"Behind the book"
A behind-the-scenes video detailing the process of writing and illustrating Home in the Woods.
Eliza Wheeler is an illustrator and author of books for kids, teens, and the young at heart. Her book Miss Maple’s Seeds was a NYT bestseller, and her book Home in the Woods was dubbed “Gorgeous” by the New York Times book review. Eliza is based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
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Another ‘Behind-the-scenes’ peak into the art-making process for ‘What Rosa Brought’, and one of my favorite stages of book design – creating the color palette. I could spend a year painting nothing but color swatches! The first step to inspiring the colors was to draw from historic photos, 1930’s art, photos of Vienna, and other book artists color palettes that I loved (shown: Felicita Sala, Janet Hill, Laura Carlin). I start digitally in Procreate. Then the fun part…finding the hues in watercolor, honing in on which tubes of pain I’ll use and how they mix together. I separate these into light,…
Some ‘Behind-the-scenes’ art-making for ‘What Rosa Brought’ (releasing in UK bookstores March 2024)… In the earliest stages of making art for books I tend to focus on characters first (especially in the case of non-fiction books). Rosa is based on author Jacob Sager Weinstein’s mother as a child, and her parents and grandma are 3 other key characters in the book. Jacob shared these beautiful family photographs below, which lived pinned over my drawing table for the full year that I worked on the book, watching over the project. I looked into their eyes on a daily basis. On the right…
I was invited back by Shepherd to share a list of 3 books that I read and loved in 2023 (not necessarily published in 2023). I chose: To read my summaries of and why I loved these books, visit: Eliza Wheeler’s 3 favorite reads in 2023(I was thrilled to learn of Vashti Harrison’s Caldecott win for BIG! Go Vashti!) To see the top 100 books read and chosen by authors in 2023, visit: Shepherd’s Top 100 Books Read in 2023
Dedicating a book to someone is usually meant to be an honor for that person, but in the case of ‘What Rosa Brought’, it felt more like the reverse. For me, it felt like I was the one who was honored to be able to make the dedication: “For my bookmaking ally, Jen Rofé–and for the memory of hers who lived it.” Jen is my literary agent. Jen’s paternal grandparents and Jewish family members were in Poland when Hitler established the ghettos and concentration camps. In this photo, the circled family members of her grandmother’s side survived the Holocaust,…