Vintage Book Week 23 Challenge!

A group of illustrators hosted a challenge called “Vintage Book Week 23” on Instagram, giving folks four vintage books to over the course of a week to reinterpret as they wished. One could treat it as a Draw This In Your Style (#dtiys) or do a completely updated version. I treated them more as a DTIYS, which gave me opportunity to try out brushes, etc. I love those challenges to work on things like that! So I am posting here my versions, as well as the original book covers, for comparison!

Oh! I did another version of the Hansel and Gretel book cover, closer to the original. I didn’t like it much at first, but it’s grown on me!

Something New! High Five Magazine Spread -- "Dragon Moves"

It was really fun to illustrate this dance like a dragon interactive spread for the January 2022 issue of Highlights for Children’s High Five magazine. Thank you, High FIve! I Hope the kids get a good bit of exercise as they groove to dragon’s moves!

Something New! Chirp Magazine & Farmers' Market Puzzle Spread!

I get such fun projects! This is a magazine spread illustration for Owl Publishing’s Chirp magazine, the April ‘21 edition, depicting a farmers’ market, with a few puzzles built in. I debated over whether to use an outline/cartoonish style or not, and in the end went without. I like working both way and this one I felt would be just fine to do either way, so it was just a in-the-moment call. Since it’s still the covid era with restrictions, we opted to not do a large crowd, so that kept it simpler. I also added fun textures all over. Hope kids enjoy the puzzles and learn! I always do!

Something New! High Five Magazine Spread: "Art With Friends"

I’m a little behind with keeping up with the blog and posting new, printed work, but hey! This two-page spread hidden picture illustration was created for the December 2020 issue of High Five magazine. I enjoyed working out the bedroom this little boy was making art in! And how cute, that his “friends” are stuffed animals! They seem making some nice art there—all of them! I hope the kids enjoy the illustration, as well as finding the hidden items in the spread. Thanks, High Five!

Something New! Grassi Lakes Hiking Trails Illustration Spread

This illustration for the summer 2020 issue of Chirp magazine took a lot of turns due to the Covid-19 pandemic, changing subject matter twice before it became what you see here. My poor clients! We all survived and in the end, it was decided the Grassi Lakes Hiking Trails in Alberta, Canada would be showcased! It was a fun challenge to look at the map and work out a stylized illustration of place geographically. I have the view looking north to south. Anyway, what a great place to visit and hike, see the falls, and rock climb among many other activities. Here’s the official link to the provincial park. I hope to discover and enjoy it myself some day! Oh, and due to pandemic, I haven’t been able to get a hard copy of the magazine, so these digital files will have to do for now. You can see the AD’s notes in the layout!

(c) OwlKids

Something New! High Five Magazine "That's Silly!" Spash Park Spread Illustration

It’s always a treat and blessing to do work for Highlights and High Five magazine! This “That’s Silly!” spread is for the June 2020 issue, and features a splash park full of kids keeping cool—along with unusual and “silly things. See if you can find the “sillies” yourself! Below are close-ups of the illustration to make it easier to see. Have fun and have a happy, cool, safe summer! And be sure and check out High Five and Highlights magazines and books. They care about your kids and do a wonderful job of making it fun to learn—or just plain have fun!

Something New! Whooping Crane Spot Cartoons!

I had such fun drawing these Whooping Crane illustration/cartoons (below) for this article to educate kids about this amazing bird! I love birds and birding so getting the opportunity to come up with something humorous to accompany this article was really special for me. Please get the magazine (OWL magazine, April 2020 issue) and learn about Whoopers and more!

(c) Owl Magazine/Paula J. Becker 2020

Something New! "Officer Dog" Graphic Story/Comic!

I illustrated this simple graphic story/panel comic was for High Five magazine, a really super magazine for little kids. It was so fun to work on and interpret the story and characters.

Please check out High Five magazine for your kids! There are things to learn and do, besides entertaining stories and silly stuff/jokes!

Something New! "Critter Clinic" Puzzle Spread

Here’s a really fun puzzle spread I did for Bayard/Owlkids and one of their magazines. This spread was for Chirp’s Jan/Feb 2020 issue. It was such a fun illustration to work on! Below are some samples and closeups. Thanks for stopping by!

Something New! High Five Halloween Spread!

I was so excited when I finally saw how this illustration spread I did for High Five magazine turned out in print! It’s a “That’s Silly!” for the October 2019 issue. I had a blast working with the art director with the layout and coming up with all the “sillies”. I did a mix of some line and a more painterly style, as well as textures. A bit different than my line work. I hope the kids enjoy finding all the silly things as much as I did drawing them! Thanks, Highlights/High Five!

I love how these were isolated!

Something New! Valentine's Spread Illustration

This was an illustration created for a kids’ magazine this last year. It just recently got my complimentary copy so posting a bit late, as you can see! But what a fun piece to work on! This was memorable to me because I worked on the colorizing while watching game 3 of the 2018 World Series. That game was 7 1/2 hours long, and I got a lot of work done! The Dodgers eventually eked out a win against the RedSox (3-2), but went on the lose the series to them. Second year to lose in a row. Poor Dodgers. But what fun to work on this piece while watching!

Something New! How-to-Play Soccer Illustration Spread and Spots!

It was so fun (and educational to boot!) to work on this spread for Ask Magazine! I am not a soccer player nor fan, so I learned something myself doing this! I hope others learn, too!

4th of July '19 -- A Marching Band!

Sometimes it’s fun to play with old images. I experimented with a washy, watercolor style a number of years ago. I still like many of the pieces I did. This one seemed fitting for an Independence Day illustration, so I made it into a pattern. Happy 4th of July, everybody!

Something New! Dragon Boat Race Illustration

I created this illustration for “A Boat Race” for Chirp magazine June ‘19 issue. This fun magazine spread is both informative AND fun! There are several puzzles and games to play as you learn (Kids as well as adults!) I went with line art for this, since I had to get 20 people in each boat—plus the people on the side watching and waving for their favorite dragon boat! See if you can solve the puzzles!

Magazine Illustration: "Cat Chat"

This is a recent puzzle project for Owl magazine, Chirp! Very fun and I loved drawing the cats!

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Magazine Illustration: "Allison is an Astronaut"

I had a load of fun working on this spread for the July 2018 issue of High Five magazine! This poem, “Allison Is an Astronaut”  by Barbara L. Scanian was such fun to create a scene for! Since I’ve been taking up star gazing again, I enjoyed recreating a solar system mobile, books about stars and planets, sketches that “Allison” drew, and that fun star background.  I’ve been using a bit of collage in my illustrations  again, seen on the floor and the star background. And besides the poem, this is a puzzle, too. Look for the letter “A” hidden throughout the illustration.

Such fun! It was great to work with Kelley Cunningham Lanuto on this! Thanks again, Kelley!

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Magazine Spots: Urban Coyotes

I worked on some cartoon spots of coyotes for a children’s magazine article about coyotes migrating to urban areas.  Very cool and informative article, and one I greatly enjoyed working on!

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