Stephanie Graegin spent her childhood drawing and collecting fauna. These days, she lives in Brooklyn, is still drawing, and has managed to keep her animal collection down to one orange cat.
The setting of Peace is an Offering was inspired by my neighborhood of Park Slope, Brooklyn. Some of the kids and pets were inspired by my siblings and family pets.
Art medium used …
Pencil, watercolor, watercolor pencil, digital coloring with Photoshop.
Artistic process …
I sketch in pencil, make layers of texture and shading with watercolors and watercolor pencils on Dura-Lar (a clear paper), scan all these in and compile and color them digitally in Photoshop.
My kitchen table, late at night with my cat Bustopher by my side.
Most used art supply or tool …
Mechanical Pencils and Moleskine sketchbooks
Illustrator idols …
Beatrice Alemagna, Lane Smith, Richard Scarry, Arnold Lobel, Maurice Sendak, Shaun Tan, Ezra Jack Keats, Barbara Cooney, Edward Gorey…there’s too many to list them all.
All-time favorite children’s book you didn’t illustrate…
Frog and Toad are Friends
A literary character to create art with …
Matilda, she would be interesting to spend the day with.
Currently working on …
The very first picture book that I have written. It will be published by Schwartz & Wade / Random House in 2017.
By Annette LeBox; Illustrated by Stephanie Graegin
Publisher’s Synopsis: A warm, comforting poem about finding peace in a community of neighbors.
Peace is an offering.
A muffin or a peach.
A birthday invitation.
A trip to the beach.
Join this group of neighborhood children as they find love in everyday things—in sunlight shining through the leaves and cookies shared with friends—and learn that peace is all around, if you just look for it. With rhyming verse and soft illustrations, this book will help families and teachers look for the light moments when tragedy strikes and remind readers of the calm and happiness they find in their own community every day.
Discover more picture book illustration inspiration and books like“Peace is an Offering” on The Children’s Book Review by following along with our Illustration Inspiration series.
