Interior Art

Today I was working on the first 2 page spread for our book. I've already worked up a very rough sketch indicating placement and proportion, and Kimberlee shared what she was envisioning. The first sketches are always rough because there will be changes and unforeseen developments. No need to waste time and effort on tight detailed drawings at this stage. The sketch at left is on tracing paper that allows for quick erasing and placement of elements before starting the actual painting. I quickly traced over sketches in my sketchbook, placing them in the template sized 8 x 11 inches per page and adapting size and proportion. We decided to add a loose border treatment of slender vines or branches and drape the art along the lower portion of both pages. I like to keep some butterfly wings, my sketches and reference materials near by.

I work with layers and scraps of of tracing paper, making small changes then attaching them right over the rough draft. Not having to erase or redraw something speeds up production time and helps my ideas formulate without breaking the flow. At top right you can see some of my botanical references, sketch pad and multiple layers of sketched ideas.

Ever seen a beautiful caterpillar?

See below for accompanying music by The Cure - The Caterpillar. (one of my favorites) 

So, as you have seen Beatrice, she has an early version of herself to portray in the book and that is herself in caterpillar form. Have you ever seen a beautiful caterpillar face?  They can be quite scary as I am sure nature intended to ward off predators.

Alice in Wonderland - type caterpillar

Many artists have made cute little caterpillars, but they are very cartoonish.

The trick is, how will Helena convey a caterpillar face which is realistic, yet able to emote for the story? I cannot wait to see what she comes up with. (yes - I ended in a preposition.) I consider blogs more of casual spoken English which is not always the most proper. Anyway, Helena has been busy with the things that are bringing in an income for her - so you blame her? So, she requested my help in finding more caterpillar faces for her. Here is what I was able to find. Hopefully it will give her inspiration. If not, maybe the song will. :)


Watch The Cure - The Caterpillar in Music  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Bios and Beatrice

So I am proceeding forth with my submission of material and want everything to go smoothly. Despite being under the weather lately, Helena has finished the painting we anticipate for use as the cover image! I love it, but I love all her work so I think I could never be disappointed. :)

I have sent the bios off to a friend for review. Another pair of eyes never hurts even though I did pay for professional editing. I also am going to go forth with registering the name of my book series. So please wish me success in that area. I have done brief searches and did not find any thing with the same name registered so I hope it is not rejected. I don't really want to hire a trademark lawyer, but.....maybe I will check around with some other sources first. I know someone who works at a brand marketing company. Maybe they could do a brief service for me at a minimal price.

And hopefully spring will be here soon and Helena will have more daylight to paint and I cannot wait to see more of Beatrice. This is the type of butterfly Beatrice is: Polyommatus icarus. She is so beautiful, is she not? 

Author in the House!

Helena has been taking such wonderful steps to move things forward with the project, I felt it was time for me to do something on my end to keep the momentum moving forward. I have researched trademarking and believe that I will pursue that soon. But what I really needed to dive into is the world of self publishing. I needed to educate myself more on the process, the services, the types of publishers, and figure out what is really right for me, for Helena and I, and for this project to be successful.  Success is not the only key, but to also have the outcome we want, and for us to be in control.

My vision is one I want to make come true and start on this journey having the end product most represent this vision. Not that I could even convince a top end publishing house to be interested in my stories yet, but they will hand the story over to an editor whom has their own vision based on what they read. They may not be versed in the background, and may not convey the original intent with the right style illustrations, colors, sense, feelings, or overall package. So this is part of the reason why I intended to self publish first. To, 1) have control, and 2) Because the odds are against someone who is not yet established in the market. And I have a day job, and young kids, and no time to spend sending thousands of query letters to prospective publishing houses. And 3) Because the market is rapidly changing. E-book sales beat out paperback this last year for the first time ever. More self publishing companies are offering conversions to e-books like Kindle and iPad in their publishing packages or as add-ons.

So, the first night I found a few companies. Some offered free newsletters or publishing guides and asked for some brief information. To my surprise the next day 2 companies were knocking on my door. Now I fully understand that publishers are putting their own money into the production, while self publishers want to sell you their services. But I was still shocked at the immediate response. One company really seemed like they were just trying to sell me something. Wanting me to call them back and wanting to know if I wanted more information or was ready to sign up. But I still needed to know more. The other company's publishing consultant took the time to answer my questions, send me the contract upfront for review, explain to me the packages, the options and learn from me what I was looking for without sounding like a telemarketer. They took the time to build my trust.  They offered a great discount and shared much advice with me.  I spent the last week searching and researching many more companies, but still really feeling comfortable with this one until I found some complaints about them. The complaints did seem to sound like they came from others whom may not have done their research so well or didn't fully understand the contract they entered. I questioned the company and they calmly and rationally explained the reasons for the complaints and in many cases websites set up by competing companies, and honestly just plain stupidity of some people to not comprehend that your book is not necessarily going to sell. You have to market it. And if they didn't for example take the time to get it professionally edited, that could also be a reason why it was not selling.

Some self-publishing companies are called vanity presses. This one was referred to as such, but is not that way today. This is where you publish and have to pay for a certain amount of books like 1000 to be printed and delivered to you, but they do not get distributed, and you have to sell and store them.

Others are called Print-On-Demand or POD publishers. These publishers print on demand when someone orders the book from a site like Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble.com. However most of these companies also offer editing, distribution to wholesalers to be printed or ordered, list you in the Library of Congress, and so basically your book is out there and able to bought by many. They also offer artistic services (but Helena has that covered for me), layout, and even marketing services.  Marketing services range from free business cards and bookmarks to guide on setting up book signings, doing radio and media promotion, and more. They offer discounted prices for the author to purchase books, handle copy-writing, and supply ISBN.

Being the big engineering nerd that I am, I created a big spreadsheet to weigh and rate each company I reviewed. In the end, the services with the right price and the ability to still be in control of the final product and know that the company is one of the largest, has the best possible rating with the Better Business Bureau (despite web slander) and is not going anywhere gave me the security I needed to make the decision. I also read some articles saying you have to create your own publishing company, or don't go with a vanity press as no large publisher will ever take you seriously. I think these are mainstream elitist authors/publishers, etc. And times are changing, rapidly. What worked yesterday does not necessarily work today. Doing things the same for the sake of it does not allow progress or improvement.

But in reality I do think it is all about exposure, initiative, and intent. You have got to get your product out there if you want it to be useful to others. And if you can get others to believe in you then you are on your way. But believing in yourself first is the key.

Ok - so, I reviewed the following companies: Lulu.com; Blurb; Self Publishing; Outskirts Press; iUniverse; BRIO; Trafford; Instant Publisher; U Build-a-book; Create Space; Friesen Press;Heirloom; and Author House. I am sure the longer I look the more I will find. At some point though, enough is enough, and I didn't want to over think it or stress about it. This is a journey I am taking for the joy of it. I do not want it to become obsessive.  

So I signed up with Author House today! I got a spectacular discount - essentially developmental editing for free, flexible schedule, and non-exclusive contract (able to walk away and on to a larger publishing company at any time).

So I am another pea in the POD, but this author in this house is ecstatic to complete and publish a book with Author House! 

Painting on Dark Days, continued...

At the left side in the top photo are 2 images. One is the Beatrice painting Ive been working on in this blog. On the right you see an older, rejected version. I wasn't happy with body or face and was using this reject to experiment with, mainly exploring the nature of the paper . While working on the leaves a motif came to mind which I hope to draw this evening.

Until there is a brighter day its very difficult for me to predict how these will reproduce. The paper is bright white but as you can see, it looks much darker. even though I brightened the image in Photoshop.

While experimenting I was thinking of the kind of books I liked when very young. Lots of color, clear patterns, contrasts. Somehow this triggered a cascade of ideas which may or may not be plausible for the book.

Painting on Dark Days...

Today was a typical cold, dark January day in Illinois. Sounds like a great day for being inside, painting, but at this stage a brighter day is preferable. My lighting is designed for artists and mimics daylight, but when working with blues and blue greens it gets tricky because even though I have made myself a color coded chart and endeavor to compensate, contrast and intensity will always be a bit off. After today's work, the foliage may be too saturated and busy. I'm unhappy with the paper as it continues to shed filaments in abundance. The photos here were taken early afternoon, by sliding glass doors.

While waiting for one section to dry I was experimenting with a discarded version and happened upon an idea for the book, which Ill work on tonight ( a pencil drawing, not painting). Meanwhile I took photos of the Beatrice painting as she is now, and the first version. The top image is what Ive been working on, with abundant foliage and wing details being filled in.

In the nest blog entry Ill compare her with the discarded painting and discuss why it has revived my interest~

Painting Beatrice

In the last blog I wrote about looking for a new space and since then have found one. We'll save the details of locating an affordable work space for a different entry because today was a painting day without interruption and I'd like to share what was happening with the art . People sometimes ask whether I use a frisket or mask to keep paint from covering areas where it dosnt belong. The answer is no, never. My work is detailed and to use frisket would take too long, its far easier and much quicker to just paint around the white areas. After regular practice your hand/eye coordination will adapt. A hot press surface is best when leaving minute white areas, the water and pigment glide off the brush and there are no textures to inhibit the flow. At right you see a close up of what is being worked on, at the tip of my brush. In some paintings I draw the negative space in before beginning, other times I just move along leaving the white spaces while painting, wherever they feel right. They can always be washed over later.

Here's a closeup of the above section, partially filled in. I painted the stems first, then came back later when they were dry and applied the browns.

Notice the segments in the leaf and how they are rendered. Compare the penciled lines in the leaf in photo 1, above, with the same leaf, at right. Eventually Ill be coming in with even darker browns and purples, adding some depth to those shaded areas. Doing so will cause the foliage to 'pop' and create the impression Beatrice is sitting above and upon the foliage. This is a timely process, hurrying will result in sloppy brushwork and blurred lines.

I have a difficult time aligning all my photos in one entry. Ive a photo of the entire painting as it looked when finished, but can't seem to get them loaded correctly. On tomorrow's blog Ill include a photo of where I left off today. Sorry!