Cover Illustration

One of my illustrations for Sonntagsblatt THEMA, a magazin published by the christian-lutheran newspaper Sonntagsblatt, ended up being on the cover (the upper left section)! If you can read German, you can order your copy here. I hope to get some tearsheets soon so I can display it a bit bigger! Thanks again to AD Susanne Petersen.

HAT artwork completed

I have just finished all the artwork for HAT, my very first self-authored children's book, which will be published by Bloomsbury USA in Winter 08/09. Creating this book was a great challenge but also immensely satisfying. I hope that everybody will enjoy how it turned out!

METAL MAN * Starred Review

Yay, Metal Man has received a Starred Review from The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books! The Issue will be out in July / August.

"Makin' junk out of junk" may not be Mama's idea of a proper job, but it's endlessly fascinating to young Devon, who spends his free time hanging out in the workshop of sculptor Mitch, whom he dubs Metal Man. [...]

Hoppe's mixed-media illustrations supply the heat and burly muscle the text demands. A controlled hodgepodge of broad brushstrokes and squiggly pencil lines, detailed representations of Mitch at work, and subtle backdrops of simplified forms and diminished colors all invite close, lingering inspection. [...]

Mitch is variously portrayed as a mystery man, a sometimes giant, larger-than-life idol, or an accessible friend, just as Devon views him. He looms over Devon in their initial conversation, abates in size when they work side by side at the table saw, and fills a full two pages as a grinder-wielding titan, bringing out he shine in the metal (and, metaphorically, the boy) that was under there all the time. [...]

Cover for The Stranger

I'm on the cover of this week's Stranger.

Many thanks to Art Director Aaron Huffman!

Communication Arts Illustration Annual

The 2008 Communication Arts Illustration Annual has just arrived, and this is how my selected piece (the cityscape) turned out. The other illustrators on the spread are Heather Horton, Hugh D'Andrade (whose cat illo was also on the cover) and Vincent Altamore.

New York Times

I have an Illustration on today's New York Times' Letter Page. It is published along with letters that discuss the future of American energy policies, a heated debate driven by the rising cost of fossil fuel.

The New Yorker Tearsheet

The friendly people at The New Yorker sent me, as they always do, two copies of the issue with my recent illustration. Thanks!

Another great review of METAL MAN

My children's book METAL MAN received a wonderful review from the San Bernardino Sun:

"...Welded firmly together are the text by Aaron Reynolds and the illustrations by Paul Hoppe. The book brings to the reader the process of creating something special from what many feel is little more than junk metal. [...]

The paintings used are as strong as any heavy gauge metal in their telling of this story. The sparks from the welding portion of the pictures are particularly inventive and accurately portray the action. The angles of vision that are used on the pages of this book give the reader a feeling of strength that is equal to the metal that is being depicted. [...]

Across America, metal shops are fewer in number than they once were, so this also allows a grandparent or great-uncle to take a young reader on a historic trip to our nation's not-too-distant past..."

You can read the entire review here.