David Shannon Illustrator and Author Biography He was

David Shannon Illustrator (and Author)

Biography ● He was born in Washington, DC in 1959 ● He grew up in Spokane, Washington. ● He made his first book at the age of 5, with drawings of him doing things he shouldn’t do, with the words “No David” at the bottom of each page. This inspired his No, David series later in life. ● He graduated from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, and then moved to New York City. ● While he was doing illustrations to go with op ed pieces, someone from Scholastic asked him to illustrate a book of folktales, and he suddenly realized he’d always prepared to illustrate picture books. ● David Shannon now lives in Los Angeles with his wife, their daughter, and their dog, Fergus.

The Illustration Process ● First, he makes hundreds of thumbnail sketches. He puts them on one big page, so he can see the big plan. ● Then he makes full sized pencil sketches, and there are lots of mistakes on these! He adds text and makes a “dummy. ” ● Then, he paints each page with acrylics. Sometimes he gets new ideas at this point, and starts making a new “dummy. ” ● Once he’s happy, he sends them off to the publisher, who prints and binds it, and sends him a “proof. ” ● Once it’s approved, it’s printed, and it ends up in the library!

Interview with David Shannon He has always drawn pictures in his books of this he imagined from the words, so it was like he prepared to be an illustrator all of his life!! Another one to visit online: http: //www. scholastic. com/teacher/videos/teachervideos. htm#3193530856001/1915453287

His advice to budding artists ● Draw a lot. ● Draw things you’re interested in and like to draw, so you are inspired spend more time, draw a lot, and stick with it. ● Don’t let people tell you what you should be doing. Listen to people with experience, don’t let them tell you what you should or shouldn’t like to draw. ● Don’t settle on a drawing. Redo it until you know you’ve done what you think is good.

How his artistic style changed from editorials to children’s books ● When he was doing editorial work for articles, his palate was more muted and dark. ● Then, when he started doing children’s books, he became more colorful, and likes the colors better. ● He sees illustrating a book like directing a movie, and he uses colors to convey the mood of the book.

How his artistic style changed from series to series ● His artistic style changes with his interpretation of the story and the characters. ● He uses color to convey emotions, mood, and the tone of the story. ● Some are lovely and classically illustrated, some are realistically drawn and painted, while others are simplistick-ish characters, depending on his interpretations. ● Some examples are on the following slides:

On this early book, No, David, the realistic style didn’t match the feel he wanted, so he went with simple drawings and bright, child-like colors. His bare bottom in one drawing caused some fuss. What fun!

These books from 2002 and 2003 are some of his early works. They show his great work with color, and a realistic style for the fun fantasy stories that was reflected in most of his early work.

A Bad Case of Stripes and Alice the Fairy, from 2004, show his creative style developing and his method of showing emotions through color. A Bad Case of Stripes has somewhat muted colors, due to the issues in the story. With bullying overtones, Camilla must finally decide to be herself, no matter what people say. PS: He hates lima beans!

Alice the Fairy is simply bright and cheerful, in personality and color, as this “strange character” strives to become a permanent fairy.

Too Many Toys was inspired by his own life, and his children. In his development as an artist, he decided to improve his use of white space. He tried to start using his white space on the page more, by making it part of the image, so the text would flow with the images.

In Jangles, he gets to show off his wonderful painting skills, as he experimented with oil painting for his work. It shows his development as an artist.

He says loved using oils, and he will use oils again, but acrylics must be his favorite, because Bugs in my Hair goes back to his usual bright acrylic colors and fun style.

Work Cited "Beating Bullies Through Books. " Reading Today 22. 2 (2004): 44. Academic Search Premier. Web. 7 June 2014. Bolle, Sonia. "David Shannon: A Merry Prankster. " Publishers Weekly 246. 29 (1999): 168. Academic Search Premier. Web. 3 June 2014. Cummins, Julie. "The Gold Rush. " Children & Libraries: The Journal Of The Association For Library Service To Children 11. 1 (2013): 3 -5. Academic Search Premier. Web. 7 June 2014. "David Shannon. " You. Tube. Reading Rockets, 16 May 2008. Web. 02 June 2014. <http: //youtu. be/LBQMTg 6 BHT 0>. "David Shannon's Biography | Scholastic. com. " Scholastic Teachers. Scholastic, Inc. , 2012. Web. 02 June 2014. <http: //www. scholastic. com/teachers/contributor/david-shannon>. Karre, Mary. Ann. "Too Many Toys. " School Library Journal 58. 4 (2012): 53. Academic Search Premier. Web. 7 June 2014. Kurkjian, Catherine, et al. "Worlds Of Fantasy. " Reading Teacher 59. 5 (2006): 492 -503. Academic Search Premier. Web. 7 June 2014. Shannon, David. "Videos for Teachers. " Video Book Trailers, Author Videos, and Educational. Scholastic, Inc. , June 2008. Web. 2 June 2014. <http: //www. scholastic. com/teacher/videos/teacher-videos. htm #3193530856001/ 1917520976>.