E-I-E-I-O!

Written by Judy Sierra • Candlewick Press, 2014.

Old MacDonald has a backyard garden. But none of his neighbors are happy about it.

 

Making mud

How do you paint a lot of mud and manure without making it just, well, brown? Add a bright red hen and purple worms. Worms are purple, right? The biggest challenge for me was learning what vegetables actually look like, since we wanted this book to contain some actual information on organic gardening. 

Any picture book nuts out there? Try to find portraits of myself, Mac Barnett, and Adam Rex in the book.

Scroll down for sketches from the book.  

Click on any image to enlarge it. 

Big Plans • Oil on illustration board

Pooped! • Oil on illustration board

Worm Hotel • Oil on illustration board

The Neighborhood • Oil on illustration board

Underground • Oil on illustration board

Mowing the Lawn • Oil on illustration board

Mud Garden • Oil on illustration board

Searching for a Hen • Oil on illustration board

Detail from The Neighborhood.

For the title page of the book, a cornucopia made of a repurposed lawn mower chute.

Detail from Pooped! Note the ear hair.

 

Original sketch for Big Plans.

Sketch for Mud Garden.

Sketch for Underground.

Character studies for Old MacDonald.