Showcase Maria Bogade

Sunshine Smile Publications is delighted to showcase the very talented Maria Bogade!

Maria is an animation artist and children's book illustrator who has applied her amazing work to a variety of projects.

Whether she illustrates digitally or traditionally, using watercolour and ink, Maria has a gift of capturing a sense of place and movement in her scenes. Every image, full of feeling and atmosphere, tells a story. It is an absolute privilege to showcase her beautiful work! Enjoy!

Q & A with Maria Bogade, Author Illustrator

What are you working on at the moment?

At the moment I am working on two picture books, one of them I have even written myself. One story is for a Swiss publishing house, the other for a German publisher. "Schlafplatz gesucht!" ("Doss needed!") is the story I bring to life as illustrator and author. It is wonderful to actually see your own story taking shape and being published. I am illustrating my own story digitally, where as the other story I am illustrating, "Hallo Schule, hier kommot Luzie" (Hello School, here comes Luzie) will be illustrated in my traditional watercolour style. I love that I can switch between these two styles. Both books will be released early 2012, so still some time to wait and not much to tell about them until then.

Is there anything you're busy promoting?

I've recently finished my first two books, which will both be released in Spetmeber 2011. As with the ones I am working on now, one is digitally painted and the other traditional watercolour and ink.

The digital book 'Getting Dressed' is an educational picture book published by HarperCollins Big Cat, showing a little girl who dresses according to the changing weather outside.

The traditional watercolour and ink book 'Wee Granny's Magic Bag' written by Elizabeth McKay and published by Floris Books Picture Kelpies, tells a very funny story about a Granny and a magical day that she has with her grandchildren. I really enjoyed working on both books and hope a lot of children will like them as much as I do.

Can you recommend a children's book that you've recently enjoyed?

The book I have to read to my youngest daughter over and over again at the moment is 'The Odd Egg!' by Emily Gravett. It is extremely funny and has so much to look at and show and tell besides reading the short text, which is just right for a wonderful bedtime story.

Do you have a piece of advice for beginning illustrators?

I am probably repeating what has been said before but nevertheless the first thing you need to know is that things might take a little longer than you first thought, so don't give up. Be persistent and really love what you do. Enthusiasm is crucial! One thing that helped me a lot is building a portfolio with one style first and trying to have pieces that really tell a story. This is of course only relevant if you want to illustrate picture books, the style issue however is not. Then get in touch with other illustrators online and offline. It is important to get feedback and be able to take constructive criticism, you can only improve your work when opening up a little to others. Just do what you love most and you will be rewarded.