Editorial Suggestions

Last weekend, Grace suggested that I write a non-fiction book about _________________,* a topic that's long been dear to my heart. I was really excited and when I got home, instead of taking my usual time to re-adjust after having been away, I got started. I finished a rough draft in one day.

Why hadn't *I* thought of writing this book? I don't know....maybe some of us don't know ourselves that well, or maybe some things are so obvious we don't think of them. I don't know and it doesn't matter.

The point is, sometimes other people do know best. Think of these books:

Grace has told the story of how she sent some illustrations to a publisher, and he wrote back asking if she had a story to go with them -- the result was THE UGLY VEGETABLES.

A publisher suggested that Louisa May Alcott, who up to that point had been writing trashy melodramas for adults, write a story for girls. She did -- the bachelor publisher to whom she sent it (maybe not the same one?) found it incredibly boring, and was going to reject it....until he came downstairs to find his ten-year old niece sobbing over the ms. (LITTLE WOMEN).

One of my childhood favorites, THE TREASURE SEEKERS came into being when an editor asked E.Nesbit to write a story about her schooldays....she did, and that led to THE TREASURE SEEKERS, which was first published in PUNCH. People weren't sure if it was for adults or children, but they finally decided -- kids, and it came out in book form around 1900. It hasn't been out of print since.

HARRIET THE SPY was suggested to Louise Fitzhugh by the great Ursula Nordstrom.

I'm not saying my book is at this level -- I should be so lucky! But it IS interesting, how sometimes other people (especially good editors) know us and our talents better than we know ourselves.

Of course, not all editorial suggestions are good ones. When I'm the editor, I tell my clients that if (after I've explained what I mean as clearly and forcefully as I can), they think about it and decide I'm wrong -- I AM wrong. Whether I'm the author or someone else is: we, the authors, always know the truth, even if it's bured under the excuse that we're just being too hard on ourselves (or whatever). We really do know. But sometimes we can't see it until someone else says it.

If someone makes a suggestion and I instantly agree with it and get excited about it, SHE'S RIGHT.

Time well spent

I loved Alvina's post last week about people in publishing pursuing creative goals outside of their day to day work life. As a creative professional you have to find ways to re-engage with your creative instincts or you will surely burn out fast. Being home with a new baby has made me think about this all the more. Because my time to work is extremely limited at the moment its important that the time I do have is spent well. To me that means not wasting time with procrastination and self-doubt, but getting to the heart of what I want to say. I hope that spirit carries through to the time when I have more hours at the computer.

In the meantime, I will keep keep chipping away at manuscripts in the making. And when I can't get to the keyboard, I'll look for other ways to express myself. Right now that means this:

It may be 60 degrees and sunny in California (don't hate me east coasters), but knitting is something I can do a little at a time. And every stitch makes me more excited about the next book.

Creating outside your comfort zone

On Saturday night I attending the Gallery Project, an art opening that was the brainchild of my colleague Kirk, formerly the Associate Art Director for LBYR, now an Art Director for Orbit/Yen, our science fiction and graphic novel imprint.

As Kirk says, "We come to work and interact with each other within the confines of our job titles every day. But some folks lead a double life, creating art for no one other than themselves. Knowing this, curiosity got the best of me and I came up with The Gallery Project. The Gallery Project tasked 10 artists to create 3-5 pieces in three months." 

Here's Kirk explaining the inspiration for the project:



Here are a few of the artists with their creations. Most of the artists are coworkers, from design, production, and IT. Others are friends of coworkers. The art ranged from photography, to paintings, to aprons...and Legos!

 

It was a great show, and inspirational, too. I know many of my colleagues were nervous about the show--many hadn't created art in years, let alone art meant for others to see. It made me wonder--what kind of art would I create if tasked to do this? Perhaps photography...perhaps I would sketch or draw something. For you non-visual artists out there, what kind of art would/could you create?

Creative or imaginative?

As some of you may remember, I write an article every week for my local PATCH.

This week, it's about an eight-year old artist. I included 11 photographs of things she's made, and her comments on them: the oil painting above was done when she was 6, the story-drawing below when she was 3. I wish I could draw and paint as well as she does, and create as effortlessly!



She is, literally, almost always making something. I wonder if being creative -- wanting to, or maybe even having to make something -- is different from being imaginative -- making things UP, but not feeling the need to give them physical form. This of course is not in the article, these pieces are about the kids themselves, not my thoughts!

I do wonder about it, though....maybe both start with an idea, but creative people need to form that idea into something physical? And those of us who are merely imaginative don't?

For me, physically forming something is easy and satisfying when it's something like cooking, super-hard when it's something like a novel. When it comes to writing, I guess I'm more imaginative than creative -- THINKING of the idea is fun, writing it over and over and over to get it right is just plain hard work!

Desmond the cowboy

Another painting in progress post for you from Disappearing Desmond!

Planning for a deadline

Since the art for Disappearing Desmond is due in a week (final stretch!), I thought I'd talk about how I pace myself with a picture book deadline. This book is 40 pages with self ends and has many, many illustrations in it... I laid it out with a lot of spots and vignettes and square-ups of all sizes. So to keep it all straight, as soon as the sketches got approved, I printed out thumbnails of all the pages that look like this:



I wrote the date I planned to do each painting above its thumbnail. I don't always follow this plan, but it helps to have an idea of how much I need to accomplish each week to make the deadline. Of course sometimes paintings take more or less time than expected... there are several with this book I've repainted entirely. But again having an overview helps make such an immense amount of painting seem less overwhelming.

So I go along, beginning each painting on the planned week. Once I've begun an image I put a check on top of its thumbnail. I say begun because I don't usually finish all the paintings til the very end. I'll usually go as far as I can until I reach a point where I am not sure what to do next. Usually at some point I will get stumped by which color or pattern to choose. So to keep myself from ruining or overworking the painting, I put it aside and move on to the next one. I like to hang these half finished paintings around my studio, so I can keep them on the creative back burner.



Then once all the paintings are on their way, I go back and finish them all off. This is where I am now, I've planned these last couple weeks to fill in all the details left in each piece. Finishing them all around the same time helps me be consistent; when I've worked in sequence sometimes by the end I end up with a style that has shifted somewhat. When a piece is finished I turn the check above each thumbnail into an x. I know, I'm ocd that way.

I'd be really curious to know how other people plan, or don't plan, this all out- how do YOU do it?

Lots of Glorias

So the front cover for Disappearing Desmond came pretty quickly, the below sketch was your favorite version, Knopf's favorite, and mine too!



But for some reason it took me awhile to nail down the back jacket. Desmond's new friend in the story, Gloria, is peering over the fence at Desmond... here are some of my zillion different attempts to get her pose and gestures right:







Which one do you like the best?

Disappearing Desmond painting part 2

My apologies for taking so long to post the last half of this "painting in progress". A couple weeks ago I posted here about how this painting began... when we left off I was layering the color, mainly in the background:



Next I built up the figures some more, and tightened up edges:



Then added details like the beach goers in the background, and the shells and sand in the foreground:



When it all came together the painting looked like this:

Disappearing Desmond painting in progress

Thank you for your input last week on the Desmond jacket- we did indeed pick image number two (the fence one)! Its good to know you all agree.

This week I am painting...

The sketch:



The underpainting:



Layering on the color:



Building up the color/texture of the sand and the waves:



Still working on the background, and adding color to the figures:


To be continued next week!

Disappearing Desmond jacket

With the book dummy nearly finished, I've begun working on the jacket for Disappearing Desmond. Here are some of the sketches I sent my editor and designer. Which is your favorite? Which one do you think we picked?

PS This is a book about a shy kid who hides and comes up with creative ways to disappear into the background because he is afraid of being noticed.

Wedding painting finished

Apologies for not finishing this post last week as promised! Here is the conclusion of the painting I posted about here, a gift for a friend who recently got married. These are her pets Janie the lab and Splash the cat.

Sketching in their clothes:



Refining figures and outfits:



Building pattern on dress and flowers (based on her actual dress and bouquet):



Finished it off with some daisies and bubbles, again based on the actual wedding:

Two weeks to go

The art for my book Abigail Spells (see paintings from it here and here) is due two weeks from today, so I am feverishly going back over my paintings and finishing everything up. I don't know why I bother trying to finish paintings in the beginning, I always go back at the end and change things. Towards the end of a project like this I do each painting half way and then finish them all off at once.

Anyways, my world is kind of small right now, so not a lot to post about. I am obsessed with color and pattern. Yesterday I went to the bakery next to my apartment to get some bread and the lady behind the counter was dressed just like Abigail! She had a red handkerchief on her head and a blue polka dot shirt (Abigail's favorite pattern). So went home and changed Abigail's shirt once again to look like the bakery lady's... I just can't make up my mind!

Here are some other patterns/color combos I've been using for inspiration:





I just love the color combination in this picture, I try to incorporate it into paintings wherever it seems like it could work: