I went nuts over this card when I saw it over at Stickers and Stuff:
I bought it over at Ginko Papers (sorry, I believe it is sold out). It is from Hallmark Japan, illustrated by Yukiko Hatano.
This card has been sitting on my desk for quite a while now, hoping it will inspire me to do some pop up cards soon. Its so cute I can't stand it....

Thats it for now, hope that was some good eye candy for you!

Effects of The Bad Economy

This post was suppose to be about this new book I illustrated and designed that was suppose to be coming out in the Fall.

But it isn't.

These are the printer copies that I received, but it won't be coming out in Fall 09. If I am lucky, it might be on the Spring 2010 list. But it is uncertain for now.

For the past few weeks, I've been hearing more layoff news than ever before. Old colleagues, friends, many people I know are getting the pink slip. One of the biggest shockers is when I heard Nickelodeon Magazine is going to close down. I use to work there as a designer and it saddens me that many of the long time staff there will be losing their jobs.

Personally, I am surviving in this economy. But of course all the news around me worries me a little. I'm generally positive though, still churning out new art, still promoting myself, still keeping hope that there are still new businesses to be had.

How is the bad economy effecting you and your attitude for your business?

Website Update-Books Section

My website is long overdue for an update, especially in the books section. I finally updated the books I've done and a few that is soon to be released, many coming out in the Fall of this year. Please take a look!

Two new books (coming this Fall) listed on Amazon:
The Great Reindeer Rebellion, written by Lisa Trumbauer and illustrated by Jannie Ho (yours truly.) It is a companion to The Haunted Ghoul Bus with a similar format and embossed pages. I also got to design this book. Woohoo!

Light the Menorah, a cute interactive book, illustrated by Jannie Ho (me!). There are small pull tabs for the kids to "light" the candles of the menorah. I haven't received copies yet but it will be fun to see the interactive part of this book.

And last but not least, I finally got my own name as a website domain name:

www.JannieHo.com

For now, it will bring you to my Chicken Girl Design site. I'm not giving up being Chicken Girl just yet, but I had to renew the domain and have been giving some thought about the name and what I want to do with it in the future. Many of you expressed to me that it is a very catchy name and clever branding, but a part of me wants to be taken "seriously" too, and wonders if it hurts me in a certain way. I would love to hear your thoughts on the matter. That is it for now!

My First Graphic Novels-Stone Arch Books

I was feeling like I had nothing interesting to blog about lately and then this package came yesterday.
I worked on these two graphic novels for kids last year- T-Ball Trouble and Lily's lucky Leotard, written by Carl Meister, published by Stone Arch Books, both are available now. The designer did an amazing job with the cover....I love the look of them.
I've dabbled in comic books personally on my own but doing this job gives me a whole new appreciation for graphic novel artists out there. Each panel is a piece of art in itself...thats a whole lot of work.
There has been a trend of comic style/graphic novel format in children's publishing. Its alot of fun to see and I hope it sticks around for a while.

HighFive Magazine and Scholastic book club

A few things printed recently:
My spread from this month's High Five magazine.

And here are my I'm Reading Now! series in Scholastic's Firefly book club catalog, November.

Yay! :-)

Goodies from Barcelona!

Ooh! I was so happy when I asked the talented illustrator Xavier Salomó if he wanted to trade books with me and he accepted. I love his style and wanted his books, but it would be difficult for me to get them here in the US. The books arrived yesterday, all the way from Barcelona, and they are so gorgeous. Check out his blog for more of his work. Thank you, Xavier!

My New favorite Children's books!

Last weekend, I went browsing at the Kinokuniya bookstore...checking out all the Re-Ment Miniatures and resisting the temptation to buy any...then only to discover these books instead- they are now my new favorite! I can't read Japanese ( I guess the Japanese I learned from watching anime isn't going to help me now) but after some research, I found out they are a popular series called "Bam & Kero" by Yuka Shimada.
Although I can't read the text, I can tell what is going on just by the pictures. They have a cute yet off-beat quirkiness and humor about them; my favorite combination.
Oh yes, and the illustrations are to die for. Yes, I want to live in that world. (I know this sounds really dramatic, but I am definitely in love with the art!)

I only bought two of the books but now I am tempted to buy the whole series. They are that wonderful!

Goodies in the mail

Yippee! Samples in the mail! All the fun projects I've worked on last year is starting to show up on my doorsteps. Yesterday, I got two packages in the mail. One was a cute phonics book:

Another was Mix and Match Memory puzzles I did for Cranium. The two titles, "Come on Down to the country" and "Follow me to the Sea" should now be in stores-I havent seen them yet in the stores but I will definitely be on the look out. They are also available on Amazon:

Thanks for visiting and have a good weekend!