Humblearts Journal

Barter

I'm looking for someone to barter with who can redesign and build my illustration portfolio website for me. I would like to barter for beads and/or jewelry for the website, I'm thinking around $250.  (www.humblebeads.com, you can see the jewelry that I create.)

I have the content and images on a less than stellar website: www.humblearts.com

What I'm looking for:
*Clean and simple gallery with thumbnails that click unto individual pages.
*To have the html written instead of using the godaddy.com template. I'd rather host the site at godaddy.com than have the Website Tonight account.
*Stats set up.
*Something I can go in and easily make updates with new work using my limited html knowledge.
*I'd like to keep the design simple and let the artwork shine.

It's important to me that you are familiar with Go Daddy hosting. My time frame is mid-May.

If you are interested, please send me a link to websites you've created.

Create, create, create!

Don't worry about your "style".  Just have fun drawing.  Your style is like your handwriting, it comes through while you are working.  I think we sometimes confuse medium for style.  The medium you choose to work in will give your work a certain look, but your style will translate into any medium you choose because it's your natural form of expression.

 

Don't get too precious with your sketches.  I see some artists freeze up, working on only one piece.  It's been noted that great works come from artists who produce lots of work, some of it mediocre.  While those who work trying to create that "masterpiece" never give themselves the chance to fail, and consequently to grow!

 

 
A page from my sketchbook, trying to get my characters movin'!

Personality

I had fun this weekend sketching my nieces and nephews as squirrels.  They thought it was pretty funny too.  I loved trying to capture their personality as little furry creatures. 

I'm working on drawing more from life, sketching each day and storing up images for future reference.  I have quite a collection of sketchbooks that I'm working on filling up!  I take a book anywhere I know I'll have to wait for a few minutes.  Flex those sketch muscles! 

  

My nephew who is two, does a mean Elvis impersonation!  He also sports a faux-hawk and does mad tricks on his wheel-less skateboard.

Website Update

Drum roll please...my new and improved website:

 

www.humblearts.com

All Year Round Book Party!

You are invited to a blog book party over at the Picture Book Junkies.  We are celebrating Alicia Padron's new picture book, I Love You All Year Round.  Stop by today for a chance to win a signed copy of the book.  Alicia has shared her process all week, while PBJ members and viewers have shared what they love all year round!

B.I.C. Club

 I started a new program for our SCBWI chapter called the B.I.C. Club.  If procrastination is your middle name you might find the pledge card and contract helpful.  You can read more about it here. 

Character Sketches

 

 

Two character sketches for a dummy book I'm creating.  I love that process of trying to find your characters - pages and pages of hopefuls "auditioning" for the role.  Here are some that didn't make the cut:

Useful Books for Illustrators who Write

I'm presenting this weekend at our SCBWI meeting on creating dummy books and using story boards to improve your picture book manuscript.

Want to learn how to self-critique your picture book?  Pick up a copy of Anastasia Suen's Picture Writing.  She has a chapter on how to critique your manuscript using a story board.  I highly recommend this book for those talented illustrators who long to write their own picture books.  Yes you can do it!  Another great book for fledging writers is What's Your Story by Marion Dane Bauer.  It's written for teens, but it's a very helpful down-to-earth guide on writing stories. 

Happy Birthday Tomie!

Today is Tomie dePaola's birthday!  Celebrate by reading your favorite Tomie book to a kid. 

Me and Mr. dePaola at the SCBWI Winter Conference in 2007.

Here Again!

Okay, I missed this blog too much.  I miss all the wonderful visitors and having a space to share my work and talk about life.  This blog was always so much more to me than business.  My humblebeads blog is all business.  And I need a place to put illustration stuff that isn't too precious.  Since my humblearts.com website is actually a blog, the first page you see is my current posts. Which makes me very wary of posting anything on there except what I'd want the first thing to have an art director see.  Yikes, that's pressure!  So here I am again with illustration, the occasion craft, holiday goodness and whatever other silliness I'm up to!  Come back to visit often, stop by and say hello.

I'll leave you with an illustration from my first picture book, Conor's Gift from Yeowon Media.