I'm the new NEXT BIG THING blog!

The Next Big Thing blog tour

My thanks to Linda Stanek for tagging me in The Next Big Thing blog tour! This blog tour began in Australia and features authors' and illustrators' current book projects. I really enjoyed her answers to these questions and hope I don't bore anyone to tears with mine.... Here we go.

1) What is the working title of your next book?

The two books I'm working on are: Duke Day for Annie and Sara, Leclere. I hope to have them out relatively the same time (within a month or so of each other).

2) Where did the idea come from for the book?

Sara is a midgrade, and who knew my childhood is considered historical fiction. Okay, not all of it. However when talking with some writer friends about some of the inspirations for characters, some of the people who'd inspired my character Teedie was Ann and her family. In talking about Ann's childhood, most of my friends' hit me over the head with a wet noodle telling me I was missing one of the stories right in front of me (yah, I'm smart that way). I reconnected with Ann who was living at the Barron Center in Portland because her disease had progressed to the bed-ridden stage. She was still a ray of sunshine, inspiring, a positive energy in the face of any adversity. After talking to Ann, she was thrilled with the idea, and helped me until she passed away from multiple sclerosis. I've written extensively about this whole process here on this blog, so you can scroll if you'd like to learn a bit more.

3) What genre does your book fall under? 

Sara is a historical midgrade fiction, for a slightly older or advanced reader. Annie is a historical faction picture book. It's based upon a real person, some real events in a real place. But because of the nature of it all (Old Orchard's face would sometimes change a few times a year from fires and natural disasters' for instance) there is a little artistic license.

4) What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?

Hadn't thought about this one, lol, though I guess there are picture books made into movies (Polar Express and Hugo Cabret). I thought I was pretty good to sketch out my characters in my midgrade, they're real people and live in a real, though totally fabricated town, in my head.

5) What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book? 

Sara is a coming of age story as she struggles with all the problems a thirteen year old girl can have in such a tumultuous time, including wanting her sour grandmother's approval and how to keep the kitten she's attached to. In Duke Day, it's about a young girl anticipating and getting ready for a famous visitor in an active family and charming sea side town, in Maine.

6) Who is publishing your book?

After years of the traditional route, I've decided to go the self-publishing route. The works have had a lot of editorial input, won scholarships and had good reader response, and I won't put it out unless it's the best I can do right now. 

7) How long did it take you to create the illustrations?

The short answer is a few months. The truthful answer is a lifetime, and a number of years specifically. I needed to master Photoshop enough to make work I was comfortable with, and I'm looking for a specific feeling, that I've finally nailed. I also just finished a wonderful online course with Will Terry and Jake Parker, I know will benefit this and any future books on Visual Storytelling, so I'm stoked!

8) What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

Ellington is not a Street (Ntozake Shange, author, Kadir Nelson, illustrator)  I love and look at Kadir Nelson and Floyd Cooper's work a lot, so though I can in no way compare mine to theirs, they did help inspire me. Or Duke Ellington: the Piano Prince and his Orchestra by Andrea and Brian Pinkney

9) Who or what inspired you to write this book?

For Sara it was thinking how many mixed messages and conflations kids nowadays have to deal with. And though the times were very different, I realized I had pretty much the same challenges, perhaps this could be a way to relate history to the present, something I think needs to happen a lot more. We didn't get here all of a sudden. Knowing history helps us make more considered choices, I think. And the similar thought with Annie. The real Ann Cummings Searcy was a friend and an inspiration. She came from an accomplished family. Her grandfather was Shurtleff Emerson, the famous abolitionist and relative to Ralph Waldo. Duke had asked her to be a singer in his group, and her mother decided that wasn't the safest move for a lovely young woman, no matter how kind Mr. Ellington was, and instead she became the first state certified teacher in the Maine. Her brother was a well-known and respected local Republican and teacher in Scarborough, Maine and has a bit of highway named for him. He was a life long friend of Ed Muskie.

10) What else about the book might pique the reader's interest?

I wrote the book in what I call syncopated rhyme which I hope is successful, in honor of Duke Ellingtion's signature style. Old Orchard Beach is not only a beautiful ocean side town, it's fun to see other times, I think, and this is an important bit of history that's not often reported on, the entrepreneurship of people like Ann's mom Rose Cummings.

I also hope people check out my first book, Nana's Gift!

Thanks again, Linda for tagging me!  Up next the wonderful Lisa Kopelke, author of Excuse Me! and Tissue Please! and A Younger Brother's Survival Guide!

lisakopelke.blogspot.com/‎

Make like a baby and head out!

Crude joke that always made me laugh as a kid. But it's so appropriate for this post. I FEEL like a baby with lots of the processes, whether it's playing with Photoshop or learning the various social media (something a creative artist needs to do in order to get their work out). There was a time to say anything about my art or writing was to be considered "arrogant, and full of myself" but how do people know to support you, unless you share that with them, so I'm now in the uncomfortable mode of figuring out how to share my work without being too full of myself, because it's always been a bit of an "either or" for me. Anyhow, now that I'm beginning to blog consistently, I'd been brainstorming how to increase content. (one idea is asking some of my writing and illustrating friends about their process or studio-- something I'm nosy about, as well as likes, what do you think? Are you nosy about that stuff to? If so I want to think up some of the less asked questions and those that wouldn't take a long time or thought to respond to as most are very busy!). One idea was to take some of the things my friends love and have photos of, as well as my interests and combine them for my coloring pages. This week will be my daughter's love of sloths and my friend Nadine Hays photos from where she lives (she's the author of Happier Than a Billionaire). Next week is either turtles or horses, that kind of thing.

Anyhow, I'd promised to change the header out every few months, and wanted to keep that promise. It forces me to create new content, and means I'm practicing at becoming quicker at producing finished art. The wonderful class that I'm taking from the School of Visual Storytelling is winding down, and this is one of the assignments (way to go! three tiered multitasking!), though I added the book, because it fits the storyline of a distracted protag and my blog.

So a little bit of the process:

Now if I wasn't under a time constraint, what I should have done is a FEW versions of this. I could have made the silhouettes of the dog and perhaps the girl's face a little stronger, and that may have had a better impact. But I set the time limit on the header pieces at 5-7 hours. The first few may end up being rough, but I hope and suspect they will get better as I do more.  When I used to work with colored pencils I worked in a grisaille fashion. That's laying the values in then laying the color on top. I work that way in Photoshop as well:

I'm trying more and more to lay the color in properly. Part of the problem is my programs aren't properly loaded, and the old computer I'm working on won't let me uninstall and reinstall anything, and it's not mine. This may or may not become a moot point next week, if MY old computer is fixed. But for now, one really shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. Next came the color. I'd been thinking of the spread for Annie I'm working on and will blog when it's finished, probably part one this week, the second part next week as I'll be redoing it to see if what I see in my head, I've figured how to render it) and thought I'd see if I could make it work in this piece. I could not. Hence next weeks's post and redo...

I could see room for improvements, and will make those changes and change out the bottom part of my banner to reflect the new character of the piece, as well as the fact that I write AND illustrate, though I'm tending to concentrate on the art process for now in my blogging. Expect to put it up sometimes today, either before or after my last heartbreaking class with Will and Jake. It was such a wonderful thing. I learned a great deal from the process, some of which most definitely will follow through in my work...

Check out my new header! And notice my new logo! A suggestion from Jake Parker, which I think is a great one, as I do a few different things. I had fun!

Thoughts on this weeks COLORING PAGE

I like to think other people are enjoying my blog, but it's one of those things, it's never a certain thing. And like any creative endeavor, it must first serve the "self". I decided a coloring page is good because there are goals I've worked in. I need to be more comfortable and adept in my drawing as well as produce more work. A coloring page seemed a great way to keep myself accountable. If people liked my stuff and wanted to feed their creativity or weren't comfortable with drawing, it's my way of saying thank you. I hope they like my stuff so well they consider purchasing my images from my stores on various products or books, as it supports what I do. But if not, just seeing what I do in the vast scheme of things, still is deserving of a thank you (especially when you let me know and dialogue). But this is digressing to Monday's post.

I'm taking a FANTABULOUS, GLORIFICATORY, ULTIPRIMABARNONE THE BEST COURSE. A friend had gifted the School of Visual Storytelling's first course. Just as Will Terry's Photoshop course renewed my drawing (I couldn't see well enough to do ANYTHING, and though I had the equipment, didn't really know or understand how to use it. I think I will be learning about this particular piece for the next fifty years, but having a rudimentary knowledge was changing. I'm working again).

(Jake Parker and Will Terry are wonderful teachers. They are wonderful artists/storytellers. It's rare to find people who can do both. And they are a sheer joy to riff off of, and watch. Truthfully Monday and Wednesday nights are the highlights of my week).

It's the same with this course. I know and knew quite a bit. Some of it is embedded in me. But not KNOWING why something is done and kenning it makes my work a hit or miss at best.

I will say this. I don't believe in false modesty. I'd been rutted into not touting my own horn so I either come off as not having confidence or being so full of myself, there's hardly room for anyone else (that's an incorrect thing, I work ALONE a lot and I'm passionate, so it does get overpowering and perhaps intimidating even for me, lol, but put it in context and realize I do want to hear what others are saying, but want to hear something different inside my head. Also don't tell a thing like it's fact without being able to back up your reasoning. Sorry). Anyhow, this is long winded.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I can draw. It took a lifetime to get here, don't know if it's a gift or an effort or more like a combination. I say that because it's a "nice" thing, but not everything.

Drawing in Photoshop is only BEGINNING to feel natural, and the programs and Wacom aren't working properly and I can't reseat them. So I don't know if it's ME (don't like the feel/glide of the pen on the Wacom surface) or the computer, the Wacom or a combination.

I suck at perspective. My design skills are less than mediocre, most of the time, and my coloring skills can be wonderful. Or not. Yes I can spend the next ten years muddling through that, but a CLASS with people who know their stuff, is ever so much more quicker. I still have to put in the time, but you know what, pointing me in the best direction is a great saver of all the things that aggravate me.

If you don't know what you're good at, you can't "sell" yourself. If you don't know what you need to improve, you can't do better, very much not really, because it's only a half-hearted stab at the problem(s).

So the coloring pages have become a good way to incorporate what I'm learning in class. I don't know if it's going to change what I do so much or wildly. I will have to go through the process to find this answer. Applying shaping and design concepts, line of action, proportions, leading the eye (something I knew about but didn't understand as fully as I do now, and as I say DOING something isn't the same thing, so it will take a lot of practice). I'd started the pages as a way to up my traffic, and get new people here. Selfish reasons, I need the lucre.

But now there's a real purpose to them. Not only being accountable to the commitment to DRAW, BUTT IN CHAIR. But also to speed up my process, improve it so I can work faster, more visually and show more perception. But now to incorporate all the things I'm learning in this class so it becomes second nature. That embracing your fear thing? That's the shtuff I don't do so well. In order to communicate on the level I'd like to I will have to master it.

One of the tidbits from class the other night that I got, and will become a centerpiece for ALL my work (easier said than done). When you're writing or illustrating, you want your reader to participate with you to that end. If you make it so difficult they have to THINK about it too much, you've not connected. That's not to say you can't be BUSY (think of getting lost in those I Spy books), but you must remain focused on what it is you're trying to convey. So with this long-winded explanation, the first coloring page to this end. Do let me hear about it!

What's in a character?

I kinda sorta fibbed. I said I'd only publish one spread and the cover of Annie. But I've already shared these images, and they will change. Perhaps a lot, don't know yet. I still haven't decided the nature of the coloration to this, I love the old hand-colored postcards, but the photography, art and posters from the period are wonderful as well. And who knows, perhaps something of a  modern rather than a retro feel would be more appropriate. That will be one of the things I'll be experimenting with the next couple of weeks when I have a couple of images in the stages I want to play with it. Yet another thing to love about Photoshop, I will be able to play with those images in that way and it won't take a few months like it would have at another time in my life. Right now though, I'm nailing down the sequence and thumbnails and the characters themselves(I will share the thumbnails, and the character studies). It used to be a lot of my compositions were set in stone. I saw what I saw what I saw.

Yah a little OCD in my artistic pursuit, makes that 10,000 hours easy to devote. But it limits the real feeling of what I delivered. I could see the stilted nature, (and of course for every "mistake" I fixed, two more would crop up in the re-do). The class I'm taking is impactful in so many ways (It's Will Terry's and Jake Parkers' class on Visual Storytelling, I can HIGHLY recommend it. I'm so thankful a friend took empathy on some of the hard knocks I was having and gifted me this class. I think if I end up having success at all, for the work to stand on its own, will be because they were able to explain not only what I kinda sorta knew, but also what I didn't and why. Seeing it really brings it home). Between that and Photoshop, the changes in my work will actually be productive rather than badly recycled. The first spread of Annie, this is the computer rendering of my dummy rough:

Not too bad, but pretty boring. Not too bad because there's a lot of detail. Annie's cat was featured in a well-known children's book, by the Harlem Renaissance poet, Countee Cullen, who had visited the Old Homestead a few times (not when his father-in-law, W.E.B. Dubois did, I think it was prior to him). Countee's book, My Lives and How I Lost them, by Pumpkin Cummings gave Ann a giggle right to the end of her generous life. I think adding details to characters, whether they are explained or not (and isn't that what author's notes and study guides are for?) really enriches the whole reading, especially the biography experience. So this was one of my first visual thoughts...

Except the perspective is all off, the character stilted and not formed well,  and it wasn't nearly as exuberant as I wanted. (The last years of her life, Ann lived in the Barron Center. She had MS and it had progressed along. She was diagnosed with the disease as a young woman, was grateful it wasn't a brain tumor and never let it stop her from raising a family or teaching and singing. She didn't complain, she switched gears, she was positively one of the most positive people I've ever met. With so much to be bitter or angry about, it didn't seem to touch her, instead she sought the joyous, the thoughtful the YES in her life and others. I REALLY WANT TO CONVEY THAT IN THIS BOOK).

But it took doing it, for me to realize nope, it didn't work. I still learned a great deal about using Photoshop, the character and there were things I liked about it, so it wasn't a complete waste of time.

Part of the problem I had and have. I have ONE photo reference of Ann as child (and she was older than when I set the story), and my memories of what she looked like were her as a mature adult. Luckily I'm one of those people I tend to recognize people no matter what the age (though I was much, much better at that as a kid, lol, one of my favorite-drive-some-people-crazy game, recognizing people met a few times, to different times in their lives). But extrapolating that to a three dimensional form, or to a younger person, kinda sorta (get that's one of my favorite approximations?)a reverse engineer, is difficult.

Part of the challenge as well, because these are REAL people, I want and need to honor my friend and what she loved and represent as accurately as possible while serving the story, the art and the fact that I really can't KNOW a lot of this (and you wondered why I was so full of doubt! Not only that, but this story belongs to other people I think it's an important one, and even entitled it in my author's note: We Become Our Possibilities). No pressure there!

Next attempt:

Better I think! Liking the colors, still a bit odd though. I added a Freedom quilt. Ann may not have had one, but her grandfather Shurtleff Emerson was a famed abolitionist (and a relative of Ralph Waldo Emerson) who was lynched for his beliefs, and the fact he'd married a woman of black and First Nation heritage. It's how Ann came to live in Maine, her mother Rose and her mother fled here from New Orleans after the trauma of losing her father. Rose grew up in Portland and moved to Old Orchard Beach after her divorce from Ann's father. 

I'd bought a book on character development and realized the silhouette was pretty boring, and Ann was anything but boring. I tried to make her more dynamic. I also actually went into my sister's bedroom and got on my knees and LOOKED at the perspective. YUP, it was off, lol.

The next attempt

So far this is the most successful. But the class I'm taking has me thinking I need to do some other things. Besides helping me clarify what I need to do for perspective's sake and design (and color is coming up, I'm so danged excited!) but now I think after I do the two spreads I'm working on, I will take the time to do a bunch of character studies, at the very least of Annie, perhaps Eddie and Maude as well, (though I think Maude is pretty consistent. I will talk a little bit about their characterization when I share the working spread that will most likely end up in the book, here). The little bit of extra work will "work out" the problems of continuity, resemblance, expression, etc. 

 I must say I don't think I've done this yet, so I do it here. This is an important story/book for a lot of reasons. I'm having a wonderful time working on it (after the challenge of giving myself permission and admitting, as many great and wonderful artists out there, I really don't want someone else illustrating this particular book, it's such an intimate part of me, from the physical and mental. The thread between Ann and I is stronger than just a commercial effort. She truly informed my life, and I loved her and these things from an early childhood, Old Orchard Beach, history, so it's important also I do it all justice).

But this wouldn't be possible if first Ann hadn't lived and shared her remarkable life. If her daughter Judy Searcy hadn't shared the childhood photo of she and her beloved Eddie in such a generous fashion. Or if Shauni Drake-Reid hadn't shared the photo of her mom, Judy. I value your friendships, I'm so happy you want to share this with people, and most of all, that you all shared with me. Thank you.

Two pronged post... or hit the dodo between the eyes a couple of times

Right up front, hard sell, but not really. I'd been meaning to blog and I confess to dragging my feet. Not only about writing here, but taking the next step in the books that I'm actually very excited to work on. Except the last couple of weeks the fear has gotten to me. I'm living on a shoestring and I can see where it's wearing thin and fraying. My life is totally in flux and truth be told I'm kinda weepy. Sometimes it's easy to fall over into the oh-poor-me category. And not only am I learning worlds new, kinda hard technologies, but I've promised to put them out there to be judged by the rest of world. Not to mention I love Margot and I in no way want to let her down. So I've twiddled my thumbs a bit.

And then yet again, I'm rescued by the Folio Academy. I was kind of feeling the same way last year, but a friend Sherry Rogers offered me her old Wacom for a remarkable price. I got a fabulous job through the wonderful Deborah Nourse Lattimore,  I found myself knee deep in learning Photoshop. Something I'd tried for about seven years and failed miserably. I can credit the Wacom and Will Terry's wonderful Photoshop course with my success and getting me over that hump. It has been exhilarating (I've even "converted" a few friends and family into the world of PS and Wacom, lol) not only conquering (a little bit, I have SO MUCH MORE TO LEARN!) the media that had stumped me, but the job is designed to save lives and I got paid for it. It doesn't get any better than that. So I feel I owe the Folio Academy, and Will Terry in particular a great deal because it not only addressed my need for knowledge, but staved off my technical apprehension enough to move through the learning process.

Here I am again. Feeling like I did right before Sherry and Folio rescued me (truth be told I was massively depressed as I couldn't see well enough to work, which PS allows me to now, and had become mostly a recluse). I've felt guilty all week, because to download the programs I need is to commit myself enough to this project, if I don't succeed, I would dig a hole.  But had determined today was the day.

Then I got the email. The offer was wonderful. Seriously? I blog about Folio Academy, link back let them know and they will GIVE me a course? There were five I wanted to take right off the bat, whether it's to renew old rusted skills or tackle some new systems. The problem will be CHOOSING the one I want MOST right now, and such a problem is good. They didn't even necessarily want me to plug them well, just mention them. Gladly. I've been plugging them all along and will continue. Hope to get a few proposals of my skills together as well. (would anyone be interested in Calligraphy, Pysanki, or if I master the application/animation thing, that there?)

As I told Wayne (Andreason, Will's partner in art) my ONLY complaint is I wish I could download the course, so when I didn't have internet connection I could access the course. He even said they were working on it.

So I finished the BILLABONG (say that a bunch of times and try not giggling). Tonight I will download the Cloud, and perhaps play with it. Gone on Saturday. But will be playing a bit and the first bit of animation I will be sharing here and to my other venues, Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin because by gummy now I know I WILL DO THIS. I won't let Margot down, because it's too important, (and Kobe and Oscar would kick my butt--- especially Kobe). So here's the billabong. Here's the Blog post. And HERE'S TO FEARLESS, 'k?

Back to it! I'm excited and glad to be back working. I share an update, and hope to be working on process and such as well as sharing it all in the upcoming weeks. First, I had a few epiphanies over the interim weeks. I need to simplify, clarify and color-ify (is that a word? It is now!) my work.
     Ebooks are differenter than publication. One of the reasons I wanted to do this project, I knew it would help my own personal projects. I love animals, but being able to paint someone else's pictures (like teaching) means I can rethink some of my projects because the process is self-clarifying. I will share the finished second illustration and a few changes, because it will no longer BE the second illustration.  I'm currently reading Will Terry's WONDERFUL, must read-blog (to me at least! http://willterry.blogspot.com/) and already stumbled over an affirmation (remarkable how comforting it is to have that kind of reinforcement, kind of like I'm on the "right track").
      In his post on "I live to Create" he shows his process of one of his drawings. Somewhere down the line he notes how his character wouldn't fit through the door. "This is where I realized that my little mouse would never fit through the door. Sometimes when I get working along I lose objectivity and this is a good example. I had to come to terms with the fact that if I wanted it to look right I would have to spend an extra hour or so fixing my mistake. So, I had to cut out little mouse and move her forward in front of her vegetable basket. In the past I would have settled. In the future I'm sure I'll be able to spot the places where I settled in this image."  Not to mention, the fact I learned a few neat tricks (I actually "mastered" Photoshop, because I've taken his online course through his Folio Academy).
      Anyhow, this has been true for me. In this example, you can see the original drawing of the characters in Oscar's dream sequence...

     What I realized after I'd colored most of them, the proportions didn't work. I enlarged and cut and pasted and learned quite a bit in the process. I now feel enough confidence changing in the middle (or even the end) isn't so scary and far superior to not being happy with the result. 
     What I ended up with...

      I like it far better as far as proportions go (HA! the ADD, dyslexia which CAN be amusing and informative kicked in, and I'm going to talk about how it is to work with THOSE kinds of differenter, and I'd written "propoortions" before I corrected. Talk about FREUDIAN, lol!). But now I don't care for the colors or composition. It's interesting, but it's too busy and I don't think it will translate to a small screen, which is a goal. 

     I'll be reading the rest of Will's blog before I restart, but restart I must. Don't get me wrong. I will probably use this as a start, and I will more than likely keep some of this flavoring (not to mention I have to be considerate of the REAL colorations and animals. Who knows, I may cut and paste, remove, redraw and play with this particular drawing. But I'm sure what I end up with, won't look like this, and I will like it better. It will be more of what Oscar ordered, because I can tell, he'd really love to have his story told to the very best of my ability. So another cup of peach tea and then back to the mulberry tree, with me!