With this igloo I have decided to do more of snowy owls, polar bears, seals, penguins and ermines. I can smell a frosty book!
Have a better 2021!
I am sure all of us stepped into 2021 with hopes for a brighter year. Seems like we might have to wait for the sunshine for a while. I do hope you can find a way how to make the waiting bearable - I myself will surely continue creating animal homes and houses. Sending you a virtual hug and a pine cone squirrel house! Take care!
Ecoute et Decouvre - Le Chantier
This cute little sound book for Larousse was a big jump out of my comfort zone! A good one! To be honest - I have never illustrated a digger before. Or a bulldozer. Or a crane as a matter of fact. In this book, I got to illustrate all of these machines. Plus a steam roller. In the end I had so much fun working on this project! I guess you just never know :-)
Slovenská klasika Žabiatko od Ľudmily Podjavorinskej
V tomto roku som sa veľmi potešila rovno dvom spoluprácam s vydavateľstvom Buvik, ktoré sa u nás na Slovensku zamierava výhradne na detské knihy. Keďže z dielne Buviku vychádzajú iba kvalitné tituly, nezaváhala som ani na chviľu a kývla ako na knižku Básnička ti pomôže od Daniela Heviera začiatkom roka, tak na slovenskú klasiku Žabiatko od Ľudmily Podjavorinskej. Žabiatko vychádza v novej podobe po 26 rokoch. Ilustrovať takéto texty je vždy za odmenu. Ak popritom ešte aj mám voľnú ruku, je to splnený sen. Ďakujem!
New book in the making!
There is never enough busy scenes children’s books in the world! At least that’s what I think. And therefore, I decided to climb into my studio for a few months once again to work on a new book from the series Podme objavovat (Let’s Explore). To be honest I really had a slow start (as I always do when starting a new book project. And the bigger the project, the slower the start.) But as the images started to unwind in my head, everything fell into place and I hope this one will come into the light in a few months. Some of the illustrations are already in color - here is a tiny sneak peek!
Advance Copies of My Book Came In.
A box of advance copies of the Podme objavovat Slovensko book got in today. They look so neat! Can’t wait for the rest of the books to arrive so I can start sending them out to all of the supporters who donated it money to fund the printing of the book. Thank you guys, I promise to keep you up to date and to handle all the shipping as fast as I can. If you still would like to pre-order your copy, you can do that here: https://www.startlab.sk/projekty/580-podme-objavovat-slovensko-ilustrovana-kniha-pre-deti/
Knihu Poďme objavovať Slovensko už môžte podporiť na Startlabe
Posledné mesiace mimo priestory ateliéru veľmi nežijem, no kniha, na ktorej som po celý čas pracovala, je pre mňa dôležitá a výnimočná. Vytiahla zo mňa úplne všetko a ja teraz len dúfam, že tento post nebude patetický od vrchu až po spodok.
Keďže roky pozorujem nedostatok pekných pôvodných kníh pre najmenšie deti u nás, rozhodla som sa aspoň trochu prispieť ku zmene a vytvorila som veľkoformátovú obrázkovú knihu (board book) o Slovensku. Keď som bola malá, trávila som nad takýmito knižkami hodiny a hodiny a budem rada, ak sa mi pomocou tejto podarí podobné zážitky priniesť dnešným deťom. Kniha má 32 strán a prostredníctvom veľkých farebných ilustrácii si skupina zvieracích kamošov na čele s prasiatkom Oliverom zacestuje od Bratislavy, cez Banskú Štiavnicu, Bojnice, Vlkolínec, do Vysokých Tatier, na Spišský hrad, do kúpeľov, jaskýň, či Slovenského raja.
Knižka je dnes už hotová, no na to, aby sme ju mohli vytlačiť a vydať, potrebujeme Vašu pomoc.
Podporiť nás môžete na ➡️ https://www.startlab.sk/…/580-podme-objavovat-slovensko-il…/ ⬅️
Prostredníctvom Startlabu si knižku viete predobjednať už teraz a doma ju budete mať takmer okamžite po tom, ako sa koncom októbra vynorí z tlačiarne. Veríme, že bude spolu s ďalšími užitočnými odmenami pekným vianočným darčekom pre malkáčov aj veľkáčov.
Nakoniec mi nedá nespomenúť ľudí, bez pomoci ktorých by kniha dodnes ležala na dne šuplíka. Moje kostrbaté texty učesala Vik Marcinova, človek, ktorý detskými knihami žije a dýcha. Grafický dizajn mala na starosti šampiónka fontov pre deti Martina Rozinajová. Korektúr sa obetavo ujali pozorné oči Mimy Fedorovej a za dohľad nad projektom ďakujem Daniela Šicková. Zuzana Mitošinková vďaka za ochotu a cenné rady a pomocné ruky Johanna, Zuzana a Duro boli pre mňa po celý čas nedoceniteľné.
Ďakujeme!
Poďme objavovať Slovensko book off to print tomorrow
This is the last sneak peek of the book that I have been working on for a while. In my next post, I hope to finally show the cover and few spreads, yay! We are sending this baby off to print tomorrow and then I guess I will crawl somewhere in the woods to just run and hibernate to get over the waiting anxiety. Keeping my fingers crossed!
Getting there!
I am so excited about this book I don't even know where to begin! This is going to be such a wonderful and colorful collection of my childhood memories, I can't wait to send it off to printers and have it published. I have finally decided to go ahead and try to get on the path of self publishing. By far, I have no clue what it will bring and how will I be able to cope with all the issues it may bring. But it makes me really happy to create it and I will be keeping my fingers crossed for the book to make others (well especially the little ones) at least equally happy! Will try to post the updates more often the following weeks!
Sneak peek from a new book!
I kept a little quite lately, but I really had a good reason - I started working on a project that I have been keeping in my mind for a looong while. To be honest I haven't felt so happy working on a book for quite some time - I get up every morning rushing to my studio and sit there coloring these spreads until late night. I can't show you more, but it is a dream job to me and I really hope it shows!
Classic Tales Board Books
What is it recently, international shipping week? Another lovely package came in today and I keep flipping over the pages of these tiny board houses ever since! Thanks @yoyo_books for an opportunity to work on these cuties! 💛✏️💪#boardbook #book #childrensbook #classictales #junglebook #threelittlepigs #snowwhite #littleredridinghood #fairytale #illustration #kidlitart #kidlit #tipnaknihu #dnescitam #knihapredeti #leporelo #domcek #house #illustrator #marianeradova #nofilter
All The Birds You Can Imagine
I went through the Auzou sticker suitcase which I have blogged about earlier here. And I have to say I haven't realized how many bird species I illustrated in the process! Still, I had so much fun creating them, that I didn't even pay attention to the amount of work I had to do - ha! That's a winner, right? Here is a tiny sneak peek of the Ma Pochette De Gommettes - Animaux de la Montagne and you can order it here
Animaux De La Montagne
You probably won't be able to take this suitcase for a holiday with you (although it does meet both ryanair and wizzair cabin bag restrictions!) but it could still fit plenty of goodies! Newbie from the wonderful Auzou Editions full of forest and mountain animals just made me happy instantly! To be honest I still have a few dream projects on my check list, but sometimes a dream job really looks like a paper suitcase full of bear stickers. Enjoyed working on this a lot!
Horses and Ponies Activity Book - A Real Challenge!
So much for me and my “enormous” talent for drawing horses - here Maria, why don’t you try a whole Horses and Ponies activity book and see how that goes! Tiny sneak peek of one of my most recent projects, soon to be published by Usborne. Can’t wait!
Outer Space!
I wish I had more time to take care of this tiny blog of mine. Just completed a really neat space themed sticker book for the wonderful folks at Pat-a-cake with great support of my beloved agent Doreen at Good illustration agency. Can't believe it was my first illustrated book of 2018 and I already feel there is no chance I will have as much fun with any other upcoming projects. (no, really, I bet there are will be great things to work on) This book was a blast and I really wish the tiny readers will find it cool as well. Any publishers who are looking for an illustrator to work on a space themed project (best case scenario - animal characters), please send me an emai! Ha! I'll be posting more, but do follow my instagram and facebook for more recent work! See you there!
Kresky Temporary Tattoos
f you've been dreaming of getting a dumpster truck tattoo on your thigh, or make a statement with a locomotive on your back, or maybe you just want to make yourself feel beautiful with a teeny tiny cheese car on your ankle - well now you can! I illustrated some nice temporary tattoos for Slovak Kresky and they are finally available on their website http://kresky.sk/store. Go get'em tiger!
#kresky #nicetemporarytatoos #tattoosforkids #tattoos #temporary #cars #illustration
Follow me on Instagram, too!
Hey there! Long time no posting, I know! So much has been going on in the past few months, I did some travelling for most of September and it just seem to show a lot in my workflow haha! Anyway, I've been busy ever since and just this weekend I have completed a new project of animal stickers for Auzou Editions. I just love working with them, their projects are always so much fun! If you'd like to get more updates and see more of my work, you can follow me now on Instagram! See you there!
Hello there! I still haven't managed to go get a haircut, but I did get some neat samples of the Alice in Wonderland book I illustrated last Winter! I have to say I was a bit shocked by the haircut that Alice got on the cover, but now I think it looks really fun and hope the little ones will like it, too, haha! The book is full of touch and feel elements which are really quirky. It should be available on Amazon or Bookdepository (if not yet, then very soon). Enjoy your Summer and don't go down the rabbit hole!
Hot weather alert!
Where are you headed in this hellish weather? It's so hot outside I am happy to look at some ice and snow on the screen in front of me. Keeping my fingers crossed for all of us!
Classic Tales
I know I have kept silent on this tiny little facebook place of mine for a while - would be nice if I could say I was on a vacation, but unfortunately, I wasn't. The reason there was not a single word uttered here is simple - I was working on a set of children's books! If you ever think of illustrating 4 books at once, stop yourself right there. I love my job, that is true, but I also love chocolate, and if I ate 4 kilos of it at once, I would probably not love it that much and puke as well. (I have not puked from illustrating these, don't worry!) Anyways, as much as I wish I was smarter and allowed myself more time for these babies, I am so so so happy I could work on the titles like Pinocchio or Goldilocks and Three Bears (all time favorite of my little sister!) Will keep you posted when they appear on our planet. Off to finally cleaning my place and getting a haircut. Hello, life!
