#Steven Salerno illustrates MADELINE

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illustrator & children's book author STEVEN SALERNO -bio update

STEVEN SALERNO has illustrated 37 picture books for major publishers -with 5 of these titles being both the author & illustrator: Little Tumbo (Marshall Cavendish Children’s Books), Coco the Carrot (Marshall Cavendish Children’s Books), Harry Hungry (Harcourt Children’s Books), Wild Child (Abrams Books for Young Readers), and his most recent author/illustrator title is Tim’s Goodbye (Farrar Straus Giroux 2018).

Steven Salerno lives and works in Manhattan (NYC) and is a graduate of Parsons School of Design. (Note: while a student at Parsons his instructor for a year long picture book illustration course was the famed author/illustrator Maurice Sendak, creator of Where the Wild Things Are.) Over Steven’s long freelance illustration career, in addition to the 37 picture books he has illustrated thus far, he also creates illustrations for magazines, newspapers, print & web advertising, publishing, packaging, and retail graphics.

visit stevensalerno.com to view many samples of his editorial and advertising illustrations -and click here to see a list of all his picture books published through 2022.

LATEST PICTURE BOOK NEWS

In December 2022 Steven’s most recent illustrated picture book will be released, On the Corner of Chocolate Avenue -How Milton Hershey Brought Milk Chocolate to America (nonfiction) written by Tziporah Cohen and illustrated by Steven Salerno, published by Clarion Books/Harper Collins. The true story of the poor kid from Pennsylvania, Milton Hershey, who first introduced his innovative HERSHEY’S milk chocolate candy bar back in 1905 -and went on to create his massive chocolate empire, becoming one of the largest chocolate candy producers in the world.

During the past couple years Steven Salerno has been busy working on a very special picture book project for VIKING -an imprint of Penguin Random House. In 2019 the publisher had asked Steven if he would illustrate 5 new MADELINE picture books that are being written by John Marciano Bemelmans, the grandson of famed Ludwig Bemelmans (b.1896 - d.1962) who was the author/illustrator creator of the five original classic MADELINE picture books which were released from 1939 through 1961. Yes, THAT Madeline! The brave little girl in the yellow hat living in a Paris boarding school along with eleven other young girls, all under the watchful gaze of the towering Miss Clavel. This special project request meant that Steven would be required to create the illustrations for these 5 new MADELINE picture books in the recognizable drawing stye of Ludwig Bemelmans! Thus far Steven has competed the final illustrations for the first 4 titles in this 5 book series:

1) Love from Madeline (this book was released in January 2022)

2) Madeline’s ABCs (this book was released in June 2022)

3) Madeline’s 123s (this book will be released in November 2022)

4) Madeline’s SEASONS (this book will be released in Spring 2023)

5) the 5th picture book in the series is still in development.

AWARD NEWS

In 2019 The Crayon Man -The True Story of the Invention of Crayola Crayons (nonfiction) written by Natascha Biebow & illustrated by Steven Salerno was released by publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. It’s the story of Edwin Binney, who loved color, but his chemical manufacturing company in the late 1800’s only produced black ink, black crayons, black powder, and black dyes… until the day in 1903 when Edwin finally came up with just the right recipe for making color crayons especially for school children, which he and his wife named CRAYOLA CRAYONS… This wonderful picture book not only was a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection, but in 2020 it also won the prestigious Irma Black Award for Excellence in Children’s Literature, voted for by children all around the world.

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Just the ENDS! -a look at endpapers created for many of my picture books

Not every one of the 38 picture books I’ve illustrated to date have end papers art included… perhaps only about a third do. (usually it’s a publisher’s budgetary issue) But when the publisher does give the green light on a picture book project to include the end papers, I’m thrilled! It’s always fun and challenging to devise and create a thematic pattern reflecting the subject and feel of the story.

Posted here are some endpapers I’ve created over the years for various picture books:

^ above: endpapers from, Wild Child -written & illustrated by Steven Salerno -August 2015 Abrams Books for Young Readers. (gouache & digital)

^ above: endpapers from, Wild Horse Annie Friend of the Mustangs (nonfiction) written by Tracey Fern & illustrated by Steven Salerno - April 2019 by Farrar Straus Giroux. (gouache & digital)

^ above: endpapers from, The Secret Code Inside You -all about your DNA (nonfiction) written by Rajani LaRocca, MD & illustrated by Steven Salerno -Released in 2021 by Little Bee Books. (digital)

^ above: endpapers from, Pantaloon -written by Kathryn Jackson & illustrated by Steven Salerno -March 2010 Golden Books/Random House.  (gouache & digital)

^ above: endpapers from, Love from MADELINE -written by John Bemelmans Marciano & illustrated by Steven Salerno (in the style of the creator of MADELINE, Ludwig Bemelmans) Released in Jan 2022 by Viking Books for Young Readers (Penguin-Random House) (gouache & digital)

^ above: endpapers from, PRIDE The Story of Harvey Milk and the Rainbow Flag (nonfiction) written by Rob Sanders & illustrated by Steven Salerno -April 2018 by Random House.  (digital)

^ above: endpapers from, Harry Hungry! -written & illustrated by Steven Salerno -February 2009 Harcourt Children’s Books.  (gouache & digital)

^ above: endpapers from, BOOM! -written by Mary Lyn Ray & illustrated by Steven Salerno -June 2013 Hyperion Books/Disney. (gouache & digital)

^ above: endpapers from, PASS GO And Collect $200 The Real Story of How MONOPOLY Was Invented (nonfiction) written by Tanya Lee Stone & illustrated by Steven Salerno -July 2018 by Henry Holt & Co/Christy Ottaviano Books. (digital)

^ above: endpapers from, Goldenlocks and the Three Pirates -written by April Jones Prince & illustrated by Steven Salerno -October 2017 Farrar Straus Giroux/Margaret Ferguson Books.  (gouache & digital)

#picture books #publishing #children's books #Steven Salerno #illustration #end papers

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Madeline, Ludwig Bemelmans, and ME! -creating illustrations for series of new MADELINE picture books

Most everyone around the world knows of MADELINE, one of the most beloved characters in children’s picture book literature. The brave and charming little girl living in a Paris boarding school, along with eleven other girls, always under the watchful eye of Miss Clavel.

However fewer people may know that Madeline was created by the uber talented writer and artist Ludwig Bemelmans (born 1898 - died 1962) whose whimsical, impressionistic drawing style brought the Madeline character to life. From 1939 through 1957 five wonderful Madeline picture books were released written & illustrated by Ludwig Bemelmans, with a sixth and final picture book title released posthumously in 1985.

Madeline 1939

Madeline’s Rescue 1953

Madeline and the Bad Hat 1956

Madeline and the Gypsies 1959

Madeline in London 1961

Madeline’s Christmas 1985

So where exactly do I come in? In a nutshell, the publisher Viking Press (Penguin/Random House) has been planning a series of 6 new Madeline mini hard cover picture books and board books with the first title scheduled for release in 2022. But they needed an illustrator capable of taking on this delicate task of creating the illustrations by purposely mimicking the distinctive drawing style of Ludwig Bemelmans.

In the fall of 2019 this project was tentatively offered to me…

Initially this project offer posed a dilemma for me because as an illustrator my career never has had anything to do with actually mimicking another artist’s style. But in this unique instance I really mulled it over, knowing that I had the inherent skills to successfully emulate the Bemelmans unique style, perhaps even better than anyone else, so I felt a kind of obligation to take on the project as the proper guardian of the Madeline style ensuring that these new pictures books will indeed look and feel (as closely as possible) as if they were created by the hand of the originator, Ludwig Bemelmans. So I said yes to the project!

Posted here are just a couple of the preliminary test sample illustrations I initially created purposely in the manner of the Bemelmans’ Madeline style, assuring Viking Press I could actually handle such a project, as well as to also gain approval from the Bemelmans estate.

Click on the link below to also get a sneak peek at a few of the preliminary rough sketches I’ve been working on for the first picture book in the new series.

Look for the new Madeline picture books beginning in spring 2022!

Visit this link to the spotlight section of my web site where I describe this unique project in more depth.

#Madeline #Ludwig Bemelmans #Viking Press #picture books #children's books #picture book characters #illustration #illustrators #picture book classics #Steven Salerno #Steven Salerno illustrator #stevensalerno.com