Little Raindrop: The First Two Chapters in #BookDummy form!

Text & Ideas © 2012 Richard Halttunen
Art & Characters © 2012 Melanie Linden Chan
All rights reserved.

I've finally put together a book dummy of the first two chapters of Little Raindrop's story!

There is nothing like the feeling of a story becoming a book. You can leaf through its pages, see how the page turns work, and get an overall feel of the story as a whole when it is in a tangible form.

This is easily proven by the reactions I have been getting from friends and customers at work when I plop the book down on the table and say, "Check it out! Tell me what you think!" I've been telling them about the story for ages- about its topic and the story line and the layout, the whole shebang. But until they can hold it in their hands, it's hard for people to understand what it is I've been working on all these months.

And the feedback I'm getting from them has been super positive! Adults, parents, teachers, twenty-somethings, and KIDS... so far everyone has been impressed with the work that Richard, the author, and I have been doing. This is what has been happening:

-I expect some to leaf through it and say, "cool." Instead, they start reading the story right away! (Even when dinner arrives at the table, they push it aside until they're done with the book! This is HOT FRESH Chinese food they are pushing aside, my friends!) 

-Another customer, an old grump of a man who loves to give me a hard time, and who I suspect barely reads the newspaper, read the dummy from front to back (and without his reading glasses). A nod and a big smile, and "where's the rest of it?" 

-An older couple tells me the only problem with the book is "we don't have any little ones to buy it for!" 

-A boy, who turns ten today (HAPPY BIRTHDAY  MISTER!!!) saw the book dummy and said, "This book's gonna be SICK!" Meaning: "When this book is complete and published, I shall enjoy reading it immensely." 

-A fifth grade boy learned something new from the book dummy. (So this book is not just for 3rd graders!) 

-Awesome friends sit in shock, saying that it looks like a REAL book. 

-Awesome customers mistake the dummy for an ACTUAL book.

Not only that, but by giving people a sneak peek at the book, they tell me to make sure I remember to SELL THEM A COPY when it's finished!

*runs in circles*

I really can't wait for tonight's Crit Group meeting with my RISD friends at the Providence Athenaeum! I want to hear what the artists, designers, and writers have to say. The book needs work, and editing, and I know they'll help me find ways to make the book even better!

I just can't wait to share this book with the world! :D

Text & Ideas © 2012 Richard Halttunen
Art & Characters © 2012 Melanie Linden Chan
All rights reserved.

Text & Ideas © 2012 Richard Halttunen
Art & Characters © 2012 Melanie Linden Chan
All rights reserved.

Little Raindrop: Research, Method and Technique (@LRaindropsStory)

Hello!
(Firstly, I am quite aware that today is Tuesday and nearly Wednesday, and not my usual Monday blog post. My days got swapped this week, so I'm hoping this still counts as being on schedule!)

I'm nearly finished sketching Chapter One for Little Raindrop's first book. It has been a journey, figuring out how I want to illustrate it, but it has been a fun journey for sure! I was set back a few months with classes last fall, simply because I underestimated the amount of time I needed for homework. Lesson learned!

Although I can't share all the pages I've completed, I can share how I am doing it, and how I came to this method of drawing.

The Research
After reading the manuscript and sketching out some basic ideas, the author and I came to the conclusion that this book would be better formatted for a graphic novel, versus a traditional chapter book or even picture book. And then after gathering a collection of books together to use for reference, I was further convinced that Little Raindrop was destined to be a graphic novel/journal.


The books I used for reference became valuable tools throughout the entire creative process. I measured and compared book sizes, the fonts, the word count, the layouts, the margins, the age groups, the art styles, and even the fun activity pages! Here is my pile of books I've used for reference so far:

Also, because I am working on a book that is about nature, I have to research each new animal that I am not used to drawing. It needs to be scientifically accurate, even though the style is balanced between cartoon and realistic. So once I plot the layout of the page, I draw in my sketchbook to get a better feel for the animals, and then I draw them in on the page I am working on.

The Testing of Technique and Methods
Before I began sketching, I had to figure out which character style to use! I preferred drawing Little Raindrop one way, and the author preferred him drawn another way. I sketched up a few pages of character art, and after getting feedback from children and adults alike, I found the final character!

After I drew the art that landed me the job, I re-evaluated my methods. The double page spread of the River Habitat was very time consuming, and there way no way I could finish the entire story in a timely manner using that style. I had drawn the lines with pen and ink, painted a value study/under painting in sepia tones, filled in the color with watercolor, and touched it all up with colored pencil. This book is going to have about six chapters, so I decided one full color double page spread per chapter would turn out nicely, if done correctly.

This means the rest of the book would be in black and white line, perhaps with some shading and a splash of blue here and there. I decided against using my usual pen and ink method, which is not only time consuming but is also messy. I'm always on the go, and I take my art supplies with me everywhere. I needed to find something clean and easy to use. And so I re-discovered the Micron pen!







So I sketched up a few pages in my blue pencil, and drew in the final lines with Microns. Then I scanned them  and added text using Photoshop. It didn't look clean enough for my liking. I preferred the bold lines of vector images, but I am no pro using vector lines and shapes. I have this little program that turns my bumpy looking line work into nice vector lines, called Vector Magic. Well, once I cleaned up my scans and put them through Vector Magic, and imported them into Photoshop, I started to get really excited! This method looked much cleaner, smoother, and bolder.


But how was I going to color it? I couldn't use a fill bucket, for goodness' sake... it just didn't look right. Plus, I truly hate painting digitally. There may come a time when I learn to enjoy and excel at it, but for now I need the real brush and paint to make me happy.

I sent an email to some of my smarty pants arty friends, and they rescued me by sharing their knowledge about levels and multiplying layers. Once I fiddled with the settings, I knew just what to do. I needed to make a sandwich! A sandwich of Photoshop layers, using bold lines on the top and my scanned painted art.

I truly like the new final method. Sketching and then re-drawing the final lines onto watercolor paper, painting in a tonal wash and scanning it, turning it vector and sandwiching it all with three different blues. And then painting traditionally for those select, special spreads.

So now you know how it's being done! I can't share the text, or all of the art as I work on it. (You silly goose, you!) But every once in a while you'll get to see what I'm working on, and I can share my epiphanies, if any. And even though I can't spend as much time as I would like to, due to my "day" job at the restaurant, I'm still having a lot of fun drawing and painting in between!

Thanks for reading! See you next Monday!
~Melanie

Book Dummy 101, Part I: Getting Started

Last semester I took the Book Dummy class, and boy was that intense! There was no time to update my blog or write about what I had learned each week- every day was go, Go, GO!!!

But as busy as I was, it had been quite rewarding. Taking the Book Dummy course has helped me not only to (almost) fully complete my first book dummy, but I also now feel confident enough to continue on my own with the rest of the stories brewing in my brain. And the best part is, I can now finally share it with you!

First Thing's First...


1. You Need a Story.
And it better be good! Get rid of those typos and grammatical errors- before you start drawing, your manuscript really should shine all by its lonesome. This also means there aren't any holes in your plot, either. This step wasn't necessarily required in this particular class, however, because each student began in different stages. But if you're just starting off, this step will save you time and headaches and all the back-and-forth stuff you don't already have time for. Seriously, take a writing course if you are going to be an author/illustrator. Because editors also don't have time for those who don't take the time to be serious about their work. Perfect your story. Or find an already perfected one to illustrate.

2. Pace Out Your Story
Pacing is SUPER important. Grab a few picture books and ask yourself why you think they put those particular words on those particular pages. Is there suspense created? A surprised revealed only when you turn the page? Do they need to slow the story down for the full emotional effect? Pacing and page-turns help turn a story almost into a movie- a whole production. Everything placed on that page was put there for a reason. Once you figure out those reasons, and learn to recognize them, put those skills to use with your own manuscript. Then take your MS (manuscript) and break it into numbered pages so you can actually see it for yourself.

3. Work Out Some Thumbies and Make A Storyboard
Okay, so now you've got your story broken down into pages, draw up a grid of page layouts so you can get some basic thumbnail drawings down. It doesn't need to be pretty, just recognizable. Step back and take a look at your completed storyboard. Is the pacing working? The general story playing out the way you pictured it? Is there plenty of action where it is needed? Do this step a few times if you must- try to work out as many kinks as possible. Then take a look at your compositions. Do they help or hinder the story? Mull it all over, pose like Rodin's Thinker, then move on. There's still plenty of time to change things around a bit!

First-Pass Storyboard for my dummy book!

4. Cut and Paste
This is the step I took to help me visually see my words right there in front of me, the way they would look in print. I printed my manuscript in size 18 pt, then sliced up each sentence and pasted them all down (according to my basic sketches) onto 8x10 paper with a Post-It glue stick. Then I stuck the pages into a binder and read them like a book. Some pages had too much text, but the pacing worked. So I worked on those sentences until everything looked like it was where it should be. The re-positionable glue is great for re-arranging. And yes, I know I could do this on the computer and save paper, but I needed something tangible in front of me to get a better feel for my book.

Sample page layout, complete with notes and reminders.

5. Scan, Resize, and Print!
As I worked on my medium-sized thumbnails, I found myself getting frustrated that I had to draw blobs for my text, and in the right place, on forty different page layouts. So to save myself some time I scanned all of my text layout pages and reduced them to 50%, and then printed those pages. I now had my entire Mini Dummy ready to be sketched without having to mess around with guessing where my text should go. Even better, I could do my sketches onto tracing paper (in my case, parchment paper) and re-do them as many times as I wanted. I hate erasing stuff. It is messy, and you lose so many good little sketches due to wrong placement or size, etc. I just keep moving on, and scan the things I like and ignore the things I don't like.

Well! If you've been following these steps, now you've got yourself a nice foundation to work upon! Your MS is as shiny as you can make it, your pacing helps move the story forward, creates tension and reveals surprises, and you've got everything laid out for Part II: Drawing!


I'll see you at the next posting of Book Dummy 101! To Be Continued...

Latest Technique Test

It will soon be time to decide which technique I will use for my Book Dummy, and I still haven't any clue.  Some days I want my story to have the sketchy look, with lots of interesting lines and patterns, and an antiqued tone to the color scheme. Other days I want the more traditional watercolor look and brighter colors... and then there are days like today where I have no idea so I just play with my materials to see what I come up with.

I had a piece of Arches 140lb hot-pressed watercolor paper that had been coated in gesso and still taped to the board lying around my studio, so I decided to use that up. Though I don't always use it, I really enjoy looking at texture in an illustration, so this was my golden opportunity. The gesso'd paper showed lovely brush strokes and it made the paper more durable for scuffing and scrubbing.

 I didn't have much of a plan, so I just sketched with my favorite blue drafting pencil, then a regular No. 2 pencil. And although I know fully well that gesso is an acrylic material, I went ahead and used a bit of brown ink wash to add some toning. It worked all right, so I thought I would test my luck and see what happened if I used watercolor.

And as we all would have guessed, not a good idea. But hey, at least I know.

To be honest, I was actually putting off using acrylic paints. They're messier than watercolors and harder to control (never thought I would say that!) because the paint can get rather blobby and it is hard to get in small details. And once they dry on the palette, there's no way of reusing the product, so it can also be wasteful. But at this point I had no choice, so I tried to pump myself up by putting on some Lady Gaga music on the Pandora channel. This helped.

I stuck with three colors: Cad Yellow Light, Cad Red Medium, and Cerulean; plus white and the inevitable black, but only because the sheep is a black sheep. I try not to use black in my art anymore, unless it is  necessary.

And of course I forgot that I should have been using the Matte Medium all along, but I remembered in time before I called it quits! This stuff is relatively new to me, even though I had it with my paints for ages, I never really figured out how to use it until this year. I painted the darkest areas first, then worked my way up so I could do a bit of glazing with the lighter colors.

Then I topped it all off with Caran d'ache water soluble crayons, (I chose these because the colored pencils didn't want to work, and pastels wouldn't have either, and I don't have oil based crayons to use) and scrubbed and rubbed until it was nicely textured.

And then my least favorite characteristic of acrylics chose to show itself: lack of clean edges! I know, it's my own fault for working so messy, but I have seem to have lost some patience on that part. I cleaned them up a bit with a "shade of grey" brush-tipped pen, and I'm happy to say that it worked rather well.

In fact, I'm pretty proud of my accomplishment of the day!

Last but not least, I have a scanner comparison to share with you. The image above was scanned with a larger format scanner, the Mustek ScanExpress A3 USB 1200 Pro. The image below was scanned using an Epson V500. The Mustek is still new to me, and I am unfamiliar with the settings, but the Epson is an old friend. Because I know what settings to use, you can see more detail and texture in the Epson image. I will do more comparisons as I learn how to use the large format scanner better, so that I might be able to help someone make an educated decision when purchasing a scanner.

Thanks for reading! Have a nice week!

Library Run: Sheepies

My most recent Library Run(s... two so far) revolved around the topic of Sheep. Since my Super-Secret Project #1 is about a sheep, I picked up each and every sheep book I could get my hands on. I needed some inspiration on the topic as well as knowledge of what is already out there, and this was the best way to do it. There are plenty more books on the sheep topic I'm sure, but looking at all those fluffy woollies made me a bit sleepy after a while (no joke! it really does work!), so after I get the rest of the books on my wish-list I will be satisfied with my research.

Books I've Borrowed SO FAR: (This list sure was fun to write... but I figured out a shortcut for next time!)
Sheep and Goat / by Marleen Westera ; illustrated by Sylvia Van Ommen
Baa Baa Black Sheep / Iza Trapani
Sheepish Riddles / by Katy Hall, Lisa Eisenberg ; illustrated by R.W. Alley
Counting Sheep / by Julie Glass ; illustrated by Mike Wohnoutka
Counting Sheep / by John Archambault ; illustrated by John Rombola
Time to Sleep, Sheep the Sheep! / Mo Willems
Sam Sheep Can't Sleep / Phil Roxbee Cox ; illustrated by Stephen Cartwright
Counting Sheep to Sleep / by Mary O'Brien ; illustrated by Bobette McCarthy
Feeding the Sheep / by Leda Schubert ; illustrated by Andrea U'Ren
Baa! Moo! What Will We Do? / by A. H. Benjamin ; illustrated by Jane Chapman
One More Sheep / by Mij Kelly ; illustrated by Russell Ayto
The Strange Case of the Missing Sheep / Mircea Catusanu
Russell the Sheep / Rob Scotton
Wool Gathering: A Sheep Family Reunion / by Lisa Wheeler ; illustrated by Frank Ansley
When Sheep Sleep / by Laura Numeroff ; illustrated by David McPhail
Sheep Asleep / by Gloria Rothstein ; illustrated by Lizzy Rockwell
Baa-choo! / by Sarah Weeks ; pictures by Jane Manning.

Counting sheep / Barbara McGee.

The Baabaasheep Quartet / Leslie Elizabeth Watts.

Sheep in wolves' clothing / Satoshi Kitamura.

Counting sheep / by George Mendoza ; illustrated by Kathleen Reidy.

Baaa / David Macaulay.

The sheep in wolf's clothing / Helen Lester ; illustrated by Lynn Munsinger.

My Thoughts/Favorites: 
Loved the stocky look of the sheep in Sheep and Goat, the loose line work and liveliness in Feeding the Sheep, the simplicity of Time to Sleep, Sheep the Sheep! and the overall art in Russel the Sheep. Couldn't stop laughing when reading Wool Gathering, and really enjoyed the watercolor art in Baa-choo! and the story was short and sweet. Some of the other sheep stories tended to be on the longer side, and those I just scanned through instead of thoroughly reading. Hey, I'm not perfect, but at least I'm honest! (and I'm not sheepish about it... baaa haa haa haaaa.)

While at the library I found this cute little picture book called "Bear in the Air," written by Susan Meyers and illustrated by Amy Bates. I fell in love with both the story and the art instantly, and will be adding this to my favorite collection as soon as I can! I would love to see more of the illustrator's work and I intend to borrow the rest of her books in the future. What a nice little find!

ALSO - Further research for Super-Secret Project #1 will involve lots of Nursery Rhyme and Mother Goose readings. I've got a poll on the left side of my blog here (below the owl sitting on the planet) so I can find out what are the most commonly known rhymes. I'd love your participation, if you are willing! Thanks!


Until next time, my furry friends...

Call Me Crazy...

...but I'm pretty excited for classes to begin again!

I'm SO bad at getting things done on my own without having someone over my shoulder, cracking a whip, and the fear of disappointed teachers to push me forward.* I'm glad I know this about myself, but I think it makes me anxious that I am this way... How clever of me to figure out that the anxiety leaves when I get things done! Hurrah!

I've been preparing myself over the summer for the Dummy Book (or Book Dummy...potato, potAHto) course by not following my carefully plotted schedule in order or in the correct timing. Apparently I do my best work by going with the flow, whatever that may be at the time. Some days I go to work, yearning to be in my studio, and some days I have entirely off... and don't set my foot in the darned thing. Perhaps it has something to do with what I eat? They say cheese before bedtime will make you dream some weird stuff... Who knows? As long as I have some sort of plan for when I am in the mood, and a checklist to keep me moving forward!

Things I have accomplished for my Dummy Book:

• A completed manuscript.
• Text layout and pacing, in full-size, printed and in my binder.
• Shrunken (1/4" size) text layout pages to use for detailed thumbnails, printed and in my binder.
• A bit of experimentation with style and techniques. (notice above image...)
• Some research and sketches.
• Lots and lots of nifty ideas that I can't wait to implement!

Things I have yet to accomplish for my Dummy Book:

• Wait, this list is too scary to put here.
• Maybe we should just close our eyes for now and wait for it to pass...

Yes, there is still a lot to do, but I'm chiseling away at each piece little by little. And I'm recognizing that I need a sort of boss/teacher/someone-to-look-up-to sort of person to keep me focused, (because I'm so bad at that) so I am also thinking that finding an agent would be a good idea. That's my next goal, after January's SCBWI conference...find an agent!

Oh! And I thought of something dorky the other day...but I still love it anyway:

risd is my Hogwarts

Now who's going to turn that into a T-shirt for me??

*Something sounds off-ish about that sentence... MSWord didn't catch anything...but I bet WordyBirdy could figure out why!

Cover Letters & Dummies

Hi there!  Been a few days, hasn’t it?  Worry not- I’ve only been a busy bee, finishing up old projects, starting up new ones, and writing things like cover letters. *shudder* 

We’ve just about finished our manuscripts in my writing class, so now I have my very own written book I can submit to publishers!  I’ve done my research and have a few places I’d like to send it to, (though I won’t send them until my book dummy is done).  And we are now working on our cover letters, which is a rather daunting task that needs a few trials and errors before we get them right.  But my teacher, the ever-awesome person that she is, has posted some tips for writing cover letters on her blog.  I’ve also found some good things to read about cover letters on Nathan Bransford’s site. (Scroll down and look to the left on his page, and you'll see more writing tips and stuff.)

Book Dummy, you say?  If you’re not familiar with what a book dummy is, just imagine a sample book (smaller than actual size, but to scale) with text and images the way they will look when the book is finished.  Only two double-page spreads are in color, and the rest of the images are black and white final sketches.  The two color pages are copies of the actual art and color theme that will be used in the final book.  When you send a book dummy, you also must send separate copies of those final pieces of art, (which means you have to do the art!)  

Some nice little sites on book dummies: Ginger Nielson, Ginger's Blog, Bob Staake (I like him, he's silly)

Some nice little books that talk about book dummies: Writing With Pictures by Uri Shulevitz, Illustrating Children's Books by Martin Salisbury, The Encyclopedia of Writing and Illustrating Children's Books

Since I’ve made it my goal to go to the SCBWI NY Conference in January of 2011, I will need to be prepared with my completed book dummy, sample art and a manuscript to present during a meeting with an editor. (!!!!!!!!!)  Exciting, and just a little bit scary, isn’t it???!!!  That's why I will be taking a Book Dummy course this coming fall- I could do with a little more experience...and confidence!

There’s plenty more to come, but that’s for another blog entry.  I’ll keep you posted!