Author: dcarnito

The Art (Award) of the Vast Wonder of the World

Vast Wonder of the World

By Danielle Carnito, Trade Art Director

I was recently able to travel to NYC to attend the opening reception of the Society of Illustrators 2018 Original Art show, a yearly juried exhibition celebrating the year in exemplary children’s book illustration. I was so happy to be in attendance to help celebrate with this year’s Dilys Evans Founder’s Award winner Luisa Uribe, who won that award for her illustrations in our Millbrook Press title The Vast Wonder of the World: Biologist Ernest Everett Just. Read More

On (Some) Girl Stereotypes in Picture Books

Stereotypes and Art

By Danielle Carnito, Trade Art Director

I’m currently in the midst of organizing a presentation about “keeping your eyes open” when creating illustrations for kids’ books. That’s a couple months away yet, but making notes on what to discuss has me now revisiting various projects, noting times when we have specifically directed art to avoid certain stereotypical representations. Read More

How We Judge a Book by Its Cover: The Cover Design Process

By Danielle Carnito, Trade Art Director

I get a lot of “Oh, you work in children’s book publishing, that must be so fun!” when people find out what I do for a living. And in truth it can be a lot of fun! We never tire of all the interesting facts we get to learn—and then foist upon others—when working on our books.

However, cover design is also a lot of dedicated work, a lot of communication, a lot of research, a lot of meetings, and a lot of problem solving. Children’s publishing is a big business, so catching the immediate attention of anyone who would buy a book is imperative. There is a lot resting on how the covers of our books look at first glance. Read More