逼哩逼哩Professor Ryan O鈥橰ourke Illustrates 15th Children鈥檚 Book
When he is not teaching at the Institute of Art and Design at New England College, Ryan O鈥橰ourke, Associate Professor of Illustration, is hard at work creating vivid worlds and images through his hand-lettering, map, and children’s book illustrations.
His 15th children鈥檚 book, Let’s Build a Little Train, released September 9. It was written by Julia Richardson and published by Sleeping Bear Press.
鈥淪leeping Bear Press contacted my agent, Nicole Tugeau, to see if I would be interested in the project. They had seen some of the other books I illustrated and thought I would be a good fit for the project,鈥� O鈥橰ourke explains.
O鈥橰ourke begins each book project with research, collecting as many references as possible to draw from. For Let’s Build a Little Train, he found numerous videos that showed steam engines being built and driven and he curated a library of images through internet searches. 鈥淚 loved learning about steam engines and how they work. Through my research, I found that there’s this whole society of people who love old trains. It was interesting to see them working on old trains, bringing them to life again.鈥�
After the research phase, O鈥橰ourke created his initial sketches, which went through a couple rounds of revisions. His sketches then moved into the final art stage, where they went through some additional minor revisions. 鈥淚 also loved being able to experiment with a new style for this book. Working digitally, I tried using numerous brushes and textures that I hadn’t used before.鈥�
O鈥橰ourke began working on this project in the summer of 2021 and completed the project in March 2022. He is currently working on illustrations for two more children鈥檚 books that are slated for release in 2023.
To promote Let’s Build a Little Train, O鈥橰ourke is holding a book-signing and story time at in Manchester, New Hampshire, on Saturday, September 17, at 11:30 a.m.
Purchase your copy of Let’s Build a Little Train through The Bookery or by calling 603.836.6600.
See more of Ryan鈥檚 work at or purchase prints and other items at .
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