Tomie dePaola Award Time!

The Legend, Tomie dePaola

Legendary children's illustrator Tomie dePaola is having his 2nd annual contest, where he will pick the winner's for the Tomie dePaola Award... which I believe is a trip to NYC to the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) Conference.

Tomie dePaola Award

The rules are that it should be in Black and White, and illustrate a segment of text from either Little Women, The Yearling, or The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

Here are some of the entries so far...

I am very excited, and am debating whether I do it in half-tone watercolor, Sumi, or in pencil.

Here is a sample of last year's entries.

and last years WINNERS.

I am thinking of doing Tom Sawyer, which... thinking I could watch an old black and white movie, maybe get in the mood for doing a black and white piece...only to find the 1938 movie is in COLOR?! Whaaat? Thanks to YouTube, you can actually watch the movie in parts. Here is a fun game: count how many times the actor playing Tom Sawyer (Tommy Kelly) looks confused, dumbfounded, bewildered, or like he just ate a lemon.

Speaking of of this film being colorized, here is a fun fact from IMDB: 

Many disputes arose between photographer James Wong Howe and his associate, Technicolor photographer Wilfred M. Cline about which colors to use in wardrobe and sets. Cline wanted bright primary colors, while Howe insisted on subdued earth tones. Since Howe got his way, after one week they were not on speaking terms and The Technicolor Company banned Howe from shooting further pictures in color; Howe did not make another color film for 10 years. 

Stay Tuned... I will be turning this in by December 14th.