sruble's world

my blog has moved to - www.sruble.com/blog

2010-03-04T13:24:00.006-05:00

My new blog (http://www.sruble.com/blog) is already six months old!

When I announced my new blog here last August, I wasn't sure if I would keep blogging on my website or come back to LiveJournal and Blogger. It was all so new and I hadn't quite figured out the format yet. There are still a few things that I haven't figured out, but the blog is up and running.

I've decided to stay with the blog on my website, but keep my Blogger and LiveJournal accounts for the archives and so I can post comments on other blogs. Now that all the blog boxes have been unpacked, I'll be around a bit more. :)

So, if you've been wondering where I've been, I've moved. My new blog is where you'll find me talking about writing and art, sharing conference notes, and posting artwork.

Notes from the SCBWI LA conference

2009-08-23T13:12:00.000-04:00

I posted my notes from the LA conference on my new blog. Check it out if you are interested. My take-away theme this year was, "building your career."

new blog, website, and portfolio!

2009-08-20T19:30:00.004-04:00

When I got back from the LA conference, I started working on my new website, which was supposed to be a small, easy project. However, I changed to new servers and added a blog, so it didn't go quite as planned (there was a lot of head scratching while trying to figure out Word Press code and CSS). Then I just decided to wing it and guessed a bit while using my previous knowledge of html and Dreamweaver.

The only really bad thing was that I lost all images that were on my old server, and it will be almost impossible to recreate most of them, especially the ones for the artist interviews.I don't have copies of all their art. I just uploaded it to use for the blog. FYI for anyone switching servers for their website: Apparently when you switch servers, you don't really have 10 days to do everything. You only have until you change the name servers and I did that right away.

The good news is that:

My new site went live today! There are still a couple of things to be worked on, but the site is up and it looks soooooo much better than it did before.

I uploaded my new portfolio too! There will be new pictures more often (I think the last time I updated was a couple of years ago - hangs head in shame).

And last, but not least, I have a new blog! I decided to move my blog to my website so that everything is in one place and so that I can post more art.

I've started posting things about the LA conference. The first one was links to blog posts about LA (if you've blogged about it, send me the link[s] and I'll add them). The second one was about the Blue Moon Ball and my outfit. I'll be posting notes soon too. Probably tomorrow.

The best news of all is that Mom is doing well. She's started chemo, the pneumonia is gone, and she's optimistic. So am I.

where I’ve been for the last 7 weeks or so

2009-08-03T12:38:00.003-04:00

The last time I updated my blog, I’d just gotten done with my comics class and Sheila had made her debut at the MoCCA comics festival and I was going on an unexpected cross country trip. What I didn’t say in that post was that my mom had just been diagnosed with colon cancer. At the time, I was a bit shell-shocked and couldn’t talk about it. I threw a bunch of stuff in a suitcase and jumped on a plane and soon as I found out so that I could spend a couple of days with her before surgery and then visit her in the hospital after surgery.

A couple of days before surgery they found something else, so she had to have 2 major surgeries at once (she was lucky they could do both with one incision). To keep her mind off of things, we went to an art exhibit, saw a play that was better than the version I saw on Broadway (I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change), and visited Betsy and Tacy’s houses (unfortunately not when Meg Cabot was there).

Mom’s surgery went well, but she’s had some complications since then (including pneumonia). Now she’s back on track, is having surgery today to install the chemo port and will be starting chemo soon – fingers crossed that everything goes well and she’s healthy again soon!!

I was going to update about 3 weeks ago, but then I *sprained my wrist, making it nearly impossible to **type, which also meant that I had to drop out of Linda Sue Park’s scene workshop in LA. I’m really bummed about that, but what was I going to do? “Um, I can’t revise during the workshop because I can’t do a lot of typing because I sprained my wrist.” Yeah, no. I don’t want to look like a complete idiot in front of LSP, plus the workshop would be a waste if I couldn’t actually do the revisions, and I’d probably just be worried about my mom starting chemo anyway.

It’s not all bad news though. My wrist is getting a little bit better (although not for typing). I’ve been able to make some art for my portfolio in LA, (yay) making sure to take lots of breaks and ice my wrist several times a day. I’m crossing my fingers I’ll get enough done in the next couple of days to have a decent number of images in my portfolio (hopefully 8-12). Almost everything is new, but a couple of pieces are reworked images from the past.

That’s all for now. I plan to catch up with everyone after LA or maybe in LA. Hope to see some of you there and I hope that you and your loved ones are all healthy! :)

*I didn't go to the doctor, but it feels like when I sprained my ankle. It also might be from overuse. Apparently it's not a good idea to do massive amounts of laundry, lift weights, and paint for 10+ hours straight, all in a 36 hour time period. The painting is what threw me over the cliff. My LA portfolio is digital art, not paint.

**Typing with 2 hands = ouch. Typing with 1 hand = slow.

Sheila's big debut, 14 wk novel, and a cross country trip

2009-06-11T22:28:00.004-04:00

Sheila the zombie cheerleader made her big mini comic debut at the MoCCA comics festival last weekend. Yay!!!! It was lots of fun and very hot. There's a news report from the festival here, pictures here, and notes about the comics my classmates and I produced for the festival here (and a bit on the process of making Sheila's comic here).

And here's the cover of my mini comic:

I came into the class with a script, that changed a lot, and I had 2 weeks to put together the comic, including adding 5 pages at the last minute and doing most of the inking in one day. Wheee! It was exhausting, but so worth it!

I'll be doing a series of posts in the future on the making of my mini comic. I'll have more details and more pictures then.

14 Week Novel - Final Week and Final Thoughts
This is the last week (seven more days to work)! If you're not done yet, type faster!! :) I'm not done yet, but I'm hoping in the next week I will be much further along. I have some travel days and usually work well at the ariport, so I'm hoping to have some real progress in the next week or so. I'm sorry that I wasn't able to post the last 2 weeks, but it wasn't possible with my class (but the project for class was the same character from my novel, so I was still working). My final thought on the 14 week novel, is that 14 weeks was too long for me. I kept thinking of all the time I had left and didn't get as much done as I would have with a shorter deadline. Also, the intensive class I've been in the last 2 weeks made me realize that setting a shorter goal and trying to stay off the internet or limit my online time until it's done is a good idea and one I'll try again. I hope that the posts were helpful to read and that you were able to make progress on your projects. Let me know how your projects are going if you have time to comment!

Cross country trip - I was going to come back and start blogging this week, but I'm heading across the country on an unexpected trip instead. I'll be gone a week or so and will try to check in, but don't know if I'll be able to with everything going on.

Holy Homework Batman!!!

2009-05-27T20:27:00.003-04:00

I'm taking an intensive comics class (read updates and see pictures here). So far it's a great class, but there's a ton of homework, so I probably won't be around much for a couple of weeks. I'm crossing my fingers that I can get everything done when it needs to be done (tonight's homework is iffy).

The best thing is that I'm doing a Sheila the Zombie Cheerleader mini comic! And I got new medicine from my doc yesterday, so hopefully I'll be better and have a finished comic by the end of class. There are a couple of other comics I might try to get done too, but I don't think it'll happen. Sheila is very demanding.

14 week novel, wk 11: follow your own path

2009-05-21T23:37:00.002-04:00

Last week I asked other writers to weigh in on writing novels. If you haven’t already, check out the excellent answers that everyone gave on both blogs: Live Journal week 10 , Blogger week 10. Thank you so much to all the authors that commented!!!

It’s week eleven and we’re almost to the finish line …

Goal for week #11: Follow your own path. Find a way to work that works for you, whether it’s the 14 week novel, NaNoWriMo, fast drafting, slow drafting, BIC, or your own process.

What’s my path? The last couple of weeks I’ve been fighting a cold and unable to work (or worry) about my WIP the way I usually do. It’s made me realize that the way that I write might not fit well into the 14 week novel challenge, and that’s ok. I’m glad I did it because I like trying new processes, and it might work for someone else. I’m going to continue with it until the end, because I think it’s still a valuable exercise and it helps me to keep working on my projects. And anything that keeps me moving forward is worth it.

Why isn't it working? I think it’s because I need time to let my ideas percolate; they aren’t always ready when I want them to be. Or it could be because I’m not a one-project person, even though I’d like to be. I’m a multiple-project girl and I need to (finally) embrace that craziness. As long as I’m working on something and working towards the finish, that’s good for me.

What is working? I have learned to stick with a project (like Sheila the zombie cheerleader), even when I need to stop and work on another project for a while. For instance, I finally figured out a novel that’s been bugging me for a while and has been everything from a PB to a comic strip. The next few days are going to be devoted to writing it all down. Then I’m going back to working on Sheila’s story and taking a intensive comics class to help me learn more about writing and illustrating graphic novels.

What process works for you? How long did it take you to figure it out or are you still trying to find your process?

doctors, medicine, old characters with new lives, and cookies

2009-05-21T17:04:00.005-04:00

I’m back from the doctor. Don’t worry, it’s not the swine flu. I didn’t think it was, but with the news lately, I thought it would be good to reassure everyone that the piggies haven’t gotten me, well other than the ones on my toes and the character in one of my books.

My doctor is a bit like Jimmy Palmer (Brian Dietzen) from NCIS (he could be a Jimmy look-a-like, although a few years older). I’ve been going to my doctor before NCIS existed on TV; I didn't just pick him because he looks like one of the cast members. Just like Jimmy, my doctor likes to talk about interesting medical things, whether it’s what I’m there for or not and non-medical things (a lot like Jimmy and Ducky on NCIS). It always makes it fun to go to the doctor, because I never know what we’re going to talk about. Today we talked about jury duty, since that’s where I got my cold, and since my doctor had recently did jury duty too.

He gave me a couple of prescriptions (here’s where I channel my grandma) … one of them was $50, for five pills! That’s $10 a pill! And we have prescription insurance! Grama used to complain about the cost and tell us that she counted her pills to make sure they were all there. I totally get what she meant now.

Along with my prescriptions, I got some chocolate, chocolate chip cookies, because you know the old saying, “a big chocolate cookie makes the medicine go down.” No wait, maybe that was, “a spoon full of sugar.” The two guys behind the counter looked at my cookies, and their conversation went something like this:

“Oooh, those are the dark chocolate cookies.”
“You mean the good cookies.”
“Mmm-hmm.”
“You have to have them with milk. Cold milk, not warm milk, like some people like.”
“Warm milk? No. You have to have cold milk.”

At this point, they are off in milk-and-cookie land and I didn’t have the heart to tell them that I like my cookies sans milk (it dilutes the chocolate). For some reason it made me really happy that they approved of my cookie selection. Maybe it’s because they were saying, “if you eat chocolate cookies, it will make you feel better.” I want to believe that, because this might not be the first batch of cookies I’ve eaten since I got sick.

Being sick hasn’t been all bad. The head cold wouldn’t let me concentrate on anything for long, so I thought about old stories and characters, my current WIP, and new stuff I want to do in the future. I started thinking in pictures again, which is easier and more creative (for me) than trying to think about how I’m going to write the story. And I finally figured out two projects that have been plaguing me for a while. Yay! (Finally!)

Project One
Then: During a portfolio review a couple of years ago, the art director picked one image in my portfolio and wanted to see a PB dummy with a new story – she didn’t like the other images or the original storyline.

Now: I combined the scene in the picture with an old idea that I couldn’t figure out and it works now! It’s probably too late to sub it to her, but I’m going to draw it out and see what happens. I’m just happy that I thought of a plausible story to go with the picture.

Project Two
Then: Many years ago I had an idea that I just loved, but couldn’t make work. I tried it as a PB, chapter book, MG, and comic strip. I even subbed it to a children’s book publisher (before I had a clue about subbing or children’s books).

Now: I combined the old idea with some characters that I drew last year (that I couldn’t find a story for). Not all of the characters made it into the new version, but I think the ones that did work well with the new plot and story idea. I think it’s going to be a young MG graphic novel. I’m trying to get as much of the story written as possible before next week, when I start my comics class and go back to my WIP graphic novel.

With my new medicine, chocolate cookies, new and improved projects, and NCIS reruns, I’ll be feeling better in no time (I hope). 14 week novel post later tonight.

Happy Anniversary to my sweetie! We started dating 10 years ago today and were married 4 years ago today.

still sick, doctor tomorrow

2009-05-20T19:47:00.002-04:00

Sorry I haven't been around much or answering comments (yet). I'm still sick, but I'm going to the doctor tomorrow (thanks to my DH for telling me I had to go).

I blame the perfume-y lady at jury duty because after sitting next to her, I started getting sniffly. (Other than the cold I got, jury duty wasn't that bad ... except for the smelly lady. I'm glad I didn't get put on a jury though. I would have had to call in sick.)

Update tomorrow after I see the doc.

Art Day Interview: Illustrator Kristi Valiant

2009-05-18T18:00:00.003-04:00

Today’s Art Day Interview is with illustrator Kristi Valiant. Read on to find out more about Kristi and her art.

Q: How did you get started illustrating for children?
A: While I was in art school, I had an internship at a small children's publisher. Then during my senior year, I won an illustration contest to illustrate a leveled reader by Seedling Publications. Those were my first steps into children's books.

Q: Tell us a little bit about the recent book you illustrated.
A: Cora Cooks Pancit is my latest book; it just came out last month, in April, 2009. It's a multicultural picture book written by Dorina K. Lazo Gilmore and published by Shen's Books. In the story, Cora wants to cook but usually gets stuck with kid jobs. When her older siblings head out for the day, she's finally allowed to be Mama's assistant chef and learns how to make pancit, a Filipino noodle dish. The recipe is in the book, and it's super yummy!

Q: What are you working on right now? Do you have any other books or art projects you’d like to talk about?
A: Today I'll be painting an illustration for Highlights magazine. I love Highlights, so this is an especially fun project! I've had a lot of work lately, including interior illustrations for two chapter books, covers for six chapter books, hundreds of black & white line drawings for educational materials, and yesterday, I turned in sketches for an educational project for McGraw Hill. All this work is a huge blessing! But I'm still making time to work on my own picture book dummy that I'd like to start submitting to agents soon. I took part in NaPiBoWriWee last week, and now I have 7 more picture book rough drafts that I'd love to start revising as well.

Q: Do you do non-children’s book art (licensing, fine art, etc.) or art just for fun? Is that art similar or different from your children’s book art?
A: I license card designs and illustrations for Christmas cards every year. Some of those illustrations are in my children's book look, but some are very different. I've also illustrated in a fashion vector style for a fashion magazine and a high-end clothing store.

Q: When someone else has written the text for a picture book or novel, how do you decide what scenes and details to draw?
A: Picture books by definition tell part of the story through pictures, so I try to pick out parts that can be expanded upon to tell a deeper or funnier story by "reading" the illustrations. For example, in Cora Cooks Pancit, I added a dog to the illustrations who wasn't mentioned at all in the text. He follows around the main character and keeps bringing more and more toys hoping the little girl will play with him. She ignores the dog all the way through the book, until the very end when she's lying on the floor playing tug of war with the dog. I don't draw only what the text says for picture books, but novels are a bit different. In a novel, the whole story is told in the text and the illustrations usually just show the action or feeling of what's already told.

Q: Can you explain your art process?
A: I work all digital nowadays. I still have lots of great paints and materials from art school, but my mac and wacom tablet are my favorite tools now. I sketch in Photoshop using the wacom tablet and electronic pen. I move around parts of the sketch and resize and redraw until it's ready. To paint, I use some fun Photoshop brushes that I've downloaded and I've manipulated to look like pastels or watercolor or acrylics or whatever medium I want this painting to appear to be done in. My personal taste is to steer away from creating artwork that looks airbrushed on the computer. Photoshop allows you to play around a lot with their brush creator, so I use multiple brushes as I paint. I work in separate layers, so I can move or edit certain parts of the painting if it's not working. Working digitally allows for so much freedom while painting - I love it! If you're working with traditional paints and you mess up, sometimes you can't fix it, and you have to start over. But working digitally allows me to experiment along the way and if something isn't working, I can delete that layer, or recolor just that area very quickly without it looking retouched. The undo button has become a huge part of my process!

Q: What is your favorite color?
A: Cobalt Blue (I've painted my office/studio cobalt blue and yellow with artwork hung all around - it's so energizing!)

Q: What childhood art supply brings back happy memories?
A: Colored pencils. The Museum of Children's Art in Oakland, CA has a show right now called Then & Now. It shows a current picture book illustration next to a piece of art created by that artist when they were a child. I have pieces in that show and my childhood piece is a colored pencil drawing I did in 5th grade.

Q: Do you have a favorite childhood picture that you remember making?
A: I created the childhood picture I have in the Then & Now show in class in 5th grade. I had finished my schoolwork early and the teacher let me draw. I drew this girl in colored pencil and thought she looked like a photograph. Of course, as you can see, it didn't. But I was proud of it, and got in trouble showing it to everyone around me - they were still working on their schoolwork.

Q: Did you always want to be an artist when you grew up?
A: Pretty much, yes.

Q: Do you use models / source pictures or do you draw from your memory/imagination?
A: All of the above. With source pictures, I have to be careful I don't infringe on anyone's copyrights, of course.

Q: What gets you through an illustration you’re having trouble with?
A: Chocolate and my husband or mom pointing out what's wrong with the illustration.

Q: What illustrated book(s) do you remember from when you were a child?
A: When I was little, I was fascinated with the illustrations by Janet & Anne Grahame Johnstone in Dean's Mother Goose Book of Rhymes. I still am, and I own two copies of that book now.

Q: Is there a children’s book illustrator whose work you gravitate towards in the bookstore now? (You can list more than one.)
A: LeUyen Pham, Holly Hobbie, Adam Rex, Christopher Denise, Amy June Bates, Jen Corace, Adam Gustafson, Elena Kucharik, and more.

Bio: Kristi Valiant loves dancing, cooking, red walls, monkeys, penguins, and mice, all of which can be found in one or another of her children's books. Kristi's newest book is a multicultural picture book she illustrated called Cora Cooks Pancit. She's illustrated dozens of leveled readers and hundreds of black and white line drawings for educational materials. Kristi graduated magna cum laude from Columbus College of Art & Design with a major in Illustration. She grew up in Wisconsin, studied in Ohio, moved to Texas, spent a summer in China, and now lives in Indiana with her husband. You can see more of her artwork on her website: www.kristivaliant.com or on her blog: http://kristivaliant.blogspot.com

Thanks for the interview Kristi!

All images in this post © Kristi Valiant.

novel writers: new, experienced, or not yet started

2009-05-14T23:56:00.007-04:00

I'm still fighting a nasty cold I picked up at jury duty last week, so instead of the regular 14 week novel post, I thought I'd ask for comments and opinions from anyone that's written a novel (or novels), is writing their first novel, or hasn't yet started writing but wants to.

Feel free to share any insights or aggravations about novel writing, or answer the questions below (if you like questions):

* What made you want to write a novel?

* What's the one thing you wish someone had told you before you started writing your first novel?

* What author would you most like to have coffee with, and what questions would you ask them?

* Have you ever tried a new format, POV, or genre that was different from what you usually write? Did it work?

* What obstacles have you faced in writing your novel(s) and how did you overcome them?

As always, whether you're on the 14 week novel plan or not, keep your BIC, and happy writing!

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

2009-05-12T22:36:00.003-04:00

Maggie Stiefvater is having a contest for her new novel Shiver. I've joined team Ravelda (go team!) If you want to join the team too, go here. Find out more about the contest here.

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater... debuts August 1. Preorder today!

For years, Grace has watched the wolves in the woods behind her house. One yellow-eyed wolf--her wolf--is a chilling presence she can't seem to live without. Meanwhile, Sam has lived two lives: In winter, the frozen woods, the protection of the pack, and the silent company of a fearless girl. In summer, a few precious months of being human . . . until the cold makes him shift back again.

Now, Grace meets a yellow-eyed boy whose familiarity takes her breath away. It's her wolf. It has to be. But as winter nears, Sam must fight to stay human--or risk losing himself, and Grace, forever.

Art Day: let the games begin!

2009-05-12T00:22:00.004-04:00

Art games are fun!

What are art games? Those are the games that your non-artist friends and family don't want to play with you ... kidding, sort of. Here's an art game that you can play by yourself if nobody will play with you. Or you can play with non-artist friends and family if they're game.

Step one: Think of something to draw (start out with something you are good at drawing, for instance, I would probably pick cows).

Step two: Get out a paper and pencil (make sure it's a big piece of paper).

Step three: Put on a blindfold (you can just close your eyes if you want, but no peeking).
Note: non-artists have the option of looking while they draw - it levels the playing field.

Step four: Draw!

Step five: Repeat, with different subjects, or the same subject (as many times as you want).
Note: If you are making multiple drawings on the same page, you can look after each one and reposition your pencil to a blank part of the page before starting again.

You'll be surprised what happens when you try this, or maybe you won't. I'm always surprised how good it looks, considering that I wasn't looking at what I was doing. Plus it makes me feel better about my real drawings, which look like masterpieces compared to the blindfolded ones.

(BTW, I got this idea from playing Cranium, which is a good game because there's a category that everyone likes, and one that everyone hates. Also, the clay smells really weird, not like real clay at all.)

What are your favorite art games?

Update: I didn't think about adding a picture last night when I posted this (it was late). This morning I couldn't find one to post (I don't usually keep these unless I really like them), so I made a new one (which I actually do like). I also updated step 5 with a note.

Drawing play by play (for those who like that kind of thing): First I made the cow w/o looking, then looked and realized I forgot two of the legs, so I closed my eyes again, which is why they are way off. After seeing that, I moved my pencil over and closed my eyes to draw the elephant (I remembered to draw all 4 legs right away, which is why they look better). The last step was to move my pencil down to write "cow and elephant" and sign it. It's a lot easier to write while not looking than it is to draw without looking! The © symbol was added in Photoshop.

and the winners are …

2009-05-08T07:24:00.003-04:00

Running off to jury duty, but I have time to post winners. DH picked the winner out of a hat and helped me choose the runners up from the remaining entries. All the entries were really great; it was hard to choose!

Grand Prize Winner (and new owner of a ceramic chicken): Carrie Harris – Cluck Skellington and Zero

Runners Up:
Mr. Muerte and Margaret - Angeltreats
Mordred and Peep - Ravelda

(Runners up win their choice of either Tunnels by Brian Williams and Roderick Gordon, Robot Dreams by Sara Varon, or a Dramatic Conclusion T-shirt by sruble – size Large … I have 2 of each of these in case you both pick the same thing.)

Honorable Mention: The Colonel and Secret Sauce, which I loved, but found out is my husband (who is technically not eligible to win and unhappy about it – poor DH). I’m going to take him out for ice cream to make him feel better.

** Winners and runners up, please email me – stephanie (at) sruble (dot) com - with your address so I can send out your prizes, and runners up, let me know what your choice is. :)

14 wk novel, week 9: confessions and subplots

2009-05-07T23:25:00.002-04:00

A confession: Remember in week 5 when I inexplicably decided that writing my chosen novel as a graphic novel meant that I could no longer use it for the 14 week novel? Well, that was dumb. I never stopped writing it, and as much as I love the book I switched to, writing both isn’t working and one of them has to go. The original one is the one that’s been constant throughout so I’m going back to it, or maybe I should just say I’m continuing with it. So the zombies win, and Sheila is happy.

I didn’t realize this project would take so many twists and turns! However, if you forget about the novel switch, the only real twist is that my book is now a graphic novel. What’s going to happen to the other novel? I’m still going to write it - after the other one is done. Two novels at once, is too many, especially with all the other projects going on.

Whew! It feels good to get that over with. Plus now I have a clear path and don’t have to feel guilty about working on my graphic novel.

Goals for week #9: At this point you’ve probably got a main storyline, but what about subplots or parallel plots? Have you thought about them yet? The goal this week is to plan out your subplots and/or parallel plots (if you haven’t already done that) and figure out how they work with the main plot and the main character. The other goal is, as always, to keep writing your novel.

Links: Wikepedia on subplot and the ABCs of subplot.

Quotes: (from GN conference 2008)
“It doesn’t have to be pompous to be great, it just has to have a core.” - Mark Siegel (FirstSecond)

“If you’re chasing after your own genius, I’m already interested in you.” - Mark Siegel
(I love this quote because it reminds me to strive for what might be impossible, or just out of my reach if I don’t push myself and take chances.)

“Respect the reader and let them participate in the cartoon.” - Paul Karasik
(He was talking about cartoons and comics, but it applies to novels too)

“Moby Dick in 40 pages is always going to suck.” – Scott McCloud
(He was talking about MD, the graphic novel, but it’s really about giving yourself enough room to tell the story, plus it’s a funny quote.)

contests, chickens, jury duty, and a ton of industry links

2009-05-06T22:53:00.003-04:00

Guess where I am today (today being tomorrow, but I'm posting this early)?

While I’m away, the chickens have asked me to remind everyone that the deadline for their contest is Thursday, May 7, at 10pm EST. What can you win? The coolest little ceramic sculpture of a skeleton in a chicken suit, like the ones in the picture with me above (see below for a real picture).

All you have to do is comment on this post and tell me what you will name your chicken and his little sidekick. A random drawing picks the winner, and 2 bonus prizes will be awarded for the most creative names that aren’t picked in the drawing. Here’s a picture of the ceramic chicken – isn’t he cute?

Since I’m going to be having fun at jury duty all day (and maybe several more days … I hope not), I thought I’d leave some fun links for you all to check out.

Over at The Five Randoms, Amanda Marrone talks about her hook compared to her agent's hook for her first book, UNINVITED. You should check this out if you're subbing to editors or agents.

There's an auction/benefit for author and teen librarian, Bridget Zinn, who was recently diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer.

There are a ton of art director and publisher interviews on childrensillustrators.com. If you're looking for who likes what, art-wise, check them out.

Like contests and have a great opeining? There's an openings contest at The Write Game blog - winner receives first chapter critique.

Want to see a video of author/illustrator Meghan McCarthy painting? It's posted it on the Blue Rose Girls blog. It's really cool - check it out!

Editor Cheryl Klein blogged about the process behind editing the book, MARCELO IN THE REAL WORLD.

If you want to make graphic novels, here are some great tutorials from Kazu Kibuishi:
Flatting (preparing line art to color in Photoshop) and a step by step making of his online comic, Copper

I read 2 great webcomics articles recently, the first one is on Visual and Technological Advances in Comics, and the second one is about Author-Reader Relationships and Finances.

Enjoy the links and don't forget to enter the contest to win your very own ceramic chicken. What will you name him or her and the sidekick?

WW: Mommies and Babies, and, IF: Hierarchy

2009-05-06T20:53:00.003-04:00

This is a watercolor pencil sketch, after the water was added. There were several other stages after this, including color with more watercolor pencil and regular colored pencils, plus ink. I also started a digital under painting of this stage. After all that, I still like the simple image best, so here it is:

If I continue with the other versions and they turn out, I might post them at a later date, but I kind of like this best. Gives me a few ideas for a new process to try out too, and I like trying new stuff. :)

I figured it worked well for both the Mommies and Babies theme for Watercolor Wednesdays and the Hierarchy theme for Illustration Friday.

Art Day Spotlight: Kazu Kibuishi

2009-05-04T23:05:00.004-04:00

Kazu Kibuishi is a comics and graphic novel author/illustrator of several comics for both children and adults. If you don’t know his work, you’re really missing out.

Kazu’s the author/illustrator of my all time favorite graphic novel, Daisy Kutter (there’s a new Daisy Kutter story coming out soon – yay) and the editor and contributor to the Flight and Flight Explorer comic anthologies (Flight 6 is coming soon).

Scholastic did a series of interviews with Kazu last year about his graphic novel Amulet. There are seven videos in all. They’re all good, but make sure to check out the video “Kazu Kibuishi’s Sketches.” It’s a look at his amazing sketchbook, which has art and notes for Amulet, as well as other projects, including a brief glimpse of Daisy Kutter.

If you want to read some of Kazu’s comics and see his amazing art, he has a wonderful online comic, Copper.

If you’re interested in making comics, check out his comics workshop.

If you’re a children’s book author or illustrator, there’s a lot to learn from and enjoy in the work of Kazu Kibuishi. Check him out!

* Note: Don’t forget to enter the contest to win your very own ceramic chicken. Go here to enter.

14 wk novel, week 8: half way – check in and goals

2009-04-30T23:13:00.003-04:00

We’ve been writing for seven weeks; today is the start of week eight. Which means, we’re half way there!

Goals for week #8: Take stock of where you are and how much you have left. What can you realistically get it done in the next 7 weeks (June 18 is the last day)? It’s ok if you don’t finish, as long as you are working towards your goals.

I’m going to plan out the next 7 weeks this weekend. I’m still hoping to be done by June 18, even though I’m behind right now due to other projects that have had earlier deadlines.

How is everyone else doing?

Exercise for this week: Now that you’ve been writing for 7 weeks, it’s time to ask a few questions. I’ve included some questions below, but feel free to ask your own questions. [Note: You may have asked a few of these questions already, but it can be helpful to ask them again when you’re in the middle to see if things have changed and where the story is going.]

* What’s the main quest that your MC is on and how is she going to achieve it?

* Does your story have a theme or a question it answers?

* What’s the emotional tone of your story?

* Is your MC someone that the reader can care about and identify with?

* Can the reader identify with what’s important to your MC?

* What’s your MC’s secret? Do you reveal this to the reader?

* Do you know the ending of your story yet? Is it the logical conclusion to your story? Is it plausible?

* How does your character grow and change in the story?

That’s it for this week. How are you all doing with your novels?

Last day of BEDA and the Death Chicken Contest

2009-04-30T14:28:00.004-04:00

It’s the last day of BEDA (Blog Every Day April), and my personal take on it, which has been to make art every day. Technically I started BEDA on April 2 (but I posted twice that day). If I post tomorrow for IF it will be a full month. Plus I’m posting twice today (14 week novel post later today).

The last blog art for April 2009 (it was going to be a different image, but then I drew this one and I like the idea that the puppy is saying, “What’s next?):

It’s time for the top 5 good and bad things about blogging / making art every day in April. Then we’ll have a contest to win a Death Chicken – remember the Death Chicken?

BEDA - the GOOD:
1. It was fun, and I really needed that after a couple of not so fun months.
2. Deadlines and discipline helped get rid of procrastination techniques.
3. Art builds momentum - It helped me turn out multiple color sketches for a possible new client and make sketches for a mini comic for my graphic novel class (I didn’t post all the art I did in April).
4. I started participating in Illustration Friday and joined Watercolor Wednesdays, which I might not have done otherwise. I think it’s been good for me to share my art, which I haven’t done a lot of on my blog.
5. It’s helped me to think about my goals for art and writing in the future.

BEDA - the BAD:
1. Not enough family time.
2. No days off for weekends, holidays or birthdays.
3. Taking forever to respond to blog comments and not reading and commenting as much on other people’s blogs, and working late many nights to get it all done.
4. Making art for my blog instead of my portfolio. (There’s a big difference. Although some blog art might be sketches for portfolio art later.)
5. Not having enough time to devote to other projects I needed to work on.

After all that, would I do it again? Absolutely. Although I might make some art ahead of time, so I don’t have to wait for paint to dry before posting.

And now for the Death Chicken contest!!! To win your very own Death Chicken (pictured here with a Sleestak), leave a comment on this post, along with the name for your Death Chicken and his little sidekick. (Note: If you're posting as anon, please leave your name and some way to contact you if you win, email, blog, website, etc. Thanks.)

Winner will be a random drawing from all entries on both blogs. Creative names, or explanations for regular names could possibly win second or third place prizes, like a Sheila postcard or a book or something else I think up before the drawing. (Winners for additional prizes will be picked on a purely subjective basis.) Contest is open until 10 pm EST on Thursday, May 7. The winner(s) will be posted Friday morning, May 8.

What did I name my Death Chicken? Glad you asked. I’ve decided to name mine Will, and his sidekick Holly (after Will and Holly in the Land of the Lost … and thus having an explanation for this wacky picture).

The Tortoise and the Hare - WW monthly challenge

2009-04-29T18:10:00.002-04:00

Watercolor Wednesdays has a monthly challenge, in addition to the weekly prompts. This month it was Aesop's Fables, and I chose The Tortoise and the Hare because it reminds me of publishing. Slow and steady wins the race (or at least that's my hope). I started this painting after midnight last night, so it's not exactly the way I would have gone about it during the day. However, it was a fun experiment.

I started out with a navy colored pastel paper and drew on it with watercolor crayons.

I liked this stage so much that I almost didn't go any further. However, Watercolor Wednesdays implies the fact that I should probably use some water. So I got out my spray bottle, which made it look like this, which I also liked.

This morning, I really wanted to use acrylic to finish the painting, but first I tried regular watercolor paints. That wasn't very effective on the navy paper (I knew it wouldn't be, but it never hurts to try). So I decided to use my gouache paints.

Note: I don't like gouache. I can't make it do what I want, it smells weird, and it cracks after it dries.

But I decided to use it anyway, since this was an experiment. The first bits of gouache I painted didn't look good, but I stuck with it. I like the way it turned out, other than the cracking of the paint as I untaped the painting from the board. (Anybody know a way to make it crack proof?)

Here's the final result:

What's your favorite Aesop's Fable?

Strange Happenings

2009-04-28T23:29:00.002-04:00

I looked out the window this afternoon, and it was snowing! Big flakes of snow were whirling and swirling outside. There were so many that it looked like a snowstorm was rolling in. That may not seem too unusual for April, except that it was 88 degrees outside (I knew that because I watched the weather channel a few minutes earlier).

So if it wasn’t snow, what was it? It looked feathery and there used to be a bunch of pigeons roosting in the apartment building next to ours, but pigeons don’t just lose feathers and I hadn’t heard any shots.

Maybe it was butterflies?

Nope, not butterflies. When I went to the window, I saw that it was flower petals floating and flying around outside! We have lots of flowering trees where we live and it was windy outside. Still, we’ve lived here for many years and have never seen a flower storm like this. Maybe it happens every year, but since we’re not near the ground floor, we don’t see it. Or it could just be one of those things that rarely happen.

What kind of trees did the snow come from? No clue, but here’s a picture:

Luckily, it “snowed” again after my husband came home, so he got to see the blizzard too. :)

Art Day: finding time to make art

2009-04-28T00:23:00.004-04:00

Over on Watercolor Wednesdays, Wendy asked me a question that I thought other people might have too. Wendy was nice enough to let me repost her question and my answers here, along with the story of today's painting. Thanks for the question Wendy!

Question:

I see on your live journal you have decided to post a drawing a day. Kudos to you for actually succeeding so far. How have you accomplished this? I can't seem to maintain any kind of regular schedule in my creative output and would love some pointers from you.

My Original Answer:
Getting started doing one a day is the hardest part. Once you get on a roll, it gets easier. There seems to be a momentum that builds (I've found this other times when I did challenges, like cow a day or dog a day for a year). The momentum can wear off, like this week after finishing a big art deadline for something else. But then you just have to start again.

There are days when it's hard to get one done (thus the midnight postings) and other things that need to slide a bit, like reading and commenting on blogs. I'm not doing as much of that since I started, but maybe that's not so bad.

Remembering that it can be a sketch and it doesn't have to be perfect helps. Also, you can start sketches or do a bit of the color before the day you're going to post it. It doesn't all have to be done that day, unless you are behind and have to squeeze it in.

It's also easier to do one a day if you don't have to post them to the blog, because that involves scanning and posting, which takes time. If you just do a small sketch or a painting and don't post it, it's easier to do it.

I think making the public announcement that I was doing it also helped. It makes you feel like you have to do it or you'll let people down (not that tons of people read my blog, but you know...).

Then there's the story of today's painting, a.k.a.
How things went horribly wrong, or how forcing yourself to work with a deadline can lead to creative solutions for artistic problems.
For today's painting, I sketched a kitty, then re-drew it on watercolor paper, painted it (multiple layers), then got to the very end of the painting, which is when I normally add the black outline and details with paint or marker.

When I got to the outline stage, I already knew there was something wrong with the face. The drawing was fine but it looked weird now. However, I didn't have time to paint another painting. I'd already spent part of last night and off and on all day on this one. Plus, it has to dry before I can scan it and I didn't have anything else to post today. I had to use the cat.

So I inked the painting, including the cat's face. It looked horrible. Then I tried to fix it. It looked even worse after I tried to fix it (you can't fix watercolor unless you get lucky).

I thought about just posting the bottom of the painting - the grass and flowers looked nice. Or the cat with a blanked out the face like they do on TV. I even thought about not posting anything tonight, but it's almost the end of the month and I've made it this far.

Then I said to my husband, "I could put a mask on the cat."
He said, "No ... unless it's a bee mask."

I'd been thinking of an elephant mask, to tie in with the end of elephant week. Or maybe a big yellow smiley face. The bee mask was a much better idea, since there were already bees in the painting. Plus, quite honestly, there was no way the cat could look worse than it already did.

So I painted a bee mask (with acrylic to cover the watercolor and ink).

Then I waved the painting around and used the hair dryer, and waved it around some more, so I could scan it (while it was still just a bit on the sticky side) and get it up while it's still Monday somewhere in the world.

So here now, is my creative solution (with some help from my husband) for today's painting. I kind of like it, and it's a bazillion, gazillion times better than before the mask. What do you think?

elephants like to swim

2009-04-26T21:57:00.002-04:00

I saw a nature show on TV recently. It had lots of footage of elephants swimming. It even had some shots with the camera below so you could see what the elephants looked like underwater. It was very cool.

For the last day of elephant week, here's my rendition of elephants swimming:

How do you stop a herd of elephants?

2009-04-25T16:43:00.003-04:00

With baby ducks. ;)

IF: Theater - a.k.a. Peter Pan with elephants

2009-04-24T21:29:00.003-04:00

When I saw that the topic for Illustration Friday this week was theater, I wondered how I could make it work with the fact that it's elephant week here on my blog. My next thought was, "Peter Pan." Surprisingly, Peter Pan works perfectly for elephant theater. Enjoy :)

14 wk novel - week 7: Getting unstuck, keeping your BIC, and making progress

2009-04-23T23:07:00.002-04:00

Some people are able to keep plowing through, all the way to the end of the draft, while others write in fits and starts, sometimes getting stuck along the way. There are lots of reasons you could be stuck. Maybe you don’t know what your characters should do next (if you had an outline, you threw it out a long time ago). It could be that you’re bored with your story (probably need to add more conflict or a subplot). Or, you could just have other things that have had to take priority over this project. Maybe it’s another story, or work, school, family, or the need to sleep. Since it’s elephant week here on my blog ...

Maybe the elephants can help us get writing again:

* If your plot is stalled and your characters are wandering around aimlessly, send a herd of stampeding elephants through your story. Something is bound to happen.

* If you’re bored with your story, imagine that your characters are elephants. How does that change the story? What if they are elephants in space? Ok, that’s just silly, but sometimes you have to think up some crazy ideas to realize that your story is exciting, or maybe those crazy ideas will be just what your story needs.

* If checking email, getting a snack, or reading blogs keep you away from your writing, imagine that there’s a HUGE elephant behind you. There’s another elephant in front of you. Everywhere you look, elephants. Now imagine that all the elephants have just filled their trunks full of water and will spray you, unless you get back to work.

* If other commitments are keeping you away from your writing, try to think about your story even if you can’t write it all down. Elephants never forget, but you might not remember all the cool things you thought up while driving to soccer practice or sitting in a meeting at work. Keep a little notebook and a pen with you at all times so you can make notes to help you remember. You could also get a voice recorder or leave yourself voicemails or text messages.

** If you really need a break, take one. Even elephants visit the watering hole when they need to.

Goals for week #7: Write something every day, even if it’s just one word. Yes, “the” counts. Hopefully it will make you say, “the, what?” and keep writing. If you want to set a specific daily or weekly word count, that’s good too.

Link for this week:
There’s only one link for this week, because I’m sending you to a page that has a ton of writing articles by Alicia Rasley. I haven’t read them all, but the ones I have read have been great.

Quotes for this week:
“It is necessary to write, if the days are not to slip emptily by. How else, indeed, to clap the net over the butterfly of the moment? For the moment passes, it is forgotten; the mood is gone; life itself is gone. That is where the writer scores over his fellows: he catches the changes of his mind on the hop.” ~Vita Sackville-West

“The role of a writer is not to say what we all can say, but what we are unable to say.” ~Anaïs Nin 

“Writing became such a process of discovery that I couldn't wait to get to work in the morning: I wanted to know what I was going to say.” ~Sharon O'Brien 

“The wastebasket is a writer's best friend.” ~Isaac Bashevis Singer

“The pages are still blank, but there is a miraculous feeling of the words being there, written in invisible ink and clamoring to become visible.” ~Vladimir Nabakov

“I love being a writer. What I can't stand is the paperwork.” ~Peter De Vries

“Every writer I know has trouble writing.” ~Joseph Heller

“The only cure for writer's block is insomnia.” ~Merit Antares

“The best time for planning a book is while you're doing the dishes.” ~Agatha Christie

Happy Birthday to my husband, who is watching hockey as I write this. :)

Earth Day Elephant Fairies for Watercolor Wednesday

2009-04-23T00:06:00.004-04:00

Apparently I have a harder time drawing fairies than elephants. The Watercolor Wednesday challenge this week was really a challenge (it was actually more of a challenge with human fairies than elephant ones). I won't show the human version - yikes! That's headed to the shredder tomorrow.

Here are my 2 tries with elephant fairies. The first one wasn't working at all, so I put it aside and painted the second one. Then I felt bad for the first one, went back and added and reworked it, and now I'm not sure which one I like better. Which one do you like best?

Earth Day Elephant Fairy and Superhero

Earth Day Elephant Fairy Too

Elephant Week: Balancing Act

2009-04-21T21:28:00.002-04:00

Yikes! This elephant is losing his balance. Do you think he'll be able to regain his balance? Or will all the boxes come tumbling down?

Elephant Week and Art Day: Art Tips – drawing what you can’t draw

2009-04-20T23:50:00.003-04:00

Art Tips: I thought it might be useful to talk about ways to learn how to draw what you can’t draw or don’t think you’re good at drawing.

Everyone has something they can’t draw, or think they can’t draw. I have several things, but this post and this week is dedicated to one of the things that I don’t think I draw very well: elephants. Every once in a while, I’ll draw an elephant that I like, but more often than not I have to draw and redraw the elephant to make it look like a normal elephant and not a mutant creature.

Below is a list of some strategies that I use. What works for you? Or do you just avoid the subject (I do this sometimes, and Maurice Sendak famously did this with Where the Wild Horses Are – when he realized he couldn’t draw horses, they became Wild Things).

Break it Down: Break the subject down into simple basic shapes or pretend you are drawing a stick figure version of whatever it is. The drawings today are my elephant face made with a 3 part process, starting with basic shapes.

Back to Basics: Beginning drawing books and drawing books for kids are great for learning to draw things – if your art is very stylized, it can help to add a foundation to your drawings that give them even more appeal than they had before. BTW, don’t discount those drawing and art books that have unattractive covers. Sometimes they try to put so many things on the cover that it makes it seem like they couldn’t possibly know anything about art. Recently I found a book like that at Borders, in the discount section: The Complete Guide to Drawing and Illustration by Peter Gray. There’s a ton of good info the book, even if there aren’t any elephants.

Research: Find pictures, hire models, go to the zoo! If you don’t know what it looks like, find out.

Repetition: Take as many pictures as you can find of the subject and draw all of them, then look for more pictures or take some yourself and draw again. Repeat this step until you can draw the subject without looking at reference material. Then draw it in your style.

Elephant Week (a.k.a. accountability): This week I'll be drawing/painting elephants and posting them each day. Sometimes it helps to know that other people will see what you’re working on. It gives you incentive to learn how to draw it before you stylize it.

kitty picture - speaks for itself

2009-04-20T02:08:00.003-04:00

The meaning varies, depending on what type of meow accompanies this look. What do you think Remus is saying?

swirly butterflies for a sunny day

2009-04-18T14:45:00.004-04:00

This painting was really fun to make (and has much brighter colors in real life). It seemed perfect for a warm sunny day like today.

DH and I are off to enjoy the day. I wish you all a warm sunny Saturday full of fun!

IF: impossibility

2009-04-18T00:06:00.004-04:00

The topic for Illustration Friday this week, is impossibility.

It's an impossibility that this girl will be able to hold this pose much longer before toppling over.

Of course, it's possible that I didn't plan ahead while drawing, and the reason that she's in this pose, is because the only way to fit her feet on the page was to have her legs bent. Or, maybe she's trying out a new yoga pose. Or maybe she's invented a new way to do cartwheels.

Happy Weekend everybody!!! I hope it's filled with wonderful impossibilities :)

14 wk novel - week 6: feedback, or a cow is a cow, unless it’s a horse

2009-04-16T19:22:00.003-04:00

Goals for week #6: Sometimes life throws you extra projects, a cold, a family crisis or two, or there are no more clean socks and the laundry won’t wash itself. When that happens, you’ve got to concentrate on things other than writing. But don’t forget about your novel. Try to set realistic goals for how much you can write in the next 7 days. If there’s no crisis and you’ve got clean socks, then smile and keep on writing :)

Sharing your work before it’s done …
Do you share your novel before it’s finished? I know some people like to send it through their critique group, while others won’t share anything until it’s done and polished. I usually share, but this time I’m trying really hard to not share until I have at least 3 chapters done and polished so that I have the voice and story set in my mind. Feedback is great when it helps to make your work better, but not so great when it becomes writing by committee. If you have a really strong vision and character voice, it might be ok to share early. If it’s easy for you to get off track, then you might want to write the whole thing before you get a critique. (The exceptions are when you are in a writing class or going to a conference. Then you might want or need to share early.)

Sharing your work, a cow-tionary tale:
Instead of quotes this week, I thought I’d share a story. It’s about art, but easily applies to writing and the idea of sharing too early. A few years ago, I was doing an art project where I created a cow picture every day for a year (366 days – it was leap year). As you can imagine, life does not stop so that you can draw a cow every day. Sometimes you have to bring your drawing or painting supplies with you and draw in public.

My husband and I were visiting my parents, and the only time that day to draw a cow was at the restaurant where we were having breakfast. We ordered and I started drawing. I’d been drawing cows for years and was several months into my cow-a-day project. At that point, I could draw a cow blindfolded and it would still look like a cow.

However, when the waitress started bringing juice and coffee to the table, she looked at my drawing and said, “Wow! That’s a really nice horse.”

She called my cow a horse. In front of my family, who thought it was really funny.

I didn’t think it was funny. I started to doubt if my cows really looked like cows. Maybe they did look like horses. “OhMyGod, I can’t draw cows! Or anything else! Or… I’m a sucky artist.”

It stayed with me for a while. I kept drawing my horse-cows and grumbling about it until I realized that the waitress must not have known what a cow looked like. She probably didn’t know what a horse looked like either. Horses don’t have horns, or udders. And horses have manes. Horses don’t look like cows, and cows don’t look like horses. After that I didn’t worry whether or not I could draw cows.

The moral of the story is: Trust your vision and your creative talent. Some people give great, relevant feedback, while others don’t have a clue.

Watercolor Wednesdays - O is for Owl

2009-04-15T23:11:00.002-04:00

I'm honored to have been accepted as a member of Watercolor Wednesdays today. It's a blog where a talented group of children's book illustrators have weekly and monthly art challenges. Thanks to Wendy (Lyon) Martin for asking the group if I could join.

This week's challenge is Alphabet Letters. When I was doing my daily drawing of an owl, I realized that an owl would be great for the letter O. So I quickly painted this picture:

I used watercolor crayons, watercolor paints, watercolor markers, acrylic paint (for the O around the moon and OWL), and a hair dryer so it would be dry enough to scan yet tonight. I'm not sure I like the watercolor markers. I still haven't figured out how to make them do what I want them to do. Has anyone else had success with watercolor markers?

The original drawing for today was supposed to be an owl carrying a letter (to the IRS for tax day). I decided that the owl post birds would be a bit different looking. I ended up with a bird that's not very owlish, but I still kind-of like him. What do you think? Hope you all got your taxes in on time!

lemon-orange-lime-ade

2009-04-14T23:51:00.003-04:00

Last week, I was awarded the Lemonade Stand award from both Rena and Brenda. This award is given for great gratitude and/or attitude. Thanks Rena and Brenda! The first thing you’re supposed to do is put the award logo here, but they never tell you how to do that, and whenever I try, it doesn’t work (just like YouTube on my Blogger blog). So, I made my own lemonade picture :)

Pretty soon it will be hot enough for lemonade, or even the lemon-orange-lime version I make sometimes (yum). If you want to try it, here’s the basic recipe.

*lemon-orange-lime-ade recipe
Squeeze lemons, limes and oranges into a large pitcher
Add water and sugar to taste
Enjoy!

* I’ve never used the same amount of any ingredient twice, so there’s no right or wrong way to make it, but you don’t need as much sugar as with regular lemonade, so put a little bit in, taste, then add more if needed.

Art Day: Illustration Friday - Experiences? Comments? Opinions?

2009-04-13T22:16:00.003-04:00

Today's Art Day is about Illustration Friday. Has anyone tried it? Do you like it? Think it's useful?

I've wanted to participate in Illustration Friday for a while now, but this is the first week that I'm joining in. It seems like a great way to prompt yourself to make art based on an assignment and about a topic that you might not have thought about illustrating. Both good things to practice if you want to illustrate for someone else.

The topic this week is, "Fleeting." My painting shows a moose dancing. Because sometimes, you've just got to dance, and those moments are fleeting. I wish those "Gotta Dance!" moments happened more often, don't you?

(The moose is a character in a PB I'm working on, but the art technique is different.)

What if bunnies could juggle?

2009-04-12T22:14:00.003-04:00

If bunnies could juggle, it might look something like this:

Or not. Hope you had a happy bunny day if you were celebrating.

using raindrops as an art supply

2009-04-11T20:28:00.001-04:00

Today’s picture was made using watercolor crayons, rain, and watercolor paints. Here’s the step-by-step process.

Step one: sketch (not shown, color sketch)

Step two: add raindrops

Detail of color sketch before and after adding raindrops:

Step four: Finished art

Try it next time it rains outside :)

I did do this one other time, with cows. See it here.

Race to Moo Mountain

2009-04-10T13:35:00.003-04:00

We went to see the movie, Race To Witch Mountain, last night. I wanted to see it because I remember liking the old movies. DH went with me, just to be nice. Neither one of us had high hopes for the movie, so we were pleasantly surprised. I liked it and DH didn't hate it. Lots of action, cool visuals and special effects (except for the helicopter scenes, which were totally cheesy), and 2 cool teen actors.

When I got home, I wondered what it would be like if cows were aliens ...

... either that, or it was just an excuse to draw a cow. :)

14 week novel - week five: process, progress, and inspiration

2009-04-09T14:36:00.001-04:00

When I started the 14 week novel posts, it was all about process, specifically tackling novel writing in a way I hadn’t tried before, and hoping that it might be useful to others at the same time. So far, I’ve found that:

- Trying to do a detailed outline brings out the evil inner editor in me Big Time, and totally shuts down my creativity … at least for now. Maybe outlining will work for me in the future though.

- Planning out the story did work. (Where do I start? What are a few things that might happen? Possible endings?) I know that seems like outlining, but it wasn’t anything formal, mostly thinking, with a few scribbled notes.

- Picking one project helped me focus. However, when that project went back to the original idea of making it a graphic novel, I needed to pick another story for this project (not to mention figure out how to write/illustrate a graphic novel – I’m taking classes for that – the writing one started Monday and the art one is in a few months).

- Finding the right fit for my idea helped. My second idea was supposed to be an edgy, dark YA, but I couldn’t get it going. After rethinking it, I have a new plot and a younger age group (young YA or older MG – basically tween).

- I’m making progress! I’ve written 2600 words since yesterday, and I’m still going! Yay!

- And I have a new sketch of my MC, Lexi (looking shell-shocked for a specific scene - I haven’t added in the other characters or background yet). What do you think? (It’s not a graphic novel; I want to write it as a text novel first.)

Goals for week #5: Set your own goals and keep writing! This is all about process, and you have to find a process that works for you. My goal is to try to write a bit on this story every day, even if it’s only a few sentences, and not focus so much on word count. What are your goals?
[Note: I changed it from assignments to goals so it doesn’t seem like I’m telling you what to do. :) ]

Quotes for this week: (for inspiration)
“Life is uncertain. Eat dessert first.” – Ernestine Ulmer

"I wrote, because I could not dance.” - Karen Cushman 2004

“Your internal critic exists to keep you from telling the truth. Writing is about taking risks, taking chances, feeling it down to your toes, conflict, loss, growth, believable characters.” – Libba Bray 2004

“I have not failed; I’ve found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” – Thomas Edison

“You are the boss of the project – do the illustrations how you think they should look.” – Robert Sabuda 2004 (I think it applies to writing too – write the book you want to write.)

“A story should contain at least: 1 belly laugh, 1 honest tear, and 1 gasp.” – Bruce Coville 2004

“A clean house is the sign of a wasted life.” - Donna Jo Napoli 2004

“Any kind of writing is writing, and you don’t know what it will lead to.” – Christopher Paul Curtis 2005

“Don’t worry about being funny for others, be funny for yourself.” - Gennifer Choldenko 2005

“Girls are interested in more than just fashion and boys.” - Wendelin Van Draanen 2006

“Don’t believe anyone’s rules. The only one that really counts is ‘write the damn book.’” – Jane Yolen 2006

“Books allow us to eavesdrop on another person’s soul.” – Katherine Patterson 2007

going bananas! banana stickers, a banana bread recipe, and a banana loving monkey

2009-04-08T19:23:00.002-04:00

The banana sticker monkeys used to make up really fun sayings or use pictures of Curious George, but it seems that they haven’t been able to come up with any good stickers lately. They’ve started stacking bananas on their heads, instead.

They also like putting multiple stickers on bananas (or maybe someone saved up their stickers).

Since banana monkeys like banana bread, I thought I’d include a recipe. Enjoy!

Banana Bread Recipe (from Mom and Crystal Sugar)
½ C butter or margarine
1 C sugar
Cream well.

Blend in:
*4-6 mashed ripe bananas
3 egg whites
1 tsp vanilla

Sift together:
2 C sifted flour
1 tsp baking soda

Add alternately with:
** ½ C butter milk
Blend until well combined.

Fold in:
½ C chopped walnuts

Pour into a greased 9x5x3 loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 90 minutes. Cool in pan on a rack for 20 min. Remove from pan and continue cooling on rack.

*more ripe than the bananas picture above - when the bananas have lots of brown spots on them, they’re probably ripe enough
** may substitute sour milk or sweet milk soured with 2 tsp of vinegar

NCAA wrap up and spinning basketballs

2009-04-07T12:22:00.005-04:00

Agent Nathan Bransford held the 1st Annual Blog Tournament Challenge (NCAA basketball - March Madness). I tied for 5th place! That might not seem like a big deal, but there were 140 people that entered. Plus I never place that high up. My husband and I also had a challenge going, like we do every year. I beat him and earned bragging rights until next March. Some years he wins, some years I do, but this is the first year that we both only had 1 team going into the final four. I think a lot of people had that experience this year, or there's no way I would have gotten to 5th place in Nathan's challenge.

Did any of you participate in a challenge or fill out a bracket this year? How did you do?

This is me, spinning a basketball, which I used to be able to do, for a couple of seconds. If I had practiced, I probably could have been a good basketball spinner, even if I wasn't that great of a basketball player.

Oh, and I also have a shiny new avatar :)

Shopping Cart Racing and April Drawings

2009-04-06T18:23:00.001-04:00

We went grocery shopping on Saturday, and Mall shopping and Target shopping on Sunday. The image below may or may not be me ;)

I’ve decided to do my BEDA (Blog Every Day April) as a DEDA (Draw Every Day April). I have been and will continue to post a sketch, drawing or painting (mostly sketches) every day this month.

Since I’m posting my art today, the Art Day interview, with illustrator Stephen Macquignon, is in a separate post (here) so that it can showcase his art.

Art Day Interview: Illustrator Stephen Macquignon

2009-04-06T18:16:00.002-04:00

Today’s Art Day Interview is with illustrator Stephen Macquignon. Read on to find out more about Stephen and his art.

Q: How did you get started illustrating for children?
A: I attended the School of Visual Arts in New York City with the intent of becoming a comic book artist, however in my last year I took an illustrating for children’s book class and that is when I found a home for my art style.

Q: Tell us a little bit about the recent books you illustrated.
A: I have three picture books coming out from 4RV Publishing. “Angeline Jellybean,” by Crystalee Calderwood, is about a little girl who loves to eat jellybeans. ”Colors,” by Dana Warren, is simply a book about color. The difference between this book and other books like it, is that it goes beyond “green means; go red means stop.” It also is about color as a feeling. (Both Angeline Jellybean and Color are out now.) “Would a Kangaraffe Make you Laffe?” by Richard Aaron, is about animals that were connected together, example: half of lion & half hippo. It’s coming out in early summer. Also coming out, in April, is a chapter book I illustrated, for 4RV Publishing, called the “The Art of Science,” by Ransom Noble. Learn more about my books at the publisher’s website.

Q: What are you working on right now? Do you have any other books or art projects you’d like to talk about?
A: I am finishing up “If Fish Could Drive,” by Dana Warren, another picture book, plus two more picture books following this one, “The Marshmallow Man,” by Rena Jones, and “Libby the Odd Squirrel,” by Lea Schizas.

Q: Do you do non-children’s book art (licensing, fine art, etc.) or art just for fun? Is that art similar or different from your children’s book art?
A: Cards for birthdays and other holiday’s friends and family only a few logo designs, but no the style stays the same.

Q: When someone else has written the text for a picture book or novel, how do you decide what scenes and details to draw?
A: I am given a break down on what text will be on what page, so I kind of make it simple just to follow along.

Q: When illustrating picture books (or novels) do you include a visual storyline that’s not in the text or include animals or people you know?
A: No, I have kept things like that out of the illustrations I try to keep to what is written in the text.

Q: Can you explain your art process?
A: I have how I put the Angeline Jellybean cover together from start to finish on my blog.
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5.

Q: What is your favorite color?
A: I have no favorite color I love them all!

Q: What is your favorite medium to work in?
A: Pen & ink / digital color is a lot of fun.

Q: What childhood art supply brings back happy memories?
A: I think crayons.

Q: Do you have a favorite childhood picture that you remember making?
A: No not really.

Q: Did you always want to be an artist when you grew up?
A: Yes since I think it started in middle school if not earlier.

Q: Do you use models / source pictures or do you draw from your memory/imagination?
A: Yes to all of it, a good reference could really improve your work even when your style is not realistic it is good to know how many toes a character has.

Q: If you could be anything other than an artist, what would you be?
A: I’m also a New York State licensed massage therapist; I enjoy helping people.

Q: What gets you through an illustration you’re having trouble with?
A: Time. I put it aside work on something else. I try my best to forget about it for a while.

Q: What was your favorite toy, stuffed animal or doll when you were growing up?
A: A stuffed mouse; I called it Molly. It was in good shape, until one day my dog thought it was one of its own toys.

Q: What illustrated book(s) do you remember from when you were a child?
A: “The King with Six Friends” by Jay Williams illustrated by Imero Gobbato.

Q: Is there a children’s book illustrator whose work you gravitate towards in the bookstore now? (You can list more than one.)
A: Maurice Sendak, Marie LeTourneau

Q: Did you like to tell jokes or stories as a child?
A: No. I was a quiet kid; I kept to my self.

Q: If you could be a kid again for just one day, what would you do?
A: Go to an amusement park and pay half price. *laugh*

Bio: Out side of working with 4RV Publishing, I’ve been fortunate to be a contributing illustrator for "Stories for Children Magazine," working along side some very talented Writers, Editors, & Art Directors, the experience has been priceless. One of the illustrations I have done for “Stories for Children,” called "A Grand Dilemma," just won the Preditors & editors Readers Poll 2008 for Best Artwork. To read more about me or to see more of my art work please visit me on jacketflap or at my blog.

Thanks for the interview Stephen!
All images in this post © Stephen Macquignon.

Warning: Escaped Cat On The Run!

2009-04-05T11:42:00.002-04:00

gumball machines aren't just for gumballs anymore

2009-04-04T15:30:00.003-04:00

Traditional gumball machines have gum in many colors but only one flavor, a Juicy Fruit/Bubble Yum like hybrid. Small gumball machines for your house or office still come with that kind of gum.

Other gumball machines might have gums in different flavors. (My favorites are cherry and grape; what are yours?) Or they have candy, nuts, food for birds or zoo animals, toys, dog biscuits, or even soap. Yes, soap.

Soap is probably the weirdest thing I've ever seen in a gumball machine, but mostly because I couldn't help wondering what flavors the soap came in (even though I knew they were scents and not edible - kind of like scented markers that come in food flavors).

Buying gum (or candy, toys, dog treats, soap, etc.) from a gumball machine is more fun that buying the items at the store. It's like rolling the dice or picking a card in a game. You never know what you're going to get when you drop in your quarter(s) and turn the handle.

Sometimes the toy or gum flavor that you want is elusive and you have to try again. A couple of years ago, we tried to get my mom a stuffed duck key chain out of a gumball machine. It took several weeks and many quarters before we finally got it, because we kept getting frogs. There's always one thing that's more plentiful than others! It's best to have a couple of quarters as a back up, in case you get the icky flavored gumball.

What's your favorite thing to get out of a gumball machine?

ceramic death chickens, sleestaks, ninja chickens, Sheila, and BEDA

2009-04-03T15:57:00.003-04:00

Last night I passed by a shop on my way to have dinner with my husband. In the window was the coolest little ceramic sculpture of a skeleton in a chicken suit. I had to have it.

Isn’t he cute? I named him Death Chicken. He’s got a little chicken friend, too. I haven’t named the little chicken yet, but I’m thinking maybe I’ll name it Will or Holly, based on this picture.

What do you think? BTW, Death Chicken is not afraid of the Sleestak, but little Will or Holly is. Speaking of being afraid. Sheila the zombie cheerleader is afraid of chickens, but she’s not afraid of Death Chicken because he’s technically a skeleton in a chicken suit and not a real chicken. Will or Holly is a different matter.

Sheila’s also afraid of ninja’s, and a ninja chicken is her worst nightmare. I did some sketches of ninja chickens (with throwing stars and nunchakus) today. This character is probably going to appear in Sheila’s story:

In other news, I joined Maureen Johnson’s BEDA (Blog Every Day April) after Julia posted about it, even though I have several projects going on now. Anyone else joining in on the insanity? Maybe BEDA can help me with my WIPs. Ha!

Well actually, buying the ceramic Death Chicken gave me something to blog about today and made me think about Sheila and ninja chickens, which caused me to do the ninja chicken drawing, which means that BEDA is already helping me write and illustrate my graphic novel WIP, right?

I can justify almost anything. Mwahahaha ;)

Oh, I almost forgot. I bought 2 ceramic chickens yesterday. One for me and one to give away on my blog when I come up with a really cool contest, or the end of April and BEDA, whichever comes first.

14 week novel-week four: changes and voice part 2

2009-04-02T18:28:00.003-04:00

How’s everyone doing so far? Let me know how it’s going and cheer each other on in the comments section, if you want.

Changes: Don’t be afraid to make changes if your WIP needs them. Just because it started out as a PB, MG, YA, or GN (graphic novel), doesn’t mean it has to stay that way. The novel I’m writing is about Sheila, the zombie cheerleader. Yesterday I had a breakthrough on a new look for Sheila and started to think about making it a graphic novel. The original idea was a graphic novel, but I didn’t think I could pull it off. After Tomie dePaola’s wonderful video on having the courage to fail, I’ve decided to go for it. Thanks Tomie!

Here is the assignment for week #4: Keep Writing! A few people mentioned that 5000 words might be a bit much. Set your own goals for what you want to accomplish by the end. Including this week, there are eleven weeks left. (I’m going to try to make the first scene into a graphic novel script, along with some sketches to show layout/composition.)

Quotes for this week: (on voice, from 2006)
“Great dialog works forever.” - Beverly Horowitz

“There is a difference between literary and commercial styles. Know your style and write for it.” – Jodi Reamer

“Dare to find a voice that works for you.” – Wendelin Van Draanen

“Angsty characters don’t have to be all out; you can pull back and the voice will still come through.” – Justina Chen Headley/Alvina Ling (My notes don’t indicate which one said this, but they were back and forth the whole time, so been both of them might have chimed in on it.)

Links for this week: (on voice)
* Writer Tabitha Olson shared great notes on voice from editor Caroline Meckler.

* Editor Cheryl Klein wrote a post on voice recently.

* Writer Christy Evers shared notes on voice from editor Martha Mihalick.

A new look for Sheila the zombie cheerleader?

2009-04-02T10:27:00.006-04:00

Remember Sheila? She hasn't been around my blog for a while, but she's been talking to me (her story is the one I'm writing for my 14 week novel). Lately she's been begging for a new look, since the old images I did of her are younger. Yesterday I did a sketch that she likes (the other ones weren't good enough for her). Here's the new look for Sheila, unless she changes her mind and wants a different look again. What do you think?

Now that she has a new look, I'm seriously considering making her story a graphic novel, again. That's where it started and I still like the idea of drawing lots of zombies ;) I'll let you know what I decide (actually, what Sheila decides) later today, when I post week four of the 14 week novel.

Update: She's not as zombie as the old Sheila because of feedback from an editor saying she was too zombie-ish. I'm trying to find the right balance of making her look older than before and not as freaky. Her skin tone will be a greyish-green color, so that should help. Thanks to Tamarak and Slatts for feedback on her zombie-ish-ness!

Tomie dePaola: The Courage to Fail

2009-03-31T16:45:00.007-04:00

Author and illustrator Tomie dePaola talks about the courage to fail in an interview with author magazine. (Thanks to J.A. Palermo at The Paper Wait blog for the link.)

Update: The YouTube video isn't embedding on Blogger for some reason (help!). It worked on LJ. You can see Tomie talking about the courage to fail here.

There's a second part to the interview that you can watch here.

Art Day: Finding Inspiration

2009-03-30T23:37:00.004-04:00

DH and I went to the Whitney museum this weekend. It got me thinking about inspiration and where we find it as artists. I'm not talking about reference materials, but real inspiration, the kind of thing that sparks the creative muse in you.

Where do you find your inspiration?

This weekend I found it in the works of Stuart Davis, Edward Hopper, Roy Lichtenstein, Jasper Johns, and many other artists. I used to work at MOMA, and while I don't miss my old job, I do miss seeing art every day.

Art isn't the only thing that inspires me. I can be inspired by a favorite song or a new melody, a book, movie, or TV show. Sunsets and beaches can be just as provocative as a wacky banana sticker, while comfort food and the smell of a rain-soaked lawn can jump-start pictures in my mind.

When we have big projects or deadlines, it seems like the best thing to do is lock ourselves in a room and work, work, work. However, a little inspiration here and there can make those projects better and get them finished faster. It also helps keep the evil inner editor at bay.

What are you waiting for? Go find some inspiration so you can get back to work :)

What inspires you?

beginning excerpts - chapter books to MG

2009-03-26T19:43:00.004-04:00

This post goes with week 3 of the 14 week novel. These are beginning paragraph excerpts for chapter books to older MG/ Tween novels to show voice. (The other post got too long.)

Araminta Spookie: My Haunted House by Angie Sage
(chapter book/young MG, engaging voice, pulls you in and promises wacky adventures, hopefully appeals to boys and girls. Learn more about Araminta here.)

It all began when I was in my Thursday bedroom doing my ghost practice. I have regular ghost practice, as I was sure it would be much easier to find a ghost if the ghost thought I was one too. I have always wanted to find a ghost, but you know, even though our house is called Spookie House, I have never, ever seen a single ghost, not even a very small one. I thought that Aunt Tabby had scared them off – she would scare me if I were a ghost.

Clementine by Sara Pennypacker
(chapter book/young MG, interesting voice/viewpoint, pulls us in to find out if she’s a reliable narrator or not, plus we want to know what really happened, Clementine isn’t perfect, but she’s still funny and loveable. Learn more about Clementine here.)

I have had not so good of a week.

Well, Monday was a pretty good day, if you don’t count Hamburger Surprise at lunch and Margaret’s mother coming to get her. Or the stuff that happened in the principal’s office when I got sent there to explain that Margaret’s hair was not my fault and besides she looks okay without it, but I couldn’t because Principal Rice was gone, trying to calm down Margaret’s mother.

Notes From a Liar and Her Dog by Gennifer Choldenko
(solid MG, you know from the title that the MC is a liar. Pulls us in through the voice and the feelings she’s keeping to herself. Learn more about the book and the character on Gennifer’s website.)

“I don’t even know what I did this time,” I say to my best friend Harrison Emerson. We watch my mother park her car in the school’s visitor parking slot.

“Could be she’s here because of Kate. Maybe Kate’s in trouble,” Harrison suggests. He is sitting on the asphalt in the shade of the backboard, drawing a chicken in his math book. He always draws during recess, until a noon aide makes him play.

Whispering to Witches by Anna Dale
(solid MG, pulls us in with the title, voice and opening, which all promise adventure. This is one of my favorite MG books. Read the first chapter here.)

Joe flopped on to the seat and loosened his school tie. His suitcase jutted over the edge of the luggage rack above his head and its label dangled in front of his eyes. It read:

Joseph Binks
c/o Mrs Merle Taverner
2 Cloister Walk
Canterbury
Kent

Joe ripped the label from its piece of string, scrunched it into a ball and threw it into the farther corner of the railway compartment. The woman sitting opposite him was too engrossed in her newspaper to raise an eyebrow. Joe slumped back into his seat and wished for the hundredth time that day that he was staying in London for Christmas.

Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer
(solid fantasy/adventure MG, interesting note, IMO, the book is as much about the other characters as it is about Artemis. Pulls us in with the promise of adventure and a smart character. Learn more about Artemis here.)

Note: There’s a prologue. This bit is from the start of chapter one.

Ho Chi Minh City in the summer. Sweltering by anyone’s standards. Needless to say, Artemis Fowl would not have been willing to put up with such discomfort if something extremely important had not been at stake.

Millicent Min, Girl Genius by Lisa Yee
(older MG, great quirky/funny voice, pulls us in by making us want to know who she is and what makes her tick. Read the full first chapter here.)

I have been accused of being anal retentive, an overachiever and a compulsive perfectionist, like those are bad things. My disposition probably has a lot to do with the fact that I am technically a genius. Unfortunately, this label seems to precede me wherever I go.

Lily’s Ghosts by Laura Ruby
(older MG / Tween, pulls you in with an intriguing story, great voice and a setting that is almost another character in the book. It’s one of my favorite ghost stories. Read chapter one here.)

Note: This book has alternating chapters. One set is the story and the other in about the ghosts. This is from the beginning of chapter one (of the story).

Just after six in the evening, with the January sky glowering through the windows like a new bruise, Lily decided to throw Uncle Max in the closet.

Breathe – a ghost story by Cliff McNish
(older MG / Tween, not your typical ghost story. It pulls you in with an imaginative ghost world and a great haunting voice. It’s my favorite recent ghost story. Read an excerpt here.)

Lonely, invisible, and still wearing the clothes they had died in: the ghosts of four children were in this house. Something had disturbed their spirits, and now they were rising slowly up from the cool darkness of the cellar.

the 14 week novel - week three: beginnings and voice 1

2009-03-26T19:38:00.005-04:00

Are you ready to start writing? After the crisis this week, I realized I can’t force an outline (although it may work for me later in the process). Answering questions about my characters and figuring out where to begin the story did help, as well as thinking of a possible ending or two. How did the homework pan out for you?

Here is the assignment for week #3: Start writing! The goal for this week is 5000 words.

* 5000 words per week is based on a 50K novel in 10 weeks (the last 2 weeks are reserved for catching up if needed). If your novel is longer or shorter, adjust your weekly writing goals.

* Feel free to join in even if you’ve already started writing. Adjust the assignments to work for you. See Nora’s post for an example of how she made it work for her.

* Rewriting / editing as you go – some people like to do this, including me. My suggestion is to try to write the 5000 words for the week before you go back and edit, but only if it works for you.

* Backstory and world building can be used for your word count, as long as you realize that they might need to be cut later.

Excerpts for this week are all about voice. (Next week I’ll include links and quotes on voice.) Voice is what editors look for, but it’s really hard to nail down. The first paragraph can tell you a lot about the Main character and the story they have to tell you. The first paragraph (YA) excerpts below are from some of my favorite novels with strong voices. They show a range of successful voices for different ages. (There are a ton more I’d like to include. However, this post is already too long, although hopefully helpful. See chapter book to older MG/tween excerpts here.)

The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot
(young YA, pulls you in with an engaging teen girl voice and NYC as a character in the novel, not to mention the concept that an ordinary girl is really a princess. Read more about the book here.)

Tuesday, September 23
Sometimes it seems like all I ever do is lie.

My mom thinks I’m repressing my feelings about this. I say to her, “No, Mom, I’m not. I think it’s really neat. As long as you’re happy, I’m happy.”

Love Among the Walnuts by Jean Ferris
(young YA, pulls you in with a quirky title, voice and opening paragraph. It promises to be a funny and/or wacky story, and it is. Learn more about the book here.)

Once upon a time there was a very wealthy young man named Horatio Alger Huntington-Ackerman. When he was a little boy he liked the fact that his initials spelled HAHA, because he found that in spite of some problems with his family, there was a lot to laugh about. But as he grew up and made his vast fortune and dealt with the world, it seemed that there were fewer and fewer things to feel HAHA about.

How to Ditch Your Fairy by Justine Larbalestier
(solid YA, great concept, unique voice, pulls you in on the first page. I didn’t realize how much I’d love this book, the voice of the MC, and the world that JL created. Get a better feel for the voice and story by reading an excerpt on the author’s website.)

Days walking: 60, Demerits: 4, Conversations with Steffi: 5

My spoffs looked funny in the top, which is odd because my spoffs are tiny. I pulled the top up and tried to push them back where they belonged. Didn’t work. Somehow the top was pushing my right spoff under my armpit and my left toward my neck.

Cracked Up To Be by Courtney Summers
(edgy YA, one of the strongest voices I’ve ever read, pulls you right in with universal emotions, even if you haven’t experienced what Parker has. Just in this short part from the beginning, you get the feel and emotion of the book. It’s definitely edgy YA. The dialog is even better, which you can read on Courtney’s website. She posted an excerpt of the first two chapters.)

Imagine four years.

Four years, two suicides, one death, one rape, two pregnancies (one abortion), three overdoses, countless drunken antics, pantsings, spilled food, theft, fights, broken
limbs, turf wars–every day, a turf war–six months until graduation and no one gets a medal when they get out. But everything you do here counts.

High school.

A Certain Slant of Light by Laura Whitcomb
(YA with adult crossover potential, serious, literary, pulls you in with curiosity. Read an excerpt from later in the book on her site to get a better feel for the voice and choices the MC makes.)

SOMEONE WAS LOOKING AT ME, a disturbing sensation if you’re dead. I was with my teacher, Mr. Brown. As usual, we were in our classroom, that safe and wooden-walled box – the windows opening onto the grassy field to the west, the fading flag standing in the chalk dust corner, the television mounted above the bulletin board like a sleeping eye, and Mr. Brown’s princely table keeping watch over a regiment of student desks. At that moment I was scribbling invisible comments in the margins of a paper left in Mr. Brown’s tray, though my words were never read by the students. Sometimes Mr. Brown quoted me, all the same, while writing his own comments. Perhaps I couldn’t tickle the inside of his ear, but I could reach the mysterious curves of his mind.

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
(adult with YA crossover potential, literary, MC looking back on when she was younger, pulls you in by making you feel like you are there with the MC. Learn more about the novel on the author’s website.)

At night I would lie in bed and watch the show, how bees squeezed through the cracks of my bedroom wall and flew circles around the room, making that propeller sound, a high-pitched zzzzzz that hummed along my skin. I watched their wings shining like bits of chrome in the dark and felt the longing build in my chest. The way those bees flew, not even looking for a flower, just flying for the feel of the wind, split my heart down its seam.

Art AND Writing Day: A Visit From The Evil Inner Editor

2009-03-24T23:17:00.004-04:00

Yesterday was supposed to be an Art Day post about portfolios. It was also the day that my Evil Inner Editor (EIE) decided to visit.

It started out innocently enough. EIE was commenting on my novel ideas. To be specific, he was commenting on my plots. EIE likes the premises for my novels, but tells me that my plots, “totally suck.” He says things like, “nobody will believe that; it’s not plausible,” or “you can’t pull that off, not even if you do research,” or “eh, that’s boring, zzzzzzzz.”

I was ignoring my EIE, trying to improve my plots, combining old plots, and working on new plots. You never know when something might work for the EIE.

Then I realized it was Monday. Monday is Art Day, yay! Then EIE decided to weigh in on my Art Day posts. So I didn’t post, because (according to my EIE) it didn’t make any sense and wasn’t helpful, “at all.”

I’m still planning on doing the portfolio post for a future Art Day. Until then, I suggest ignoring your EIE so you can make art and write stories. If you have to, put your fingers in your ears and say, “I can’t hear you! LA La lalalalalalaala!”

Tomorrow I’m expecting a knock down, drag out fight with my EIE. I need him to leave so I can pick a story to start writing on Thursday. One story. Hopefully with a plot. Help! There's also an Art Day post for next week to write.

Maybe I should ask Sheila to chase my EIE away … but then I’d have to promise to write her story, and I’m not sure that’s the story I’m going to pick.

What do you do to get your EIE to go away so you can be creative?

Art Day postponed until tomorrow ...

2009-03-23T21:26:00.001-04:00

Due to unforeseen circumstances, Art Day has been postponed until tomorrow.

the 14 week novel - week two: plot, planning and organization

2009-03-19T18:38:00.002-04:00

Do you have your novel idea (from last week’s assignment)? I have two. This week’s assignment will help me to see which one I’m ready to write. How about you? Are you ready for the next step?

Here is the assignment for week #2: Plot, plan and organize your novel.

A few questions to think on before we start writing next week:
Who is your main character (MC)?
What does your MC want, need, desire?
What do they try to help them achieve that?
Who or what thwarts their attempt?
What do they try next?
What stops them this time?
Will they get what they want in the end, or will they grow/change to not want it?
Does your character want more than one thing?
Do the things that the MC wants conflict with each other?
Is your MC struggling against another person, nature, or herself?
What is the MC’s secret? Does it cause inner or outer conflict?
Is the MC on the journey by themselves, or do they have a friend, boyfriend, group?
What role (if any) does the MC’s family play in your story?
Why does the MC need to tell this particular story about their life?
What is the emotional journey or tone of the story?

Keep asking yourself questions until you know where you need to start your story and have a general idea of where you are going to go.

To outline, or not to outline, that is the question: You don’t have to outline. However, if you’ve never outlined or are having trouble finishing a novel, consider trying it. You never know what will work for you until you try it. I’ve never been an outliner. After completing novels without plots and a bazillion false starts, I’m going to try outlining. It will be a very loose outline, with lots of room to have fun. ;)

Quotes for this week (from NY SCBWI 2007):
(There are) “no guarantees that you will be good. If you don’t dare failure or mediocrity, you will never be a writer!” – Katherine Patterson

“Writers are very private people who run around naked in public.” – Katherine Patterson

“What matters is turning the page.” – Brian Selznick (talking about FORTUNATELY by Remy Charlip)

“You write out of your subconscious hauntings.” – Susan Cooper

“One of your jobs is to persevere.” – Mac McCool

“Writing a novel is not like fixing the toilet. It’s more like falling in love, and nobody knows what they are doing.” – Ann Brashares

Links for this week:
* A most amazing video of Alley Carter’s Q&A at a book signing. She talks about the difference between premise and plot (in the middle of Part 1, when talking about Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy). This was hugely helpful for me to think about plot vs. premise. It may be one of the most helpful bits of writing info ever (for me - I hope it’s helpful to you too).

* Editor Cheryl Klein wrote a great post, “A Character-Based View of Plot,” which is good for people that find characters easier than plot (me!). Cheryl has also given talks about plot, which she’s posted on her website.

* Agent Nathan Bransford asks, “What Do Your Characters Want?” and follows up with a post On Conflict.

* And, because sometimes you just need a laugh, Justine Larbalestier wrote the post, “How to write a novel,” and a follow up, which I love, “How To Write A Novel (the true version).” Her first post was written in response to Maureen Johnson’s great post, “HOW TO WRITE A BOOK.” Enjoy!

Art Day: strengthen the weak spots in your portfolio

2009-03-16T21:40:00.004-04:00

I’ve heard many art directors and editors say, “you’re only as good as the weakest piece in your portfolio.”

With that in mind, I’ve decided to work on some of the weak spots in my portfolio. I’m going to give myself assignments (like the 14 week novel writing project). You can do the same assignments or create your own assignments to address your needs.

The first thing I’m going to tackle is background. A strong or interesting background can add depth to picture book illustrations. It’s also a nice contrast to my simple character based images.

Portfolio Assignment #1: A one-month study of backgrounds and landscapes, broken up into 4 week-long categories.

The goal for the first three weeks is to do lots of quick sketches (at least one a day) of each subject, while paying attention to composition. Think about your portfolio goals while sketching. Gear the size, shape and composition of the sketches towards what you want to illustrate (picture books, novels, covers, graphic novels, etc.).

The goal for the final week is to put it all together and create sketches that you can use for portfolio pieces.

Week One – Cities and towns
Week Two – Country landscapes
Week Three – In the house (kitchen, living room, the MC’s bedroom, etc.)
Week Four – Add characters (Create a finished sketch in each category. Use your previous sketches as starting points if you want. Leave room for titles or PB text, pay attention to composition, and watch out for the gutter.)

Anyone else need to work on their backgrounds? Or maybe give yourself a different assignment?

Next month I’ll be working on expressions (because nobody is happy all the time, even if they were in my portfolio when I first started).

the 14 week novel - week one: ideas

2009-03-12T23:55:00.007-04:00

I’ve been trying for a while to write a new YA novel. It started last summer, got pushed to November for NaNoWriMo, and it’s still not written. I have several novel starts, but I don’t have a finished novel yet (probably because I’m trying to write multiple novels at once). It’s time to do something about that.

I will finish a novel in 14 weeks, even if it makes me crazy. Anyone want to join me?

Here's the plan: each week, I’m going to give myself an assignment, which I will also post on my blog, along with quotes and/or links to helpful articles. The first two weeks (starting today) will be the planning stages, and then I’ll be trying to write about 5000 words a week until I get to the end. If I have left over weeks at the end, they will be focused on polishing and planning for revision.

Here is the assignment for week #1: Come up with an idea for a novel or an interesting character. How?

* Play “what if” with your idea or character: What if this happened? What happens next? What would be the best place to start the novel? What does my character want, need, fear? What happens if they get what they want? What happens if they don’t?

* Keep going until you don’t have any more questions, or set a timer and brainstorm for a set amount of time, like an hour.

* If you are like me and have multiple novel ideas you want to write, pick one. Or pick a main novel and don’t work on the other one(s) until you are done with your assignment for the main novel each week.

Quotes for this week (most from LA SCBWI 2005):
"There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are." – Somerset Maugham

“The difference between a good movie and a B movie is that the characters in good movies are believable. The ones in B movies are more likely to go to their attic in their nightgown in the middle of the night to investigate a noise, which nobody would really do.” - Kathleen Duey

“Give yourself time for your subconscious to work...Make lists of every solution to the problem that you can think of. Even if you don’t come up with a solution on your list, it’s a warm up for your head, and you might think of it later (while in the shower or on a walk, etc.).” - Gennifer Choldenko

“It’s what you do with the junk (ideas) that matters. Add light to junk in a cylinder and it becomes a rose window (kaleidoscope). Add light to ideas and they become a story.” - Rosemary Wells

“Everything in a teen’s life is about first experiences and emotional extremes…they are in a constant state of humiliation.” - Sonya Sones

“Write EVERY day, like it’s your JOB.” - Christopher Paul Curtis and Gennifer Choldenko both said this about how they work.

Art Day Interview: Illustrator Susan Dill Detwiler

2009-03-10T01:44:00.002-04:00

Today’s Art Day Interview is with illustrator Susan Dill Detwiler. Read on to find out more about Susan and her art.

Q: How did you get started illustrating for children?
A: I have loved making art from early childhood, and was always attracted to books with great illustrations. By the time I was in high school I decided that being a professional illustrator was my goal. To prepare (and because I enjoyed it) I sought out ways to use art at school; I was active in the art program, volunteered to design and screen print all the posters for the theater productions and was the art editor of our school’s literary magazine. I went to the Maryland Institute College of Art and studied graphic design and illustration. While I was a student I worked part-time as a sign painter. After that I got a job in the art department of a printing company, where I learned about how artwork is reproduced. I was hired as a staff illustrator for an advertising agency and while I worked there I also began freelancing at night and on weekends. I liked freelance work so much that I decided to do it exclusively. My favorite assignments are for children’s publishing and so I seek them out, with help I have found from the SCBWI. I love a good story, whether in books, or movies, or on television. I think that pictures help to tell a more complete story, and I hope that my pictures touch people in the same way that I was affected by the illustrations I saw as a child.

Q: Tell us a little bit about the recent book you illustrated, ONE WOLF HOWLS, by Scotti Cohn.
A: One Wolf Howls is a picture book written in verse, which counts from one to twelve, following wolf activity through the months of the year. It is beautifully written and as I read the manuscript for the very first time, I got images in my mind’s eye that I was eventually able to reproduce as paintings.

Q: What are you working on right now? Do you have any other books or art projects you’d like to talk about?
A: Right now I am completing a humorous holiday card design for a company that cleans and repairs microscopes. Using caricature, I depicted the staff of the company as elves doing the work of the regular staff. It was loads of fun! I have also started work on a Hidden Picture for Highlights for Children, and I have written and illustrated a picture book based on Aesop’s The City Mouse & The Country Mouse, for which I am seeking a publisher.

I have illustrated two picture books previously; The First Teddy Bear by Helen Kay, and The Wonderful Bicycle Parade by Susan Borges. I did the pictures for two 12-book series of readers entitled Reading Roots: Shared Stories, and I have illustrated magazine stories and poems in Ladybug and Highlighs for Children.

Q: Do you do non-children’s book art (licensing, fine art, etc.) or art just for fun? Is that art similar or different from your children’s book art?
A: I have an agent at Creative Connection Incorporated, who licenses my images for use on greeting cards, paper products, jigsaw puzzles, etc., and I take freelance assignments from advertising agencies. Each assignment calls for a different approach. The variety of styles and subjects I am asked to produce make my job more interesting, I think. Just for fun, I enjoy making ragdolls and stuffed animals for children I know, and when I am at the beach I make large sand sculptures of animals and figures.

Q: When someone else has written the text for a picture book or novel, how do you decide what scenes and details to draw?
A: I consider the pacing of the story and, although showing the most important scenes is usually the way to go, the best illustrations add to the text rather than just depicting exactly what is written. The preliminary work of choosing scenes and establishing the pace of the narrative can be difficult and time consuming, but it is crucial. My work tends to be very detailed because that’s what I liked as a child; the details help create a believable world.

Q: When illustrating picture books do you include a visual storyline that’s not in the text or include animals or people you know?
A: There is a little bit of my German Shepherd, Molly, in every wolf I painted for One Wolf Howls. She was a very helpful model! My Country Mouse has a pet ladybug which I’ve included in the illustrations but not in the text. Also, the boy holding a teddy bear on the title page of The First Teddy Bear looks remarkably like my younger son, although I had no children at the time I painted it.

Q: Can you explain your art process?
A: Clients contact me, either by phone or email, and describe an assignment; if I am interested and available we negotiate the schedule and the payment, and then I gather reference material and produce a pencil sketch, sometimes with color added. Some assignments require a contract and several sketches, and in the case of a book, a dummy. I make thumbnail sketches first, so that the composition of the entire page can be depicted quickly and changed easily, and when I’m working on a picture book those thumbnails are all on one sheet of paper so that the book can be seen as a whole. The sketching process is the real work, for me, and it may take many tries to get to the point where I am satisfied enough to show it for approval. Once the sketch is approved, I proceed to completion of the final art. I transfer the image to Strathmore 500 series illustration board using my overhead projector, and then I apply the color.

Q: What is your favorite color?
A: I cannot honestly say that I have a favorite; colors work for me when they work together. If I was forced to choose only one, it would probably be something neutral like gray or black because I like drawings so very much. There are, however, colors I prefer in my wardrobe, such as rose.

Q: What is your favorite medium to work in?
A: Nothing beats pencil, but I like watercolor and gouache for painting, and I enjoy drawing in ink, either with a pen or a brush.

Q: What childhood art supply brings back happy memories?
A: Oh, Play-Doh! I made animals and figures and little plates of tiny food for my dolls; I even saved my baby teeth and embedded them in a purple Play-Doh dinosaur’s mouth (complete with silver fillings). I learned color theory from the top of the Play-Doh box (red + yellow = orange).

Q: Do you have a favorite childhood picture that you remember making?
A: I drew this picture several times: a cut-away view of a house several stories high, showing all the family members and pets within engaged in various activities.

Q: Did you always want to be an artist when you grew up?
A: I always wanted to make things when I grew up, but the idea of earning a living from drawing and painting didn’t really dawn on me until I was in high school. I still marvel at the concept of getting paid for doing what I love to do.

Q: Do you use models / source pictures or do you draw from your memory/imagination?
A: It depends on the assignment. For One Wolf Howls, I did lots of research and collected many photos of wolves and landscapes to use a sources, because I needed to be accurate in my depictions. I have a four-drawer file cabinet filled with reference photos clipped from magazines and other printed material, and I even more frequently use the internet to find images. However, there are some times when I draw only from my imagination; creation of a character, for example.

Q: If you could be anything other than an artist, what would you be?
A: I think I would like to run a bakery and make wonderful breads and pies and cookies.

Q: What gets you through an illustration you’re having trouble with?
A: Simply taking a break and doing something else (like baking!) for a while can give a fresh perspective on a challenging aspect of an illustration. I often find that when tired I’ll have trouble with something that works out much more easily the next morning. If a drawing stumps me---just looks awkward somehow, and I don’t know why---I’ll reverse it in a mirror or in Photoshop, and the solution is often apparent.

Q: What was your favorite toy, stuffed animal or doll when you were growing up?
A: I had Barbie dolls, a whole family of them, including Ken and Francie and Skipper and others, and my sister and I would play with them for hours on end! I made furniture and sewed clothing for my dolls, and my sister and I would sometimes empty a bookcase to create a house or apartment building for our little families. I still look at objects in terms of Barbie-scale, bottle caps become tumblers, Cheerios become donuts, etc.

Q: What illustrated book(s) do you remember from when you were a child?
A: I had my mother’s original Raggedy Ann Stories, books by Johnny Gruelle, and I was a fan of the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder, and illustrated by Garth Williams. In fact, anything illustrated by Garth Williams attracted me; Charlotte’s Web, Stewart Little, and A Cricket In Times Square are a few of those titles. Harriet The Spy, written and illustrated by Louise Fitzhugh was hugely influential in my life.

Q: Is there a children’s book illustrator whose work you gravitate towards in the bookstore now? (You can list more than one.)
A: I greatly admire the work of Paul O. Zelinski, David Shannon, Ashley Wolfe, and Helen Ward.

Q: Did you like to tell jokes or stories as a child?
A: There are games I made up that I can fondly remember playing over and over again with my siblings and friends. Sometimes I told stories with pictures; I would cut heads from magazine photos, glue them to paper, and add bodies and speech bubbles. Great fun!

Q: If you could be a kid again for just one day, what would you do?
A: I would spend the day at an old-fashioned amusement park, and go on all the kiddie rides and eat sweet, sticky treats and laugh and scream with joy... but only if I could do it with a friend!

Bio: Susan Dill Detwiler is the illustrator of several books for children. Her artwork has also been used in advertising, on apparel and decorative tins, for games and puzzles and many greeting cards, and has appeared in children’s magazines. She and her husband, also an artist, have two sons. They live in Baltimore where Susan works from her home studio. For more information and to see additional artwork, please visit Susan's website, Sylvan Dell Publishing (publisher of One Wolf Howls), or her licensing agent, Creative Connection, Inc.

Thanks for the interview Susan!
All images in this post © Susan Dill Detwiler.

Art Day: Snow Day

2009-03-02T22:56:00.003-05:00

Today's Art Day was supposed to be all about Spring, because I am ready for Winter to be over. The weather, however, had different thoughts. So today is a snow day. Make snowflakes. Write a poem or a story about snow. Draw a blizzard (or an egg in a blizzard).

You don't have to like snow to participate. Whether you like snow or you don't like snow, make your snow day project reflect your real feelings about the fluffy white coldness outside. And if you're in a warm place, make a picture or a poem about a snow cone ;)

I made snowflakes today. They're bright colors instead of white so they'd show up on my blog, and because I wanted to use Spring colors to make me feel better. I'm not a big fan of snow.

Enjoy the snow day, whether it's in honor of the snow or in spite of it.

Outline a picture book? You've got to be kidding!

2009-02-25T23:04:00.004-05:00

I've never been an outliner, not for novels, and certainly not for picture books. Who has ever heard of outlining a picture book? That's just weird, right?

Maybe not.

I tried for years to write picture books and never had success (or a plot, or character development - just ask my former critique groups). I worked through revision after revision and story after story (and so did my wonderful critique groups). I vowed I would NEVER write another picture book ... I was only going to write novels. (Remember that? Ha!)

Recently, I've been rethinking my stance on outlines for novels. I've also been working on my picture book portfolio, which is a little scary, because the requests I get are usually for images that don't have a story behind them. Going forward, all the picture book images in my portfolio need to have a story attached to them, whether it's one of my stories or a retelling (3 Little Pigs, Goldilocks, Little Red Riding Hood, etc.). So now I have to write picture books again.

Which brings me back to outlines. If I'm going to write PBs, even if they are just for my art portfolio, I'd like them to be good, or at least not embarrassing. How do I make sure my PBs have a plot, character development, and all that other cool stuff? By outlining.

Really? Yes. I'm going to outline my picture books.

Maybe it will be easier if I start with one of my old picture book ideas. I wrote an outline! The story has a shiny new plot! There are new characters! Action that builds; it's not just episodic! There are lots of illustration possibilities (even more than before)! Hooray!

Outlines for picture books ROCK!

Now I just have to write it ... that's the easy part, right?

Art Day Interview: Illustrator Laurie Allen Klein - Part One

2009-02-23T22:06:00.003-05:00

Today’s Art Day Interview is a two-part interview with illustrator Laurie Allen Klein. Read on to find out more about Laurie and her art in part one. Read part two here.

Q: How did you get started illustrating for children?
A: In a way, I have always illustrated for children; or perhaps, more accurately, always illustrated with stories in mind. As a little girl I loved picture books and the work of Walt Disney and I would make up stories in my head and draw pictures to accompany them. As I got older I grew to appreciate the wonderful art of a wide range of illustrators and just always knew that was what I wanted to do. In school I was always the one doing the art for the class newspaper or yearbook or literary publication so it was just a natural progression.

Q: Tell us a little bit about the recent book you illustrated.
A: My first children's book (for Sylvan Dell, and first children's book in general) was “If A Dolphin Were A Fish” by Loran Wlodarski. I met Loran when I was showing my portfolio (looking for freelance work) and he mentioned a children's book he'd written. He was looking for an illustrator and I loved the story - a dolphin imagines herself as different animals, morphing into them to demonstrate different physical features and adaptations - so happily jumped at the chance to work on it with him. It was Loran's skill (as a science writer) that eventually brought him in contact with Sylvan Dell. They liked his story and they liked my drawings, all of which were done with Prismacolor color pencils. “Dolphin” won the 2007 Florida Publishers Associations President Award.

My second book, “Little Skink's Tail”, came about as a result of my work on “Dolphin”. The story concerns a little skink that loses her tail in a tragic crow encounter and winds up imagining what she would look like wearing the tails of other animals found in her forest. The little skink doesn't technically morph fully into other animals, but her tail does change each time until, at the end of the story, her own tail has grown back. Sylvan Dell asked me to use paint so all the illustrations for “Skink” were done with acrylic paint on banner canvas. To date “Skink” has won four awards: 2008 The Florida Publishers Associations Best Picture Book and Best Overall Book Awards, 2009 Learning Magazine Teachers' Choice Award, and, most recently, the Mom's Choice Award.

The third book, “Where Should Turtle Be?”, comes out in February. This story is about a baby sea turtle that gets confused by the lights and winds up crawling away from the beach. He gets lost in a variety of different habitats and is unsure of just what kind of turtle he should be or where he should live. Other animals suggest different kinds of turtles, such as a Box Turtle, a Painted Turtle, and a Diamondback Terrapin but eventually our little hero discovers his true identity and returns to the sea. There was an obvious danger that this story could become yet another “morphing” one but fortunately both Sylvan Dell and I agreed to approach the illustrations differently, with the sea turtle meeting the different turtles but not turning into them. The illustrations for “Turtle” were done with a combination of color pencil and acrylic paint.

Q: What are you working on right now? Do you have any other books or art projects you’d like to talk about?
A: At this very moment I am waiting, with crossed fingers, to hear if Sylvan Dell has a new title for me to illustrate but I have a ton of things to keep me occupied in the mean time. I am the on-staff artist for the education department of a local marine park and my desk is full of projects, new and on going. It's a dream position because I am called upon to do such a huge variety of things: everything from outdoor wall murals of life-size whales and polar bears (right now I have a life-size wood cutout of a mother polar bear that needs some touch up leaning against the wall in my hall), to 7' x 22' stretched canvas Florida landscape paintings, to activity book illustrations, camp field guides, and birthday cards. Currently I'm in the process of painting an arctic scene for a behind-the-scenes viewing area, working on a poster illustrating rainforest and ocean depth layers, and soon I'll be starting my first residential home wall mural (of undersea reef life). Loran also has several new stories he'd like me to illustrate and I have a couple of my own I'm trying to finish. And when I'm not drawing I'm always on the lookout for more freelance work and promoting the books I have done. Actually, figuring out a schedule to squeeze it all in is the hardest part!

Q: Do you do non-children’s book art (licensing, fine art, etc.) or art just for fun? Is that art similar or different from your children’s book art?
A: As noted above, I do a wide variety of art and I have illustrated a few books that are more adult or science-oriented (the “Out To Pasture” series would be an example of the former, “Killer Whales: Creatures of Legend and Wonder” an example of the latter) but my overall style is still very much in the children's book vein. Even my “serious” stuff has a kid-friendly look and story-telling quality, that's just the way I draw. Though I often talk about doing some fine art or gallery-type work (and I love all sorts of different styles - abstract, surreal, primitive), I always seem to be too busy to try it. The only time I actually sit down and take time to do a drawing that might be considered just for fun, non-children's book work is at Christmas when I design my annual Christmas card - but really that's just like a book illustration in a smaller form - at least the way I do them (my Christmas cards always wind up with a long and involved story, whether fact or fiction, behind them).

Q: When someone else has written the text for a picture book or novel, how do you decide what scenes and details to draw?
A: It often comes down to the Art Director. Sometimes the AD has a very firm idea of what they want, or at least some suggestions, other times it's left entirely up to me. I'm comfortable either way, but in all cases I do rough sketches first and submit them for approval, making any changes the AD or publisher may request before going to finished art. When the decision is totally mine I tend to read the manuscript a few times and make little written notes on the side. Generally the selection winds up being determined by how many illustrations are needed. Obviously if the publisher only wants 4 illustrations, for example, I have to decide what are the 4 most important or dramatic scenes to illuminate. In the case of children's picture books, at least those that I've worked on, where there are words on every page, I just try to go where the narrative dictates.

Q: When illustrating picture books do you include a visual storyline that’s not in the text or include animals or people you know?
A: Oh there is certainly more going on in most of my illustrations then simply following the text, at least when possible. “Dolphin” wasn't a traditional story, so there really wasn't the opportunity to put in any subtext storyline drawings in that book, but I did include special little visuals when possible. In the illustration of “If a dolphin were an octopus”(that describes how a dolphin has bones and an octopus does not) I put coral and jelly fish in the background, to further illustrate the concept of hard vs soft bodies. Also the St. Augustine Lighthouse can be seen in the background of another picture.

In “Skink” I purposely included a little caterpillar that wasn't mentioned in the text but who shows up every few pages building a cocoon. At the end of the story, when the skink grows a new tail, the caterpillar becomes a butterfly. Also in “Skink”, every time the skink tried out a new tail the next animal that was going to be featured was tucked somewhere on the proceeding page. I live by the state park, a salt marsh and the beach so a lot of Northeast Florida flora and fauna winds up in my illustrations simply because that is what is right outside my back door (or living in my garage) and an easy reference.

The “Turtle” book, for example, features quite a bit of St. Augustine landscape because each of the habitats mentioned in the story could be found in my neighborhood. As far as including people or animals I know, I often use my friends and family and pets as models and it is also well known that I hide my daughters name somewhere in the murals and paintings I do. Her name can be found tucked in one or two of the illustrations of all three books.

Q: Can you explain your art process?
A: I go into a huge and lengthy description of my mental and philosophic process in the Meet the Authors and Illustrators section of Sylvan Dell's website, but the shorthand technical description can be summed up with thumbnails and tracing paper. Whether I'm designing a wall mural, coming up with my annual Christmas card, or roughing out book illustrations I always start by doing small, loose, very (very, very) rough thumbnail sketches on tracing paper, attempting to figure out the best angle or layout. It's often the hardest part, I guess because I'm trying to be instantly creative and pulling ideas out of the ether. Once I start getting some scribbles on the page it gets easier, with ideas building on each other and I enlarge the thumbnails to full size (or as large as reasonably possible, either way the picture is enlarged in proportion to it's final size). Inevitably I hit a technical snag and have to go on a reference hunt but when I finally have some ideas on paper I love the editing process of cleaning up and fine-tuning the sketch. All the preliminary drawing is done on tracing paper because I like being able to lay alternative ideas under the rough sketch to see how it looks and it's a quick and easy way to make changes ( I think I started doing that after watching how old hand-drawn animation was done) and when the rough pencil sketch is right/approved it is transferred to the final material (canvas, paper, a wall) for the finished product.

Q: What is your favorite color?
A: I suppose it would be a cop-out to say I like ALL colors because that's not the question (nor is it entirely true since there are some shades of perfectly wonderful hues that are just ghastly) but my first response is to say I DO like pretty much all colors. However, for a specific color in particular, I guess I would have to say my all time favorite color is blue with the strict understanding that there are a huge variety of blues out there and I like several of them (with variations of slate and blue-grey being top on the list).

Q: What is your favorite medium to work in?
A: My absolute favorite tool is my trusty #2 pencil (specifically Mirado Black Warriors that I find at Publix). Early in my art career, I did most of my personal drawings in pencil and am probably still the most comfortable in that medium. One of my dreams is to illustrate a children's book or YA or adult novel completely in black & white pencil, so I guess I'd better write one. Over the years, however, I have learned to use (and grown comfortable) with other mediums and techniques out of necessity. Learn by doing (and the more you work in something the easier it gets). Prismacolor color pencils are my go-to tools for color work, particularly for small, fine detail pictures. Acrylic paint is what I use for all my faux work, trompe l'oeil and mural paintings. Paint washes work best when I need to cover large areas and while I have worked in oil and water color I happen to like acrylic the best. I also like working in ink and have done a fair number of line art that way. And just recently I rediscovered scratchboard and am now having a lot of fun with that technique (I originally learned the technique in high school but had little need to use it again until a large scratchboard project prompted this new interest last year). My 2008 Christmas card was done in scratchboard.

The Ghost of Christmas Who and Other Relative Dimensions: This is my scratchboard Christmas card from last year. The explanatory story that accompanied the card filled a full sheet of paper (and even then was set in the tiniest point size so it would all fit). For those interested I'll be happy to explain all the details!

All images in this post © Laurie Allen Klein.

Art Day Interview: Illustrator Laurie Allen Klein - Part Two

2009-02-23T21:55:00.004-05:00

Today’s Art Day Interview is a two-part interview with illustrator Laurie Allen Klein. Read on to find out more about Laurie and her art in part two. Read part one here.

Q: What childhood art supply brings back happy memories?
A: Clay. I love working with clay but don't think to use it very often - probably because I don't have a good place to work or own a kiln. I've also had some fun success with oven-baked clay and papier-mache. I enjoy the 3-dimensional quality of those things and there's something very satisfying about getting your hands all goopy. And let's not forget library paste - though not necessarily for its art properties (I think of it as more of a food group).

Q: Do you have a favorite childhood picture that you remember making?
A: I wouldn't say I have any specific favorite, but I do still have quite a few of my earliest childhood drawings - mostly of dolphins, dogs, deer, and horses - stored away in my flat file cabinet. I also have a notebook of sketches my best friend and I did together in elementary school. And of course I have all my favorite pieces and Christmas cards in a couple different portfolios. My absolute favorite illustrations I have framed.

Q: Did you always want to be an artist when you grew up?
A: Yes. I knew I wanted to draw since I was a little girl. Occasionally I dreamed of working for Disney or Industrial Light and Magic (and yes, I did apply to those places) but it was always as an on-staff artist. And I never abandoned the dream of illustrating children's books.

Q: Do you use models / source pictures or do you draw from your memory/imagination?
A: I once had a college art professor tell me the human mind is not nearly capable or creative enough to imagine all the intricacies in nature, and that I should always use a reference when drawing or painting. Of course my initial reaction was one of righteous indignation believing my mind was plenty capable and creative enough - thank you very much! But I have since come to the realization that, at least in my case, my teacher was right. I use my imagination to come up with the initial idea or concept, and certainly rely on my memory to flesh out the sketch, but I have found my work is so much stronger if I have a model or a reference photo handy when I go to the final clean up stage. Even if I'm creating some sort of fanciful fictitious creature, like a unicorn or a dragon, or doing a cartoon or anthropomorphic character, the figure is so much richer if it has some basis in real animal form.

Also, when it comes to doing a series of book illustrations it helps to look at other styles and work to spark the imagination. My first response when roughing out a picture, for example, is to automatically go with the easy, standard, side view - and sometimes that is indeed what the picture calls for. However, often on my second or third revision of the sketch I start searching for a more dramatic angle or unexpected perspective and that's where looking at other poses, or real trees, or a living animal (if one is readily available) gives me a much more interesting approach. I take photos of landscapes and people in interesting poses and I have shelves full of books just to help jump-start the creative inspiration process.

The Taleweavers: I wrote a little story that goes along with this illustration. All the elements represented are taleweavers, or story tellers, in some fashion. The little doll the child is holding belonged to my mother.

Q: If you could be anything other than an artist, what would you be?
A: Oh there are tons of things - though I'm not sure all of them have an actual title. A marine biologist comes to mind; I'd love to study dolphin interaction and the songs of whales. I also love philosophy and archaeology and history. I'm fascinated by music and so wish I could play an instrument (my daughter is a Vocal major and I love talking music theory with her). I'd like to work in a museum - be it art or natural history, or own a wonderful old bookshop. I'd love to work in films - specifically in the creative concepts departments like WETA or ILM (though I guess that's getting close to art again). Then again maybe I'd like to be some sort of animal curator or a park service ranger. Or perhaps do something along the lines of Francis James Child and collect the ballads and folktales of past civilizations or the songs and music of other cultures. Obviously books and words would be involved.

Tasha & Taliesin In the Company of King Arthur's Bard: This is an example of using my own pet as a model and my manic obsession with research. Tasha was our beloved Welsh corgi of 14 years. She died in November of 2007 and i wanted to honor her memory. I could think of no better companion then Taliesin, considered the greatest of the Welsh poets. Again, there are tons of little elements in this picture that all mean something or have historic significance and the explanatory note that went with the card filled a page.

Q: What gets you through an illustration you’re having trouble with?
A: My neighbor, and the woman who owns the place where I get my copies done. Seriously! During “Dolphin”, “Skink” and “Turtle” (as well as a few other paintings I've struggled with) I was brought to tears a number of times because things weren't turning out the way I thought they should (I am my own toughest critic). My neighbor would come over every day and look over my work and tell me it was fine and I was being too hard on myself. Even now, when I have a new project she'll pop over and ask if I need any encouragement. The other friend has publishing experience and talked me off the ledge when I was ready to give up on one of the books. I raced over to her office one day (again in tears), threw the uncompleted remnants of that book's illustrations on her desk, and asked her when I should call the publisher and tell them I couldn't do the job. She calmly looked over what I'd done and said, “You aren't there yet” and pointed out how much I had really accomplished. Sometimes it just takes a different, fresh perspective or another point of view. I also find it helps to walk away from the picture for the night and look at it with a fresh eye in the morning - inevitably things always look better the next day. Or I have thought of a way to solve the problem.

Q: What was your favorite toy, stuffed animal or doll when you were growing up?
A: Oh, that's a tough one because I still have most of my toys, either in boxes out in the garage or scattered around the house. I'm afraid when it comes to books and toys I just won't grow up (to quote Peter Pan). I have my toys, my mother's doll collection (and all her “Five Little Pepper” books) and even a good number of my daughter's stuffed animals I thought were too cute to give away when she out grew them. I'm often reminded of the scene in “Toy Story” when a once beloved toy is consigned to a box in the attic or the yard sale and get quite a pang when I reluctantly have to bump one of my toys from the place of honor in my art room and move it to the chest in the living room to make way for something new. Heavy sigh. As far as childhood goes - growing up I had the prerequisite plastic horse collection and many of the Stieff animals (still have them all in fact) but if there is one thing I wish I still had, or that was still possible to find, it would be my “Disneykins” - tiny, hard plastic-material, very detailed, Disney characters that I absolutely adored (and played with so much they simply didn't survive). It should be noted, in the interest of full disclosure, that I STILL buy toys - for myself - today, with my current collection full of Star Wars and Doctor Who action figures and collectibles. I just love when I find some new figure in the store or when a box shows up in the mail after an extensive Internet search.

Q: What illustrated books do you remember from when you were a child?
A: On the bookshelf behind me I still have my original copies of “A Little Princess” by Frances Hodgson Burnett with illustrations by Tasha Tudor (one of my favorite illustrators),”Nightbirds on Nantucket” by Joan Aiken with these great line drawings by Robin Jacques, “The Turret” by Margery Sharp (a Miss Bianca Mouse adventure) with illustrations by Garth Williams, “Charlotte's Web” and “Stuart Little” by E. B. White (and Garth Williams again), “Rabbit Hill” written and illustrated by Robert Lawson, all the “Winnie-the-Pooh” books, most the horse books written by Marguerite Henry and illustrate by Wesley Dennis, “Thee Hannah” and “Henner's Lydia” written and illustrated by Marguerite De Angeli, just about all the Beatrix Potter books. And that's not even a fraction of the children's books and picture books I've collected for my daughter, and myself, over the years. Great stories with wonderful diverse approaches to illustration - color and black and white. All memorable.

Q: Is there a children’s book illustrator whose work you gravitate towards in the bookstore now? (You can list more than one.)
A: I don't know that I specifically look for a particular artist, but there are some favorites - Tasha Tudor, Beatrix Potter, Arthur Rackham, Kay Nielsen, N. C. Wyeth, Maxfield Parrish, Norman Rockwell, Edmund Dulac, Edward Gorey, Alan Lee, John Howe, Trina Schart Hyman, Brian Froud - that never disappoint. The rest of the time I just buy things I find compelling - either the story or art just grabs me and I'll pick it up. I rarely go into a bookstore and come out empty handed.

Q: Did you like to tell jokes or stories as a child?
A: I suppose I did, though I really can't say I have a strong memory of it. I certain made up stories for myself (and still do) and I loved when we got creative writing assignments in school. I'm much more a story person then a joke person either way.

Q: If you could be a kid again for just one day, what would you do?
A: That's an interesting question because there really isn't a lot I can't do now, even though I am no longer a “kid.” I still love toys and books (and now I can buy exactly what I want - when I want). I still love costumes and make believe. Probably, truth be told, I wouldn't necessarily want to be a kid again so much as I'd love to just be able to dress up and indulge in all my kid-like fantasies and obsessions and passions, every day - without attracting the attention of guys in white lab coats. I'd like to travel through space and time in the TARDIS with the Doctor, wield a lightsaber as a Jedi knight, sit in the parlor of 22B Baker Street and listen to Mr. Holmes play his violin, communicate with dolphins, ride a flying horse, tame a dragon, swim with Nessie, walk through a wardrobe and wind up in Narnia, be part of the Fellowship that hikes across Middle Earth, have Christmas dinner with the Cratchits, dance with wizards, sing with troubadours, and talk to the animals… and I guess the best way to do that is to just keep drawing!

Bio: Born in Philadelphia, PA, I got my first introduction into the art of illustration watching the local TV affiliate children's program, “Gene London's Cartoon Corners General Store” (where Mr. London told stories, usually along the lines of fairy tales if I'm not mistaken, and drew accompanying pictures before introducing the cartoons). When I was 8 or so, my family moved to St. Petersburg, FL where books and Disney movies (not to mention dolphins and manatees) provided a lot of my creative inspiration. After graduating from high school I went to a small liberal arts college, Maryville College, in Maryville, TN (in the shadow of the Smoky Mountains) majoring in Art. From there I made my way to Atlanta, GA where I worked at a photography and slide show company as a graphic & paste-up artist before eventually going off and trying my hand at a freelance art career. I did illustration work for the Georgia Wildlife Federation, the Atlanta Botanical Society, Callaway Gardens, and Athens Magazine among other clients, and it was during this period that I illustrated my first book, “Out To Pasture” by Effie Leland Wilder, for Peachtree Publishers. Some eighteen years later (give or take) I began to miss Florida and wanted my little girl to have the same sort of “beach kid” childhood I had so, in one of those impulsive decisions that sounds either incredibly brave or simply stupid, my husband and I quit our jobs, sold our house, packed up our daughter (and the dog), and moved to St. Augustine. The rest, as they say, is the stuff of myth and legend. Laurie’s “Meet the Illustrator” profile can be found on the Sylvan Dell Publishing website.

Thanks for the interview Laurie!
All images in this post © Laurie Allen Klein.

Turn and face the strange cha-cha-changes ...

2009-02-20T17:17:00.002-05:00

There are lots of changes going on around here. Some are good, and some are wait-and-see. What's change? Glad you asked. Here are some definitions I've been batting around this week:

Change:
1. coinage in your pocket (probably given to you by a cashier after you bought something)
2. what's going on in sruble's world right now

Changes:
1. brought about by revisions to your manuscript (sometimes based on critique group or editor feedback, and sometimes because your brain thought up something better)
2. what an eraser does to your drawing (digital or on the end of a pencil)

Changing:
1. done in a small room at a clothing store (sometimes there are mirrors, sometimes not)
2. out of clothes and into pajamas before bed (also out of PJs and into clothes in the morning)

Changed:
1. what your painting is after a transformative process of creativity (try saying that 5 times fast!)
2. what your character should be at the end of your story

Change can be good or bad, but it's almost always stressful. Chocolate and Snood help with that ... or maybe not. I guess it depends on how much you indulge.

Happy Release Day Cynthea! S.A.S.S. The Great Wall of China

2009-02-19T12:39:00.003-05:00

Cynthea Liu's first novel, The Great Wall of China (part of the S.A.S.S. series) releases today. Yay Cynthea!

There's a party over at her site, with prizes and a cool video.

There are also a few interviews, here (plus a release party contest), here, and here.

Cynthea has been really great about giving back to the children's book community, with lots of informative articles and info on her website, and from giving free critiques (Free-tiques) too.

So, go join the party and then go buy her book :)

Cynthea also founded the AuthorsNow! site and has a second book, Paris Pan Takes the Dare, releasing in June of this year.

CONGRATULATIONS Cynthea!

Art Day Interview: Illustrator Wendy Martin

2009-02-16T23:25:00.006-05:00

Today’s Art Day interview is with illustrator Wendy Martin. Read on to find out more about Wendy’s art.

Q:How did you get started illustrating for children?
A: I’ve been an artist my whole life. I’ve always wanted to draw and paint. I started out my career as a graphic designer doing fine art in my spare time. I was actually making some inroads into the gallery setting when I discovered I was pregnant. So my spare time was soon eaten up with child rearing. Once, a friend was over as I was putting my daughter to bed and listened with fascination as I told her some bedtime story in answer to a question she had asked. My friend declared I should write children’s stories and illustrate them, too. I laughed it off, but a seed had been planted and 5 years later I started my first children’s book.

Q: Tell us a little bit about the recent picture book you illustrated, RABBIT'S SONG, by S. J. Tucker and Trudy Herring.
A: S.J. Tucker is an amazingly gifted musician. Trudy Herring, who S.J. affectionately calls “Mama Dragon,” has studied Trickster tales for much of her life. S.J.’s performing partner (they are fire-dancers) was having a birthday a few years back and Mama Dragon wrote him a poem for it. She based the poem on her knowledge of Trickster tales and pulled from many different stories to complete the verses. Then she gave it to S.J. to set to music. The musical version came out on S.J.’s CD entitled “Blessings” in 2007. Someone at the publisher’s heard the song and approached them about making it into a picture book. The women agreed and then I was hired to do the illustrations.

The story is about the Trickster God and his search among all the animals of the world for those to represent him and his lessons to man. After his search he finds Rabbit, Coyote, Raven and Crow. The animals say they are not great enough for his needs, but he disagrees and shows them how they will help. The story is a feel good one where the nice guy finishes first for a change.

The art I created for this book really stretched me because there were so many characters. Most of the people who’ve seen my advanced copy make the comment about the illustrations being so detailed. It was a lot of fun to recreate the story Trudy was alluding to in the wording for each animal. I spent a LOT of time on research for this book.

Q: What are you working on right now? Do you have any other books or art projects you’d like to talk about?
A: I’m not under contract for any other projects right now, but I do have several I am perfecting before I start submitting them for possible publication. One is a really goofy picture book about a girl’s hair taking over the world. The ultimate in a bad hair day. I have been working on two YA fiction fantasies. And another author friend of mine and I started a adult non-fiction book a couple of years ago that we are revising (again) before handing it over to an agent to shop to publishers.

I also create monthly coloring pages for the yahoo group the publisher set up for me. The current series is called the ABCs of Lesser Known Goddesses. At this writing I am up to letter “L.” I do a lot of research for these coloring pages, too. Some of the old goddesses aren’t exactly appropriate for a children’s coloring page. So I have to be careful about which ones I choose.

Q: Do you do non-children’s book art (licensing, fine art, etc.) or art just for fun? Is that art similar or different from your children’s book art?
A: I am a member of Watercolor Wednesday. It’s a group of 25 children’s book illustrators (both published and unpublished) and each Wednesday we are given a prompt to paint an illustration from. That’s just for fun. At least it was until just recently when I had the bright idea that we should be creating portfolio pieces! The other artists thought it was a wonderful idea, so now we have a month to work on a prompt for a portfolio piece. The newest prompt is to illustrate scenes from the Brother’s Grimm version of Snow White.

Last spring I was approached by a cross-stitch pattern maker to license some of my art. She asked for some of my older fine art florals as well as my newer style of Art Nouveau flavored kid’s illustration.

I think the only real difference between my single images and my picture book art is the need to include text and not have too much going on behind it. So the book art tends to have fewer background patterns and such.

Sometimes, if I have some spare time, I’ll do cartoony sketches for Illustration Friday prompts. But recently with all the books I’ve been working on, spare time is spent with my family. I travel a lot for book signings and that leaves little room for being with them during the time I’m on the road.

Q: When someone else has written the text for a picture book or novel, how do you decide what scenes and details to draw?
A: I’ve usually gotten some kind of notes from the book editor. They give me general direction in which to head. I’ve heard from writers that their characters take on lives of their own. The same thing happens to my characters when I draw them. I’ll have an image in my head but when it comes time to get it out the end of the pencil onto the paper details and things I hadn’t imagined originally just show up.

It happened a lot in Rabbit’s Song. Even with so many animals actually named in the text, other animals kept showing up while I was drawing. I’ve learned just to go with the flow instead of fighting it. I don’t know where it comes from, but I do know it really adds a lot to the look of the book pages.

Q: When illustrating picture books do you include a visual storyline that’s not in the text or include animals or people you know?
A: For my first book, I was really inexperienced with book illustration. So the images are very straightforward and taken from the text, for the most part. I used my daughter as my model. At the time she thought it was really cool to be in a book and that I was writing and illustrating one “just for her.” I used a lot of friends and family members as characters throughout the book. It was a lot of fun when the book finally came out and they got to see what they looked like in my illustration style. I think most of them were pleased.

By the time I worked on the next book, I’d learned a lot more about book design/illustration. This book didn’t use a model for the main characters. I was also having some health issues with my hand – a kind of tendonitis in my thumb, which made it really difficult to actually hold a pencil or paintbrush for very long periods of time. I think the illustration suffered for both of these things. But in this book, there are hidden pictures in most of the pages. Kids go crazy for the interactive quality of the book. The book is about a fall harvest ritual and I have a squirrel collecting acorns in his own story line completely outside of the text.

In Rabbit’s Song, the character of Trickster was based on a musician friend of mine. He was totally thrilled to be asked to model. He was even more thrilled when he saw the art and realized that he’d modeled for a starring role. He told me he was very honored with the way I had rendered him.

Q: Can you explain your art process?
A: A couple of years ago I decided to do a time-lapse explanation of one of my paintings. So I’d work on the image a little and then scan it in, work on it some more and scan it. Then I created a web page on my site and explained what I was doing in the images. I plan to update my process page in the near future with how I go from thumbnail to finished book illustration, too.

Q: What is your favorite color?
A: I have a limited palette for most of my paintings. Occasionally, I’ll switch out one color for a “new” color in the same hue. I did that for Rabbit’s Song. I got a new blue. It’s my current favorite color for painting. The company calls it Intense Blue. To see it look at Raven. He’s mostly that blue. There’s also a lot of the blue in the sky. I had 5 different blues on my palette for the book. Each one different.

But my next book may have a completely different favorite color. I love color. It’s hard to have just one favorite.

Q: What is your favorite medium to work in?
A: I work in both watercolor and digital art. At this point, I think my style is matured enough that it is hard to tell the difference in the finished images. The project I am working on really dictates which media I use. I love both of them for different reasons, but if I absolutely had to choose just one, I’d probably go with the watercolor. I am a traditionalist at heart, and while digital art is wonderful, the happy “accidents” that happen with actual paint and water just can’t be repeated on the screen. At least not yet. Some of the new software comes very close, but there’s still that bit of control the digital world has that watercolor doesn’t.

Q: What childhood art supply brings back happy memories?
A: I loved coloring with one of my babysitters. She would outline images in very dark color and then lightly fill in the rest. I still remember trying to color with my crayons the way she did. I guess I had some hero worship or something going on there. After all it was just crayons and a coloring book.

I still use crayons. They are so easy to pack. They are self-contained and because they are “children’s art supplies” I have a psychological license to play. I highly recommend buying the big box with the sharpener in the back for creative bocks. Works every time.

Q: Do you have a favorite childhood picture that you remember making?
A: It’s framed and up on the wall in my dining room. I must have been in first or second grade. We had been instructed to draw a turkey. Always the rebel, I drew a turtle. He was crying. When I was asked why, I said because all his friends were turkeys and they had their heads chopped off so they could get eaten. It was in crayon. The paper used to be black or dark blue or something like that, but the drawing is so old, the paper has changed color to a dirty grey green. It makes me smile every time I see it.

Q: Did you always want to be an artist when you grew up?
A: I can’t remember ever wanting to be anything else.

Q: Do you use models / source pictures or do you draw from your memory/imagination?
A: I do both. I use reference and models to make sure things like proportions and body mechanics are accurate, but once I have those things buckled up, the sky’s the limit on what my characters may be doing.

Q: If you could be anything other than an artist, what would you be?
A: A spoiled house cat.

Q: What gets you through an illustration you’re having trouble with?
A: I tend to eat chocolate when I am having problems with an illustration. I guess I should try another tact. I’ve put on 20 pounds since my first book!

Q: What was your favorite toy, stuffed animal or doll when you were growing up?
A: I never really had one. I still have the first stuffed animal I ever received. My grandfather was so proud of me. I was his first grandchild. I had bright red hair when I was born, so instead of a teddy bear he bought me a lion. I’ve been collecting lions ever since.

Q: What illustrated books do you remember from when you were a child?
A: Go Dog Go, Fox in Sox, Palutchkia and Tak-tak, Where the Wild Things Are, The Little House series, The Narnia series, Myths of the Greek Gods, and The Patchwork Quilt

Q: Are there any children’s book illustrators whose work you gravitate towards in the bookstore now?
A: David Catrow and David Weisner

Q: Did you like to tell jokes or stories as a child?
A: No. I was terribly shy. Still am. But, I have learned to tell stories to kids now.

Q: If you could be a kid again for just one day, what would you do?
A: Daydream and watch clouds, read my favorite books and be lazy all day long.

Bio: In addition to illustrating children's books, Ms. Martin has worked on projects for such well known companies as Baker, BIC, Caldors, Physicians Health Service, May Company, Purina, Sears Portrait Studios, Southern New England Telephone, Yale University and The US Veterans' Medical Administration. She is a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, the Graphic Artist Guild, and the St. Louis Watercolor Society. Visit her web site to learn more: http://wendymartinillustration.com

Thanks for the interview Wendy!
All images in this post © Wendy Martin.

Art Day: drawing or painting what you DON’T know – what happened after the conference

2009-02-09T23:24:00.004-05:00

On Thursday, I blogged about writing what you DON’T know. Today I’m going to suggest that you draw or paint what you DON’T know.

Image © Stephanie Ruble

When the conference ended on Sunday, my friend Emily suggested that we go to see the butterfly exhibit at the Museum of Natural History. So Emily, Angela and I went to the butterfly exhibit thanks to Emily’s friend Paul, who was nice enough to get us in and show us the butterflies. Thanks Paul!!!

Image © Stephanie Ruble

I’ve seen butterflies and I’ve even been to a butterfly exhibit before, but this time was different. I made a friend! They released new butterflies into the exhibit while we were there, and this little one flew right to my hand, crawled on top of my camera (which made it hard to take pictures – Paul took the one below). She stayed with me until we were ready to leave, when they coaxed her onto a leaf.

Image © Paul Berger

My new friend and the other butterflies I saw and took pictures of inspired me to draw what I don’t know. I’m not a butterfly artist, or at least I wasn’t before. Since that day I’ve done tons of sketches and several paintings. At first I tried to make them look like the pictures, but I’m not a realistic artist.

Image © Stephanie Ruble

Now I’m painting pictures inspired by the butterflies and they’re much better … although I don’t have any to show yet. Soon! I hope. Until then, I'm posting pictures of some of my other friends, in hopes that you will be inspired to draw or paint a butterfly (or even write about one).

Image © Stephanie Ruble

Image © Stephanie Ruble

Image © Stephanie Ruble

Image © Stephanie Ruble

Or you could paint something else that inspires you. Adrienne summed it up wonderfully said in the comments section the other day, "I guess if you stick only to what your comfortable with, you don't discover any fresh ideas."

Go create something new, different, daring, and fresh!

write what you DON'T know - more from SCBWI NY

2009-02-05T09:21:00.006-05:00

When I go to conferences, there almost always seems to be a theme. Maybe it's not a stated theme, or even a real theme, but it's something that is mentioned over and over from several speakers. It could be that it's something that I need to hear, which is why it jumps out at me, or it could be because of what's going on in the industry at the time. Or maybe the speakers all meet before hand to discuss notes, like deciding to all wear the same color shirt or something.

The theme (that I noticed) at the SCBWI NY conference this year was:

Write what you DON'T know!

This is contrary to everything we're usually told about writing and was mentioned by several speakers, including a couple of editors in break out sessions. Hmmm.

Writing what you don't know could be writing a non-fiction book about landing on the moon. Most people haven't been to the moon, or even gone up in a rocket ship or the space shuttle.

Writing what you don't know could be writing a book set in the 1800s, writing about being a zombie, or writing a story from the view point of a character with a different gender than yours.

You might need to do a little research or a lot of world building, but when you write what you don't know, you can create something new, fresh, and unique. The best part about unique stories is that if you dig deep and infuse the characters with universal traits and emotions, they speak to readers that don't know about landing on the moon, living in the 1800s, or being a zombie.

Next time you start a story, write what you DON'T know, because it might be more real than what you DO know.

Note: On Monday, I'll talk about drawing what you don't know.

Conference Notes: I was going to type up my conference notes, but there are people that have already done that, and much faster than I could! Reading some of these posts was like reading the notes I took, only better, because they managed to get the experience of being there too (with the exception of Jack Gantos - he's hilarious and that just doesn't come across in notes). So here are some great links to conference notes:

The official blog about the conference (by Alice Pope and sanctioned by SCBWI):
http://scbwiconference.blogspot.com/

Darcy Pattison

Jacqui Robbins (who I got to meet!)

I know that there are other blogs about the conference. If you let me know, I'll add the links to the post!

Blogs Added:
Kimmie Poppins

Kim Kasch (blogged about a similar subject, but not because of the conference - Kim must have editor and agent ESP!)

Art Day: Just For You Projects for Artists and Writers

2009-02-02T22:16:00.009-05:00

I was lucky to be able to attend the SCBWI NY Conference this past weekend. Several speakers talked about doing a project that's calling to you, instead of following trends or the marketplace.

Sometimes you need to write a story or paint a picture that's just for you. It's the kind of project that keeps you up at night, or the brilliant idea that nobody but you will understand. It could be inspired by a story on the news, your kids, or a trip to a museum. You're passionate about it. You lose track of time while you're working on it.

Your evil inner voice says, "No, don't do that! Nobody will want that project! It Sucks!"

Tell your evil inner voice to be quiet. Create that story or artwork, even if you think that nobody will ever want to read it or look at it. You'll never know what it could be unless you let down your guard and lose yourself in that crazy idea you have.

The funny thing about "just for you" projects is that they have the potential to be your best work. Art directors and editors love to see art and read stories that the creator is passionate about. When you take emotional and creative risks, it can bring out universal truths that resonate with everyone, not just you.

Write that weird story you think will be boring! Draw that odd image that you think will be ugly! You might be surprised what happens when you stop thinking and just create.

Do a project just for you!

Art Day Interview: Illustrator Katherine Zecca

2009-01-26T23:08:00.002-05:00

Today’s Art Day interview is with author/illustrator Katherine Zecca, who illustrated: “The Strange Life of the Land Hermit Crab,” “River Song: With the Banana Slug String Band” by Steve Van Zandt, and “In My Back Yard” by Valarie Giogas. She also wrote and illustrated A Puffin’s Year. Read on to find out more about Katherine’s wonderful art.

Q: How did you get started illustrating for children?
A: I got started by asking myself a question. What would make my heart sing? I
was a scientific illustrator for NOAA Fisheries, and the National Marine Mammal Lab for a dozen years. I got a contract with the National Zoo to illustrate a book about Pollinators. It just got me really excited about the possibilities and the challenges in the publishing world.

Q: What are you working on right now? Do you have any books or art projects you’d like to talk about?
A: I am writing a couple of non-fiction books, developing the research needed, which to me is really fun. I also enjoy contacting biologists whose specialty is about the animals I am writing about.

Q: Do you do non-children’s book art (licensing, fine art, etc.) or art just for fun? Is that art similar or different from your children’s book art?
A: I live on a beautiful nature preserve, I look forward to spring when I can start doing some sketching and painting outdoors.

Q: When someone else has written the text for a book, how do you decide what scenes and details to draw?
A: I do some rough drafts and small sketches. Generally try to memorize the story, really get my head into it, to the point that I see the pictures. Then I start sketching ideas out, looking for visual references. I find some of those from my own sketchbooks sometimes from photographs I have taken.

Q: When illustrating picture books, do you include a visual storyline that’s not in the text or include animals or people you know?
A: I have used my friends and neighbors as models, used my dogs for "Why Puppies do That."

Q: Can you explain your art process?
A: If I am illustrating someone else’s story, I will start with their words, try to get a visual picture in my head. Then I start sketching and making notes to myself. From there I find images I like, refine them and pass them on to the creative director. After I get their approval I enlarge them onto heavy water color paper and refine the drawing again. I will usually make small color samples of a page before continuing onto the final painting. On River Song I focused on complimentary colors to really push the feeling of the seasonal changes.

Q: What is your favorite color?
A: I love every shade of blue

Q: What is your favorite medium to work in?
A: Right now I enjoy acrylic inks, very bright and easy to control, use it like watercolors

Q: What childhood art supply brings back happy memories?
A: Top of my head...hmmm finger painting

Q: Did you always want to be an artist when you grew up?
A: I had no idea I had any talent what so ever, it was cultivated in my twenties.

Q: Do you use models / source pictures or do you draw from your memory/imagination?
A: I use everything at my disposal. I think I have stored memories, sometimes images just come to me from a favorite hike, horseback ride in the mountains.

Q: If you could be anything other than an artist, what would you be?
A: A jazz guitar player, a stand up comic, a pilot

Q: What gets you through an illustration you’re having trouble with?
A: I like to go for a walk with my dogs, and basically get away from my drawing table. Sometimes just doing the dishes or cleaning the house gets me going again too, but I would much rather go for a walk with my lab and basset.

Q: What illustrated book do you remember from when you were a child?
A: The one book that has truly influenced me was Charlotte's web. I have an original copy that was given to me by my brother in 1962. I was reading it before it became popular. Since then I have been following a life path that directly relates to that book. I didn't realize this until I say the latest film made. Between my absolute love of all animal life, farms, rural settings, illustrating, and writing. This is why I like doing school visits because it gives me the chance to really connect with children, to hopefully inspire them.

Q: Is there a children’s book illustrator whose work you gravitate towards in the bookstore now?
A: Chris Van Allsburg hands down.

Q: If you could be a kid again for just one day, what would you do?
A: Ride my bike, make forts and hug my Mom again.

Bio: Katherine was born in Weisbaden Germany, and as lived most of her life in the Pacific Northwest. She moved to Vermont just a year ago. Previously a staff artist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, she created illustrations of fish, whales and seals for marine biologists. In her new career as an author and illustrator, Katherine is able to use her life experiences and wonderful voice of writing to authenticate her books and share her moving experiences to encourage children to learn about the world of nature. Katherine enjoys camping and sketching on long walks in the woods with her Basset Bailey and her black Lab Hunter. For more information, visit her website: http://www.katherinezecca.com or her cafepress shop: http://www.cafepress.com/zeccart

Or contact Katherine’s agent Lori Nowicki at: http://painted-words.com/KatherineZecca.htm

Thanks for the interview Katherine!

All images in this post © Katherine Zecca.

Awards! link to the list and NG reaction

2009-01-26T11:55:00.003-05:00

It can be impossible to find the list of award winners if you don't get into the broadcast. Thanks so much to professornana for posting them here.
(Thanks to Shirley for the link.)

Stories about, "the call" are always fun. Check out Neil Gaiman's post about it here.
(Thanks to Ann Marie for the link.)

A Big, Huge CONGRATULATIONS to all the winners!

I have the Graveyard book already (next on my to read list) but I need to get The House in the Night. The art looks gorgeous on amazon and I can't wait to see it in person.

Book Publicity: An interview with PR Coordinator Sara Dobie

2009-01-22T16:51:00.003-05:00

sruble: Did you always want to do Public Relations?

Sara Dobie: Nope. I started as a news writer in college. Then, I realized that news writing was a touch dry for my taste. I also realized that on paper, I was a dang smooth operator. And what is PR but smooth operating in the spotlight? It’s more creative than news writing. There’s more room to stretch, and you can occasionally throw the whole AP style manual out the door. To me, “public relations” means freedom to have free thought. Sky’s the limit, and that’s what keeps things exciting—for me and the people I represent.

sruble: How did you get into PR for publishing, and how long have you been doing it?

Sara Dobie: Through a comedy of errors, I ended up in the wine industry after college, working as a sales rep for a distributor in the Midwest. I ended up hating it; I ended up walking off the job. Two weeks later, there was an ad in the city paper—an art gallery was looking for a manager. I applied. The artist/owner called and said I didn’t have enough experience to be a manager, but she liked my credentials. She wondered if I could promote her husband’s children’s book. I took the freelance job. I learned more real life stuff in one year than I had in four years at college. Once my contract ran out, I started my own book publicity firm, Tree Town Promotions, which I ran out of an apartment for over a year. Tree Town’s in hibernation for the time being, thanks to my full time position at Sylvan Dell Publishing, which I took back in May 2008. Overall, I’ve been in the publishing business for three years, but there are days when I miss Bordeaux and brunch from my short-lived sales career. Who wouldn’t? Right?

sruble: Can you tell us a little bit about Sylvan Dell Publishing?

Sara Dobie: Our mission statement reads as follows: “bringing science and math to children through literature.” It’s the brainchild of Lee and Donna German. Lee is a retired navy guy; Donna wrote bread machine cookbooks for years, hitting the New York Times Bestseller list. They homeschooled their three girls, which added to their inspiration and guided them toward picture books with educational value. They opened Sylvan Dell Publishing in November of 2004, and the company has grown to include over 55 authors/illustrators, 40 children’s book titles, and 70 awards. We’re not slowing down. Check out the website at http://www.sylvandellpublishing.com.

sruble: What’s the last book you read? If not a children’s book, what was the last children’s book you read?

Sara Dobie: Everything’s Eventual, by Stephen King. The best short story collection since Vonnegut, Welcome to the Monkey House. The last children’s book I read was The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams. I’m a full-grown adult, and yet, the book still manages to make me cry every time.

sruble: What’s your favorite snack to eat or drink while reading a book?

Sara Dobie: Black coffee and whole-wheat toast with crunchy peanut butter. (Okay, and yes, the occasional glass of red wine…)

***And now for some questions from other bloggers.***

Ghost Girl: How important is an author website for publicity, and do you recommend a highly interactive site for the YA audience?

Sara Dobie: A website is not an option—it’s a necessity. Technology is taking over the world, even the world of books, and that can’t be denied. And although it may seem like a pain to go through the website design process, in the end, it serves to benefit YOU more than anyone else. For one thing, it saves you supplies. Instead of printing flyers, posters, etc, you can just send people to your website. There, they can learn about you, see your upcoming event schedules (and the higher attendance at your events, the better, right?), and even order your book.

In regards to a “highly interactive site,” I don’t know that “highly” is necessary, but “interactive” is useful. When I say interactive, I’m not talking bells and whistles and singing/dancing cartoon animals. I’m talking downloadable activities to go with your book. I’m talking lesson plans for your book. I’m talking puzzles and games. You can hit homeschoolers with downloadable activities. You can hit teachers and media specialists with lesson plans. Finally, you can hit the kids with puzzles and games.

And don’t forget about book trailers! If you’re talking specifically YA, book trailers are key. I mean, seriously, who doesn’t like to watch movie previews? Same goes for book trailers, if they’re well done. So include one on your website!

Ghost Girl (Mary Ann): What is the best pre-launch publicity strategy?

Sara Dobie: The easy answer? Brainstorming.

What, you want more? Okay… When I say brainstorming, I mean sitting down and thinking about who would want to read your book and/or who is going to care that you, Mary Ann, wrote your book. Start with your education. What about alumni newsletters? What about some old college buddy with a big mouth and good connections who could help you spread the word? Move onto organizations/associations of which you’re a member. How can they help with your publicity? Think mailing lists. Think conferences where you could speak. And what about organizations specifically interested in your book’s subject matter? Say you wrote a book about a heron. Go after the Audubon Society. A book about school bullying? Go after teacher conferences.

Oh, and then, there are the all-powerful bookstores. You have to go after them months in advance—I’d say about three months before your book’s release date. In this case, you will need printouts of your book, if it involves illustrations. They like to see what they’re buying and booking. Then, send them to your website. The key is to sell yourself to the bookstores. (Yes, I will be charming; don’t you see how charming I am? Yes, I will give a great presentation and sell many, many books.) Start the buzz way early. The better the pre-launch, the better the launch, the better the sales, etc, etc…

Ghost Girl: Do you recommend a separate blog for your book (as opposed to a general blog under your own name)?

Sara Dobie: Naw, a separate blog for your book is overkill. No one wants to hear from you that much. Stick to one blog, but make your book a focus. Include images of your book on your blog, and sporadically bring it in every couple of days. Think about it…if you already have a following on your general blog, why mess with a good thing by spreading your audience thin?

Carrie Harris: How do you see sites like Facebook and My Space fitting in to a publicity campaign, if at all?

Sara Dobie: That depends. If you’re using Facebook and MySpace as your only website option, it’s a bad idea. I don’t want to meet Ms. Carrie Harris and find out her only online presence is Facebook. We are not in high school anymore. I want you to have a website of your own. Otherwise, you come off as unprofessional and cheap.

However, if you are on Facebook and MySpace to “make friends” and use those “friends” as marketing sources, I’d say go for it. These networking sites were created for just that: NETWORKING! So if you’re going to have Facebook and MySpace, do NOT use those sites for drunk photos of friends. (Well, unless your book is about your drunk friends…) Use these sites to meet up with other authors, agents, publishers, and people in the industry. Use their expertise. Ask for their advice, and be sure to keep them updated on new releases, awards you’ve won, events, etc. NETWORK!

m_stiefvater: My question would be if you are targeting bloggers and reviewers with copies of your own book, ones that were missed by your publisher during the ARC period, what's the best way to find influential folks, other than through the usual networking?

Sara Dobie: Something I do about bloggers? I like going to their sites and clicking on “View My Complete Profile.” Once there, check out their “profile views.” You’d be amazed in the variance of numbers, from 500 to 22,000. Opt for the high numbers, and be SURE to see about doing an interview along with the book review. Say you’d be happy to send them a review copy, but how about running a Q&A a week before the review to stir up the dust? (All of this is assuming you’re already familiar with the blogs you’re approaching. Don’t go after a sports writer if your book is about flowers…)

For reviewers, do some research. Visit author sites with books similar to your own. Who reviewed their books? Look around as much as you can and look for a pattern, as in, who seems to show up everywhere? Who has quotes on book flaps? Who has quotes all over the web? Who has quotes in magazines? Certainly, there are reviewers you just can’t reach. (You’re not going to get an endorsement from Stephen King just because your book is about paintings that come to life and kill people, for instance.) Most reviewers, though, welcome ARCs. Just be sure to get in touch with them first. Introduce yourself and ask if they want to receive your book. Start a rapport. It’s a waste if they don’t respond to your inquiries; your book will end up in the reviewer slush pile.

sruble follow-up question: Profile views are easy to find on Blogger, but what about Live Journal, WordPress, etc.? Do you have a strategy or tricks for finding out about them?

Sara Dobie: For Live Journal, I go to User Profile. There, you can see how long their blog has been going. Compare that to their number of comments. In other words, if a blog has been around since 2007 and they only have 100 comments, I’d pass them by.
However, in all honesty, that’s just one example. Every site is going to be different. Therefore, a strategy or trick would be…drum roll…just ask! Don’t be afraid to contact the sites of interest. Ask them about book review policies. Ask them about website hits. Ask them about their target audience. How do they market their site? How do people find their site? There are millions of questions you could ask, so don’t hesitate to do so. People maintain blogs for a reason; they want people to read them. What better way to let them know you’ve been reading than to literally email them and let them know you’ve been reading?

dawn_metcalf: How does one get on "book tours" in electronic media (not just blogs, but places like Second Life and virtual B&Ns, etc.)?

Sara Dobie: The fact that I had to look up Second Life because I had no idea what you were talking about does not bode well.

I can tell you that getting featured on blogs can be fun and easy. Ask around, promise to send a review copy (if you think the blog is worth it), and have your own Q&A ready to submit, if the blogger doesn’t have time to create his/her own line of questions. Doing all this can make a blogger’s life easy, really, and they appreciate the extra effort authors are willing to put in.

Sorry, but Second Life and virtual B&Ns are just outside my expertise. I gotta tell you—nothing replaces getting out there, shaking hands, and signing books. Your fans want to meet you. They want to hear you and see you up close and personal. Don’t deprive them that.

sruble follow-up question: Do you have any advice for using alternative or unique marketing approaches, or examples of campaigns that worked well even if they were outside the normal marketing channels?

Sara Dobie: Sure! I mean, they’re not totally outside the norm, but…
1) Blog AND online radio tours. Get on a bunch of blogs, doing interviews AND getting your book reviewed. But don’t forget about online radio opportunities. A lot of my clients at Sylvan Dell have gotten involved in Author Reads Radio, Book Bites Radio, and Blog Talk Radio. Check ‘em out. Not only are you marketing your book, but your fans actually get to hear your voice and get to know you a bit better.

2) Review blitz. One of my authors is presently doing a review blitz. She’s gotten out there and researched every website known to man…or so it seems. She contacts webmasters personally, and she passes review copy requests on to me. In the past three days alone, she’s been reviewed on THREE websites. That’s good stuff, and it doesn’t cost her a thing!

3) Write an article/Be an expert. I’ve had a couple of my clients write articles about what they know—as in school visits, the writing process…even bird-watching. Write an article, and submit it to websites of common theme. It gets your name out there, it gets your book out there, and it establishes you as an expert. People like experts; they trust experts. An expert article will boost your book sales, and hey, maybe you’ll get people asking to do interviews with you, which starts the whole getting your name out there thing over again.

And just think…each of these options doesn’t cost you a thing! Talk about a cheap marketing campaign…

sookie06: What is the number one tip she can give on designing your own website? How can you use it most intelligently to market your books? And what is the number one mistake people do?

Sara Dobie: Jeesh. Number ONE tip, huh? Let’s go at this from a couple directions…

I suppose a number one tip for designing a website would be to have a professional do it. The last thing you want is to come off looking like an amateur, so unless you’re super-sookie06 in the tech department, leave it to the experts. It may be expensive, but if you play your cards right, the financial turn over could be huge.

Once your oh-so professional website is up and running, make sure people know about it. Print business cards with your web address. Make a running blog a part of you site, so that people can keep up on what you’re doing and who you are, beyond the mask of “author.” And please, please, please post your upcoming appearances and events. Fans want to see you; tell them where and when.

THE NUMBER ONE MISTAKE? Not having an “Order Now” option. Getting people to your site is half the battle. The other half is getting them to buy your book, so make it easy for them and give them the order option smack dab in the middle of your website. ORDER NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!

Marissa Doyle: Question...so you've got a website, you're on MySpace and Facebook, you've got a blog (though it's not a me-me-me blog--it's more content-based), you're on AmazonConnect, blah blah blah. What else can or should you be doing while you're madly at work writing the next book (which needs to take priority over everything)?

Sara Dobie: Well, obviously, you’re all set with an online presence. The answer here is that you should still arrange a couple signings/events, regardless of how much time you’re spending on your next book. You still need to be out there—making appearances, showing your face to your fans, and signing and selling books. Nothing is more effective than a smile and a handshake. Make the time. Attend events and even networking soirees. Don’t lock yourself in your closet and give people the chance to forget how amazing, intelligent, and social you are.
(Great website, by the way, Marissa, but what about events? I’d suggest putting a schedule on your website. Keep those events coming, even if you are busy on your next beautiful book!)

sruble: Do you have any promotion advice for illustrators or author/illustrators that’s different from what authors should do to promote themselves?

Sara Dobie: It’s a lot more important for illustrators to have hands-on activities. In school visits/bookstore events, you should be able to display your technique to the masses. Example? If you use watercolors in your illustrations, you should be able to do some actual watercolor painting in front of your audience. You should then be able to bring them in to the experience—especially kids. Schedule yourself for art classes where kids (and even adults) can observe and imitate your technique. The more specific, the better; a detailed program will aid in your promotion process. It’s a sales tactic. It’s “look what I can do-don’t you want to do it too?” It makes teachers and bookstore owners feel better and trust you, because you have a detailed plan for your appearance. The audience won’t be bored, they’ll learn something, and nothing is better than word of mouth. If you give a good, organized, entertaining program once, it’s sure to happen again.

Thanks so much Sara for the great information on book promotion, and thanks to everyone that asked questions!

About Sara: Sara Dobie is the Public Relations Coordinator for Sylvan Dell Publishing. She has been featured on the ForeWord Publishing Insider blog, SellingBooks.com, and AllBookMarketing.com. If you’re an author without a website, she will find you and throw tomatoes. Rotten ones.

44 is a great number

2009-01-20T12:30:00.004-05:00

We have a new President! I am hopeful that Barack Obama will be able to get our country back on track and bring us together as a nation.

And the winners are ...

2009-01-20T09:52:00.003-05:00

not me! That's okay, because the winners are really great (go check them out).

The beauty of the winning entries is that they all have a sense of the book and character. Some of them even convey emotion.

I learned so much in this contest: how to boil my story down to its core, and how to insert voice into so few words. I might revise my 140 character query (incl. spaces and punctuation) to try to add voice and emotion. I'll be doing this again for my other books, too. It's a great exercise and I think it will really help to make query and synopsis writing easier (and anything that makes queries and synopses easier is something worth doing).

Don't take my word for it, though. Try the 140 character query. Did it help? Was it fun or frustrating? Check out the winners of the contest to see how they did it.

Thanks again to Colleen Lindsay (The Swivet) for the contest!

Art Day: Art Tips – ink washes, color and a meme

2009-01-19T17:18:00.004-05:00

Adrienne tagged me for the Kreativ Blogger Award. For this award, I’m supposed to list seven things I love. Since everyone seemed to like the last meme I did, where I combined 2 memes, I thought I’d combine the Kreativ Blogger Award with today’s art tips. What I’m going to do is list the 7 things I love about working with ink, or things I don’t love that can be turned around to something positive. I’ll add a tip after each number, which makes 7 art tips in this post :)

Does it sound like fun? Or just plain crazy? Let’s find out!

One: I love working with pen and ink.
Tip: After doing a few drawings in pen and ink, go back to your regular medium and see what happens. I find that drawing in pen and ink brings more life to my acrylic painting.

Two: Ink washes are nothing like watercolor washes, which can be frustrating.
Tip: If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. An old saying that came true for me last week when I finally found a way to make painting, with acrylic on paper, work. Unfortunately, I still haven’t made ink washes work. (The ink doesn't spread like watercolor, but seeps into the paper right away, making it hard to do a wash.) After the breakthrough with acrylic on paper, I think the type of paper and/or the amount of water could be the problem. Either that or I need a bigger brush. I’m going to keep experimenting until I get a result I like.

Three: Ink washes work well on small areas.
Tip: Play around with washes that fill in areas of your drawing. Once you master that, it may help you discover how to do larger areas of ink washes (at least I hope it will).

Four: Colored inks offer a variety of choices.
Tip: Different brands produce different results. The new Liquitex acrylic ink colors are bright like their paints. Higgins colored inks are more transparent and pastel.

Five: I like using a pen with my colored inks, instead of just using a brush for a wash, or coloring in my drawings.
Tips: Try using different colors to outline and shade in a drawing, and see what happens.

Six: You can use pen and ink just like a pencil or regular pen.
Tips: Write notes, doodle, sketch, draw free-hand, have fun! You never know what will happen when you let go and play.

Seven: Ink is more permanent than watercolor.
Tips: Try combining pen and ink with other mediums, like colored pencil, watercolor pencil, collage, acrylic, gouache, watercolor, or cut paper.

Now I’m supposed to pass on the Kreativ Blogger Award to seven other people. I can only pick seven, which is hard, so I put names in a hat and picked: pbwriter, annamlewis, Kelly Polark, jamarattigan, Jacqui, kellyrfineman, and lkmadigan. If anyone else wants to play too, go for it!

An agent contest!

2009-01-15T15:41:00.002-05:00

As I mentioned the other day, step 2 of my writing process, is when I need to share, especially if there's a contest.

Colleen Lindsay, an agent at FinePrint Literary Management, is having a query contest on her blog. There's a catch. You can only use 140 characters (including punctuation and spaces), just like on Twitter. Contest ends tonight at midnight EST.

Here's my query entry for Lexi's story:
Dead princess forced to work in the afterlife. Screws up. Kills hot guy, or did she? Must prove innocence by NOT killing her old boyfriend.

(Sheila is sooooo jealous of Lexi that you might not see me for a while because I'm hiding!)

Don't forget to leave your questions about book publicity in the comments section of yesterday's post.

Have questions about book publicity?

2009-01-14T16:57:00.004-05:00

Sara Dobie from Sylvan Dell Publishing has agreed to do an interview on my blog, and answer your questions about book publicity. Yay!

If you have any questions about book publicity, please leave them in the comments section and I'll make sure Sara gets them. The interview will be posted in the next few weeks.

About Sara: Sara Dobie is the Public Relations Coordinator for Sylvan Dell Publishing. She has been featured on the ForeWord Publishing Insider blog, SellingBooks.com, and AllBookMarketing.com. If you’re an author without a website, she will find you and throw tomatoes. Rotten ones.

how I write: a look into the insanity

2009-01-13T07:55:00.005-05:00

I love when people share their writing or illustrating process, so I thought I’d blog about how I write. I’ve used this method to write PBs, and it’s how I’m writing my current novel. Hope it’s helpful, or at least convinces you that your writing method is much more sane than mine. ;)

Step Zero: Think about a character and story. Write scenes in my head.

Step One: OMG! I have an idea! And I’ve started writing it!
-My character tells me her story, “This happened, then this, and this, and that! Wheee!”
-There’s not much description or polish.

Step Two: Best Thing EVER, must tell EVERYONE.
- It’s a compulsion, like checking email constantly.
-This applies to the story idea more than the writing.
-The longer I write, the more I try to avoid this step. But sometimes I can’t help myself.
-Last week Cynthea posted a Free-tique, so I entered the beginning of a Step Two WIP, and put it on my blog. Thanks for great feedback, Cynthea /Snoop, Deb, Angela, and Jacqui!

-The first 124 words, posted Friday, from Step Two (the revision is below):

I’m standing at the back of an enormous line that snakes around a room the size of our dining hall at school. I can’t figure out how I got here, because the last thing I remember was driving around the castle grounds in my sweet new vintage Caddy, which is the color of the lemon part of a lemon meringue pie. People file into the line behind me as it inches forward.

“Excuse me?” I tap the person in front of me on the shoulder to see if he knows what the deal with the line is.

“Yes?” He asks politely, even though I can tell he must be in pain, what with half of his face missing and everything.

“What’s the line for?”

Step Three: OMG! The writing is horrible - must revise!

Step Four: Chocolate

Step Five:
-Best Thing EVER!
-Horrible Writing!
-Revise!
-Repeat! (as many times as necessary)

Step Six: Keep writing the story, even if I’m revising one part, over and over again. Otherwise, I’d never get to the end.

Step Seven: I have something I can show to a critique group or use as a blog teaser.
-It still needs revision, but it’s ok to get feedback.
-This is the stage I’m at right now with the beginning of Lexi’s story.

-The first 141 words (revised from above), at Step Seven:

I don’t know where I am, but I’m not alone. There must be a couple hundred people here. Their shuffling feet echo secrets off the walls, which freaks me out. I’m in a long hallway-room with no doors and a single-file line; I’m the last person in it. Don’t they know princesses don’t stand in lines? A horrid smell, like rotten eggs mixed with spoiled milk, swirls through the air and invades my space. Whatever we’re waiting for has got to be better than this. Every few minutes a woman’s voice bellows, “NEXT!” Then we inch forward. Again. What is this place?

The last thing I remember, before this, is driving around the castle in my sweet, new, vintage Caddy, which is the color of the lemon part of a lemon meringue pie. How did I get from there to here?

Step Eight: After I get to the end and revise the whole MS to Step Seven, I either send it to a critique partner or let it sit before revising it.

Step Nine: Revision. (based on feedback, if possible)

Step Ten: Submit.

* Note: Any of the steps can be repeated multiple times, but especially steps four and five.

* p.s. I might have to change things slightly if I take a writing class at the end of the month. The amount of writing required might be too much to write-edit the way I do now. Or maybe I’ll find a way, if I take the class, which I’m not sure about yet.

Art Day: Art Tips – Pen and Ink

2009-01-12T23:25:00.002-05:00

It seems that not many people do pen and ink anymore, so I’m going to give some basic tips for starting out with this medium. Maybe people will want to try pen and ink :) I used to do a lot of pen and ink art and have recently started again.

* Buy a starter pen set (get the one that’s for what you want to do, art, calligraphy, etc.) that has a holder and several tips.

* Try out all the tips to see what kind of lines they make and which ones you like best (there are big differences in pen tips)

* Waterproof ink is great because you don’t have to worry about it smearing after it dries (but it will smear when wet, so be careful).

* Wear old clothes and work on a vinyl or plastic tablecloth or surface (so you don’t ruin good clothing or tables).

* Keep a small piece of drawing paper by your work surface so you can tap extra ink off the end of the pen and/or test the line. Sometimes I need to refill my pen, but I want a really thin line (and don’t want to change tips) so I run the ink down on the scratch paper until it’s the way I want it for the real drawing.

* You can do a light pencil sketch before you use ink if you want to plan out your drawing.

* You can use a brush to create watercolor-like effects with ink. (More on ink washes next week.)

* Ink now comes in all sorts of colors. You don’t have to just use black, although there is a certain beauty in black and white. (More on colored inks next week.)

* If you have any pen and ink tips, please share them in the comment section, or if you blog about them, let me know and I’ll include your link. Thanks!

Speaking of Lexi (a teaser)

2009-01-09T17:34:00.002-05:00

Cynthea and Snoop were doing a round of Free-tique Free For All today, and I entered the beginning of Lexi's story. Snoop didn't read past the first sentence. It was valid criticism. I've revised the first sentence and pasted the whole teaser in below if anyone wants to comment on the new version (and read beyond the first sentence). You can read the original and Snoop's comment here. Thanks Cynthea and Snoop.

Princess Lexi by Stephanie Ruble

I’m standing at the back of an enormous line that snakes around a room the size of our dining hall at school. I can’t figure out how I got here, because the last thing I remember was driving around the castle grounds in my sweet new vintage Caddy, which is the color of the lemon part of a lemon meringue pie. People file into the line behind me as it inches forward.

“Excuse me?” I tap the person in front of me on the shoulder to see if he knows what the deal with the line is.

“Yes?” He asks politely, even though I can tell he must be in pain, what with half of his face missing and everything.

“What’s the line for?”

a conversation with Sheila (and Lexi and Bee)

2009-01-09T09:44:00.000-05:00

Sending wishes to you all for a creative weekend! Here’s what’s been going on in my creative world lately:

sruble: I’ve been reading a lot of zombie books and they all feature cheerleaders. Maybe I should tell Princess Lexi’s story first.

Lexi: Hurrah!

Sheila: If you don’t tell my story, I’ll eat your brain. Besides, my story isn’t about cheerleading at all.

sruble: It’s not?

Sheila: No. It’s about boys, duh. Cheerleading is a way of life, it’s who I am, but my story is about boys.

sruble: So it’s a romance?

Sheila: Not exactly.

Lexi: What does that mean?

Bee: You could tell my story first. Then you wouldn’t have to choose between the cheerleader or the princess.

sruble: Sigh. I can’t tell your story right now Bee. You said you didn’t want to be Red Riding Hood.

Bee: True, but I did say you could keep everything else, my best friend Ig, the woods, the cute woodsman …

Sheila: Oooh, you have a cute boy in your story? Can I come see?

Lexi: I have a cute boy too, only he’s a psychopath.

sruble: You have to stay in your own story Sheila, and Lexi, he’s not a psychopath.

Lexi: He is too. He wants to go around killing people … with the guillotine!

Sheila: That sounds a bit psycho to me, and I’m a zombie.

sruble: He’s not a psycho. He likes the guillotine because it’s faster and less painful than how he was killed.

Bee: He’s dead?

Sheila: How’d he die?

Lexi: He had his head chopped off. The executioner was having a bad day; it took three chops to go all the way through.

Bee: Ewwwww!

Sheila: So is he like the headless horseman?

sruble: I have to go now. If you don’t see me for a while, it’s Sheila, Lexi and Bee’s fault.

Art Day: Art Tips - Buying and Trying New Art Supplies

2009-01-05T22:32:00.003-05:00

Happy 2009!

Art Day January Schedule:
1/5 - art tips - buying and trying new art supplies
1/12 - art tips - pen and ink
1/19 - art tips – ink washes and color
1/26 – illustrator Katherine Zecca

Note: Art Day features will be posted Monday evenings instead of mornings for 2009 :)

Art Tips is a new Art Day feature for the new year! Art Tips will feature tips on topics such as: art supplies, techniques, mediums, and portfolios that will hopefully be useful for new artists and established artists. I’ll post a few tips each time, and some topics may be repeated if there’s more to share.

Today’s Art Tips is on trying new art supplies.

* New Artists: It’s good to try a wide range of mediums when you are just starting out, so you’ll know what you’re good at. It might be something you never tried before.

* Established Artists: Trying a new medium, a new brand, or a new type of paintbrush can shake things up in your art. It could be enough to take you in a new direction, or just breathe some new life into your old style.

I thought it might be useful to other artists to talk about trying new mediums or art brands and buying new art supplies. I always want to try new art supplies. Going to the art store is like going to the candy store for me. I want to try one of everything. Since I haven’t won the lottery (that I know of), I’ve got to be a bit more selective than running through the store screaming, “Mine! Mine! Mine!” or grabbing items off the shelves and throwing them into the cart like it’s a shopping spree, and the first one back to the counter with a full cart wins!

So, here are my tips for buying something I want to try but don’t know if I’ll like:

1. Compare prices before you buy. Dick Blick is a great online and retail store. I’ve also shopped at Pearl Paint, Utrecht, Daniel Smith, Cheap Joes Art Supplies, and Michaels.

2. Some stores have coupons, which are good for buying things you might not have bought at full price.

3. Sets can provide a larger range of colors for a smaller price than purchasing each tube of paint or pencil separately.

4. Don’t buy the cheapest thing they have available at Target, Walmart, or Kmart. Art supplies at super low price points (usually made for children) don’t use the same pigments and materials as high quality art supplies. You won’t get the same results and might be frustrated with what you create.

5. Do try the student grade art supplies from the manufacturers of high quality supplies. These are well made and will give you a good feel for the medium. You may never want or need to move up to the professional grade supplies, or you might want to. If you look at the packaging and the website, you should be able to find out what the difference between the student grade and professional grade materials is.

6. Try different surfaces to paint and draw on. If you’ve always used Bristol, try drawing on parchment or rice paper, or if you’ve only painted on canvas, try painting on paper, etc.

7. Once you get your new art supplies and paper home, play with it like you were a little kid. Doodle, paint with your fingers or a sponge, draw something fun then paint outside the lines when you color it in. Create something fun, new, different, wild, or insane. Play.

8. After you’ve played for a while, try to draw or paint like you usually do, but with the new supplies. See what happens.

I hope you all have a happy accident that turns into a new portfolio piece or a new style!

p.s. If you have any tips for trying new art supplies, feel free to share them in the comments section. Thanks!

Art Day Spotlight: Quentin Blake

2008-12-30T00:54:00.002-05:00

I didn't realize how hard it would be to get computer and/or internet time while I was away, so I'm doing a quick Quentin Blake spotlight while it's still Monday on the West Coast (even if that's not where I am).

Whenever I walk into the bookstore and see Quentin Blake's artwork, many times on a book by Roald Dahl, it always makes me smile. His characters are so full of lfe, drawn with a few squiggly lines, some color, and a whole lot of personality.

I had plans for this post, all sorts of wonderful things to say and point to, but really, the statement above says everything I want to say about his artwork, except that if you aren't familiar with it, you should be. It's amazing. The links and things I would have pointed to are not nearly as good as what you will find on his website.

Browse his website if you have time, if not, just go here and enjoy the magic of Quentin Blake at work.

Isn't that amazing? I always love seeing how other artists work. BTW, Did you see his studio? I wish I had that kind of space :)

If you have time to poke around on his site, there's another video and a ton of interesting info.

Five Things Meme & Honest Scrap Award

2008-12-23T13:36:00.002-05:00

I’ve been tagged by L.K. Madigan for the five things meme here, which goes like this: "Quick! Off the top of your head, what are the last five things that made you smile?"

Then I was tagged by Brenda for the Honest Scrap Award here.

"Scrap means left over, fragments, discarded material. Many times truth and honesty are discarded material, considered fragments and left over. People like us need to tell it like it is, and let the scraps fall where they will. There are 2 guidelines for receiving this award. One, you are to list 10 honest things about yourself. Make them interesting, even if you have to dig deep. Two, present the award to 7 other bloggers."

Since I have about 3 minutes to use the internet before I need to go do family stuff again, I’m combining the 2 and listing 10 things that are honest and at least 5 things that make me smile, if not more :)

1. I went to the local bookstore when we got to our destination and ordered Cracked Up To Be, by Courtney Summers. The release date is today, but they got it in early, so I’ve been sneaking away to read a chapter or two for several days :)

2. I also found 2 of Jen Barnes’s The Squad books and I’m hoping to read one of them next.

3. I’ll probably have to read the other Squad book after that, since I don’t like to wait to find out what happens in series books.

4. Every year for 7 years (so far) DH’s parents and my parents have gotten together with us to celebrate Christmas.

5. This year we are renting a house at the beach (it’s a cold, wintery beach, but it’s still got sand and the ocean). We’ve been in this area 4 of the 7 years.

6. Everyone liked the craft project this year, which was painting on t-shirts. YAY! (They liked the snowman project last year too – see it in my last post).

7. I got to paint! Even if it was on shirts.

8. I have real paint to paint with after all the parents leave :) :) :)

9. Sheila talked to me a little bit before the parents got here and I’m hoping she’ll come back again after they leave, so I can get more of her story down.

10. I thought I lost the recipe for the cookies I was going to make this year, but then I found it! This is the second time I’ve made them and everyone seems to like them. If you’d like to make them too, here’s the recipe:

Almond Butter Cookies (from Land O'Lakes a few years ago)
makes 5 dozen

Cookie
1 C Land O' Lakes butter, softened (or other butter :)
3/4 C sugar
1 t almond extract
2 C flour
1/2 t baking powder
1/4 t salt

Glaze
1/2 C semi-sweet choc. chips
2 t shortening

Heat oven to 400. Combine butter, sugar and almond extract in large bowl. Beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often, until creamy. Reduce speed to low; add all remaining cookie ingredients. Beat until well mixed.

Shape rounded teaspoonfuls of dough into 1 inch balls. Place 2 inches apart onto greased cookie sheets. Flatten balls to 1/4 inch thickness with bottom of buttered glass dipped in sugar. Bake for 6-8 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Cool completely.

Melt chocolate chips and shortening in 1 qt. saucepan over low heat, stirring occasionally, until smooth (2-4 minutes). Drizzle or pipe top of cooled cookies making tree design, if desired.

Notes from when I made them a few years ago:
* There was a picture of all these perfect cookies with chocolate drizzle trees on them. The trees are impossible to make. This year I intend to just drizzle a bit of chocolate on them, or put a small glob in the middle of the cookie. Tastes the same, and doesn't make me want to harm people that say my trees don't look like trees.

* Some people stole cookies before I added the chocolate (ok, everyone did). There was a debate on whether the cookies were better with or without chocolate. I made half the batch with and half without this year to satisfy both groups (for the record, they taste good both ways).

* They are easier to make then it sounds like, especially if you don't try to make the stupid trees. Enjoy :)

11. I know I said there would only be 10 things, but I don’t always follow directions. The 10th thing is a rule change. I won’t be tagging or giving the scrap award to anyone specific today. Instead, I will wish you all Happy Holidays! And if you have time and want to play the Five Things Meme or The Honest Scrap Award, then go for it!

Art Day Arts and Crafts: Snowman Project

2008-12-22T19:06:00.000-05:00

Every Christmas, we do an arts and crafts project. Some have been good ones that everyone enjoys (usually the easy ones) and others have been meh. Last year we did a snowman project that we all had fun with. There were six adults participating, but it would work as a good project for kids or the whole family too.

Here’s a picture of the final project (by Stephanie, Bruce, Doug, Shirlee, Sara, and Fred):

Here’s how you can make your own snowman.

Materials Needed:
-heavy paper for drawing, painting, crafts, etc. (you can use any size, but the larger the group, the bigger the paper should be)
-pencil and eraser
-art supplies that you like to use (we used paint, crayons, and glitter glue)

Step One: Divide the paper into sections, one for each person that will be helping make the snowman. You can fold the paper or use a pencil to mark of the sections. We had 6 people, so I used an 11x17 sheet of paper, but you don’t have to make it that large if you have a smaller group.

Step Two: Have one person draw a picture of a snowman (or other picture you like) on the paper. Try to make something interesting in each section (I added birds throughout the picture so that there would be at least one in each section. You can make a sketch on another piece of paper first, or just work right on the final paper and use an eraser if you need to.

Step Three: Cut the paper into sections along the folds or pencil lines you made earlier.

Step Four: Mix up the sections and lay them face down on the table and let everyone choose a section.

Step Five: Turn the papers over and start coloring.

Step Six: When everyone is done and the paper is dry (if you’ve used something like paint or glitter glue), put all the pieces back together and see what it looks like!

Art Day Interview: Illustrator Marilyn Scott-Waters

2008-12-15T09:49:00.004-05:00

Today’s Art Day interview is with illustrator Marilyn Scott-Waters, an illustrator and toy maker. Read on to find out more about Marilyn’s art.

Q: How did you get started illustrating for children?
A: When I started college I really wanted to be a children’s book illustrator, but the counselor pretty much laughed at that idea so somehow I ended up with a degree in Comparative Literature. After a few decades of doing product design I finally got serious about illustration.

Q: Tell us a little bit about the recent book you illustrated, THE SEARCH FOR VILE THINGS, by Jane Hammerslough.
A: It’s part of a two book series that I illustrated for Scholastic. It’s about an eccentric Victorian family that travels the world looking for the most vile things they can find. It was a complete delight to draw all these strange creatures and I did learn quite a bit of natural history. The first book, due out next month is about the East Indies and the next one, out next December, is based in Madagascar.

Q: What are you working on right now? Do you have any other books or art projects you’d like to talk about?
A: Oh gosh yes! I’m working with my writing partner, J. H. Everett on a series for Henry Holt called “Haunted Histories” It’s going to be real history told from the point of view of a “Ghostorian”, a Goth kid named Virgil. Lots of creepy fun stuff! Skulls! Dungeons! Gross stuff! History shouldn’t be dull.

I did a picture book called “Mouse Party” that is in acquisitions at Piggy Toes Press. (Keep your fingers crossed) and I’m illustrating another picture book that my kid wrote in fourth grade called “Super Underwear Monkey” Next on my plate is a series of two books for Sterling that will be paper toys. It’s all good!

Q: When someone else has written the text for a picture book or novel, how do you decide what scenes and details to draw?
A: For “The Search For Vile Things” I was given a list of eighty animals to draw so I had to do a lot of research to find out exactly what a cocoanut octopus looks like or what an Atlas moth is. The most important thing in illustrating a picture book is to pick the right moment to show. I’ll doodle a bunch of different options then start laying out the whole book to see how the pages will look.

Q: When illustrating picture books, do you include a visual storyline that’s not in the text or include animals or people you know?
A: What a cool idea! It’s not something that I’ve done in a children’s book. I do put my griffin mark on all my paper toys.

Q: Can you explain your art process?
A: Hmmm… get up, drink coffee, empty litter box, take boy to school, and draw like a madwoman until two-thirty five. Pick up boy, draw more talking on phone to husband as he drives home, cook dinner, sleep, repeat. Actually I do my sketches by hand and scan them into Photoshop, then add color digitally.

Q: What is your favorite color?
A: I have lots of favorites just like I like lots of different kinds of food, flowers or music. I love orange red, sage green and warm brown. I love how certain colors look together like navy and gold or rust and lavender blue.

Q: What is your favorite medium to work in?
A: Photoshop followed by Illustrator. I paint about once a year and make a huge mess then go back to my nice tidy electronic world.

Q: What childhood art supply brings back happy memories?
A: Nice scissors. There is something about cutting paper with really sharp, good scissors.

Q: Do you have a favorite childhood picture that you remember making?
A: I remember my first art failure. I was in preschool and had just seen a local play called “The Pale Pink Dragon” But there wasn’t a pink paint pot and even though there was a glorious picture of a dragon in my head when I touched the paper with a huge drippy brush the poster paint ran all over the place and I remember being really angry and frustrated.

Q: Did you always want to be an artist when you grew up?
A: I did but I got sidetracked for many years in shadow careers like clothing design before I finally figured out that I needed to get serious about making children’s books.

Q: Do you use models / source pictures or do you draw from your memory/imagination?
A: I do both. I think that a digital camera is a great invention.

Q: What gets you through an illustration you’re having trouble with?
A: The thought of getting paid is a big motivator. I also bribe my inner child with fun projects…. “If I finish this hard project then I can make a toy.”

Q: Do you do non-children’s book art (licensing, fine art, etc.) or art just for fun? Is that art similar or different from your children’s book art?
A: I love to make things out of paper. I like to add a paper toy or two to my website every month. The main difference is that the toys that I make for fun are play for me. It’s like putting together a jigsaw puzzle.

Q: What was your favorite toy, stuffed animal or doll when you were growing up?
A: A stuffed pink and white dog named Rebby. He was quite a sassy character and bossed all the other stuffed animals around. Now he’s quite squashed and most of his fur is rubbed off but he is still mighty in my mind.

Q: What illustrated book(s) do you remember from when you were a child?
A: I loved “Album of Horses” by Marguerite Henry. I also read to bits “The Big Book of Things To Do and Make’ “Go Dog, Go” is the best children’s book ever written, in my opinion.

Q: Is there a children’s book illustrator whose work you gravitate towards in the bookstore now? (You can list more than one.)
A: There are so many good illustrators that it is hard to choose! Quentin Blake,
for his spontaneity, Beatrix Potter, for her attention to animal anatomy, Edward Gorey, for his cross-hatching.

Q: Did you like to tell jokes or stories as a child?
A: I was one of four kids and we put on plays, operas and made musical instruments. We also wrote comic books. We always tried to get each other to be laughing so hard that we couldn’t swallow and spew milk. I don’t know how my parents survived.

Q: If you could be a kid again for just one day, what would you do?
A: I’d go to the beach, run around the tide pools and build a world out of sand.

Bio: Marilyn Scott-Waters is a children's book illustrator and avid paper toymaker. Her website, http://www.thetoymaker.com/ enjoys two to seven thousand visitors a day from all over the world. Her goal is to help grownups and children spend time together making things.

Thanks for the interview Marilyn!
All images in this post © Marilyn Scott-Waters.

Ask Sheila – finally some answers!

2008-12-12T11:00:00.002-05:00

Q: Sheila, some of the people on my Christmas list are those tough-to-buy-for sorts. Any gift ideas? ;) – Carrie
A: Brains are always a good gift, or books. Books build big brains. Mmm, brains! Kidding, sort-of. You could write them a story, like Mad Libs, and fill in their name and other funny stuff, especially if it’s embarrassing, or snarf worthy. Then wrap it up like a puzzle made out of tape (make sure none of the tape touches your story or it will get destroyed). That way they get a story and a puzzle.

Q: I'm wondering how Sheila was helpful while you were sick...(maybe that is my question to her...) – Kelly
A: sruble is a weenie when she’s sick, seriously. She did turn a nice shade of green though, which totally made her look like a zombie. After that, I made her toast and poured her Gatorade so she wouldn’t die and turn into a real zombie.

Q: What zombie do you most admire? - Courtney
A: I <3 Destiny Cheerific (although I’m not sure that’s her real name). She’s the most famous cheerleader ever AND she’s a zombie. I saw her cheer video when I was three and I’ve wanted to be a cheerleader ever since! She’s made tons of videos, which you can see on BrainTube. She also wrote a memoir on cheerleading that includes instructions on how you can make your own cheers. Destiny Cheerific is the best!

Q: How do zombies celebrate the holidays? - Courtney
A: Food, Gifts, Brains.

Q: If you could make any fictional character become a real life zombie, who would you choose? - Courtney
A: Jaz from Bad Kitty. She would be so much fun to hang around with. Either that, or Edward, as long as he didn’t bring Bella.

Q: How does a zombie plan for the impending zombie apocalypse? – Courtney
A: There’s an apocalypse? When? Nobody ever tells me anything! I better go get some cheesy brain puffs and put batteries in the TV remote. Nobody is going to want cheering during an apocalypse, which completely blows.

Q: If you had three wishes, what would they be? Inquiring minds want to know! – Courtney
A: A boyfriend, to be a professional cheerleader when I graduate, and to never see a chicken ever again.

Q: One of my staff members is starting to drive me nuts! She seems to make the easiest tasks last all day so that she doesn't have to do the rest of her job...What can I do? How do I get the point across that she has certain things she HAS to do and then she can do these other things? Thanks for the help! – Brenda
A: Threaten to eat her brains. When you do that, make sure you are dressed up like a movie zombie (which is not how real zombies are) and paint your face to look like you’re dead. A nice shade of grey-green should work. Don’t forget some red for blood accents where needed. If that fails, watch Super Nanny to get some ideas, like making her sit on the naughty chair if she doesn’t do her work. If that fails (from what you said, she seems like a difficult sort), start a barter system with her. For every task she completes, she gets something in return, like maybe a piece of gum (I like Juicy Fruit or Bubble Yum). Make the hard tasks worth more gum. Then on payday, she can trade in her gum for her pay, but she only gets what she’s earned, and not what she thinks she should get for sitting around and not doing her job. Either that, or she can keep the gum and you keep the money. If nothing else works, get a new worker and leave the old one out in the snow.

Q: What's up with teenage zombies these days?- Christy
A: Teenage zombies love to watch TV, when they aren’t chasing humans or cheering at football games. My favorite show is Gossip Girls! I totally guessed that Rufus and Lilly had a kid. Amanda didn’t think so. I don’t understand why Chuck’s dad had to die for that though, and it makes Dan and Serena getting back together totally impossible, which sucks, because they are the best couple on the show. My favorite character is Jenny. She does whatever she wants, no matter what the consequences, and she’s really passionate about fashion, like I am about cheerleading. They should really have a zombie character on Gossip Girls. I read a lot of books too, when I’m not cheering or watching TV. I don’t like to chase humans, but I do like to chase vampires, like the guy I know that is totally like Edward in Twilight, except that he’s a real vampire and doesn’t sparkle, and isn’t dating anyone right now, and his parents are his real parents; he’s not adopted.

who, what, why, where, and Sheila

2008-12-11T21:30:00.002-05:00

I’ve been fighting with Sheila lately. It turns out that she’s a teenager, NOT a fifth grader. She said, “I used to be a fifth grader, but now I’m a teenager and I want to talk about cheerleading and boys and stuff, not those lame adventures that you tried to write for me, which, by the way, never happened.”

Eeek! It’s a teenage zombie cheerleader with an attitude. HELP!

On the positive side, Sheila’s age change has helped immensely with the writing and the story. I was really struggling. When I originally imagined her and started writing about her, she was a teenager, but then she got younger after my portfolio review. Speaking of which, since my drawing skews younger, I won’t be doing art for the book. It will be text only, and the art will be reserved for my blog and website as something fun.

Tomorrow, Sheila will FINALLY answer your questions!!! I got her to agree to answer them if she could be her teenage self and not have to try to remember what it was like being a fifth grader. All the questions asked so far will be answered, along with any new ones in this comment section (by tomorrow at 10am EST).

So that’s what I’ve been up to, well that and panicking because we’re leaving this weekend and I’m so far behind in all the stuff I have to do before we leave that it’s not even funny! *stop for deep breaths* What have you been up to lately?

p.s. The title of this post doesn’t really mean anything, unless you read the post and think it does (then let me know what it means too, ok?).

p.p.s. I will be gone until January, starting this weekend. I will continue to post the Monday Art Day segments, but I’m not sure how much internet access or time away from family I’ll have. Wheeeeee! If I can sneak away, I’ll try to check in :)

Art Day Interview: Illustrator Christina Wald

2008-12-08T01:36:00.002-05:00

Today’s Art Day interview is with illustrator Christina Wald, who has illustrated several fun books, including a brand new pop-up book. Read on to find out more about Christina’s art.

Q: How did you get started illustrating for children?
A: In my early career I did a lot of illustration got game books and collectable card games. This included more than 12 books for the Star Wars RPG for West End Games and many cards for Middle Earth: The Wizards CCG (A card game based on Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings) and its expansions.

When that market went through a period of flux, I worked for a while at an advertising/marketing agency while I prepared samples for a new market.

I have also done a lot of work for toy companies throughout both for the product design and packaging departments. The transition seemed natural.

Q: Tell us a little bit about the recent pop-up book you illustrated, BIG CATS by Donna H. Bowman.
A: It was a great project with a lot of creative leeway. We started out with rough sketches, which they gave to a paper engineer to work out the dies. Once that was worked out I did all the paintings.

The designer sewed them all together in an amazing layout (most of the images were spots). The relationship with the designer involved a lot more back and forth than usual which was really enjoyable.

The book has some really interesting features including a big pop-up lion’s head.

Q: What are you working on right now? Do you have any other books or art projects you’d like to talk about?
A: I recently finished illustrating Henry the Impatient Heron for Sylvan Dell. It comes out in spring 2009.

The story is wonderful and was a joy to illustrate. It featured such an interesting character and there was a lot of action.

Q: Do you do non-children’s book art (licensing, fine art, etc.) or art just for fun? Is that art similar or different from your children’s book art?
A: Yes, I have done a big variety. I have done a lot of illustration for heat transfer flags, some advertising (including some Corona displays), editorial and product design. My degree is in Industrial design and I still design products (As a design student I co-oped at Kenner Toys and Huffy Bikes). In addition to toys, I have worked on designs for vases, wind chimes, figurines, candy dispensers, and so on. Once I had to do design concepts of a sump pump.

Making a living as a freelancer means that there is rarely a dull or routine day. All projects are interesting and involve problem solving.

For fun, I love doing comics. Occasionally I contribute to a friend’s comic anthology collections. Comics also heavily influence me as a children’s book illustrator. I constantly read them when I was younger. I still occasionally go to comic book conventions.

Q: When someone else has written the text for a picture book or novel, how do you decide what scenes and details to draw?
A: Sometimes there are art descriptions and sometimes it is totally left up to me. I usually get a gut feeling about the text and it is rarely difficult to come up with an overall vision.

Q: When illustrating picture books (or novels) do you include a visual storyline that’s not in the text or include animals or people you know?
A: All the time! My cat Boris is in three books so far. My husband and friends are in many of my paintings too.

Q: Can you explain your art process?
A: I start with a rough thumbnail, do a final sketch and scan it in. For final art, I transfer the sketch and paint the final many times in pieces and assemble them in Photoshop so I have a lot of layers (sometimes it is nice to be able to move things for type issues). That is especially handy for complex pieces.

Q: Do you do all the painting in acrylic and then assemble it in Photoshop? Or do you do some painting in Photoshop after you get it there too?
A: A lot of both… I do many paintings in pieces and then scan them in. Then I color correct and retouch in Photoshop. Sometimes I do alterations and enhancements in Photoshop too.

I do not work digitally exclusively because I like the spontaneity I get from painting. That being said, I have a Cintiq tablet which really facilitates the process of sewing everything together.

Q: What is your favorite color?
A: Green and Orange-I cannot decide between them.

Q: What is your favorite medium to work in?
A: Acrylic and Photoshop.

Q: What childhood art supply brings back happy memories?
A: Crayons and spin art.

Q: Do you have a favorite childhood picture that you remember making?
A: One of the funniest drawing memories I have is when I was in the fifth grade. We had to do portraits of each other in art class.

I drew my best friend.

She was horrified by my portrait of her and wrote me a note with bullet points describing why she hated it so much and how she would never talk to me again if I did not destroy the picture.

I think what really turned her off was that I drew her head on a marble column in a museum. I thought it was cool but taste is individual.

Q: Did you always want to be an artist when you grew up?
A: I was interested in a variety of career paths. I always drew and made up stories, but I also loved theater, history and science.

Do you use models / source pictures or do you draw from your memory/imagination?
A: Both or either depending on what it is.

Q: If you could be anything other than an artist, what would you be?
A: An astronomer.

Q: What gets you through an illustration you’re having trouble with?
A: I just muddle through it. If it is late at night, I will get some sleep so I can freshly approach the composition. I also have many friends that are illustrators that I can get a quick critique from is something is REALLY not working.

Q: What was your favorite toy, stuffed animal or doll when you were growing up?
A: Probably my Princess Leia doll (and other Star Wars toys). I also liked fairy dolls.

Q: What illustrated book(s) do you remember from when you were a child?
A: My favorites were probably Bread and Jam for Francis and Madeline in London. I also liked Blueberries for Sal.

Q: Is there a children’s book illustrator whose work you gravitate towards in the bookstore now? (You can list more than one.)
A: My current favorites are Adam Rex and Loren Long.

Q: Did you like to tell jokes or stories as a child?
A: Yes-quite a bit. One of my first characters was “The Ultimate Sinister”. He was a cat with a top hat and monocle with a bunch of slave mice. I drew him all over my folders in junior high.

Q: If you could be a kid again for just one day, what would you do?
A: Climb a tree.

Bio: Christina Wald lives in Cincinnati, Ohio with her husband and two old cats. She graduated from the University of Cincinnati in 1991 with a degree in Industrial Design. Besides illustrating children’s books and other publications, she also designs toys, giftware and other products for a variety of clients. She also used to do a lot of illustration for role-playing games collectable card games in the 90s.

She is currently working on a book for Grosset and Dunlop coming out in late spring and “Henry the Impatient Heron” will be out in early spring 2009.

When not working, she enjoys movies, comics, reading and traveling to new places. For more information, visit www.christinawald.com.

Thanks for the interview Christina!
All images in this post © Christina Wald.

Twilight Movie Review

2008-12-05T18:48:00.003-05:00

It's always fun to see a book you enjoyed be made into a movie. It brings it to life and you get to see what happens and how the story is changed or enhanced (or not) by being acted out. I took my husband to see the Twilight movie last weekend. I knew going in that he probably wouldn't like it that much, but I was hoping that they made it into a good movie so that it would surprise me and he would enjoy it a little bit.

Unfortunately, Twilight was not that great of a movie if you didn't read the book. I liked seeing it come to life on the big screen, but I didn't think it was a good movie. It reminded me a lot of the first Harry Potter movie, in that they tried to follow the book so much that they lost sight of telling a good story. Hopefully the next installments will be better at converting books into movies.

There were a ton of teenagers in the theater, which made it more fun for me, because they were laughing and reacting to all the same things I was. It was obvious what was happening in the movie, but if you hadn't read the books, the funny parts were just ordinary. For instance, during the biology scene, it was obvious that Edward was reacting negatively to Bella, but they didn't say why, and they didn't say why he was being nice to her all of a sudden after his camping trip. They could have made that scene funny for everyone in the theater, but instead, it was just a boy meets girl, hates girl, then boy likes girl kind of thing, with no explanation whatsoever.

Details and context would have taken the superficial movie characters and made them more interesting, like they were in the books. I know they can't include everything, but they need to include some stuff for the people that aren't already fans. Plus it would be nice for those of us who are fans too. Adding just a few more key details would have helped to make the characters more rounded and make the romance more epic and understandable (if you didn't read the books, you wouldn't know why Edward and Bella got together other than maybe hormones or forbidden love).

I really liked James, Victoria and Laurent, but I thought it would have been more suspenseful to allude to the killings w/o showing the other vampires until the baseball scene. It would have been great to get more of the danger and James tracking Bella into the movie too. That would have made the violent scene in the dance studio much more plausible and interesting. The way it was, it seemed out of place with the rest of the movie. (Don't get me wrong, I totally loved that scene, especially where Alice is helping Bella and gets blood on her hand. Actually, that was my favorite scene.)

I'm glad I saw it but I wish it had been better. I'm planning on going to see Eclipse when they make it a movie too, just not with my husband.

The best parts (IMO) were:
The scene in the dance studio with James and Bella and how it plays out between them, and when Edward and then the others arrive. If the rest of the movie had that kind of intensity, it would have been excellent (think what they could have done with the romance).

The look that Edward gave the guys harassing Bella. One stare and they all scatter - HA!

Bella falling on her butt. It was over before I even had a chance to laugh (which I totally would have if they had made the fall just a little bit more drawn out). I waited the whole movie for more spaz moves - there were tons in the books, I was hoping for more in the movies.

Alice - LOVED her!

Jasper - I wasn't sure if I liked him at first, but I was sold by the end of the movie. I loved the expression on his face, and thought it was realistic that he would let his guard down just a bit during the baseball scene.

Sparkles - I don't think they were supposed to be funny, but compared to the description in the book, they were hilarious. Everyone in the theater was laughing, or maybe it was just me.

Edward catching the apple. Cool move.

Bella - I thought KS made a great Bella.

I wasn't prepared for Carlisle. I had heard things, but had a different picture in my mind based on that. When he first appeared I was not ready for that, but he grew on me. The Cullens actually all looked a little more like live dolls than like sexy vampires the first time you see them. All of them together is a cool look, just not exactly what I expected. It did grow on me though. Edward looks different.

Mike - great casting, cute guy. Sorry they didn't have Bella go out with him.

Jacob - loved his smile! I'm not a team Jacob fan, but I liked the actor and can't wait to see what he does with the bigger part in the next movie.

Jumping out of Edward's window into the forest. That was cool. Wish I could do that. Plus the scenery was gorgeous!

The not so great parts (IMO):
The sleep stalking. I didn't think it could be any creepier than in the books, but seeing it on screen was worse. It's not romantic to have someone watching you sleep without your knowledge or permission, even if they say they are protecting you. It's just creepy and stalkerish.

Edward - I like RP, he's just not how I pictured Edward. Sorry! I'm hoping I'll get used to that by the next movie.

The voice overs. I could have done without that. I don't think it added to the movie; it just made me think about how much better the book was.

I would have liked to see more of the reservation side of the story. Without that, the next one will seem even stranger than it already does in the book.

Continuity issues (for those of you that will go see the movie multiple times):
When Bella went to the bookstore to get the book on legends, she put it in her bag. Then Edward saved her from the bad guys. On the way home, they stopped at the Sherrif's dept. and Bella got out, without her bag. Edward went with Carlisle. In the next scene, Bella magically has her book. ??? (It's always fun to point out stuff like that - every movie has at least one scene.)

Another continuity thing: when she's in the hospital, they keep showing Bella close up, then farther away. Back and forth and back and forth. The tubes are over her eyes one way, then they're not, then they are, then they're not!

Final Thoughts:
If you read the books or just want to see the movie, go see it. If you don't like teenage girl movies or movies made from books, then stay home.

Other Reviews:
Courtney did a really fun review of her Twilight movie experience.

Entertainment Weekly review. They have video interviews with Robert Pattinson and Stephenie Meyer (8-10 video segments), which I watched. There were more videos after that, but I didn't watch them.

The Variety review also has an interview with Robert Pattinson (with some seriously bad hair).

School Library Journal review has a book/movie comparison.

Ask Sheila + DEAD GIRL WALKING review /contest

2008-12-04T14:51:00.006-05:00

Ask Sheila - Sheila the zombie cheerleader wants to answer your questions. She'll answer questions about life, publishing, romance, holidays, whatever. Think of her like Dear Abby, if Abby were a fifth grade zombie cheerleader. Ask your questions in the comments section to this thread or by email: sheila at sruble dot com. You can remain anonymous if you want.

Speaking of supernatural girls, Linda Joy Singleton has a new book out that I can't wait to read. Check out the review below for more info on her book, and check out her blog to enter a contest to win the book.

Here's a review of Linda's book DEAD GIRL WALKING, from School Library Journal: Gr 8 Up

Amber Borden is clever, ambitious, and tired of being seen as a nobody by the popular crowd at her high school. She's convinced that her ticket to success is to be an A-list talent agent, and her first big break is in convincing Trinidad Sylvenski to let Amber manage her. Unfortunately for Amber, her life literally spins out of control. After discovering what the most popular girls really think of her, she has a near-death experience when she is hit by a mail truck. In the "heavens," she meets her loving grandmother and loyal dog who give her words of encouragement, the promise of better things to come, and instructions on how to return to her body. Amber is so excited with this encounter that she takes a wrong turn and winds up in the body of beautiful, wealthy, and popular Leah Montgomery. It doesn't take long for Amber to realize that Leah's life and family are in major turmoil. All she wants is her old life back, and she will do whatever it takes to make this happen. What she learns along the way are the experiences of a lifetime. This page-turner has wit, love, courage, adventure, and remarkable insight. Amber is truly a teen heroine whom readers will identify with and learn from, who brings new meaning to the word "dead." A must-have purchase for fans of the supernatural and the occult.-Donna Rosenblum, Floral Park Memorial High School, NY

character cravings, NaNo and JoNo, holidays and a meme

2008-12-03T10:14:00.003-05:00

What does your character crave? Is it something small like a sugary treat? Or is it something bigger, like a friend, or a boyfriend, or a home, or a parent that actually loves them?

How can you write or illustrate your character’s craving in a believable way? How about something like this (or is it too much?):

“Hi, do you have pie? What kind of pie? Can I have some pie? I’d like some pie, or maybe some cake. Do you have cake? Or cupcakes? Or cookies? I could go for some cookies. I’d like a cookie! Then again, I could totally go for some candy, maybe chocolate. I like chocolate. Do you have any chocolate?

Sugar Craving! Sugar Craving! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!

I should probably just eat fruit. Fruit has sugar in it. Fruit is much better for you than chocolate, candy, cookies, cake or pie, but I really like pie. If I have apple pie, it’s both fruit and pie. Mmmmmmmm, pie.”

Authors: Write the Crave! - Illustrators: Draw the Crave!

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In other news …
NaNoWriMo – If I hadn’t gotten food poisoning, I really think I could have finished in time. Even though I didn’t, I’m still glad I signed up this year. I have a character with a strong voice and a story she wants to tell. I’m still working on it and I’ve also started working on Path Of Bees again too! (I’m working mostly on Sheila’s story, but I’ve been slowly adding to the Bee’s story too.)

JoNoWriMo – My main goal was forward progress. I’ve been making progress, so I achieved this goal! I might not be going as fast as I’d like to, and I might be working on different projects than I thought I would, but I’m making progress, and that counts.

The Holidays – Warning to those who haven’t been paying attention to the calendar lately: the end of the year is coming up fast! I just realized we’re leaving a few days earlier than we usually do, and it’s already December, and I’m starting to panic, just a little bit. Eeek! Help! There’s so much to do in the next week and a half! Maybe some pie would calm me down, or some chocolate. Mmmm, chocolate. :)

I was tagged by Adrienne for a cool meme where you give one word answers to questions. It’s lots of fun, so try it if you want! (I tag everyone that wants a fun word challenge!)

Where is your cell phone? table
Where is your significant other? work
Your hair color? brown
Your mother? knowledgeable
Your father? reader
Your favorite thing? art
Your dream last night? weird
Your dream/goal? published
The room you’re in? living
Your hobby? fun
Your fear? unmentionable
Where do you want to be in 6 years? healthy
Where were you last night? home
What you’re not? bored
One of your wish-list items? books
Where you grew up? Minnesota
Last thing you did? breakfast
What are you wearing? clothes
Your TV? old
Your pet? furry
Your computer? warm
Your mood? stressed
Missing someone? family
Your car? white
Something you’re not wearing? earrings
Favorite store? bookstore
Your summer? beach
Love someone? yes
Your favorite color? lots
When is the last time you laughed? yesterday
Last time you cried? Ummm?

Art Day Interview: Illustrator Jennifer Morris

2008-12-01T00:50:00.003-05:00

Today’s Art Day interview is with the versatile illustrator Jennifer Morris, who creates art for children’s books, greeting cards, and licensed products. Read on to find out more about Jennifer’s art.

Q: How did you get started illustrating for children?
A: Before I had kids I used to work in a cubicle as a software engineer. I actually have a master's degree in computer science, but I had always dreamed of illustrating. When my daughter was born, I quit my job to stay home with her. I figured that was a great time to test the waters and see if I could get any work as an illustrator. My daughter is almost eleven now and I haven’t gone back to my cubicle yet.

Q: Tell us a little bit about the recent picture book you illustrated, IF A MONKEY JUMPS ONTO YOUR SCHOOL BUS by Jean Cochran.
A: When Jean came to me with a manuscript about zoo animals running amuck at a school, I was thrilled. I love drawing animals - and silly animals getting into trouble are even better - I couldn't resist.

Q: What are you working on right now? Do you have any other books or art projects you’d like to talk about?
A: Jean and I have collaborated on another book entitled “On a Dark, Dark Night” which is scheduled for release fall 2009. As you can see this is completely different styling from the first book we did (see cover below). But I think it this different styling works well with this subject of this book. I also have a couple of other books in the wings but don’t know how much I should say yet since I haven’t actually started working on them.

Q: Do you do non-children’s book art (licensing, fine art, etc.) or art just for fun? Is that art similar or different from your children’s book art?
A: The first illustration work I did was for greeting cards. Most of my designs were created for a company called Great Arrow. They do very graphic, hand silk-screened cards. Very different from my children’s work (see card image below).

I also do paper plate designs, mostly for kids birthday parties. As you can see, these are yet a different style. I find it hard to stick with just one style for every project (see plate design below).

Q: When someone else has written the text for a picture book or novel, how do you decide what scenes and details to draw?
A: I try to envision the story like a movie. Then I pick the key scenes from my "movie" to illustrate.

Q: When illustrating picture books, do you include a visual storyline that’s not in the text or include animals or people you know?
A: Yes, I really enjoy adding my own things to the images. For instance in “If a Monkey Jumps Onto Your School Bus,” the monkey shows up on every spread, sometimes he's hidden - the kids like to search for the monkey. “On a Dark, Dark Night,” I created a little doggy sidekick that isn’t mentioned in the text.

Q: Can you explain your art process?
A: I blogged about creating the cover for "If a Monkey Jumps Onto Your School Bus." (click on the pages for the links) Monkey Cover page 1, Monkey Cover page 2, Monkey Cover page 3, Monkey Cover page 4, Monkey Cover page 5, Monkey Cover page 6, Monkey Cover page 7,

Q: What is your favorite color?
A: This may sound like a hokey answer, but it changes - really! I'm usually drawn toward warm colors - reds, golds, yellow-greens, but lately I've been going through a blue phase (but I'm not depressed honest!).

Q: What is your favorite medium to work in?
A: I love Photoshop. I experiment much more on the computer than I do with paint and paper. I always feel like I'm going to screw up when I'm using paint. I find being able to save a backup copy to be very liberating.

Q: What childhood art supply brings back happy memories?
A: A brand new box of Crayolas (the 64 pack with the built in sharpener). Although I was always bummed that the sharpener never made them look like new again.

Q: Do you have a favorite childhood picture that you remember making?
A: I started a huge pen and ink drawing of a carousel horse. I think I was about 12. I was doing it with a quill pen and I gave up halfway through, but I kept it. I think its still under my bed at my parent’s house.

Q: Did you always want to be an artist when you grew up?
A: Yep, ever since first grade. I was probably the only kid in grade school with a copy of the "Artist's Market." I never submitted anything to a publisher but I used to read through it.

Q: Do you use models / source pictures or do you draw from your memory/imagination?
A: I do try to use reference - but not always. I use photos, purchased models and sometimes I make my own models out of Sculpey and Styrofoam. Here's a link to one of my Styrofoam creations.

Q: If you could be anything other than an artist, what would you be?
A: I’d probably go back to computer programming. I did enjoy programming; there is a creative aspect to it that is similar to illustration (without the monkeys of course).

Q: What gets you through an illustration you’re having trouble with?
A: The challenge for me is to try to look at it with a fresh eye. Flipping the image over (either in Photoshop or in a mirror) helps me distance myself. Sometimes just taking a break can help.

Q: What was your favorite toy, stuffed animal or doll when you were growing up?
A: Mrs. Beasley. I still have her, although she is looking mighty scary.

Q: What illustrated books do you remember from when you were a child?
A: I think my favorite books as a kid were the pop-up books my mom got at Hallmark. I had an alphabet book, a poetry book, and my favorite, "The Adventures of Super Pickle".

(sruble note: Another Super Pickle fan – hooray!)

Q: Is there a children’s book illustrator whose work you gravitate towards in the bookstore now? (You can list more than one.)
A: Umm let's see, I have so many favorites. Brian Lies, Mini Grey, Brandon Dorman, and Adam Rex and are a few than come to mind.

Q: Did you like to tell jokes or stories as a child?
A: I wouldn’t tell jokes, I’d draw cartoons instead. It got me in trouble a few times.

Q: If you could be a kid again for just one day, what would you do?
A: I’d get a big bucket of plastic figures (I would have LOVED those fancy Schleich figures) and play with them all morning, I'd watch cartoons all afternoon and eat a huge ice cream sundae without once worrying what it’s going to do to my waist.

Bio: Jennifer Morris is a designer, illustrator and children's book author. She has designed everything from paper plates to award winning greeting cards and is the author and illustrator of the Scholastic book, “May I Please Have a Cookie?” which has sold over 500,000 copies. You can visit Jennifer on-line at www.jemorris.com.

Thanks for the interview Jennifer!
All images in this post © Jennifer Morris.