iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

John Nez @johnnez.bsky.social · 04/12/2025

#kidlitartpostcard Here’s my #kidlitartpostcard I write and illustrate all sorts of books - with a mostly whimsical tone. My website is johnnez.com and lots more art here: linktr.ee/johnnez I’m quick, friendly and very efficient with Indesign bookmaking skills - real & digital & mixed.

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John Nez @johnnez.bsky.social · 13/11/2025

It happened when the finish copies of my book about Twins was published and released. I had never seen a finished copy yet… but then the publisher mailed the package to a strange & incorrect address… about 4 blocks downhill from me. continued on johnnez.substack.com

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John Nez @johnnez.bsky.social · 02/10/2025

I write and illustrate all sorts of books. My art is at linktr.ee/johnnez I’m quick, friendly and efficient. Just email me if you see anything you like... thanks!

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John Nez @johnnez.bsky.social · 01/09/2025

Here's a closeup. It's a lot of fun having an ebike... last year, I have to say, I went every day when it wasn't actually raining downpours.

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John Nez @johnnez.bsky.social · 01/09/2025

Got my new CityRun... and here I am putting it together, down in the basement! Yay! Some crook stole my bicycle last week... but now I have an even better replacement... so there! Soon those long agony uphill pedals will be like gliding downhill!

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John Nez @johnnez.bsky.social · 20/08/2025

I belong to that group of user who are digitally disabled... there are so many things that it's not worth my while to even try. These were some of my first sketches... ink on newsprint. I just taught myself to draw... art school didn't help. It was more fun to just do it myself...

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John Nez @johnnez.bsky.social · 18/08/2025

Since I can't get Bluesky to sign me in on my iPad, I probably only see it when I'm on the desktop... which is sort of rarely. I wonder why Facebook seems to work better than all the other apps for social media?

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John Nez @johnnez.bsky.social · 07/08/2025

Here’s my #kidlitartpostcard #… I write and illustrate all sorts of books - with a mostly whimsical tone. My website is johnnez.com and lots more art here: linktr.ee/johnnez New email is john.nez@icloud.com #kidlitillustration #kidlitartist #picturebook

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John Nez @johnnez.bsky.social · 03/07/2025

#kidlitartpostcard At last, it's my #kidlitartpostcard I write and illustrate all sorts of books. My art is at linktr.ee/johnnez I’m quick, friendly and efficient.

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John Nez @johnnez.bsky.social · 25/06/2025

It’s a miracle to be able to post anything to an iPad in a forum… lol! I’m trying to find a photo of the large pile of dummy books of mine… lol! But here’s my cat watching over a book I started out in WC and finished in photoshop… historical non-fiction. And a TRUE story!

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John Nez @johnnez.bsky.social · 25/06/2025

Also, I have a whole stack of finished dummy books to send out to publishers. But it’s insulting to only get back a form letter “If we don’t hear back from you in two months, it means we aren’t interested…” lol! Here’s another sketch from a dummy…

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John Nez @johnnez.bsky.social · 25/06/2025

I get excited about just making paintings on canvas and not locking my creativity up with chains & padlocks by waiting for some editor to like it. Here’s a collection of some of my canvases.

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John Nez @johnnez.bsky.social · 14/06/2025

Nice turnout on Red Sqare at the UW in Seattle. Lots of protestors from the Vietnam Era. I heard one guy say ‘I’m so used to protesting, it brings it all back’. ‘Stop Being Evil!’ Good slogan and accurate.

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John Nez @johnnez.bsky.social · 23/04/2025

Here’s a page from an old book dummy. I need to get back to dummy making. #kidlitart #kidlit

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John Nez @johnnez.bsky.social · 20/03/2025

My portfolio just kept getting smaller & smaller. I remember when I went to the New York Times for a portfolio review, all the other artists in line, waiting for the AD had little tiny portfolios. Now they're all just online. But it was so much fun back then to be out & about in NYC #kidlitart

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John Nez @johnnez.bsky.social · 12/03/2025

The sunday painter, paints again... Why? Because it can be fun... and they be put in golden frames. #kidlitart

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John Nez @johnnez.bsky.social · 08/03/2025

Here's a fun image... side x side - from sketch cover to printed out book. #kidlitart

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John Nez @johnnez.bsky.social · 06/03/2025

Happy #kidlitartpostcard ! I write and illustrate all sorts of books. My art is at linktr.ee/johnnez I’m quick, friendly and very efficient with Indesign bookmaking skills - real & digital & mixed.

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John Nez @johnnez.bsky.social · 04/03/2025

A year ago was I read how a psychic predicted that America and Europe will be at war. I thought it sounded totally looney... and impossible. But Felon Kraznov is sure trying. I like this part of the UW campus, by Red Square, where a faux church complements the Library Church of Suzzalo Library.

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John Nez @johnnez.bsky.social · 28/02/2025

It was just one of those days when I wondered what colors to choose. #kidlitart

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John Nez @johnnez.bsky.social · 23/02/2025

Squarespace - it's not exactly an easy tool... and I find it's one that requires lots of refreshing one's skill after a few months without using it. Since it uses like 3 different apps - Squarespace, Photos, Adobe PDF & Apple Finder - it takes lots of trial and error. Whew! #kidlitart

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John Nez @johnnez.bsky.social · 22/02/2025

Life as a children's bookmaker open.substack.com/pub/johnnez/... It's the little mouse of happiness that keeps me going... somehow. I does seem illogical, given the complexity of earning a living that a little mouse could accomplish so much.

open.substack.com

Life as a children's bookmaker

It's basically just making things up

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John Nez @johnnez.bsky.social · 17/02/2025

I got to try out my French and they probably thought - ‘typical American’. So I googled a few phrases, and made do. Soon they've have translation devices that fit in one's eyeglasses. I understand they don’t even wear berets in France! And the hotels are cheaper than Best Westerns. #kidlitart

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John Nez @johnnez.bsky.social · 14/02/2025

open.substack.com/pub/johnnez/... The fun of making art seems to contradict everything in the real world... but fun made it possible, somehow. #kidlitart

open.substack.com

How I learned to be an artist…

No one asked me if I went to art school

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John Nez @johnnez.bsky.social · 13/02/2025

This was my book about monkeys that ran away from the Central Park Zoo. I was lucky to have rescued the original email offer from Tiger Tales that somehow ended up in my trash... #kidlitart

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John Nez @johnnez.bsky.social · 09/02/2025

Pen & Ink is what makes illustration go... But there are lots of fun improvs on the basic theme.

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John Nez @johnnez.bsky.social · 07/02/2025

That was fun watching the Zoom recording about Storytelling about Nonhuman Minds: A Conversation with Two Acclaimed Authors I think that's my 3rd zoom I've ever been in... interesting conversation. Anyone with a pet or who loves watching those 'animals in peril' videos could relate...

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John Nez @johnnez.bsky.social · 06/02/2025

Here’s my #kidlitpostcard I write and illustrate all sorts of books. My art is at linktr.ee/johnnez I’m quick, friendly and efficient.

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John Nez @johnnez.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

I mean, doesn’t a scene like this just beg for some storylines to go with it? I think so… and I have them. Originally I had two ideas for stories… but after looking at it years later, I now only like one of them. It’s simpler, more fun, with a much better form as far as the words go. #kidlitart

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John Nez @johnnez.bsky.social · 14/01/2025

Hi Portfolio Day! Here's some of my pix for kids books. Lots of book project art and stories, since I write too. I was an English major... lol! #kidlitart www.johnnez.com john@johnnez.com

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John Nez @johnnez.bsky.social · 13/01/2025

Nothing quite like a fireman book... makes for colorful pages. #kidlitart

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John Nez @johnnez.bsky.social · 30/12/2024

I like making dummy picture books... here's an example of one. Then I change the line color to light blue... and add the text. It's all on layers in photoshop files that are placed with Indesign. That's what I do for fun... #kidlitart. #dummybooks

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John Nez @johnnez.bsky.social · 22/12/2024

My Holiday Card... from Seattle, where the weather has been drear. But at every 'sunbreak' I'm quick to plug in my battery and ride my e-bike down the trail. Such an odd Holiday season - drones filling the skies instead of Santa & his Reindeer. Rudolph has a whole new gig... Happy Holidays!

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John Nez @johnnez.bsky.social · 05/12/2024

Here’s my #kidlitpostcard I’m John Nez - author & illustrator - currently self repped - I write and illustrate all sorts of books. My links are at linktr.ee/johnnez I’m quick, friendly and efficient with bookmaking skills - real & digital & mixed.

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John Nez @johnnez.bsky.social · 23/11/2024

My new #Folktaleweek painting. Actually it's an old painting, done in real acrylics... painted years ago. Snow White is about to take a bite of the apple... #kidlitart

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John Nez @johnnez.bsky.social · 20/11/2024

For this #Folktaleweek I have some pages from 'The Dragonpainter' book I did, for a publisher in the UK. #kidlitart

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John Nez @johnnez.bsky.social · 19/11/2024

Talking about brushstrokes in photoshop... and here's an example of how many there are. The brushstroke squiggles at the bottom are from the top two rows of brushes in grid of brushes in photoshop. Add then add textures and colors and opacity levels. www.instagram.com/p/DCkKKkzT9R8/ #kidlitart

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John Nez @johnnez.bsky.social · 18/11/2024

#Folktaleweek Let the magic fly! This was my cover of ‘The Birdcharmers’… a book Iiked more than Harry Potter.

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John Nez @johnnez.bsky.social · 15/11/2024

bsky.app/profile/john... Now I see these books will be relevant once again... sadly.

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John Nez @johnnez.bsky.social · 15/11/2024

I’m trying out a ‘feed’ since I don’t have any idea what one is. Here’s from my Xmas book…

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John Nez @johnnez.bsky.social · 13/11/2024

One of the many joys of photoshop, is the power of layers. You can do so much with layers... pencil, ink, watercolors all make it fun. #kidlitart

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John Nez @johnnez.bsky.social · 11/11/2024

Need some recent photos… to fill the present, as I proceed to extinguish the past. Bike ride & cat.

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John Nez @johnnez.bsky.social · 03/11/2024

Of course I voted! I find it’s very relaxing to have accomplished the task. I’ve voted in every election since Hubert Humphrey… and I have never once, ever voted for a Republican.

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John Nez @johnnez.bsky.social · 23/10/2024

@skypitch.bsky.social There once was a beautiful lake in the woods where the blue bird sang... but it was ruined by people moving in, who polluted it then abandoned it. The changes time brought made it a place of wonder… trees grew tall, wild things moved in… Nature happened. I also did the art

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John Nez @johnnez.bsky.social · 21/10/2024

@skypitch.bsky.social Looks interesting… maybe I’ll give it a try. I tried a pitch on Twitter and it was a 100% zero, which can be worse than only getting a few likes.

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John Nez @johnnez.bsky.social · 21/10/2024

From some pages of my Halloween book... nothing quite like a barn and Halloween critters for living it up. #kidlitart

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John Nez @johnnez.bsky.social · 16/10/2024

A giant pile of assorted pumpkins in front of the store... but I haven't chosen one yet. Instead I make them up from pixels. Giant skeletons are everywhere, rope sized spider webs stretch to the roofs. More junk than Xmas... where do they store it all? #kidlitart

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John Nez @johnnez.bsky.social · 10/10/2024

I find it's interesting how well my very first illustration attempts hold up. I painted these with a grade-school watercolor tin, but most importantly I had my own unschooled ideas about the forms. I still like them... #kidlitart

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