What Rosa Brought

For readers of ‘What Rosa Brought’, here are links to explore more about my process of making the art for this beautiful picture book, written by Jacob Sager Weinstein about his mother’s childhood experience of losing her home and family life in Vienna after the Nazi takeover in 1938, and their immigration to the United…

For picture book projects the cover art is (usually) the last piece of art that I work on. It’s also the image that takes the most work and goes through a more rigorous vetting process — channeling through the Sales & Marking teams to make sure the image that will represent the book is the…

A behind-the-scenes look into the art-making process for ‘What Rosa Brought’ When making art for a book with historical subject matter, there are many research rabbit holes to fall into (as shown in my post about researching Vienna in 1938), as well as searches that come up dry. In the case of ‘What Rosa Brought’ searching…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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 – 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…

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…

‘WHAT ROSA BROUGHT’ Posts Guide

‘What ROSA Brought’ Cover Art Walk-through

Making the ‘ROSA’ Art – Research Treasures

Behind the ‘ROSA’ Art: Vienna Research

‘What ROSA Brought’: Endpapers

‘ROSA’ Art Walkthrough

Making the ‘ROSA’ Art: Colors

Making the ‘ROSA’ Art: Character Design

A Special Book Dedication

WHAT ROSA BROUGHT