Monsters go to bed
a series came from one night of loooooong extended bedtime routine with the kids (4 and 17mo.)
Those of you who have children will know what this all means, the rest of you can surely guess too.
these are all very little 1.5 inches by 2 inches (or something like that)
It is a brand new world out there
I am in a position to create some new illustrations and to post them. I am hoping for some words of advice, comments, maybe even crits from a few of my colleagues and friends.
movin'
I am sure there are more of you out there… you artist types who are too occupied with making the every-day work to put energy and time into you creative side. Whatever the reasons are that take you away from that important part of you there is possibility. Artists of the world unite! I am finally carrying around my sketchbook again (along with all sorts of baby and kid stuff of course). I am often writing ideas for paintings and occasionally sketching. It is hard to find the time, of course… but it feels really good to make an effort.
A brief history of wolves
My ultimate goal when I was a student at Rhode Island School of Design was to create a book of illustrations. After a few years of traveling and pounding the pavement in several cities, dragging my portfolio from one art director to another- I decided to write my own book.
The subject I wanted to write about was wolves. The animal had always fascinated me and after I spent a great deal of time watching them at the zoo in Rhode Island I realized that most people know little about the animal.
After about 3 solid years of painting, writing and research I created a 144 page fully illustrated book about wolves, their natural history, our myths about them and a history of our relationship with the animal.
I signed on with a publisher who was keenly interested and I waited for a contract. Discussions continued about the title of the book, he suggested “The Communication of Wolves” that was the first sign… Then a few weeks later the publisher and publishing house seemed to disappear off the face of the earth. I was totally heartbroken, how could this be happening with this book that I had poured my heart and soul and life into?
Enter my husband to be who lived in San Francisco at the time, he had a family friend who was a literary agent who found the PERFECT publishing house for my book “Neither God nor Devil: Rethinking our Perceptions of Wolves”
Out of towner
Hello fellow bloggers, and blog readers. Since I have noticed that there have been some hits on my blog I thought I would share some blogs/sites that I enjoy. I am out of town, hence the title and don’t have access to my illustrations at the moment so this post is pure text. There is the obvious “design*sponge” and “Kris’s Color Stripes” which I have found useful both for illustrations and for graphic design work. For knitters and crochet artists there is “The Purl Bee” you can get really lost in the blog land but there are pearls of really great information and resources out there. Any comments or suggestions of more links are welcome!
Love thyself!
I thought I would talk a bit about process. My illustration teachers at RISD (Rhode Island School of Design) taught me that there is no point in illustrating only the story that appears in the text. They suggested including details and character development that was not in the spare text of the picture book format. So this cover image serves as a good example. How do you create a cover for a book about a python snake that is always falling in love with the wrong things (garden hose) because he is nearsighted? I decided that if he is THAT nearsighted then he might fall in love with his own tail. Here is Pelle falling in love (you can tell because of the hearts) with his own tail. Silly snake!
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