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Today, I watch the snow fall outside my window, and think of my 21 year old daughter enjoying Spring Break on a yacht in the Keys. Who needs Florida sunshine? I received my Ocean pop-up book in the mail!
Currently being sold in Europe in both Italian and Spanish, here's a peek inside; care to dive in with me?
If books were like movies, then this new book I've been working on would be a historical costume drama. It's non-fiction in theory, but I've tried to make it read like a fictional story. It's set in the past... 100 years ago, so it appears that everyone is in costume.
It's more of a Jules Verne type story, with astonishing adventure to do with dirigibles, flying bicycles and that sort of thing. I actually sent away to the patent office trying to get some kind of copyright on the story, since I think it'd make a terrific movie.
I have discovered that it requires a goodly deal of attention to detail to recreate scenes from a past age. In fact it takes a LOT of drawing! It requires drawing until one's hand is ready to fall off, essentially.
Just categorically, I'm sure in the last few months I have drawn the following: (partial listing):
4 horses, complete with harness detailing
3 carriages (those spoked wheels are challenging!)
3 antique motor cars
15 vintage skyscrapers including the Flatiron building
150 costumed extras for background scenes
17 feathered hats
12 pigeons
15 bicycles (bicycles are notoriously difficult to draw)
16 bowler hats and the gentlemen wearing them
12 straw hats and the gentlemen wearing them
14 ladies in fancy full length skirts
16 dirigibles
16 victorian houses
16 assorted odd children in vintage garb
1 Titanic like steam ship
7 odd bizarre flying machines
4 picket fences... (those take a while)
2 ironwork fences (those do too!)
5 assorted lawns and park settings
4 barn interiors with multitudes of tools and furniture
22 drawings of the main character
17 drawings of the character's mother
12 drawings of the pet dog
1 complete vintage fire fighting crew, with antique firefighting pump truck
5 barrels
37 tiny people in a crowd, with aerial perspective
Oh... and I have drawn the complete 1904 World's Fair including Ferris Wheel.
I mention all of this mostly to point out the difficulty of achieving such a task for someone who basically has a hard time drawing. I make up for it with erasing and stubbornness though.
I think my next book effort will be an emotionally based story with two cute little animal characters... no crowd scenes or perspective required!
p.s. No, this is not the finished art... just the pencils. And that's the drawing just for one scene!
:0)
John Nez
Happy Holidays to you and your families. I wish you a rewarding and successful New Year. I'm thrilled to be part of this talented group. My New Year will start with an exciting and challenging freelance marketing consulting job. I look forward to sharing more- but for now- keep it to this list until it is "official". I look forward to your advice and suggestions as I move forward. Of course- I'm still doing my books.
So- Don't Forget to Stop and Smell the Roses~ Happy 2008- Best Wishes- Maryann
Chris, You inspired me to post a spread from a new book dummy that I too need to find a home for. Hopefully, we will all have great success in 2008. I also wanted to wish everyone a Happy and Healthy Holiday Season.
Ilene
Which ever holiday it is you celebrate, let's all post our greetings, wishes, photo's etc.
Here's an oldy of mine that I still like.
I have also ALMOST decked all the halls (still need to put up the tree in the living room) and here are the pics to prove it. I love Christmas!!! The photo of the "Christmas Moose" makes him look very innocent but....really, he lies in wait for Don. You see, movement of any kind launches him into a frenzied jig and lively (and loud) rendition of "Jingle Bells". Every night, as Don throws his workboots to the floor, the Moose is signaled. What comes out of Don's mouth is not terribly Festive, as he threatens Moose with not living to see Christmas Day! After over 10 years, it is now a holiday tradition, daddy slams the door, Moose sings, daddy curses..... oh how I love this happy, happy season and the joyful memories made that will last forever:)
You can see how my dinning room is patiently waiting to welcome 15 people this year. Well, it will be cramped but it handled 14 last year so once the other leaf is in the table, we should be good to go.
From me to you, A Merry, Merry!!!!
Chris
It's been so long since I posted anything on our blog that I actually forgot my password!
Not a lot new here...
I have been shopping around my dummy with a little more heart then in the past. I really love this little book (I think most of you know how that goes, we create a lot of things but few that we actually LIKE) but am not getting anywhere with it. I know what I should be doing, a real writer would send it out, forget about it and get on with the next project.... of course, I am not a real writer. I get too attached to the character, is that because if you are also the illustrator it's a double edged sword? You fall in love with the writing/story as well as the images? The latest reply was a very sweet email rejection and the dummy returned home in it's recycled paper envolope 3 days later. Sigh, they just keep returning, dummies are very much like grown children. You send them out into the world, they experience failure and then return home, dragging their tail between their legs!!! Another copy of it is still out there somewhere, the older brother....I shall hope this kid fairs better:)
Latest doodle from me.
Cheers,
Chris
Forgive the cross-posting. Couldn't resist....
Let me set this straight: no matter what my chronological age is for real, inside, I still feel like I am about 23. Outside? Don't go there. But inside? Groovy....
When I really WAS 23 I was living in Buffalo, New York. My husband and I were puppeteers performing shows and I was also making cloth dolls/soft sculptures full time in addition to that. I sold those dolls at juried craft shows like the 100 American Craftsmen show at Kenan Center in Lockport, NY, and the ACC Craft Fair in Rhinebeck, NY. I also did some gallery shows around the country. We were young and the decade of the 70's was still pretty innocent, even after having survived the sixties.
For the record, all this "Greening" stuff was already going on back then, with organic food, and the idea of eating local produce in season, and no chemicals, and so on, and so forth. Ask me, I was there. I ate whole grains bought in food coops, and I made really disgusting vegetarian dishes like "Sweet and Sour Soyballs." My husband STILL, to this date, will complain about being subjected to that dish. And I cannot tell you how many times I insisted that I could make brownies and cookies with organic honey instead of refined sugar (answer: I couldn't). So we all were on the Green bandwagon more than thirty years ago. It just didn't have a catchy name, and it just wasn't quite so "trendy." And I say this to the stars that I heard went on Oprah and said, "use only two squares of toilet paper" : WIPE THIS.
But I digress. I meant to talk about making dolls. I made quite a number of hand made, one of a kind figures. Where are they now? In various collections, here and there. Many of them went to who-knows-where since they were purchased at craft galleries and sold to people I never met.
But here is what happens when you make art for more than 30 years: people unload stuff, and sooner or later your work shows up on ebay as a "collectible." Here is the listing for one of my creations . It's "Harry , The Used Car Salesman." I made this doll in 1976, even before I was an illustrator.
The estate auction seller contacted me to get more info. I suggested she hold off until my book, Tex and Sugar, was published. She did and even got a book signed. She is selling the book with the doll.
I can't begin to tell you how many "vintage" collectibles I have bought on ebay over the years. Tons! And to think--now I "IS" one!
Man, those years flew by....
I am trying to post art for the first time, this is my 3rd time to try this. Sorry if this one also doesnt work! The art I have put up is also for a worthy cause. www.foreclosurecats.com This is an organization which rescued 60 cats, left beheind in a foreclosed house.The owner walked away from the house and the 60 cats. Artists were asked to "adopt" a kitty, and donate an original painting of said adoptee. The origianls are to be auctioned off. They are also raising funds thru CafePress, as most of the cats have medical issues. Check out their site, it too is a labor of love.
sharon lane holm
Hi Everybody,
I thought I would post my snowflake here, because for some unknown reason my flake is still not up on the Robert Snow site. I decided to create a 3 dimensional version of Maude who is one of the characters in a new book dummy that I recently finished called "In a Jam." At the moment, it is being reviewed at Sterling Publishers
The actual wooden snowflake is her skirt, and her body was molded out of Sculpey. Once the sculpey was hard enough, I painted and then varnished her a couple of times. The position that I molded her into is from one of the pages in the dummy, where she is falling from the sky. Fortunately she also sits well on a display.
It was a lot of fun working this way. In fact, my agent thought that I should consider doing more clay work. Who knows? Enjoy, Ilene
Opening Day! Here is a picture of the cast of my play- "Bravery Soup" performed by the New London Barn Players, NH. It was a SMASH! Hope to be able to take it on the road. There were dances...original music and great humor added. John Baker (Director, script writer and Producer) did a great job. ENJOY.- Maryann
