Posts by Eliza Wheeler
Behind the ‘ROSA’ Art: Vienna Research
A behind-the-scenes look into the art-making process for ‘What Rosa Brought’ When it comes to illustrating a specific location and time period, I go a bit OTT in the research phase. ‘What Rosa Brought’ takes place in Vienna in 1938-1939, and I while I would have loved to have been able to travel there in person…
Read More‘What ROSA Brought’: Endpapers
A behind-the-scenes look into the art-making process for ‘What Rosa Brought’ The endpapers of a picture book are the first thing a reader sees when opening the book and the last thing before closing it. (They’re the pages of paper that are glued down to the cover board and connect to the book’s pages.) Depending on…
Read More‘ROSA’ Art Walkthrough
It’s always fun to see the progression of art from start to finish, and I love being able to share all the work that goes into each page of a picture book. Here’s a walkthrough of one of my favorite pieces for ‘WHAT ROSA BROUGHT’, by author Jacob Sager Weinstein about his mother’s childhood story…
Read MoreMaking the ‘ROSA’ Art: Colors
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…
Read MoreMaking the ‘ROSA’ Art: Character Design
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…
Read MoreShepherd’s Book List: Top 3 of 2023
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…
Read MoreA Special Book Dedication
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…
Read MoreWHAT ROSA BROUGHT
I’m thrilled to be able to share this beautiful story written by Jacob Sager Weinstein about his mother’s childhood and which I had the honor to illustrate. This is a picture book about family, identity, immigration, and love. It can also serve as a gentle introduction to the Holocaust for readers aged 4-8. About the…
Read MoreBreak Cards – Free Download
Over on my newsletter Creativi-Tea Time and on the In Kinship Podcast, I shared about my work routine and about the break cards that I use during workdays. Here’s a copy you can download and print – with some blank cards to fill in your own custom break activities. (These are for individual, personal use…
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