Come In For the Cold

By in General, Other Challenges, SLH, Writing

2016_11_02_girl_in_window_insta

2016_11_02_girl_in_window_insta

And now for my latest entry to Susanna Hill’s latest writing competition, the very first ValenTINY writing contest with additional entries here.

The rules: Write a Valentines story appropriate for children (children here defined as ages 12 and under) maximum 214 words in which someone is grumpy!

Susanna must be my writing muse because so far, the only writings I’ve completed have been for her competitions! Perhaps it’s because I write better with specific assignments and rules so I don’t ramble on and on, writing “like an illustrator”? I’m not sure. But I DO know that these competitions are wonderful learning experiences for me.

I feel like a rock tumbler, polishing and polishing until the final little piece emerges. And no matter how much I really liked my original draft, I see how much better the final piece really is. Working with the word count constraints makes me have to think long and hard about which words I absolutely must keep in order to convey the precise story, what bits were just entertaining chaff, and what I don’t have to write out because it is implied by the other text, and/or would be illustrated.

This story was a painful edit for me because my first draft was 455 words long! Just for fun, and because I like exploring the process, I’ve included two earlier drafts in the drop down’s beneath the final so that if you’re curious, you can see how the rough bits got polished. I will not include my instant messenger log wherein I texted my husband the descending word count as I chiseled away as a matter of score-keeping which he smartly ignored until I hit 214. He then offered a 5 word edit that, I feel, brilliantly completed the story.

A quick side-note on the illustration atop this post: The topic for the kidlitart chat on February 4th was all about finding your voice as an illustrator, and a challenge ensued involving a quick illustration each day for the month of February (you can read more about that here). I included a quick illustration for this story as part of that challenge, though I have not been drawing every day as I did for the kidlitart28 challenge last year. By doing up this little illustration, I also discovered that the front side of Strathmore’s “Colored Pencil” pads do not work well with Prismacolor colored pencils. What the what?

And now…

Come In For the Cold

“Hot chocolate is for kids who get to play outside in the snow!” Sheena yelled back down the stairs. I’m not cold and I don’t need warming up!”

“Sounds like you do,” her mother replied cheerfully.

“Sorry. I’m missing ALL the fun.” A deep Valentine’s snow had fallen and everybody was sledding on the driveway beneath Sheena’s window. She puffed on the pane and drew a frowny face. “Stupid broken leg.”

Sheena heard the door open and the stomping off of snow in the hall. Her brother came up the stairs.

“Go away!” She snapped without turning around, then shrieked as Joey dumped handfuls of snow over her head.

“Lighten up!” he laughed as Sheena frantically dusted icy flakes from her neck, “I can’t let you miss ALL the fun!”

“What ARE you doing?” Sheena sputtered, reaching for her crutches.

“Since you can’t come out and play, we’ll make a snowman here,” Joey chirped as he emptied a bucket of fluffy snow into the bathtub.

Sheena grinned. “You’re nuts!”

“I love you, too!” he retorted, smiling broadly.

Sheena hobbled to the bathroom shaking icy drops from her hair. 

Joey returned with more snow.

The cold felt wonderful in Sheena’s bare hands. “Mom,” She called, “I’m earning my chocolate! But first… I need a carrot!”

Drafty Drafts

Edit 2/26/2016:

Doin’ the happy dance AGAIN this morning! The winners are posted and  I placed 4th!

Another big THANK YOU to Susanna Leonard Hill for hosting this fantastic Valentine’s competition for the first time this year (I seriously don’t know how she does it!) and for once again encouraging me to write!

Sending outa big thank you to everyone who entered the competition. You all write so wonderfully well! I love reading as many stories as I can, even though I can’t always leave comments.

Now I need a few more hours in the day to get some drafts out of my head!

12th Night Has Passed. Let’s Get This New Year Started!

By in Children's, Crafts, General, Women, Work

20160105_233408-1

20160105_233408-1Happy new Year!

Ok so I’m a little late. The holidays snuck up on me as I was buried beneath work from a new client as well as the usual end-of-year to-do kinds of things, and of course, the care and feeding of the Jaegerlings (now aged 4.5 and 2.5). The ridiculously warm weather didn’t help. It only started to really feel like Christmas on its 12th day. Hanukkah is already a distant memory as Tu B’Shvat is at the end of January this year. Seriously?

Now that the loose ends of 2015 have been mostly been tied up, I can get on with it being 2016.

Of course I have a few new resolutions for 2016. I was thinking about these as I was sorting out my kids’ artwork the other day. I went through LITERALLY hundreds of my 4-year-old’s drawings from Sept through now, thinking she’ll hit her 10,000 mastery hours LONG before I will at this rate. Picasso was seriously on to something. I realized I have much to learn from watching my daughter progress while “wasting” tons of newsprint paper.

So I resolved that in order to really practice and progress, myself, I’ll have to try and “Art” a bit like a child again. That is to say:

  1. Don’t be afraid to waste materials.
  2. Don’t think too hard about it (the sketching will lead you where you want to go).
  3. Don’t edit while you sketch.
  4. Work quickly.
  5. Don’t overdo it. Stop when it’s done.
  6. Make it sparkly (this is the kid version of “make it pop”).
  7. Move on to the next.

The natural progression of this resolution is also that I need to stop worrying about the consistency of my media choices and if everything works in a series. I just to make more “stuff” the way I used to when I was a kid. Throw those ideas and creations out into the world and see where they lead.

On my way upstairs, I stopped to check in with Facebook (as you do) and caught some of the first 52 Week Challenge posts in my feed. By the time I’d got up to my studio, I was pulling out a bunch of “stuff” to “make something” for the “Fancy Dress” challenge, and this lady (above) emerged. Ok I went a little crazy with the glitter, which is also hard to photograph, but I felt better. I did it. Baby steps.

Another of my resolutions is to get more of that “stuff” out on social media and for sale without worrying too much if it’s “fitting my brand.” I think the definition of “personal brand” may actually be more or less the same thing as Giuseppe Castellano’ definition of personal style. It’s often hard to be objective about the way one actually looks. I have been told that my personal signature should shine through whatever I create as well. Looking at Fancy Dress Lady, I see that’s probably true.

Last year on Instagram I met a fellow artist and mom named Anna who lives in Sweden. Her children are roughly the same age as mine but she is somehow managing to create complete pieces of dynamic art, illustrations, and intriguing Tangles daily, posting them out on the interwebs and in her etsy shop. I am in awe as well as inspired that she is able to do this. I want to be able to do this, too. I know there are only so many hours in a day and that I sometimes have graphics work that takes priority to my personal work, but it’s a goal.

Like Anna, I don’t want to just wait around for people to hire me. I can get my work “out there” myself. My young self had hundreds of personal, creative obsessions. While I don’t fall in love with things as easily as I did when I was 9, I still have my own stories to tell and projects to complete. Another resolution is to get my own projects started (if not completed) without wondering if or how I’m going to earn money from them. I believe that if there is a true passion shining through in the work, an audience will come. We can’t all be J.K. Rowling, Johanna Basford, or Jacquie Lawson. But we can certainly try. So for starters, I put Fancy Dress Lady out on the interwebs and on Etsy for sale. Ok that’s something. Not a large project, but another baby step. On to the next.

Last year,I surprised myself by falling in love with the media and world of colored pencils. And here I’d thought I was supposed to be a painter. I discovered this love while working on my 100 Days project (which I also resolve to finish in 2016 – I need to continue working on simplifying). This year, I aim to improve my colored penciling skills and techniques. I also plan to work on improving gesture in my illustrations. I resolve to pay a bit more attention to contrast (didn’t we call that chiaroscuro in art school?). And maybe get into a workshop or master class later in the year…

20160106_133821A
The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Jaegerling #1’s New Year resolution (no, we didn’t look at each other’s work before doing these). She’s holding her Artsplay maraca in this drawing.

Of course, finding creative representation in 2016 wouldn’t hurt either!

Apart from my creative resolutions, I resolve to manage my not-so-spare time a bit better, de-clutter the house, spend more time with my family, lose about 10 pounds, and get back to the gym – you know, all the usual stuff.

Just signed up for an 11 week yoga class starting next Tuesday. Let’s get this year started!

 

Entering the Tomie Depaola award 2015

By in Children's, Deco Era Fairytales, General, Other Challenges, SCBWI, Series

Red Riding Hood 1920
RidingHood_Square_lo

Red Riding Hood

This year I swore I wasn’t going to enter the Tomi Depaola competition again. It was too much aggravation and hassle the last couple of times. I’d put it off until the last minute because it wasn’t a priority – until, of course, it suddenly was. Like many of my peers, I also got the distinct impression that “Tomie just doesn’t like my work” (don’t ask why we all feel that way – chalk it up to artist’s insecurities). Lastly, Mr. Depaola has been frustratingly less than punctual on his end of the deadlines as the quality of the work always makes it hard to pick a winner. It’s his competition. *shrug* So I wasn’t going to do it.

And then I read the prompt:

One of the biggest and most important challenges the Children’s Book Illustrator faces, over and over again, is the UNIQUE VISUALIZATION of the MAIN CHARACTER.

So often, I have seen illustrators resort to generic depictions of the star of the story too “designed,” too ordinary, too much like characters already seen in media, especially on TV and video games.

The assignment is simply to illustrate a moment from the following passage from Philip Pullman’s version of “Little Red Riding Hood” from FAIRY TALES FROM THE BROTHERS GRIMM (Viking, 2012). (You may want to read the entire story. It is an excellent book.)

And immediately sketched a rough draft inspired by:

Once upon a time there was a little girl who was so sweet and kind that everyone loved her. Her grandmother, who loved her more than anyone, gave her a little cap made of red velvet, which suited her so well that she wanted to wear it all the time. Because of that everyone took to calling her Little Red Riding Hood.

One day her mother said to her: “Little Red Riding Hood, I’ve got a job for you. Your grandmother isn’t very well, and I want you to take her this cake and a bottle of wine. They’ll make her feel a lot better.

My rough draft inspired my last couple of fairy tale illustrations set in the 1920’s/’30’s. This time I tried not to leave it until the last minute, but life interfered and my idea of what I wanted to draw wasn’t jibing with how the characters wanted to be drawn. After a bit of arguing, I gave in (the characters usually know best anyways).

My setting is 1920’s northern England, though the cottage is much older. I wanted Red to look a little more modern as she wants to someday become a “woman of the world,” while her mother is comfortable wearing the older, rustic fashion. Red’s world is comfortable, happy, and cozy. The world beyond the gate begins the misty, ominous forest.

Mr. Depaola has an excellent point… we all think of Red Riding Hood looking the same way in an 18th century travelling cape, no matter what time or place she’s set. The last time I drew Red back in 2008, this is what she looked like, captioned, “This is my rather standard treatment of Red Riding Hood.”

So far, a number of my colleagues have shared their entries to the competition in the PB critique group on Facebook. All I can say is that once again, Mr. Depaola is going to have a seriously hard time picking a winner. I’m personally blown away by my competition. Winning would be nice, but I really entered because the topic was inspiring. And I think I produced a pretty darn good illustration.

The Little Trick-Or-Treater

By in Children's, General, Halloweensie, Other Challenges, SCBWI, SLH, Writing

cat_n_pumpkin1

cat_n_pumpkin1

This year, I didn’t need any convincing to enter the 5th Annual Halloweensie Writing Contest.

Working within the “weensie” constraints was a great experience for me last year. I had to give it a go again (and I couldn’t resist doing a quick little illustration for #Inktober 2015 as well).

As most of you know, I’m primarily an illustrator and have been spending most of my not-so-spare time this past year working up better illustration skills (my wee ones are still in preschool). Small writing challenges like this one give me exactly the right push to work on wordsmithing. Thank, again, Susanna Leonard Hill for hosting.

Here are the rules: Write a 100 word Halloween story appropriate for children (title not included in the 100 words), using the words costume, dark, and haunt.

She haunts the streets in search of treats.
Her costume is a jaunty bell.

Green eyes that sparkle in the dark,
The moon winks back and all is well.

She tumbles, nips, and almost trips
A witch, two pirates, and a mouse.  

They stroke her fur, laugh with her purr,
As they progress from house to house.

But one by one they have to run,
It will be bedtime all too soon.

Atop a Jack-O-Lantern’s back,
She mews, then howls up at the moon.

Edit 11/1/2015:
This happened again last night before the kids put on their costumes. Little Kiki, the neighbor’s cat, is the inspiration for this poem (and my son’s costume – he adores her). She has been coming to our door all week to for Halloween treats.

little_trickortreater

Edit 11/5/2015:

Doin’ the happy dance this morning! The winners are posted. I won an honorable mention again! That’s a Halloweensie two-for two for me.  And I’m listed first. I’ll totally take that.

A big THANK YOU to Susanna Leonard Hill for hosting this fantastic (and tough!) competition once again this year and making me believe I can write.

Congratulations to all the winners, my critique buddy, Johnelle DeWitt for placing as well for her super-creative main character, and to everyone who entered. Honestly, y’all are tough competition!

Reflection: A 1930’s Snow White

By in Children's, Deco Era Fairytales, SCBWI, SCBWI Draw This

Reflection Art Deco Snow White

reflection_n_snow_final_lo

Do you know what the enemy of “good” is?

It’s “better.”

A little about the piece:
This piece is “Snow White and the Queen.” I’m continuing on my theme of fairy tales set in the early-ish 1900’s with a more theatrical Art Deco, old Hollywood setting.

I wanted to keep a little of the light = good/dark = evil symbolism as well as the hints of Snow White with a cobalt blue “Depression-Era” pitcher containing… something unknown and possibly vile, and of course the apple on the newel post.

I am not sure where the idea of the talking face in the mirror came from in the traditional Snow White depictions – possibly Disney? But my molded face atop the glass worked perfectly with the Art Deco design.

This mirrored dressing table is based on the silhouette of a piece I found on Google images but I changed the design to gold hard-edged roses. I also used this design on the Queen’s dress and the banisters.

Other Notes:
Today is the deadline for SCBWI’s November Draw This! showcase. As I’m still easing into colored pencil techniques, I decided to try mixing it up a little bit and combined regular pencils with some blue Derwent ink pencil and regular Derwent watercolor pencil (which I also just discovered I own – it would seem I’m an art supply hoarder). I also got a water brush. What a concept! I’m still undecided on the paper. I used Strathmore Bristol 400 which seems to have a bit more tooth than I’d like.

Because I was trying some new things, I dragged my feet a little. I didn’t want to screw up what I’d already done by failing at new techniques. Also, I still haven’t really pushed my contrast as much as I could. I realize I’m being timid about it and I see a couple of things I could have done better to add a bit more drama.

Tonight, after we got the kids to bed, I figured I’d put the finishing touches on the piece before submitting it and decided the wall behind Snow looked a little bare. So I drew in some stones. Being tired from Jaegerling2 being up part of the night (he’s 2… maybe he’s teething those last molars?) I drew the stones rather ham-handed and a bit too dark.

Oh fudge. That’s it. Time’s up. Pencils down.

Luckily, it was a fairly straightforward clean-up in Photoshop. But I’m annoyed about it because I deliberately used gold opaque watercolor on the “wallpaper” pattern because I wanted the original to look really cool and shiny. I knew full well the gold would scan in umber tones (I’ve at least done THAT before).  So the original looks really bright and colorful — the digital reproductions never really capture the depth of the color we achieve on paper — except for those dang stones.

Oh well. Call it “done” and move on.

All in all, I do like how it turned out. Though it probably could use a cat. There was a cat in my original sketch but he seems to have wandered off.

 

Prize: The Sword In the Stone

By in Children's, General, Illustration Friday, SCBWI

Sword in the Stone

SwordInStone_final_color_5x7_lo

This piece was finished for Illustration Friday and Illustration Age’s challenge word, “Prize”. It is the boy, Arthur, and the Sword in the Stone. That’s a prize, right? — Excalibur and the throne of England!

I really wanted this completely done for IF but life happened and it was after midnight, EST on Thursday so I posted it to IF as a work in progress. If I was on a paid deadline, I’d have been up a few hours later to finish it, but as the Jaegerlings wake up around 6am, I thought it was best to get some sleep. Comparing the two scans, though, I almost like the work in progress better:

 

SwordInStone_inprog

This is the second piece I’ve completed using good paper and colored pencils – still mostly the Mitsubishi’s (which nobody seems to have ever heard of) and a few Prismas. I’ve decided I’m just going to buy a full Prisma set when I have some extra money. They seem to be the easiest brand to replace individual pencils when you need to. But I’d still like to play with other brands, and I’ll probably still mix and match since some brands have better colors, I think though Prisma has a fairly staggering range. I was able to get to the one art supply store in the region last week and picked up a handfull of Farber’s. They’re a completely different critter. I also wonder about changing the tooth of the paper versus practicing a better technique. There’s a happy medium somewhere. Ackk that pun was not intentional.

I discovered through making a bunch of technical mistakes on this piece that blending Farbers is very different from blending Prismas. I bought a blending marker and some blending sticks. I also went way too heavy on the grass at first, and that was somewhat irreparable without digital help (I left it) but I like how the stone worked out. I think the Prisma brand blending sticks work best with the Prisma pencils (obviously) and that the blending marker may cause more harm than good though it makes a reasonable eraser with help from a blending paper. I think I should probably work on a the layering technique of building from soft to hard. This is art-school stuff I didn’t learn 20 years ago (because I didn’t go to art school) but it’s not too late to learn.

A little about the illustration now… I wanted to draw a different idea of the Sword in the Stone legend. The traditional image is of a sword plunged vertically and somewhat crucifix-like into the stone (or, kind of modern-looking anvil – thanks, Disney!). I wanted to tie back into the paleolithic roots of Britain and the (completely unfounded by any factual evidence) legend that there was a temple of standing stones on the top of Glastonbury Tor. I kept a little of the Christian reference by having Arthur pull the sword out of the side of the stone, also implying the idea of Arthur as a sort of Christ-like savior of Britain (the “Once and Future King”).

I also researched late Roman costume in the northern regions and hope I’ve achieved a reasonable account of what the boy Arthur would have worn. The figure approaching in the background is obviously Merlyn.

 

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