Cathedral Building

"Your characters need to grow up if you want to do Junior Series or Middle-Grades."

This was one of the many advise I got from mentor Cecilia Yung, Art Director at Penguin Young Readers Group.

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.  I love to read Junior Series and Middle-Grades and would love too to illustrate for these books.  This is why I started reading and studying many of the illustrations of these genres, in addition to working on my picture books.


I quite enjoy illustrating in a monochromatic palette.  The palette limitation set me free in concentrating on other aspects, such as the composition, the value, the characters, the story...

I was reading a book about the Middle Ages and saw an illustration on cathedral building.  I thought it would make a wonderful starting point for the Middle-Grades pieces.

As I finished, I looked at it and thought to myself: This can actually be a piece reflecting personalities!

(A) The person working hard and minding his own business
(B) The person screaming "Hey you get back to work, now!"
(C) The person slacking off and hoping no one finds out 

Which type of personality are you?