A creative tip for writers and illustrators: Every so often, take the time to look at things around you differently than you normally would. Sounds like a glib cliché, I know, but I encourage you to really give it a shot. When I'm walking through a familiar area or doing something I've done a zillion times before, I tend to take my surroundings for granted. Every once in a while, I force myself to stop and really look at something or someone. I mean really LOOK. If I have the time, I sketch or write about it in my notebook. If I only have a few minutes, like when I'm waiting in a grocery line, then I make it a mental exercise. I also do this through my found object art and encourage young people to do found object art for the same reason.
Since I consciously started doing this, I have found my work showing the benefits. I'm sharing this tip here in hopes that it might help some of you as well.
How you can apply this principle in your illustrations: Before settling on a way of illustrating a scene, experiment with different perspectives and other ways of interpreting the text. Feel free to use one of my brainstorming templates. Do more art just for the fun of it to keep yourself from falling into a rut. Doodle, experiment. Remind yourself you don't have to show anyone what you're drawing.
How you can apply this principle in your writing: Avoid describing people and things in clichéd phrases ("she was fit as a fiddle" etc.), take the time to make your characters and stories unique, don't chase trends. Carry around a notebook and jot down phrases, descriptions, ideas, names. Brainstorm. Write every day; it doesn't have to be for a book project or something you want to get published. Write for FUN. Experiment with poetry (you don't have to show anyone); I find writing poetry makes me more conscious of word choice and the sound of the words. Read what you write out loud; read in a different voice, at different speeds.
Do you have your own creativity boost techniques? Feel free to share them below in the comments.
November is Picture Book Month! Each day, you can find an inspirational essay by a children's book writer or illustrator about the importance of picture books. ALSO, teachers and librarians can find curriculum connections compiled by educational consultant and children's book author, Marcie Colleen (Marcie did the Teacher's Guides for I'M BORED and NAKED!).
Anyway, the first essay is by Aaron Becker, and you can read it here.
If you're a picture book writer, I also advise you to check out Tara Lazar's Picture Book Idea Month (PiBoIdmo), in which participants are challenged to come up with 30 picture book ideas in a month.
And of course, November is also National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), where the challenge is to write 50,000 words of a novel in 30 days.
When I especially enjoy reading a book or fall in love with a particular illustration, it’s usually because the author or illustrator manages to convey an emotion, scene or story in an unusual way, that spurs me to look at the world a little differently.
I try to remember this when writing and illustrating. It's one of my goals when I create found object art, trying to avoid the obvious.
Martha Rago, Associate Creative Director at HarperCollins Children's Books
I recently posted two mini-interviews with Martha Rago and Lauren Rille over on the KidLitArtists blog.
With the SCBWI Summer Conference coming up, I asked HarperCollins Associate Creative Director Martha Rago about how SCBWI portfolio showcases help publishers HarperCollins Children's find illustrators.
Martha says that the Showcase is a great way for art directors to see a lot of work all at once when they're looking for something in particular. She also points out that the event connects many artists with agents.
Read more of what Martha Rago says about SCBWI portfolio showcases.
Lauren Rille, Associate Art Director at Simon & Schuster Children'sI asked Lauren Rille what the biggest mistake or misconception that aspiring children's book illustrators make.
Lauren said that artists new to the process tend to have the misconception that being asked to revise means that they're doing it "wrong."
You can read more about what Lauren says about the revision process here.
Above and below: samples of the book-friendly cartoons by Tom Gault, whose YOU'RE ALL JUST JEALOUS OF MY JETPACK is being published later this year by Drawn & Quarterly. I have to buy this book!
See more samples of his comics in BookPatrol as well as Tom's Tumblr blog.
Above: Me, in the Charles M. Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa, CA.
Nearly finished final revisions to illustrations for I'M BORED (and created a new Facebook Page for I'M BORED -- if you're on Facebook, I'd appreciate it if you could Like it at http://www.facebook.com/boredbook).
Meanwhile, though, I'm still trying to do a little bit of writing and illustrating every day purely for the fun of it. Sometimes I post this publicly, sometimes I don't. I strongly feel that doing something creative & fun with your craft on a regular basis is vital. I find it helps keep me from getting in a rut, gives me a chance to experiment, and sparks new ideas.
Off to do some doodling now...
(via David Diaz on Facebook)
URL: http://www.taletotellproject.com/
I've seen a ton of collaborative text storytelling sites but this is the first illustrated version. Intriguing! I'd volunteer but it looks as if they're booked up until at least the summer already.
From their About page:
A Tale to Tell is an illustrated, collaborative storytelling project where each week a new illustrator/artist will be invited to submit the next part of the story, with a text entry and an illustration to accompany it. Each artist responds to the story as it was left by the previous, taking the story wherever they wish and leaving it open for the next person to continue! Creating an elaborate, imaginative tale from the minds of some of the most creative people around.
For now, the project exists in online form but further down the line we will also be looking into getting our collective narrative published.
