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A little doodle, experimenting with various pens.

Otter outta the sketch book

Running - the original

Well, I think I just learned something tonight. Check this out - the original graphitint drawing taken with the handy dandy iPhone. The previous one I used was scanned in - not the same quality at all! Something to Google, I guess. The texture of the paper and the tones seem much more present in this version.

This was just a quick one ... I wish I had more time! I traced this one from my sketch book onto watercolour paper. I then coloured it using a graphitint pencil and water. I then added MORE pencil but was too impatient to wet it again! So I have a bit of a rough effect in the darker areas. I then added the footpath, grass and background in Photoshop.

Boy Drawing - watercolour, ink, digital

Well, I pretty much used everything here! I learned a lot from mistakes I made in the watercolour process. I had never used inks before, so I decided to try them ... I thought maybe they would hide my errors! The result was ... well, you see for yourself - the second image is the original. The word 'ergh' comes to mind.

I went to bed a little bit sad (and tired)! But when I awoke, I remembered that PHOTOSHOP my old friend could come to my rescue! It's just a quick fix. Almost passable...maybe...

Original + digital

Original

Sniffly

In the first picture I experimented with my new Graphitint pencil (Ocean Blue). I bought only two, to see what they were like. The shop assistant guaranteed I'd be back for the rest of the set. She was right, I'm hooked. On Monday morning, those pencils will be mine!

The digital version (second) was done in Photoshop...experimenting with some techniques Will Terry taught me (ok, through his videos!) Actually, after uploading them to this blog I see how lacking in contrast the Photoshop version is. Definitely a skill I'll need to work at some more...

Abacus...analogue and digital?

What is the plural for abacus? Abacuses or abaci??

Anyway, here are two counting machines - one in watercolour, one in Illustrator & Photoshop. To tell the truth, I'm a bit 'meh' about them both, but I'm glad I managed to do these at the end of what was another tiring day. 

Comfy chair - digital

Here you go - against all odds I've produced my first daily digital.

 

So, which chair is the comfiest?

Comfy chair

Here's the first of what I plan to make a daily exercise. I'd like to do two paintings each day (pretty ambitious, I know!) From the same sketch I'll do one watercolour and one digital painting. I want to do a digital tonight, but it's getting pretty close to bedtime *yaaaawn!*

In this watercolour I threw a bit of salt on the armchair. I experimented with wet-on-wet in the background. It was fun ... and I'd like to sink into this lovely old chair :)

New beginnings

I'm giving this blog a good shake to the shoulders - wake up! Something's happening!!

About a month ago I decided I NEEDED a hobby. Although saying that I write for children is fun and allows me to hang out with super amazing people at SCBWI meetings, I got tired of repeating the same old line about being too tired to write at the moment. I guess the fact is that although I enjoy writing, it involves way too much rational thought at the end of a long day of child wrangling.

So ... illustrating ... how YOU doin'? Yep, I'm looking at you. I have always been a fan, but considered myself not gifted in that way. Well, after giving it some thought I realised that I enjoy taking pictures that tell stories, so why not try making pictures that tell stories? 

When I really stopped to think about it, I realised that I have some handy stuff in my toolkit that might just be useful. So at the moment I'm using every spare minute to dabble in sketching, watercolour and digital rendering. I feel so excited that I can't really put it into words. It's a really cool place to be.

So if you're out there in blog land and you have some words of advice, please go right ahead and share. If not, I'm just going to be doing whatever I feel like and I'll let you know what happens :)

Oh - and by the way, I am absolutely thrilled to have found Will Terry's online tutorials. So far I've watched How to Illustrate Children's Picture Books and am working through Digital Painting in Photoshop I've also been really impressed with what he has on his blog. I feel like I've struck gold, here!

Here's a picture of the first watercolour I did a few weeks ago. It was finished within 24 hours. I was so proud that I framed it (and learned that stretching paper first is a really good idea - a few wibbly wobbly bits under the pristine glass :P )

Cheers,

Caz

Counting down to SCBWI LA Summer Conference, 2011!

Wow - soon I will land on US shores and attend the 2011 SCBWI Summer Conference in LA! It's great to think that I'll no longer be a first-timer with all the associated jitters. I'll even know a few people this time around. I'm looking forward to the keynotes, the workshops, the chatting, the elevators, the coffee, the Saturday night gala (I even found nursery rhyme pyjamas)... but what about the Monday? Intensives!? Round-table critiques!? What's it all about? What should I know? Can I handle it???

Does anyone have any tips or similar questions? With exactly ONE month left, it's time to get serious!!

Caz

Perth's northern suburbs suffer disastrous book drought

I am very frustrated at the moment. Things have gone from bad to worse in this neck of the woods. I live just a little south of Geraldton (okay, I'm exaggerating - it's a little south of Yanchep). We are a new growth area on the northern fringe of Perth. Many, many new families live out this way.

The Ocean Keys shopping complex came to our neighbourhood several years ago. Suddenly we had several retailers including a bookshop. It wasn't fancy, but still ... it did sell books. Now it has closed (another one bites the dust!)

So, we must make-do with such exquisite book retailers as 'Coles', 'Woolworths' and 'The Salvation Army'.

UH-OH.

So, in a flash of panic I contacted a children's book retailer recommended to me by some very knowledgable children's book enthusiasts. I will be taking approximately 100 QUALITY children's books (including many by local authors and illustrators) to the six playgroup sessions at my local community centre in a couple of weeks.

THERE.

That's all I can do for now, but I figure it's worth something. I'm not profiting from it, but the playgroup will, because the very kind retailer offers 10% of the sales towards new books for the organisation. This wonderful retailer does not have a website that I can link to, but I do think you should call Child Education Services on 9225 6516 if you feel the urge to do something similar. What a great fundraiser for your school, playgroup or other organisation.

Cheers,
Caz

NaPiBoWriWee - day 7 (in the northern hemisphere)

I am certainly not making excuses, but yesterday there were TWO parties to attend. So because Paula Yoo is running this challenge from California, where the time is 10.51pm on the 7th May - I can claim to have finished NaPiBoWriWee 2011 on time! Yes, it's true - we're well into the afternoon now on the 8th May in Western Australia, but please, let's not squabble over minor details. It's still a great achievement to write 7 picture book drafts in 7 (and-a-half) days!!

Thanks again to Paula for putting in such a great effort. Thanks also to everyone in twitterland and blogland for your support. It's been another great kick in the pants for my writing career. I look forward to getting these drafts polished and perhaps taking one or two with me to the SCBWI LA summer conference in August! See you there, Paula (and anyone else who's going along)!

Congrats to everyone who took part. Until next time...

NaPiBoWriWee 2011 - day 6: It's okay. Really...it's okay.

Do you BELIEVE me? Do you really think that things are fine and DANDY over here on day 6 of NaPiBoWriWee? Ha ha ha ha! Ha ha ha ha! Ha ha ha ha haaaaaaa! Aaaaaaaargh!!!

No, no. Really - things are okay. But it is very HARD to commit an already small number of 'free' minutes to making up stories. Someone tell ME the stories, please!! Boo hoo :P

Alas, tomorrow is the last day of Paula Yoo's annual challenge. She has done it again - updating her blog THREE times daily for her NaPiBoWriWee writers. I don't know HOW she does it when she has 149 cats to hand-feed and run errands for every day!? Oh, and she is also a writer for a show called Eureka on SyFy. PLUS she writes books. So how and why does she do this? I don't know! But I'm glad!

As for me: I have two children, a husband, one dog and one bottle of wine (minus one glass) in the pantry (*note - ONLY the bottle of wine is in the pantry - not the family and pet!!). I also have six rough picture book drafts to work on in the year ahead thanks to NaPiBoWriWee. Woo hoo!

So on that note, I am going to watch TV and deplete my bottle of red by one more glass. I hope everyone's on a roll and ready for a BIG finish on day 7! GOOD LUCK!

Caz

NaPiBoWriWee 2011 - day 5: Barely Alive

Even as I type this post, I am not thinking about NaPiBoWriWee. I am thinking about bed. I am so insanely tired. Didn't get the little man to sleep until very late. Fortunately I scribbled something about food in the scrapbook just before lunch today, so I've used that in a pretty silly story (if you can even call it that).

That's...okay...I'll live to tell...another...
story...
....
.........tomorrow......

*thud*
(head on keyboard)

NaPiBoWriWee 2011 - day 4: RECORD SMASHED!

This is so funny. Twenty-five minutes ago I was grizzling because it was 9pm and I hadn't done my story. Now I've produced a story draft ... and I don't even hate it! I might even have time to go and watch something mindless on TV. WOW :)

I must admit - my inspiration came earlier today when I was fooling around with a Sharpie, sticky notes and a new scrap book (we went on a stationery spree yesterday!) This was a new thing for me ... I am in the habit of buying nice stationery once in a blue moon, only to lock it away in a drawer because the nice paper is TOO PRECIOUS. Ha ha :) I think because it was a $1 scrapbook I allowed myself to go for it.

Looks like we're over the half-way mark! This is great news. Are you still plugging away at NaPiBoWriWee 2011? Aren't you so glad you started?

NaPiBoWriWee 2011 - day 3

I am learning to love this challenge more every day, and appreciate it for what it is. Those daily deadlines we impose on ourselves give us a 7 day holiday from procrastination and give our sub-conscious a chance to be heard. After all, I find there ain't much calculation going on between the hours of 8pm and 10pm at night (when I have a chance to write).

Story drafts 2 and 3 have pretty much been spur-of-the-moment surprises. They are by no means perfect (if they were that would just be FREAKY!) Rather than chastising myself for producing mediocre work, I am congratulating myself for putting 7 story ideas in the NaPiBoWriWee 2011 folder by Saturday 7th May.

So, I am happy to say that day 3 has been a success because another story has been born. After this challenge I can put it through it's paces - maybe get it to shed 10 kilos and give it a facelift (oh, my poor baby).

Has anyone out there in PiBo land written a perfect picture book this time (or come close)? Come on, be honest! Maybe there's someone out there? You can blow your own trumpet - I won't mind :)

See you over at Paula Yoo's place.

NaPiBoWriWee 2011 - day 2

How's everyone going? Now, Sunday may have been a walk in the park ... but MONDAY... well, it was another walk in the park! :D Yippee! Even with the 12-hour mummy shift thrown in! I am feeling very lucky.

I must admit that last night (Sunday night) I started writing what I thought was story number two. It wasn't going well. So I figured that tonight (Monday night) I'd be tearing my hair out.

Lucky for me, I remembered that NaPiBoWriWee is meant to be a FUN event! I imagined Paula Yoo frowning and waving her pointer finger at me for being a PiBo party pooper. This was enough for me to lighten up! Whaddya know... a brand new story was on a roll by 8pm, and was all wrapped up and tucked in by 8.40pm. Now it's 8.46pm and I'm writing the blog post. YAY!!

Did you have a Monday a success story, too?

NaPiBoWriWee 2011 - Story draft #1 is done!

Holy cow! I can't believe it's only 2pm on Sunday and I have written my first story of NaPiBoWriWee 2011. One (1) picture book draft is complete. If I do say so myself, this is a story with potential :) The bar is set high for stories 2-7. By Saturday, I'm sure the quality of stories will have deteriorated :P This is going to get tough. But with Paula Yoo cheering me on from the sidelines, I will do it!

After all, 12 months ago I wrote five stories while at a sleep clinic with my six month old bubba! Now that he's toddling around and sleeping easily, things are getting easier.

I am astounded that last weekend I spent almost five days getting one story up to standard, and today I wrote a pretty sound one in a couple of hours. I guess that's the way it goes!

How was your story today? Was it fairly cooperative, or was it a kicker and screamer? If you're yet to start, best of luck! Just type, type, type - you can do it!

Caz

NaPiBoWriWee 2011

It's here! Paula Yoo's annual challenge to write seven picture books in seven days - National Picture Book Writing Week, 2011 or NaPiBoWriWee. It seems like a ridiculous goal, but it CAN be done. Draft a story a day for seven days *emphasis on DRAFT* between May 1st and May 7th. Go to Paula's website for full details.

Last year I completed six first drafts in the seven days and was really spurred on by Paula's tips and advice. Those drafts were my very first attempts at writing picture books for children. I even MET Paula herself at the SCBWI LA Summer Conference last year and gave her a big thankyou hug! She works very hard for PiBos :)

It is hair-raising and motivating. Give it a whirl - you never know what magic you'll produce with those deadlines looming daily! I look forward to seeing what sorts of ideas spill out spontaneously - I haven't planned ahead like I did last year. It will be interesting...

If you're taking part, let me know.

Caz