Raising Readers Guest Post

I had the pleasure of writing a guest post for Katey Howes who is host of Kateywrites - a blog about children's literature, parenting and much more. Among many things, she writes an excellent Raising Readers weekly post. Her blog is a terrific source for ideas and exploration about kid literature and how parents can encourage reading and creativity at home. I raise a virtual cheer to Katey who is an inspiration! http://kateywrites.wordpress.com/2014/11/09/raisingreaders-monday-guest-helen-n-hill/

Getting to the *Heart* of the Story

Taking some time off recently has allowed me the opportunity to see my work in a new light. So, I revised the The Little Artichoke and really nailed down the heart of the story (yes, right down to the artichoke heart).

Where before I was focused on the main character riding from one issue to the next, this post on pansters and plotters helped me to marry the strange gray place where character and narrative arc overlap. In a nut shell, Lisa Cron's post suggests that all events in a story should ride on the character's internal struggle. Ah ha! If you do that, then you have a work that's based ". . . why she (your main character) makes those decisions and how she (your main character) changes as a result."

 

Although the post is meant for longer works (aka novels), I still think it holds true for any story. I challenge you to try it on short stories, poems, comics, etc... See below, practice illustrations from my picture book, Me! The Little Artichoke. Enjoy and A bientot!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Character Design, Part 2

Last post, I introduced you to April Witherwell, a new character I created. Now that I have her 3 angles figured out, I thought I'd give her a little more zing.

I used the classic Disney flour sack animation exercise to get me out of my normal drawing routine. I love the "squash" and "stretch" terms that are used to add to "personality" to the flour sack. Fundamentally, though, it's about understanding how when you exaggerate one part of the anatomy what happens to the rest.

This is an excellent blog post about the topic of flour bag and how it is misinterpreted: http://tallgrassradiostudios.blogspot.com/2005/05/that-poor-misunderstood-sack-of-flour.html

With this knowledge, I went back to April and painted her in my style.

A bientot!

Character Design

I've been drawing and writing a story about a girl who goes to a costume party. My main character, April, took some shape over the last month.

I got a great tip on character design from Kelly Light's fabulous workshop during the NJ SCBWI conference in June. She talked about using horizontal guide lines to help "rotate your character" on the page.

 

Kelly reminded me also to practice drawing from life. I've been doing sheets of eyes, noses, mouths, eyebrows, ears and faces from magazines, books and of course, life. Here's my "profiles" page.

I challenge you to design all your characters with all their angles, not just their the best poses in mind. And if you want to know more about April- why she's dressed up as a witch, where's she's going, what gets in her way . . . well, that's another post! A bientot!

Getting Ready for SCBWI Conference

I'm very excited to attend the upcoming SCBWI Conference in Princeton in a few weeks. I've been busy getting ready. The big thing I've been working on are my promotional cards. I made two versions and found a great printer, Printingforless, (they made me feel completely at ease- fast turn around and economic rates). I made sure the size and the specifications of the card met with the Conference requirements and also, made sure they were standard postcard size so that I can send my extras out to agents and publishers.

And here's the world exclusive . . . drum roll . . . please . . .

Which one do you like best?

Also, I'm busy getting my business cards polished, brushing up my portfolio and creating an illustration for the Illustrator's ShowCase (the theme is "Down the Rabbit Hole"). And funny enough, Oliver Jeffers used this expression during a discussion at the NYPL a few weeks ago. So, I have great inspiration and a picture of me with him (which I refuse to publish).

More to come on the upcoming conference. A bientot!

The Slight Curve

I've been working away at a mini comic, The Slight Curve, that is rather apropos for summer time. Generally, when I work this way, I start off with rough watercolor sketches.

Then I design the pages and make a key to figure out the size of my panels. I layout panel borders and sketch out the words and images in pencil.

Afterwards, I paint all the images. Then I paint the words, the panels and finally I ink the outlines (see below for finished art).

Enjoy The Slight Curve and give me some feedback in the comments section. And, if you are interested in using or repurposing the story, please be in touch. : )

A bientot!

 

Three Minute Watercolors

I got out my rusty stop watch (the one my husband used to time out my contractions during labor) and watercolor paper. I set up an object and gave my self three minutes. Here's one of my attempts:

Try it. You'll be surprised with what you see! A bientot.

Wanna Fight? Hammering Out Conflict in a Story.

A few years ago, in Deb Lucke’s Graphic Novel and Picture Book class, I was introduced to the concept of conflict in a story. As defined, the conflict is the problem that triggers the action in a story. For example, in Sendak’s famous Where the Wild Things Are, the conflict is between Max and his Mom although we don’t actually see the argument. However, there are also stories where the conflict is literally in the story. In Potter’s Peter Rabbit, Peter disobeys his mom and almost gets caught by Mr. McGregor.

At the time, I was a little stuck on my Mama Lucia and I instantly, drew:

 I regrouped. I listed both my characters attributes and asked myself what is each character’s deepest desire:

And, after many pages through my notebook, I discovered the power struggle between the siblings for their mother’s attention.  Also, I saw how one character’s “want” got in the way of the other character’s “want”. Got any conflicts up your sleeves? I want to hear some.

And where is this story now and what have I done with it? Well, that’s another entry!

A bientot.

Letting Loose

A few times a week, I’ve been going back to the love of my youth: just mucking about with paint. This is mainly an effort to loosen up my style. Last week, I used spices from my kitchen as the basis for a few of my paintings.
It all happened by accident. I was hosting a North African themed party and along with the hummus, cous cous and the spicy roasted veg, I wanted to make some unconventional place mats. So I swirled glue on poster paper and sprinkled cumin, cinnamon, curry and chili flakes over my patterns. After a little coughing and shaking about, I really liked the lines I created.

Here’s a close up of the spices melded to the page:

Once the spices were dry, I sprayed them with a clear acrylic and realized the place mats were too delicate to put plates over. Unconventional? Hum. Unpractical? Not exactly.

I then incorporated charcoal and pencil into the “place mats” to work out a composition.

Next, I covered my sketch with paint.

My eyes no longer water from the chili flakes and place mats are now paintings. Life is good!

A bientot.

PS-  See Spice Man, on my painting page, another painting created in this method.