Hmmmmmmmm.

There are a lot of typos in that last post. That's what happens when you're typing late at night (a quarter 'til 11:00 central time).

Here Goes!

Now that I'm finished with my rough sketches I've started preparing my watercolor paper. You can't go wrong with watercolor. I have finished all of the character concept drawings and have made a few changes so that they will appeal to children. My hope is that what I am doing will make a positive impact on children and adults alike. I plan on starting my drawings tommorow evening. They will be fairly simple and detailed. Simple and detailed? There's an oxymoron for you! What I mean is that they'll be simple enough to appeal to children and detailed enough for them to be interesting.

As for the story, my protagonist, a little boy, doesn't get to say much, which bothers me. I'll have to flesh him out some more as far as action and dialogue go, but I don't suspect that that will be difficult to do once I've created my illustrations. I created my first concept drawing of him today and a hint of his personality is already there. Well, I'd better get to work.

I finished the 40 thumbnail sketches

After looking at my last entry, I realized that my insects don't exactly look like the real thing, but you can tell that my grasshopper is a grasshopper and that my wasp is a wasp. The grasshopper was the most difficult to conceive. At first he stood like a regular grasshopper with all six legs on the ground. He didn't seem to fit in with the rest of the insects, because they stood upright on two legs. That is when I had another AHA moment! I began drawing him in the rough sketches of the story upright. You can tell by his legs that he's a grasshopper. I believe that the only reason that I originally drew him like a real grasshopper was for realism. I learned that "too much realism is just as fatal as not having enough realism when it comes to storytelling" because the reader will not be able to recognize elements in your work that will keep them in the world of the story. Things have to be real enough to make sense and interesting enough to hold someone's attention.

I have also finished the 40 thumbnail sketches for my story.

....

Another month has passed since I made an entry into my blog. I have started my children's book project by writing the story, and now I am making the rough sketches. There are insects in this story, so today I had to look up pictures of grasshoppers and wasps on the internet.

This picture no longer shows up. I'll have to find another one.

My drawings won't be too detailed, but I wanted to make sure that my wasp and grasshopper look like the real thing. I plan on finishing my rough sketches tonight and I'm guessing that there will be 40 or 50 drawings in my story.

I have also noticed that I create better art when I am not comparing my style with other artist's. If you're always looking at what someone else is doing, you'll never make any satisfying accomplishments of your own. Besides, I'll never know what I can do if I'm trying to be like someone else.