GIANT NEWS! Introducing our newest Artist! Revealing her pitch for a book.
We’re absolutely delighted to announce our newest artist, Erica Root.
I first noticed Erica’s work in class, where her distinctive style showcasing soft textures and rich colors stood apart. Since then, she’s developed a strong body of work, and after working with her privately for several months, I am thrilled that she is now represented by us. I am eager to get children’s books for her, in part because that is her dream, but also because I can’t wait to see and hold the magical book I know she’ll create. I’m confident that she’ll be snapped up for commissions, so don’t hesitate to contact us if you’re interested.
We took her on for several reasons. In addition to being able to illustrate incredible children’s books with appealing characters, we can envision her powerful editorial work gracing the pages of magazines and websites. Check out her Ida B. Wells illustration below.
Read on to see her book pitch idea…
Contact us to assign or license–we’re happy to help!
Animation by Natasha Dewitz
It’s not easy to recreate Alice, but Erica has made a lovely Alice here. Besides the elegant color palette, the floating items help tell the story.
Erica illustrated this spread to demonstrate how she might illustrate a story in vignettes. In class, we encourage showing dramatic poses in a pitch. Exhibit A: Alice falling down the hole, hair flying upward.
This is one of my favorite characters Erica has created. I loved the softness of her trademark shading, the quiet color palette, the hand lettering, and the bright eyes that suggest a story is ready to be told.
This powerful likeness was created for the suffragette assignment for my Assignment Bootcamp course. This may have been the point where I stood up and took notice of Erica. Once I pulled myself off the floor, I took a deeper look: the telling tattoo imagery on her body, the piercing eyes, the suffragette badge on her mustard hat. We’re constantly getting assignments to illustrate powerful women in history, so we saw this piece as a plus.
We were impressed with this fresh take on emotions, plus the lovely Freedom and Letting Go bird banners as an embellishment to the figure.
One of things I look for is wit in an artist’s work. That tells me the artist may be capable of initiating their own projects. See next image…
Erica was a student in my MBA course (Money Bad Ass) where I fell in love with the lists she created. I’m currently working with her on a book concept of 52 lists, so please don’t hesitate to contact us to see the pitch or to chat.
‘The Real Life Mom Recipe’ (excerpt). This is the kind of wit and style I love.
Reach out to us to see more of Erica’s work or chat about your projects. See more of her work on our site here or on her site here.
