Denise Brunkus makes Junie B. come to life.
By: Jill Matthews
MONTGOMERY Some students asked for her autograph when she was finished. Others handed her pictures they had drawn for her. And nearly all showed their excitement when she announced a new book would be released soon.
Who was this celebrity wowing kindergarten, first- and second-grade students at Orchard Hill Elementary School Wednesday and Thursday?
None other than Denise Brunkus, a children’s book illustrator.
While many parents may not recognize her name, their children would surely recognize her illustrations most notably, Junie B. Jones, star of the popular children’s book series of the same name.
Ms. Brunkus, at the request of the school’s PTA, spoke with and demonstrated to students how she creates the illustrations for the book series written by Barbara Park.
Ms. Brunkus said when she first began illustrating for the book series 11 years ago, she had to create the main character, Junie B., using the little descriptive information written about her in the first book. The author’s writings gave Ms. Brunkus only slight clues on Junie B.’s appearance, including the fact that she wore new shoes that she kept shiny by licking them, a new skirt that looked velvet and a new fuzzy pink sweater.
With that limited information, Ms. Brunkus said she still did not know what Junie B. looked like, but she did know that she had bad manners and used that to build an image of the character.
"I was the one who decided what the characters would look like based on their manners," said Ms. Brunkus. "The way I dressed her with one sock up and one sock down starts to tell a story about her."
She told the students it took her three days to create Junie B., and it usually takes her about two weeks to finish illustrating an entire Junie B. Jones book.
"The author tells the story with her words, I tell the story through the details," said Ms. Brunkus.
Ms. Brunkus, who said she has been drawing since she was a little girl, also showed the students a slide show of her work through the years. She said she uses images she encounters in books and real-life people, animals and things to get her imagination churning on ideas for characters.
She even once asked her husband to pose for an illustration for the book, "Junie B. Jones and a Little Monkey Business."
"Could you please pose like a monkey?" she asked her husband. "Without missing a beat, he did," she told the students, then showed them a picture of her husband posing as a monkey.
Ms. Brunkus also demonstrated for the students how she draws a character, emphasizing how the use of color and detail can change the feeling of a picture.
"Whatever you choose to do, put your heart in it, practice and, most importantly, have fun," Ms. Brunkus told the students.