Archive for April 26, 2010
He’ll poke his head out of that hole, see this man standing here, and he won’t dare come down.
Posted by: Israel Sanchez
Book: Where The Red Fern Grows
The very first time Billy takes Old Dan and Little Ann hunting, they tree a raccoon in the biggest sycamore in the river bottoms. The tree is too big for Billy to cut down by himself so he starts to leave, but the dogs refuse to go. Billy realizes that after all the hard work that he put the dogs through, he can’t disappoint them, so he takes out his axe and starts chopping. Two days later, Billy starts to doubt that he can cut it down. That evening his grandpa shows up to take him back home for dinner. Before they leave, Grandpa shows Billy an old trick to keep the raccoon in the tree for the night, he builds him a scarecrow.
Chuck Groenink vs. The Never Ending Story
Hi folks! It’s your friendly host Meg here, in with a bit of news. First off I want to thank both Wired and USA Today’s blogs for featuring the Report– we’re honored and happy to have lots of new fans following our illustrations and hope you all enjoy the work we’re producing both now and as the project develops!
This month has been a hectic one for almost all of our contributors– maybe it was that volcano, maybe it was the taxman’s cruel visit, but we’re getting back into the routine. You will have noticed a few lapses in posting– my apologies for not keeping you up to date on that. Unfortunately due to crazy scheduling in my own freelance life, I didn’t post on S.britt’s last day– he’s leaving us to pursue exciting personal projects and we wish him well. On a very good note though, we have gained an ally in one Chuck Groenink, who is tackling a wonderful story….
Who are you and what do you do?
I’m Chuck Groenink, an illustrator living in the Netherlands. I’m lucky enough to be able to spend most of my time these days making pictures for stories. I’ve always loved drawing, though my interest has progressed slightly from purely doodling dinosaurs and pirate ships. I like to draw gnarly old trees, strange little creatures, people having adventures, and foxes. My influences vary wildly, but Maurice Sendak, Pieter Brueghel, John Bauer, the films of Terry Gilliam and Japanese folklore figure into it heavily.
When I’m not drawing, I like to cycle through forests, speak in a posh British accent, bake complicated cakes and climb the odd tree. In a couple of months I hope to be moving to Portland, Oregon as well, so I can be with my darling fiancee, who is kind enough to put up with me for most of the time.
Why did you pick the story you chose?
The Never Ending Story is the first book I can remember taking from the library. It was a Wednesday, and school had ended at noon. I spent the entire afternoon reading and finished it just before dinner. It was years later before I reread it, but I still vividly remembered whole portions. So when given the opportunity to join Picture Book Report it seemed a natural choice (though still a hard choice, there are so many books I would have loved to illustrate). Michael Ende’s imagination is so strange and colourful that it’s a real gift to illustrate, and the book just seems like one of those stories that seems to have always been there. I could go on and on about it, but you should really just read it if you haven’t already!
Chuck is a real talent and I can’t wait to see how he tackles this story (which I think I need to reread, I can only remember the movies now!). His first post will be May 19, but in the meantime won’t you check out his blog and portfolio?
