Devin Elle Kurtz's Blog, page 5

Dream big, little Ember!-This is a poster I illustrated for my upcoming debut picture book, The…

Dream big, little Ember!
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This is a poster I illustrated for my upcoming debut picture book, The Bakery Dragon!

When I was a kid I had a poster of Mei fishing on a tree branch, sitting next to Totoro. When I sat…

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When I was a kid I had a poster of Mei fishing on a tree branch, sitting next to Totoro. When I sat down to draw yesterday that old poster beamed into my brain and all I wanted to draw was my version. Except I thought this time Totoro should be fishing.

When Pazu catches Sheeta | Castle in the Sky FanartInstagram | Twitter

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When Pazu catches Sheeta | Castle in the Sky Fanart
Instagram | Twitter

My free Cloud Brush Pack is available now for Procreate, Photoshop, or Clip Studio Paint!

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My free Cloud Brush Pack is available now for Procreate, Photoshop, or Clip Studio Paint!

Link to download: CLICK
Type “0” into the payment field to download for free (tips are welcome too!)
Also includes free video tutorials: one, two, and three

Ember, lost and alone-A page spread illustration from my upcoming picture book “The Bakery Dragon”…

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Ember, lost and alone
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A page spread illustration from my upcoming picture book “The Bakery Dragon” which you can pre-order now!

Shoreline Procession

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Shoreline Procession

what place is ideal to preorder from to best support you and ensure you get the most out of our purchase? Idk how cuts work in publishing I just want to ensure authors get their proper dues!

That is so kind of you to ask! I'm always a huge proponent for ordering any books (including mine!) through your local independent bookstore, if you are able to! They do so much for the world of books, and they are really struggling right now! If they don't have the book you're looking for listed currently, asking for it really helps out authors as well, since it's possible they will order more than one when they see demand!

Congratulations on your author debut, I’m so excited for your book!! 😇💕 Would you consider talking about the whole process of becoming a book illustrator /children’s book author?

Thank you so much, I really appreciate it!! And I'd be happy to share the process!

It all started for me with my 3dTotal artbook. 3dTotal is a small publisher in the UK, and they mainly focus on collections of artists' work. They use Kickstarter to fund each book, and my agent (the amazing Seth Fishman at Gernert) discovered me through the Kickstarter for my artbook Windows to Worlds!

He asked if I had any interest in working on graphic novels or picture books, and I had already been thinking about picture books! He found me my first picture book project with Penguin Workshop, Mother of Sharks, written by the awesome Melissa Cristina Márquez, which came out last year!

While I was working on Mother of Sharks, I was also talking with him about developing The Bakery Dragon, based of course on this painting, which was (and is) one of my proudest artistic moments.

For a little background on the painting, I painted it right after a really challenging couple of months medically - I was dealing with medical complications from my chronic illness for about 6 months, and I wasn't able to finish a single painting the whole time, I was just too exhausted from hospital visits and being in pain. That painting was the first piece I was able to actually complete (both emotionally and literally) in about half a year. So it always held a really special place in my heart, and I really wanted to keep living in that little world. I think there's something in it that is very special to me, about being outside in the cold, seeing warmth and love through a glass barrier, and wanting desperately to reach it.

With Seth's guidance, over a couple months, I developed a pitch for it. The script developed slowly alongside the designs for characters, locations, etc.

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(Early version of Ember above! He has changed a bit!)

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I thought I had already read a lot of picture books, I've always loved them, but I read hundreds and hundreds during this process. There is something uniquely fun and challenging about telling a complete narrative in 48 pages (which is already a long picture book, many are 32!) My book also pulls some elements from comics, such as speech bubbles, which I found to be incredible assets for humor and character development.

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My pitch included designs, some early example spreads, and a rough script with story beats and jokes! My agent took it out into the world, and the publisher we ended up going forward with was Knopf, an imprint of Penguin Random House! I absolutely love the Knopf team and the beautiful books they put out! My editor, Katherine Harrison, really understood what I wanted to accomplish and has been so incredibly helpful in her guidance!

And from there... through rewrites, dialog adjustments, and lots and lots of drawings, it became a book! I'm happy to answer questions about the process! I'll leave you guys with a little preview from the interior of the book! (And of course you can pre-order it here, gotta learn the author skill of always including that link haha!)

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if I may, congrats on your new book!!! May I please ask what editor/publisher you’re using?

Thanks so much!!

My book will be published by Knopf, which is an imprint of Penguin Random House! The Knopf team is amazing, I loved working with them on this! Huge thanks to my editor Katherine Harrison and AD Sarah Hokanson!

Hi! I’m a librarian and I just wanted to let you know how excited I am to see you have an upcoming book listed on our book ordering site! I’ve been following your art for years now, and recognized your art immediately seeing the cover. That particular pie

This is so so so kind and truly made my tear up! I am so unbelievably appreciative of the kindness and support I have received on my art journey! It means the world that you have followed along with my work all this time, and I am so touched to hear that the bakery painting inspired you. Thank you for all you do as a librarian as well, and for supporting it by pre-ordering, it really means a ton!

I cannot thank you enough for supporting my journey from that initial painting to making "The Bakery Dragon" a reality.