The Weekend is My Friend

The Weekend is my Friend!

Not only does the weekend give me more time to write and illustrate without silly lab work to get in the way (just kidding, I actually do like being a QC technician) that saying is the PiBoIdMo for the day. Could I get a good story out of it? Perhaps, actually I probably could if I'm creative enough. I might draw something later if I'm not buried in NaNoWriMo word count.

I finally finished the final sketch of Lil' Red, now all I have to do is make an oil painting out of it!

I hope I finish it in time...I think I made a portfolio piece! (...finally)

What's on the Other Side?

Bam. The title says it all. The PiBoIdMo for today is the question, "What's on the Other Side?" I don't know what's over there yet, but it's something.

Going fairly strong today, until I lost my note cards I was writing on at work and now I have to re-write almost everything I've done so far... that's okay. I know what to write now at least and I will not dwell on the fact that I'm horribly behind and I will need a full two days of nothing but writing to catch up... yeah right, like THAT will happen haha.

In the meantime, I need coffee or tea or maybe ddr exercising...or I just need to type an updated excerpt. I think I'll do that.

It didn't matter whose side she was on, Mel's butt was just tired of sulking on the bleachers, her feet aching to run around the bases. "Come oooooon!" she pounded her fists.

"We're not having a shorty like you on our team. Greg wants you though." cackled a kid named Ben.

"We don't want  her, she can't hit the ball" Greg spat on the ground, "besides," he kicked dirt over his loogie, "she's token Dog keeper watcher."

"UUUHHHH fine. Y'all can't catch him anyway. Too slow" Mel waved them off.

"Whatever" Ben said.

"Yeah, my turn to bat. No more distractions." The other kids ran out to the field, Mel threw down her red cap, determined to stomp the crap out of but she stopped, sighed, and placed the hat back on her wild haired head where it belonged. She glared over at the panting husky named Dog and growled, "You better not..." Dog stared at her, then his attention focused back on the game. 

None of the kids knew where the stray came from. He was just there one day and happened to sit on the part of the bleachers that some kid tagged with spray paint and a smirk flipped the word"God", tossing the empty can over his shoulder. But to everyone, and to Dog, it labeled the spot for any random teams' mascot. 

PING! The ball was hit over to left field, landing Greg's team a double. Dog's ears perked up, ready for the PING of a home run. The next hit earned a single. As Ben dug his cleats in the ground, pitched the ball, a strike and a base stolen for second. Dog makes a small growl and a little start."Dooooon't" Mel growls back. The batter holds a tighter grip, the pitch, and a last minute change of hold on the bat makes a bunt and another base loaded. 

"COME OOOOON RITCHIE!" yells the team from the dugout as a hefty kid makes a couple tough practice swings. 

"GET BACK! GET BACK!" yells Ben to the outfield. Ritchie swaggers up to the plate. Dog's ears perk up.  

The ready, the pitch,"STRRRRRIIKE!" the catcher yells.

"Let's go batter!" taunt the boys in the field. 

Ben turns around to them, "SHUT UP!" then turns back. 

The ready, the pitch, the perk of Dog ear, "STRRRIIKE TWO!" 

"Come on batta batta batta!" mock the boys.

"I SAID, SHUT IT!" Ben screams as he pitched a wild one that gave Richie a ball and slammed against the back fence. Ben took a deep breath, relaxed his shoulders. Ritchie taps his cleats on the plate. 

The ready, the pitch, the perk of Dog ear, the PING! "NOOOOO" . Dog tears after the little grand slam gold nugget, Mel shouting, chasing after him.

Okay, that was probably more than I intended to share but oh well! Gotta get back to writing.

OH I'm REALLY Behind Now!

Only 1000 words laid down on the page yesterday. At least the first 700 words were flowing easy, but I could not for the life of me get to 1667 words last night.

What I did manage to accomplish was another PiBoIdMo idea and I got started on the final sketch before the oil painting of lil Red.

Because I like this image so much, I make make a final piece of artwork out of it. MAYBE, and it might be a picture book haha.

As for the Lil Red piece, I need to find a better way to scan! It is pretty big, square but big. Gotta find better ways to scan this one. 

I WILL post again tonight (I didn't post last night, I blame American Horror Story ) and type up another excerpt.

OI, another day of creativity. 

Fourth Day (and third day) of Challenges

Yesterday I totally failed to get 1667 words in. In fact, I found myself falling asleep in the middle of writing (maybe it was the relaxing spotify piano music...or the lack of coffee) and only managed to write 624 words.

Now I have to catch up!

In the meantime, I'm going to add a bit of an excerpt from what I did write, as I found myself writing in pieces more than an actual flow of order.


Grandma Gertti, or Gertrude was what her husband referred to her when he was alive, took her time answering the knocking at the door."That better not be no solicitors soliciting at my doorstep." 

"It's us grandma, you know, your gran kids?" Mel transfixed her eyes on the simple iron door handle, waiting for it to turn as her brother squirmed on his feet. A little window above the knob blocked out by a black curtain flipped up the slightest bit and cluh-chink of unlocking pushed the door open. 

Gertti walked out with her arms spread wide, " Awww look at you two! Mel, you haven't stumbled into the back of my little cottage in a quite awhile, have you?" she chuckles and pulls the brother and sister off the rickety old porch. 

Grandma Gertti's cottage was something out of a fairytale it seemed to Mel, being one who has lived in apartments all her life. The smell of mashed potatoes, fried chicken, carrot cake and cookies seeped into the wooden floors. Photos covered the walls that told the tale Mel's father's childhood. It was those photos she's stared at for years that gave away clues as to where her unruly wild hair came from. Her father always wore a hat to hide his balding spot, so she never seen his head in full fro. 

That's all I have time to type now, it's back to the lab at work for me. I will do a PiBoIdMo update later tonight!

Over 2,238 Words and Counting

I don't think I've ever written so much in such a little time that wasn't a research paper on an artist or some sort of interesting fact. It's day two of NaNoWriMo and PiBoIdMo. So far I have over 2,238 words and counting for Lil Red and three different ideas for picture books. 

Here's an excerpt from the first draft, the hardest part to get out.

Mel tears through the woods on nights when the stars' light can't reach the forest floor, crashing through warn paths made during the day. For years she's flattened, molded the pathways to fit her own feet beating the earth. If she had been paying any attention that night, the crunch beneath her feet would let her know the floor was littered with glass bottles, taking the spots where only decaying leaves would lay. If she was paying any attention she would have heard the loud "Pooowhhrr" and a few more gun shots after that. The sound of pounding feet and angry breaths filled her ears and fueled her need to find the spot crowed with bushes, eating whatever moon light managed to get it's way past the greedy leaves.

Mel reached the bushes and crawled her way through, plopping down, blinking away furious tears. She begun pulling off bush berries and leaves, tearing them apart, tossing them in the already decaying pile beside her. Crunching of leaves forced her to stop the destruction and peek out. A plastic bag floats by like a small ghost. "Wait, I thought I heard...shouldn't he?" Mel whispers to herself and crawls back to safety.

The sun wakes Mel sleeping on a mound of torn berries and leaves. "Why is he not here?"

The First Day of Challenge Month!

The first day is almost done ( I still have 500 words to go to reach 1,667 words but I still have four more hours...) and I have one idea for PiBoIdMo though it is just the phrase "put some pizzaz on your pepperoni pizza" that seemed to stick out today. I'm fingering that story out at the same time I'm writing Lil' Red. 

During the weekend I was sketching to try to figure out the position of Mel for the contest piece as the sketch I have, this one, 

just wasn't cutting it. So I got my cousin to pose for me on the steps of my grandparent's camper while we went to our yearly halloween camping trip. 

I figured I could try a few more poses, one being me posing in a picture to how I first imagined Mel climbing through a hole in a fence and this is the other sketch I'm looking at for reference.

I haven't done a self portrait in awhile sheesh. I'll have more updates on this and hopefully I can complete this image I've been messing with for two months now...yeah. TWO MONTHS and I only have a SKETCH. Oi. 

A Ramble about Reviewing Children's Books

My deadline for the for the Children's Lit reviews are at the end of this week! EEEEEEP! I'll always be plagued by deadlines!

Anyway, if anyone is interested in reviewing for them then just go to their website for more information. They're looking for positive and sometimes negative reviews (if you think a particular book needs to not be recommended.) I've given them a couple of negative reviews before but I try to give my most honest and helpful opinion and this is what I want to ramble about!

In my experience, giving an honest opinion is the best you can do for an author or illustrator or cook or dancer or whatever that person does in life. If that person really wants to improve their craft, they need to face criticism. Sometimes criticism can get out of hand and downright dishonest, but the more they face criticism's rearing ugly head, the more courage they'll get to either take that critique and apply it to the work or even to know what criticism to keep and what to throw out. Besides listing the summary, characters, the books cohesiveness with illustrations, age group, and what setting the book may be appropriate for, honesty is on the top of that list for me when I write my reviews.

Being apart of the 12x12 has been helpful in several different ways and one of them happens to be the Facebook group where people link many helpful blog posts, experiences, books, and various inspirational material. One of the links today just happened to be relevant to what I'm trying to accomplish by the end of this week, which is to write five good reviews. If you are not apart of the 12x12, Facebook group or SCBWI, and are interested in reviewing, here's a link to that helpful and relevant post.

I'll end the rant with another pre NaNoWriMo sketch

Lil Red Contest

The NaNoWriMo novel I'm working on was inspired by the Tomie dePaola contest that's due on the 1st of December. The challenge is to create an illustration based off of the Philip Pullman’s version of “Little Red Riding Hood” from FAIRY TALES FROM THE BROTHERS GRIMM.  With both November challenges, family projects, and this contest it's going to be an overloaded month ahead of me.

BRING IT!!!

Anyway, during the time I was experimenting with acrylic, digital, tea/coffee staining, I realized that the medium that I work best with is and always will be oil paint. That wouldn't be too bad if oil paintings didn't take so long to dry. The more I draw and work on my own projects the more I find that all my work has a sense of realist whimsy and I personally can only achieve that through drawing and oil painting.

Oh well, it is what it is and I should focus on what I'm good at instead of trying to work with something that just doesn't work with me.

Another November countdown image!

Lil' Red

I've been working on a middle grade (?) for about two months now which I've been calling "Lil Red" because it's a Little Red Riding Hood spinoff. Writing things here and there, character building and sketching, world building and figuring out the theme before NaNoWriMo begins. I figured if I have   an idea to start with,  50,000 words will be a bit more manageable (maybe?)

Anyway.

I found that drawing the characters and settings forced me to get to know these people and places more than I ever could if I just wrote about them.

Here is an example I would like to share, apart of the PiBoIdMo and NaNoWriMo count down.

PiBoIdMo Next Month!

So I've stopped the contests for now but I have plenty of work to do this month and the next.

This month I've been preparing for PiBoIdMo by gathering past ideas on notecards, sketchbooks, random pieces of paper or material...and mashing them altogether as a reminder that I DID come up with 30 picture book ideas in 30 days (no matter how good or bad haha) and can do it again!

I'm pumped!

Now for a challenge that I haven't tried before. I find this challenge super intimidating but of course that just makes me want to do it even more.

NaNoWriMo!!!

50,000 words in 30 days. AHHHHHH I don't know if I can do it...but, I think I can. Yeah, I CAN DO IT! I can complete BOTH.

Hahahahahahahahaha. Ha.

As for the blog background change, it's the gathering of notecards, scribbles, and pieces of paper with old ideas written down. I thought it appropriate.

Wish me luck! (I also wish all those out there working on either or both challenges!!!)

Enchanted Contest

Yay! Another contest! No! I haven't won any yet!

Annnd that's it for the exclamation points. 

The next SCBWI Draw This theme was "Enchanted". If there are any members out there who just so happen to see this post and have not entered into the Draw This yet, DO IT. Just look at how much I'm flailing around trying to get decent work together each month, you should be able to do it no problem!

My idea was an enchanted dress and I personally loved working on this piece. The painting is completely digital with my line work (I'm starting to really like working this way) and because this was digital I was able to paint different color themes quickly to see which one I liked the most. What I have here is just the blue and the final yellow. I might make a pink and a green one for more digital painting practice. 

Not What I Normally Do, Fun Though

Recently I landed myself a small illustration job designing a logo for someone's auto shop. Logos are not something I'm real comfortable with but I went for it and it turned out pretty darn good! 

It's also the first time that I've completed a finished piece completely in photoshop paint so here's what I did:

after a great deal of sketching fonts and getting the image right, I came to this general idea and the next step was a bit tougher...

Then...

this piece just kinda came together. :)

Is It Ever Finished?

I don't know if I'll win, but after showing some people and getting feedback on small things it was well worth going back to this piece. Just a little lighter, eh?

Moar Space Theme!

I've been working on this piece for some time. With my overwhelming pickiness getting in the way, I think trying to work digital and traditional is clashing a bit. 

Maybe I just need some critiques! 

Space themed! :D Yay!

Another contest! Due the third thursday of for this contest here! I love science fiction and hopefully that'll show in the final piece. If I don't win again, hey, I'm getting my process down pretty well. Starting out I thought I just had to make a few sketches, think about a plethora of ideas that I'll never complete and then paint.

WRONG.

It takes a process.

So of course I always start out traditional but I have found ways that digital has helped me, especially with value and color planning. This first image was the beginning to an end. I like that space ship and the character slowly creeping off into the unknown land.

Then after this I added more to the story. Can you see the little guys near the bottom? Very rough sketch (I'm miss my tablet! poor broken tablet...) but I just really wanted to know where that light was going to be and how dark the mountains should be against the night sky.

Will update on this piece! Illl probably change a dozen times before the finish, but I'm as confident as I can be in where the work is going. ^_^

Only one contest this month...

 I didn't do the Jack and the Beanstalk contest :( but I'll do the next one! It is space themed so I feel that I must!

I did however complete the Diverse contest (but may not have turned it in on time! gosh I'm bad with deadlines this month!) and here is the process for this piece.

I decided to mess around with photoshop again by creating a pencil sketch/digital sketch. Fast forward through more thumbnails and I got this next image. I think still think this is the best drawn here. If only I could just re-draw the final...but alas the contest is over. ;)

This next color sketch didn't work out as planned and ultimately I hate it. What it did do for me was make me backtrack and plan the colors a bit more.

Again I used photoshop to mark out these colors in the original sketch. This was helpful! I think I may start doing this with my color pieces from now on. Saved me a lot of mistakes and some (SOME) frustration haha.

Aaaaannnnd the final. Again, it could be better! My painting and drawing are rocking in some places but crashing in others. Moral of this story...KEEP PRACTICING THE CRAFT...and make deadlines.

So I have a long way to go

I've been wondering if I should try mixing digital with traditional again. I did that with the experimental portfolio, "The Boy and the Changing Being" maybe I could explore that again with this piece. 

Anyway, this was for the 3rd Thursday contest. I didn't win this one either, but now I look back at it, definitely wasn't fun enough, or finished enough. So of course I add it to this blog. Maybe I'll do better next time. 

and the final...

Definitely think I could go darker on the right side. Still, I think this piece wasn't fun enough for kids. I'll try for a little more light hearted scene next time for the Jack and the Beanstalk spread. 

Discovery Draw It Again

Like every piece of art I make I had many hiccups so I needed to hold my breath while submitting it to the contest. I think it was fairly successful but it could be better!

In the meantime, here is the process...

I always start with thumbnail sketches, but I already posted those on my other website for the 12X12 month. Here is the sketch and the color sketch. I think the problem lies within not making a full, fleshed out sketch before making the color sketch, a mistake that I managed to avoid in another piece for another contest. I'll post that later.

Only a few pictures taken. I think I may need to upgrade to video to just to make this look recent, I kinda feel like I'm going old school here. Anyways, here are the images that I did manage to document and will be going for a more update look in the future :)

Discovery!

This little piece here is the for Susanna Hill's awesome illustration contest that is pretty much world famous, Discovery. If any illustrators out there sees this post and want to enter, you should definitely go here for the rules.

After the contest I'll post normal Draw It Again posts...which means all my mistakes and treacherous (lovingly treacherous!) journey to get to the final.

Traditional or digital art? Ready Fight!

Yes, more Will Terry videos. Lately I've been wondering this myself as I've worked with both digital and traditional. I mostly work traditionally but I don't have anything against well made digital work. A good way to put it.