new Moonpowder painting and detail

Here is the latest Moonpowder painting. It was fun creating this room for my little hero. The lighting is something that is important to the mood of the scene, and it took me a bit of time to get it right. I am not sure it totally works just yet, but it is close, and I will adjust the colors of all the paintings once they are all complete.
On another exciting note, I have been invited as a special guest to speak at the April meeting of the Children's Book Librarians of Los Angeles. I will have twenty minutes to speak about my work and I am thrilled about this opportunity. I moved from L.A. to NYC with the intention of creating children's books, and now I get to return to L.A. as a published author!
I have also been invited to do a book signing at the infamous children's bookstore, Hicklebees, in San Jose on April 25th.

Wolf! Wolf! in the Bookstores!

This past weekend I had a big thrill. I walked into Books of Wonder in NYC and saw copies of my book on the shelves. My heart even skipped a beat when I looked down the isle and saw someone holding a copy of Wolf! Wolf! It took me another second to realize it was a close friend who was buying a copy. I signed the book for her daughter and went home with a silly grin.
I will be doing a book signing at Books of Wonder on March 17th from noon to 2pm, so if anyone is interested, please stop by and say hi.

Happy Birthday Eli!!!

My nephew, Elijah, turns 2 years old tommorow and because the main character in my next picture book is named after him, I wanted to post the latest painting from that book.
Happy Birthday (and happy President's Day) Eli!

Moonpowder painting takes Grand Prize at SCBWI event

Every year for the last four years I have attended the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators conference in New York City. This year was no exception. The conference is a great way to meet new people in the industry, hear inspiring talks, and stay in touch with what is going on in the business. The hilights for me this year were, Brian Selznick talking about his latest book, Susan Cooper's Keynote, and Katherine Paterson's Keynote. I also attended two exceptional breakout sessions. One given by Chad Beckerman, on the art of jacket design, was a fantastic insight into the marketplace of YA jackets, as well as giving everyone some great tips on what makes a "striking" jacket. Mac Mcool gave an equally engaging talk on graphic novels. It was a very interactive breakout session as there were a few people in the audience who were also in the business of publishing graphic novels. And let's face it, the line between picture books and graphic novels is getting blurred every day.
Saturday night was the annual New York Showcase, where illustrators can submit a piece of children's book art for display, and industry proffessionals come and check it out. This year I entered one of the paintings from my next book, "Moonpowder" and was pleasantly suprised to win the Grand Prize for the second time! (I won it in 2004 as well) Thank you SCBWI !!

Wolf! Wolf! Book Party!!!

The day is finally here! The first book I have authored and illustrated, "Wolf! Wolf!" is about to be distibuted to bookstores across the country. (March 01,2007 release). And to celebrate this long awaited event. I am having a party/reading/signing/gallery show at a children's store called Pomme in the heart of DUMBO (near Brooklyn Heights). The party is on friday, March 2nd from 5pm-8pm and is open to the public. So if you are in the area, please come by and say hello.

Roccoart.com updated

I have finally updated my website! It has an expanded Wolf! Wolf! section for the release of my book on March 1.
Any comments are welcome.