Of Gray-scale and Color and Overcoming Fears

This one is my sisters. I had a much smaller one.

This rickety tin paint set is probably older than I am. I owned a very similar, but smaller one when I was little. I remember prying it open open with chubby fingers, and using one of those cheap red paint brushes with the plasticy bristles to mix up the colors in muddying pools. I have no idea what grade this paint would receive for quality, but I'm sure it wouldn't be high, and yet this is the paint that is helping me overcome my fear of color. 

Ever since I've attempted to create good art (from my early teens on), I have been afraid of color. I never understood it. I don't have a natural eye for it, and there seemed to be too much information about it out there for me to learn. 

My first introduction to color wheels and color theory was in Barry Stebbing's book, Lambs Book of Art. However, with the freedom of an energetic, home-schooled child, I skipped over most of the exercises and lessons on color because I wanted to get on with the "real art" projects. Grass is green. Sky is blue. And people are pink. That's all I thought I needed to know when I was eleven. I'd rather spend my time drawing clothes on that funny cartoon and turning him into a construction worker. 

Only one page in this book had a date on it, so I'm left to assume I was 12 when I did this.
I was hoping I was much younger...

My second introduction to color was in a home school co-op when I was 12. I had an art lesson each Friday, and we tried out different mediums. For some reason, in my head this did not count as a "real" art class--I think mainly because the art teacher did not have a degree in art. Looking back, I could totally be wrong about that and perhaps she did know more about art than I gave her credit for--not that I myself knew anything about the academics or history of art. 

How I treated pointillism because I hated how time consuming it was.
I can't imagine I got a good grade and this piece...

A lovely depiction of a hawk killing one of our chickens. Age 12

I enjoyed art. I did it for fun, and if it wasn't fun, I didn't see the point in doing it. I never intended to do anything academic or professional with it. 

A painting from that art class I actually took some time on. I don't cringe so hard at this one.

When I was 13 or 14, I discovered two books on drawing realistic portraits. Secrets to Drawing Realistic Portraits by Carrie Stuart Parks) and Draw Real People by Lee Hammond. Instantly, I was hooked. I watched some YouTube videos, made grids, turned photos into gray-scale, and drew until I became proficient with graphite and charcoal. I entered some portraits in the Fulton County Fair, won some ribbons, and gave some portraits away to family and friends. 

Age 14, after reading the books. This was drawn
from a live model and the first portrait I was really proud of

Age 12? Before reading the books

I became comfortable with black and white. If I turned a photo to gray-scale, I could draw it because all I had to do was match the different values and shades. I even wished I had a filter I could slide over my eyes, or a switch to flip, so I could see everything in black and white, like an old television set. 

One of my more artistic ones which won a blue ribbon at the fair. Age 16 or 17. 

Actually drew this one from my imagination instead of a photograph which makes
it more special to me although it didn't not place at the fair. Age 16

And that is when color really began to scare me. When working with color, I could not simply draw the shapes and fill them in dark or light. I knew there was more to red than just red, but I didn't know how to see the different shades and tints, let alone reproduce them with pencils or paint. 

Notice the halfhearted shading, though I'm actually surprised I made this a whole scene
I was probably 16/17. I was terrible at putting dates on my drawings

There were two main deterrents to color. One, the sheer number of options available: watercolor, oil, acrylic, pastels, colored pencil, markers, etc. (Not to mention that each of these had countless brands, and countless different types of tools to work with.)
Two, it could be expensive to invest in paints and all the tools needed. It was much simpler, and cheaper, to stick to pencils. 

Charcoal drawing from my college art class. Age 22

But here I am ten years later and wanting to illustrate some children's books I have written. I could do charcoal drawings, but I love the look of watercolors. I already own some watercolors and  watercolor paper, gifts I'd collected over the years and was too scared to use because I might ruin them. 

Perhaps it was boredom, or the sudden lack of obligations, but when I returned from summer camp last year, I began experimenting with art. I did some drawings in marker, a few charcoal portraits, watercolor, painted on some newspaper, and began sharing my art on Instagram. 

A few watercolors with a friend

 During this time, I learned a few things. When I create art for someone else, in order to share it and give it away as a present, I find it much more enjoyable to create. 

Hedghog Boi. Acrylic on newspaper

When I realized that I could make art that other people enjoyed with materials I have lying around the house, it freed me from the fear of needing to have the right tools, the best paints, the expensive papers --all these things that I knew nothing about, that held me back from creating because I didn't know the "right" way to do it. 

It took starting with the materials I have on hand to get me interested in color theory and how light works, paper texture and how to set up a pallet. 

The rules and theory are building blocks, important tools to know how to use and when to disregard. Just like with English grammar, the better you know the rules, the more successful you'll be in breaking them. 

Remember that old paint pallet from the beginning of this post?

Did this yesterday  for another story I wrote. First time doing a full-color scene with so much detail.
Doing this illustration took away some of my anxiety about painting the illustrations for this book. 

Once I started using it, it gave me a jumping off point. I am willing to invest more in some of the "right tools" as I find limitations to the ones I am using. I'm excited to learn more about color and materials because I know it will help me grow as an artist. I have a project that I'm passionate about, and I get to share with others. Now I'm excited to learn, but know I don't have to wait until I know it all before I start creating. 

Book Rough

Happy Easter, Everyone!

Have you ever had a specific thing in your head that you want to find a picture of or read about, but you don't remember what it is called? So you keep googling random things hoping somehow it will show up, or at least you'll find a clue as to what it is called?

That was me last week. 

I wanted to find examples of children's book illustrations that were still kinda sketchy and had the words put in the picture with them. For some reason, I had in my head that this was called a "children's book mock-up", however, when I googled that, all I got was some company who sold like cardboard books that you could put your own cover on the front? I didn't really look into it because that wasn't at all what I was looking for. 

Frustrated with myself, I stumbled around the internet, searching random children's book related things until I found the word I was looking for: roughs. 

Paper cut out to make my rough. (8x16) I just used a large Strathmore pad of drawing paper

Basically (to my understanding) what a rough i, is a to-scale draft of the whole book, illustrations and words included. The illustrations are usually done in pencil, and are still sketchy, and the words might be printed off and pasted in (depending on whether or not they are making it on a computer program or a hard copy). This helps to finalize illustrations, text layout, etc.

I spent part of last week putting together a rough of my book.

Papers folded and ready for an extra trim.
I cut them out with scissors the first time because the paper was too big to fit in the paper cutter. 

All the trims. And now the paper is ready to be made into folios and sewn together. 

I have only gotten one and a half illustration done for it so far. 

I've never really draw the same illustration several times before. I don't enjoy reproducing the same art, even though it is meant to improve it. Once I draw something, I don't want to draw it again. This could be a bit of a problem with illustrating. 

My first illustration in my rough. Notice how many reference photos I was working off of.
Honestly, all the papers scattered around made me feel like a professional. :)

I realize now that I did not take any pictures of the sewing process, and that may be of some interest to some of my readers. I will either do a post about how to sew together a book when I sew my final one, or perhaps I'll do an extra post during the week sometime on it. Let me know if you'd be interested it that. 

Time for a confession: I had two sew this book together twice. The first time I forgot exactly what I was doing (it's been awhile since the last time I sewed a book) but it was easy to tell I did it wrong, and did not take long to correct it. 

This week I hope to do several more illustrations and figure out what do I do with the backgrounds??

More Research, More Pages

This past week, I have spent more time researching how to illustrate children's books, develop characters, how big to draw your final illustrations, etc. I have found some interesting articles at this website: https://www.wordsandpics.org/ 

Following some advice I read from somewhere, I chose a page from near the middle of the book and started drawing to scale. This is how it turned out:

Drawing with some notes at the sides

I re-drew the facial expressions so many times. I was attempting to capture a fake-mad expression, but so far can only get it to look genuinely angry or creepy. If I pair the angled eyebrows with a smiling growl, it looks creepy. However, if I omit the angry eyebrows, it doesn't appear to be growling. Angry mouth with open eyebrows just doesn't fit well. So, for now, I am stuck with her looking angry. 

Added teeth and shading in the mouth, also tiger stripes for the background

First try, but the top words felt static/boring

I have several pages in the book where there are only one or a small handful of words on them. I have been debating whether I should just enlarge the font, or I draw the words. After experimenting with this page, I have decided I want to illustrate them.

And how cute is that Tiger?

Second try, with more lively/dramatic lettering

It also helped me to decide that I want to add some "real" tigers in the illustrations. I thought about putting a Tiger or Tiger element on every page/spread of pages. I've always enjoyed books that have a little lizard or mouse or such hidden on every page, but I'm not sure if I could seamlessly incorporate that in this story without it taking away from it. 


My next step, I think, will be to put together a to-scale rough of the whole book. I think I will cut the pages and illustrate them, then bind them together somehow and paste in the text where I think it might go. 

This will force me to make concrete the fuzzy details of the pages that I keep dismissing. Part of the reason I keep dismissing them is because I get overwhelmed with the infinite possible number of ways to draw it. 

As I've said before, I don't quite trust my ability to make stuff up, as I do to recreate things. This makes drawing the people and the scenes in the house easier than doing the lettering and vignettes. 

I am nervous for when it comes to putting the final illustrations with the final text into the final book. I don't think that I can get around using some sort of computer program to put them together nicely. Annnnd that is the area where I really have no idea what I am doing. I've never liked to do digital art, and it is expensive to get the programs I'll need to make it look professional. 

We'll see in the coming weeks whether or not I break down and buy something, or if I try to do it all with things I can find for free. For now, however, I'll stick with pencil and paper. And lets be real, that step may take me several weeks to complete anyway.