CHARACTER CONSISTENCY

One of the many responsibilities of a children's book illustrator, is to keep the characters in your illustrations, consistent. This is also one of the most, if not the most, difficult to do! The shape of the head, body,... actually everything must stay the same throughout the whole book. Eye color? Hair color? Pudgy cheeks? YES! Even the style of the artwork, as well. Would it not be confusing to have the beginning of a book painted in a carefree, fun, watercolor wash and then have it end with realistic, tight, oil paintings?

I find I ask myself several questions along the character development stage. How old do I want this character to be? How tall? Skinny or not? Freckles? Once Ive decided on the basic character traits, many sketches are done for each pose and each page of the book. I find it very important to review the character throughout the book. Unless the character had a hair cut, hair dyed, lost or gained weight, got sunburned, etc., the character on the first page of the book, should look like the same person/character on the last page of the book.

Here's a few paintings I've done recently. I won't go into details about the story behind the illustrations because the book's not published yet, but, hopefully, you can see that this is the same child (and cat) in each illustration.

And here's how the final page will look.

SCBWI CONFERENCE

I attended another wonderful SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators) Conference this past February. I was able to listen to the wonderful Nathan Hale talk about his illustration career and even got him to sign his Frankenstein book for me. I didn't know he had used a pseudonym for this book. I guess I should have realized that Ludworst Bemonster was just to perfect of a name for a book titled FRANKENSTEIN!

There was an illustration challenge for the conference. If an illustrator wanted to participate, he or she was to pick a scene from the Tortoise and the Hare or a scene from the first two chapters of Treasure Island and illustrate it any way he/she wanted. I chose the Tortoise and the Hare to illustrate. This is what I came up with:

Kristyn Crow joined us for the day. She taught us about writing children's books and shared her new book, Zombelina, with us. She is such a talented writer! This story is dang cute! It was a pleasure to have her there and I sure appreciate her giving up a day in her busy life to spend it with us. Thanks, Kristyn!

I went home feeling inspired and ready to face the world again! Thanks to everyone who put it all together!

DANCING COWBOY

The theme in my illustration group for this week was Dancing Cowboy. This cowboy just can't help putting on his tutu, even if it's only for a moment or two.

DRAWING SOME GOLDFISH

Here fishy, fishy...

MARTHA RAGO INTENSIVE

I signed up for this years Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) conference and was excited to find that the conference seemed to be focused on illustration this time. It turns out that, along with the conference, for an additional fee, I could sign up for an intensive with Martha Rago! Amazing! She's the executive art director of children's books for the publishing company, Harper Collins! Can you believe it?! Well, to say the least, I'm a bit nervous to hear what she has to say about my sketches and book cover idea.

The intensive assignment was to choose between two projects. One was a book titled, Lolly and B. Bear (Goldilocks and baby bear). For this project, a dummy book was to be mocked up. The other project was to come up with a book cover illustration for the book, Princess Cupcake. This assignment also required sketches of main characters and different poses and expressions for Princess Cupcake. I chose this one to participate in.

The conference isn't until the end of February, but the intensive has already begun. Our sketches were due last Sunday to Sherry Miedell, a wonderful illustrator who also organized this event. She'll be sending them off to Martha, who will then give us a critique and let us know what we can do to make our design stronger. When we show up to the conference in February, we will have a finished piece to show her taking in all the changes she suggested. She'll then give us a final critique. Scary!!!

Let's just say, I'm a little intimidated with all of this. Anyway, below are the sketches I sent off. Wish me luck!!!

 Back To School For ME!

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's Back to School I Go! Oh, Woops! That goes with a different story. Um, well, anyway, It is back to school for me and like I've mentioned before, during the school term, I put on my blinders so all I can see is projects. My postings will, for now, probably become minimal if not extinct. So sorry, but I hope you've enjoyed what I've posted over this winter break and I hope to see you in the Spring!

This illustration is from my Children's Book Illustration class which was taught by the wonderful, amazing, and talented, Will Terry. He's an amazing children's book illustrator! I love his style! (And NO! I'm not getting extra credit for saying this! Just to let you know!) But really, you should check him out sometime!