Turnips and Mermaids and sleepless nights...

The children's book illustration class with Art Agent Lilla Rogers and Scholastic UK Art Director Zoe Tucker started this week !  We had to pick a text from three different choices. Lila developed a quiz method to help us make our choices which was fun. I chose the Russian folk tale, "The Gigantic Turnip",  a favorite or mine as a child. I always loved stories that built on itself progressively. I thought I could have fun with all the characters and it just felt right. 

First I brainstormed about the characters...

? a farmer at the farmer's market buying seeds from a woman who's truck says, "Ginormous Seeds" or "Monstrous Seeds" or something...

? a scientist-farmer who is experimenting with various fertilizers...the scientific name of turnip is "Brassica Rapa" 

? Show growing turnip under the ground with a calendar...looked up the growing season of turnips... 

? make the turnip a character in it's own right

And then... I couldn't sleep because I couldn't stop thinking about the characters and the setting of the story. I woke up in the middle of the night with an idea that I fell in love with ! 

> Set on the seaside...family lives in a lighthouse (considered setting it in Holland but gave that up)...Old man is a fisherman who finds the seeds washed up on the beach in a pirate treasure type box...married to his wife, a mermaid...granddaughter based on photos of my mother's of her as a 2-3 year old in vintage 1930's bathing suit...use vintage 1930'2 color palette. In the back ground is a secondary story: a whale swimming in the ocean getting progressively closer to the shore...when the turnip does finally pop out of the ground it flies into the open mouth of the whale.   That's my idea so far. 

Here is my final main character submission for the old man: 

I like how the embroidered details look on his coat and beard. I also like the color palette and the crab on the watering can. I want him to be an imposing figure built like a big, hefty turnip! I'm really looking forward to allowing the other characters and story to unfold. Working on trusting my instincts and not allowing my insecurities about certain details derail me but rather push through and just keep sketching and brainstorming gently. In the past I push so hard I think I block some of my best work. 

Preparation

I've been spending most of my time preparing for my experience in the Lilla Rogers Make Art That Sells course: Children's Book Illustration which starts this Monday (!0/3/2016).  I've been saving for and looking forward to this class for months and months since I first heard about it. I've cleaned my studio, cleared the air of any sense of regret over the Global Talent Search experience and tried out some new ways of working. 

I've been experimenting with incorporating my hand embroidery into my illustrations. 

I've also played around with Lilla's warm-up assignments that revolved around a fictitious character named "Minette". We were charged to imagine her as a well rounded character: who were her friends, her pets, her world? 

Character play

Rounding down the illustrations for the Gracie Brave project and beginning to ramp up for what's next for me. 

I've been thinking a lot about how I might push the quirk factor in my work. The type of children's book illustrator I long to be is someone who shows more of a sense of humor in my work. I'm putting that intention out there and will explore it in the Lilla Roger's Children's Book Illustration class which starts in October. 

In preparation for this upcoming course I have been taking a few related classes on Skillshare.

I recently watched Nina Rycroft's courses. I played with some face shapes in her "Explore Character with Nine Shapes" class: 

Next I would like to use some of what I gleaned from her insight and apply it to inanimate objects with character.  

Sketchbook Florals

When I returned to the studio from my trip I was feeling a bit burnt-out and confused about the Global Talent Search outcome. I knew I just needed to give myself a few days to dust myself off and get back into the swing and I am happy to say I am back in the world again! 

I continue to work towards the last few pages and finishing touches on the Gracie Brave project: 

In the evenings when my energy shifts but I still need to work I have been listening to The Jealous Curator  podcast and doing fluid, loose gouache and colored pencil florals and seed pod studies in my sketchbook. Not sure where this will lead but might try some larger versions and offer them for sale in my website shop. Stay posted... and be well. 

#GTS2016

My submission for the Global Talent Search hosted by Lilla Rogers Studio has been a joy to create! . I went with a Metamorphosis theme for this assignment: to design a tea cup, saucer and napkin for a posh newly expanded tea and pastry cafe. I named the cafe "Chrysalis" and went with imagery of moths and fruit. I've been obsessed with the combination of peachy-salmon tones with dusty rose lately so I knew they would play a role and of course, light aqua blues and mossy greens are always popping into the picture ! I did my first honest to goodness repeat pattern in Photoshop with this project. The original idea was to put the pattern on the tea cup but I decided on putting it on the napkin only as well as a backdrop neutral for the overall presentation. 

The repeat pattern on the tea cup option

I also tried it with a grey background...

I made the decision not to do a mock up of a teacup with the design on it. I really wanted to keep the composition simple and let the art come forward. I decided instead to do the teacup design on a template shape that would be used at the factory level to place it on the cup. 

I wanted to push the unexpected nature of using moths instead of butterflies. Moths are so varied and so many are just amazingly gorgeous. I borrowed nature books filled with photographs of moths and their various stages of life: chrysalis, caterpillar, egg, etc... from my dear friend Loree Burns who has a vast collection of such books including the ones she has written! If you have a young nature lover check out her books - they are terrific! . 

I liked the idea of using the Metamorphosis idea in conjunction with a place you might go to pause for a bit to gain sustenance  to continue your personal journey or perhaps spiritual unfolding. I came up with a tag line for the cafe: "Nurture your Metamorphosis" for the cafe. 

I truly felt more confident and joy-filled working on this assignment than I have in previous GTS attempts. I hope my emotion for this personal victory shines through in the result. Crossing my fingers and toes that Lilla and her staff sees something they'd like to see more of and will allow me the opportunity to try my hand at the next assignment. There are over 1,000 international artists in this GTS and she will have to narrow that group down to 50 ! Not an easy job I am sure. I will let you know ! In the mean time I still have work on the Gracie Brave book and having fun with the last few pages - so much going on in these last illustrations and I am loving that prospect as well! 

Here is my final presentation submission: 

Global Talent Search 2016 submission. Hosted by Lilla Rogers Studio 

You Are Brave

Another page for Gracie Brave...and very timely as I have entered Lilla Rogers Global Talent Search for the third time. I do feel so much more confident and ready for this competition. When I entered the first one I had really no Photoshop skills and there was much banging my head on the desk and tears.  The second time I had slightly more skills and could cut and paste things together but still nervous and uptight about the whole thing. This time I am, for the most part, able to manipulate what I need to and I can relax and just push my own style in my own way and use Photoshop as just another tool to get to the end result. 

Can't share my design yet but I will after the deadline on August 12. I am having so  much fun with this assignment ! Right up my alley. Three time's a charm! 

consistency and change

I've been reworking a page spread for Gracie Brave. I wasn't satisfied with one of the recent submissions and asked the authors if it was ok if I went back in. I've also been looking critically at my ability to keep the characters consistent throughout all the illustrations I've completed so far. The beauty of this independent project is that I can really work at my craft in a way that benefits both my own growth as well as the author's vision. 

Here are the images of Hazel, Gracie's grandmother that I have incorporated into the book so far: 

I rejected this version of Hazel - I realized changing her clothes might be interesting but it effects consistency of the character and doesn't work. 

Here is the first version of the two page spread: 

View fullsize

This is the redo of this spread: 

View fullsize

I think this version has more energy. The text for this spread dictated that I include quite a bit of action so it was a challenge! Of course, there are still changes I want to make but I think that might be more an indication of my artist spirit than what is necessary. Working without an art director is like walking on a tight rope without a net sometimes. 

San Francisco treat!

The authors of 'Gracie Brave' have made some tweaks to the manuscript and we are off and rolling again! The down time was necessary for their process and for me, I think, helped massage my creative spirit a bit! I am now in the depths of researching imagery for the next several pages which take place in San Francisco, a place I have visited but not for a very long time. Thank goodness for Google Image ! I also went to several local libraries to look at ways in which artists have chosen to render this beautiful city. There are so many fun images to interpret - it's hard to chose which ones to include and which ones lend themselves best to the story line. 

thumbnail for two page spread: Gracie twirling in a park in San Francisco 

study sketch of Gracie twirling 

I've been doing some tree studies to make the park environment magical - building to the climax in the story. 

I really got into this willow tree 

The process of creating this project is pretty unconventional but I am learning so much and loving the collaboration ! 

I've started a second concept for my Owl character and he has a name now: Parker (in honor of my son who this character is inspired by) 

He will be holding a kite and be placed in the scene below...

background for Parker Owl on bike 

The Gracie Brave project is gaining momentum as well! We have been brainstorming about the final 1/3 of the book. It's been such an interesting process for me as I am integral in the problem solving not only for the illustrations but also the budget considerations and flow of the story in general. Normally I would be told, "do this illustration", period. I feel much more integrated into the production of this project and it's been a great experience! 

pigeon studies

This is how I present the thumbnails and corresponding texts to the authors to help them see my vision: