dinovember

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Dinovember Day One: Candy Corn Chaos

Dinovember Field Journal: Day One

It began innocently enough.

We awoke to find the dinosaurs frozen atop the dining room table, where appeared to have torn through a bag of candy corn.

No great loss there. Are there a functioning set of tastebuds on this planet who would willingly subject themselves to these waxen, tricolored “treats”?

Even the dinosaurs didn’t seem to have an especially high opinion of their loot. Steggy—always the hapless accomplice, perpetually nibbling at the edges of his companions’ misdeeds—was caught in media res pulling an orange crayon from its box. Don’t worry, Steggy—I’m not sure we could tell the difference either.

It was a tame first night, all things considered.

We had made preparations the night before: locked the messiest foods in the pantry, stowed sharp objects, and hidden the kids’ Halloween candy. We had left the candy corn unguarded, but that says more about the forgettableness of the candy than our readiness for the dinosaurs’ worst.

Today, at least, our precautions were proven unnecessary. Only Rex, the dinosaurs’ de facto leader and puckish purple prince, gave us pause. He had stuck to pieces of the triangular candies into his mouth like fangs. Surely this was only an exercise in silly faces, not an ominous warning of things to come.

We shared a nervous laugh and shrugged it off.

Perhaps this November wouldn’t be so bad.

Until tomorrow,

Refe & Susan Tuma

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Set Design, and "They're in the Walls!"

Making a Picture Book On Location — Part 3

After five years of Dinovember, one photo book, and two children’s picture books, we’ve taken hundreds of pictures of plastic dinosaurs. If dinosaur photography were a legitimate discipline, we’d be the experts.

There are a few ideas we’ve come up with that we’ve never had the chance to photograph but continue to stick with us months, even years later. One idea in particular just wouldn’t let go. 

We wanted to shoot the dinosaurs in a ventilation shaft.

Maybe in a cross-section of wall, or a looking down from above—the details didn’t matter. It became my white whale. Too intricate (and expensive) to shoot for Dinovember, too far outside the simple narrative of What the Dinosaurs Did Last Night, the idea languished in the ‘someday’ file for more than two years.

This is Why God Made Editors

During a call with our publishing team, our editor Mary-Kate mentioned that she wanted to know how the dinosaurs were sneaking from room to room without staff or students noticing.

Susan and I looked at each other and smiled. The time had finally come.

“We have just the thing.”

We sketched a quick storyboard and sent it over. Mary-Kate loved it, we loved it—it was going in the book.

Now we just had to figure out how to pull it off.

Duct Tales

The size duct we needed wasn’t available at the normal hardware stores. The tallest dinosaur, Rex, is about 10", so the duct would have to be at least a foot tall. That meant we had to find a commercial supplier.

We’ve remodeled the kitchen since this was taken and looking back at this photo I want to die a little.

We ended up with a 12"x24" duct, about 6' in length, with an elbow curve for depth. It took up the entire kitchen. 

It became clear early on that we wouldn’t be able to achieve the cross section effect we originally envisioned, but there was a happy holdover— bright pink insulation gave the set a pop of color.

To light the inside of the duct, we cut fan blades out of a piece of cardboard to use as a flag for that classic Die Hard look. A soft light at the front opening highlighted the dinosaurs and their props. 

“We’ll fix it in post.”

We’ve got a rule of thumb we try to stick to when we’re making these books. Over and over again, all through the process, we ask ourselves, “If we were illustrating this scene, is this how we’d draw it?”

Traditional illustrators have much more control over the details of their art; colors, proportions, scenery, light. We can’t even change our dinosaurs’ facial expressions! We only have what we can physically create in time and space.

Sometimes, this means relying on post-production. In the ventilation shaft scene, the metal was highly reflective. The colorful dinosaurs cast red, purple, and green across the walls and ceiling. It distracted from the action of the scene. The silver also came out looking very washed out, especially next to the pink insulation. It was so…utilitarian. So unillustrated.

We erased the reflections (leaving a few that we felt helped keep the set feeling real) and bumped the blues. We also enhanced some of the shadows and messed with a few other things. It ended up being one of our most time-consuming spreads, but we were too thrilled with the results to care.

It’s a great feeling, after all these years, to take a picture that makes it all feel new again. We only hope the kids who read our book enjoy looking at this scene as much as we enjoyed making it. What the Dinosaurs Did At School is available anywhere books are sold.

[dinovember]

What the Dinosaurs Did at School out now!

Our follow-up to What the Dinosaurs Did at School has finally invaded bookstores everywhere and we couldn't be more excited to share it with you.

After conquering the home, the dinosaurs have set out in search of a new adventure. They've stowed away in your backpack and followed you to school!

No room is safe as they make their way from the art room to the library, from the janitor's closet to the science lab—even exploring the ventilation shafts.

Can you catch them before your teacher finds out and locks them in the dreaded DRAWER OF NO RETURN? Toys that go in there are never seen again...

What the Dinosaurs Did at School features the full cast of Dinovember dinosaurs on their worst behavior. Get your kids excited for the upcoming school year and remind them that school can be a place of imagination and exploration.

What the Dinosaurs Did at School is available anywhere books are sold, or you can purchase using these links:  

[dinovember]

There is only one color capable of bringing Red States and Blue States together. That color is Purple.

[dinovember]

November 17: Sometimes the dinosaurs just, like, chill, you know?

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November 16th: The dinosaurs boldly go where no dinosaur has gone before. (The ceiling.)

[dinovember]

That moment when you realize you just broke a mirror underneath a ladder while standing on a crack as your neighbor’s black cat crossed your path on Friday the 13th. (Yes, we’re more than two weeks behind on #Dinovember photos here on the Tumblr—for the full gallery of Dinovember 2015 photos head to our Facebook page!)

[dinovember]

Check out this deleted scene from our new picture book What the Dinosaurs Did Last Night: A Very Messy Adventure. It didn't make it into the book but we love it anyway, so we thought we'd share it with you! Get more info about the book and grab a copy here: http://bit.ly/1KVUjYV

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Day 10: Mabel begins to realize that she wasn’t in for the spa treatment she was promised...

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Day 7: The dinosaurs’ night ended on a real cliffhanger.

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Day 6: We can’t leaf them alone for a second.

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Day 5: “Lay down suppressive fire—WE CAN’T LET THEM KETCHUP!”

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Day 4: “One cup of lemonade? That will be three bacons, please.”

It’s been an unusually warm November, which has the dinosaurs confused about what season it is. Also, economics.

[dinovember]

Hey, Pee-wee Herman thinks our new book is great! Pick up a copy of your very own:

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

IndieBound

iBooks

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Day 3: “I’m sure this is how the humans get bubble gum out of hair. Just add more peanut butter.” (And yes, we’re waaaaay behind on Dinovember here at the Tumblr. More posts to come until we get caught up! In the meantime, head over to the Dinovember Facebook page for the latest photos.)

[dinovember]

Dinovember 2015, Day Two:

Apparently, even the dinosaurs are excited about their home team winning the World Series.

[dinovember]

Dinovember 2015, Day One:

“Vegetables?! The humans will pay for their treachery!