best thing about sunday mornings...

...the NYT delivered onto my driveway.
A good article on books in the Op-Ed section.


That asides, I am having serious difficulty figuring out my...
a) book size (rational, or irrational rectangle?)
b) whether or not to use a grid

I've also realized that I will need to redraw a lot of my illustrations, because the objects look very sparse without an environment to sit in.

scanning, and redrawing

I've "completed" my illustrations. But I know I'll have to redraw and add and edit some as I start doing my layouts. This morning, I got really confused which illustrations I had or hadn't scanned. I ended up pasting post-its on top of the "scanned" drawings I had scanned. I highly recommend this method, no more checkmarks!

(after scanning, note to self: Buttons, Scissors, Glasses and Hats need more drawings/ re-working)

My manuscript has been edited (love you Signe!), and I'm going to rewrite some parts.

and then some more...

I've been trying to figure out if I wanted to incorporate a character into my book; it seems more friendly with a character. I've been trying to stay away from making something cute, but somehow it always ends up being like this, so I've decided to accept whatever will come my way.

Maybe I'll figure out something else later.

Good news is that my manuscript is finally done. It's a first person narrative of how a child perceives objects in her life.

Another headache... color.
To use or not to use? Watercolour or in Photoshop?

This week, hats!

onto buttons....

just experimenting, trying to find a happy medium.
I got tired of working on glasses, so I'm onto buttons...

collage style?

Not sure if I want to integrate the object into the background...
I'm starting to develop better hand on painting.

background test

initial trials with backgrounds

musings on objects

Having tugged back and forth on the concept of my book the past two weeks; I have finally decided to stick with narratives of objects. During this time, I have read two books, The Meaning of Things and Evocative Objects. I found it fascinating how people place meaning, personalities, and memories onto a certain object.

What type of object?
I began making a long list of objects that people "hoard". It became quite extensive...

Boxes
matchbox
Perfume bottles
Kankerchief
Underwear
Scarfs/silk
Belts
Guns
Glasses
Frames
Magazine/newspaper clippings
Comic books
Fountianpens
Watch
Guitar
Buttons
Plates
Silverwear (spoons)
Crystal figurines
Maps
Kinder surprise
Mcdonald’s
Teddy bears
Cars
Hair clips
Brooches
Jade
Bookmarks
Salt & pepper shakers
Postcards
Magnets
Pins
Clothing tags
Posters
sugar packets
Cd’s
Coasters
Coke collection
Earrings
Rulers
Shoes
Jeans
Money
Pearls
Telephone books
Tim horton’s double cups (thanks michelle!)

Manuscript
I have been having difficulty writing my manuscript. Should I make short stories, poetry, descriptions....etc...???
And I haven't liked much of what I have written so far; but I've decided to let my illustrations/montages drive the prose. Perhaps the image making and writing will drive each other. (at least I hope so)

Boxes
I was inspired by the miniature theatres featured in Lauren Child's The Princess and the Pea. I wanted to make backdrops/ a setting for the objects to sit in/ interact with.

Today's work
To get myself going, I got myself acqainted with Lynda Barry's What it is and it really got me rolling with the writing process. Her message (in a nutshell) is that people never created work by "thinking about it". You need to engage yourself in working by using your hands, and keep going, and don't analyze your writing while you are in the process of writing.

style crisis

Forgot to post these pictures, dating a couple weeks back.
Trying out the different watercolour styles.

experimenting

Just trying out different techniques...more to follow this week!

a little/big dose of inspiration

I've been borrowing and skimming through books for picture making inspiration. Here are the few I've been flipping through this long weekend. Leanne Shapton's drawings have a beautiful blunt, and honest quality to them; I hope to capture some of this in my work.

• Was she pretty? Leanne Shapton
• Fireboat Maira Kalman (couldn't get my hands on The Principles of Uncertainty)
• Swimmy Leo Lionni The Stinky Cheese Man, and other fairly stupid fairy tales. Jon Scieszka & Lane Smith

it begins!

After wrestling with my illustrated characters the past week, I have decided not to continue with the concept of drawing a children’s book. I botched the idea of making a feminist fairy tale (been done! go figure), and decided to make a poetry book based on the works of the delightful e.e. cummings.

*** that was until ***

Reg insisted (well, more like lightly suggested) to continue exploring my sketches. He gave me an idea to pair up mundane everyday objects/ sightings / scribbles and with one-liners.

Thus, this is the beginning of THE PROCESS… of not knowing where I’m going, but hey, I’m starting to move!