Erin Dealey

Hooray! Today’s the Book Birthday of our book, Squirrel Draws BIG Feelings,

Illustrated by Luciana Navarro Powell,

written by Erin Dealey (That’s me!)

(Beaming Books)

I’m so happy to share Luciana’s chalk art with you too.

I’d say that calls for a party!

About the Book:

“Uh-oh! Sometimes, when Squirrel felt BIG feelings, he couldn’t stop racing around.”

Sometimes Squirrel feels squirrelly! Porcupine gets the pricklies when things don’t go the way she expects them to. And Bear only knows how to express his feelings ROARfully. No one is having fun and everyone is overwhelmed.

Click here or on the image below to see what happens next!

About the Illustrator:

Readers may remember Luciana Navarro Powell from a recent Book Birthday celebration of A Speedy Little Cheetah on the Big Blue Earth. We are beyond thrilled to have her back to celebrate ART and share her illustration process for Squirrel Draws BIG Feelings (Beaming Books).  

Luciana grew up and started her illustration career in Brazil before moving to the United States in 2002. She worked as an art buyer for an educational publisher in the Chicago area, before moving to California and becoming a full-time illustrator. She now lives in Washington state and has illustrated more than 20 children’s books. In her free time, she loves to go hiking with her family and paint en plein air.

Let’s ask some questions!

Q 1. I’m so excited to interview you about our new book, Squirrel Draws BIG Feelings, since it was your amazing chalk art that was my inspiration in the first place. Can you tell us a bit about your sidewalk adventures in chalk during COVID, and how the neighborhood reacted?

LNP: I am so happy to be on your blog again talking about our book! Thanks for having me.

When everything shut down in March 2020, so did children’s book publishing. The projects I was working on had an uncertain future just like everything else. People started walking around more and exploring neighborhoods by foot, so I started to draw chalk art on the sidewalks – just like children – and adults – read books, the walkers became my new audience.

LNP: I drew flowers, koi fish ponds, butterflies. The idea was interaction. A giant white swan with open wings that kids could lie on top and pretend to be flying like the Swedish book character Nils.

LNP: When our local Skagit Valley’s famous tulip festival was cancelled, I drew tulips sprouting from the sidewalks. Peonies when peony season came.

And by the time Easter came around, I did an epic “egg hunt” all around a park. The reaction of people was priceless.

LNP: They would stop by and chat, take photos, pose with the art.

I remember one week I ran out of chalk and ordered online – but everything was backed up, so it was taking a while. Someone dropped off a box of chalk at my front door, like saying ‘come on get back to it!”.

LNP: I got thank you cards too. It was a bonding experience with my neighborhood. And the best of it – you got inspired by it too, from afar, and now we have a book!

Q 2. Have you been drawing in chalk since you were a kid? Where did you learn to draw such amazing three-dimensional chalk art?

LNP: I had not much experience with chalk itself, but art skills can transfer easily from one medium to another. My inspiration for chalk art was the amazing David Zinn from Michigan, whose worked I admired for a long time. He uses charcoal to create cast shadows to simulate volume. He usually works in smaller scale drawings. I developed my own signature chalk art style, though – large scale, to be interacted with – and kept perfecting it during the almost 2 years when I worked on it very intensely.

Original chalk art by
Luciana Navarro Powell

Q 3. Our book has gone through many drafts before we got to Squirrel, Porcupine, and Bear. What was that journey like for you?

LNP: That could be the topic of a whole blog post, right? Our story went through so many iterations! Initially the main character was a bear, and the story was more related to the isolation of the pandemic. It kept evolving.

LNP: What amazes me the most is how easily – or so it seems! – you were able to take feedback from editors and come back with a fresher take each time, including a whole new set of characters – literally “killing our darlings.

ED Note: Awww, thanks. It’s part of the process, really. Keep at it until the ideas come together.

LNP: I have a much harder time letting go of characters. After it was acquired by Naomi Krueger at Beaming Books, it went through another round of small revisions until our final version.

Q 4. What medium / process did you use to make Squirrel’s chalk art look so real? Did you use the same techniques to create the adorable animals?

LNP: I approach every new book with a question: What does this story require of my illustration style?

Since “Squirrel” is centered around chalk art, I decided to use materials that are very “chalky” to convey that softness. I used these super fun pots of concentrated pastels called Pan Pastels that I apply with sponges. It creates a dreamy soft texture.

For details, pastel pencils that even sound like chalk applied to sidewalk when you draw with them on paper. I will be posting stories on my Instagram with videos I made when illustrating. Volume on to hear chalky sounds!

Q 5. Which character is most like you: Squirrel, Porcupine, or Bear?

LNP: I love this question!! I am a mixture of all 3:

• I process my emotions by making art and tend to be way too much in my head like Squirrel.
• I can get very prickly like Porcupine when in a bad mood, but only the ones close to me would know – that is my poor family!
• And my Latin blood boils easily and I can get pretty dramatic and Roar on some occasions like Bear!

Q 6. Which lines of text were the most fun to illustrate? Or the most challenging?

LNP: One of the most fun was the scene of the paint being spilled and the balloon being popped at the beginning of the story – like a slow motion dramatic scene in a movie.

The most challenging probably the last scene with all the animals creating art together- lots of details and need to balance the composition perfectly. It went through several sketches to get it right.

Q 7. You always manage to include back story details — like Bear in the window with his yellow balloon before he enters the story. Are there any other “Easter eggs” readers should look for in this book?

LNP: You know me well! I love adding back stories- I am happy you picked up the balloon – we only get the opportunity to see that balloon exploding in the story but I loved the idea of a bear carrying a bear balloon – so I added it as a small detail on the page before the explosion.

LNP: When Squirrel is drawing all the chalk creatures when sad – the mad bugs, butterflies and birds – those are all around him, he is drawing sad versions of his world.

The sad dragon? It’s dragon shaped clouds he sees! I love looking at clouds and imagining creatures and one that I see all the time are dragon clouds.

The last scene with all the characters – they are all drawing versions of their world: The honey badger is drawing honeycombs. Cat is drawing fish, and the beaver family – some nice logs to chew on!

Finally, the beautiful owl at the last end pages… Washington residents will recognize it!

ED Note: What fun!

Q 8. What do you use to create such awesome book trailers? (See link and screenshot above.) The animation is wonderful.

LNP: Thank you! I love creating book trailers. I make the animations using the most time consuming technique possible – animated gifs, which I make using frame by frame sequencing.

It takes a while but I think the result is wonderful- an old school feel to them that are a great fit. And for our book trailer I used an adult narrator for the first time, and talk about a perfect fit – you!

ED Note: The theater geek in me LOVED doing the narration. So glad you liked my audition!

Q 9. How can kids (and big people) experiment using chalk art using your technique?

LNP: Great question: I am creating quick video tutorials that I will be posting on my Instagram account late April, early May. Stay tuned!

Q 10. What do you hope readers will take away from Squirrel Draws BIG Feelings?

LNP: That feeling big feelings is a part of being human. And one of the healthiest ways to deal with them is also a beautiful part of being human: making art, in whatever way you prefer.

Thank you so much Luciana, for joining us on the blog today.

To find out more about Luciana Navarro Powell and her fantastic #kidlit work,

check out her website: lucianaillustration.com

and follow her on social media:

Instagram: @lucianaillustration

Blue Sky: lucianaillustra.bsky.com

Facebook: lucianaillustration 

As you can tell from our book’s very long journey (Never give up!),

Squirrel Draws BIG Feelings definitely deserves a PARTY!

WANT TO JOIN THE FUN?

Grab some chalk & go outside and make ART.

And send us a photo on social media!

Next on the blog: This BONUS Book Birthday blog FRIDAY

we will chat with author Linda Ravin Lodding –all the way from Sweden–

about her important –and very fun– picture book:

It Started with a Book Ban!

Illus. Aaron Cushley / Albert Whitman & Company

Time to read a book!