Hey blog reading friends. Today I just wanted to recommend this book/audiobook to you. Why recommend it on a blog about illustration? Well, when I'm painting or drawing I love to turn on a fun audiobook. This book is for younger readers but I really enjoyed it, twice.
A Drowned Maiden’s Hair
By Laura Amy Schilitz
Performed by Alma Ceurvo
9 hours
An
11 year old orphan Maud Flynn is adopted by three older ladies that
insist she be their secret child. Maud can put up just fine being a
secret for because she gets own room, and indoor plumbing, and many
other luxuries she never had at the Barbary Asylum. Soon she finds out
her roll in the house is to help con people out of their money by aiding
Hyacinth with phony seances. How long can she fight her conscience to
keep her new life?
This book is set in the early 20th
century and shows an interesting view of life in that time. It's a fun
story and full of imagination. Once you start it's hard to turn it off.
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Ruby and the Skateboard Page 4
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Ruby and the skateboard updates every Tuesday and Thursday.
Love this art? Buy Prints or Cards and Gifts illustrated by Manelle.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Ruby and the Skateboard page 3
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Ruby and the skateboard updates every Tuesday and Thursday.
Love this art? Buy Prints or Cards and Gifts illustrated by Manelle.
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Ruby and The Skateboard page 2
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Ruby and the skateboard updates every Tuesday and Thursday.
Love this art? Buy Prints or Cards and Gifts illustrated by Manelle.
Wednesday, April 04, 2012
Does the author hire the illustrator?
No. Not usually.
The publisher does actually. In my vast experience illustrating children's book (it's possible I am exaggerating there.) I've only talked to the author once by email, and that was after the book had been released.
Here is the rundown of the illustrating a picture book process. No author involved on my end.
First we spend time sending our illustrations out into the ether of the publishing world and trying to make our website portfolios awesome. More on that here: "How Illustrators Get Work".
Eventually a publisher is going to email or call. For example lets call them Peachtree Publishers in Georgia.
They say, "Hi, how do you say your name?"
I say, "Mə-nɜl" (Thank you Dashbo's math for help with the phonetics)
They say, "Hi Manelle, we have a project that we would like you to illustrate..."
usually a description of the project follows in this case lets say just for fun it's three board books (cardboard baby books) called In the Garden, At the Beach, and In the Woods, all written by Elizabeth Spurr
I say "Sounds interesting, send me more info."
There is a lot of discussion and emailing. Eventually if I'm taking the job, I get the contract and sign it. The contract will have deadlines, my rights and the publishers which are different for each project, what I'm getting paid and the deadlines for the project. As you can see this can be a long process.
By this point I have usually seen the manuscript and once the contract is squared away it's finally time to draw.
The first two things I do, kinda simultaneously, are work on the characters and the thumbnail drawings.
I take the manuscript and have a look at it. In this case it was already broken up by page so I just had to think of how to depict it. This is where I use my thumbnail process. (find more about that here and here)
Here is a picture of the thumbnails I did for "In the Garden"
Here is my original design for the main boy character in the book
After I get the characters figured and the plan for each page of the book I start to draw more detailed sketches.
Here it the first sketch I did for the first spread of the book. (what's a spread?) The words on this page are "Sun. Sky. Tree. Shade."
This is the original thumbnail of that page
After I have more detailed sketches of the the whole book I send it to the editor and art director and I wait.
hum. hum. hum. la. la. thisisuswating....
Depending on the project you could wait for days or months. (Inevitably they will always get back to you at an inconvenient time, like for example four weeks before your wedding when you still don't have a dress yet. But they are usually willing to work with you. Life Happens)
wearestillwaiting and then...
I get an email that has changes.
I always know it is coming but I always get angry about the changes that are suggested. It's silly. Most of the time I try to be pretty good at keeping my feelings to myself, knowing if I give it time I'll be fine. The rest of the time I hope the people I'm working with on the publishing end are used to working with crazy illustrators and don't get offended or fire me.
In this case they wanted to see changes in the look of the main character, the size of the book, and some other small things.
I liked my first little boy and most frustrated about changing him. But had to admit to myself after we redesigned the little guy that the new boy was better.
Here he is,
and here is the new sketch of the first spread.
Next I get these sketches approved again.
In this case when I heard back there were little if any changes and I had the go ahead to do the painting. I'll talk more about the process later on. But here is my finished painting.
The book comes out May 1st and if you would like you can pre-order it now. In the woods comes this fall, and at the beach next spring.
Love this art? Buy Prints or Cards and Gifts illustrated by Manelle.
The publisher does actually. In my vast experience illustrating children's book (it's possible I am exaggerating there.) I've only talked to the author once by email, and that was after the book had been released.
Here is the rundown of the illustrating a picture book process. No author involved on my end.
First we spend time sending our illustrations out into the ether of the publishing world and trying to make our website portfolios awesome. More on that here: "How Illustrators Get Work".
Eventually a publisher is going to email or call. For example lets call them Peachtree Publishers in Georgia.
They say, "Hi, how do you say your name?"
I say, "Mə-nɜl" (Thank you Dashbo's math for help with the phonetics)
They say, "Hi Manelle, we have a project that we would like you to illustrate..."
usually a description of the project follows in this case lets say just for fun it's three board books (cardboard baby books) called In the Garden, At the Beach, and In the Woods, all written by Elizabeth Spurr
I say "Sounds interesting, send me more info."
There is a lot of discussion and emailing. Eventually if I'm taking the job, I get the contract and sign it. The contract will have deadlines, my rights and the publishers which are different for each project, what I'm getting paid and the deadlines for the project. As you can see this can be a long process.
By this point I have usually seen the manuscript and once the contract is squared away it's finally time to draw.
The first two things I do, kinda simultaneously, are work on the characters and the thumbnail drawings.
I take the manuscript and have a look at it. In this case it was already broken up by page so I just had to think of how to depict it. This is where I use my thumbnail process. (find more about that here and here)
Here is a picture of the thumbnails I did for "In the Garden"
Here is my original design for the main boy character in the book
After I get the characters figured and the plan for each page of the book I start to draw more detailed sketches.
Here it the first sketch I did for the first spread of the book. (what's a spread?) The words on this page are "Sun. Sky. Tree. Shade."
After I have more detailed sketches of the the whole book I send it to the editor and art director and I wait.
hum. hum. hum. la. la. thisisuswating....
Depending on the project you could wait for days or months. (Inevitably they will always get back to you at an inconvenient time, like for example four weeks before your wedding when you still don't have a dress yet. But they are usually willing to work with you. Life Happens)
wearestillwaiting and then...
I get an email that has changes.
I always know it is coming but I always get angry about the changes that are suggested. It's silly. Most of the time I try to be pretty good at keeping my feelings to myself, knowing if I give it time I'll be fine. The rest of the time I hope the people I'm working with on the publishing end are used to working with crazy illustrators and don't get offended or fire me.
In this case they wanted to see changes in the look of the main character, the size of the book, and some other small things.
I liked my first little boy and most frustrated about changing him. But had to admit to myself after we redesigned the little guy that the new boy was better.
Here he is,
and here is the new sketch of the first spread.
Next I get these sketches approved again.
In this case when I heard back there were little if any changes and I had the go ahead to do the painting. I'll talk more about the process later on. But here is my finished painting.
The book comes out May 1st and if you would like you can pre-order it now. In the woods comes this fall, and at the beach next spring.
Love this art? Buy Prints or Cards and Gifts illustrated by Manelle.
Wednesday, March 07, 2012
100 Picture Books
At the BDAC illustration conference we got to hear picture book author Anne Bowen talk about picture book writing. (she's very good, check out her books)
She mentioned hearing somewhere that a person should read 100 picture books before they try to write one. Now, I am sure in my time I have read at least that many. But it can't hurt to do it again.
I decided to read the 100 books and pay special attention to the writing. Normally I pay most of the attention to the illustrations so this was a bit of exercise for me.
I started checking books out at the library and reading them. I picked books randomly off the shelves making sure not to judge by the illustration or how well known the book is.
I haven't gotten through the whole hundred but here are some of my over all observations so far.
First: I noticed that I don't like a lot of picture books.
Second: Books that have gotten, or are getting, a lot of attention usually deserve it, especially when compared to all the other books out there.
Third: The shorter the text the better I like it. When I look at a picture book I imagine reading it out loud to a child. If it's too wordy I don't think I would get through with out skipping parts. The shorter tighter stories also felt more fun and less weighed down by words.
I also enjoyed the books that have a narrative story rather than those that were more of a list type book. But I think the list books tended to have a better rhythm and rhyme scheme in their writing.
Here are some of my favorites so far.
I felt like each of these books have fun tight text, told a great story, and worked well with the illustrations.
What kinds of things have any of you discovered about picture book writing?
Buy Prints or Cards and Gifts illustrated by Manelle.
 |
| This is the best picture I got of her. She is in the scarf. |
She mentioned hearing somewhere that a person should read 100 picture books before they try to write one. Now, I am sure in my time I have read at least that many. But it can't hurt to do it again.
I decided to read the 100 books and pay special attention to the writing. Normally I pay most of the attention to the illustrations so this was a bit of exercise for me.
I started checking books out at the library and reading them. I picked books randomly off the shelves making sure not to judge by the illustration or how well known the book is.
I haven't gotten through the whole hundred but here are some of my over all observations so far.
First: I noticed that I don't like a lot of picture books.
Second: Books that have gotten, or are getting, a lot of attention usually deserve it, especially when compared to all the other books out there.
Third: The shorter the text the better I like it. When I look at a picture book I imagine reading it out loud to a child. If it's too wordy I don't think I would get through with out skipping parts. The shorter tighter stories also felt more fun and less weighed down by words.
I also enjoyed the books that have a narrative story rather than those that were more of a list type book. But I think the list books tended to have a better rhythm and rhyme scheme in their writing.
Here are some of my favorites so far.
I felt like each of these books have fun tight text, told a great story, and worked well with the illustrations.
What kinds of things have any of you discovered about picture book writing?
Buy Prints or Cards and Gifts illustrated by Manelle.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Ok It's an ebook!
Hello blog readers and all people of planet earth.
Some of you have been asking if I am going to publish Melwick.
The answer:
Yes, yes I am. as an ebook.
You can now get it from Barns and Noble and Amazon.
I updated some of the illustrations and text and made it more e reader friendly but it' still the same story you can read here. Buy and download your copy today!
Some of you have been asking if I am going to publish Melwick.
The answer:
Yes, yes I am. as an ebook.
You can now get it from Barns and Noble and Amazon.
I updated some of the illustrations and text and made it more e reader friendly but it' still the same story you can read here. Buy and download your copy today!
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Melwick The End
THE END
Previous Page -- Back to Beginning
Here it is. The last Melwick page. To say I learned a lot about this process is an understatement. Right now my plan is to do some more Blog A Stories sometime after my wedding. I think I'll be a lot better at it next go round.
In the mean time keep your eye out for this and some other stories I've illustrated to come out as an ebook. I'm planning on doing a little tweaking to Melwick before I release it, to help finish it off and make it better for you. I also have another ebook soon to hit the digital shelves.
Hope you liked the story.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Tuesday, June 07, 2011
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Melwick Page 24
Bet some of you wondered if I was really going to get this done today. Well, yes, yes I am, and here you go. Thanks for indulging my break. There are a lot of things to get done. But I believe I can safely say that from now until the end of the story I will have a new page every Tuesday, no battle.
Tuesday, May 03, 2011
Melwick Page 23
Previous Page -- Next Page
Here is the new Melwick page.
So I just realized online the resolution isn't good enough for you to read the papers flying out of Wizard Ren's pocket. So FYI they are all spells to mess up good ol' Melwick including "Spell 2, Castle Blockage" and "Spell 3 Melwick's Downfall"
Gerber is holding the castle blocking spell.
Hope you like it.
Manelle
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Tuesday, April 05, 2011
Wizard Melwick page 20
Here is the next Melwick page. I'm getting excited for next week's page as well. We are about to the climax. I hope it's climactic. I've learned a ton and think I will probably try a new story after Melwick is done, but do a better job of it.
Anyway, enjoy today.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Melwick page 19
Previous Page -- Next PageHere is out angry king and court. He ended up looking a little like that monkey ninja from that one movie. You know the one with Jackie Chan and the kid from Sky High. But than I gave him a mustache and changed his hair color. I think he is a little better now. Poor Melwick.
On a totally different note, here is a quote that I like.
"The work of a master reeks not of the sweat of the brow – suggests no effort – and is finished from its beginning." James Abbot McNeill Whistler
Sometimes I forget why I really wanted to be an illustrator. Usually it's when I'm so worried about living (eat, sleep, pay for stuff, etc) I stop actually doing it. It's those time I get worried about the deadline and what not then don't enjoy the work. But when I get in the right mode. Work is easy fun and fast. The deadline doesn't matter. It turns out great.
That's I remember why I do it.
Normally I produce good work, (I hope) in those moments I produce great work.
What are some things you all do to get in that zone more often?
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Melwick page 18
It's the middle of the night. Lame of me. But here is Melwick. Not so lame of me.
Previous Page -- Next Page
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Wizard Melwick page 17 and Reminiscing
Previous Page -- Next PageI was listening to The Grey King by Susan Cooper and I got to feeling a little nostalgic about some of the other books I enjoyed as a child but haven't read recently. Of course besides Susan cooper I loved Trina Schart Hyman's beautiful illustrations. I used to check out her books from the library by the bucket load and then just stare at them.
One of my other absolute favorite childhood authors is Lloyd Alexander. I found this on YouTube today and it reminded me of how much I love his books. It took me a great long time to get through the Prydain Cronicles the first time, but really loved them. After those I read everyone of his books I could get my hands on. My eighth grade Halloween costume was a Town Cat, and I remember being in college and still getting excited about new books he had coming out.
It's good to be reminded of some of these things that inspired me to create art, and books for children.
Tuesday, March 08, 2011
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Tuesday, February 08, 2011
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