Children’s

Enchanted: A 1920’s Cinderella

By in Children's, Deco Era Fairytales, General, Other Challenges, SCBWI, SCBWI Draw This, Work

Art Deco Cinderella

06_CinderBrownstone_color_cropped_lo

Sometimes when you’re tired, you do and say dumb things and then you *facepalm* and groan and hope you didn’t screw up too badly. I really need to get the littlest Jaegerling’s sleep schedule and my own to be better aligned (he’s two. what can I say?).

Anyway, Penguin childrens’ book art director and mentor Giuseppe Castellano hosted a #twitterclass where he gave some really great twitter critiques of every illustration submission he received between 9 and 10pm. I was tired and had found out about the “class” 5 minutes before it began so I was more focused on quickly finding something recent and remotely critique-worthy to post than editing my tweet to say exactly what I meant. I wrote “Still working towards style.” By “style” I really meant a flow, an ease of technique and process. I didn’t mean my own personal voice. It was a poor choice of word. *Facepalm.*  Mr. Castellano referred me to his blog post on style (which I had already read) that’s pretty much about why he dislikes the word.

After I got over feeling stupid, I read the rest of the critique tweet. Mr. Castellano also mentioned that my drawing looked too outlined and that the colored pencil wasn’t working well with the paper. True and true. I have been using cheaper materials, working on the theory that if I could make something nice with cheaper materials, I should be able to make something even better with GOOD materials. I also wanted to make sure I even wanted to continue with pencils and explore the feel of other brands before I invested a hundred or so dollars in a standard Prismacolor set.

I do have other materials in my cabinets, though. So I dug out some Bristol and unearthed a set of Mitsubishi colored pencils that someone (probably my artist aunt) had given me years ago, grabbed a sketchbook, and set to work on a pice for the SCBWI “Draw This” monthly challenge for October.

I only left myself 2 days to produce something so I challenged myself Project Runway style. Make something work. The challenge word is “Enchanted.” Go.

Because I’ve been focusing on my process (and not because this is a masterpiece by any stretch), I’m going to step through what I did to create this piece. I welcome any professional advice on the media and my process because I’m still learning by doing (and probably always will be). This piece reflects some of the skills I’ve been working on in my #100DaysOfSimple project. I’m working faster, a little looser, and with a little more line efficiency than I had been previously.

I don’t remember why but I had been looking at some Erte prints recently so I felt a little deco-inspired. Not sure why I picked Cinderella but that’s what came to mind. I deemed my third sketch satisfactory. The rest of my procedual notes are in the captions of the slideshow below.

Enchanted: A 1920’s Cinderella
Original messy pencil sketch. Conceptually, I also wanted to give a nod to the “Upstairs/Downstairs” theme of Cinderella’s story. So the prince is above and Cinder is below running past the servant’s entrance.
Enchanted: A 1920’s Cinderella
“Inked” over the background in Adobe Flash to help keep it simple.
Enchanted: A 1920’s Cinderella
Light-table hand-inked the characters and composited them in Photoshop. I had wanted to keep the inks and color beneath them but printing back to Bristol didn’t keep the sharpness of the line. I was losing too much detail on Cinder. I later discovered that it was the scanner, not the printer where I was losing quality. Lesson learned.
Enchanted: A 1920’s Cinderella
So I gave up on keeping the inks and instead, printed them at 10% opacity on Bristol to color over them.
Enchanted: A 1920’s Cinderella
The finished, uncropped, version. No ink lines at all. Still learning. I think I still need to push lights and darks a little more and work on shadows. But all in all, not bad. I decided to call it “done” before I overworked it trying to “fix” things. Though in the age of digital, everything can be revisited.

100 Days of Simple

By in Children's, General, Other Challenges, SCBWI, Work

100 Days of Simple
100 Days of Simple
100 Days of Simple

 

Last week, I stumbled on the \”100 Days\” project that began in April.

\”What Is the 100-Day Project? It’s a celebration of process that encourages everyone to participate in 100 days of making. The great surrender is the process; showing up day after day is the goal. For the 100-Day Project, it’s not about fetishizing finished products—it’s about the process.\”

But better late than never (the overall project ends in two weeks),

 \”Note: If you\’re just now finding us, you can still participate. You can choose to join in and catch up if possible or start at Day 1 and finish at your own pace.\”

It\’s totally an honor system challenge and I have the perfect challenge for myself.

I\’ve been thinking about my own work and how it compares to that of other illustrators whom I admire. I personally feel there is a sort of lack of polish in my work, and often an overabundance of unnecessary detail. It may not be a failing but it is something I have identified as something I\’d like to address in my illustration work to get it to the next level. The problem is that I\’m not sure exactly what it is that I need to fix. Lack of polish is a very loose description of a vague problem. On the other hand, it never hurts to work on streamlining  and economy of line.

There\’s no such thing as a \”word count\” in illustration but the idea is similar to trying to condense the work from, say, 4 pages of prose to a haiku. The careful selection of words—I mean lines. The exact right shape of an eyeball, the fewest lines necessary to create a contour. This is definitely no easy task for me. And since I don\’t make enough time for needed practice and exercise…

My project for the next 100 days (whether it\’s executed effectively or not) is to work on drawing simple yet complete illustrations. You can follow my progress on Instagram at the hashtag, #100DaysofSimple.

“Gold From the Breakfast Tray”

By in Children's, etsy, General, Other Challenges, SCBWI, SCBWI Draw This, Work

Verdi_Cries_lo

It would appear that I’ve fallen into a hole the past couple of months since the February drawing challenge. I kind of did. I’ve been busy with odds and ends and little things here and there, work projects, the end of school… And I called up my website just now to see my last image posted was a snowman. Hmmm that won’t do for the first day of summer!

So, here’s a a nice summer image. I’m calling it, “Gold From the Breakfast Tray.” If you’re at all familiar with my artwork, you’ll know I’m often inspired by music. The inspiration here is a lyric from the 10,000 Maniacs song, “Verdi Cries“. I’ve loved this song since I first heard it in the late 1980’s.

Natalie Merchant’s choice of words feels so nostalgiac and other-timely. It’s not what I’d call a mood piece from the 1980’s. So I chose to set my piece in 1910 at a Victorian-era rooming house by the sea. I’ve always listened to this song from the perspective of a carefree girl (who I picture much younger than a 20 year old Natalie) just doing as she pleases, not caring so much why the melancholy man in room 119 sat alone, listening to opera every day.

It also seems to have made a good bedtime song for my 4 year old daughter, who has been asking me to sing it to her every night for the last month (and yes, she posed for me.)

My own experiences, of course, influenced the piece’s mood. I’ve spent various wanderings in my life and stays in various places by various seas, enjoying morning light on the beach, sunny days running in the surf, and cool, late afternoon baths ending in slightly sandy, sunburnt naps on crisp white linen. There were bright colors, bright days, cool porches and halls, and brilliant, restful nights of wild stars and storms far out at sea. “Holidays must end, as you know…”

My three girls are staying the summer at this rooming house. They’re equipped for their next grand adventure in the dunes, E. Nesbitt-style with nets, pails, buckets… The blonde girl can’t resist curiosity anymore. Every day she’s passed this breakfast tray returned to the hall with a napkin-covered basket left un-touched. She’s finally stopped and lifted the napkin to discover the delicious pastries left untouched by the man in room 119. “Waste-not, want, not,” she decides and puts them into her picnic basket, pausing to sample one as the other girls call from the porch steps for her to hurry along.

Some technical details… I submitted my first pencil sketch for review on Facebook’s “PB Illustrators Critique Group” Got some great feedback and did some updating, re-sketching, and noodling of layouts in Photoshop. I then printed out the blackline at 20% on watercolor paper and painted over it. I really did NOT intend to do so much of this piece in actual paint (oh heaven forfend! ha.). I did put the whole thing back into Photoshop and messed around with some clean-up and lighting (yes, you can tell). I’m generally pleased with the results, though I feel like I lost a bit of detail from the original sketches. This is probably a good thing because when I color on the computer, not matter how hard I try not to, I always zoom in too much and spend too much time noodling sharp detail in the backgorund. Anyway, I think I will continue to work with this technique. Thank you to Sylvia Liu and Tami Traylor for further critiques and advice.

This piece was created, predominantly, for Susanna Leonard Hill’s “2nd Annual Pretty Much World Famous Illustration Contest For Children’s Illustrators!!!” with the challenge prompt, “Discovery,” and secondarily for the SCBWI’s new monthly showcase (which is not a contest or competition so a few of us decided it would be ok to also submit to SCBWI) called, Draw This! with the challenge prompt “Adventure.” (I believe they change the content of that link on the first of the month so it’s showing last month’s “Bounce” showcase for the next week or so).

I’m also making this illustration available to purchase as a print (contact me for the details). I’m aiming to have a “Prints” section of my Etsy shop on line by the beginning of July.

Now I just want a mojito… Cheers to the beginning of summer.

The #KidLitArt28 Challenge Part 2

By in Children's, General, Other Challenges, SCBWI Tags:

Last night I (mostly) successfully finished The Twenty-Eight Day Art Challenge.

I admit it was a bit of a struggle to find time and energy to draw something every day for 28 days but it was a fantastic exercise and I’m ending the month more energized (and exhausted) than I began it.

Balancing home and toddlers (the boy is almost 22 months, the girl is almost 4) with trying to make time to work,  there were days (days? who am I kidding – I was doing this pretty late at night!) when I was had to push through a wall and one day where I was just not feeling well at all. I had drawn “something” earlier that day for my daughter’s “homework” so that P for Pig had to suffice for day 25. Hey, I drew something. It counted!

I wasn’t always able to stick 100% to my topic because sometimes I felt like drawing something else. But that’s ok too. My main goal was to explore and grow and exercise. And then learn to manage the floodgates in the time allotted. Sometimes (like last night on day 28!) I just plum ran out of time and I had that Project Runway choice of “make it work” or start over at 11:45pm. Meh. It’s not perfect but that’s why it’s a sketch!

“Every artist has thousands of bad drawings in them and the only way to get rid of them is to draw them out.”
— Chuck Jones

Here is a great post from Art Director and fellow Artist, Giuseppe Castellano on the subjects of time, self-editing and personal resource management. This could not have been a more timely read for me. An excellent post which reminds me it’s probably time to have another look at The War of Art.

I also used to be one of those artists who had to have a completely clean space before I could begin. That’s probably some sort of metaphor for how I live my life. Anyway…

Thank you, again, Diandra Mae and Sylvia Liu of Kidlit411 for the challenge.

Thank you to fellow Artist, Autumn Seybert for including “Day 23, Toad King Welcomes Spring” in your #ThinkSpringArt series.

A gallery of the second half of my (mostly) holiday-themed submissions are posted below the social links. But I’m going to to continue posting my sketchings on Twitter and Instagram with occasional updates here on my website as usual. Stay tuned for some COLOR!

Day15_Dream
KidLitArt28 Day 15 Bit of a stretch on my holiday theme but meant for Rosh Chodesh.
Day15_Dream
Day_16girls_on_wall
Day_17_Sledding
Day_18_New_Year_Dragon
Day_19_Venice_aiming_for_moon
Day_20_Evies_Pie
Girl and Snowman
Day_22_Play_Doh_Cupcakes
Day_23_Toad_King_Welcomes_Spring
Day_24_Purim_Sameach
Day_25_pig
Day_26_Snowday_In_City
Day_27_years_off_my_life
Day_28_followyourdreams

The #KidLitArt28 Challenge Part 1

By in Children's, General, Other Challenges, SCBWI Tags:

KidLitArt28 Day 15 Bit of a stretch on my holiday theme but meant for Rosh Chodesh.
KidLitArt28 Day 15 Bit of a stretch on my holiday theme but meant for Rosh Chodesh.

I’m doing something I’ve never done before. I’m drawing “something” every day for 28 days. I have never drawn “something” every day before, and I don’t remember drawing more than one day in a row. If I did at all, it was because I was working on a particular project. Or maybe it was back when I was in college and I had a “sketchbook project” but I’m pretty sure I cheated at that one. Seriously, I don’t think I’ve ever done it.

And do you know what the best advice given with regard to improving your drawing skills is? Yep, it’s DRAW MORE! In fact, DRAW EVERY DAY. Keep a sketchbook. And I have ALWAYS sucked at that because I self-edit. I want to get it right the first time or I don’t want to waste the paper. Yes, I realize the irony in this because you can’t improve if you don’t practice. So maybe I wasted the paper afterall?

And then came the challenge that made me think about this. The Twenty-Eight Day Art Challenge.

These two bit are the most important part of this challenge to me:

The topic for the chat on January 22nd was all about finding your voice as an illustrator. Our idea is to give y’all a chance to springboard yourselves further into finding the answer to that question.

Draw something every day for the month of February. (Or really, as often as you can.) The medium is up to you: traditional, digital, combined mediums-whatever works.

Because I just have so much free time to work with, I was (am) terrified of this challenge (it’s Day 16 today so I’m writing from just past the mid-point). So I kicked myself – why am I terrified of doing the thing I tell everyone I do? Well that’s silly! I guess, as usual, I’m afraid to fail. Which is also silly. Fail at what, exactly? If I miss a day, nobody cares but me. So ok, I figured I’d better do this thing.

First of all, I had no idea how to approach it or what I wanted to do. So I was off to a shakey start and posted a coloring card that I’d finished that day. I think the original sketch for that card is actually cuter than the card. At least, it would have been more appropriate to post the sketch based on where this actually went.

Day01_snowmen_lo

The next day, February 2nd, I sketched a tired groundhog, snapped a photo of it with my phone, and posted it. Hey, that worked pretty well. On day 3, I did an almost complete sketch for Tu B’Shvat (something like arbor day). I decided my theme was going to be holidays.

But then it went a little downhill. The week was so busy that I couldn’t find time to draw until very late at night. On day 5, it was literally 11:55. I said to my husband, “I can’t do this. Forget it, I’ll just draw two tomorrow instead.” And his response was “Be honest with yourself.” So I quickly scribbled out “something” just before midnight. A quick sketch of a boy writing a note. I figured I’d still draw something better the next day, but it turned out by the end of that night I’d only had time to complete one drawing. But it was pretty good. So I ended up retro-actively posting the scribbled boy. And I kind of feel more honest about that, just like my husband had said. Take THAT internal self-editor!

By the end of the week, I was finding a groove. There was no way in heck I’d be able to make time to finish anything or even work on the computer so my sketches would “appear” more finished like some artists are able to do. I started to content myself with beginning a sketch sometime between 9:30 and 11:00 at night and posting a smartphone snapshot to Twitter before or around midnight.

I know I shouldn’t be terribly surprised but I already see an improvement in my sketching. And I’m also working out time management. I’m starting to learn how long my sketches will take if they don’t put up a fight. And also importantly… (read the ending paragraph of the challenge:)

Our hope is that at the end of this challenge you will be able to look back at these sketches and see the stories, themes, and characters that appeal to you the most. With a bank of beloved topics, who wouldn’t be inspired to then create a new picture book, comic, or novel? Wouldn’t you want to take at least one of those illustrations further and see where they take you?

… while I’m not finding stories to write, I’m certainly coming up with work I hope to take to the next step and finish. This is more or less the same idea. So thank you Diandra Mae and Sylvia Liu for this most recent kick in the butt in the right direction. And for helping me figure out how to actually fill a sketchbook.

A gallery of my (mostly) holiday-themed submissions is posted below the social links. Posting half today and half at the end of the month. But keeping up to date with posting them on Twitter tagged #KidLitArt28 (click there if you want to see what other folks are posting).

Day_01_snowmen
Making kid's Coloring Cards for V-Day (this week's theme?).
Day_01_snowmen
Day02_groundhog
Day03_OliveTreesAreStanding
Day04
Day05
Day06_tabmourine_and_trees
Day07_DoAnotherHeart
Day08_Carnivale
Day09_DeliveringValentines
Day10_OfferingTheCar
Day11_BakeryKids
Day12_ShabbatCandles
Day13_ShabbatCandles
Day14_Imbolc
Day15_Dream

Sometimes, a Pigeon

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

And now for my next writing challenge, Susanna Leonard Hill’s 4th Annual Holiday Contest!

The Challenge:  Write a children’s story (children here defined as approximately age 12 and under) in which wild weather impacts the holidays!  Your story may be poetry or prose, silly or serious or sweet, religious or not, based on Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa or whatever you celebrate, but is not to exceed 350 words.

I started this challenge two weeks late because I was so busy with November stuff (like hosting Thanksgiving) that I missed the announcement. Because of Susanna’s boisterous encouragement (no pressure!),  I promised I’d have… something. I couldn’t let her down.

So here it is with a very quickly sketched-out illustration and some backstory notes beneath.

the_great_pigeon_rescue

Sometimes, a Pigeon

Nobody felt festive that December, not even the weather. Only days before Christmas, it was unusually warm in the city that should have already seen its first snowfall.

Danny sat on the stoop in front of his building sourly watching the crowds bustle past, narrowly but deliberately avoiding one another as they hurried through last-minute holiday errands.

A pigeon tumbled by, flapping frantically to free itself from a plastic milk-bottle ring stuck around it’s neck. Perhaps because he had nothing better to do—he certainly wasn’t feeling benevolent toward anyone let alone pigeons—Danny decided to rescue it.

The proprietor of the Christmas tree lot next door watched as Danny chased the pigeon around a lamp post for half an hour to no avail. Mr. Douglas, finally resolved to help.

After more unsuccessful laps around the lamp, Danny and Mr. Douglas were joined by a woman with accidental pink hair. Dulce was delighted to take a break from waiting on short-tempered diners.

The ridiculous ruckus inspired each passerby to set aside bags and bundles and join in the Great Pigeon Rescue, lunging, tripping, and colliding, until half of them were knocked to the sidewalk in gleeful piles of laughter.

The chaos was glorious. And, with each new laugh, the temperature dropped another degree.

Clumsily bumping a stately, loudly perfumed lady sideways, Dulce finally seized the pigeon. Danny slipped the ring off, and they let the bird go. Up it flew into the shivering clouds while the stately lady landed on Mr. Douglas in a shower of parcels.

Everyone held their breath as the stately lady’s eyes widened and her cheeks reddened.

“Are you all right?” Dulce asked.

Mrs. Latke’s surprise melted into a broad smile.

And then it began to snow. Boisterous peals of snow.

As people helped each other up, Mrs. Latke linked elbows with Dulce and whispered into her ear.

Dulce beamed and called, “Everyone! Come into the diner for hot chocolate. Mrs. Latke’s treat!”

Mr. Douglas was first inside. Everyone enthusiastically followed.

Danny paused at the door, shaking his head at the mirthful sky, and grinned.

 

Some notes:

Fresh from PiBoIdMo, I’d already been thinking about fleshing out a story idea I’d had about Thanksgiving (and I will absolutely still write that one). But I was already in the mood to write something about being too busy or preoccpied to be thankful. And I’ve been thinking about what the “Christmas Spirit” is all about. This translated quite easily to not feeling ready for the December holidays.

The story I started to write needed more like 700 words. Or a lot of pictures. I guess so far as I can tell, I write like an illustrator. In my mind, I’d managed to concoct a full city block of an apartment building, Christmas tree stand in a vacant parking lot, a diner, a Chinese restaurant, a grocery store, and a department store. Not necessarily in that order.

My cast of characters also included Mr. Douglas’s young daughter, a Salvation Army bell ringer, a young mother pushing a stroller, and a doorman (just to name a few). And of course everyone is in a foul mood. I described scenerios in my head where people were just rotten to each other. And of course, one by one, they each join in chasing the pigeon. I’m sure Alice Schertle might be able to write all this in 350 words (I counted and there are only 363 words in Little Blue Truck!) But I couldn’t. So I limited the story to just 6 main characters including the weather and the bird. Which is still kind of a lot.

I also wanted to make the characters inaccessible (except Danny) until they started to get into the spirit which is why I described them before naming them. With the length of the story, I’m not sure that actually translated. It probably is most noticable with Mrs. Latke.

Also, just for fun, the adult characters have full names. Mr. Fraser Douglas, Ms. Dulce Horner and Mrs. Penelope Latke

So I had a setting and characters but I kind of needed a plot that would make a good turnaround. I needed to make the weather laugh so hard that it changed and got in the mood too. I needed something ridiculous. And this very thing happened to me 22 years ago.

Yes I, myself, ridiculously chased a pigeon around the statue of Peter Pan in Hyde Park for a good long time trying to get a bottle ring off it’s neck. I was ultimately aided by an older gentleman and a woman in a house dress and what I truly still believe was accidentally pink hair. I wrote it down back then and that story also made it into this blog if you look for it.  I’d started off pretty grumpy too, so I suppose that Danny is really me.

Lastly, thanks to Johnelle DeWitt and Sara Francis-Fujimura for taking time to review for me.

Maybe I’ll leave this story as it is. Maybe I’ll flesh it out or draw it up at a later date. Who knows?

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