Everyone Can Do Their Part

Art by Olivia Bouler, 2010

About a week ago, a friend of mine brought to my attention a very special person. She is only one person, (a young one at that- she's only 11), and she isn't rich, or famous, or anything other than an American Girl who wants to make a difference.  She has a talent, and a passion, and she's doing everything she can to help save the wildlife from the recent oil spill.

Her name is Olivia Bouler, she has raised thousands of dollars by sending her art all over the country in exchange for donations to organizations like the National Audubon Society, and you can read her story here, here, or here.  You can even keep track of her art through her Facebook page.

A talent and a passion. That's all anyone needs to make a difference!

Now it's time for YOU to think about what you can do. Can you wash cars, run a bake sale, read to kids about the environment?  It doesn't take much- just a little time and effort and a whole lot of heart!  I've put up a collection box at my work for donations, and I've donated in honor of Olivia (I'm hoping she'll have time to send me a picture, too!). I wonder what else I can do to help?

Here's a list of organizations that are doing what they can to help clean up (and prevent more of) the mess:
National Audubon Society
Sierra Club
National Wildlife Federation
Weeks Bay Foundation
Mobile Bay Estuary
National Resources Defense Council
Earthjustice
World Wildlife Fund

It's time everyone does their part!

Finally... all three projects from CBook2 are FINISHED!

I told you they would all be due today, didn't I?

Let's start with our folktale project, the story of Sigo the boy who lived with the bears...

Left side of the double-page spread...

Right side of the double-page spread!

Both pieces of art were wood-burned on (scrap) pine, scanned and then put into Photoshop to do the page layout.  I tried to make the words look like they were "burned in" too!

Here are the final double-page spreads for Mother Nature.  I've included the text, though it is copyrighted to the author, but this is for educational and learning purposes, and I hereby do not take any credit whatsoever for the text.  I find it an important part of the process, because the assignment was to work around the original text layout, versus coming up with one like we did with Mooin. (Should anyone find this to be problematic, contact me and I will remedy it immediately.)

In case you forgot, these were done in ink and watercolor on pre-stretched Arches 140lb hot press paper.

As for our collage project, my "Song of Spring" poem has yet to be actually merged with the art in proper layout form.  I still haven't had the time to re-learn how to do a text path.  Yeah, I know it's one of those silly easy things, but hey I've been busy!  Also, it needs to be re-scanned because I've got a seam in the middle, where the gutter usually is.  Here it is anyhow, so we can see the whole body of work together in one blog post.

Once again, this was done by painting old Chinese and English newspapers with non-toxic acrylics, cut and pasted with Matte Medium, with a few finishing touches done in either acrylic or colored pencil. I almost feel like it needs some little blossoms in the tree... but I'm going to wait and see what it looks like with the words before I do anything else to it.

All in all, a very satisfying semester! Four finished double-page spreads, a finished picture book manuscript, and a cover letter.  I don't think I could of asked for more, especially in a three month period!

Now... What's next???

More Talk on Style

Monday night was the last night before our last night of class. Which means next Monday is the night where everything we've worked on all semester must be complete, final, and perfect! Not only that, but we will also be looking for secret messages in our work that tell us each what our style looks like, and what it's all about.

I think I'm slowly starting to get a few clues to what my style is...what really drives me.  Cheryl said that anything that makes you insanely happy, (before, during, and after) is a good way to go, since picture books  have a lot of art in them, and we will be so very tired of the book by the time we finish drawing it.  Thinking back over the years at the projects that I loved doing the most, there are some things about them that are very similar.  Cheryl noticed during our crit that I have a tendency to draw a particular way, and it showed up in "Mother Nature" and "Mooin," and I realize now in a lot of other things I've done as well.

But I think I'm going to wait to reveal what that style actually is...mostly because I don't have all the photos I need to show you at my current location.  But I will.  (If you want a hint, though...when it finally came down to the implementation of my ideas for "Mooin," I really enjoyed the technique!)

Anyhow, we talked a lot about style in class, and looked at a bunch of amazing books from our Bookshare table.  There were two books in particular that showed a lot of different styles all within the same story!  The first one won a Caldecott Medal!

 

"Black and White" by David Macauley  

"Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road?" by an assortment of artists!

Both books were very useful to demonstrate different styles, looks and techniques that an illustrator may use when creating a picture book.  Also mentioned was the artist David Shannon, who has multiple styles in which he works. Some of my favorites: 

"The Ballad of the Pirate Queens," by Jane Yolen

"No, David!"

"How I Became A Pirate," by Melinda Long

"Duck on a Bike," by David Shannon

There will be many more talks on style, versatility and technique as time goes on.  That's the topic we talk most about in my classes, because it is the thing that makes you different from everyone else, the thing that makes you stand out... and the thing that could potentially get you a Caldecott Medal!

Did I ever tell you that was one of my life goals? Yep, I'm going to get a Caldecott Medal if it's the last thing I do!  It probably will be the last thing I do...I've got a LOT of improving to do.

From Start to Finish - Mooin, The Bear's Child, Part 3

(Note: I realized that I hadn't actually posted my last blog post when I created it, so it looks like I posted twice in a row...I swear I didn't mean to!)

Critiques are life savers.  Yes, they're a royal pain in the patootie, and man can they draaaaaag!  But without some of the crits of art-classes-past, and the one on Monday, many of my pieces would have turned out entirely differently.

For example, during the last crit, a very smart and insightful person brought up that most of my stuff is super colorful.  Like straight-from-the-tube colorful.  And I've been trying extremely hard to stay away from that, because I tend to yield better results when I do.  My problem is that I wasn't brought up to use neutral colors, or rather, no one seemed to point out that I didn't mix my own colors. That explains why I have such a problem deciding which colors to use in my art, because I don't use a limited palette.  If the whole wide world is available, why not just use them all?

So I am very thankful to my dear friend for bringing that point up, and reminding me that I'm an artist, and not a toddler with a 280-count box of Crayolas, (or whatever number they are up to now)! Those days were much simpler, though.

Well I'm done blathering about that.  Here's what I've been up to in the past few days...

New composition and style to my design!

My wood-burning friend, the tool I'm using for my line work.
(I wear a mask and turn on the kitchen hood fan for proper ventilation when burning the wood.)

Left side of my double-page spread.

Right side of my double-page spread.

New & Improved! color palette, using 3 primary colors, white, and one brown.

Not done yet... but I'm liking the results!  Thank goodness for the color changes!

This project, as well as "Mother Nature" and "Song of Spring," will be completely finished by Monday, and all three will be scanned and posted here on my blog most likely a day or two after that.  I'm so glad to have some nicer pieces to put into my portfolio! Can't wait to have it all done!!