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Kids > Author and Illustrator Exhibits > David Diaz > Educator Guide

The Many Faces of David Diaz Educator Guide

Activities

The Pot That Juan Built bookjacketThe Pot That Juan Built
Juan Quezada is a premier potter in Mexico. Using local materials and the traditional methods of the Casa Grandes people, he creates stunning and unique pots.
  • This story is told in the form of "This Is the House That Jack Built." Think about something that you know how to make and write a story about it in this way.
  • Juan has made his village a famous center for pottery. Create an ad for his pottery that shows or describes why his pots are special.
Wilma Unlimited bookjacketWilma Unlimited
Wilma Rudolph was born a runner until childhood polio paralyzed her left leg. Wilma's determination to walk and run again takes her all the way to the Olympics.
  • Think of some of your heroes. Discuss what makes them exceptional people or draw a picture of them showing why they are your heroes.
  • David Diaz designed the letters that were used to tell the story of Wilma Rudolph. Design a font (a style of letters) and spell out your name with it.
Smoky Night bookjacketSmoky Night
In a night filled with chaos and fire, a boy and his cat discover what it means to be a neighbor to someone they didn't like.
  • Look at the way that the illustrations are framed. What objects from your daily life could you use to create a frame for a photograph or drawing that compliment the picture?
Going Home bookjacketGoing Home
Carlos and his family are going home for Christmas. His parents are excited but Carlos and his sisters are not so sure that Mexico is still their home.
  • Create a map of where you live now and where your family comes from. Include stories or photos of the journey.
  • David Diaz carefully selects the colors he uses to create a mood in the stories he illustrates. Discuss how the colors in Going Home make you feel. How do his pictures in other books make you feel?

Web connections

Biography

David Diaz

David Diaz was born and raised in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He first realized that he wanted to be a "draw-er" when he was in the first grade. His teacher handed out a worksheet to fill in the missing letters. One of the words was "n_se," with a profile of a nose above it. David filled in the "o" and then drew lines to make a face. It was then that he discovered that he had a gift for drawing pictures. He started out drawing animals, faces, anything that struck his fancy using pencils, watercolors and pastel crayons.

When David was in high school, he met his wife Cecelia. They had an 11th-grade art class together. She began a "daily sarcasm session" to catch his attention because he had a girlfriend. His focus then became to see how much he could distract her from her weaving and batik work. From her, he learned to see color and to use it.

Another influence on David in high school was his art teacher, Sandra Tobe. She motivated her students to enter competitions with their work. She planted the idea that you could be successful and make money from doing art. While David was still in high school, she introduced him to Duane Hanson, a "hyperrealist sculptor." He began an apprenticeship with Hanson that lasted through high school and into art school. David attended Fort Lauderdale Art Institute, studying advertising and design.

Other art influences on David at this time were German Expressionist art and the illustrator William Steig. Steig impressed Diaz with "the depth of characterization conveyed in so few lines" and how his artwork changed from "tightly rendered pieces toward a looser line." This is how David developed in his own art.

In 1979, David began to show his portfolio. By then, he and Cecelia were married and they moved from Florida to San Diego, California. His first job there was as a clerk in a film-processing business. David sold his first illustration for $25 to the San Diego Reader. At this time, money was tight, and the car they drove was so bad, they wouldn't park it in front of a client's office. Instead, they would park it a couple of blocks away and walk. In the early years of his career, David had a wide variety of assignments that let him experiment with many different mediums: oil paint, pen and ink, watercolor paints and woodcuts. He would use materials left over from jobs to create a small work to give to his employer. These were well received and David and Cecelia realized they could be used as promotional pieces. They worked together to create limited-edition books.

By 1989, David had done over 5,000 design and art jobs many for national publications and corporate clients. He began to work in "a series of bold, loose, brush-stroke faces." He worked on this style for about three years. In 1992 he went on trip to the Amazon River in Brazil with his brother. Loose sketches of faces from this trip led him to create the style and collage technique he used in the next year-end book called Sweet Peas.

One of the book covers David illustrated caught the eye of an editor at Harcourt, Inc. Diane D'Andrade offered him a contract to illustrate a children's poetry book, Neighborhood Odes by Gary Soto. David gave Diane a copy of Sweet Peas and she offered him the chance to look at Eve Bunting's manuscript of Smoky Night, which tells the story of the Los Angeles riots. Although it was only the second children's book he had illustrated, Smoky Night won the Caldecott Medal in 1995.

Since then, David Diaz has gone on to illustrate more than 20 books. He still works collaboratively with Cecelia. She reads the manuscripts he receives, and the ones she likes, David reads. Before he does any illustrations, he makes visual notes and talks to the editor. His goal is "to bring across on the page what a particular character would have seen, smelled, tasted, heard... I'm always thinking about how to make this more of an experience, not just something you read. I want people to open books and say, 'WOW! Look at this!'"

David now lives in Rancho La Costa, California, with his wife and three children.

Bibliography

2006

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1998

1997

  • December by Eve Bunting
  • Greek Myths: Eight Short Plays for the Classroom by Carmen R. Sorvillo

1996

1994

1992

Several of the books Diaz has illustrated have been published in Spanish, including Noche de Humo / Smoky Night.

Sources