She is the Art Director of Philomel Books.
Ellice joined Philomel in 2017. She holds a BA in sociology from UCLA and a BFA from Art Center College of Design. Ellice has worked with award-winning talent including Alexandra Boiger, Rafael López, Loren Long, LeUyen Pham, Christian Robinson, Kadir Nelson, Ed Young, and Floyd Cooper. Titles she has worked on have appeared on the New York Times bestseller lists (most recently, Just Ask! by Sonia Sotomayor and She Persisted by Chelsea Clinton), been featured in New York Magazine and TIME, and have won Caldecott Honors and Coretta Scott King Awards, as well as been a finalist for the National Book Award. Ellice loves working with talent who have a compelling story to share—from the political to the social to the inane.
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Poonam Mistry (@poonammistryart) is a 2019 Kate Greenway Medal Finalist. She is the illustrator I collaborated with for our picture book, GOODNIGHT GANESHA, due out on Philomel Books on August 31st, 2021. Edited by Liza J. Kaplan.
What is your process?
I usually begin with research after receiving the manuscript. I like gathering photos of humans/animals, patterns and fabrics that will help to build a strong visual image of what I intend the book to look like.
I roughly spend around 2 weeks creating roughs for the spreads. Once they are approved, I draw the neat versions with black ink and thick cartridge paper. I use a variety of fine liners but my favourite are the Pilot V ball 0.5 pens. The ink is really pigmented and glides on to the paper well. This is also where I draw in the majority of the patterns. I don’t really plan it in advance, but let it flow naturally around the shapes and outlines of the artwork. My drawings are always larger than the final artwork size. This usually takes 2-4 days for each page.
 
After this, it is scanned onto the computer and I use Photoshop to add colour and all the extra details. This can take up to 3 weeks for each spread depending on the amount of detail and size. Usually it takes me around 3-5 months to complete a book.
 
You could have declined Goodnight Ganesha, what compelled you to say yes?
Immediately after reading the story I knew I wanted to illustrate it. It is beautifully written and I identified with many of the elements in the book- connecting them my own experiences as a child. Although, I never had the same experience with my grandparents (my grandfathers sadly passed away before I was born), so I based the special bond of the characters on my nephew’s relationship with my parents.
As a child I never read or came across a book where the protagonist looked like me. With this book, I feel I do. I hope other Indian children will see themselves in this book too.
What else are you working on?
At the moment I am working on my own story I have written and completing the artwork for it. I won’t say much more than that but it is set to be released in 2022!
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EXCLUSIVE CONTENT
for Newsletter Subscribers only
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'GOODNIGHT GANESHA COVER REVEAL'
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*Please do NOT tweet or repost photos from the newsletter or this exclusive video link.
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FULL INTERVIEW AND REVEAL ON KAITLYN SANCHEZ' BLOG, MATH IS EVERYWHERE
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My agency sister, Kari Anne Holt, wrote us a poem in the October Newsletter, to celebrate GOODNIGHT GANESHA!
In appreciation of Kari Anne's "Typewriter Rodeo" Goodnight Ganesha Poem, I told her we would come up with some "Typewriter" poems of our own and share them in the GOODNIGHT GANESHA Scrapbook I'm keeping for Launch Day on August 31, 2021.
While I didn't receive any poems through the newsletter, I created a Challenge Page and hope for some submissions this round. Visit the Challenge Page on my website for more info.
The focus word for February remains - BELIEVE. Let's see what we can come up with?
Please submit your poems here:
GOODNIGHT GANESHA "TYPEWRITER RODEO POEM" Submissions
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READING RESOURCES
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