Lucien and I are at the beach for the early part of this week. We have been playing with dripping sand to make castles.
I’m collecting bits of shell to put in my sculpey sculptures. Those will be built when we are back home.
For now how about a quote:
“Did you see the way he just went sailing right out there? I mean he just went sailing right out there”
currently reading: Sidekicks by Dan Santat
currently watching: the ocean
Last Friday Lucien and I had the pleasure of meeting Peter Brown at a reading of his new book You Will Be My Friend!. He is a delightful presenter. All of the kids were entertained including us grown ones. Renee Kurilla came by too and we traded snapping photos of each other. Although, once Peter had signed our book Lucien said time to go, grabbed my hand, and raced us out of the store.
We left inspired by Peter and later that afternoon while Lucien napped I drew my own bear. Not quite as spunky as Lucille Beatrice Bear. This bear is Grumpy. So caught up in the past she’s unable to see what is right in front of her nose.
I am hoping to continue this little story over the course of my new sketchbook. We will see when the next part pops out of me.
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All right the Quote Quiz!
Refresher, over the course of a season, every three months, you can earn points via a guessing game. I will leave a movie quote at the end of my blog posts and whoever leaves a comment with the correct movie title first gets 5pts. After three months I will tally the points and whoever has the most gets a free print. The tallying is why I need you to leave me a comment on the blog.
Today’s “I didn’t know the baby’s powers so I covered the basics.”
Unanswered:
Yesterday’s is unanswered too, but I know someone has it.
Sept 14th hint 2 “Your badness level is really high for someone your size”
Sept 13 hint 2 “What does she want you to do, call the National Guard and have her airlifted out of there?”
Aug 10 I heard the answer the this one but they didn’t post a comment yet. Can you beat them to it?
If you answer quotes from past days in the comments for this post just mention the date it goes with.
currently watching: Howl’s Moving Castle
currently reading: National Geographic September ’11
Last week was a little crazy. I was playing catch up as the Illustrator Coordinator, I got some freelance work, and I had an illustration deadline for Matt.
This week I’m getting back to the blog and my own illustration projects.
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One of the snacks Lucien has regularly is dried pineapples. He usually has one of these when we go to the zoo and see three kinds of porcupines.
Including prehensile-tailed porcupines, here is a picture of our zoo’s new baby at 2 days old.
It was only natural that he combined the two words. Now whenever he asks for a pineapple he asks for a porcupineapple.
I have been wanting to draw this critter for over a month. I kept buying pineapples for reference but, before I would get to draw they would need to be cut up before going bad! Today things finally came together.
Quote Quiz: “I wonder if he is using the same wind we are using.”
currently reading: You Will Be My Friend by Peter Brown
currently watching: Time Bandits
Lucien and I made a trip out to Dedham, MA today to visit the Blue Bunny Bookstore for Dot Day. Peter H. Reynolds came and helped a bunch of kids including Lucien make their own Dot to celebrate. Mr. Reynolds also read The Dot to the kids. We had a great time.
Here are our Dots:
Happy Dot Day!
So many things are coming across my desk right now. I am going to post whatever I have that works for Wednesdays, animals or kids. This week I have news that goes with a Giraffe.
This year I submitted and had a piece accepted into the 8th Annual Silent Art Auction to Benefit the Non-Profit Brattle Film Foundation. I’m very excited to be able to help support this organization. I hope they do well with all the art they received and I hope many people will attend the event. Please follow the link above to learn the details.
This is a watercolor and gouache painting on a wood panel, with chalk pencils, colored pencils, and paint pens for the line work and detailing.
Quote Quiz 5: “WHAT!? You expect me to help you just like that? JUST LIKE THAT?!”
“eh”
“okay”
currently watching: Arsenic and Old Lace
currently reading: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
My need for glasses(edited as my first comment pointed out I spelled classes, oops9-14) has been verified. I have an astigmatism in both eyes brought on by age. The right eye is significantly worse than the left. I am looking forward to getting a pair so I can see again!
During my blurry time I have drawn a couple of small pieces, trading card size. New work for my etsy shops, Biology Class and Critters. Can you tell which goes to which shop?
Quote Quiz: mouthed behind a folder “what is that?”
currently watching: Mad Men Season 3 ep 3
I am so honored. This morning I got the call from Anna Boll to let me know I have been appointed the Illustrator Coordinator for NESCBWI. I hope to bring great events to the illustrators and other interested attendees of the region. Thank you for this opportunity New England!
Get in touch with me if you want to help out with illustrator events.
Hello September! Time to start back up with the blog and a new schedule. This week my son started preschool Tuesdays and Wednesdays, which means I have 6 hours two days a week where I can work during the day. So far I have just done some cleaning and catching up. There were many emails that had lingered in my inbox for weeks and papers had gathered since I had design work that took up the last two weeks of August.
August was a strange month with new plans for moving forward. One of my directions is writing YA. I am not surprised this has poured out of me, I have always read YA and been inspired by the authors I have heard speak on the subject. Another direction is making full illustrations with sculpey. My first approach is very detailed models of my current characters, the three boys. Here are pictures of them so far.
After the first character I was asked to take pictures of the process. Here are three pictures of the process for boy 2.
When I had reached this point with boy 2 I lost part of my vision. I can see but my right eye is very blurred to the extent of causing mild double vision. I am able to work but it makes small details frustrating. Thankfully my left eye is unharmed. My right eye problems are due to a chalayzion which, should go away with time. For now it is causing an astigmatism. My next appointment is Tuesday to see where I am at and if I will need glasses. No matter what happens my vision should be fully restored soon. I am looking forward to working with both eyes again.
I did finish boy 2 during the eye problems; it doesn’t keep me from working.
However, I did take a break from creating more illustrations. Two weeks of design work showed up just as my eye was reaching a peak in blurriness and it gave me a good chance to rest my eye to help it heal.
Now that my eye is on the mend and I have new time I am picking up where I left off. The third part of my plans from August was to fully explore the three methods I use to illustrate, trying out all the lanes and picking one. Whatever I pick will help me build a new portfolio. I am excited to see how my art grows from this exercise.
Quote Quiz: “You are always preparing, just go!”
currently reading: friend’s manuscript
currently watching: Mad Men: Season 2 ep. 4
I have been deep in thought since I got back from LA. Trying to write and playing with my favorite mediums with an end goal of picking a lane. With all of this going on, I think I need to take a little time off from my blog. There may be a post here or there about a couple of projects but my theme posts are going to take a break until September.
Until then!
While at the LASCBWI conference I was having loads of story ideas. Some crept up as character sketches others as written passages. I have started to focus on writing after this conference. I love it! During the morning I follow Laurie Halse Anderson’s 15 minutes a day and by night Bria Quinlan’s #Aug1k1hr.
Yesterday during my morning 15 minutes I got down half of a first draft for Silent Boy. That title will probably change but it is my current name for him. He will probably recognize himself if he looks at my blog. Write from what we know right? I think not only that but what we love/care about. Otherwise how is our heart going to be present?
Currently reading: Beauty Queens by Libba Bray
Quote for points:
“Sir!, It’s Tomato Soup!”
For those of you that remember this prompt started with David Hyde Costello last September. He was offering a small painting with each of his signed books at the Carle last year. I told Matt he should pick what we got and he loves to come up with something outside the usual. Octopus in Boots was his idea.
Six months later we went to MoCCA where we learned our friend gets a drawing of her dog or a dog made by all of her favorite artists. The idea hooked us and our goal is to fill a sketchbook with as many artists interpretations as there are pages.
I feel pretty lucky because I was around some AMAZING artists all weekend when at the LA SCBWI National Conference. Check out what they drew!
First to make some lines were my two fabulous roommates
Diandra Mae
My favorite doodler!
Ruth McNally Barshaw
Then Ms. Kathy and Ms. Kelly my fellow conference gals.
Kathy Blackmore
Winner’s from the portfolio showcase!
Christina Forshay
A lovely illustrator all the way from Australia!
Sarah Davis
Yep that’s right, I asked Kadir if he would draw one for me. He was all alone at his signing table. . .
Kadir Nelson
Another fellow conference gal!
Linda Silvestri
The most patient illustrator I’ve met, hand building through stitching, felting, and gluing each illustration over 2 weeks to a month!
Salley Mavor
A very hip chick with the same hair cut as me and a talent for woodcut printing.
Erin O’Shea
Thank you, you talented people you! I love my sketchbook of wonderful!
All right, I just have to “vomit this out”* but you readers are lucky. You won’t have to read my first draft, I will edit it before I publish.
To say this conference was eye opening is an understatement. To say this conference was amazing is an understatement. The National LA conference is a room filled with all the love, trust, experience, honesty, loyalty, support, and determination you can ever imagine from a group of creative people who live and breath making books for children. The passion levels were higher than any concert I have ever been too. The intensity was on par with witnessing history. I was moved to tears more than once, not just by heart wrenching stories but, also all by the love and support emanating from over 1300 people as they cheered on the masters of the trade. This was a conference worth traveling half way around the world to.
And there were people from all over the world. I met folks from Australia to Israel. There are lists of people I need to include here but I am only going to include some, check out SCBWI’s official site for full details of everyone present.
Jon Scieszka is crazy. Really, for people not in children’s publishing he is like Bill Murray except 100 times more radical. The thing he said that was funniest to me was “3 to 4 year-olds are like Alzheimer patients on acid”
Kadir Nelson a god among men with his ability to capture human emotion through masterful rendering and color palette. I found him ALL ALONE at the book signing. Having not had a session or speech yet, many hadn’t learned who he is. I should have tweeted then calling over anyone not paying attention. However, I was too busy taking full advantage of this and spent a fan girl amount of time with him. He was incredibly polite with every answer being “that’s fine” said in the most proper polite tone.
David Small, for me was the most moving of all keynote speakers. His memoir, Stitches, is deeply emotional. Recalling a childhood not made of love. His presentation covered that part of his life and the present. I believe the amount of love that exists in his life now makes up for what came before. At the end of his keynote we were all sailing on love. Lin Oliver wrapped it up perfectly saying “There is hope on the other side of pain.”
Ruth McNally Barshaw a marvelous doodler. The first children’s blog I started following many a year ago was hers. I love the way she captures her experiences in moleskin after moleskin. Her talent was recognized and she has the delightful series Ellie McDoodle. I am over the moon that after meeting her at this conference I am now a part of one of her sketchbooks.
My main co-conspirators of the conference, Kelly Light, Diandra Mae, Angela Matteson, and Kathy Blackmore.
Also often part of the action were, Anna Boll, Linda Silvestri, Jim Hill, Bonnie Adamson, and
Ruth McNally Barshaw.
I ran into fellow suburbanite of Boston, Carlyn Beccia! We did parlor tricks at the pj party, palm reading from her and dancing the worm from me (you will have to find us at the next conference).
I have one more big thing to say that is rather serious. Before we get there here are the conference sketches I am willing to show. I allowed myself to make bad sketches throughout this conference just to keep my juices flowing, so most are never to see the light of day again. However, it was a great exercise.
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People that can speak their opinions without letting their emotions overrule their rational are so smart. They are the people that can truly bring about change and should be the leaders of our world. Because when you are talking about the betterment of our planet you need to keep your head. Donna Jo Napoli, Bruce Coville and Laurie Halse Anderson are masters of this gift. They are magnificently insightful and present clear and intelligent arguments as to why keeping books with tough subjects from children is a mistake and why librarians should be higher valued members of our society. They don’t use fear to make their points or put down the voices against them. They simply state their case. What greater case than children are our future and they are only as capable as the powers we present them with through their communities. We do them an injustice by not providing them with the most powerful tools to achieve the brightest of futures.**
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*Bruce Coville on getting your first draft down repeated many times by Lin Oliver and Henry Winkler locking it into my memory.
**I have put what I felt their point was into my own words. So if there is any discrepancy between what I said and what they feel that is on me.
Casey Girard Illustration