Jason is an award-winning artist and designer based in NYC. He is known for his bright colors and even brighter messages. His work has received tons of awards and recognition, including the Golden Novum Design award and two CLIO Fashion&Beauty Bronze medals. He has also been featured on HGTV and the Discovery Channel.

In 2018, Jason was named by BUMBLE as one of the 100 Most Inspiring New Yorkers, and his colorful creations have found partnership with brands like Coach, Guess, Pepsi, and Maybelline. Jason’s mission is to spread color and positivity across the globe. His brightly colored designs and positive words reflect his zeal for life, his quest for joy and his love of LOVE.

In this episode Jason and I discuss:

• The ways his book is a visual version of the perfect mixed tape.
• How negative space and imagination work together to create a story.
• Why people see the same colors differently (hint: it’s rooted in science!).

Plus, his #1 tip for writers.

About Jason Naylor

Jason is an award-winning artist / designer based in NYC, known for his bright colors and even brighter messages. Jason’s work has received global recognition including the Golden Novum Design award and two CLIO Fashion&Beauty Bronze medals. Jason has been featured on HGTV and the Discovery Channel. In 2018, Jason was named by BUMBLE as one of the 100 Most Inspiring New Yorkers, and his colorful creations have found partnership with brands like Coach, Guess, Pepsi, and Maybelline. Jason’s mission is to spread color and positivity across the globe. His brightly colored designs and positive words reflect his zeal for life, his quest for joy and his love of LOVE.

You can find Jason on his website or follow him on Twitter, Instagram, Goodreads, Pinterest, and TikTok.

Live Life Colorfully

Live Life Colorfully is a quirky, illustrated mix of inspiring words, tips and tricks, and challenges from award-winning artist, designer, and creative director Jason Naylor. 

This colorful book is based on one of his strongest messages, Live Life Colorfully, and will inspire everyone who picks it up. 

• Find the silver living, taste the rainbow, and colorize your life with this vibrant book
• Filled with bright, colorful illustrations
• Sure to motivate anyone who needs a boost

Naylor spreads joy and kindness around the globe using his signature bright colors and even brighter messages with typography, illustration, and large-scale worldwide murals.

Live Life Colorfully is a succinct way to say, “Be yourself, be brave, be proud of who you are, be kind, be loving, be happy, and be colorful.”

• An inspiring book with a little bit of edge and a lot of confidence
• Taking a moment to deliberately notice colors in the world around you can significantly enhance your moment, your day, and your life.
• Perfect pick-me-up gift for self-help, motivation, and happiness seekers, as well as lovers of pop art and bright colors
• Add it to the shelf with books like 52 Lists for Happiness: Weekly Journaling Inspiration for Positivity, Balance, and Joy by Moorea Seal, Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative by Austin Kleon, and Start Where You Are: A Journal for Self-Exploration by Meera Lee Patel

If you decide to check out the book, we hope you’ll do so via this Amazon affiliate link, where if you choose to purchase via the link DIY MFA gets a referral fee at no cost to you. As always, thank you for supporting DIY MFA!

Link to Episode 341

(Right-click to download.)

If you liked this episode…

Head over to iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Spotify, or Google and subscribe so you’ll be first to know when new episodes are available.

Also, remember that sharing is caring so if you know anyone who might enjoy this podcast, please tell them about it or leave us a review so other listeners will want to check it out.

Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome!

The post 341: Live Life Colorfully: The Intersection Between Words and Art – Interview with Jason Naylor appeared first on DIY MFA.

Born in Baltimore, Aaron moved to California to attend Pomona College where he scored his first illustration job designing t-shirts for his water polo team. Since then, he’s traveled around the world, from Kenya to Japan, Sweden to Tahiti, looking for good things to eat and feeding his imagination. He now lives with his family in Amherst, MA where he’s busy at work on his next book project. You can find out more about what he’s been up to lately at storybreathing.com.

Aaron and I will be talking about his wordless picture book trilogy, Journey, Quest, and Return, as well as his picture book A Stone for Sascha and his newest picture book, You Are Light.

In this episode Aaron and I discuss:

• The story behind the Journey, Quest, Return trilogy
• Navigating second book syndrome
• How different age groups approach wordless picture books
• Changing tones for a second story arc
• Crafting a picture book inspired by stained glass
• Using different mediums to craft picture books

Plus, his #1 tip for writers.

About Aaron Becker

Born in Baltimore, Aaron Becker moved to California to attend Pomona College where he scored his first illustration job designing t-shirts for his water polo team. Since then, he’s traveled to Kenya, Japan, Sweden, and Tahiti backpacking around while looking for good things to eat and feeding his imagination. He now lives with his family in Amherst, MA where he’s busy at work on his next book project. You can find out more about what he’s been up to lately at storybreathing.com.

If you decide to check out his books, we hope you’ll do so via the below Amazon affiliate links, where if you choose to purchase via the link DIY MFA gets a referral fee at no cost to you. As always, thank you for supporting DIY MFA!

You Are Light

Open this beautiful book to find a graphic yellow sun surrounded by a halo of bright die-cut circles. Now hold the page up to the light and enjoy the transformation as the colors in those circles glow. In an elegant, sparely narrated ode to the phenomenon of light, Aaron Becker follows as light reflects off the earth to warm our faces, draws up the sea to make the rain, feeds all the things that grow, and helps to create all the brilliant wonders of the world, including ourselves.

A Stone For Sascha

This year’s summer vacation will be very different for a young girl and her family without Sascha, the beloved family dog, along for the ride. But a wistful walk along the beach to gather cool, polished stones becomes a brilliant turning point in the girl’s grief. There, at the edge of a vast ocean beneath an infinite sky, she uncovers, alongside the reader, a profound and joyous truth. In his first picture book following the conclusion of his best-selling Journey trilogy, Aaron Becker achieves a tremendous feat, connecting the private, personal loss of one child to a cycle spanning millennia — and delivering a stunningly layered tale that demands to be pored over again and again.

Journey

A lonely girl draws a magic door on her bedroom wall and through it escapes into a world where wonder, adventure, and danger abound. Red marker in hand, she creates a boat, a balloon, and a flying carpet that carry her on a spectacular journey toward an uncertain destiny. When she is captured by a sinister emperor, only an act of tremendous courage and kindness can set her free. Can it also lead her home and to her heart’s desire?

Quest

A king emerges from a hidden door in a city park, startling two children sheltering from the rain. No sooner does he push a map and some strange objects into their hands than he is captured by hostile forces that whisk him back through the enchanted door. Just like that, the children are caught up in a quest to rescue the king and his kingdom from darkness, while illuminating the farthest reaches of their imagination. Colored markers in hand, they make their own way through the portal, under the sea, through a tropical paradise, over a perilous bridge, and high in the air with the help of a winged friend.

Return

Failing to get the attention of her busy father, a lonely girl turns back to a fantastic world for friendship and adventure. It’s her third journey into the enticing realm of kings and emperors, castles and canals, exotic creatures and enchanting landscapes. This time, it will take something truly powerful to persuade her to return home, as a gripping backstory is revealed that will hold readers in its thrall.

(Right-click to download.)

If you liked this episode…

Head over to iTunes, Stitcher Radio or Google Play and subscribe so you’ll be first to know when new episodes are available.

Also, remember that sharing is caring so if you know anyone who might enjoy this podcast, please tell them about it or leave us a review so other listeners will want to check it out.

Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome!

The post Episode 273: Words, Pictures, and How Story Brings Them Together — Interview with Aaron Becker appeared first on DIY MFA.

Trinka is the award-winning author of over thirty picture books, and has been hailed as the champion of the picture book genre. Her latest book, Rettie and the Ragamuffin Parade, is a historical fiction starring a young girl named Rettie in 1918 America during the deadly influenza pandemic.

Listen in as we get the inside scoop on how Rettie’s world was created, and geek out about the picture book genre.  

In this episode Trinka and I discuss:

• Crafting historical fiction that places children in the shoes of the characters.
• How to use big moments in history to anchor your story.
• Why it’s so important—both in general, but most especially in children’s books—that the main character not come across as a victim.
• The important differences between a “story book” and a “picture book” and distinguishing features in each of these forms.
• Why it’s so important to trust your illustrator when you write picture books, and how your art director and illustrator can elevate your book to new heights.

Plus, Trinka’s #1 tip for writers.

About Trinka Hakes Noble

Trinka Hakes Noble is the award-winning author of over thirty picture books. The Day Jimmy’s Boa Ate the Wash, illustrated by Steven Kellogg, just celebrated its 37th year in print, and Meanwhile Back At The Ranch is celebrating its 30th year in print.  Apple Tree Christmas, which she wrote and illustrated is presently in a Holiday Classic edition.

Other notable works Trinka has to her name are The Scarlet Stockings Spy, The Last Brother, and The Orange Shoes.

Her latest titles are The Legend of the Jersey Devil, Lizzie and the Last Day of School, The Legend of Sea Glass, and her latest Rettie and the Ragamuffin Parade has just been released..

Ms. Noble graduated from Michigan State University with a BA in painting, and went on to study children’s book writing and illustration in New York City at Parson’s School of Design, the New School University, Caldecott medalist Uri Schulivitz’s Greenwich Village Workshop, and most recently at New York University.

Ms. Noble is a board member of The New Jersey Center for the Book, The Rutgers University Council on Children’s Literature, The Author’s Guild, and the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators.  

In 2002, she was awarded Outstanding Woman in Arts and Letters from the state of New Jersey for her life-time work in children’s books along with letters of a commendation from The US House of Representatives, the US Senate, and the US Congress. She was also awarded Author of the Year, 2016/2017, by the New Jersey Association of School Librarians.  She lives in a circa 1780 house in historic Northern New Jersey. To connect with Trinka check out her website at www.trinkahakesnoble.com.

Rettie and the Ragamuffin Parade

In 1918, a deadly influenza pandemic was sweeping across America.  It ravaged families, leaving thousands of children orphaned.

But in the tenement apartments of New York City’s Lower East Side,  one young girl is determined to keep her family safe.  When her mother becomes sick, Loretta “Rettie”Stanowski does all the cleaning, washing, shopping, and cooking for her family.  

To earn money, she cleans the apartment building’s halls, stairways and stoop, and washes rags for the ragpicker.  But Rettie is anxiously waiting for the Thanksgiving Day Ragamuffin Parade and penny scramble.  When children held out their hands and asked, “Have you anything for Thanksgiving?”, fancy uptown people would give them a penny.  Rettie was hoping to get lots of pennies. She wanted to buy something special for their Thanksgiving dinner.

But with the influenza outbreak, quarantines are ordered and large gatherings banned.  Rettie was worried.  Would the Ragamuffin Parade be cancelled too?

If you decide to check out Rettie and the Ragamuffin Parade or the other books in the Tales of Young Americans series — The Last Brother and The Scarlet Stockings Spy — we hope you’ll do so via these affiliate links, where if you choose to purchase DIY MFA makes a small commission at no cost to you. As always, thank you for supporting DIY MFA!

(Right-click to download.)

If you liked this episode…

Head over to iTunes, Stitcher Radio or Google Play and subscribe so you’ll be first to know when new episodes are available.

Also, remember that sharing is caring so if you know anyone who might enjoy this podcast, please tell them about it or leave us a review so other listeners will want to check it out.

Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome!

The post Episode 166: All About Picture Books — Interview with Trinka Hakes Noble appeared first on DIY MFA.

Today we’re doing something totally new at DIY MFA Radio. We’ve had co-authors on the show before, but this is the first time we have an author-illustrator team.

In this interview I talk with writer Pamela S. Turner and illustrator Gareth Hinds about their book Samurai Rising: The Epic Life of Minamoto Yoshitsune. Pam has written historical fiction, biography and science for young readers and has won numerous awards. Gareth is the creator of the critically-acclaimed graphic novels based on literary classics like Beowulf, King Lear, Romeo and Juliet, and Macbeth. Together they make for a powerhouse team in bringing to life the amazing story of legendary samurai: Minamoto Yoshitsune.

In this episode Pamela, Gareth, and I discuss:

• The development of an author/illustrator partnership
• Inspiration born of personal interests
• Bringing the story to life on the page
• Knowing your audience and writing for children
• The importance of having a crack design team in creating quality books

Plus, Pamela’s and Gareth’s #1 tip for writers.

Link to Episode 97

(Right-click to download.)

About the Author and Illustrator

Pamela S. Turner has written historical fiction, biography, and science on diverse topics. She the author of five books in the Scientists in the Field series, including The Frog Scientist (AAAS Science Writing Prize winner) and The Dolphins of Shark Bay (a Kirkus and School Library Journal Best Book of the Year).

Her newest book is Samurai Rising, a biography of famed Japanese warrior Minamoto Yoshitsune. She lives in Oakland, California and is a black-belt practitioner of kendo (Japanese swordfighting). For more about Pamela, visit her website at www.pamelasturner.com

Gareth Hinds is the creator of critically-acclaimed graphic novels based on literary classics, including Beowulf (which Publisher’s Weekly called a “mixed-media gem”), King Lear (which Booklist named one of the top 10 graphic novels for teens), The Merchant of Venice (which Kirkus called “the standard that all others will strive to meet” for Shakespeare adaptation), The Odyssey (which garnered four starred reviews and a spot on ten “best of 2010” lists), Romeo and Juliet (which Kirkus called “spellbinding”), and Macbeth (which the New York Times called “stellar” and “a remarkably faithful rendering”).

Gareth is a recipient of the Boston Public Library’s “Literary Lights for Children” award. His books can be found in bookstores and English classrooms across the country, and his illustrations have appeared in such diverse venues as the Society of Illustrators, the New York Historical Society, and over a dozen published video games. To learn more about Gareth, visit his website, or follow him on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, or Pinterest.

If you liked this episode…

Head over to iTunes, leave a review, and subscribe so you’ll be first to know when new episodes are available. Also, if you know anyone who might enjoy this podcast, please share!

Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome.

The post Episode 97: Bringing a Samurai Story to Life on the Page- Interview with Pamela S. Turner and Gareth Hinds appeared first on DIY MFA.