Kadir Nelson - Words and Pictures; Pictures and Words

Kadir Nelson with conference attendee Marc Akins

Providing the packed room with a gorgeous slide show, Kadir ran through a list of important elements to make your picture book art transcendent, a few of which are:

• lighting
• color
• perspective

He used examples from his books, especially MOSES and THUNDER ROSE to highlight these elements.

When speaking of THUNDER ROSE, Kadir said one of his favorite artists is Norman Rockwell because of Rockwell's fantastic facial expressions. When illustrating THUNDER ROSE, Kadir thought of Rockwell's humor, though over the top, and imbued THUNDER ROSE with similarly expressive but subtly humorous expressions. Kadir likes Bill Murray's style of subtle humor, just so you know.

POSTED BY JAIME TEMAIRIK