Jerry Pinkney

Biography•Born December 22, 1939 (Philadelphia)•Dyslexic•John Liney•Dobbins Vocational School•Philadelphia Museum College of Art •Greeting Card Designer•U.S. Postal Service Black Heritage Series•Playwright

Pinkney felt excluded from stories about popular heroes

Depict Black Folks Naturally and with Respect

Style Style

“Rarely Obscures the White of the Paper Completely”“Peek-a-boo Pencil Lines”

The Adventures of Spider (1964)

National Geographic (1984) “Underground Railroad”Growth Period for Pinkney

Talent for Drawing Animals

Exotic Locales

Bold and Colorful

“A Lot of Color Was Around When I Was Growing Up”“I Try to Convey the Emotional, Flowing Quality of Jazz”

Abundant and Timeless

LUSH

Complex & Layered

Henry’s Birth

John

John Henry’s Funeral

The Critics LOVE Pinkney

Pinkney’s Worst Critic?!

Work ProcessWorkday: 8:30-9:00am – 8:30-10:00pmChronology of an Illustration1) Research2) Photographs of People Modeling3) Pencil Sketches4) Draw Finished Sketches5) Client Approves Finished Sketches6) Final Illustrations •Transfer sketches from tracing paper to watercolor paper using a light box •Mount drawing paper on illustration board •Add watercolors •Back & forth adding pencil lines & watercolors

Research•As much time researching as illustrating

•A lot of time at the public library

•Wants to live the experience of people and places in the book

•“I actually become the people I’m drawing, and I do that with animals too”

Examines Many Photos to Create the Right Setting for Characters

Examined & photographed clothes at the Banneker-Douglass Museum

Stood in slave cemetery visualizing images & emotions

Studied photographs of forced child laborers in coal fields of western Pennsylvania

Use of Models•Dressed up models act out story

•Relatives, friends, & professional

•Helps capture sense of realism

Brian scarred from dressing up as girl!!

Leon, 8-year-old grandson modeled

Dressed up in vests & baggy pantsAssumed posture & attitude of animalsWife took photographs

Turning Point Book

•Book about family-caring relationships

•Models acted out the story

•Photographs

Children from Bethlehem Baptist Church in Ossining, NY, acted out story while Pinkney photographed them

Child Models

No models for The Old African

To inhabit the large cast of characters would be “too large a task”

Painting

Sketching

Jerry Pinkney

Human Expressions

Turning Point BookSpend More Time on Children’s Books

John Henry (1994)

“… an African-American hero that would inspire all”

Some Notable Works

Sam and the Tigers (1996)

“We were criticized for opening a wound that had healed”

Uncle Remus: The Complete Tales (1999)

Public Library: All Are Welcome

Mission Accomplished“I see myself in your picture”