Marley and Me
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
My cohort in crime, Richard...
My children's book "Bad Dog, Marley!" has spent the last couple weeks at #1 on The New York Times children's picture-book list, which thrills me. I say "my" book, but it's really "our" book. "Bad Dog" definitely was a collaboration, and my partner was Richard Cowdrey, a talented artist living and working in Ohio who took my words and ideas and turned them into charming, magical illustrations. Not only that, but he did it on a very short deadline, completing his work in a fraction of the usual time. Good job, Richard!
My wonderful editor at HarperCollins Children's Books, Maria Modugno, had given me the final say in choosing the artist to illustrate my book. And Richard was my hands-down favorite. As it turns out, he was Maria's hands-down favorite, too. His early rough sketches of Marley and Marley's family won us all over. I guess I don't have to tell you, Richard has a goofy Lab of his own at home, Murphy, which helps explain how uncannily he managed to capture the spirit of these animals.
Anyway, I wanted to introduce you to Richard, thank him in this forum for his amazing work, and share a feature story about him that ran in an Ohio newspaper this week:
Gambier artist illustrates best-selling children’s book
By Mark Jordan, News Staff Reporter
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
GAMBIER — “I believe that everybody’s gifted,” said Richard Cowdrey as he sat in his studio, surrounded by pictures, paints, pencils and books, with windows overlooking a peaceful rural pond. “It’s just a matter of finding where one’s gifts lay.”
The 48-year-old father of four, and grandfather of four, said he is grateful he found exactly where his talents lay: Illustration.
“Without the art thing,” he said with a grin, “I’d be in serious trouble. I was not a good student.”
Cowdrey is a freelance illustrator who has designed and executed artwork for clients all over the world, including the official poster and program for Superbowl XXXII in 1998, calendars for Longaberger Baskets and ads for Abercrombie & Fitch. In more recent years, he has achieved success as an illustrator of children’s books, particularly with the release of “Bad Dog, Marley!” based on the best-selling book “Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World’s Worst Dog” by John Grogan. “Bad Dog, Marley!” entered the New York Times Bestsellers List for Hardback Children’s Fiction at No. 7 four weeks ago and has been at No. 1 for two weeks now.
Cowdrey has steadily built his career and reputation for over 25 years. After graduating from the Columbus College of Art and Design, Cowdrey worked for Hallmark in Kansas City for a time, then moved to Vermont and began to establish himself as a freelancer. He admits it was tough getting started.
“I’d been married a short while and had a baby on the way right after that,” Cowdrey said. “So it was right into the frying pan. In the beginning, it was piecemeal, whatever [work] I could get. But one thing leads to another.”
In time, he picked up an agent in Boston, and, later, one in New York.
From Vermont, Cowdrey brought his family to rural Knox County 13 years ago. Originally from Cincinnati, Cowdrey returned to Ohio to be near family. Cowdrey and his wife, Cindy, began to search for a home reasonably close to, yet still outside, the Columbus metropolitan area. They were stopped in their tracks by Gambier, which reminded them of a small New England village. That narrowed their search to the vicinity of Gambier, where the Cowdreys found a nine-acre site on a gravel road in Harrison Township. The illustrator’s studio sits on the shore of a large, stocked pond, down the hill from the house and the carefully tended garden.
“Thirteen years later, my wife and I still go, ‘Wow!’” Cowdrey said, looking out the window over the pond to the pine woods beyond.
The studio is filled with desks and tables for drawing and painting. One desk is devoted to Cowdrey’s computer.
“I have a big iMac with all the bells and whistles,” Cowdrey said. “The thing is, as I’ve told people, it’s like I have a Jaguar and no driver’s license. I do use it for e-mail, and I can scan my sketches and send them. That’s the limit of my abilities.”
According to Maria Modugno, vice president and editorial director of HarperCollins Children’s Books, Cowdrey was one of many illustrators considered for the job.
“We wanted somebody who could capture a contemporary feeling, with a lot of energy,” said Modugno. “Those are two qualities that Marley has in overabundance.”
After the field was narrowed to six candidates, each illustrator submitted sketches for a scenario from the book.
“Richard’s were far and away the best,” said Modugno. “The author John Grogan said, ‘This guy must have a Lab!’”
And such was the case. Grogan’s book is about a big, sloppy yellow Lab named “Marley.” Cowdrey has a big, sloppy yellow Lab named “Murphy.”
Cowdrey remembers his first impression of the book.
“I know this dog,” Cowdrey said to himself after reading one chapter. “I know this story.”
He fell in love with the project and worked hard to win it.
And win it he did, in late October 2006, when Grogan selected Cowdrey as the illustrator he wanted. Cowdrey had less than three months to go from his initial sketches to finished acrylic paintings, which, according to Modugno was a “break-neck pace,” but he was able to meet the deadlines.
“I ended up pulling a few all-nighters, which I hadn’t done in years,” said Cowdrey. “It about killed me.”
The book was rushed through production and released in May with a large print run of hundreds of thousands of copies. Cowdrey said he is proud not only of the book’s success, but also in his original contributions. He said that although Grogan had a few specific ideas for illustrations, Cowdrey’s input was welcomed. No one dictated to him the details of each painting.
Cowdrey envisioned the poses of the characters, then enlisted the help of a family he knows from church — Mike and Robin McKinley and their daughter, Maria — to pose for reference photographs. He used these reference poses to model his initial sketches, which were then redone as paintings after being approved by the publisher. Cowdrey said he asked the McKinleys to pose because they matched the general verbal descriptions Grogan gave for the main characters in the story. Naturally, Cowdrey’s own dog, Murphy, served as technical reference and model at several points throughout the creation of the illustrations.
Modugno was delighted with Cowdrey’s work, and with Cowdrey himself.
“He’s pretty fabulous,” she said. “He’s a hard worker, he’s talented and he’s agreeable. That’s a very rare combination.”
A sequel is already in the works: “A Very Marley Christmas,” which is slated for release for the 2008 Christmas season. It will adapt further stories from Grogan’s “Marley & Me,” and will again feature illustrations by Richard Cowdrey.
Cowdrey will be doing a book signing at Paragraphs Bookstore in Mount Vernon on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Books will be available for purchase.
posted by John Grogan at 4:13 AM
 
5 Comments:
<< Home
Previous Posts
Powered by 
|
John... parabéns pela história linda e emocionante contada através do livro. Marley e eu é sucesso absoluto aqui no Brasil.
Fiquei extremamente emocionada pois passei por situações semelhantes que as relatadas no seu livro.
Tenho uma adorável poodle de 2 anos e 6 meses chamada Mell, sofri um aborto a quase 1 ano atrás e ela também sentiu muito.
Ela é minha vida, minha verdadeira paixão!!! Nunca posso imaginar viver sem ela!!!
Parabéns mais uma vez e sucesso sempre!!!
Hi Jonh.
I'm from Portugal.
I'm a life guard and beach and a Media Studies (journalist) university student.
Today I end the reading of your book.
I still 'in shok', digesting all that... it had such an impact on me... I feel so so so depply your words.
I was trying to reach your email, but I couldnt found it anywhere, so I will "expose myself here".
I have laugh many many times, feel like it was mt own story, and in the last few days of reading I havent corage to find what was on the end of the story... I wouldnt want it to finish.
But it had to finished so I felt very very anguished and keep on reading very very slow.
I was on the beach... read 5 lines and started involuntary dropping tears and tears and more tears.
I had to spend one whole afternoon reading the last 4 or 5 chapters.
Now I was on the internet seaching everything I could found about you, marley, your family, what's your actual situation, like what do you do, do you have more dogs, what do you feel about all the sucess.
Marley must be really a unforgettable dog, because it was he, and only he who gave you all this: the book, the sucess, the happiness, the 'fans', could you immagine your life without him in your life during that 13 years.
Nowadays its very difficult make a difference, stay in the history, be unforgetable, but I am prety sure Marley and you, will be imortalized forever throught this book. This is so seriouse, do you realize? People in 100, 200, 300 years from now will still read you, you and him :)
I talk to much, and there was so so many other things I would like to tell you. Because I'm also trying to be a journalist, because the biggest passion in my live is animals, because I'm fashinating in know more and more things.
I would like to here from you one day, when you have nothing to do (is it possible?), please right me back.
saralves@gmail.com
Keep the good working, I will follow the news through this website!
*
Greetings from Portugal
Thor & Sara
Hi! First of all, I would like to say 'Congratulations, John!' for having the great idea of writing your dog's life.
I enjoyed the book, although I think that probably Marley suffered more with you than you guys with him. I work with dogs and not only have one but 280 under my protection and I can guarantee that nobody, no children, nothing can change someone's life to the best than a dog or a lovely pet. All pets are lovely, by the way. The problem of the human being is that they think that pets will learn their language and what MUST happen is exactly the opposite, otherwise the pet will ever learn. They don't speak cause they don't need to. I often question myself why do we speak so much and don't understand each other?
So, after all this speach, I would like to give only one advice: take away that "life with the world's worst dog". He gave you all this success. He's far, FAR AWAY FROM BEING THE WORST IN ANYTHING.
Best regards with Gracie,
Paula.
(Brazil).
Hi John,
I love your book! Thanks for sharing your dog's life with us... Dogs are such a blessing to us dog owners...we can learn so much from them and thru them!
Take care and hope to get to know more dog lovers friends from all over the world...
Veronica
www.dogcarezone.com
John, acabei de ler 'Marley e Eu' neste exato minuto, e vim correndo lhe dar os parabéns por este livro tão bem eladorado, o qual me fez tem sentimentos destintos a cada página virada. Desde altas gargalhadas, até um profundo sentimento de tristeza e confortamento.
Tenho uma cachorrinha Poodle, que já tem os seus 11 aninhos de idade, e desde de pequena tem muitos problemas, ela é assim, companheira, do mesmo modo que Marley, e é alguém que já marcou minha vida, de todas as formas.
Sei que sua hora não está muito longe, portanto após a leitura de seu livro, com certeza aproveitarei a vida de maneira melhor, assim como aproveitarei o fato de ela ainda se encontrar ao meu lado. Obrigado e parabéns mais uma vez.
Abraços Natalia.