Aaron Becker's Blog, page 16

More teasing. This one comes out March 26th.

More teasing. This one comes out March 26th.

This is coming in March. A first little peek.

This is coming in March. A first little peek.

An Educator’s Guide to ‘A Stone for Sascha’

An Educator’s Guide to ‘A Stone for Sascha’

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SASCHA!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SASCHA!!!

Countdown to “A Stone for Sascha” Day 9 of 10: Trailer!What can...

Countdown to “A Stone for Sascha”
Day 9 of 10: Trailer!

What can I say. I love making trailers. These short animations are my chance to bring life to static images that have always been moving in my head. I use two programs: one is After Effects, which allows me to take flat art and move it around on “plains” like the way Disney used paintings on glass placed at various distances from the camera to simulate motion parallax. The other is Maya, a powerful piece of 3D software. The cosmos painting in the trailer was done in this program; it allowed for a dramatic camera move past the planet and stars as the meteor approaches.

Music is also a key element to bringing these images to life. I’ve once again hired Jacob Montague of the band “Branches” to score an original piece for this. I love his blend of acoustic, percussive, and vocal elements that he builds to create just the right mood for each piece.

After three years of work, this wordless book will finally see the light of day tomorrow, May 8th! I hope you enjoy! 

Countdown to “A Stone for Sascha” Day 8 of 10: Whidbey IslandAs...

Countdown to “A Stone for Sascha”
Day 8 of 10: Whidbey Island

As an artist working in relative isolation, I’m always incredibly interested in finding out how others work. Even as a kid, I was more fascinated with learning about the making of things than the final product. I think this stemmed from a natural curiosity of where ideas come from, how things are constructed, and more importantly, how can *I* one day make something too!

I had an incredible time making this short documentary about the making of “A Stone for Sascha”. A filmmaker friend of mine from college helped me film and edit this piece, which was shot on location during a stay with another old pal  on Whidbey Island, just west of Seattle at the start of the San Juans - the same location the stone finds its way to in my book. Our kids played together on the beach while we shot footage. The experience was so much fun, it made me realize I better come up with another fantastic location for my next book! It will be tough to top this gorgeous part of the world.

Hope you enjoy!

Countdown to “A Stone for Sascha” Day 7 of 10: Book LaunchIt’s...

Countdown to “A Stone for Sascha”
Day 7 of 10: Book Launch

It’s time to let it go. After 3 years of work, the story no longer belongs to me.

Today I had the honor of presenting my book for the first time to a group of strangers who knew nothing of this story. There’s nothing quite like it. It amazes me that after all this time with these characters and places and page-turns, I still get choked up with this one. Part of this is, I know, is because of the story. But the bigger part is because I’m sharing it; letting my story go for everyone to find their own within its wordless pages.

“A Stone for Sascha” launched today in South Hadley, MA at the Odyssey Bookshop. For those who couldn’t make it, it’s pub date is only a few days away now: Tuesday, May 8th!

Countdown to “A Stone for Sascha” Day 6 of 10: A Golden...

Countdown to “A Stone for Sascha”
Day 6 of 10: A Golden Heart

There are few things I enjoy more than adding the finishing touches to a book. Luckily, my designer at Candlewick, Maryellen Hanley, seems to either enjoy this too or just is willing to entertain my ideas for endpapers, covers, and case design. For “A Stone for Sascha,” I knew from the get-go that I wanted a stamp on the case cover beneath the dust jacket, just as I had done with the Journey Trilogy. Only this time, it was going to serve an emotional purpose. In fact, this stamp may be my favorite part of the book. Often, readers will assume that the name Sascha refers to the girl in the story. After all, there she is, standing on the cover, holding a stone. But Sascha is not the girl. Sascha is the name of her pet dog, who has just passed away. After the epic journey is over and the reader is contemplating the girl’s emotions of grief and acceptance, my hope is that they will think to examine the book more closely. Maybe they will flip back through the pages, study the endpaper maps, or take off the dust jacket and find the secret I’ve hidden there. It’s amazing to think that one small symbol can hold so much power.

–

Come back tomorrow for part 8: Candlewick Interview. In the meantime, it’s not too late to pre-order your signed copy of “A Stone for Sascha” from my local indie, The Odyssey Bookshop in South Hadley, MA. Give them a call and let them know to whom you’d like it inscribed. They can ship it anywhere in the USA. “A Stone for Sascha” publishes Tuesday, May 8th.

Countdown to “A Stone for Sascha” Day 6 of 10: Keeping it LooseI...

Countdown to “A Stone for Sascha”
Day 6 of 10: Keeping it Loose

I knew I wanted color to play a big role in this book. It would help create the mood and emotion for each moment in the story but, more importantly, act as a cue for the passage of time. All of the ancient past sequences in the book were to have a golden, subdued look, while the contemporary moments were to have a more purplish, saturated feel. Because the book is wordless, I didn’t have the luxury of explaining to the reader that we were jumping through time. Instead, I had to rely on the next best thing: color.

One thing I remember learning from some of the veteran matte painters that I worked with at film studios in California was the importance of keeping paintings loose, especially in peripheral areas of the image. By leaving out precision, the painter leaves the completion of the image in the eyes of the viewer, who subconsciously fills in the holes. Much like the reader in a wordless book! It’s always been my favorite part of this particular form of storytelling – putting in just enough to make the story engaging and understandable, but leaving enough to the reader’s imagination so that they can gain a certain ownership of the tale.

–

Come back tomorrow for part 7: A Golden Heart. In the meantime, it’s not too late to pre-order your signed copy of “A Stone for Sascha” from my local indie, The Odyssey Bookshop in South Hadley, MA. Give them a call and let them know to whom you’d like it inscribed. They can ship it anywhere in the USA. “A Stone for Sascha” publishes Tuesday, May 8th.

Countdown to “A Stone for Sascha” Day 5 of 10: Drawing on...

Countdown to “A Stone for Sascha”
Day 5 of 10: Drawing on Glass

Years ago, before I started writing picture books, I worked as an illustrator in the film industry where all of my work was created digitally. When it came time to paint my illustrations for Journey, I decided to switch gears to something more traditional. Watercolor and pen and ink felt like the right medium for a classic children’s adventure. But for A Stone for Sascha, I was looking for something more ethereal and soft. I figured I would do the book in oil pastels.

I knew sketching the book would be a long process so I decided to work digitally for this phase. Apple’s new iPadpro would allow me to draw right on my lap. Along with a fantastic new app called “ProCreate” I was able to make marks that felt just like charcoal – but without the mess!

The sketches came together quickly and I loved being able to chop them up and flip them and use pieces of them later on if I changed my mind. It helped the ‘editing’ process go so much more smoothly for a book that was growing into a complex storyline. Though the images were still black and white at this stage, I could already feel where the book was headed.

Once each spread was sketched out with the detail I wanted, it was time to make the final art. Initially, my plan was to redraw each image with pastels on toned paper. But I was so happy with the feel of these digital sketches, I began to wonder if I might lose something in their translation to final art. It was then that I realized that without knowing it I had not only finished my sketches, but had started on the final art as well! A Stone for Sascha would be painted entirely on a digital tablet!

–

Come back tomorrow for part 6: Keeping it Loose. In the meantime, it’s not too late to pre-order your signed copy of “A Stone for Sascha” from my local indie, The Odyssey Bookshop in South Hadley, MA. Give them a call and let them know to whom you’d like it inscribed. They can ship it anywhere in the USA. “A Stone for Sascha” publishes Tuesday, May 8th.