#KidLitArt Dummy Challenge

I signed up for  the #KidLitArt Dummy Challenge this year as a way to motivate myself to complete a few abandoned picture book projects. I started by spreading everything I had for three stalled projects on the dining room table, manuscripts, drawings, page break dummies, and comments from my critique group. I decided to shelve one indefinitely, put another aside to work on later, and pick one that stalled out for no other reason than that I began another one before I completed it.

The first thing I did was to read over the comments from my critique group - they are so wise! Then I looked over my story with fresh eyes. Very fresh. My last manuscript update was dated 2007.

It took me a while but I was able to immerse myself again and do some heavy revisions. There is still room for a little more but being primarily an illustrator I was anxious to get on with pacing the story. I made a grid for the page spreads on a large sheet of graph paper then I wrote each character's dialog on color coded sticky notes so I could move them around to establish the page breaks and turns.

Once I was fairly happy with where the stickies were I moved them to a mock up (8 legal size sheets of paper folded in half). I moved the stickies to the mock up and then with real page turns, I shifted things around until I was satisfied.

The next thing I did was to sketch out my characters without looking at the previous versions. I didn't want to just copy my old approach. I've sketched out one scene so far to see if it is going to work:

For comparison here is the original version: (so glad I got rid of the hat in the revise)

Black and White sample

My gal Maggie pitched some of her artists for a chapter book series and I didn't have much of anything appropriate for the project, so I whipped one out over the weekend.

Traditional Paintings

I was offered an opportunity to do a show with my husband at a downtown gallery. Not having any paintings did seem like a bit of an obstacle. After a year without touching traditional media I steeled my nerves, quashed my insecurities and dipped a toe back in. I now have three new works in watercolor.

 Brothers, Watercolor, 9" x 9"

 Metro, Watercolor, 9"x9"

Queue, Watercolor, 9"x11"

As an illustrator I can't let the idea of "story" go even in non-commercial work. That's why I chose this theme for the series. There is setting, mood, characters, and some implied action. By showing just feet and legs my aim is to allow the viewer an opportunity to create their own story. 

What?! It's January!

2011 was a busy year and in spite of the personal and national economy, not too shabby. It was a year filled with art, music, and general and miscellaneous creativity for my whole family. Tim the Husband achieved some great success with his art and his bluegrass band The Hey Brothers. The High Schoolers immersed themselves utterly in marching band. The Odyssey of the Mind team went to World-Freakin-Finals. I started playing euphonium in the Town Band, had a great big birthday party with great friends and music.

Oh, and I did some art. I finally became fluent in Photoshop and my web portfolio is now completely digital. I did lots of personal development pieces and some very rewarding assignments. I can't wait to see what comes next. Shine on you crazy 2012!