Awesome has a name: Zeke Meeks

I had the pleasure of working on our new Zeke Meeks series for the last year. This series is so ingenious and funny, it will bring you to tears. Yeah, funny even for a grown girl like me. (Please notice I did not called myself a grown-up, I'm not . . . yet anyways.)

I wanted to share the funky eureka process with everyone out there and unveil some of the little secrets of this project on the visual side.

Nine months ago I brought the first manuscript home and showed it to my daughters. We read it together and laughed hysterically. Now, my job was to output this great content correctly. Panic . . . terror . . . all of it started to set in. Part of our job as art directors or book designers is being the matchmaker between the story, visuals, and audience.

I looked for an illustrator for a month. No luck. One day I decided to post something ridiculous about my illustrator search on twitter: "Looking for an awesome illustrator for a chapter book that knows comedy & enjoys irony at its best.” (I thought it sounded smart at the time, really I did.) Many submissions came along, and I knew I had found the perfect match for Zeke in illustrator Josh Alves. Why? He understood cleverness and irony when it came to illustrating, and his style said Zeke all over it. I pitched Josh the project, he loved it, and was a shoo-in.

Now I had the awesome story and the great illustrator, but I still needed the design to glue the parts together. It was one of the most challenging and involved developments I've done. I produced more than 30 versions of the covers before Michael Dahl, back from one of his many trips, dropped a magazine on my desk with a post-it that read: "Cool inspiration for Zeke." It was a high fashion magazine. I stared at it, completely puzzled. Then I got an email from Michael explaining the magazine on my desk. It was a crazy idea, and it was perfect. I laughed, grabbed a piece of paper, sketched and doodled like a first grader, and that was that.

I simply asked myself, “What would Zeke say about his own covers?” I could hear a little voice inside my head. The coolest guy you'll ever meet. My hair looks awesome. Panic makes my eyes go big. (maybe too big, not my best feature.) No TV is scarier than a horror movie. I visualized the design entwined with the text, the branding, and Josh's illustrations. It was a total eureka moment.

This project was a full-throttle collaboration of the creative team, sales and marketing, and many other people. It was a super crazy process, but in the end it turned out exactly like Zeke Meeks—completely awesome!

One month after being released, these books seem to be flying off the shelves! Which it makes us all grin proud with excitement. If you get the chance to check them out at the your library or local bookstore, let us know what your thoughts are! We can't wait to hear from you!

Sometimes Design Nature Takes Over

During every book production season, there are moments you will always remember and treasure until the end of time. Certain "Je n'est-ce pas" that make you hold your breath, like the moment before sending a cover to print, or even the day before you start designing a book you love. The excitement builds up and makes you push the project to a higher level. You are guided by so much conviction and truth that it gives you chills to work on it. Yes, I know it sounds funny, but I know people out there understand what I'm talking about.

This season, I had these sort of experiences while designing Fairieground, a series co-written by Beth and me. I've never had to design anything I've written before. This was a first, and it was definitely a challenge. It took many drafts, many hours of research, and many trials and errors. Yet, Beth and I are very proud with the outcome. It was a joint effort. Odessa Sawyer, our super talented illustrator, influenced the design and the book narratives with her gorgeous realistic illustrations.

The books come out this spring, but here is a little sneak peak of what the fairies in the Willow Forest are hiding from all of us. Enjoy!

Sports Illustrated Kids: Then and Now

It’s funny how things come full circle sometimes: When I was a kid, I was a huge sports fan (still am, actually). Maybe it was my love of the local sports teams, or certain players. Or my obsession with baseball card collecting. Or, maybe it was the simple fact that I loved to draw sports team logos in my notebooks at school (imagine that). Whatever the case, my appetite for sports was insatiable. So, it was no surprise that when my mom found out about the inception of Sports Illustrated Kids magazine, she signed me up for a subscription immediately. The premiere issue arrived in our mailbox around my birthday back in 1989, and I couldn’t have been more excited (Michael Jordan!!):



Now, 20 years later, Sports Illustrated Kids is still going strong and celebrating a big anniversary. And, though my subscription ended long ago, I happened to run into SI Kids again–at work.

For the past 6 months or so, I’ve been working with Sports Illustrated Kids to create a brand new and exciting way to deliver sports fiction to an ever-changing world of sports-hungry kids: sports graphic novels. Since Stone Arch Books specializes in graphic novels, it was no shock that SI Kids came knocking when they decided to branch out into additional markets, especially the school library market. The concept we came up with was a no-brainer: let’s create fast-paced stories about everyday kids in interesting sports situations and combine them with superhero comic-caliber artwork. Sprinkle in some character-driven “sports broadcast” narrative and some stats, and we had something that hasn’t been done before...in any market. These books are sure to appeal to the most reluctant readers, and keep them coming back for more. Six hot, new titles (with topics ranging from football to paintball) will be available soon. Check out the cover and a sample spread from Point-Blank Paintball:


As we move forward with this innovative series (more seasons are on the way), I’ve already learned something very interesting about the artists who illustrate our Sports Illustrated Kids Graphic Novels: many of them actually play the sports that they are illustrating! The best example is Gerardo Sandoval, who is currently working on our upcoming soccer title. He told me in an email that he plays soccer consistently, mostly as a goalkeeper. Even though we (Stone Arch and Sports Illustrated Kids) make extra sure that every sports detail is accurate, it’s nice to know that we can count on our illustrators to do their homework and produce the highest level of sports action for the printed page. I can’t imagine any better research than playing the sport in real life!

Look for Sports Illustrated Kids Graphic Novels in January–only from Stone Arch Books!


Bob Lentz
Art Director
Stone Arch Books

An evening with Chip Kidd

Last night, some of the design and editorial staff were lucky enough to attend a lecture by the infamous design rock star/legend, Chip Kidd. This was my first time seeing him speak and what a presence he has! He is extraordinarily multi-talented, a designer, writer and a wonderful speaker who has the ability to make the audience gasp, as well as fall over with laughter. 

I think the most fascinating aspect of his presentation was the series of book covers he designed that he personally loved, but had been rejected by the publisher or the author. It's always nice to see someone as amazing as him, share work that didn't make the cut. Even Chip Kidd, with years of experience and credibility, still has concepts that people don't fall in love with immediately. 

It was energizing to hear someone speak so passionately about design and the publishing industry. I walked out of the auditorium inspired, and armed with a couple of autographed books-how could I not?!

To see more of Chip Kidd's work, check out his website, here.