It's a Hoot!: October 2012

Saturday, October 27, 2012

#PiBoIdMo 2012 and #PiBoIdMoBrainFlush! and IDEAS!

Hello! It's NOVEMBER again! (Well, almost.)

AND DO YOU KNOW WHAT NOVEMBER MEANS???

It's Picture Book Idea Month! Invented and hosted by the lovely Tara Lazar!

*ta daaaaaaaaa!!!* (this means, GO HERE ---> http://taralazar.com/)

It's a pledge, taken by writers, to come up with THIRTY (30) new picture book ideas, one for each day of the month of November. And we put them all into a fancy journal and keep them for future picture book idea usage. So we will always have a new story to be working on, all year long! Woo!

Here is my shy, quiet little PiBoIdMo journal:

shhh... it's sleeping

it's been around the block a bit...

And inside are... BAM!!!! IDEAS!!!!

HA! I'm not showing you my ideas, Silly!

Although this book works just fine for now, I just ordered (from Shutterfly) some custom matching journals for future use. I might even transfer over all of my ideas into those books, so I might come up with more ideas while I'm thinking! Who knows? WE DON'T KNOW!

Okay, now that you know more of what PiBoIdMo actually is, SIGN up and DO it! Not sure how to start? Go here ----> registration-begins-now-sign-up-here and then read this nice little Pre-PiBoIdMo Post! ----> pre-pibo-day-1-kathy-ellen-davis-and-the-three-little-ps/ by Kathy Davis.

In addition to the neat things Kathy Davis recommends doing to prepare yourself, I have my own personal favorite... the Pre-PiBoIdMo Brain Flush. This little method/game/process is from my own genius mind (me so smaht!). Because it almost feels like cheating when I start off my PiBoIdMo journal with a TON of "new" ideas that I've been brewing on but never had the chance to write them down. So I write down ALL the stuff and bits of things that are floating in my head until my brain is empty.

Yep. It's empty all right. -_-

Also, I have been keeping track of new ways to get new ideas, so I can keep them in my journal for emergency brain fart removal.

I'd like to share with you some ideas on how to get ideas... but I don't have my whole list ready yet. I'm getting ideas from other people, too! And when I've got them all down in my new, shiny Idea Book, I shall show them to you! (I'm even going to TYPE them up, muah ha haa haaaaaa!)

Anyway, that's what I'll be doing this month. Time to go wait on some tables!
ttfn!

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Project In Progress: #Owl Art

Hello!

I've been busy lately getting ready for the holiday season. "ALREADY?!?!" you say. Yes, already!

Firstly, I have been ordering prints of my work, matting and packaging them, so I may sell them in time for Christmas! I have plans to do a special Art Sale and Show at the family restaurant for November, and I'm just working out the details how I'm going to go about it. I will also be uploading images of my prints online at my online print store through Society6.com, here on my own little shop: http://society6.com/mlcillustration

Secondly, I have been busy creating new calendars for 2013, also for sale here at the family business. I don't know if I'll be making it available to order online in my Cafe Press shop (http://www.cafepress.com/mlcillustration) however, I shall let you know if I do! It will be featuring all of the art I still haven't displayed in last year's calendar, so it isn't new stuff... but it's new stuff to many customers who really haven't seen my art yet.

And Thirdly... Originally, I wanted 2013's calendar to have all new owl art... but stuff has been going on at home lately that has kept me out of the studio. I still want to finish the art for next year, though! So here are a few snapshots of what I'm working on right now:

As you might notice, I'm starting to play around with colored inks! It's quite fun, and although I've got a good idea how I want to complete each painting, actually accomplishing what is in my Mind's Eye is going to be pretty difficult. So I've got a challenge ahead of me!

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Fall 2012 Postcard Mailer!

Hi There!

The last time I sent out any postcards, it was WINTER of this year! Yes, it's been that long! And I don't think I even posted it on my blog. Shame on me. So here is last Winter's postcard I had sent out:

And THIS is the post card I am sending out for Fall of 2012:

I'm pretty happy with the results! Though the paper quality on the printed card for the "Three Halloween Kittens" was pretty crummy. I'm going to have to give Vistaprint a call, because I've always been happy with their products. And it's unfortunate that I don't have the time to wait for a new shipment of cards, so I'll be sending out the crummy ones. Boo. The color quality is nice, though!