This year, like many others, has carved new paths in my art career. I have two fairs now under my belt, Times of Future Past (a Cos-Play faire) and the Iowa Metaphysical Fair. All thanks to an amazing woman named Lisa, who has taken me under her wing in the affairs of selling your work at a craft fair.
I will also be at the World of Faeries Fair in Illinois this August, having been invited from the Times Faire. AND there is the possibility of doing two more fairs before the end of the year!
I have also committed to submitting my work to three SciFi Fantasy conventions; DemiCon, which was this past May; CONvergence in July, and ICon (Iowa Icon) in October.
It is crazy to think that I would be setting up tables and doing in person selling. I have been selling online for over 10 years because of my fear of small talk. Yet, I found selling in person rewarding in a new way...I got to meet the people, and they got to meet me!
I had a couple customers say they had either seen my work or bought my work online, and now they got to meet me! I would be so excited if I could do that with an artist I admired.
Once the weekend was over, I came home to this, the reality of life in the art studio. I too am a huge fan of looking at artists' studios....so preen and airy. But I fear in real life, it's a bit more like this....more often than not.
Flash Sale Summer 2015
This Friday,
June 12th, I will be having my second EVER flash sale. How many times until it becomes tradition? Well, I plan to have one every six months to help clear things out. So far, here are some peeks into what I have going up on the site.
What's different about this flash sale is it'll be on my website, www.sarabillustration.com, and everything will be listed at the exact same time. The page will go live at 3pm CST. There will also be special "peek a boo" items that will not be advertised, but available during the sale as well.
So mark your calendar, set a reminder on your phone, tac up a sticky note, and get ready for a week of sneak peeks, and a fun sale at the end of the week! What a great way to start the weekend. :)
I am always wondering how other artist moms, especially those with toddlers do it. This is my attempt to document what a week in my studio looks like on a day to day basis (thought I didn't have enough projects going).
MONDAY
I process all of my orders on Monday, it's my main goal. I set a few goals, but this is always #1. Our weekends are usually very full, so this is a recoup day for us, and orders are the easiest to do watching Norah.
Beware the land mines. >_<
Did I mention we listen to Kidz Bop most of the time? Norah loves to boogey, and so does mom.
"Do you run?" you might ask.
"Only when chased." I would reply.
"Do you blog?" you might ask.
"Only when tagged."
So thank goodness for K.G. Campbell tapping me on the virtual shoulder and saying... "You're it!"
Last week, the funny and fabulously talented K.G. Campbell was "it" in this 4 question game of blog tag. A game in which a bunch of authors and illustrators are running about tagging each other's blogs, answering questions about their working process.
Here is a link to Mr. Campbell's Q and A.
And here is mine...
Ready. Set. Go!
What am I currently working on?
I'm usually juggling 3 projects simultaneously.
This is what is on my desk today...
Work in Progress from SEA REX (Summer 2015, Viking) @mollyidle via Instagram
I'm also scribbling away on sketches for ZOMBELINA DANCES THE NUTCRACKER, by Kristyn Crow (Fall 2015, Bloomsbury).
And... FLORA AND THE PEACOCKS (Spring 2016, Chronicle)
How does my work differ from others of it's genre?
This is an interesting question. I think that if I were a writer of thrilling crime mysteries, or satire, or historical fiction, it might be easier to find a genre basis of comparison, and then to say how my work differs. But picture books aren't really a genre. They're a medium. They are means to tell a story, like a novel, or a comic strip, or a movie. There are as many different ways to utilize the medium of picture books as there are different people making them... that's one of the things I love most about them (picture books and picture book makers).
And while I don't constrain myself to any particular genre when working within the medium of picture books, I do find that the stories I gravitate towards, the stories I want to tell, do tend to have a few elements in common.... improbability, theatricality, sincerity and humor.
Why do I write what I write?
Because I enjoy it! And because I love a challenge.
An idea for a story will strike me, and the prospect of telling it, and telling it well, is at once tantalizing and terrifying.
The terror is what causes me to procrastinate.
I know the depth of the work involved in getting a story just right. It's daunting. No sane person would willingly spend months, or years, fussing over 32 pages and 200 words, or 50 words, or one word... or no words! So, often, I will sit on idea, mulling it over for ages in my mind before I ever put pencil to paper.
But the terror is inevitably overcome by the tantalizing vision I had in that moment when an idea lit. That warm mental lightbulb glow... The vision of how awesome the story could be... So, I start scribbling.
How does my storytelling process work?
Does my storytelling process work? This questions supposes that it does...and I like that idea...so I'm running with it! (This is the only other instance in which you will see me run.)
I sometimes wish fervently that I had a set process which worked for every story...
Every story, every project, seems do demand it's own way of working. And so, I find I'm reinventing the wheel whenever I start something new.
Sometimes the words come first, sometimes an image, sometimes a whole world magically appears out of nowhere and it seems all I have to do is take dictation.
But however it begins, I find myself amassing a bunch of words scribbled in my notebook and a bunch of earnest, if unintelligible, lines drawn in my sketchbook. They look like this...
When I think I have everything figured out, I start working on constructing full sentences and/or full sketches. That is to say, that I think I have everything figured out to make the story work. But that is a very different thing than having everything figured out that will make the story work as a picture book.
Those are two very different things. I mean, can make a really beautiful drawing that works compositionally... But that doesn't matter a lick, if it doesn't work in the context of the book. Pacing, page turns, design, all this gets figured out when I start working to scale on the sequential images. Like this...
That's the uphill work for me. Once the sketches are done, the rest of the process feels like coasting...
FLORA and the PENGUIN (September 2014, Chronicle)
Phew!
I am out of questions, out of answers, and out of breath from all this virtual running.
So...
Tag, Greg Pizzoli - you're it!
Well, ok, it's really called International Book Giving Day...
But I AM giving away four- count 'em FOUR- copies of FLORA AND THE FLAMINGO!
In keeping with the "International" part of International Book Giving Day- I'm giving away
one copy each of the English, Spanish, French and Italian translations/editions of the book!
To enter for your chance to win simply leave a comment here... in any language :)
Winners will be randomly chosen from all of the entries, and I'll announce the lucky four
tonight at 9PM (MST)!
Thank you!
Gracias!
Merci!
Grazie!
Tis the season to snuggle up on the couch with a good book and something warm and yummy to sip.
And while Rex is forgoing his usual tea and biscuits for milk and cookies (which were supposed to be for Santa)...
I'm here to share the recipe for my family's favorite CHRISTMAS TEA!
It's a sort of instant wassail- guaranteed to warm your spirits as well as your tummy.
CHRISTMAS TEA!
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups Sugar
1/2 cup Instant Tea
2 cups Tang (or other orange powdered drink mix)
1 tsp. Cinnamon
1/2 tsp. Ground Cloves
1 small package lemonade mix
Directions:
Combine all ingredients together in a large bowl and mix thoroughly.
Makes enough to serve one large party of holiday revelers, or one very large dinosaur.
Add 2-3 spoonfuls of the mix to a mug of hot water, stir, and enjoy!
And speaking of enjoying...
The two lucky winners of this month's TEA REX GIVEAWAY each get to enjoy their very own signed TEA REX print, courtesy of Viking Children's Books!
And the winners are...
Carter Higgins
and
Gail Maki Wilson
Happy Holidays to you two!
And to all of you- warm wishes for a Merry Holiday Season and a very Happy New Year.
Cheers!
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