Tag Archive for R.W. Alley

Fan Mail Wednesday #34

March 11, 2009 / / No comments

Can you believe we’re up to #34 already? And still, nothing from my Mom. What’s up with that? Meanwhile: Boo-ya, David’s in da house!

Hello James,

My name is David. I am 10 years old and I LOVE LOVE LOVE Jigsaw Jones books. You should write more because I would love to read them.

Sincerely, David

I replied:

David,

Well, I LOVE LOVE LOVE getting letters like yours — thanks so much.

I have a new book that’s just about finished, called The Case of the Secret Skeleton. My part is done, but the book still needs final art, then it has to be printed, glued together, and shipped to the warehouse. I understand that it will be offered on Scholastic Book Clubs in September. And let me tell you: It is going to rock your world and shatter the very foundations of your existence! (Okay, maybe not — but it is pretty entertaining, hopefully.)

Above: Rough cover sketches by R.W. Alley (click to enlarge).

Hopefully you can wait that long without, like, exploding. Which, let’s face it, would be gross. There are now 40 different Jigsaw Jones titles, so there’s probably still a few you haven’t read.

Click on this link — right here — to learn more about the next Jigsaw Jones book!

Thanks,

JP

Share Share Tweet Follow Share Print Email
Category: Fan Mail, Jigsaw Jones / Tags: , , ,

Fan Mail Wednesday #29 (Thursday Edition)

February 5, 2009 / / No comments

BOO-YA, HUZZA-HUZZA-HUZZA! It’s Fan Mail Wednesday, a day late for sure, but still unstoppable, perpetual, interminable . . .

Dear Mr. Preller,

My name is Meredith and I am in second grade.  I am writing to you to let you know just how much I enjoy reading your books.

I like reading your books because I enjoy mysteries, and these are great mysteries for me to read.  I have read 23 of your books since December 13, that was the day that I took The Case of Hermie the Missing Hamster out of my school library.  Out of all of the books I have read so far, my favorite has been The Case of the Golden Key.  This is my favorite because the setting was very interesting to me, and it was fun to figure out everything in the house.

Thank you for writing such fun books to read.  I will keep reading them as long as you keep writing them.

An Avid Reader,
Meredith
Age 7

PS. This is my Daddy’s email.  I told him what to write,  and he typed this message for me.

Here’s my reply:

Dear Meredith.

Thanks for your lovely letter. As you may know, I have a daughter, Maggie, who is also in the second grade. However, I don’t think she’s read 23 of my books! (Note to Self: Punish Maggie.) Lately she’s been devouring Patricia Reilly Giff’s fabulous “Polk Street” books; if you don’t know them, I recommend you check them out (after, it goes without saying, you read EVERYTHING I’VE EVER WRITTEN).

Wow, twenty-three books. That’s amazing, especially since you started on December 13th. Do you do anything else besides reading? I mean, like, do you eat . . . sleep . . . take baths? I’m a little worried about you.

Like you, I am especially fond of The Case of the Golden Key. I think it’s one of the better books in the series. That’s the first time I introduced the character, Reginald Pinkerton Armitage III, the richest kid in town. I’ve put  Reginald in several more books since, because I like writing about him so much; he’s featured in The Case of the Double-Trouble Detectives. (I love the cover that R.W. Alley did for this one.)

Thanks for your letter — and thank you, Dad, for all the typing!

An Avid Reader Too,
James Preller
Age 48

P.S. Meridith, I wish your dad was my dad. I had to type this whole thing myself. So unfair! Rats and snails!

Share Share Tweet Follow Share Print Email
Category: Fan Mail, Jigsaw Jones / Tags: , , , , ,

Jigsaw Jones Cover: Part 6, Final Art

February 2, 2009 / / No comments

I’m thrilled with the final piece of art that R.W. Alley just sent to me. Actually, it’s two scans of the same art — separated by four hours worth of work. An amazing glimpse behind the scenes, don’t you think? Thank you, Bob.

To recap:

In October, for Part One, I talked about the “cover concept” with Scholastic editor Matt Ringler. For Parts Two and Three, we learned about cover illustrator R.W. Alley’s creative process, concluding with an interview with R.W. himself. The rough sketches arrived for Part Four, with a variety of different ideas explored. In late December, Part Five, I chatted with art director Jennifer Rinaldi about her role in the process. And here we are in early February, almost four months after this whole shooting match began.

Bob Alley included a note with the scans:

1. A scan of the finished drawing before it was finished.  I’ve included the extra area around the drawing that the printer needs so the art can run off the trimmed edges of the book.

2. A scan of the finished drawing cropped to the final size.

Please note that they are the same drawing.  I think readers would be interested that these two scans show the same piece of paper, only in different points in time.  Like about 4 hours apart.

Same piece of art, four hours later . . .

It might be helpful to see them smaller, side by side. Let’s see if I can figure out how to do this:

Here’s the rough sketch that Bob handed in back in November (remember, you can click on it to make it larger).

.

If you remember, Jennifer decided to flip it for dastardly art director type reasons. At the time, Jen hadn’t settled on the colors. I guess that will be our last step.

———

NOTE: Here’s a link to the final post in this seven-part series: Seven. Read them all and experience the awe and wonder of the creative, collaborative process!

Share Share Tweet Follow Share Print Email
Category: Jigsaw Jones, the writing process / Tags: , , , , , , , ,

R.W. Alley Gets a Shout Out

December 18, 2008 / / No comments

Hey, I was very glad to see that my friend R.W. Alley — the artist behind Jigsaw Jones, and recently interviewed here on these premises — was given some much-deserved attention by Elizabeth Bird at A Fuse #8 Production.

Elizabeth reviews There’s a Wolf at the Door, written by R.W.’s wife, Zoe. Which is cool, because I first learned about it when Bob (I call him Bob, and so can you!) mentioned it in our interview. Elizabeth begins her review with a startling confession:

I admit it. I tend to root for the well-dressed baddies. I always have.

For the full review, click here.

And for what it’s worth, I’m ready to post another installment in my series of entries that follows the making of a single book cover, from concept to completion. I interview art director Jennifer Rinaldi and we’ll get to see R.W. Alley’s rough sketch placed in a “sketch mechanical.” That’s coming on Sunday, probably.

Share Share Tweet Follow Share Print Email
Category: Around the Web, Jigsaw Jones / Tags: , , , ,

Jigsaw Jones Cover: Part 4, Sketches Are In!

November 20, 2008 / / No comments

This is the fourth installment of a series of posts following the creation of a single book cover for Jigsaw Jones: The Case of the Secret Skeleton. In Part One I interviewed Scholastic editor Matt Ringler, and we talked about the “cover concept.” For Part Two, illustrator R.W. Alley agreed to giving us a look behind the scenes. In Part Three, our interview with R.W. Alley gave us a fuller appreciation of book covers from the artist’s perspective — it also gave us a chance to “meet” R.W.’s alter-ego, Bob.

Now it gets fun, as the cover moves from word to image. R.W. Alley just sent me some rough sketches. By way of explanation, he wrote:

Attached here are three (well, one is sort of a repeat) sketches that I doodled up last night. I think I like the one with the case title stacked in the doorway. Smaller Jigsaw (might be a problem), but bigger skeleton. In any case, this is how I usually work. Sketch the idea in with a red pencil (sometimes, blue), go over that with a dip-in-the-ink-bottle pen called a crowquill, then add color pencil to simulate, if not actually create, color. The actual drawings are about four by three inches and not in proportion to the final book size, so that will be something to be annoyed about later on. I’ll send both cover ideas to the editor and wait.


Twenty-eight minutes after the first batch of sketches, Bob sent another email:

Hi Jimmy,

As I was sending the first sketches, this third composition occurred to me. The editors like to have Jigsaw pretty big on the covers, so maybe this will suite better.

Cheers,

Bob


Here’s a reminder of the original cover concept as presented by “the Scholastics” to the illustrator:

Jigsaw Jones is sneaking into the janitor’s storage closet. We see him standing in the doorway. It’s dark but Jigsaw has a flashlight. In a back corner, lit up by the beam of light is a plaster human skeleton, hanging from a stand by its head. The skeleton should be the size of a normal person, like the ones used in science class to study anatomy. Jigsaw looks frightened. We can also see the normal paraphernalia that would be in the storage closet (i.e. mops, brooms, buckets, etc.). Visibly crumpled in the skeleton’s hand is a piece of paper (a clue).

——-

NOTE: Here’s some links to the all the posts in this seven-part series: One, Two, Three, Four,  Five, and Six, and Seven. Read them all and experience the awe and wonder of the creative, collaborative process!

Share Share Tweet Follow Share Print Email
Category: Interviews & Appreciations, Jigsaw Jones, the writing process / Tags: , ,
« Older Entries   Recent Entries »
Website Hosted by Web Instinct