December 19th, 2007
Notes from Lita Judge, Children’s Author & Illustrator
Lita Judge grew up wanting to be a paleontologist, but as time progressed, she practiced drawing and created stories.
She grew up in Alaska on a tiny, remote island with her parents and her twin sister. They didn’t have TV or radio so she had to learn to use her imagination. As a child, Lita Judge loved to draw pictures of eskimos and animals. Camping was one of her parents favorite vacations and they loved to try new things. They would climb mountains, canoe and hike.
She loved to read and loved to learn as a child. Beatrix Potter was her favorite author/illustrator growing up.
Her grandparents were ornithologists who bred eagles and owls. Lita enjoyed working with the animals and helping her grandparents. They often took pictures of their animals growing up. She uses many of these experiences doing her books now.
Her dad was a wildlife photographer. Lita had the opportunity to watch a bear family raise their cubs. Her dad took many pictures of them growing up.
When she was only fifteen, she wrote to museums asking to be part of a dinosaur dig. After many letters, the paleontologist finally allowed her the opportunity to work with them. National Geographic went and took many pictures of the dig and gave several of them to Lita.
After her grandmother died, Lita was cleaning out her grandmother’s belongings in the attic and found a box with foot tracings inside envelopes. After World War 11, her grandparents helped start a relief effort to help people in need. Inside the box were notes from people asking for help.
When she saw the pictures of children enclosed in thank you notes, she realized that she wanted to be an author/illustrator. In order to do this, Lita had to do a lot of research. How were they sending these to people? (They had fundraisers to come up with money to purchase these packages. They canned beans and sold them.) Who did she send these packages to? (Lita got in contact with people that were there at the time and people that knew her grandparents. Some of these people had saved letters for over 60 years and helped her to translate them.) Her grandmother found over 3,000 tracings. Each ‘tracing’ represents a family that was in need of food or clothing after the war.
Lita was so impressed with what her grandmother had done, that she decided to honor her by writing her first children’s book, One Thousand Tracings.
What’s needed to become a children’s author and/or illustrator?
To write a story:
*Rewrite, rewrite, rewrite
*Edit, edit, edit
* Get feedback from others
* Practice, practice, practice
* Write from a previous event in your life
To illustrate a story:
Begin with Sloppy, note-taking thumbnail drawings.
Use models for drawings: pictures, objects, photographs.
Make sure that pictures tell the story.
Trial and error; What works and what doesn’t?
Colorchoice: Warm colors comfort you; browns, tans. Cool colors: yellows, pinks are more happy colors.
Some books by Lita Judge:
D is for Dinosaur: A Prehistoric Alphabet
One Thousand Tracings
Some books illustrated by Lita Judge:
S is for S’mores : A Camping Alphabet Written by Helen Foster James
Ugly Written by Donna Jo Napoli
She currently has two more books that are awaiting release and four more that she is working on.
She also works with an art editor, an editor and a publisher.
December 19th, 2007
Notes from Lita Judge, Children’s Author & Illustrator
Lita Judge grew up wanting to be a paleontologist, but as time progressed, she practiced drawing and created stories.
She grew up in Alaska on a tiny, remote island with her parents and her twin sister. There was no TV, phone or radio so she had to learn to use her imagination quite a bit in order to keep herself amused. As a child, Lita Judge loved to draw pictures of eskimos and animals. Camping was one of her parents favorite vacations and they loved to try new things. They would climb mountains, canoe and hike.
She loved to read and loved to learn as a child. Beatrix Potter was her favorite author/illustrator growing up.
Her grandparents were ornithologists who bred eagles and owls. Lita enjoyed working with the animals and helping her grandparents. Her dad often took pictures of Lita and the animals growing up. She uses many of these experiences doing her books now.
Her dad was a wildlife photographer and a soil scientist. While growing up, Lita had the opportunity to watch a bear family raise their cubs. Her dad took many pictures of them and different stages of the bears' lives.
When she was only fifteen, she wrote to museums asking to be part of a dinosaur dig. After many letters, the paleontologist finally allowed her the opportunity to work with them. National Geographic went and took many pictures of the dig and gave several of them to Lita.
After her grandmother died, Lita was cleaning out her grandmother’s belongings in the attic and found a box with foot tracings inside envelopes. After World War 11, her grandparents helped start a relief effort to help people in need. Inside the box were notes from people asking for help.
When she saw the pictures of children enclosed in thank you notes, she realized that she wanted to be an author/illustrator. In order to do this, Lita had to do a lot of research. How were they sending these to people? (They had fundraisers to come up with money to purchase these packages and they canned beans and sold them.) Who did she send these packages to? (Lita got in contact with people that were there at the time and people that knew her grandparents. Some of these people had saved letters for over 60 years and helped her to translate them.) Her grandmother found over 3,000 tracings. Each ‘tracing’ represents a family that was in need of food or clothing after the war.
Lita was so impressed with what her grandmother had done, that she decided to honor her by writing her first children’s book, One Thousand Tracings.
What’s needed to become a children’s author and/or illustrator?
To write a story:
*Rewrite, rewrite, rewrite
*Edit, edit, edit
* Get feedback from others
* Practice, practice, practice
* Write from a previous event in your life
To illustrate a story:
Begin with Sloppy, note-taking drawings.
Use models for drawings: pictures, objects, photographs
Make sure that pictures tell the story.
Trial and error; What works and what doesn’t?
Some books by Lita Judge:
D is for Dinosaur: A Prehistoric Alphabet
One Thousand Tracings
Some books illustrated by Lita Judge:
S is for S’mores : A Camping Alphabet Written by Helen Foster James
Ugly Written by Donna Jo Napoli
She currently has two more books that are awaiting release and four more that she is working on.
She also works with an art editor, an editor and a publisher.
Northwest Elementary Proudly Presents :
Author / Illustrator, Lita Judge.
Lita Judge grew up wanting to be a paleontologist, (someone that studies fossils) but as time progressed, she practiced drawing and created stories.
She grew up in Alaska on a tiny, remote island with her parents and her twin sister. They didn’t have TV or radio so she had to learn to use her imagination. As a child, Lita Judge loved to draw pictures of eskimos and animals. Camping was one of her parents favorite vacations and they loved to try new things. They would climb mountains, canoe and hike. One time they even rode their bicycles from the state of Washington to New York.
She loved to read and learn all that she could as a child. Beatrix Potter was her favorite author/illustrator growing up.
Her grandparents were ornithologists who bred eagles and owls. Lita enjoyed working with the animals and helping her grandparents. They often took pictures of their animals growing up. She uses many of these experiences doing her books now.
Her dad was a wildlife photographer. Lita had the opportunity to watch a bear family raise their cubs. Her dad took many pictures of them growing up.
When she was only fifteen, she wrote to museums asking to be part of a dinosaur dig. After many letters, the paleontologist finally allowed her the opportunity to work with them. National Geographic went and took many pictures of the dig and gave several of them to Lita.
After her grandmother died, Lita was cleaning out her grandmother’s belongings in the attic and found a box with foot tracings inside envelopes. After World War 11, her grandparents helped start a relief effort to help people in need. Inside the box were notes from people asking for help.
When she saw the pictures of children enclosed in thank you notes, she realized that she wanted to be an author/illustrator. In order to do this, Lita had to do a lot of research. How were they sending these to people? (They had fundraisers to come up with money to purchase these packages and they canned beans and sold them.) Who did she send these packages to? (Lita got in contact with people that were there at the time and people that knew her grandparents. Some of these people had saved letters for over 60 years and helped her to translate them.) Lita found over 3,000 tracings. Each ‘tracing’ represents a family that was in need of food or clothing after the war. They would often trace the feet of the people who needed shoes and send them to her.
Lita was so impressed with what her grandmother had done, that she decided to honor her by writing her first children’s book, One Thousand Tracings. This book was named to the New York Public Library list of 100 Best Books of 2007. It also won the 2007 Picture Book Award from Society of School Librarians International (SSLI).
What’s needed to become a children’s author and/or illustrator?
To write a story:
*Rewrite, rewrite, rewrite
*Edit, edit, edit
* Get feedback from others
* Practice, practice, practice
* Write from a previous event in your life
To illustrate a story:
Begin with Sloppy, note-taking drawings.
Use models for drawings: pictures, objects, photographs
Make sure that pictures tell the story.
Trial and error; What works and what doesn’t?
Some books by Lita Judge:
D is for Dinosaur: A Prehistoric Alphabet
One Thousand Tracings
Some books illustrated by Lita Judge:
S is for S’mores : A Camping Alphabet Written by Helen Foster James
Ugly Written by Donna Jo Napoli
She currently has two more books that are awaiting release and four more that she is working on.
She also works with an art editor, an editor and a publisher.