Julie Olson Books - Author/Illustrator

Book Festival in St. George

My husband came and helped me out at the Book Festival in St. George last weekend. It was great fun. I presented to a room of about 30 adults and children. I was surprised that many actually got out of bed at 9am on a Saturday morning. I hope they weren't disappointed. I always have fun, though, talking about what I love to do...illustrate. Here are some photos my husband took.

The Community Arts Building where the festival was held.

One of my books for sale from the book seller.

Reading a book during my presentation.

Signing books afterward. It's so fun to talk to and meet the people.

Video of School Visit

Check out a few clips from one of my school presentations to a small group of 5th graders at Red Mountain Elementary. (I presented 5 times...to 1st through 5th grade)

School Visits are GRRR-RREAT!

I had the great opportunity to do several presentations at Red Mountain Elementary School in Southern Utah today. The teachers and students were absolutely wonderful and well-prepared for my visit. I couldn't have asked for more from them. They welcomed me with this sign signed by all the 2nd through 5th graders.

I shared with them all about how I became an illustrator and what it takes to illustrate (and write) a picture book. The kids were great listeners, had all the right answers, and the best questions.

Then the kids helped me create a whole new character. They created a boy named Crew who was going on a trip to San Diego, and a Bear named teddy who was going to Florida, and a girl named (the best name ever) Julie who was going to Antarctica. Good job kids!

I'll post a short video later. Thanks again, Red Mountain Elementary, for letting me come share my world with you.

COMING SOON! "Tickle, Tickle! Itch, Twitch!"

The first book I wrote AND illustrated is due to hit shelves November 1, 2010. Gus the Groundhog It's a really fun page-turning, read-aloud picture book that ends up teaching about friendship, judging by appearances, and even some language development skills along the way. Watch the trailer below.

You can buy/pre-order the book on my website under the BOOKS tab...
www.jujubeeillustrations.com

Creating a Photoshop Brush/Stamp

So for my firefly (see last post) I needed a design on her thorax...something that reminded me of jewelry designs/etchings. So I went into Adobe Illustrator and created a design with swirls and strokes. Here's what it looked like.

Then I simply selected the object in Adobe Illustrator, hit Command C (copy), and then in Photoshop I hit Command N (for a new file), Yes, and then Command V (paste). It pasted the design onto a transparent layer. Then I hit Command A (for select all), then Edit-Define Brush Preset, name the brush...AND WAHLAH! the brush shows up in your brush pallet. Pretty darn awesome.

I know a lot of you may have been doing this for a while, but I never have. I've simply downloaded brushes from the internet. Now that I know how to make my own license free brushes, I think I'm going to have fun with this. Try it out.

Getting Back in the Saddle

Boy, having a newborn really throws your routine off. ("Duh!" you may be saying) But I'm starting little by little to work back into things.

I'm currently working on a personal project, a book I wrote and am working on illustrations for. It's about a little firefly who thinks she's "all that." So here are my character sketches of her and then of her 3 supporting characters, baby bumblebee, fly, and gnat.

What do you think?