Happy Birthday Marin!

©Lesley Breen Withrow

Today is my daughter's 4th birthday! We had a wonderful birthday party for her yesterday and she got all the Smurfs and My Little Ponies that she had been dreaming of! (Including Papa Smurf and Smurfette). It's funny, because those are the same gifts I dreamed of getting back in the day. Gotta love retro!

Ted Kennedy

                                                        
I couldn't make it up to the Kennedy Library in Boston today to give my respects to Senator Ted Kennedy who is lying in repose there. So, I thought I would post a sketch I drew of him as my remembrance. Growing up on Cape Cod, the Kennedy's were always close by. I got the pleasure of seeing Ted years ago in Hyannis Port. I was on a boat heading over to Martha's Vineyard  and he sailed by on his sail boat and waved. Ted Kennedy was an incredible public servant who had done a lot of good for the little guys and will be greatly missed.
©Lesley Breen Withrow

Greeting Cards

I've been busy creating greeting cards and so I thought I'd show a sampling of them. They are filled with my painterly textures and patterns. So much fun to make!

©Lesley Breen Withrow

Secrets of Digital Animation

My husband, Steven Withrow , has a new book that just came out called Secrets of Digital Animation  from RotoVision and Rockport Publishers. It's an incredible book featuring some amazing animators. 

Secrets of Digital Animation sets out to demonstrate and showcase a range of cutting-edge work, new techniques, and influential practitioners within all forms of contemporary animation, from anime to flashware, and from animated shorts to machinima, offering creative hints and tips from the genre masters. This book offers young practitioners, and those interested in broadening their skills, an insider’s view of the fast evolving work of animation; showcasing professionals and their creations, working methods, and inspiration, along with jargon-busting explanations and easy to follow demonstrations. Stunning examples of finished work are shown alongside conceptual drawings and works in progress. The book contains practical advice and case studies that explore the professional techniques behind designing innovative characters and fantastical worlds, and bringing them to life.

©Lesley Breen Withrow
Here's a snippet of some illustrations I have been working on while trying to beat the summer heat. I can't complain though... it's nice to see that summer is finally here in New England!

The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art

My husband, daughter and I went to visit The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art a couple weeks ago and had a wonderful time. It is a great place for kids and an inspiration for us writers and illustrators. We got to see original art of Eric Carle's The Hungry Caterpillar, (which just turned 40!) as well as an assortment of Ernest Shepard's pen and ink and pencil art from Winnie-the-Pooh and Tomie DePaola's original picture book art and oil paintings. We also had fun reading books, and making art out of tissue paper, like Eric Carle does. It was a great trip for us all, even Tito had fun. That's Marin's little gray tiger kitty that she's had since she was a baby (you can see him helping my daughter out with her tissue paper art).