Painting the Art

Kimberlee and I have been balancing family, work, and creative endeavors but this doesn't mean we've forgotten about our book! To keep creative energy cooking, we touch base with scheduled conferences that are part business, part everything else. Mutual support is instrumental in staying on task, and a sense of humor. Yesterday I sat down with one of our drawings and began painting. Almost immediately I saw a problem with with the composition. Sometimes a b/w pencil rendering works great, but translating that drawing into 4 colors often requires reassessment of values and design. The final outcome depends on what the artist is striving toward.

Kimberlee and I want imagery that will appeal to younger children: large blocks of of color and within those areas of color, monochromatic pattern. We also plan on hiding some imagery amidst the foliage and in the borders, to keep things interesting. For example, little ants on their way to work, bumble bees, spider webs or caterpillars nibbling leaves. We want a degree of accuracy but the characters need to be personable, too.

After noticing the problem, I decided to continue painting and see if there could be some adjustment using pattern and tone to distract the eye. Theres a photo of the art at this stage but the' image upload' icon is not functioning. Ill take a break for now and try to figure out why it isnt working.

To Trademark or Not To Trademark

That is the question. So, I have finished up my logo and am planning on trademarking my series of books and logo. I'm wondering...does anyone have experience with this out there and can they tell me, will it be worth it? or not? I have been to the US patent and trademarking web page and read most of what is there. It is not super expensive, but is maybe an expense I don't need to make upfront. Still I feel like it is something that would be worthwhile. Thoughts?

One Fine Afternoon

So finally the weather in southern Texas has been bearable to go outdoors and enjoy without getting eaten alive by mosquitoes. Today I enjoyed some outdoor time with my daughter and we caught view of and shared some precious moments with this beautiful butterfly. Life moves so fast for us all now and I took simple pleasure for the time we spent to just admire this other being going about its daily routine.

I worry about nature. I worry about our planet. I find it hard to see people not caring about their daily actions. Later in the day when I went to rent a movie I saw someone just leave their soda can by their car door on the ground and get in to leave. Why don't some people take responsibility for their actions? Who must be the parents of this slice of society when they don't seem to care about their actions or the impact to others or the environment? What irks me is that it seems to be quite a few people who just don't seem to care. I certainly don't aspire to be parents for everyone, but I wish I could hold people accountable for things like that. Better yet, I wish to restore that care, that respect, that patience and calm through my writing and reaching out to children and adults reading to children. One of the movies that recently affected me most was WALL-E. I looked at the planet with all that trash on the ground and in orbit around Earth and thought grimly, "This is our fate. And most people don't seem to care."  I wish for my books to bring back to us today what humans and our ancestors have known for a long time but we have forgotten in our race to be the best,  the first, the boss, the richest, the - whatever. That is my goal is to break through to people and to get them to really think about what is right, what is really important, to be the best they can be for each other and for us all. We are a very "connected" society one could say, but I say we are a very disconnected society more than ever before.

So with my extra hour this weekend I hope to get back to my book and finish my logo and potentially submit my series name for trademarking.  What will you do with your extra hour? I hope you find some time to take simple Earthy pleasure in something without littering. :)

Butterfly Ladies

Whew! There's far more to butterflies than meets the eye. At left is a photo of wild echanacia growing in the nearby forest preserve, taken earlier this past summer. Even if the final art is stylized or presented in a simplified version, this is where the sketches start - with the real thing.

One of the things Kimberlee and I have been discussing is the question of fact vs fiction. How 'real' should the characters be, and what about their environment, the landscape and background colors, or shifts in season? Seasonal shifts means the backgrounds, colors and plants will be changing as the story progresses. Our target audience will be younger children, so there will be bright colors, interesting details, and characters the readers will enjoy looking at and thinking about.

Ive worked up a detailed pencil and will be setting it to watercolor this week and have been working on faces for the characters. This is the most challenging aspect so far, developing characteristics that will appeal to small readers without looking like cute cartoons. We'd like the art to be somewhat realistic.

The attached link ( http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/Exhibitions/Butterflies/english/index.html ) takes you to the Virtual Museum, a Canadian and Peruvian site geared to children, parents and teachers. Kimberlee and I enjoyed looking through this site and would like to share it with you. There's a section especially for teachers with ideas for games and classroom instruction.

Sketches Coming to Life

Helena and I conversed last week and she shared two versions of sketches with me and we opted to go for the more detailed one. That is what I love about her work is all the neat intricate things she ends up putting in the background and foreground. I think it will be most interesting for the children's book.  We are trying to also stay true to the animals and habitats around which the story revolves. So we had much talk and shared research via the internet with each other about ideas for other items in the background and foreground of the pictures as well as basic and general color schemes to go along with the habitats, etc. I hope to get some time soon to play with the formatting of how I will need to submit for self publishing so that I will be ready when the finished art starts coming my way.

I am getting some publishers asking me to write, but it is technical and scientific ones, not children's book authors. I actually think it is more phishing than anything because these publishing houses are ones that are in India or may have local offices but the main one is in India. So I am not really flattered by it. But it would be cool if it were a publisher for a children's book.

Local support

So I heard through Facebook that one of our local libraries is still struggling to recover from hurricane Ike, now 2 years past. And what a great idea they had! Local children's authors got together and held a fundraiser for the library by selling books and donating proceeds to the library.  They had children's activities and so I planned on taking my 2 oldest kids to peruse through the books and choose one to bring home and thought I might be able to meet some more children's authors and pick their brains about how they became published/successful, etc.

One of my boys came down with a fever (such is life) so I only took my oldest to the event. We stopped at every table and talked with the authors and looked at the types of books they had.  We even met one talented woman who is a blind author. I didn't ask too much about her process but mostly my son was wondering how a blind person can write. I think it was a good experience for him to be exposed to the reality that we are not all alike and some of us have challenges in different ways but that we can all still be successful and do what we love. I talked to a few of the authors about their process and one urged me to let go to be a real author and not to worry about the process of the illustrations coming out a certain way to convey the story.  I'm just not ready to do that. I know that I want these books to be fabulous so I selected the illustrator to work with me whom I knew could bring about the desired effects I wanted in the quality of my book series. The author stated that for some of her books the illustrators that her publisher set her up with brought unique qualities to the story and came up with things about which she never would have thought. She recommended I take an intense picture book making class online. I looked it up and will think about it, but for now I just want to create. I looked up her website when I got home and she had a link to Jacket Flap. So I went to check that out. It is a networking source for authors, illustrators, and publishers. You can have an account and post items and look at what certain publishers are looking for, and more. So I have created an account on there. (Kimberlee Prokhorov) Talking with Helena later she stated she has had an account on there for awhile. I can link our blog to my profile and so we can maybe get some more interest in our book and whole process, then again maybe not! :) But I am appreciating the resources it appears to provide. 

I also spoke with another author whom was self-published and was looking into publishing electronically for e-books. She stated specifically that for picture books the iPad graphics were phenomenal. She recommended  Smashwords.  So I have looked at that too and will consider submitting my books that way too! Exciting! So I continue to explore my options as an author on publishing and networking while waiting for the art to catch up to a point where I can start placing it and formatting it for publishing. I am hoping Helena has opportunity to work on it as I would love to finish this prior to Christmas or at least for spring/Easter time frame.  I know that may be a very ambitious goal for both of us. But if you do not set goals, you will not achieve them. So here's to being ambitious! Cheers!

Getting started on the Art

Our book is going to be for younger readers, and my job as illustrator is creating art that's not only colorful, but something that a child will enjoy. For now we've a basic idea of what we want, and I'm in the beginning stages of sketching the characters and setting. Research is an important aspect of this and the Internet is great for quick sourcing of natural settings, flowers, and the creatures who will be appearing in the book.

Here's a look at my drawing table and the pretty view outside the window. Right now the leaves are turning golden yellow, and just visible across the street are some tall cottonwoods. Soon their leaves will turn golden. Sometimes, in the early hours around 2 to 3 a.m. we are awakened by the yipping and barking of coyote, who make this forest preserve their home. They don't bother anybody and seem to be having fun over there!