Lisa Johnston Hancock

Santiago and Great Bear: Pre-Order Your Copy Today!

I’m happy to share the cover of Santiago and Great Bear, a friendship written in the stars, published by Free Spirit Publishing, June 30, 2026.

Read more below about the BOOK LAUNCH for my debut picture book!

I’ve had so much fun working on this book and I can’t wait for you to see it!

“Santiago and Great Bear tells the story of Santiago, a city boy who feels lonely after moving to the countryside. At the sight of the only constellation he knows, Santiago wishes for a new friend. When he is losing hope his wish will ever come true, Great Bear falls from the sky. But this new friend can’t stay forever. In this beautiful tale of friendship and silver linings, debut author-illustrator Lisa Johnston Hancock uses a limited palette that perfectly matches the sparse text. The story also includes an informational component, in which the phases of the moon are explored through illustrations. Back matter is included to further examine constellations, specifically Ursa Major, also known as the Great Bear, and the use of stars for navigational purposes. Readers learn about the beginning and endings of moon phases, and friendships.”

Santiago and Great Bear is now available for pre-order, in hard back picture book format and ebook, at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Also through the Teacher Created Materials website, where teachers and librarians can receive a discount. If you order through Bookshop.org, a portion of the proceeds goes to your favorite indie bookshop.

Thank you to my agent Ana Crespo and the team at Free Spirit.

I received confirmation today, that The Haunted Bookshop, in Mobile, AL is going to host a launch party for Santiago and Great Bear, with a meet-and-greet, champagne for adults, capri suns for kids, story time and book signing. Please save the date for Tuesday, June 30, 2026, 5:30 pm.

I’m planning other events in California and select cities in the U.S. so stay tuned for more to come.

Drop your email address below to stay updated on book events! Thank you for your continued support.

Monochromatic Landscape

Hi friends!

This afternoon is my last Shore Art Club class for the fall session. I am teaching how to paint a monochromatic landscape. The composition was inspired by a few landscape images that I saved from a California National Parks calendar. Today I got ready to work on my lesson. I gathered all of my supplies and sat down to make the demo. Then decided that it would be a good opportunity to make another tutorial!

You can find How To Draw and Paint a Monochromatic Landscape on my YouTube channel here.

What is a monochromatic color scheme?

A monochromatic color scheme is when you use one color with white and black to make tints and shades. Adding white to a color creates tints and adding black to a color creates shades. Be sure to have more than three values. Five to seven is ideal for adding depth. A monochromatic color palette is a simple, dynamic way to have a unified color scheme throughout your painting.

Here are a few other inspirational photos that I found on Unsplash.com, a great resource for royalty free images.

I hope that I have inspired you to try a monochromatic color palette in your work. Grab your materials and come paint with me!

What’s under all of those feathers?

Hi Friends!

I have a new art video up on my YouTube channel. In this video we will use simple shapes to build the structure of a barn owl. You will learn about the anatomy of the bird with a step-by-step instruction on how to create those tricky feathers.

Barn owls are known as the farmer’s favorite owl because they help to keep the pest numbers down. They have great eye sight because of the scleral bone or facial disk. This allows them to detect movement with hardly any light. They also have excellent hearing. The light body, big wings and soft feathers all help the bird fly quietly through the night. Because of this, these birds are often known as ghost owls, or night owls.

Where do you find barn owls? Generally out in the open countryside or farmland. They like to hunt over open fields, looking for small mammals like mice and voles. Barn owls get their name from the fact that they used to nest in old farm houses or barns. These owls will still nest in human made structures. You can also find them nesting in tree cavities, caves, or burrows.

Barn owls are known as an indicator species. If they are around, that indicates a healthy food chain. Have you seen a barn owl in your area?

Grab your sketchbook and come draw with me here!

Step-by-Step: How to Draw Stylized Characters

Hi Friends!

Have you ever wanted to know how an illustrator creates stylized characters? Every artist is different. I like to start by working from reference images of a subject in a realistic style. I then use those sketches and drawings to create a more stylized character. One example is the Great Bear, a character in my new picture book Santiago and the Great Bear. It will be published in 2026.

I have a new art tutorial on YouTube, detailing my process for creating stylized characters. I use the Procreate App and my iPad Pro with an Apple Pencil. You can also do this exercise on paper with a 6B pencil and eraser.

If you like the video and want to see more drawings of a particular animal, please make a suggestion. Comment on this post with your ideas!

As always, thank you for reading.

Creative Reflections and Artistic Shifts

Yesterday I gave my website a little update. I wasn’t happy with the “blog roll” of images on the home page. Now as a user, you have a static image, one of my current favorites, and the menu where one can poke around and see my illustration work (kidlit work), fine art work (watercolors), shop and learn (art tutorials).

I plan to post more of what’s going behind the scenes this year, in my Newsletter. Maybe you have heard, but Meta has been scraping work from artists, without their permission. I suppose that this has been happening ever since the creation of social media, they just made a formal announcement about it. Since I heard this news, I haven’t posted as much on social media. In fact, it made me a little depressed if I’m being honest. We work so hard to experiment and create something new that we feel expresses our uniqueness, and it’s copied for computer generated imagery. It’s all so weird. For fun, the image below is an AI generated image, inspired by my images, that WordPress created for this post. I do like the color palette, LOL.

I’ve had one positive outcome from all of this. It’s made me think about exactly what I’m creating and who it’s for. I realized that I was creating imagery for Instagram! Specifically art directors and editors, but all of my work was square. The spread at the top is a rework of an older image (see below) that I just added to my illustration page. I really want to do more nonfiction book work, so I’m working on a few new spreads for my website that I will be sharing in October. Now that I’m comparing the two, maybe I should add more light to the one up top. What do you think?

I’ve also been feeling the pull to work on wildlife fine art painting again. The sea turtle below illustrates the kind of imagery that I was doing when my kids were little. It’s one of my favorite paintings that I made from that series. I had it for sale at one point, but then decided to keep it and make prints to sell in my shop. I plan to add more in November so please do check back for prints of Sea Turtle Interior.

When we moved to California I didn’t have all of my art supplies with me, so I turned to the iPad. I use Procreate for all of my book work. It’s so versatile, I can take it with me and I can save the files as PSD and work in Photoshop too. But it’s a screen. Lately I’ve been trying to spend less time on social media, and less time on screens in general. I joined a group on Substack to try and get back into my sketchbook practice. I can’t seem to create a schedule that I can stick to though.

I listen to audiobooks when I’m exercising, working on art or doing daily tasks. While listening, the character mentioned the Pomodoro Technique. It’s a mind-set that helps you develop more efficient work habits. The technique has a standard 25 minute work interval and a 5 minute break, but you can create your own schedule.

Has anyone used this technique? Has it worked for you? Please let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

The weather is lovely in Southern California right now and I can’t wait to get outside and explore. Thank you again for reading. More to come.

New Picture Book Deal

It’s happening…albeit rather slowly. It takes a long time to have your work published and the timeline is surprising. The process is long and extends years beyond the creation stage. I won’t get into that right now. Today I want to talk about the inspiration for this story. This picture book manuscript and dummy began almost 5 years ago. The story has changed and grown over time, but the heart of the story remains. The idea for this book originated from memories of my childhood. I remember exploring our family land. There, I found plenty of open space and, what seemed like, endless stars in the sky.

My background is in art education. For many years, I worked as an Adjunct Professor. I taught Art Appreciation, Drawing & Painting classes. Even after I had my daughter, I continued teaching. When my son came along, I decided to stay home with my children. I began working as a fine artist, making gallery work. I started researching wildlife and exhibiting watercolor paintings. My daughter became interested in the sky and the constellations that were represented through animals. We searched for them at night and checked out picture books from the library. I found that it was difficult for me to find picture books about constellations that had a story line. Most of the books that we found were nonfiction/informational. I wanted to write a fictional story for children. In doing so, I aimed to teach them about constellations, the moon, and the natural world.

I started with a manuscript that was not good. But it was an idea. I made an illustration of the Ursa Major constellation walking with a boy, using watercolor layers and procreate. During a portfolio review, an art director asked, “Do you have a story for the boy and the bear image?”

Publishers Marketplace Announcement for Santiago and the Great Bear

SANTIAGO AND THE GREAT BEAR tells the story of Santiago, a city boy who feels lonely after moving to the countryside. At the sight of the only constellation he knows, Santiago wishes for a new friend. When he is losing hope his wish will ever come true, Great Bear falls from the sky. But this new friend can’t stay forever.

Note that the publisher has moved the date from 2025 to 2026. This often happens when the editing and marketing team work together. Still, I am so excited to share this story with you. Now, I realize that it gives me more time to make the book the best it can be. It also gives me extra time to work with the marketing team and brainstorm book tour ideas. Two years seems like a long time, but it goes by so fast.

Thank you for following along on my creative journey. More to come!

You Matter

This 2020 year has been a rollercoaster of emotions for me, especially as a United States citizen. How are you holding up? From Covid-19 to our current state (that has been a long time coming). However you are feeling, I just want you to know that you matter. Your voice is important in this world and you are needed. I hope you are able to find peace, love and understanding.

“Having a mixed world is what its all about. Certainly it makes it a lot more beautiful and more interesting.” – Meghan Markle

Etsy Shop Makeover

Hi Everyone!

I know it’s been awhile since you heard from me so I thought that I would give you an update……

In January, I moved with my family to Southern California! You are most likely thinking, “Why did you move to California from Alabama right before a pandemic?” Well it seemed like a good idea at the time, although maybe the timing was not so great. California has so many wonderful parks, beaches, art museums etc. and it was a good raise for my husband. Since the stay at home order, plans have been put on hold and all of our belongings are still in storage. I am in the thick of homeschooling and trying to figure out how to entertain a 4 and 6 year old. Big boxes and bubble wrap are good substitutes for rockets and slip and slides, apparently. We learn something new every day, the weather is beautiful, the birds are singing and you can still get out and walk the neighborhood for some fresh air. Plus, it looks like things are starting to open back up this weekend including some beaches. Yay!

Speaking of opening back up (did you like that subtle transition?) my Etsy shop is open! I gave the shop a slight makeover including digital downloads, adding a more affordable option for home decor. The majority of my previous inventory is in storage but I decided to make new prints and am working on a new collection that I will be adding next month! For now, you can take a look at what I have available by clicking on the link. As always, thank you for your support and kind comments on social media. You all keep me going with your positive energy! If you don’t follow me via social media and would like to, you can find the links on my web site. I’m on Instagram, Facebook & Twitter!

Stay healthy and keep making!

Best,

Lisa

https://www.etsy.com/shop/LisaJohnstonHancock?ref=seller-platform-mcnav

Tufted Titmouse Sale

TuftedTitmouse

The Tufted Titmouse (with the cutest name ever) is a small songbird from North America. We have these cute little guys visiting our bird feeder all year long. They like to take one sunflower seed at a time and then fly back into the oak trees with the prize.

Some believe that a Tufted Titmouse appearing to you in your dreams or waking life is a message that your life is about to change. The Tufted Titmouse is a reminder that blessings are forthcoming.

This is an original watercolor dry mounted on archival mat board, in this beautiful weathered turquoise frame. The holidays are fast approaching! An original work of art would be something unique to give to your special person.

It is currently ON SALE at Marnee’s Studio in Mobile, AL. Check it out at www.marneestudio.com

Thank you for your continued support friends!

Inktober 2018

Hi Friends!

Its that time of year again! During the month of October, illustrators from all over will be participating in something known as Inktober. What is Inktober? It is an illustration initiative started by Jake Parker in 2009. This is a great way to improve upon your technique or try out new pens and brushes. Drawing every day also helps you to develop good drawing habits. https://www.mrjakeparker.com/inktober-1/ Parker says that “Anyone can do Inktober, just pick up a pen and start drawing.” You do not have to be an illustrator and you do not have to post on social media. Do it for yourself! However, if you do post on social media make sure to use the hashtag inktober or inktober2018. You just might get a feature!

If you would like to see my daily sketches, please follow my Instagram account @lisajohnstonhancock, Twitter @LisaJHancockArt or facebook art page pagehttps://www.facebook.com/lisajohnstonhancockart/

Happy inking!

Marsh Rabbit

My newest work “Marsh Rabbit” will be a part of the Watercolor & Graphic Arts Society (of Mobile) Fall Show at the Mobile Arts Council in Mobile, AL. The opening reception will be during the Art Walk on October 12 from 6:00 – 9:00 pm. It will be available for purchase with 20% of the sale going to help support the Mobile Arts Council’s mission. Hope to see you there!

MarshRabbit