School Visits with Michael Rex

Hello.  Just want to let everyone know that I am always booking school visits.

I love meeting my readers.  The hardest part of my job is working alone day after day.  Being able to spend time in a school with hundreds of laughing students is always a joy, and a great way to remember why I do what I do!

My high-energy presentation focuses on the making of a book.  I start with ideas, sketches and rough drafts then move onto re-writes and finally to the illustration process.  I also do a live drawing demo for the students, and if there’s time, have the students draw along with me.  I always end with a Q and A so the kids get a chance to ask me anything they want.

I stress the importance of writing and re-writing over and over until the work is the best it can be, and let the kids know that even a “pro” gets things wrong.

I have presented in single classrooms and in very large auditoriums, and feel comfortable talking to groups of any size.

I will gladly speak to any age group, but feel that my presentation is best for K-6.  When speaking to older students, I essentially do the same talk, but I add more details, and sometimes discuss the frustrations and difficulties of making books.

I also have a presentation based on parody.  I guide the students through the creation of modern parodies, discuss the “rules” of parody, and then we write and draw our own together.  We also discuss how anyone can make something funny.

If you are interested in a visit, please contact me for rates and availability. I live in NJ, and have travelled to schools all across the country. If fees are a concern, I can offer discounted rates if multiple schools can be booked for visits.

I hope to hear from you!---Mike Rex

mikerexbooks@gmail.com

Astronaut #25

Here's another astronaut.  Enjoy!

Happy New Year! Astronauts #22, #23, #24

Wow.  I've never gone this long not posting anything new, but over the summer I started posting on Instagram and kinda forgot about this place.  I've got some good stuff coming up.  A pile of school visits in the coming months, and a new book in September.

I hope you all have a great New Year.

Here's a few recent sketches/ideas for a new book.  They also get to be numbers #22, #23, and #24 in my 50 Astronauts series.

More little war kids...

Here are a few more drawings of "war kids" from my sketchbook.  These were done with Copic markers, and contain no digital elements at all.  The drawing of the bear was done first, and I had a limited selection of colors, which is why the bear is kind of mustard a color.

This idea, of a bunch of children getting left behind in a future/fantasy war zone of some kind, is really starting to take shape.  It allows me to pursue "post-apocolyptic kid" story, with a reasonable explanation of where the adults are.

Little Orange Guys...

Here are a few recent pages from my sketchbook, these drawings go along with the story idea from my last post.  These are ink and markers, and a bit of pencil.  I like all these little guys in their “Ned Kelly” helmets, but also worried that they might end up looking too much like Bender from Futurama.

Little Battlefield Guys...

I was going to make this a “Happy New Year” post, but it’s already January 30, so I guess that boat has sailed.

Here are a few drawings that I did recently.  I was having a hard time of getting back into drawing everyday, so someone suggested that I do one “finished” piece of art each day.  Right now, I’m doing sketches for two picture books, and outlines and notes for new graphic novel projects, but these daily drawings gave me the satisfaction of actually completing something.  Each was done in one sitting that usually lasted about an hour and a half.  They are either pencil and watercolor, or ink and watercolor.  There is nothing digital in them.

The images are from a concept I’ve been thinking about a while…but I often lose enthusiasm for it.  I think it’s an interesting idea, and could make a great story and a good book, but it’s so different from everything that’s out there, I often wonder, “why bother?”

I just can’t go through all of the work of developing it, figuring it out, and writing it, only to have editors look at it and say they don’t know what to do with it.  Or worse---find an editor who loves it, spend a year on it, then have a marketing department look at it and say THEY don’t know what to do with it.  I feel like I’m entering into a lose/lose situation.

So, over the last few months I’ve become paralyzed while developing new concepts.  Believe me, I have plenty of ideas, but they are all being shut down by doubt and second-guessing.

Happy New Year! 

Another New Idea...

The other project I've been working on the last few months or so is a large, stand-alone graphic novel about a bunch of kids who drop out of society and set up camp at the town dump.  Honest.  I'm actually pretty excited about it, as it is the sort of "could happen in the real world" type story that I really enjoy.  There's no magic or fantasy elements.  It's as realistic fictiony as I get.

Here are a few pages from my sketchbook.  The color was added digitally at a later date.  I could decipher the text in the sketches, but I think I'll leave it up to you.  Most of the writing in my notebooks and sketchbooks is as sloppy and messy as this. I think, in a way, I need to really commit to an idea before I write more carefully.  At this stage, the dialog itself is a sketch.

More Sci-Fi stuff...

I spent most of the summer working on a big, odd, sci-fi story that, while I'm excited by it, I'm also unsure about it. After slowly developing it for a few months, it occurred to me that it might not really be for kids.  It's not that it's too heady or violent, but I'm just not sure what it says to kids about the lives they live.  While it is a story that is meaningful to me, I simply don't know if a young audience would relate to it.  And truthfully, I'm not really interested in aiming at at adults.  This is a hard one.  I'm not sure if I'm going to go forward with it.

These were two sketches I put together.  In the top one I'm really trying to figure out how simple I could go with colors and solid blacks.

This one is a colored sketchbook page.  Some of the stuff, such as the lederhosen dude, just kinda snuck onto the page.

King sized...

Here's a drawing that I put together for a picture book idea I'm working on.  I wanted to see what I could do with a limited palette, and flat colors.  I like the way this turned out.

Astronaut #20 and #21

Two more space goers for my ongoing Astronaut series.  This first one is a follow up to the book idea from a few posts ago.

This second one is something that I'm working on for a new animation project.  Both pieces are 100% digital.

Wexler

A few years ago I wrote a picture book called "Wexler."  It's about a strange little animal that keeps being sold by a pet shop, only be returned the next day for various reasons.  I think at one point he pooped on someone's ceiling.  I started thinking about the story again last summer and did this drawing of the main character.

Version 2...

One thing that irks me about the blog format is that when you update something, it ends up above the earlier one...oh well...

Goofy sketch...

I had this little image pop into my head last night, and wanted to get it down fast as possible. It looks like it could be some sort of early reader book.  Who knows?  I like the flat colors and the line work.

Awards...and not winning...

Congrats to the mighty Dan Santat on his Caldecott Medal for "Beekle."

Days like today are hard for most writers and illustrators.  We are happy to see our friends win, but I'm sure that the thought of "Why didn't I win?" goes through everyone's mind.  For me, I know it's no longer a jealous, or angry thought, but more of a clinical, academic thought.

What does the winner do better than me?

What skills does he posses that I don't?

Is it the technique being rewarded, or the content of the image?

Are people impressed with the technical accomplishment of the drawings, or the emotional weight that an image can carry?

Why do some books affect readers more than others?

Is there a style that is currently popular?

Hopefully, one can learn from theses questions, as tough as some of the answers might be.  The other thing that has always made me feel less grumpy on a day like today is numbers.  Thousands of picture books were published this year.  Only a few will win awards.

The truth is, I haven't even released a picture book since 2010's "Furious George Goes Bananas." I wasn't even in the running. I have been working on a few ideas, but haven't been able to find the time to really flesh them out.  Between the Icky Ricky books, and the Fangbone! tv work,  and school visits, I'm plenty busy.

This is a cover sketch/idea for one of my new stories.  Excuse me while I go think...

More "Worm" sketches

Here are a few more sketches from my big, sprawling, "rock and roll kid ends up in apocalyptic wasteland" story.  The star of the story is Worm, who I am really getting a kick out of.  I have many ideas and notes for this, but I really don't know what form it will take, and when I will be able to get to it.  I see it as a one long, stand alone, graphic novel.

One of the things I'd like to do is incorporate real lyrics into the story, as Worm has many of his favorites memorized.  I've blurred out some notes that would only make sense to me.

Here's some other characters.  At the bottom of this page are three tribe elders who carry ancient trophies on their heads.  They have named themselves after the text on the trophy that they each wear.  The first one is "MVP," the next is "Champion," and last two are known as "Northeast Champs Division 4"

More supporting characters.  (This image is made up of two scans.)

Worm's best friend is a local warrior-type kid called Cheese Fries.  Worm gives him that name after being unable to pronounce his real name.

Flexi and Trent

Sometimes when you have a new idea turning over in your head, it's good to knock out a simple image to help make your concept concrete.  These are the two main characters from something new that I am working on.  I'm not sure what form the book will take at the moment, but I'd love to do another graphic novel.

The quick version of the story is that Trent is an American kid who gets "stuck" in the small, strange, and strict country of Ploobsburg.  He becomes fast friends with Flexi and the two of them have to figure out a way for him to get home. Oh yeah, that barbed wire on the wall there?  That's a pretty common site in Ploobsburg.

Ricky Covers

As I'm getting ready to post the cover of Icky Ricky #3, I wanted to share theses cover sketches for book #1.

Book ideas...

I'm not really sure how the next few months will play out.  I could be working on a TV show, or I could still be doing my books.

I get many ideas for books.  Some are good, some are lousy.  Some get all figured out, some don't make it past a notion.  This year, I am going to try to make covers for some of the ideas, just so that I can have a record of them, and I can try out new techniques.

"If You Met a Guy from Outer Space" is a little picture book idea I've been thinking about the last few weeks. I can't really say what it's about because I have a few, very different concepts for it.  However, last night I had some time and put this together.

I liked the design, but didn't like the characters.  The kid was way too bland, and no different than how I have been drawing kids for ages.  This afternoon, I took a bit of time and re-drew the characters, and I think they're much more appealing.