Inktober 2018 wrap-up

[wayfaringwordhack]

 Nothing like an entry that comes almost a month late. 

I finally finished fiddling with my Inktober sketch about a week ago but forgot to post last week.  Here is a comparison with the post-wash piece and the final version where I added the shadows.




The use of my camera flash on one version explains the color difference. Alas, there is still no nice photo in sight.

My take away from Inktober is that first and foremost, I absolutely loved doing the challenge. I like that I had decided from the outset what I would do and how I would do it. The not having to search for inspiration or my materials each day was such a pleasant way to work. No hassle and no stress suits me very well. Also, I had the THING to stick to, the personal commitment to a challenge, and that saw me through on this piece, even when Inktober ended. Once I finished the piece, though, I put all art aside.* Hosting Thanksgiving dinner for my neighbors mostly explains this complete standstill.

The just drawing-what-I-want-how-I-want had the downside of resulting in a sketch that lacks the coherence and believable depth it could have had. Without thinking more about composition beforehand, I sketched myself into several corners. I am not disappointed with what I accomplished, but it did serve to show me how important some forethought is. While I enjoyed sketching the way I did, I feel a bit paralyzed about starting pieces where I DO need to think things through. It just feels so tedious. Necessary, but tedious.  

Still, I need to step up to the plate and make it happen. My only other choice is to turn in my children's nonfic manuscript and let the publisher find an illustrator. I really want to ty to illustrate it myself before going that route, though.

While I was not at all thinking about my natural (comfortable) style while doing this piece vs a style that would be compatible with the kids' book, I do have the uncomfortable feeling that a more cartoony style is not in me. 

And that is enough rambling for now. 

_____________________
* I did spend almost an entire day yesterday trying to figure out a page layout in my MS that is giving me fits, so I have begun to work again. I just need to turn finishing this beast into a challenge of sorts, frex: figuring out how many illustrations I have to do and assigning a certain amount of time to each.

Do any of you have a way of setting targets for yourself that are both fun and efficacious?

Comments

[asakiyume]

Wow, I really **love** it with the shadows. Just beautiful.

Not all picture books are done in a cartoony style. One I really loved that was around when my kids were little was The Great Kapok Tree--I feel like that artist's style is in line with what you do.

(Here's someone reading it on Youtube--if you skip randomly forward, you can see the illustrations)

How was hosting Thanksgiving for your neighbors?

[wayfaringwordhack]

Thanks. The shadows really help to tie it together better. I probably could have done even more, but I am trying to learn how to let things go. :P

Down with the Over-Fiddly Monster.

The challenge for me with this book is finding a style that fits with both the whimsy and the factual, a style that lends itself to humor and a certain amount of realism for recognition's sake.

Thanksgiving was good. I can't say that my neighbor's loved all the traditional dishes I grew up eating, but I liked them and liked cooking them, so success is declared in my mind. I don't think, though, that I will invite them back next year because I wouldn't want them to have to eat the same things if they didn't care that much for them the first time around. LOL.

[asakiyume]

Well, you broadened their horizons! It's good for them ;-) But yeah--no sense in going to a lot of trouble for unappreciative people twice. Once is enough!

[wayfaringwordhack]

It is funny how resistant some people are to having their culinary horizons broadened. I remember being completely flummoxed by my mom's refusal to even try Indian food when I had always considered her to be someone who was pretty open minded.

[pjthompson]

I just read a funny thing on Twitter the other day. A guy in England decided he wanted to try to string bean casserole that Americans are so crazy about for Thanksgiving. So he looked up the recipe and thought, "No, that can't be right." So he looked up another and another and... He said, "So basically, they're all mad about green green cooked with gloopy canned mushroom soup. How can this be?"

[pjthompson]

I should add that I'm sure you didn't inflict goopy canned mushroom soup on your neighbors. ;-)

[wayfaringwordhack]

Bwahaha. Indeed I did not. I even used mushrooms that I had gathered myself. :P No one was poisoned, either; fear not! ;)

[wayfaringwordhack]

I got a chance to watch the video and see the book. I do not think I have ever read it before, but the images are so detailed and vivid that I feel sure I would have had a sense of recognition had I done so. Thanks for sharing.

[asakiyume]

My pleasure--I loved reading it to the kids. I'd get choked up sometimes.

[queenoftheskies]

I love this piece so much. The depth and texture are amazing.

[wayfaringwordhack]

Thank you! :D

[rimturse]

Yeah, I don't think you necessarily need a cartoony style either. Like with your Inktober drawing, I'm sure kids would love to sit and pick out all the details.

[wayfaringwordhack]

You know what bothers me most about doing a more realistic style? Drawing the kids and their environs. The seascapes wouldn't bother me, but the rest just leaves me cold. :( And while I will be illustrating real fish--and in a way that makes them truly identifiable for kids--I don't want everything to be true-to-life like that.

ETA:


You remember telling me that you couldn't sketch mute swans for your scene? I am the same. If I try to do realistic, I will research the bejesus out of what kind of coral is found around which fish, etc. instead of just doing more stylized stuff. While I do want some veracity in that sort of thing, I don't want to spend all that time on research and realistic rendition.

[rimturse]

Hmmm would it matter if there's a slight variation in style? Or can you maybe find a compromise between styles?

[wayfaringwordhack]

I have considered that, and indeed, many kids' nonfiction books DO have a mix of cartoony, realistic drawings, and/or photographs all on the same spread.

[pjthompson]

This is so lovely.

I have no advice to offer on process. I'm still trying to rediscover that myself.

[wayfaringwordhack]

Thank you.

It is a discovery, isn't it? Each time, each project, and never more so than when we are starting again after a long, and sometimes hard, hiatus.