illustrate a children's book

YES! I completed my mini-goal and did the last three drawings today! =D I am SO proud of myself! I’m meeting with the author on Monday and we’re going to talk about the cover. =) I’m SO CLOSE to being done! Hooray!

I get to play Machinarium now as a reward! =D

I only have a few pages left and I think I can finish them today if I REALLY focus… I’m praying for stamina. =P Luckily I have nothing else to do, so I have no excuse not to finish up, really. I still have to do the fire safety page and the cover, but it’ll be an enormous accomplishment to finish the inside pages. =)

The end is in sight! When I finish these last few pages [not the cover/fire safety] I’m going to reward myself with a new game! Check it out! Machinarium

I’ve never wanted to write or illustrate a children’s book but now i’ve got the idea in my head.I draw alot for decades now but i’ve never been to art school or had art classes.In Australia there is nowhere to study illustration :-(.I don’t think i’d be keen on lessons though I think art comes from instinct.

I’m in the process of finishing this goal! =) I only have 4/18 pages to do for a local author’s new children’s book! We’d like to have it ready to publish in December in time for Christmas. I also have to do the cover and some little drawings for a fire safety page (our area suffered a lot of fire damage recently and the book involves a house fire), but I’m getting it done! =D

Progress is happening -slow but steady.
Accomplishments:
I have completed most of what I wanted ready for my portfolio and illustration website.
I have posted some of my drawings at SCBWI’s illustrator’s gallery.
I created a portfolio of some of my drawings on Facebook.
I am going to a writer & illustrator’s conference this weekend.
Goals:
Select appropriate publishers and submit portfolio.
Get individual Website up and going.
DO THE ABOVE _before Christmas preferably Thanksgiving!

I joined IllustrationFriday.com—every week they assign a word. This is the motivation I need to build my portfolio.

My goal within a goal is to do one illustration per month for the next 12 months.

About a year ago, a friend came to me and wanted me to illustrate a story that her roommate wrote. While hesitant to draw something without the author’s involvement (it was a surprise birthday present), I agreed to draw the first page.

It came out really good and I really enjoyed doing it. I started going into the children sections of bookstore (i felt really creepy without a kid in tow…) and when I went to my parent’s house, I started digging through all my old picture books.

So now I’ve got this idea, and my former roommate and his writing partner are helping me develop it and we’ll see what happens….

I’m taking today & tomorrow as vacation from my real job and the primary purpose is to complete two illustrations for my website.

Both have been sketched, I just need to outline & color them. I am trying to do this all on the computer. (I got an early Christmas Present for myself -a Mac Book Pro Laptop, can’t wait to start using it) I did a little test on one of the drawings already and it came out really nice. I don’t want them to have that “computer” look. I want them to have a hand drawn, water-colored feeling and so far so good. I’m definitely slower, but I think in the long run, it will be faster and easier to adjust (especially after the accident with a previous painting)

The University of Findlay in Ohio offers a Bachelors degree with a major in Children’s Book Art.

My artist skills are a bit on the cartoonish/animation side, and I love working with watercolor, which is the most popular medium in illustrating children’s books. I actually collect Children’s books solely for the artwork, and I’ve always thought, How cool would it be to get MY artwork out there like that? I’ve been seriously thinking about this in the past couple of years since I started earning my Graphic Design degree.