{"id":11669,"date":"2018-04-04T12:00:02","date_gmt":"2018-04-04T16:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.readbrightly.com\/?p=11669"},"modified":"2023-05-01T13:59:12","modified_gmt":"2023-05-01T17:59:12","slug":"meet-illustrator-lauren-eldridge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.readbrightly.com\/meet-illustrator-lauren-eldridge\/","title":{"rendered":"Lauren Eldridge on Creating the Dreamy Art for Sleep Train<\/i>"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s time to add <\/em>Sleep Train<\/a>, a counting book written by Jonathan London and illustrated by Lauren Eldridge, to your collection of bedtime stories. Open the book and you\u2019ll find yourself on a sunset-lit journey through the countryside, counting the ten cars of a train, from the engine in front to the caboose in back. With pictures in dreamy, subdued hues and text that\u2019s calm and repetitive, this picture book lulls young readers to sleep with ease. In this installment of Meet the Illustrator<\/a>, Lauren Eldridge takes us behind the scenes of sculpting the amazingly detailed 3D models that take center stage in <\/em>Sleep Train and shares helpful tips for encouraging kids\u2019 artistic creativity.<\/em><\/p>\n

What first made you excited about art?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of the wonderful things about art is that it brings creativity and problem-solving together in such a way that\u2019s entirely personal to the artist. Even if we\u2019re all given the same tools, materials, instructions, and amount of time,\u00a0our end products will all be different! Some of the coolest parts about creating art are that no two pieces are the same, no one\u00a0can be \u201cwrong\u201d because artistic expression is entirely subjective … plus it\u2019s SUPER FUN!<\/p>\n

What\u2019s your favorite thing to create at the moment?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I absolutely LOVE to learn new techniques and, following Sleep Train<\/em>, I knew I wanted to hone my puppet- and character-making skills. This meant\u00a0researching how to create\u00a0solid armatures that could be positioned in active ways \u2014 and stay perfectly still \u2014 for photography. Characters typically drive the storylines in picture books, so I really wanted to have a thorough understanding of how and why I would make choices about materials, texture, and movement when creating puppets in the future.<\/p>\n

I created these characters out of wire, foam, polymer clay, pinheads, and suede. I have two young daughters and so I made the girls\u2019 clothes from old clothes that each of my small ladies used to wear and love.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Which illustration from your latest book did you especially enjoy creating?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I really enjoyed making the\u00a0scene where our main character is reading in his bedroom before\u00a0it becomes the sleeper car because it tells us so much about his personality. I wanted to create a relatable character with rich interests by\u00a0scattering dozens of detail-oriented hints about who he is and what he likes to do throughout the room.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

If readers look closely, they’ll see the types of toys he likes to play with, activities he likes to do, and even real books he likes to read. There are also several toy train cars that\u00a0look like the cars\u00a0he’s about to count, as well as some other hints that suggest what is to come, too!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

What is the most unusual object you used in creating Sleep Train<\/em>?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I used a LOT of unusual objects but most bizarre was an empty parmesan cheese container\u00a0combined with a sliced foam ball. It was the perfect diameter and material to be the base of the\u00a0tanker car!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Can you make us a self-portrait?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yes! I actually really love simple sketching based on my\u00a0mood for fun and expression, even though I usually build my final illustrations.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

What illustrated book have you read recently and been wowed by?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

I think Windows<\/a><\/em>, written by Julia Denos and illustrated by E.B. Goodale, is spectacular.\u00a0Goodale did an absolutely stellar job in maneuvering dwindling daylight while incorporating vibrant colors to match the vibrant community. It\u2019s so rare to see text and pictures line up so perfectly and this book definitely falls into that magical category.<\/p>\n

Another book that wows me every time I read it is This Is Not a Valentine<\/a><\/em>, written by Carter Higgins and illustrated by Lucy Ruth Cummins. The beautiful images in this book work so well with the perfectly worded text and the outcome is a sweet, lighthearted, loving book that we can all relate to.<\/p>\n

Why do you think art is important for kids? What can grown-ups do to encourage kids to engage with art?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Art is fantastic for kids because it allows them to explore, take risks, make mistakes, solve problems, and express themselves in a safe and fun way! Grown-ups can help by providing a variety of materials and by asking questions rather than giving directions. For example, there\u2019s a big difference in creative expression between a blank canvas and one with outlines that asks the artist to paint-by-numbers.<\/p>\n

When I create with kids I ask encouraging questions such as:<\/p>\n

How are you feeling today? What kind of\u00a0things or colors\u00a0could you use\u00a0describe that emotion?
\n<\/em>What are you interested in? What are some things you <\/em>aren\u2019t interested in?
\n<\/em>What are some cool things that<\/em> only you can do\u00a0with these materials?<\/em><\/p>\n

And while they\u2019re working,\u00a0it\u2019s great to make comments like, \u201cWow!\u00a0I never would have thought to do something\u00a0that way!\u201d\u00a0and\u00a0\u201cTell me\u00a0why\u00a0you chose to use ____ instead of ____ in this area.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kids are more likely to be creative and make what they<\/em> want to make if we don\u2019t lead them with praise about any one specific thing. For example, if I said, \u201cWow, I really love how you used blue for this part!\u201d a young artist might interpret that to think that blue is good and maybe other areas of their work aren\u2019t as good \u2014 even if that wasn\u2019t what I intended when making the statement.<\/p>\n

Bottom line: It\u2019s best to let the artist be their own critic and create art for their own enjoyment, not in order to gain approval from us old folks!<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the best name for a color that you\u2019ve ever heard?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wenge. It kind of sounds how it looks … It\u2019s a weird brown-beige-slightly orange color and whenever I see it, I think, \u201cWell, that does<\/em> seem pretty wenge-y.\u201d<\/p>\n

no no 9780451473035 Learn More About the Book:
Sleep Train<\/i> https:\/\/www.penguinrandomhouse.com\/books\/317364\/sleep-train-by-jonathan-london-illustrated-by-lauren-eldridge\/9780451473035\/ by Jonathan London, illustrated by Lauren Eldridge <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lauren Eldridge gives readers a behind-the-scenes look at the dreamy counting book Sleep Train<\/i> and shares helpful tips for encouraging kids\u2019 artistic creativity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":14714,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[59,132,246,252,266],"coauthors":[146],"class_list":["post-11669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-picture-books","tag-bedtime","tag-qa","tag-meet-the-illustrator","tag-illustration","ages_stages-baby-toddler","ages_stages-pre-k"],"yoast_head":"\nLauren Eldridge on Creating the Dreamy Art for Sleep Train | Brightly<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Lauren Eldridge gives readers a behind-the-scenes look at the dreamy counting book Sleep Train and shares helpful tips for encouraging kids\u2019 artistic creativity.\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.readbrightly.com\/meet-illustrator-lauren-eldridge\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lauren Eldridge on Creating the Dreamy Art for Sleep Train | Brightly\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Lauren Eldridge gives readers a behind-the-scenes look at the dreamy counting book Sleep Train and shares helpful tips for encouraging kids\u2019 artistic creativity.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.readbrightly.com\/meet-illustrator-lauren-eldridge\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Brightly\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-04-04T16:00:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-05-01T17:59:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/assets.readbrightly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/sleep-train-feat.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"850\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"607\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"the Brightly Editors\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"the Brightly Editors\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Lauren Eldridge on Creating the Dreamy Art for Sleep Train | Brightly","description":"Lauren Eldridge gives readers a behind-the-scenes look at the dreamy counting book Sleep Train and shares helpful tips for encouraging kids\u2019 artistic creativity.","canonical":"https:\/\/www.readbrightly.com\/meet-illustrator-lauren-eldridge\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Lauren Eldridge on Creating the Dreamy Art for Sleep Train | Brightly","og_description":"Lauren Eldridge gives readers a behind-the-scenes look at the dreamy counting book Sleep Train and shares helpful tips for encouraging kids\u2019 artistic creativity.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.readbrightly.com\/meet-illustrator-lauren-eldridge\/","og_site_name":"Brightly","article_published_time":"2018-04-04T16:00:02+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-05-01T17:59:12+00:00","og_image":[{"width":850,"height":607,"url":"https:\/\/assets.readbrightly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/sleep-train-feat.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"the Brightly Editors","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"the Brightly Editors","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.readbrightly.com\/meet-illustrator-lauren-eldridge\/","url":"https:\/\/www.readbrightly.com\/meet-illustrator-lauren-eldridge\/","name":"Lauren Eldridge on Creating the Dreamy Art for Sleep Train | Brightly","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.readbrightly.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.readbrightly.com\/meet-illustrator-lauren-eldridge\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.readbrightly.com\/meet-illustrator-lauren-eldridge\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/assets.readbrightly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/sleep-train-feat.jpg","datePublished":"2018-04-04T16:00:02+00:00","dateModified":"2023-05-01T17:59:12+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.readbrightly.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d66412ae4edc023f9a009a9c2dc4d3d6"},"description":"Lauren Eldridge gives readers a behind-the-scenes look at the dreamy counting book Sleep Train and shares helpful tips for encouraging kids\u2019 artistic creativity.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.readbrightly.com\/meet-illustrator-lauren-eldridge\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.readbrightly.com\/meet-illustrator-lauren-eldridge\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.readbrightly.com\/meet-illustrator-lauren-eldridge\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/assets.readbrightly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/sleep-train-feat.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/assets.readbrightly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/sleep-train-feat.jpg","width":850,"height":607,"caption":"sleep-train"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.readbrightly.com\/meet-illustrator-lauren-eldridge\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.readbrightly.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Lauren Eldridge on Creating the Dreamy Art for Sleep Train"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.readbrightly.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.readbrightly.com\/","name":"Brightly","description":"Reading Is the Just the Beginning","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.readbrightly.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.readbrightly.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d66412ae4edc023f9a009a9c2dc4d3d6","name":"Jennifer Clare","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.readbrightly.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/2348705ca7dfb856355c2ce836eaceef","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/118090b9fc01e77f84ae9dc424fa5d74?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/118090b9fc01e77f84ae9dc424fa5d74?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jennifer Clare"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/penguinrandomhouse.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.readbrightly.com\/contributor\/jclare\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.readbrightly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11669"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.readbrightly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.readbrightly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.readbrightly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.readbrightly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11669"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.readbrightly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11669\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.readbrightly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.readbrightly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.readbrightly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.readbrightly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11669"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.readbrightly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=11669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}