Jenny Mannis
Chicago, IL
I am a costume designer turned author-illustrator. With over a decade of experience in professional theater, I have designed at theaters all over the country including The Public Theater, Manhattan Theatre Club, 2nd Stage, and Steppenwolf. I hold an MFA from the Yale School of Drama and am a member of Kids Comics Unite, SCBWI, and the Authors’ Guild.
As a costume designer, I practice visual storytelling, transforming the written words of a play into images. My writing and illustration are heavily influenced by character design, color story, historical research, and imaginative world building. My time in theater has also led me to value compelling dialogue, twisty plots and brisk pacing.
When I’m not planning and researching the next two books in the Escape Artist series, I can be found trying to keep up with my two teens and two rescue dogs and dodging the monsters that live in the basement.
What was your favorite book as a child?
All of them? I read to escape, so I was going for quantity over quality. But anything where a fantasy or alternate world existed in tandem with ours was my jam: The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, Alice in Wonderland, Grimm’s fairy tales, the Choose Your Own Adventure books, Maurice Sendak, Roald Dahl (deep cut: Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator), Edward Gorey, Charles Addams comics, The X-Men. I read Stephen King’s It on the eighth-grade ski trip and that book changed me.
What is your favorite food?
Popcorn jellybeans, black licorice, Necco Wafers, candy corn, Smarties: I love an underdog!
Mediums:
Pencil and paper for roughs and doodles. Dip pen and ink wash if I’m feeling fancy. Nothing beats the hand feel of graphite and real ink but I’m in love with Photoshop for the infinite possibilities and speed. I like messiness and rough edges, so I use a chunky, jittery ink brush for inking and loose watercolor, pastel and marker brushes for texture. I draw my own panel borders and speech balloons. Overall, I’m trying for a quick, scribbly, hands-on feeling.
Art Process:
I always start from research. A mysterious building, 1950s horror comics, a news clipping – anything that sparks my fancy. I’ll be a magpie for a while and gather ideas and images from books, movies or the internet. I let the new stuff knock around for a while until I’ve got a premise or a question, a group of characters, a visual vibe, a color scheme, an idea that spooks me.
My creativity comes from the process of collection and whatever gets cooked up in the basement of my subconscious – the rest is iteration. I use scene cards to track plot points, character development, and my favorite research images. I’ll make a detailed outline and, once I know the major beats and the characters’ journey, I fill in the dialogue and paneling. I pull images and color story from my research and lay in the art stepwise. This orderly process comes from my practice as a theater designer: a highly structured system of organization and routine that sets the conditions for creativity. Stephen King calls his muse a “basement guy.” The muse does his thing down below while you put the time in at your desk: just like in theater where the designers and crew work behind the scenes so the magic can happen on stage.
Available for School Visits:
Specialties:
Animals, Character design, Costume and set design, Illustration, Middle Grade, Picture books, Spot art, Writing, Young Adult
Forthcoming books:
Published books:
Location:
Chicago, IL
Visit Jenny at:
Awards and honors:
Rae Crawford
Chicago, IL
Rae Crawford is an illustrator, author, and comic artist from the most mysterious regions of the Chicagoland suburbs. She is the creator of the webcomic, ‘I’m Broken, Send Help.’ Rae is an illustrator and author by night and a book designer for Scholastic by day. She loves cartoons, comics, puns, cooking and working on fan zines. Rae currently lives in the Chicagoland suburbs with her partner, her iPad, and a few assorted stuffed animals and plants. (Please let her draw food and nature for you!)
Where do you go for inspiration?
Nothing beats my own life and experiences. I often find myself drawing upon people and events from my life to inspire my work. In fact, My Day With Dad and My Day With Mom were drawn from special memories I had from growing up with my parents.
Animation is another one of my biggest inspirations. There are too many projects dear to my heart to name them all, but I always pull out the artbooks from Pixar, Wolfwalkers, Over the Garden Wall, and Steven Universe, or watch Princess Mononoke for the millionth time to prepare for a project.
I’m also inspired by my favorite things to draw. Whether it’s food, nature, patterns, and animals, I seize any opportunity to incorporate them into my art. When you’re drawing something you love, it’s hard not to be inspired!
What is your favorite food?
“There is no aspect, no facet, no moment of life that can’t be improved with pizza.” – Daria
I have lived in both Chicago and New York, so pizza has always been a big part of my life. Before you can tell me New York pizza is better, you need to have tried tavern style Chicago pizza first. Deep-dish is a different thing entirely. My current favorite topping combos are double sausage, onion, bacon, and pepperoni with hot honey. Fruit does not belong on pizza. Looking at you, pineapples. Vito & Nick’s Pizzeria (Chicago, IL) and Little Pops (Naperville, IL) both have the best thin-crust pizza I’ve ever tasted, but I have a lot of love for Crosta (Brooklyn, NY). While my preference is thin-crust, I don’t sleep on the deep dish from Pequod’s (Chicago, IL). No fast food pizza please. Please query me for additional pizza-related opinions, quotes, and recommendations.
Art Process:
Before any project, I rip a tag off a mattress, do the hokey pokey in reverse, and pet a corgi for good luck and vibes. After that, while every project is a little different, there are certain fundamentals that are consistent. I will do a kick-off call where expectations are discussed. From there, I plan, brainstorm, and outline. This is the longest part of the process because it’s the foundation. I’ll surround myself with inspiring books, my laptop, iPad, sketchbook, and notepad because I never know where my ideas will be best articulated.
Once I have my ideas out of my head, I will do digital rough sketching in Procreate. For a client, there will be a couple of passes of the sketches on my end so they are refined for critique. I like my sketches to be a close reflection of the final product. Once sketches are approved, the next step for me is refined pencils then ink. Coloring is the second longest part of the process as the palette is very important to me to get right. Upon approval of the color, the files will be delivered to the client based on their specifications.
Location:
Chicago, IL
Zines and Projects:
Cactus Juice Zine – Avatar: the Last Airbender Charity Zine (2020)
Terror Time Zine – Horror Theme (2020)
Art of Change Artbook (2020)
Banished – TV Pitch (2020)
Connect the Dots – Buzzfeed Unsolved Zine (2021)
Elements Zine – Avatar: the Last Airbender Zine (2021)
Wicked X Lovely – Villianess Zine (2022)
Alias Zine – Batman Zine (2022)
Visit Rae at:
WEBSITE: http://raecrawford.com
INSTAGRAM: http://instagram.com/itsraecrawford
COMIC INSTAGRAM: http://instagram.com/imbrokencomics
Available for School Visits:
Yes. I’ve done school visits about my artist journey, publishing career, and readings of my books. For younger kids, the themes of the book I’m presenting are explored and discussed. This often includes a reading and Q&A. For teens and college level, the discussion is more geared toward career. This is often accompanied by me doing portfolio reviews. Please reach out to Janna for more details.
Mediums:
Digital (Procreate)
Specialties:
Board books, Comedy, Comics & Graphic Novels, Hand-drawn typography, Illustration, Licensing comics & art, Picture books, Portraits, Writing
Published books:
Good Nights Stories for Rebel Girls: 100 Inspired Young Changemakers (Rebel Girls, 2022)
Rebel Girls Animal Allies: 25 Tales of Women Working with Wildlife (Rebel Girls, 2023)
My Day With Dad (Holiday House, 2023)
My Day With Mom (Holiday House, 2024)
Published Books
