BREAKTHROUGH

I've been wanting to write for a very long time now. And I don't mean blog pots---I mean actual writing-- as in a story of my own. I don't think you can read as much as I do and love reading as much a I do and not eventually, somewhere deep down, start to think that maybe you, too, have a story to tell.

The urge to write is a funny thing to a person who doesn't write. It's like a lifelong vegetarian suddenly getting a craving for pot roast. You've never eaten it before, so  it's pretty freaking strange that your body (or imagination) is telling you that you want it.

Writing has always been an awesomely cool idea to me. But having never done it before, it remains a Schrödinger's cat of mystery. If I never open the box I'll never know if I'm a good writer or a bad writer. Of course it's a defense mechanism to protect the gee-golly hope that maybe I am a good writer! This is a problem. Because unless I actually try it, my writing will not just be an unknown neutral, it will be both good AND bad, as both exist as true until proven otherwise.

But how do I try? How do I begin? Writing a story is so unbelievably daunting. How do authors know where to begin and where they want to end up? How do they craft the plot? How do they imagine all those beautiful little moments that reveal character or move the story along? How do I write a story if I don't know exactly where I want to go with it? There are so many unknowns and that is SCARY.

It was then, in this moment of panic-- that I had a moment of clarity:

Writing a story is and always will be infinitely intimidating.

So stop thinking about it that way, and find a new way to look at it:

Think about writing as taking a trip. 

When you go on vacation, you know where your initial destination is, you know who you're traveling with, and you know when you expect to return. The rest of it---the unplanned, the unknown, is THE REASON you take the trip. You'll see a new place, and have new experiences. Things will happen. By the end of the vacation, you will have amassed a story to tell. It could be dull, it could be thrilling. Either way, you will have a beginning, middle, and an end.  If you knew every detail that would unfold before you took the trip, you probably wouldn't feel the need to go anymore. The mystery of possibility makes the trip fun to live through. The same is true for the one writing the story, and the one reading the story.

We're both embarking on a trip with my characters. We know where our journey begins but we don't know what we'll go through together before we get back. We'll see new places, meet new people, be thrown into unfamiliar situations. The way we handle ourselves will inevitably reveal character. The things that happen will become plot.

Write, and things will happen. That's all there is to it.

So yesterday afternoon, lead by a force deep down in my gut that I could no longer ignore, I tried IT. Pencil to paper. Excited by possibility, terrified by expectation...

And lo and behold---

WORDS CAME OUT.

LIONS AND TIGERS

Yesterday I had a vivid, cinematic dream in which I was more viewer than participant.

It began with a montage of old sepia toned film clips-- one of which featured a lion tamer on stilts in a darkened circus ring. The tamer has his back to the lioness. He loses his balance and begins stumbling backwards towards the lion, sitting calmly on her pedestal. In a flash the lioness lashes out her paws, swiftly and effortlessly snapping the tamer's neck before he even realizes he's fallen within her grasp. 

The montage stops. A new scene opens on a wide expanse of green field. I am outside, it is warm and bright under the midday sun. In the distance, I see a lion in the field. Slowly, the camera pulls out, revealing a tall chain link fence enclosing this field. The camera pans along the fence perimeter. A figure is standing on the outside of the enclosure. It is an aged (but not ancient) buddhist monk, clad in saffron robes. He is expressionless, yet somehow comforting. The camera pans to his left, and I see that directly in front of where he is standing, the chain link fence is broken in a four-foot gap of twisted metal. I gasp. Instantly I realize there is NOTHING separating the lion in the field and this solitary monk. I scream inside my head: "RUN! RUN! GET AWAY FROM THERE!" In my mind I envision the distant lion bounding towards the man. I panic. Can't he see the fence is compromised?? Why isn't he running away??? Yet the monk stares back at me, unconcerned. 

Calmly and slowly he walks away from the fence towards some grass nearby. I'm overwhelmed with anticipation that any second that lion will emerge and there will be nothing to stop what may come. But the monk carries on, seemingly oblivious to the impending danger. 

He takes out a deep blue blanket and lays it on the grass. 

The final scene of the dream is in the form of an illustration, as if from a book.

White background. Birds eye view of the blue blanket and the peacefully sleeping monk. Curled up beside him is the sleeping lion (which has become a tiger). Together they are Yin and Yang. 

______________________________________

I awake, the image lingering in my mind's eye. 

This dream is so odd. So abstract and yet specific. I can't shake the feeling that it is trying to tell me something-- that encoded within the imagery and loose narrative is a message I need to hear.

The message I have found is this:

The monk was not unafraid. He knew the natural danger and threat presented by the lion and the faulty fence. But he also knew he could not control what may or may not happen to him. He acknowledges the existence of his fear, but behaves despite it. In so doing, he has mastered his fear and attained inner peace.

Only by accepting the existence of lions (or tigers) in our world can we find peace within it, and within ourselves. 

I had to sketch this. Hoping to turn it into a polished piece.

NESCBWI RECAP: MY 5 KEY TAKE-AWAYS

What a weekend! This is the first moment I've had to properly collect a few of my thoughts about the NESCBWI conference held this past Friday, Saturday and Sunday in Springfield, MA.  It was a great experience, filled with kind people, informative workshops, and new friends. Thanks go out to NESCBWI for putting it all together!

Here are my personal take-aways:

1. I know more than I think I know. 

Generally, during and after each workshop, I found myself thinking...gee...I already know most of what was said. That doesn't mean the workshops and information weren't valuable---it just serves as a reminder that over the past seven years, I've done a lot of researching and gained a lot of experience on my own that I've either been using or have filed away for future use. Bottom line: I'm not a newb. That much is clear.  

2. I still need to work on self-confidence issues. 

While I do take pride and feel good about my overall craft and presentation, when it comes to the content of the work itself I'm always pretty self-conscious. I do work hard and try hard to make smart decisions, but I still feel like I'm pretending to be an illustrator. I doubt my own drawing/painting abilities, I doubt my compositions, I doubt my own imagination/creativity (or lack thereof). I compare myself too much to those I admire. If this weekend has shown me anything, it's that I should believe in myself a little more. My work is polished. My portfolio varied. Throughout this weekend I felt a lot of support and encouragement from strangers who offer a more objective view of my work.  It left me feeling like I will get to where I want to go if I just stick with it. I'm already headed in the right direction and I have experience to back me up. I have the tools I need, I just have to figure out what I want to do with them.

3. I depend on external validation more than I'd like to. 

That doesn't mean that I only want compliments--in fact the opposite is true. I sincerely appreciate constructive feedback that guides me to ways to keep improving. Throughout the weekend I had generous, positive interactions with fellow illustrators about my work. Yet that positive reinforcement did very little to elevate my self-worth. Instead, I allowed the disappointingly dispassionate two minute  critique from the small panel of industry reps to make me feel rather lousy about my work. It left me second guessing deliberate decisions and confused about how to fix what they didn't like. But I'm smarter than that--I should be able to take it by now! I ought be able to swallow criticism and not get overly dejected that easily. Not everybody has to completely embrace my work. I can't please everyone. I can only take all the feedback in and trust myself to know what I want to do with it moving forward. 

4. KidLit can be a very friendly industry. 

I met a lot of very kind, very awesome, very talented people this weekend. It was wonderful to make new connections with strangers who share a common love and respect for children's literature. It really is all about networking and establishing a supportive community. We're all in this together, pulling for each of us to succeed, or at the very least, to keep pursuing our passion. Whether it's connecting with those just beginning their journeys, sharing common experiences with a fellow published illustrator, or getting the chance to meet the author of the book I illustrated, everyone was so darn nice and generous with their time. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.  

5. I want to succeed in this industry. 

I want to illustrate. I want to write. I want to make books that express who I am and how I see the world. And I want to be able to share these books with the children for whom they are intended. Sharon Creech and Grace Lin's uplifting key notes in particular reminded me of that. Life and art are intermingling at all times, and it's up to us to open our hearts and minds and allow those moments to flow into our creativity. It's not about making pretty pictures or telling pretty stories. It's about capturing an idea and contributing a very human part of ourselves.

Sometimes when I'm in the trenches pulling my hair out over an educational project I don't want to be doing, I question whether I want to be doing this at all. But so many times this weekend my heart panged with overwhelming hope, skipped with a jolt of inspiration, and beat with a constant sense of purpose that I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that this is the place I want to be.

So I'm going to keep at it, and start listening to what's on the inside, waiting for its chance to come out.

So---did you attend the conference, too? What were your take-aways?
_____________________________________

Here are the only two shots I snapped this whole weekend. I guess I was too busy making friends to spend time behind the camera!

My entry for the poster contest for Jane Yolen's poem Infirm Pachyderm.  

Three...Two...One...

In these last few days before next weekend's NESCBWI conference, I've been putting the finishing touches on my portfolio book and trying to decide whether I have any dummies in good enough shape to include. I certainly don't want to put sub-par work out just for the heck of it, but I also don't want to miss an opportunity like the conference can provide. Hmmm... probably not enough time left to get everything I hoped to finished. Ho hum.

In other news, I had a booth at Sunday's Craftopia event in Pawtucket. 9 hours of work and I just barely made back the cost of the booth. I gave out a lot of cards, and like every other time it was nice to interact with people directly, but when the highlight of my day was a very old lady randomly telling me about another vendor's painting of a beach that she loved but didn't to buy want because it turned out it wasn't of a Rhode Island beach...well, that's when you know it was a pretty dull day. At least my superstar husband was there to people watch with me.

Actually, the most redeeming part of the day was selling some prints to a mother and her two children. That's always a really nice feeling. Sometimes I should just think of my booth as a tiny travelling museum, free to the public, hoping a handful of people enjoy what they see.

POSTCARD PROMO

The NESCBWI conference is approaching quickly. My new postcards arrived just this afternoon. (250 is a larger number than I anticipated!) I'm hoping to give some out at the conference and maybe do a small mailing of my own a little later. Overall, very pleased with these cards. I used Modern Postcard and the color accuracy is the best out of any tried thus far. Well worth it, especially for the oversized card --these are 8.5 by 6 inches. 

It feels good to have created a piece that I feel plays to my strengths--people, animals, landscapes.

I really want to get more work with older characters. I also want to illustrate stories NOT set in the here and now. Give me fantasy, sci-fi, historical fiction, fables, fairytales, animal stories, etc. I don't think I'm particularly suited to the sort of picture books that are trending right now. (You know- super fun, colorful, strong shapes, scribbly line, looks-like-a-child-could-draw-it kind of picture books.)

And I don't mean that to sound snarky. I am so glad there are illustrators out there for those types of very young picture books. I think simplicity is genius. Gestural, expressive imagery is integral to children's visual literacy. I think it's important that there be artwork that directly relates to children and visually parallels their child-like essence. But I've never been that kind of artist. And although I find it amazingly fun to look at, those kinds of images are not fun for me to create. So I'm just trying to get better at doing what I do...and being who I am...whoever that may be. And for what it's worth, I think there will always be some kids out there who prefer illustrations that don't look like something they could draw themselves. Because I was that kind of kid. So I guess in more ways than one, I'm drawing for myself...

EBOOK ENDEAVORS

My husband, Adam, decided that he's going to add ebook cover design to his growing list of art/business/design ventures in the making. After throwing some ideas around, I started to take him seriously and began to see how realistically viable this would be for us both to take on as a team. We both work jobs as web/print designers, and with our combined skills and areas of interest I think we could totally do this thing.

We are currently in the process of pinning down a name for this emerging ebook cover business and have begun to put together some sample cover designs. Thankfully, there's no shortage of public domain stories ripe for the picking. Adam's been pulling references and inspiration and knocking out the first round of designs. I'm then taking his designs/ideas and bringing them to finish. Our goal is to get at least eight covers mocked up and then build a simple SEO website that can start catching client leads. Over just a couple nights we've created six sample eye-catching ebook covers that I think rather successfully scale down so that they can be read easily on websites like Amazon or in the App Store.

I've requested to be the company Art Director and Adam the designer. He's definitely an idea man and I love tweaking and refining other people's hard work. Haha.

...but seriously. I love it.

The six on the left are the finished versions, those on the right are Adam's first passes. 

THE WANDERING MIND

My mind has been preoccupied with the tragic and heinous event that occurred on Monday. I've found it difficult to focus on the work at hand, and although I am getting what I need to done, my thoughts have surely been elsewhere as of late. Checking the news every 20 minutes. Or leaving it on, anxiously awaiting the moment I hear something new. Not because I think I'll ever come to understand why this happened, but because I CAN'T understand why this happened. Sometimes I live contentedly in my peaceful bubble and forget that the world can be a terrible, horrible, no good very bad place. 

I lived in Boston for three years and was a spectator at the marathon twice. The Life is good office where I worked is at 863 Boylston, a hop skip and a jump from the second explosion. I walked by the finish line and 755 Boylston every week day for two years. It's impossible and overwhelming to wrap my head around something like this happening in such a familiar place. And after the relief of knowing all my friends and former coworkers were safe, came the continued disbelief that this actually happened. So many lives will never be the same. And it's not fair. 

We, the helpless onlookers, join in their pain. Because we have humanity. Because we have imagination enough to fathom even just a tiny bit of that pain and become overwhelmed by the injustice of it all. Empathy is the greatest quality we have to offer the world. 

I can't fix the world, but I can feel for it. And find reasons to love it despite it all. I contribute a little of my own color and my own happiness, and try to fight the dark with a glimmer of light. 

RETURN TO RON MOR SKERRY

As a child, I was completely captivated by the John Sayles film The Secret of Roan Inish. It was somber, moody, atmospheric, mysterious, moving, charming, and oh-so-very IRISH. It was beautiful in both its mythic fable-like story, as well as its muted, lustrous cinematography. Essentially everything I loved in a story then and even more so now. As an adult I discovered the book upon which it is based, the Scotland-set The Secret of the Ron Mor Skerry. The story concerns a young girl, Fiona McConville, who returns from the city to live with her grandparents on the coast of Scotland. All of her family had been living on the nearby small rocky island of Ron Mor for generations until they all evacuated four years prior. On that day, Fiona's baby brother Jamie was tragically swept out to sea in his little cradle boat, never to be seen again. But Fiona believes her brother may still be on Ron Mor, and begins to suspect he's been protected by the seals that inhabit the island.

Originally published in 1950s, it has been out of print for a long time, apart from the straggling copies of the 1994 movie-tie in book, which is what I have. But this version of the book has always bothered me. It's the exact same text as the original Ron Mor, but just its title on the cover has been changed to Roan Inish. The original book also featured lovely black and white line illustrations by the author herself. For such a magical story, my lackluster printed copy simply won't do.

For several years (ever since I tracked down my own copy of the book via Ebay), I've wanted to revisit the story with my own images. Almost 20 years after seeing the film, I'm finally doing it! I've begun here with the cover and would like to continue on with creating black and white chapter illustrations as well. I plan to play direct homage to Rosalie Fry's original vignettes in addition to adding some of my own imaginings.

But for now, here is the cover in process form.

1. Quick color/compositional sketch.

2. Pencil drawing.

3. Refining color sketch to align with pencil drawing.

4. Black and white rendering.

5. Color version. 

6. Final version, adjusting placement of elements and position of figures.

7. Overlay of book jacket elements. 

I Was Made For Sunny Days

Today was the second morning in a row that I took my breakfast outside to enjoy some beautiful blue cloud-free sky. Is there anything better than soaking up some vitamin D in the warm, unobscured sunshine? 

I'm sure the clouds rolled in a little later. I was in the basement studio all day so who can say?

Perhaps the afternoon looked like this.

I imagine it did. 

Rabbit & Coyote

It's getting to be that time when work I did a year ago can finally come out of the closet! It's a bit of a bummer that I can't share my work as I do it, but thems the rules. I did this back in January of last year so it ought to be quite safe to post now. These are from the folktale "Rabbit & Coyote," which features an overly self-assured coyote and some tricksy rabbits.

CINDERELLA T2 PROMO

My agent, Nicole of Tugeau2 requested all her artists to submit a new piece for a character mosaic promo she is sending out to contacts. I didn't quite know what I wanted to do for it but I sat down with my sketch book and a Cinderella-esque figure began to emerge. So I took the sketch into Photoshop and started painting.

Here is the final piece and a bit about the process I've been using to create my work lately. It involves sketch > to black and white painting, color conversion > to evolution to the final full color. Working in black and white first is helping me to focus on form, composition and lighting without muddying around with the color. My recent work has been improving with this process (I'd show you but I can't since they are freelance projects--I'll have to wait!).

IMPERFECT CIRCLES

Here are the first four new doodles of 2013. Made some time between all the illustration stuff I've been busying myself with to finish these up. But that will probably be enough doodling for a while--I've got pressing matters to attend to until the NESCBWI conference!

I must say, I'm quite happy with these color palettes.

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY: WOOL

As soon as I saw this week's Illustration Friday topic I knew had to do something for it. Sheep are my favorite animal and yet I find them very difficult to draw.

I began with a simple sheep drawing and went from there. Originally I just wanted to do something iconic, with a lot of texture and no story. But I find that even when I try to create a story-less image I always end up craving some kind of indication of a possible narrative, so I turned it into a book cover and did one variation to expand its storytelling possibilities.

HAPPY LOVE DAY!

Happy Together 

Valentine's promo for my agent, Tugeau 2. 

NESCBWI REGISTERED!

My husband and I will be attending the NE SCBWI conference in Springfield this May. After much deliberation I was able to finally select my sessions--it was a lot of back and forth trying to figure out what overlapped with what. I'm a little disapointed that so many illustration workshops overlap. It means I can't take everything I want to and it also leaves me with chunks of time where I'm forced to take a writing-focused workshop. Eep! Scary. I am essentially a total novice and very intimidated by that whole thing. Hopefully I'll learn a
lot while I'm there, but I wish they had spread out the illustration
courses so that there was always at least one to choose from...

Anyway, it should be fun and informative either way! Here's what I went with. 
My selections are in blue, my husband's picks (Adam Hunter Peck)  are in green.
I tried to get a variety of things within what is applicable to my career, and Adam went with a lot of business/marketing sessions since that's his thing.

If you're going, too, let me know and keep an eye out for us!

My picks: A7, B6, D4, E5, G1, H2, J3, K3, M1, N2
Adam's picks: A6, B1, C4, F5, J3, K4, L3

FRIDAY

A7 ~ The Element of Story: How to Develop a Compelling 
Children’s Illustration Portfolio with Teri Weidner 

B6 ~ Learning to Live with Rejection: Navigating the Long 
and Winding Road to Publication with Christine Brodien-Jones

A6 ~ Keyword By Word: Create a Plan to Brand, Sell, 
and Promote Your Novel with AC Gaughen and Hilary Weisman Graham

B1 ~ Situational Time Management with Gail Gauthier

SATURDAY

D4 ~ Line by Line: Inside the Agent/Author Relationship 
as they Make a Manuscript Submissions Ready
with Stacy Barnett Mozer and Linda Epstein

E5 ~ Eye Candy: Creating a Compelling Piece of Sample art with Sarah Brannen

G1 ~ First Look: Your Single Best Piece Critiqued with Christina Rodriguez

H2 ~ Rhythm, Rhyme, and Repetition: 
A Picture Book Writer’s Three Rs with Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen

C4 ~ Scene Structure with Laurie Calkhoven 

F5 ~ From Picasso to Pixels with Carlyn Beccia

SUNDAY

J2 ~ Writing Outside of Your Cultural Box: 
Creating Multicultural Characters Outside of Your Culture with Natalie Dias Lorenzi

K3 ~ 7 Animation Concepts Every Illustrator Should Steal with Gaia Cornwall

M1 ~ The Craft of Early Readers with Dana Rau

N2 ~ The Yin and Yang of Character Development with Kami Kinard

J3 ~ Facebook Strategies for Authors with Michelle Fontaine

K4 ~ All About the Blogs: Everything You Need to Know 
About Reaching and Working with Influential Book Bloggers with Kellie Celia

L3 ~ Why Every Writer Needs to Be Creating Video: 
And Why It's Much Easier Than You Think! with Katie Davis

3-D MYTHICAL MENAGERIE PART I

Day one of my new creative schedule was a success. By that I mean I attempted the preconceived schedule and made progress on the project I was working on. Check and double check!

For several years I've had it in the back of my mind to create a new 3-dimensional layered book (Jane Ray's Snow White is a great example) and I last made some while at RISD some seven plus years ago. This project is the first time I've attempted fully rendered illustrations in my style in this format. My other books were more graphic with simple drawings, so this is a bit of an interesting challenge. 

The book will be composed of six separate spreads, each featuring a beautiful mythological creature in their natural habitat. The overall concept is to feel as though you (as the viewer) have inconspicuously stumbled upon them while they're just...hanging out...doing whatever it is a mythological creature would do...

Narrowing my creatures down to the top six most common AND most beautiful was tough. Dragon, unicorn, griffin, and phoenix were obvious enough and at first I wanted to avoid humanoid creatures. But pretty much everything else (like cerberus, hydra, etc) are just too aggressive or scary to fit with the vibe I'm going for. So instead I picked two humanoids, a male and female (centaur and mermaid) which I think round out the top six most common creatures pretty well anyway. 

Here are the color, light, and composition thumbnails for each spread: 

The book order will be Unicorn, Mermaid, Griffin, Dragon, Centaur, Phoenix.

Now that I've captured the basic idea of each spread, I can move into the second planning phase: breaking each spread into three separate layers. Each layer will need to be completely painted, whether or not you can see the entire image behind the others. Figuring out how all three will work together to create the illusion of deep space is a lot of fun. After that will come the drawing revision phase where I really nail down each creature's appearance. 

PRODUCTIVITY: ENGAGE!

I am attempting to implement some structure to my days by introducing a little something I like to call...accountability. Between my health stuff, lack of motivation, and the freelance doldrums  I felt it was time to get some part of my life back into control.

I've created this weekly schedule that divides my freelancing weekdays into one-hour blocks from 9am-4pm in a school-like fashion. Each of my three days is dedicated to a particular "studio" course. The three courses I've chosen to focus on for the next few weeks are: Picture Book Creation, 3D Artist Books, and Book Cover Illustration. Time designated to these courses is called PROJECT TIME.

Each day begins with a low barrier WARM UP SKETCH TIME. The rest of the day is focused on PROJECT TIME. Interspersed with PROJECT TIME are hour long breaks where I switch gears for a bit while staying on target. This includes CRITICAL READING, wherein I read and take notes on books relevant to my career (illustration and writing references, mostly), and a one hour block occasionally allotted to FREE WRITING.

From 4pm to 10pm each day is the same-- CRITICAL READING, DOODLING, dinner, and WILD CARD (additional time to do whatever creative things I want).
Everything is color coded--ORANGE for loose, judgement-free drawing time, LIGHT BLUE for judgement-free free writing time, and DARK BLUE for important time demanding focus and dedication. Breaks for lunch are shown in RED. I've also tacked up the upcoming assignments from my agent in GREEN so that I don't forget about them. In YELLOW are word prompts that I can consult when I am at a loss for ideas. And in PINK are the current freelance commitments I have to work on---(which will of course take precedent over my PROJECTS as need be).

Clearly defined goals and a game plan are very important to the success of this endeavor. My first goal is just to stick to the schedule. My second goal is to accomplish what I hope to accomplish in each of my projects at the end of 4 weeks: A new 3D book, a book cover for my portfolio, a board book dummy, and a picture book dummy or manuscript. Now, remember that I'm keeping the threshold for success pretty low. As long as I work dedicatedly everyday during the scheduled time, I will consider it a triumph. Any art that actually results is a biproduct of my productivity and so I have no expectations for how "good" these things will turn out. If I can just sketch, read, draw, think, write, and DO STUFF I will feel pretty great about anything I make---because it'll be more than I'm doing now. 

The biggest message and take away from this whole thing is: Above all else, CREATE.

A Special Meal

Finally getting around to posting some of the educational work I completed well over a year ago. This was an interesting departure for me as I used a more flat color, sketchy approach to this. I found it helpful as it allowed me to work a bit faster than I normally would. With more than 400 days between me and this project it's kind of nice to look back and know that I've been learning a lot and improving since then... 

SPARE TIME IS DOODLE TIME

Recently wrapped up these doodles after sitting around unfinished for months...
Originals and prints for sale in my Etsy Shop.

Wanderlust

Light and Day

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY • TREE

An old one, but topic relevant nonetheless. If I wasn't so busy prepping for next weekend's holiday arts & crafts fair I would do a new piece for this. Maybe I'll have a chance to sketch something...

ILLUSTRATOR INTERVIEW

Thanks so much to awesome illustrator Chris Jones for featuring me on his blog! He sent me some great questions which I really enjoyed answering. Highlights include:

Do you find that having a design background helps you in your illustration work?

When working on an illustration, what aspect do you find the most challenging? And which part of the process do you enjoy the most?

Read the full article here.

ART FEST SUCCESS!

This past long weekend, my husband (see him there in the photo) and I ran my DoodlePaintings booth at the Scituate Art Festival in Scituate, RI. We've attended the festival many times (Adam grew up there so he's been going his whole life), but this was the first year in which we were vendors ourselves. Exciting!

They make it pretty stress-free to set up and register, allowing the artists to set up a day ahead, which helped the other three days run smoothly. We got there each morning a bit after 7:30 to have enough time to fix up the booth and make sure everything was presentable. It was damp and a little cool much of the time but overall extremely comfortable and enjoyable. I made my first sale on Saturday at 9:40, 20 minutes before the festival officially started. By the end of the day, I had earned back the cost of the booth and was on my way to two more days of pure profit.

Sunday's rain held until around 2pm or so. Sales were slower, but by 3pm I had made the same amount in sales as the day previous, so we decided it was best to close up shop early and protect the art from the heavy rain. Monday was by far the best of the days--beautiful, crisp air, and almost $167 more in sales than the other two days. Not bad!

This was my 4th art & craft show ever, and having three, evenly paced days to compare and observe a sale trend was very helpful. I averaged about $250-$300 in sales per day through about 10 transactions. The important part to remember is that those are sales made entirely from lower priced items. The most expensive thing I sold this weekend was a small, unframed original painting for $80. If I had even sold one medium ($99) or large ($300) original, I would have done dramatically better.

So all things considered, it's been a very helpful learning process. Trying to introduce lower price point items (aka 5x7 mini prints for $5) without discouraging larger sales is a bit of a delicate process. I've also found that having prints of my most commented pieces has been helpful as well. Learning what people like and what they want to purchase is sort of fascinating. 

But the absolute best part of this weekend (and any art fest for that matter) are the many kids who respond so strongly to their first doodlepaintings encounters. There is a lot of enthusiasm and excitement. And I am super honored that kids ask their parents for my art. It's even cooler when they share with me what they see in the doodles. Nothing better than a 5 minute conversation with a seven year old boy going from painting to painting saying he sees a jungle, a video game, lizard skin, a close up of sand in a desert, balloons, and a forest with bamboo. And as he walked away with his mom he exclaimed "That was so cool! I LOVE doodle paintings!" It made the entire weekend worthwhile. 

The following day, I gathered up all my receipts and tallied my profits and losses. I've invested a decent amount of pocket money into this little business, and I was pleased and surprised to find that I am profiting at about 15% of my investment. That means I've made back everything I spent and a little bit more. I'd like to see that number go up...and maybe it will next year now that I have much of what I need to continue without investing a large amount more. 

The next and final art show of the season will be at the Holiday Marketplace in Garden City (Cranston, RI) December 1 & 2. The cost of the booth was $250. It's worth the gamble knowing now I average about that per day. And since it's two days I have a chance of making a profit. I will focus on smaller, gift-able items and see how that strategy works out. And even if it's a bust and I lose the money, at least I will have tried. And the more things I try, the more I can learn and adjust and grow this business!

Creating Fun

This past weekend my husband Adam and I made our annual trip to Western Massachusetts to welcome the fall season. Our primary goal on the agenda was to attend Tony and Angela DiTerlizzi's book signing at Odyssey Books in South Hadley Saturday afternoon.

Tony was there to promote his middle grade sequel A Hero for Wondla, and Angela her new picture book Say What? They both were extremely natural, enthusiastic, and fun (& funny!) with their pre-signing presentations and made for an enjoyable afternoon at the local indie book shop.

Angela read Say What? aloud and gave some back story to how she comes up with her ideas (when she isn't stealing them from her adorable daughter, that is!). I found it very interesting that her foundation for this book was beginning with a question. I think that's a great prompt for creating a picture book and something I'll keep in mind as I write my own. Also worth remembering is that inspiration can strike anywhere---even from something candidly said by your child. I may not have kids of my own from which to garner inspiration--but I do have the ability to keep my eyes and ears open for little seeds that could grow into a story. Stories are all around us, you just have to be looking for them! What I found reassuring was that not every story can or should be EPIC in its subject matter. I get overwhelmed because I like fun, lighthearted stuff but get caught up and convinced that the only thing worth writing is something epic. It's much more important to just write and have a good time enjoying the little things, too.

Tony's presentation was longer and more personal as he shared some of what he was like as a kid and how it helped shape the author and illustrator he has become. He is very conscious of understanding the things his ten year-old self liked and would like, and draws from those ideas as he creates his new material (i.e. Alice in Wonderland, Wizard of Oz, Peter Pan & Wendy). Although I'm not much like my 10 year old soccer/troll obsessed self who liked to read but didn't do much of it independent of the school curriculum, I absolutely believe in creating something your child self would love. After all, what's better than using your kid self as a barometer for interest? And as Tony said, it's an amazing thing to be able to put into the world something you wished was there but isn't. An exceptionally wonderful thing, actually.

Both Angela and Tony reminded me that the best way to connect with a group at this kind of even is through humor and personal anecdotes. They created a fun environment and in turn we all had a good time. Never underestimate the power of being silly and making people laugh! Being relatable, down to earth, and playful works wonders for kids and adults alike.

Tony was kind enough to sign lots of our books as well as a heap of Adam's Magic cards, and he drew a little something in a couple of books, which needless to say, is THE BEST.

It was truly inspiring to get to meet one of your favorite illustrators and to have them turn out to be so accessible, friendly, funny, gracious, and well....GREAT. Its just wonderful to see nice, insanely talented, hard-working people succeed and still be so nice to us adoring fans. Worthy role models, for sure.

East Greenwich Art Festival This Weekend!

East Greenwich, RI will host the second annual East Greenwich Art Festival on September 1st and 2nd from 10am to 5pm at the new NE Tech campus located on Division Road in East Greenwich. The art festival will feature over 125 contemporary American art and crafts artists along with strolling entertainment including Rhode Island's Big Nazo. The festival will feature items big and small including jewelry, ceramics, paintings, sculpture, fiber and home accessories. 

Click Here for more information on the event, including craft and food vendors and other fun activities!

Come visit my booth and check out my new doodles, like this one:

ASF SCHOLARS RECEPTION

SO last night I had the pleasure of attending the American Savings Foundation Scholars reception at the Aqua Turf in Plantsville, CT (holy fancy pants, Batman). As a former scholarship recipient, I was privileged to be there as one of three featured alumni now making a career in the arts. The other featured alumni were Angélica Huertas, marketing manager of Shakesperience Productions), and Christopher Weigel, vocalist and musician. Christopher brilliantly performed a classical operatic piece as well as a contemporary song of his own, while Angelica brought along the fun and laughter of Romeo and Juliet in 7 minutes, performed by just two actors. It was super funny and the audience enjoyed it immensely! A surprise appearance/brief speech by Senator Blumenthal made the evening even more special. (I especially respect him for his proactivity on the Lyme disease front). It was a beautiful reception and it was really lovely to see this foundation really take great pride and care in the students to whom they provide financial assistance. 

Even amongst the glowing chandeliers and grandness of the massive ballroom the Foundation managed to make it feel intimate, welcoming, and an important piece of the community.  Although I received their scholarship while at RISD, I never attended any receptions. My parents, not being much for social gatherings, sort of avoided these types of things whenever possible. Looking back, it's a shame we never went because it is a very generous thing to give the students and it's a proud night for the parents, too. Ah well, live and learn...

FEATURED ALUMNI: Me, Angélica Huertas, and Christopher Weigel.

Anyway, my contribution to the event was 1: designing stuff (discussed below) and 2: displaying my artwork around the ballroom, including 9 or so doodlepaintings on easels and my illustration portfolio. Knowing that I am not at all of the public speaking sort, I did not give a speech (thankfully!). But sometimes its nice just to let the artwork speak for itself. At the end of the reception, a group of young girls came over to talk to me about my artwork (I guess they liked what they saw :) and I got to answer some of their questions (including the ever-present kid question "Did you really draw these!?!"). I really like talking to kids because, well, I was one once! And if I had known at age 10 that in 18 years I would be making a successful life for myself as an artist, I would have been beside myself with excitement. It's very important to me that young people are exposed and introduced to the possibility that they, too, can pursue a career in whatever makes them happy.

Over the past couple of months I had been working with ASF's COO Maria Falvo to create the event's invitation, program, and alumni scholar posters (shown below). I very much enjoyed the chance to design on the side, and working with an organized professional like Maria made my job exceedingly easier! It was also a lot of fun for me to be able to just jump in and design the look and feel of the event from scratch while drawing on the colors of their logo and the feel of their organization. 

INVITATION (front & back)

PROGRAM (tri-old, double sided)

ALUMNI POSTERS

The more I dabble in design, the more respect I have for it. Yes, anyone can assemble a simple document in Microsoft Word and have it serve its purpose in communicating information. But when something is designed,  it becomes more powerful---it inherently takes on life as a considered thing and is imbued with a greater sense of importance. When something looks professional, our subconscious tells us that it is looking at something worthy of respect. Designing something is a visual way of saying "I care about this, thus this is something worth caring about." 

Design has the power to transform basic communication into an aesthetically pleasing experience, crafted with the specific intent to impact your subconscious. Yes, I want to make things that look nice, but most importantly I see it as the designer's privilege to make something out of what could otherwise be nothing. Branding an event is creating an event. Design gives life and personality to whatever it is applied to. It's magical to me that colors, fonts/type, and other visual cues can come together not only to communicate necessary information clearly, but to provide an experience for the psyche itself. What would a Happy Meal be without the package? Just a tiny hamburger and a cheap toy that no one wants.

I hope to be able to work with Maria again for other needs the ASF may have, whether it's a future reception or something else. Working at the Gamm Theatre has been strengthening and broadening my skills and I'd welcome the opportunity to freelance design more often.

Ta-ta for now!