Over a year ago, Brandon’s YA editor at Tor Books, Susan Chang, approached us with doing something really special with the reissues of the Alcatraz books. The concept basically came down to this: Let’s fill it with illustrations. Fueled by memories of illustrated books from our own childhoods, Susan and I sat down at Westercon last year and brainstormed illustration ideas for the Evil Librarians series. Then I took to the internet to find the right person to bring the vision of the interior illustrations to life.
(Mild-but-really-amazing-looking-so-it’s-worth-it spoilers for Alcatraz vs. The Evil Librarians ahead.)
I love working with professionals who are already fans of Brandon’s books. The love of the stories adds a certain extra fire. It becomes not just a job, but a labor of love. So that’s where I started. I wanted to see which artists had already been inspired by Alcatraz vs. The Evil Librarians, and eventually I found a match.
Hayley Lazo. This image in particular caught my eye. I love the attitude she gave Bastille. I thought, “This artist gets it.” And later I saw more of her work related to Brandon’s worlds, The Knights of Crystallia. And a Shallan/How to Train your Dragon mashup, “How to Train Your Chasmfiend.”
Not only does she get Brandon’s work. She loves it, so I contacted her and asked if she’d be interested in illustrating the Evil Librarians books. Her exact response:
“I hope you don’t take offense if my first thought is that you’re pulling my leg.”
I assured her that it wasn’t a joke, and we worked on getting a proposal ready for Susan, which was later accepted. So, let me introduce you to Hayley Lazo, also known as Art-Zealot on Deviantart. I asked Hayley to tell us a little about herself.
“I graduated with a Graphic Design BFA from James Madison University, but if this experience has taught me anything, it’s that pursuing the things that really sing to you will get you places faster than traditional education (not that I didn’t learn anything there or meet awesome people, but most of the things in my portfolio are self-motivated projects). My personal motto kind of sums up my interests: Storyteller first, Artist second. Pretty much all of the art I make is either based on my own narratives or someone else’s, and one of the reasons I got so invested in Sanderson’s work is because of how visually compelling it is. I’m beyond honored by this opportunity.”
Welcome to the team, Hayley! And to the rest of you, take a look at the sketches she’s putting together for the Evil Librarians series. Wow! They fit the feel of the books perfectly. I can’t wait for you all to get your hands on the finished books. In the meantime, Hayley, Susan, and I will get back to work on these awesome stories.
From Chapter 3:
From Chapter 7:
From Chapter 8:
From Chapter 10:
From Chapter 14:
From Chapter 15:
Despite reading most of Sanderson’s work, I have avoided the Alcatraz books so far. Looks like that won’t be possible once these versions come out.
I like Hayley’s style. Good job in picking her!
I love the style of the images above, pencil style drawings like that are a real throwback to a lot of books I remember as a child. The Sword Drawing one feels a little modern and out of place, but I’m sure it fits in context.
On the theme of Evil Librarians, I also want a shout out for my favourite con badge source – The Island of Dr Geof
http://islandofdoctorgeof.co.uk/shop/
A friend proudly wears the Evil Librarian one below, and I have Evil Scientist and Evil Technician on various work equipment.
Sweet! I’m holding off on actually buying any of the Alcatraz until these come out.
Actually, I just hadn’t gotten around to it yet, but once I heard Tor was re-releasing them, I figured I’d just wait. Ah, the rewards of patience.
My son turned me onto this series after he read it in 4th grade and just absolutely loved it… He even dressed as Alcatraz for Halloween a couple years ago. Cant wait to get an end to the series.
Wow, those look great! I’m looking forward to re-reading them once these are released.
Hayley is amazing! I’m a long time fan of her work, and so happy for her. I know this has been a dream come true for her, and she’s passionate about what she does. Can’t wait to see how this pans out.
@@@@@ 2 Mayhem
What are you talking about? Swords are far more advanced than primitive hushlander guns. Just ask Bastille (seriously the use of political propaganda in these books is both hilarious and oddly plausible despite being youth-oriented literature).
As an aside do the alcatraz books have official (re)release dates yet?
How exciting! My 10yr old daughter picked Grandpa Smedry immediately. Guess we’ll be purchasing a second copy of the books.
@7
Nothing to do with a sword being anachronistic – I love the idea behind the image.
It’s more that the precise sharp line style of that picture conflicts with the rough sketchy nature of the other images. I expect there are probably a few other modern anime style images in other chapters not shown that make it feel less of an outlier.
I am so proud of and excited for Hayley and know that she will rise to this challenge with grace and gusto!
Thanks for the comments, everyone! Hayley is doing an amazing job, and I can’t wait for you to see everything that’s going into the reissues of the books. Just as a note, a lot of these images are still in their rough form and will all be refined like the image from Chapter 14.
@Isaac
That makes more sense. Looking forward to seeing the finished ones.
I do still like the style of the roughs though, reminds me of books like the Phantom Tollbooth.
I went out of my way to get all the Alcatraz hardcovers right about the time they officially went out of print…. looks like I’m going to have to spring for the new versions to share with my kids.
Will we finally get e-book versions of these wonderful stories?
This looks amazing, and I can’t wait!
I have a request for TOR, though. I currently own the omnibus published in the UK (couldn’t get my hands on the individual original volumes), and as anyone who has read the Alcatraz series knows, Sanderson had his narrator play some wonderful games with telling the reader to do things like refer to previous pages and turn the book sideways or upside-down, and generally had Alcatraz self-reference the text all over the place. The UK edition did not take this into account, and so my copy has broken page number references, and no smiley face (which is the biggest bummer). My request is thus: when the new editions of these books are released, please make sure the text still functions as originally intended!
…Getting off my soapbox now. Thanks! : )
So proud of Haley, one of the finest illustrators ever to grace my classroom! Tor books, you will not be disappointed.