Busy, busy, and rolling right along.
Showing posts with label coco and oscar. Show all posts
Showing posts with label coco and oscar. Show all posts
Rolling right along
I've always liked making "To Do" lists. But even better than making those lists is checking things off of them.
Busy, busy, and rolling right along.
Busy, busy, and rolling right along.
KidLit Artists!
Hey there folks,
It's been a busy week. In addition to the work I've been doing at HarperCollins, I just added a freelance gig at Penguin to my work-week. More kids' book design, board book conversions, and on my very first day, scanning Maira Kalman originals! A few years back, I spent a summer as an intern with GP Putnam and am really excited to be working again with such a talented group of folks. Many thanks to Cecilia Yung for asking me on board!
In other news, I've just been added as a new member to the KidLit blog! Check out the post here!
The blog was founded by the SCBWI Mentee group from 2010, and along with my fellow 2012 Mentee winners, I'll be interviewed on the blog in the coming months and will later help provide content and posts. If you're interested in children's books and/or illustration, this is an amazing resource with posts about publishing, illustration, inspiration, technique... it's a good one to add to your feed!
Super exciting things! Yippee!
It's been a busy week. In addition to the work I've been doing at HarperCollins, I just added a freelance gig at Penguin to my work-week. More kids' book design, board book conversions, and on my very first day, scanning Maira Kalman originals! A few years back, I spent a summer as an intern with GP Putnam and am really excited to be working again with such a talented group of folks. Many thanks to Cecilia Yung for asking me on board!
In other news, I've just been added as a new member to the KidLit blog! Check out the post here!
The blog was founded by the SCBWI Mentee group from 2010, and along with my fellow 2012 Mentee winners, I'll be interviewed on the blog in the coming months and will later help provide content and posts. If you're interested in children's books and/or illustration, this is an amazing resource with posts about publishing, illustration, inspiration, technique... it's a good one to add to your feed!
Super exciting things! Yippee!
Coco & Oscar, New Year's Doubts, and Resolutions
Happy New Year blog readers!
I hope everyone's 2013 is off to an excellent start. Thus far, mine has involved a whole lot of sketching, which is to say, it's been swell.
I'm nearly done with the latest version of Coco & Oscar's story and before pontificating on being an artist, having doubts, and making resolutions, I'll give you a sneak peak of some of the new sketches.
As enjoyable as the drawing has been, it took me some time to really get back into the work. Last year was a big one. It was my first calendar year as a working illustrator. There were big work moments and life moments. And it was chockfull of hoping, working, and trying.
2013 arrived in the arms of good friends and good fun, but January felt like a precipice, as it often does. January is the edge of the unknown, blank days and months sprawled out before you. It's incredibly exciting—think about it! Think about it!! All of that time for creating and making things!—but it's also just a wee bit terrifying. Ahead lies another year with all of that hoping, working, and trying; of pushing forward; and of painting and drawing through the doubts.
And as I sat down in the studio with my stack of blank paper, just beginning to feel that January doubt prickling, I came across this letter by Steven Anderson at Disney—I've pasted the body of the letter below—and I immediately felt better.
I don't usually make resolutions. I've found that they often come from the perspective that Anderson talks about - a comparative place, where you're surreptitiously eying the person next to you and hoping to have what she has, do what he does, look more like him, or be more like her. No way. This is where I am, who I am, and what I have. It's mine, I've built it, and at the moment, it's good just as it is.
But, Anderson's point is absolutely resolution worthy. This is something I can buy into - to compete only with myself; to make the best things I possibly can; to pour my heart and dreams (and not the doubts and worry) into the words on the page and the paintings on my drawing table.
So, dear blog readers, I wish you all the best this year. May 2013 be the year just for you doing your best.
I hope everyone's 2013 is off to an excellent start. Thus far, mine has involved a whole lot of sketching, which is to say, it's been swell.
2013 arrived in the arms of good friends and good fun, but January felt like a precipice, as it often does. January is the edge of the unknown, blank days and months sprawled out before you. It's incredibly exciting—think about it! Think about it!! All of that time for creating and making things!—but it's also just a wee bit terrifying. Ahead lies another year with all of that hoping, working, and trying; of pushing forward; and of painting and drawing through the doubts.
And as I sat down in the studio with my stack of blank paper, just beginning to feel that January doubt prickling, I came across this letter by Steven Anderson at Disney—I've pasted the body of the letter below—and I immediately felt better.
I don't usually make resolutions. I've found that they often come from the perspective that Anderson talks about - a comparative place, where you're surreptitiously eying the person next to you and hoping to have what she has, do what he does, look more like him, or be more like her. No way. This is where I am, who I am, and what I have. It's mine, I've built it, and at the moment, it's good just as it is.
But, Anderson's point is absolutely resolution worthy. This is something I can buy into - to compete only with myself; to make the best things I possibly can; to pour my heart and dreams (and not the doubts and worry) into the words on the page and the paintings on my drawing table.
So, dear blog readers, I wish you all the best this year. May 2013 be the year just for you doing your best.
WALT DISNEY ANIMATION STUDIOS
STEVE ANDERSON
Artists are emotional creatures. We feel things deeply. We see the world around us, react to it and base our work off of those reactions. Our work represents ourselves. It’s us. Not just what our bodies can produce but what our minds and hearts have to say.
We want people to like what we do. If we didn’t, we’d just draw, paint, sculpt, dance, act and write in our own living room with no documentation or recording of it. But we don’t do that because we want our work to be seen. We want to express ourselves to people and, in turn, produce a reaction in them. Our emotions create the art and our art creates emotions.
But there are days when our emotions get the best of us. They let us down. They didn’t give us the strength and motivation that we need when we’re discouraged or struggling. They convince us that we are “no good”. That we have no talent. Or that the talent we do have us not as much as, or as good as, the talent of another person.
Ultimately, the struggles that we have- the creative blocks we all face- come from comparing ourselves to others. I’m not as good as that person. I’m not as successful as that person. That person is at the level I want to be at and I don’t have it in me to get there. I do this constantly. But I realized a few years ago that what I SHOULD be doing is comparing myself to myself. I find that when I step back and evaluate where I’ve come from, and where I am in relation to that. I feel much healthier. Block out all those other people and focus on YOUR work. Are you better today than you were yesterday? Were you better yesterday than you were the day before? Better than you were six months ago? A year ago? Twenty years ago? If the answer is “yes”, then you’re on the right path. If the answer is “no” you’ve got work to do. But the only person you have to be better than is yourself. That constant growth, improvement and evolution is the mark of a healthy artist. Instead of looking around the room to see what everyone else is doing, keep your eyes on your own paper. YOU have to be the best artist you can be and the only person that can drive that evolution is YOU!
Steve Anderson
A Very Merry
Wishing everyone celebrating a lovely holiday filled with all of the magic of the season!
Summertime
Hey there blog readers,
It was a busy June filled with loads of projects. I ended up with a big job requiring pages and pages of sketches. Incredibly fun, but I can't say much more than that. Non disclosure agreements and all. I also recently started work on two new projects with a couple of different publications, more about those in coming weeks as things get underway. Alas, jobs and massive amounts of sketching left little time for blog-ifying. But I'm back... albeit briefly. On Thursday, I'm heading off for vacation, on a Pacific Northwest adventure extravaganza, visiting Seattle and Portland for the first time with the boyfriend.
I may try to post once or twice while away (I do have to bring my computer along as the aforementioned new projects will require some work), but more likely than not, it'll be a quiet few weeks. Sooo, I'm going to leave you with a whole bunch of sketches and some summertime fun.
While in the process of getting ready for the big SCBWI conference out in LA (early August), I decided I needed a new Coco and Oscar painting. Clearly it was time for some brainstorming.
My first sketches are usually pretty rough, but these few are exceptionally sketchy. I actually did these first couple of pages on the back of two photocopied crossword puzzles while on the subway.
When I got home, I began to firm up a few of my favorites.
It was a busy June filled with loads of projects. I ended up with a big job requiring pages and pages of sketches. Incredibly fun, but I can't say much more than that. Non disclosure agreements and all. I also recently started work on two new projects with a couple of different publications, more about those in coming weeks as things get underway. Alas, jobs and massive amounts of sketching left little time for blog-ifying. But I'm back... albeit briefly. On Thursday, I'm heading off for vacation, on a Pacific Northwest adventure extravaganza, visiting Seattle and Portland for the first time with the boyfriend.
I may try to post once or twice while away (I do have to bring my computer along as the aforementioned new projects will require some work), but more likely than not, it'll be a quiet few weeks. Sooo, I'm going to leave you with a whole bunch of sketches and some summertime fun.
While in the process of getting ready for the big SCBWI conference out in LA (early August), I decided I needed a new Coco and Oscar painting. Clearly it was time for some brainstorming.
My first sketches are usually pretty rough, but these few are exceptionally sketchy. I actually did these first couple of pages on the back of two photocopied crossword puzzles while on the subway.
When I got home, I began to firm up a few of my favorites.
With a quick revision...
I actually really loved this last sketch. It might just be my favorite. Alas, I decided it would be a hard read for someone unfamiliar with the characters, so I went in a different direction. I will probably still go back and paint a bunch of these when I have some time. They're too much fun not to.
And finally, the full color painting.
Happy Summer everyone!
Birthday
Busy, busy day today... but still plenty of time to do a wee birthday painting for the best sister a girl could hope for.
Happy birthday D!
Happy birthday D!
New work!
It's been a busy couple of weeks with loads of new work. There have been paintings, drawings, new layouts, new mailers, new faces and some familiar ones...
Oscar on the farm
Oscar on the farm
Coco & Oscar
Hey there blog-readers,
It's autumn in Brooklyn, and what better way to celebrate the best of all seasons than with a post full of new characters?
Meet Coco. She's cute and silly and in desperate need of a best friend, someone to be the Selma to her Louise, the Laurel to her Hardy, the Robin to her Batman.
And then there's Oscar. He just wants someone to appreciate his love of checkers, tango, and the fine art of muffin-making.
Hilarity ensues.
And a few final images. A preliminary spread for the book -
Finally, in honor of the changing season, a few autumn related images of Coco & Oscar fun.
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