Back in 2008, I attended an illustrator breakfast hosted by the Vancouver Children’s Literature Roundtable. The guest speaker was Shaun Tan, one of my favourite contemporary illustrators. At that point, The Lost Thing was undergoing a transformation into an animated short. Now, 2 years later, I have come across a post on the Lines and Colours blog about the completion of the short.

It’s lovely to see all of Shaun Tan’s fantastic textures and colours translated so well into animation. And the slouchy movement of the main character feels exactly right. But wow – several years to produce a 15 minute short! Looking at the production drawings it’s easy to see why. I’m looking forward to seeing the whole thing.

View the trailer, more info on the book and a bunch of production drawings on The Lost Thing website. http://www.thelostthing.com/

And since I’m here, I should mention that if you’re in Vancouver this October 16, 2010, are a fan of children’s literature, and would like to spend a morning listening to an extremely talented children’s book illustrator, The VCLR is hosting another illustrator breakfast. This time the guest is Pierre Pratt.

For more info, here’s a direct link to the registration form (pdf) or visit the VCLR website (unfortunately no direct link to the event info, but the flyer is currently at the top of their home page).