The Children’s Book Review | April 25, 2018
Books illustrated by Lisa Brown include Goldfish Ghost by Lemony Snicket and her own The Airport Book. She lives in San Francisco.
Inside Lisa Brown’s Studio
My studio is a little in-law apartment in the basement of a house. To get there I have to make my way through a garage stuffed with stuff. It’s like a secret lair. It is also stuffed with stuff, mostly in piles. I am a very neat person on the outside, but in the inside, I am a secret slob. I have a ridiculous amount of books.
In the house upstairs live my high school prom date and his husband. When they are home, they bring me coffee… which leads me to my creative process.
Lisa Brown’s Creative Process
My creative process involves a great amount of procrastination and an equally great amount of coffee. I tend to get waylaid by clearing my email inbox, prepping for the illustration class I teach at the California College of Art, and, of course, making sure things are in neat piles.
In the beginning of a project, I always start with the text, and move on to brainstorming doodles. I take long walks and sit in cafés and scribble. And my New Year’s resolution from four years ago was to post a sketch on my Tumblr for every day of the year, and it’s continued. It’s the only resolution I’ve ever kept in my life. It is a source of inspiration and a place for me to hone my practice and experiment without the fear of having to produce something for publication hanging over my head.
When I have enough material, I move on to storyboarding out the entire book, determining what goes on each page. Final art happens usually in pen or brush and india ink, traced with a lightbox onto watercolor paper. After watercoloring over the ink, I scan into the computer for a bit of cleanup.
tumblr: http://americanchickens.tumblr.com
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The Two Mutch Sisters
Written by Carol Brendler
Illustrated by Lisa Brown
Publisher’s Synopsis: A playful look at sisterhood and honoring differences when having some things in common doesn’t mean having everything in common.
The two Mutch sisters have two of everything, and Violet believes they are as perfectly matched as the objects in their collections.
Ruby, however, has other ideas. And she’s ready to do something about them.
Carol Brendler and Lisa Brown present a silly, surprising, and insightful tale about staying close while respecting differences as Violet and Ruby prove that sometimes it takes a sister to know what a sister really needs.
Ages 4-7 | Publisher:Clarion Books | 2018 | ISBN-13: 978-0544430747
Available Here:
Discover more books like “The Two Mutch Sisters,” written by Carol Brendler and illustrated by Lisa Brown, on The Children’s Book Review by following along with our articles tagged with Picture Book and Sisters. And be sure to check out more authors and illustrators featured in our Inside the Studio column.
