Shop Relaunch!
It’s been a while since I’ve focused on my shop, and while my recent update isn’t massive, I am still excited to share it with all of you. I’ve designed at least a dozen new surface patterns this year which is the sort of artwork I like to create just for fun. Many of these patterns can be found on websites like Redbubble, Society6 and Spoonflower, but I wanted to make sure there were items that I could vouch for specifically. Ones that would excite me!
The following extremely cute products are ones that I don’t ship directly from my house. This saves me and the world from unnecessary production and expense. So each item is made to order and is shipped from the closest dispatch location to the recipient. Easy and better for the world!
Big Apple Diaries debuts in just a few months, so I wanted to share a limited number of prints from one of my favourite pages of the book: Common Sights on the NYC Subway. This is an 8x10 print with some of the silliest things I’ve seen on the trains over the years (at least the PG ones). You can order a copy of Big Apple Diaries by clicking here or requesting it at any of your local retailers.
I used to hand sew and embroider these adorable little Tasmanian Tigers based on my original watercolour illustration. Hopefully I will get a chunk of time to make those again, but for now I am sharing some of the cute sleeping Thylacine design on tote bags, t-shirts and prints.
I’m also excited to share some new cute Lucia The Luchadora merchandise! T-shirts, a long sleeve rash vest which can be used as an awesome superhero girl power costume, and more!
I would love to know what you think and if there are any products or patterns that you’d like to see in the shop!
Lucia The Luchadora Merchandise
Just dropped! Lucia The Luchadora Merchandise!
Lucia The Luchadora has been on so many reading lists this year, and I am thrilled that families around the world are still enjoying the story so much and sharing it with friends.
In addition to coloring pages, activity books and a DIY luchadora mask… I am excited to share some cute new products on Redbubble and Society6. (They are shipped from your closest shipping location, not here in Tasmania.)
Here are some of my favorites so far. Click below each set to see where you can buy them! Society6 has more of the cute furniture items and Redbubble has the better clothing options in my opinion.
Let me know which ones are your favorites!
Lucia The Luchadora and The Million Masks Cover Reveal!
It's reveal time!
The moment you have all been waiting for! Lucia's return! It's been so exciting bringing Lucia and her family to life in pictures once again, this time introducing her little sister Gemma. Debuts October 9th, 2018 - We have a few months to go, but the anticipation starts now! Written by Cynthia Leonor Garza, published by POW! Kids. Click here to pre-order.
The cover will look something closely related to this!
Lucia The Luchadora was chosen as picture book cover of the year in 2017! It's pretty impossible to top that, so I went back and forth on so many different color schemes and designs. Some of them were a bit too scary! This story takes place for the most part at the Mercado. Abuela had a great idea once again and you'll have to read the rest to find out what adventures take place when they get there! I hope that old and new Lucia fans can enjoy this next part of their story.
Getting into some trouble at the lucha mask stall
The sounds of the mercado!
I was a little late in the game to watch the Pixar movie Coco, but it is so inspirational to see such beautiful art direction in a movie with Mexican culture. I actually watched it for the first time a few days after finishing all of the artwork for this book. My heart did a little flip seeing El Santo in it! Stay tuned in Lucia The Luchadora And The Million Masks to meet another very famous Lucha Libre star.
Hearing about your experience with Lucia The Luchadora is so meaningful to us, so continue sharing your stories and spread the love! #luciatheluchadora
www.facebook.com/luciatheluchadora
Lucia The Luchadora Updates
How have I not written about this experience yet?
Lucia the Luchadora has been the most exciting happening of 2017! As far as I know from the publisher, she has entered at least 6400 bookshelves since March! I feel so honored to have worked on this fierce multigenerational Latina power story! Here are some of the highlights:
So much praise for Lucia!
The first exciting thing to happen was the Kirkus starred review. This being my first major publishing experience, I didn't know how big of a deal this was. The Kirkus review and the School Library Journal were the first major praise for the book. Here are some excerpts:
Woohoo!!
I read one of the reviews for Lucia about 1000 times - Review of the Day by Elizabeth Bird. I think we all cried a little reading that one. She offered such amazing detail about the story, its importance and what her favorite elements were. She even offered some constructive feedback which I am always open to hearing. I loved what she said about the book's endpapers -
"And did I mention the endpapers? Boy, you know I like a book when I start waxing eloquent on endpapers. The first ones you see display testimonial images to both Lucia’s abuela’s life (wedding photos, pictures of her cat, icons of Mary, lighted candles) and her loves (El Santo, her luchadora mask, etc.). Even better, when you turn that first page to look at the title page, the backside of the endpaper is now a repeating pattern of wrestling images done in blue ink. This becomes the pattern on the top of Lucia’s mask on the back endpapers. Who pays attention to that kind of detail?!? Class acts. That’s who."
This review from Building Future Readers says, "It is hard to find picture books that feature diverse characters. This book not only features Mexican culture through the main character it is also a universal and empowering story for girls. The pictures are vibrant and complement the text well and I love the influence from comic books and Mexican culture."
This review from Latinos in Kid Lit says, "The illustrations in this book are beautiful and bright. My favorite illustration shows Lucía when she gets angry. In a full page spread, red and orange peppers surround Lucia to show that she is “spicy mad. KA-POW kind of mad.” The illustrations are very detailed and show careful attention to the depiction of cultural artifacts and symbols such as rosary beads and the abuela’s perfume."
Here is the awesome interview on NPR featuring Lucia the Luchadora author, Cynthia Leonor Garza, "When She's Told Girls Can't Be Superheroes, 'Lucia The Luchadora' Grabs Her Mask" Another fabulous interview for her on Chron...
This review from Books4YourKids says it is, "one of those rare, great kid's books that is diverse without diversity being the subject."
Let's Talk Picture books says, "Even in the backgrounds of every scene Bermudez uses large, sweeping strokes to inject movement and energy into the spread so that readers can't help but want to flip the pages to keep reading. "
This review on SLAM Sports was conducted in part by actual children, so of course I had extra smiles. "I liked the whole idea of girls being super heroes," said Avery. "I also liked how she got 'Spicy mad. Kapow kind of mad.' They were good words."
Thank you world of readers for reading and reacting to this book in such a beautiful way.
Excited to be in Tasmania's newspaper, The Mercury, promoting my book event at Lily & Dot.
I even got to sew this amazing cape to match Lucia!
So much gratitude to everyone involved for making this a special book. Thank you so much, world! It's been an amazing experience!