These two dancers are performing the traditional Mexican Hat Dance. It is Mexico’s national dance and is often performed during Cinco de Mayo celebrations. Again, this is a very small illustration. That’s why the faces are mostly featureless.
Salsa dancing is a very Latin American tradition. This illustration is actually very small on the page, so that’s why the dancers are mostly faceless.
Potatoes are a Latin American food. They originated in the Andes Mountains of Peru. Here’s potatoes, fries, and potato chips.
Here’s another example of a Latin American food for this book project. Chips and guacamole with a half avocado.
A chocolate bar next to some cocoa beans and a cocoa pod. I hadn’t realized how big these things were until I looked them up. This illustration appears in the book next to a paragraph about chocolate being an example of a food grown in Latin America.
To get the full effect on this one, imagine it is hanging from one of the letters in the page header. It was tied, if I remember right, to the bottom of an “E”. There are three different depictions of pinatas in this book, all of them star-shaped.
This one is a very simple, and it was very small on the page. Just a smiling boy.
Here’s the first interior illustration for Positive Promotion’s Hispanic Heritage book. The original art specs called for this illustration to read “Hurray for Hispanic Heritage” in English, which was also the header for this page. I thought that seemed a little redundant and missed a good opportunity to show some Spanish language in an otherwise completely English manuscript. It seemed appropriate given the subject.
Since I don’t speak Spanish, I used Google Translate to find the equivalent phrase in Spanish and gave the client the option to have me use that phrase instead. To be safe, I also warned the client to double-check whether my translation was correct, but I think it’s right. They didn’t correct me, anyway. 🤞
Here’s a collection of random objects and an owl that appear on various pages in a coloring book about recycling commissioned by Positive Promotions for Earth Day. I’m particularly proud of that compact florescent light bulb in the corner there. The twisty coil was tricky.
This is the last sample I have for this project. Next up will be a coloring book on neighborhood safety, also for Positive Promotions.
Here’s a collection of several isolated images of this kid that appear in a coloring book about recycling commissioned by Positive Promotions for Earth Day.
Karen B. Jones - Illustrator 