Vintage Book Week 23 Challenge!

A group of illustrators hosted a challenge called “Vintage Book Week 23” on Instagram, giving folks four vintage books to over the course of a week to reinterpret as they wished. One could treat it as a Draw This In Your Style (#dtiys) or do a completely updated version. I treated them more as a DTIYS, which gave me opportunity to try out brushes, etc. I love those challenges to work on things like that! So I am posting here my versions, as well as the original book covers, for comparison!

Oh! I did another version of the Hansel and Gretel book cover, closer to the original. I didn’t like it much at first, but it’s grown on me!

Something New! High Five Magazine Spread: "Art With Friends"

I’m a little behind with keeping up with the blog and posting new, printed work, but hey! This two-page spread hidden picture illustration was created for the December 2020 issue of High Five magazine. I enjoyed working out the bedroom this little boy was making art in! And how cute, that his “friends” are stuffed animals! They seem making some nice art there—all of them! I hope the kids enjoy the illustration, as well as finding the hidden items in the spread. Thanks, High Five!

Something New! Grassi Lakes Hiking Trails Illustration Spread

This illustration for the summer 2020 issue of Chirp magazine took a lot of turns due to the Covid-19 pandemic, changing subject matter twice before it became what you see here. My poor clients! We all survived and in the end, it was decided the Grassi Lakes Hiking Trails in Alberta, Canada would be showcased! It was a fun challenge to look at the map and work out a stylized illustration of place geographically. I have the view looking north to south. Anyway, what a great place to visit and hike, see the falls, and rock climb among many other activities. Here’s the official link to the provincial park. I hope to discover and enjoy it myself some day! Oh, and due to pandemic, I haven’t been able to get a hard copy of the magazine, so these digital files will have to do for now. You can see the AD’s notes in the layout!

(c) OwlKids

Something New! Magzine Spot Illustrations/Cartoons -- The Great Bear Rainforest!

It’s always a pleasure to work with Owlkids Publishing and Owl magazine on their many educational projects. This time, I did a spot illustration/cartoon & map for an article about The Great Bear Rainforest, located in British Columbia, Canada. It looks like a wonderful place to check out and perhaps hike and enjoy other activities. Someday I will go! In the meantime, I hope the kids enjoy learning about this place, and that the bear cartoon and map add to their fun of learning! Samples are below. The second bear was one of the sketches I sent to see what would be best to put in that spot. The bear sitting up was chosen, but the other is just too cute to not include! And please check out Owlkids and all the books and magazines they have to offer! Your kids will be glad you did!

Something New! High Five Magazine "That's Silly!" Spash Park Spread Illustration

It’s always a treat and blessing to do work for Highlights and High Five magazine! This “That’s Silly!” spread is for the June 2020 issue, and features a splash park full of kids keeping cool—along with unusual and “silly things. See if you can find the “sillies” yourself! Below are close-ups of the illustration to make it easier to see. Have fun and have a happy, cool, safe summer! And be sure and check out High Five and Highlights magazines and books. They care about your kids and do a wonderful job of making it fun to learn—or just plain have fun!

Something New! "It's An Animal News Flash!" Spot Illustrations/Cartoons!

I created a few spot illustration/cartoons for the May 2020 issue of Owl Magazine’s “Incredible!” section, which is always so fun—and so informative! Presently, we’re living with the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic and they aren’t sending sample copies at this time, so I have the spots mocked up in the spread. Sometimes the final changes a little, and certainly the designer makes it more sharp, clean, & clear, so thank you for overlooking these flaws on my samples!. : )

(c) Owl Magazine/Paula J. Becker 2020

Something New! Magazine Puzzle Spread: "Drive-And-Go-Seek" ("I Spy")

Here’s a VERY busy 3-page illustration spread I did for a magazine, in which kids are to identify numbers of cars & trucks from the poem (by Stacy Lane) and find them in the picture. I hope they enjoy doing that as much as I enjoyed creating the puzzle! Sample photos are below.

(c) Click Magazine/Paula J. Becker 2020

Something New! Whooping Crane Spot Cartoons!

I had such fun drawing these Whooping Crane illustration/cartoons (below) for this article to educate kids about this amazing bird! I love birds and birding so getting the opportunity to come up with something humorous to accompany this article was really special for me. Please get the magazine (OWL magazine, April 2020 issue) and learn about Whoopers and more!

(c) Owl Magazine/Paula J. Becker 2020

Something New! Highlights Hidden Picture (The Corona Virus 2019 Edition)

Highlights is really one of the best companies to freelance for, I have always said! Things have changed a lot over this past decade, but they never cease to appreciate their illustrators! So with this odd time of the world shutting down and sheltering because of a very-bad-no-good virus, they have found ways to be relevant, helpful, and continue to educate and amuse kids! I am grateful and honored to be one of many illustrators commissioned to do a special HP to reflect the this period of time. These Hidden Picture illustrations were published on social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, where kids and adults alike can find the hidden objects, and maybe even identify with the scene. I know I do! My contribution is below, including some closeups. Thank you, Highlights, for all you do!

(c) Highlights For Children/Paula J. Becker 2020

Something New! "Wacky Wetland Tours" Puzzle Maze

It was really fun to work on this Maze/Puzzle spread for the spring 2020 issue of Chickadee magazine! Samples are below. Check out Owlkids other magazines and books! Your kids will learn a lot and have fun at the same time!

(c) Owlkids/Chickadee Magazine/Paula J. Becker 2020

Something New! "Critter Clinic" Puzzle Spread

Here’s a really fun puzzle spread I did for Bayard/Owlkids and one of their magazines. This spread was for Chirp’s Jan/Feb 2020 issue. It was such a fun illustration to work on! Below are some samples and closeups. Thanks for stopping by!

Something New! Highlights Puzzle--Check-Double-Check

It’s always a treat and privilege to do some work for the amazing Highlights magazine! I was given the task of doing a puzzle depicting a bicycle race across the African Savanna—with animals bicycling, of course! I had such a fun time illustrating these cute characters! Then I made subtle changes to the same illustration, which is the fun part—to find the differences! See if you can, too, if you will!

Something New! How-to-Play Soccer Illustration Spread and Spots!

It was so fun (and educational to boot!) to work on this spread for Ask Magazine! I am not a soccer player nor fan, so I learned something myself doing this! I hope others learn, too!

4th of July '19 -- A Marching Band!

Sometimes it’s fun to play with old images. I experimented with a washy, watercolor style a number of years ago. I still like many of the pieces I did. This one seemed fitting for an Independence Day illustration, so I made it into a pattern. Happy 4th of July, everybody!

Something New! Dragon Boat Race Illustration

I created this illustration for “A Boat Race” for Chirp magazine June ‘19 issue. This fun magazine spread is both informative AND fun! There are several puzzles and games to play as you learn (Kids as well as adults!) I went with line art for this, since I had to get 20 people in each boat—plus the people on the side watching and waving for their favorite dragon boat! See if you can solve the puzzles!

Magazine Spots: "Smart Like a Pig!"

I had a fun time drawing pigs doing fun stuff to enhance this article on…well—Pigs, of course! Very informative and a fun read for kids to learn about them. So below is a spread with the spots, and then the spots isolated.

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