My Shoebox of Dreams

Sketch and Resketch

2011-11-30T15:51:00.001-08:00

For several months, I've had the goal of sketching quick faces as my computer saves and processes. All of these were done in under 5 minutes. This page had a particularly rewarding lesson. You'll see two sketches circled in red. After doing the first one, I realized I hadn't captured the expression, which is the main goal with these. So I quickly did another focusing on just the emotion, which means I exaggerated it further than I usually would. The result was lovely and communicated clearly. Sketching often, quickly, and re-sketching are among the fastest ways to learn.

Speaking of sketching, I'll be posting rough sketches and concepts for characters every day in December. This is an effort to generate multiple ideas for character driven stories I plan to explore and animate. Please stop by daily and feel free to contribute your own ideas and sketches if desired :

CharacterDrivenStory.blogspot.com

Contest Results - Pets!

2011-09-17T08:41:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to both Kristi and Scott! After all the votes came in by comment or email I could see the results would be close. It ended up being an even tie so you both win as this contest was determined by a community vote. Your prizes ($10 gift cards to Blick Art Materials) have been ordered and should arrive by email shortly (within the next 3 business days).

Kristi, your work sure has improved and your talent grown over the last year+. Scott, I'm glad to have you still here and contributing although you have a job using your art all day long, I've liked watching the direction your work has taken and see where you are more willing to go bold.

Congratulations to the both of you. And if you read this blog and haven't contributed, please do. Let someone you know that is interested in drawing, illustration, or other types of art yet doesn't know how to get involved: well, please let them know about this blog and to just try it out. We welcome talent of all levels, after all none of us are ever really done growing.

Stay tuned and see what is to come, this Shoebox of Dreams just keeps on rolling (as good as a box can roll)!

Illustration Contest Entries - Pets!

2011-09-07T09:47:00.000-07:00

You'll find below the entries for the illustration contest that centered around the theme of pets. Thank you and congratulations to our participants, Kristi and Scott. Great work. I finished one but I don't have an internet connection at home yet (as I recently moved) so I'm having to work on anything blog related in class...not working well. Sorry for the delay everyone that follows the blog, I'm working on getting an internet connection this week.

Please vote for a winner of the contest in one of two ways: leave a comment on one of the two entries below to vote for that entry or if you cannot log in (as I think there isn't an anonymous way to log in) send me an email at shoeboxofdreamsentries@gmail.com and put the illustrator's name in the subject line. Thanks everyone who participated in various ways and that has for the life of the Shoebox. I'm going through a hard patch of life as far as being able to maintain the blog (as I am currently buried in the second year of pharmacy school) but it is a priority for me to not bury my shoebox of dreams again. I may have to rethink the blog but I feel like its a part of me and needs to live. Please send me your thoughts if you have any ideas you'd like to share.

Please vote for Kristi or Scott below or by email. Thanks everyone!

Voting deadline: September 14th, 2011 (one week).
(Winner will be posted September 16th)

Illustration Contest - Pets! - Kristi G.

2011-09-07T09:36:00.001-07:00

Kristi G.

Please vote for Kristi by leaving a comment below (either by logging into google or leaving it as anonymous).

Illustration Contest - Pets! - Scott W.

2011-09-07T09:35:00.000-07:00

Scott W.

Please vote for Scott by leaving a comment below (either by logging into google or leaving it as anonymous).

Illustration Contest - Pets

2011-08-08T09:13:00.000-07:00

Welcome one and all to the next contest. Sharpen your pencils, grab some markers, or fire up your tablet. This contest is a run on the last contest centering around "man's best friend". We want to extend this contest to any kind of pet. Keep in mind that I am not limiting this to any type of literal pet or common pet. Let your imagination be the limit to what you can come up with and then break those limits. I want to see your imagination flowing outside the paper.

Entries can be rough as a sketch or final, colorized works ready to be framed and hung. Just play around with the subject matter and see what road your imagination takes you down and then challenge it.

Contest deadline: August 22nd, 2011 at midnight.

(For this contest there will be prizes awarded for community favorite and runner up of two gift cards to Dick Blick: Art Materials. They will be small cards as I'm a grad student but I like the idea of adding incentives for you to put forth your best effort. I will have details later detailing the community decision-making process we will use.)

Good luck everyone!

Dinosaur Hunt

2011-08-01T16:35:00.000-07:00

Well, I guess I misread their deadline by one day. Oh well. You fellow reader will get to enjoy the entry that I put a lot of time into. If you do not know what I am talking about let me explain. There is a cool website that features information, tutorials, workshops, etc. all centered around illustration. They had a contest that was due (I thought tomorrow) last night at midnight. I spent a lot of time (a few hours a week ago and a whole day off) working on an idea for the contest. When I logged on I realized I was too late.

The contest centered around a few quotes and I chose one that said something to the effect of "Don't play what's there, play what isn't there." I had a fun idea of a girl and dad that are doing exactly that, playing that they're on a hunt for dinosaurs. I'm really bummed that I wasn't able to enter my illustration, not that I would have won but because I worked for a long time on this piece. Well, hopefully you can enjoy my misfortune in the form of enjoying my entry.

Vote for our fellow contributor Scott Wiser's illustrations: (by clicking 'like' he gets votes and the winner of the contest is based on how 'like'd or how many votes you get)

http://www.paperwingspodcast.com/2011/07/think-pink-ink-by-scott-wiser/
http://www.paperwingspodcast.com/2011/07/gone-gong-by-scott-wiser/
I'll have a new contest up on the blog within a couple of days for you all to participate in. You're the best!

I've included below the initial sketch if you're interested in seeing where I first started from.

Dogs! - Illustration Contest

2011-07-23T23:37:00.000-07:00

Thank you participants! Great work! Your illustrations and sketches were fun to look at. Enjoy these great dogs and leave some comments!

Kristi G.

So I tried sketching with a pen for my rough ideas. I hope you don't mind me sending you these along with the finished. I was pretty excited about them - I usually use a pencil and find myself using the eraser more than the side I should be using. I tried to not worry so much about getting it perfect, instead tried to capture the movement. I am more pleased with the sketches than the final. Liezl has been following Jingle around the house for the last couple of weeks with a paper and pencil in hand. She has not decided which one she wants to send yet.

(I just took a peek at the scanned pictures and they look pretty fuzzy - sorry)

Nate S.

For my picture I just compiled a bunch of sketches of different breeds of dogs that were high up on the popularity rankings and some that had unique characteristics. Mostly I just wanted to explore the world of dog lovers and see where it led me. My reason for wanting to work on dog pictures for this contest centers around a story I’m working on that centers around a little girl and her greatest wish, to have a dog. She’s young but at her tender age she’s a sort of scientist, categorizing the breeds of dogs and doing her own scientific sketches. It’s a work in progress and this activity helped push me in the right direction. I went with the pen-only approach which was harder than I thought it would be but an enjoyable challenge. Hopefully this contest was as beneficial to you as it was to me. Either way, thanks for participating with me.

Scott W.

I took some time to draw lots of reference (didn't include all of it in this selection...should've included a skeletal sketch, which was really important.) And the biggest drawing is the design I was going for. Fun contest though, lots of room to play and if I had more time, I probably would.

Also, on my personal blog, I'm posting a process post for my Paperwings podcast entry. Thanks for mentioning it on your blog and I'm excited to see how both websites benefit from these fun contests!

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore

2011-07-20T21:04:00.000-07:00

The Fantastic Flying Books Of Morris Lessmore iPad App Teaser from Moonbot Studios on Vimeo.

I was recently blown away when I was introduced to an inviting story and a wonderful little app created by a team of artists at Moonbot Studios. What they did is nothing short of amazing. If you have been following my blog you may have picked up the hint that I'm a fan of animation and have been my whole life. This story and the presentation grabbed my attention and had me checking all over the web to figure out what they're all about.

Let me take a step back, if you aren't familiar with Mr. Morris Lessmore he is a character in an animated short film. Historically, short films have been used to push the boundaries of the art and science of animation and also to develop and foster growth and new leadership from the artistic team. Normally these short films are enjoyed by the audience but the love stops there...never paying the bills (or artistic team). To pay for the artistic work, feature films have been the expensive necessity (which would require even more debt or capital to fund any endeavour).

Mr. Morris Lessmore blew my socks off because here this team is able to think outside of the box, analyze today's new culture, and find a creative way to create a widget that people want and are willing to pay for. You received my applause Moonbot Studios in the form of purchasing the app and short film, an investment well worth it. The app is doing amazing right now in the Apple App Store (currently #27 on the Top Paid iPad Apps list). On top of that iTunes has made selling your short film to the public easy and affordable. Now for only a couple of dollars you can have access on your phone to the sweat, frustration, and tears of an entire creative team.

Inspiring work. Fellow contributors, think outside of the box, go places where no one has even thought of going before. New markets are opening up that will cherish your work and follow you, like you, and even inspire you to keep it up. Don't let anyone discourage you from pursuing your dreams...especially yourself. Some of the greatest obstacles you'll ever face were built brick by brick by your own two hands. It's not wrong to lay bricks...just make sure your paving a brick path that leads you on and up. Congratulations Mr. Morris Lessmore, you have my attention and admiration.

(Picture and clip are referenced from http://www.morrislessmore.com/ and http://www.moonbotstudios.com/. Check them out and let me know what you think.)

http://www.morrislessmore.com/
http://www.moonbotstudios.com/

Paper Wings Podcast - A Fantastic Reference

2011-07-07T22:08:00.000-07:00

Fellow contributor Scott Wiser has referred my attention to a great resource dedicated to assisting visual storytellers (illustration, animation, etc.) learn more about craft and connecting. The website seems like it's relatively new (could be older than the Shoebox though) but they have some great ideas they are working through. I encourage you to go check it out and see if some of their podcasts help you with the story process.

From what I've seen so far they have some similar ideas to the original ideas I had when I started this blog, some different too. Check it out today and let me know what you think. They are also sponsoring an illustration contest, but they're giving away prizes (good idea...wish I had money to do that...I'll think about it though). You guys are the best. Here's the link:

http://www.paperwingspodcast.com/

New Contest - Dogs!

2011-07-06T22:05:00.000-07:00

For this contest I'm going to give a general topic and let you individually decide where you want to go with it. The subject is...dogs. I have a short story idea that centers around man's canine friend and I wanted to offer a challenge to the group as well as to myself. I just may let everyone look over my shoulder on this one and see what I've been up to.

Thank you everyone for your continued participation. Our deadline is set for two weeks out (remember that this doesn't need to be a final piece of art but a sketch or simple demonstration of ideas, composition, etc).

July 22nd, 2011 (7/22/11)

Send in your submissions to the blog's email. Good luck.

Argh! Finally getting my act together!

2011-06-24T22:57:00.000-07:00

Alright everyone, sorry for the hiatus, I've been going through a rough rotation and had to reevaluate my scheduling priorities. I've finally tackled my final version of my viking entry/nominated picture from last year. I can't say that I love it or like it but I've decided to quick playing with it and just post what I have. Honestly I've felt inadequate with my artwork lately and it has pushed me away from sharing and posting on the blog but I've decided...what on earth am I thinking? The whole purpose of this blog was not for people to show off to each other but for us to learn and grow together. By not sharing, I am limiting myself from growth artistically. Long story short, I'm recommitted to the blog and idea behind Our Shoebox of Dreams.

I'm very proud of what everyone has sent to me over the year plus that I have been running this blog and I want to represent well what we're doing here. I have some ideas to expand our group of contributors and open it up to more that have similar desires to grow their art and reach out to other aspiring artists. Please keep checking back as I will try to get some small contests starting up and some great new ideas.

Any comments or questions, I'd love to hear from you: shoeboxofdreamsentries@gmail.com.

BEST OF 2010

2011-05-04T23:18:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone. I've gotten so far behind so I'd like to apologize for the lateness of the blog entries. I'm currently finishing my first year of graduate/pharmacy school and with all of the tests I've gotten pretty behind. Thanks for your patience though and I'm excited to move into summer where I don't have all the deadlines and tests to study for.

Great submissions to everyone that participated. You should be proud of yourselves. I've included in this post all the newly reviewed submissions; anything not included in this post can be found on the nominations post. Thank you for your continued participation throughout the year of 2010 and into 2011. I'm hoping to get the blog up and running as soon as I finish my last final in two weeks. You guys are the best.

Kristi G - Mermaid

Nate S - Recruiting a Viking (Work in Progress. Time has continued to escape me with the end of year routine in my schooling. Sorry everyone it has taken me so long but thanks for your patience!)

Scott W - Auguste to Bed

Quick Draw Contest - St. Patrick's Day

2011-03-03T08:53:00.000-08:00

Hello fellow contributors. I know we have a bigger contest that is due the end of the month but I had to throw out a challenge in homage to my favorite holiday of the year, St. Patrick's day. Your entry can be a quick sketch if needs be but please submit something that has to do with the holiday, I'll leave it up to your interpretation.

Due date: Day before St. Patrick's Day, Wed. March 16th, 2011

Good luck!

Also, should you be interested in checking out my progress in the Picture Book Marathon, please check out the 26 stories I came up with...yes I was a finisher and had one day to spare. Whew! It was hard but a fun form of excercise. Please check them out and vote for your favorites.

Picture Book Marathon Follow-up

2011-02-17T22:55:00.000-08:00

Any of you that didn't catch the old post, I (Nate S) have been participating in the Picture Book Marathon over the month of February and it's been rough but I've been able to keep up. If you're interested, please check out the stories I've come up with as the challenge has included coming up with the story/illustrations for a children's picture book everyday of February. While I can't say that I've been able to illustrate a picture everyday, I've managed to get a story idea for everyday so far, something I'm proud of. Please check them out and leave me a comment on my blog.

Best of the Shoebox - 2010 Nominations

2011-02-12T23:54:00.000-08:00

Announcing the 2010 Nominations for the Best of the Shoebox. Sorry for the delay but I had to do my best and extend the deadline for nominations to break some ties as best I could but for each contributor there was a clear first place submission. Announced below are the winners in alphabetical order:

Kristi G

#1 - Mermaid yoga
#2 - Girl pulling friend from the aquarium
#3 - Blue and Pink Cover

Liezl G

#1 - Eiffel Tower
#2 (Tie) - Popsicle friends AND Ballerina

Nate S

#1 - Viking Interview
#2 - No clear second or third place (it was between girl with large monster, monster in PJ's, girl with wishbone, and peacock)

Quincy G

#1 - Silly Clown
#2 (Tie) - Patsy the hairy monster AND Veggie robot

Scott W

#1 - Monster Brush (Auguste)
#2 - Bubble girl work
#3 - European background

Also included in nominations are two other contributors that received nominations. Although they didn't have 3 or more submissions throughout the year I thought it was important to include the votes and invite them to continue contributing, maybe even more than last year.

Aubrey S

#1 - Nellybug character/costume design

Becca W

#1 - Story backgrounds

Great work everyone! Thanks for all your submissions and work in 2010; and for following us into 2011. Your final objective with this exercise, should you wish to, is to take your number one, people's choice as well as one of your choosing and make a final version, a polished version that represents your best work of 2010. You may also resubmit the same piece without changing anything to it if that is what you wish but I challenge you to work a little harder on this challenge. Also should you wish you can submit up a third should you wish. My main objective with all of this work is to showcase what each person has done throughout the year and you will then have something you can save in your portfolio.

I will give a little extra time for this contest because I want you to submit your best work, really dig into this contest and work out those muscles. Originally I had in mind that I would make these available in a printed format for any interested, making it easier to save in a tangible way. I still am interested in doing just that should no one object.

Deadline for polished work: March 31st, 2011

Doodles or Drawings

2011-02-09T22:19:00.000-08:00

Scott left me a comment that I added to the last post towards the bottom about trying too hard. I know for myself that if I could try to subdue the perfectionist inside me I could get a lot more done and possibly be more content with the outcomes. Thanks Scott. Here's the drawing he was talking about doing. Enjoy...

Quick Draw - Character Relationships

2011-02-07T21:40:00.000-08:00

Thank you for the pictures submitted. Great work. Here's the submissions I received for this quick draw contest.

Kristi G

Nate S

Mine I ended up not developing as far as I hoped to at this time. I’ve been working this month on a picture book marathon that has entailed coming up with the rough draft of a children’s book every day, on top of the finals I’m trying to keep up with. I appreciate the work you guys put into these contests so I knew I had to at least give you a real rough draft of my thought process. The story can be found on my blog and centers around two brothers, a big box of crayons, and a lot of imagination.

Scott W

I'm still playing around with the vegan twins. I like the personality of peace-loving, eccentric, etc. that they bring to my mine. I actually pitched animating something based on them at my school (but my mentor felt it was too complex). I would have a clearer, more polished sketch but I ran out of time...It'll come soon, no worries. So the sketch that I'm leaning most toward is the bottom left: one twin is drawn to the top secret box while the other pulls her away : The story I'm exploring of these two peace-loving-vegans who are incredibly skilled and talented, but refuse to be secret agents.

Also I wanted to share a comment that Scott sent me, I found it helpful (thanks Scott):

“Hey Nate, so I thought I'd share this too since this contest was a quick draw. I was in an online meeting and not feeling too positive, so I started sketching. I first made an interesting scribble shape and then started shaping a character out of that. I was only half concentrating in the drawing, so I was quite surprised with the quality of the character and rendering. It just reemphasized that sometimes we try too hard when we should really keep things loose and experiment.”

Just so everyone knows, I'm finishing up tallying all the results from the votes for everyone's nominations. I'll have them up this week.

Picture Book Marathon 2011

2011-02-02T22:42:00.000-08:00

Hey fellow contributors and followers, I've signed up for something you may or may not have heard of but I'd think you'd be interested in. It's called the Picture Book Marathon and it consists of professionals and non-professionals trying their best at illustrating and/or writing a picture book for children.

Click right HERE to check out their website.

I'm going to be working on stories all this month, hopefully illustrating as well as writing as well as the contests that pertain to this website too. Please support me if you would by checking out my blog at the link below and I'll update it with my daily stories for the marathon:

MY ART BLOG

Keep up the great work everyone.

New Year, New Contests

2011-01-20T22:34:00.000-08:00

Welcome back everyone to a new year in the pursuit of dreams and aspirations. Thank you everyone that contributed to the blog, you made 2010 a great year and hopefully you can see the progress in your work that I have noticed. Let's get into it, I've gotten so behind in graduate school that it isn't funny, literally. Anyways, I got a sinus infection that forced me to slow down for a few moments so here I am and I'm ready to make 2011 a year that the ball starts rolling. Here's what I have for you:

A double contest. First I want to do a normal quick draw contest so do your best in the time you've got and send it in on time. This contest is to do a piece that shows relationship between two (or more) characters. You need to be able to convey relationship, emotion, in other words the two need to have eachother in the picture for it to work. Make it something that reads well. Do your best you have until February 6th at midnight. (Beware though, that only gives you little over a week so work quickly and just submit whatever you have done, this isn't going to be hung in a museum.)

Second, I want your feedback. We're going to put together a highlight of 2010 submissions. For every artist that has submitted at least 3 times last year, I want you to submit what you think/feel is their best piece from the whole year and also, what you think/feel is your best piece of the year. So send in the nominations to the blog's email and I'll tally them up and anounce the winners of each contributor. Best part is that everyone wins in the end and you'll find out a lot about your work hopefully through this contest. Remember that means for every contributor that has made at least 3 contributions through the year, you will nominate one piece that highlights their work (as well as one of your own). Email them to me at shoeboxofdreamsentries@gmail.com. Same deadline as the contest above, Feb. 6th.

Christmas Contest

2010-12-14T20:26:00.000-08:00

Kristi G.

Instead of thinking of someplace you would not see yourself at Christmas, I made a quick picture of the perfect place to be during Christmas....At a party, in a beautiful dress, dancing the night away. OK, you might not get it, but ask Aubrey - she gets it. (Forget Christmas Story - Meet me in St. Louis always gets me in the Christmas spirit).

Nate S.

For my picture I didn't have a lot of time to develop my idea but it was centered around Christmas in the desert, celebrated by a little owl that lives in a cactus and always wishes Santa will stop by and visit him. I haven't thought about the logistics of the story much but essentially what I was thinking was animals that wait for Santa's visit and what interesting things he brings for animals. A big, ugly final has been on my mind so that's all I have so far.

Christmas Illustration - Story Contest

2010-12-05T20:07:00.000-08:00

Grab those pens and pencils because we've got our second to last contest of the year and this one's a quick draw contest. There will be little time for developing this entry completely but I'm more just challenging you to submit something in the small time frame, for an illustration it can be a quick sketch, some ink, or even throw some color on if you get the chance. A story could just consist of the beats of the story or the general idea and story arc. For this contest we will aim it towards the Christmas holiday.

Your mission is to come up with an illustration and/or story that centers around Christmas. The plausible idea I'm throwing out there to offer as a challenge if you want to push yourself further is Christmas in a place that you wouldn't normally picture as a Christmas setting. Submit a general storyline centered on the theme or a quick sketch on the same theme. If you're going to do an illustration I have a second additional challenge to throw into the challenge: your illustration needs to demonstrate a sense of depth. I think this will push us all a little further. I'm excited to see what comes out of it.

You can do it. Put a little thought into this one and then quickly sketch out your idea and submit it before you let your eyes burst from fretting over all the errors and details. Just get something in for this one. Have fun with it; I dare you.

Email me your submission by: Monday, December 13th, 2010 at 7 AM.

Tangled Review

2010-12-04T00:12:00.000-08:00

Okay I had to take a moment from the normal flow of the blog to interrupt with a special message. I was totally broad-sided last week, somewhere from behind. I wanted to share my experience.

Last week my wife’s family went to see Disney’s new production Tangled in movie theaters the day following Thanksgiving. I was skeptical and in my opinion Disney pictures deserved it. They have put out quite a few feature films that had little heart and then to top it off 5 sequels for every Disney picture to date. Anyways I was skeptical, I think I mentioned that. Before we went to see the movie my mother texted me and said they just got out and she thought the movie was amazing (she shared my opinion from their pictures over the last few years). Hearing her say that sparked my interest, she’s very critical of movies, a difficult eye to please with art.

I must say that I loved the movie. I squirmed in my seat with laughter; I drooled over brilliant animation and visuals, and ended up shedding a tear or two. (I won’t ruin any scenes though and explain where.) The music was so fun. I grew up when Disney was the factory of animation gems like Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, and Lion King. I drew those characters over and over again, wishing someday that I could be an artist for Disney and make movies like that golden age of feature films. That was my greatest dream.

Slowly as the story quality degraded so did my dream although it’s true, other companies were coming out with films that sparked my creativity and interest; as the third golden age of Disney animation declined so did my dream. Tangled surprised me in a way that left me smiling and dreaming again. While I’ve read that Disney isn’t going to go down the fairytale pathway anytime soon (not my favorite piece of news) I still have to say thank you to the artists that helped make the film. You’ve inspired my passion for films with heart, films that the whole family can gather around, laugh, cry, and dream. Fellow contributors to this blog: do something today and every day this year about your dream; believe in it with every fiber of your being and then get working and make it happen.

- Nate S.

(I had to draw a picture to celebrate how much I loved it. It didn’t turn out very well but it was based off one of their promotional posters/pictures. You really have to see the movie though, the art in the movie is beautiful sometimes and breathtaking at other times.)

Thanksgiving Story - Illustration Contest

2010-11-30T00:01:00.000-08:00

Here's the final collection of entries for the Thanksgiving Contest. Thank you everyone for participating in this contest. Great work.

Kristi G.

Yesterday I walked into the kitchen and noticed Liezl and Quincy working on a project together while Ava stood watching, hoping to join in. I asked what they were up to, and Liezl responded by saying they were planning a Thanksgiving play. She was the Indian princess and Quincy was the beautiful pilgrim girl. I asked them if they could include Ava in the play, and they both said she already had an important part. Ava was thrilled to be their turkey and did a terrific job. I am so thankful for my silly girls!!!!

Nate S.

For about a year now, really it began about when I began this blog, I heard a story that just made me laugh, it was so sweet. My niece heard about the wonderfully magical properties of turkey wishbones and began scheming how she could insure she was able to make the wish and also presure her younger sister to wish for the same thing in case. I wanted to make some story off that idea somehow, about a girl that wants to make a wish or that does and the zany things that follow. So far I've only had ideas on this story, no direct storyline but the girl would have to be a compeling character.

Scott W.

I almost didn't have time, but I do have some quick sketches. I have been toying with the idea of vegan twins...my family liked the fat ones the best...the idea for thanksgiving would be that they don't want to eat the turkey, but I'm also toying with the idea of the same twins not wanting to be secret agents - as a short story. Could be fun.

(Sorry Scott, I have attempted to fix the squashing of the picture. I have attempted to repost this and add the image in various ways but it comes out squished horizontally everytime. Great picture though.)

Illustration / Story Contest: Thanksgiving Adventure

2010-11-16T21:37:00.000-08:00

Hey group, let's get going on a quick contest. I want you to do a quick sketch and/or story idea centered around the wonders of Thanksgiving. You can explore the idea as you wish but I want it to center somehow around the famous holiday for food, family, and fun (for most). Have fun with it and don't feel like you have to develop the story or illustration past a rough sketch.

Deadline: Sunday, November 28th at midnight.

(If you send them in to me before Thanksgiving I'll do my best to post them before Thanksgiving as a visual treat to munch on while you're digesting turkey or cranberry sauce.)

Final Book Cover: Book Illustration

2010-11-08T22:45:00.000-08:00

Here's what I've received thus far for the final developments of the book cover contests. I've been promised some more entries...well, ha ha...that includes my own final copy. It's all on the way. Keep up the hard work everyone.

*Edit* Here's another entry that came in a little later.

Kristi G.

I am happy with the characters and am feeling more confident in my drawing skills, but once I pull out the paints, I feel like I ruin the piece. I am a little frustrated with my picture - I have the intended look in my mind, but totally failed when trying to put it on paper. The background was not supposed to look that way, I just thought if I filled it with doodles, it would cover the shabby painting job - but I am afraid it just turns out looking way too busy and messy. I know this is a working progress and I am excited to grow and learn more every day. -Kristi

Nate S.

I continued with the Tooth Fairy book cover. After thinking about the critiques that were given I decided on the design with the border, somewhat subdued. As for the character in the middle, I am going with the tooth fairy by herself, looking at the tooth…the one in the middle from the last submission. I stayed up too late and I have to get to bed tonight for Biochemistry tomorrow morning at 7 am. I’m still working on this one, specifically with my costume designer (my wife) on exactly what she will end up wearing. It’ll be done soon; I promise. I wanted to see what everyone thought of the border first as I spent a whole day on it. Whew!

*Edit* I added two more pictures above with words to show two diverging ideas on the background, either fading the objects or leaving them in all their boldness. I brought the tooth out to make it stand out better. Let me know if either are working for you. After spending 3 or 4 hours on it last night I gave up on the picture of Nellybug, the tooth fairy for the middle of the picture. I'm going to try it another way.

Scott W.

I'm going with the bottle. I wasn't going to at first, but it became a great part of the story idea...and I love flipping the whole situation on its head. Thanks for the suggestion! Sketched in Pencil, rendered in Photoshop.

Illustrator Highlight: Heather Dixon

2010-11-03T21:23:00.000-07:00

I recently had the pleasure of interviewing a very talented artist named Heather Dixon that is working with story and illustration. She was kind enough to let me ask her a few questions about her work, background and process. Some contributors to the blog provided some questions, thank you. And I would like to extend a big thank you to Heather; your work is wonderful and we're highlighting it with the intention of inspiring future illustrators, story writers, and other forms applied artists. Below you'll find her responses to our questions and some examples of her work. Please check it out using any of the links below her pictures. (The Poppins pictures on her blog are my favorite.)

- Nate

You can find her blog here.

What has been your journey in developing your artistic skills, starting from childhood on through educational endeavors? Where did you study? What did you graduate in?

"I actually wasn’t a very good artist growing up. I was never the best artist in my class, but I enjoyed drawing quite a bit. I feel I never really started to draw and improve until I was accepted by BYU (Brigham Young University) animation at the tender age of 21. I got several internships while I was there, one at 8fish, an advertising studio, then at a feature animation studio, where I was hired after I graduated. Right now I’m working freelance, which is a lot of fun. Even as a professional artist, I still feel I have a lot of catching up to do."

Artwork by Heather Dixon

What has been your biggest obstacle with your work and how did you overcome it?

"Two answers to that. The first is an ongoing obstacle—fighting artist’s depression, trying to improve my work and become a better craftsman. I’ll never overcome it, but the best way to battle it is to constantly work and improve.

"Less philosophically, the other big obstacle was learning how to do things digitally. I entered the animation program with no idea how to use a computer. I remember staring at a computer screen, at a loss of how to even scan something in. I was pathetic! So you can imagine how enabling it was when I learned, piece by piece, asking friends for tips and doing projects digitally, how to work Photoshop. And then Corel Painter, and then Illustrator. Each new program became easier and easier, and my art turned out better and better. It’s amazing the whole new world that digital opened for me. I felt like I could do anything!"

Artwork by Heather Dixon

Do you make a living at writing and illustrating? How do you make your artwork work for you?

"I do! Being a starving artist is great! I’m a terrible business person though, so I don’t have much advice other than: Work hard improving your skills, and the rest will follow."

Work and Process)

What is the creative process you use for your illustrations?

"I gather references first and put them in a project folder. Using them I do a whole bunch of thumbnails, and then I work the composition and sketch from there. After that, I mess with the color and value and work on rendering.

"I’m a fan of “the best at each stage” method, which means I try to get the best ref pictures I can, draw until I have the best thumbnails, the best sketches, etc. Which means it’s really relaxing when I can just open up a canvas and make a quick, raw picture for kicks."

Artwork by Heather Dixon

Do work mostly with your computer, or pencil and paper?

"I start out traditionally, doing thumbnails and the basic sketches with a .9mm blue pencil & regular paper. Then, I scan it in and render it in Corel Painter, Photoshop, or Adobe Illustrator. I love doing things digitally. It’s the undo button, I think I’m addicted."

Artwork by Heather Dixon

We'd like to know how you think about style: whether you work to push past your emerging style or whether you just let that come naturally. How do you keep your work looking fresh?

"I always try to push myself into learning new styles and trying new things, and trying styles of artists I admire. The first few times I do something new it’s super ugly. Eventually, though, it gets better. I like pushing myself to do new things because it keeps me from feeling boxed in, and it helps me improve quickly."

Artwork by Heather Dixon

Inspiration)

Where do you find inspiration for your illustration work?

"The Internet! How did we live without it? I am constantly looking up tutorials, artists’ blogs, google image searching. One thing that every artist should do is build a picture file. Find pictures from the artists you love and gather them all together in a resource file. My picture file also has textures, tutorials, screen shots from movies, and links to my favorite blogs."

Artwork by Heather Dixon

What helps you to release your creativity when you’re having a block? (Or do you never experience blocks in creativity?

"Creative block is my evil shadow. To fend it off, it sometimes helps to take a break and go to the library and look up books, or watch movies with great art, something to inspire me. A lot of times it just means I need to work on a different project, something a little easier & smaller. Sometimes it means I need to relax the art for a little bit, and spend some time with family."

Artwork by Heather Dixon

What recommendations would you make to others aspiring to add to the world of illustration?

"I’m reminded of Sebastian Gallego’s parting advice to us, the last day of digital painting class. He told us to work hard and be humble, but what really stuck with me was his last advice: 'And remember: be a good person first, and a good artist second. Don’t be like Norman Rockwell, who spent his life in his studio painting happy families scenes and never spent time with his own'.”

For someone who cannot go to school at the present time, what kind of self-teaching approaches would you recommend?

"Learn and teach yourself to improve. Take Internet and library resources and apply them to your artwork. Every morning I get up and spend an hour drawing from anatomy, cartooning, storyboarding books and blogs, then spend 30 minutes on an animation background speedpaint. This has helped me improve fast! It helps after that to analyze what makes the artwork you like appealing, and to bring that appeal into your art.

"Also, try to learn Photoshop. There are lots of tutorials and online help for that, and I think you can download a trial version, too. Photoshop is the foundational building block, and I strongly recommend that every artist learn it."

Artwork by Heather Dixon

What other artists/illustrators inspired/inspire your journey in illustration?

"Sam Nielson, who taught me how to digital paint http://www.artsammich.blogspot.com/

"Adrian Ropp, who I still learn storyboarding from http://www.toonbaboon.blogspot.com/

"Bryan Beach, who taught me retro style & adobe illustrator http://www.bbeachouse.blogspot.com/

"Kelly Loosli, Ryan Woodward, Kevin Keele, Brittany Lee, Nicolas Marlet, Sebastien Gallego…Some awesome blogs: http://www.animationbackgrounds.blogspot.com/, http://www.todaysinspiration.blogspot.com/, http://www.characterdesign.blogspot.com/ …much too many to list!"

Thank you once again Heather, your work is inspiring.

Sorry for the delay

2010-11-03T12:06:00.000-07:00

Fellow contributors, I'm sorry we haven't had the most recent contest entries posted. A small emergency emerged and I'm sorry for getting this delayed. This does mean however if you wanted to email me your book cover final draft I'll extend the deadline through this next weekend. I'm sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused but life demands flexibility sometimes. Please get those in if you haven't yet so far.

Happy Birthday Blog!

2010-10-28T09:19:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to take a moment to celebrate the birthday of the blog. One year ago it was launched, inching us closer to realizing our dreams, day-by-day. I encourage everyone to work a little harder towards those dreams and notch up your ambition and imagination. Congratulations to all the contributors.

Illustration Contest: Final Book Cover Design

2010-10-12T21:15:00.000-07:00

Alright team. This next contest will consist of making a finalized rendering of the book cover you submitted for the last contest. Keep in mind it doesn't have to be one of your submitted drawings with color. Start from where you left off and really push towards producing a final draft of a book cover. Think about all the details you want to include. Make sure the proportions are true to the proposed final dimensions of the book. Ask for input by leaving comments. If you have a version you want to put past people before the deadline, email me your submission and I'll add it to this post for others to see while you work out the details. (I'll do my best to post it the same day.) Let's see what you can come up with. Keep up the hard work!

Deadline: Midnight, Saturday, October 30th, 2010.

Illustration Contest: Book Cover Design

2010-10-09T22:41:00.000-07:00

Thank you to everyone who made submissions to this week's illustration contest. We had some great drawings showing potential covers for future book ideas. Great job everyone; keep up the great work!

Kristi G. (Top 3) So I am going to focus on working on the story I had a while ago with the play date of boy and girl siblings. I am changing it up a little bit. I needed to simplify it to make it not so overwhelming. I am going to have just two characters. I am still going to contrast their likes, resulting in frustration, but ultimately they will learn how similar they really are and have a fun time doing it. My first cover idea was both of them posed back to back looking frustrated, but I felt that was a little negative. My favorite (and the one I put more time in) is the one with both of them side to side happy to be who they are and even happier to be with their friend (even though they are different). Something I need to change with this picture that I am noticing now is that they are too far apart. I was worried that this one was a little posed and stiff, so I thought about them on a swing (something they will be doing in the book). I like the idea, and obviously need to put more time on proportions and angles. I would like the title (which I am still not sure about) to be in block letters across the top. –Kristi

Nate S. (3 previous) I wanted to explore different layouts for the cover of the book I’m writing/illustrating for my daughter. It centers on the tooth fairy, the one from my last contest entry. I used some ideas from the covers’ of books that we like right now to rough out some general ideas. Let me know what you guys think. -Nate

Scott W. (2 above) I have one that actually would be near the climax...one with the wild idea of having them both in the bubble jar....and the last of a close up with the entire world rendering in the background.

I'd love to know what you think! -Scott

Illustration Contest: Design Your Book Cover

2010-09-28T09:18:00.001-07:00

Everyone did a great job for the last contest. It took me a while to decide where to go next for this next week’s contest. I’ve been debating between moving along with book illustration or continuing loosely related subjects chosen at random ‘whim’. Sorry for the delay but I’ve decided to give a very different challenge for this next contest.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to come up with a cover design for the book you’re interested in completing. You could reference other books you love to figure out a composition you enjoy but for this week’s contest I’m looking for a book cover design. You could submit up to three designs, rough submissions, and I’ll post them for others to comment on. That way we can find out from the community what is a preferred cover and for a future contest you’ll come up with a more polished version. Good luck; you have until:

Deadline: Midnight, Saturday, October 9th, 2010.

Character Design Contest

2010-09-20T19:54:00.000-07:00

Here's the entries for the character design contest. There were some great entries, good job everyone.

My picture was inspired by Nate’s story that he’s currently working on and the hardworking fairies in it. I’m not good at faces but I love costumes so I wanted to explore what they would wear.

Aubrey S

I wanted to work on giving my character emotion this time around and also see if I could create the same character twice in different settings and different angles and see if they really looked like the same character. I am happy with the emotions - one being quiet and focused, and the other proud and excited. I am not sure if they look at all alike though. Thank you for the book ideas. I am excited to learn more.

Kristi G

I was exploring the character design of the main character of a story I’m currently writing for my baby daughter. It’s all about the Tooth Fairy and how she becomes famous all over the world. I’m pretty happy with where I have gotten to, although it may not be the final product.

Nate S

Here are some quick sketches followed by explorations of the gestures applied to the character designs:

Scott W

Illustration Contest: Character Design

2010-09-07T21:38:00.000-07:00

Great work everyone in the last contest. It's fun for me to see how everyone is progressing individually. Keep up the hard work. For this next quick draw contest we're going to center it around developing characters for a story. (Thank you Scott for the idea.) In this contest you're to come up with a character, could be for a story, and to work on developing who they are or how they look. Possible interpretations of the contest could include: various designs in appearance, different poses to explore personality, different clothes or coverings, or whatever else you come up with, just keep it centered on a character.

I'm excited to see what you come up with, so please start working. Our deadline is Saturday, September 18th, midnight. Good luck and happy drawing.

Story Backgrounds

2010-09-06T16:28:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone, thank you for your contributions. I hope you felt good about what you got done. If not, well that's totally fine. That's what next time is for. Hopefully we all learned something about ourselves and the process and can get it working for us next time. I liked what we received. Here are our submissions.

Becca W

Kristi G

Liezl G - The Lion and the Lion Tamer

Nate S - Picture I wanted to paint, inspired by the mysteries of China.

Quincy G - Mommy and Daddy

Scott W

Illustration Contest: Theme/Background

2010-08-19T22:20:00.000-07:00

Alright everyone. The next contest is centered on creating a theme for a book, which can be interpreted however you wish. It could mean that your backgrounds have a certain stylized appearance or that you use words as part of each image sewn into the image itself. Use your imagination. You've got two weeks from today; get going.

Submissions due: September 2nd, Midnight

Backyard Neighbors

2010-08-12T20:55:00.000-07:00

This newest contest was centered around the idea of all the crazy fun times you miss out on when you're not in your backyard or the park. I'm sure mythological creatures will take good care of everything though until you return. Great work everyone, here's the entries:

Kristi G. - The gnome brothers noticed their belts were fitting a little too tight around the middle, so they asked the Zen master flamingo to help them shed some pounds. By moonlight, we see them working on their downward dog and the standing, sideways split.

Liezl G. - Every night this color fairy makes sure all of the colors in nature are ready for the next day.

Nate S. - My idea centered around the games that fantasy creatures play when we aren’t looking, like this leprechaun, currently in the lead of the cat races.

Quincy G. - This silly clown performs for all of the animals in the forest to laugh.

Scott W. - So I was at a family reunion and saw Brock Guymon drawing this character (above). As he explained the drawing...I thought of a character made of stones and held together by fire. With his permission, I made these sketches:

Thanks everyone for your entries; they look great. All I can see is improvement and growth, aside from all the fun, creative ideas.

Illustration Contest: Backyard Neighbor

2010-07-28T08:58:00.000-07:00

Friends we've got another challenge for you, a contest inspired by your backyard (or favorite park if you don't have a backyard). The contest is to come up with a mythical character or illustration of who visits your backyard when you're not there. Who plays on the swings while you're eating lunch? Who makes the lawn into a racetrack?

This contest in my mind was centered around mythical creatures but it could be animals too; you decide. Just come up with something fun and the challenge is to put it together in a fun way. Good luck everyone! Leave a comment with any questions or thoughts.

Deadline: August 11th at Midnight

Illustrator Spotlight: Kyle Lambert

2010-07-23T08:25:00.000-07:00

I just needed to post this short clip on here. I saw Toy Story 3 a couple of weeks ago and loved the movie for various reasons that I won't get into right now. What I did want to show off was an awesome clip I found on another blog.

The short clip is from an illustrator that works out of England. This picture was done on an iPad and the video is his process of developing his picture from the initial rough sketch to the shading and detail work. I think it's an amazing display of talent and another artist to add to our list of talented reference artists. His name is Kyle Lambert and his other work is equally amazing, all of it is digital which doesn't make it right or wrong, it's just his style. Really cool, check it out if you're interested.

Change Contest Entries

2010-07-22T21:28:00.000-07:00

This contest was centered around the various types of change that we encounter, good or bad. It can affect us in many different ways. Thank you everyone for participating and sharing your talents and ideas. Great work! Here's this contest's entries:

Kristi G. - New Shoes - "With school coming up, this topic has been on all of our minds. I love how new shoes can turn worries into confidence."

Liezl G. - Buddies - "Liezl wanted to show the physical change that happens when something frozen melts, but when she put cute faces on her popsicles, she could not bring herself to melt them."

Nate S. - Little Texter - "I wanted to show with an illustration how quickly little kids change and how baffled it leaves you sometimes to see how quickly they move ahead on you to different things. I didn't get too far along in the development but I hope you can see the general idea."

Scott W. - Tie Dye Girl - "So I saw this girl with a tie dye shirt at Wal-Mart and she looked so sad - like few people understand or appreciate her - and so interesting...I could tell she had done her makeup extra and could imagine her having the desire to be beautiful...I also thought a character who looks like her and thinks she is beautiful would be very intriguing...."

Moving! Illustration Contest

2010-07-07T16:02:00.000-07:00

Sorry everyone for taking so long to post again. I just got back from a family trip two weeks ago, moved my family last week and started graduate school this week. I've been busy but we all are, lousy excuse. I wanted to jump on here between studying to challenge you guys out there to a contest.

Moving means change, and (setting political platitudes aside) change can be hard to deal with sometimes. Illustrate a quick picture that somehow narrates that conflict. You've got 2 weeks; deadline is:

July 21st, 2010

(Also worth note is that I don't currently have Internet activity at my house, so connection time will be slow for right now. I'll do my best though. You guys are great.)

Quick Draw Ideas

2010-05-26T22:18:00.000-07:00

This blog is slowly transforming with time and I'm learning to readjust along side. I really like the concept of working towards printing a tangible book around the end of this year and the concepts are more going to stand as benchmarks as we work towards that goal; showing our progress along the way. Are you guys okay with that? All in favor say Ay!

In light of that slight variation that has really already started creeping in I wanted to morph the random contests from before into a weekly quick draw contest where a shorter period of time was given for a quick drawing of an idea/illustration. We're talking like a week or two weeks per time period. What do you think about that idea? These pictures would be more rough and more centered on content and presentation than the depths to which you develop them. We don't want pieces that will hang in the Louve but pictures to explore composition and concepts. Marksmanship can reach your own prefered level. Let me know what you think.

Illustration Workshop Entries - Concept

2010-05-24T21:47:00.000-07:00

Here we have the 3 entries for our children's book illustration challenge. The three entries are going to be developed and, with collaboration through the blog, we will help the illustrators work these concepts down to a finalized book in the fall, ready to print. Thank you for your continual interest, you guys make this fun for me and I hope you feel the same way. Let's get working! Leave a bunch of comment dialogue to begin this process.

Story Concept) Kristi G.

So here is my book idea. It is very rough - so don't expect a lot right now. I want to make a very girly book with lots of pink and glitter, but would also like to contrast that with boy-ish stuff too. There are a lot of girl specific and boy specific books out, but not many celebrating both together. I would like to show off both sides and also maybe show the wonderful differences between first, second, and third children. The idea is of a group of three little boys coming over for a play date to a house of three little girls. At first they are excited to see each other, but they can not agree on what to play together. Once it seems hopeless, they see a swing set in the background. Then they decide on lots of things they can play together. By the time they go, the girls are wearing some of the pirate gear the boys were wearing at the beginning of the book, and they boys have babies and wands in tote. I want the pictures to do most of the talking and would like it easy for beginning readers, so each page will have one to two words. Here are the words I have come up with for each page so far. 1.Playdate!! 2.Princess? 3.No, Pirates! 4.Karate? 5.No, Ballet! 6. Babies!Barbies! Cars!trains! 7.Bouquets! Mud! 8. (no words, just some frustrated faces and some looking hopefully at the swings) 9.Swing! 10.crafts! 11.Music! 12. books! 13. see you soon.

I am going to have to do some research on boys. I have found that while sketching some ideas, I did not know what boys wear, how to draw their hair, how to draw a car let alone how to draw a boy playing with it.

Story Concept) Scott W.

Well since Kristi and her girls liked the bubble girl so much (Becca said her name should be Heather) I realized I have a story here. Here are some ideas so far (feel free to add and remove any ideas): The moment she meets her bubble friend, a struggle begins: to save her friend from popping. She tries a leaf and her mom lends a fan...Wind also aids in sending them on a small chase through a field (past a windmill) and into a river. She finally catches the bubble in a jar with the fan underneath so the bubble friend can hover. But the bubble friend, excited to be reunited with his friend, tries to fly through the glass and "pop!" Devastated to lose her friend, the girl drifts down the river on her piece of wood until she hears something on the banks and sees a little boy chasing his own bubble friend, together they help preserve that bubble's life and then later build a house where bubble friends can live longer lives.

All comments desired...I'd especially love to hear all the bubble ideas Kristi and her girls came up with.

Story Concept) Nate S.

The story I’m working on currently is centered on a new fairy learning how to fit into the world around her. Her job is hard and not exactly what she would love to be doing so eventually she finds she needs to put her personality and vitality into what she does and badabing badaboom; there you have the true story of the Tooth Fairy and how she came to be. I really envision it being a magical journey for the young fairy and hope to dispel some misunderstandings that we humans have from the media. My inspiration for this story comes from the writing style and illustrations in the old classic Winnie the Pooh story. I love reading that book to my little girl and I want to make a book that I can read to her. I’m afraid I may be too vague but ask questions if you have some and I’ll gladly answer as long as I don’t give away the conclusion. Please let me know what you think.

Mommy and Me Illustration Contest

2010-05-20T21:16:00.000-07:00

Here are the Mommy and Me Dance Time Illustration Contest entries. Feel free to give your input. The contest winner will be determined by the blog's writer. She will notify you with details on illustrating her latest blog entry. Thank you for your entries and interest. I hope you're working hard into the next contest...you have only two days. Keep up the great work.

Kristi G.

Liezl G.

Nate S.

(Just so you know: the writer of Mommy and Me Dance Time is my wife so I'm not actually in the running for the contest. I just wanted to participate and show what my brain saw for this contest and show my support for our regular contestants.)

Illustration Workshop Challenge

2010-05-13T19:59:00.000-07:00

Let's really get working now towards a goal. I'm working on writting a 10 lesson course on illustrating your own children's book, the first lesson came out a couple of weeks ago and was centered around the concept. A running contest will we have throughout the rest of the year will be illustrating your first children's book (assuming you haven't already done so).

I am so excited to work towards this goal as a group and find out what you to bring to the table as we learn as a group. Please leave comments filled with your ideas and answer eachothers' questions as we try to find something worthy of our time and talents. Come up with your own ideas and we'll work together to make them into something to be proud of.

I am going to try and have the lessons move forward in 2 week time periods. The Challenge will move along with them towards October, the expected date of completion. These books can be anything from a book filled with only pictures to a book with lengthy word use with pictures to complement. Get working though and we'll worry about the legistics later.

Get drawing out ideas if you haven't already started. Deadline: May 22nd, midnight.

Newest Illustration Contest

2010-05-13T18:55:00.000-07:00

Welcome friends to the newest quick challenge. Your mission will be to check out the blog http://www.mommyandmedancetime.blogspot.com/ and come up with a series of 3 illustrations for this week's newest Tutu Tuesday post. I have the permission of the author of the blog to do such a contest so don't feel shy. You can draw over the photo's if you like, take out detail, stylize the pictures, whatever you feel. The purpose of this challenge is to familiarize yourself with the inside world of being an illustrator.

Normally you would be given a project to illustrate, one you would not have much of a say over. Let's try out a challenge where you have less of a say over what you're doing but can decide how you're doing it. Put forward your best work as the winer of this challenge will have their illustrations used on the Mommy and Me Dance Time blog to illustrate the week's lesson. You will have one week to finish this challenge.

Due date: May 20th at midnight

Our Funny Friends Contest

2010-05-01T21:59:00.000-07:00

Great work everyone! I enjoyed the subject for this contest and it looks to me like you guys did as well. Thanks for participating. Here were our entries:

Kristi G. - I was thinking this girl would have come back from a trip to the aquarium with a perfect pink pet named Sparky, but I don't want it to seem like she stole it. Maybe she found her on the beach. I am pleased with it, but I am afraid Sparky looks more like an octopus - like the one on Nemo.

Liezl G. - Liezl has created two small beans (size and color of pinto beans) that live inside her head. They have a zipper that they use to leave their brain house to visit Liezl's shoulder when she is bored at school.

Nate S. - This one is really rough. Just wanted to get a depth of size comparison. It's based on this funny stuffed animal that my little baby girl has: a pink monster that must be a dragon because it has wings on back that flap as it sings. Just playing around with the idea of her meeting the dragon full size.

Nate S. - I used to draw dragons all the time when I was younger. This is a look back to those days.

Nate S. - Ever wished you had an imaginary friend that could go do your daily tasks in your place? I was just playing around with that idea and sketced out this gorilla doing work for someone else.

Nate S. - I've been sketching in an idea of a boy that builds a time machine to go back and hopefully make friends with famous people of the past like in this picture when he wants to go meet a viking.

Quincy G. - Quincy decided she needed to create a robot that eats her vegetables for her. Very clever, even though she loves eating veggies.

Scott W.

ILLUSTRATION WORKSHOP #1 - The Concept

2010-04-29T09:11:00.000-07:00

Have you ever read a story where the creativity just left you pondering its source? There are so many stories that we're surrounded by and book can have any theme the imagination inspires. Where do all these thoughts come from or how did they get to that point? What makes a good story for families to read at night? I'm sure you know what you enjoy at this point but how do you come up with concepts that are creative, fun, and new? That's what the first workshop class deals with: how to come up with fun, interesting concepts for a story to work on.

1) Imagination and Creativity: Never leave home without 'em

First of all I should warn you that I am a little scatterbrained, I believe I was born with an advanced RPC (Random Processing Center) in the forefront of my brain. I love randomness and coming up with something different or off is fun for me and can be done a little more easily. This part of your brain, although only a fictional part of your brain (if you've already opened up another page and searched Wikipedia for a RPC in the brain-it doesn't exist), can be developed if you've never really felt random before. Have you ever heard of improv, made famous on the show "Who's line is it anyways?" where they play games that require acting out random situations and then blending them in with other situations until a humorous effect is produced? Well, I'm not putting in a plug for the show because I don't approve of the type of humor they use sometimes but it was merely an example. Throwing random situations together and then trying to act your way through them is a start on the trail to something new.

If there's demand I will include a blog entry with some quick improv games you could practice at home with your family one evening when you want a laugh. I used to play improv games weekly with my friends from college and we could always make each other laugh; I learned that some can more naturally make others laugh while some had to work on it and loosen up. Exercises should be enjoyable or you won't do them. Well, anyways I digress, back to the work at hand.

Many books have funny concepts at the core that are just random and entertaining. If You Give a Mouse a Cookie (If You Give...) has a funny trail of What if... questions that lead to a funny conclusion. Where the Wild Things Are is a classic book that deals with a completely random island full of random monsters. (Although the movie was rather creepy.) I grew up reading books like these and knowing that my imagination could take me wherever I wanted to go. Movies like Star Wars made it seem like I could travel even to the stars and back. Where will your imagination take you? Is there still that kid inside you that can travel through space and time inside your own bedroom? If not then find them...they're still in there. I've never been able to part with my inner child and I think that's led me to the dream of making my own stories. Dream as big as you can, only your dreams will get you there.

2) Note every single idea

Now we'll start covering the physical work that will get you there. Some of these steps will sound easy, that's probably because you did them as a child until you gave them up when you got other responsibilities. First you'll need a sketchbook or a notebook. When you have an idea pop into your head, scratch it out even it’s a rough idea. If you don't jot it down or start sketching it out it'll disappear. That creative genius will flow around to someone else and pop into their head, they will doodle it out and end up with the credit to their name.

Some ideas will sound funny at first when you have them but sketch them out anyways. If you usually have interesting dreams, keep the sketchbook next to your bed and when you wake up jot down the general details. The idea with the sketchbook is not to work out complicated concepts to completion but to fill the pages with a well of ideas that sustains itself. Don’t spend too much time with any one idea and don’t feel that one is so special that it can never be modified.

3) Sketch ideas, start combining them, don't fear losing the originality of some

The next step is fun. Another book that helped me learn about putting stories together was the book STORY. The author, Robert Mckee says something I think is really true and it is this; 90 percent of your ideas will be terrible and worthy of a jump shot into the trashcan. Ouch! Isn’t it so true though? I know as I’ve grown to accept that the majority of my ideas aren’t worth my time I’ve grow comfortable with the thought that I have to work hard to pump out the 90 percent quickly so I can get to the 10 percent that shows potential. Of that 10 percent that shows potential, only 10 percent will be good, etc. Do you get the picture? You’ve got to keep working hard to work through the less than great work so you can find great, original concepts. You can totally do it though. Start today and work hard to sketch out a thousand ideas so that you find 100 ideas with potential and from them, 10 great ideas.

The fun part comes from combining your ideas into an infinite possibility of combinations. If you have an idea about monkeys that can’t learn to get along, birds that are proud of their feathers, and a day that it rained shoes in the rainforest; throw them all together and see what happens. Okay, things may get wild and dangerous with raining shoes but hopefully you get the point. Sketch out all your ideas and then break them down and recombine them until you find something that rings true and exciting for you to put your energy into. You’ve got a huge pile of trash to get through before you get there so get working today.

4) Research subject matter

The other way of deepening your search for originality and adding excitement to your ideas is through research. You’ve got the whole world wide web (thank you Al Gore, you’ve truly blessed mankind) at your disposal. Use Wikipedia and other sources to learn more about your interests for characters, settings, etc. There’s so much available nowadays that it’s really quite easy to delve in and find out a whole world. If you want to write about pirates, princesses, potato chips, musical instruments of the world, strange animals of Australia, or different kinds of sandwiches; it’s all possible.

Research things you love to learn about and throw ideas together, sketch them out, mix them up and look up more about what results. Print out information you discover and love and file it so you can look back on it. Don’t feel bad copying things you find, just don’t reproduce them. You can incorporate other concepts into your work but you have to make it different, make it yours and not the other artist’s. One artist that I really enjoy is James Gurney, his style inspired me ever since I got his first Dinotopia book when I was 12 or so. The imagination he uses to put together the world where dinosaurs and mankind live side by side peacefully inspired my mind to delve into my imagination since young. Check out his blog and website and see what you think. I don’t know exactly where the idea came from except for the fact that he is fascinated with cultures and decided to construct his own using art skills he developed while working for National Geographic. He collects photos from magazines that he likes of sunsets, clouds, people, etc and then pulls them out while working if they’ll help him figure out how to work out something complicated.

Finally I want to add that art skills get rusty without being exercised for a while. Get working today, even if its during your lunch break in your car or during a quick catnap, as kids don’t always follow the most faithful schedule. If they fall asleep for a nap, grab your pencil and sketchbook and work out ideas you’ve already doodled out. Don’t get frustrated by your hands and your lack of control of them. It will come back slowly. You have to earn it through hard work so worry about coming up with fresh, fun ideas in the meantime so when you have something great you have better control to work it out.

This was the first class in a series of 10 classes on illustration. Get working today and follow along with these lessons as you take a story from your mind to the pages of a book. We’ll get there together; I’ll be doing one along with you and I’ll let you look over my shoulder if you do the same. Don’t make fun of my work though; I’ll never make fun of yours. (Don’t feel afraid of giving critiques though because I will too.) Let’s make some books that will inspire the future generations to stop imagining living their dreams and make them seem more possible. Start working today.

Awesome Style

2010-04-21T07:55:00.000-07:00

Hey group, how's everyone's work coming along? I hope you're having some great ideas and having fun working on them. Hurry up, there's just about a week left! You can do it though.

I just wanted to get the word out about a book that I got this week for my little girl. We got her a little Winnie the Pooh book for storytime, which happens right before bed time. I think. Unless it doesn't. I love the writing style of A. A. Milne and the illustrations are so simple but quite elegant. I love the book, Aubrey my wife does too and little Ainsley, our little one enjoys the stories although she's quite small to understand the pictures yet. I love the illustrations and the simple stories and wanted to recommend it. I bought it from Barnes and Noble and felt bad because I got home and checked the price on my favorite book store, Amazon.com and they were almost half the price for a new book. The image contains a link you can use to check it out. If you already have something similar, leave me a comment and let me know what you think about Milne's Winnie the Pooh books.

How to train your dragon

2010-04-13T09:25:00.000-07:00

For this next contest I was inspired by the movie "How to train your dragon". I loved the show. The look of the show was beautiful and for me the story was captivating and fun. It may have been scary for little ones as the dragons could have been scary for a child. Anyways, for this next contest I want everyone to come up with some childhood relationship, a child who has some type of friend that falls on a the fictitious side of existence. It could be a dragon and you could just focus on illustrating the friend. It's up to your interpretation, just make it fun.

Also very important, it doesn't have to represent final work. A quick sketch to get across the idea would work great. Just get working.

Deadline: April 30th at midnight.

Quick, quick. Get working!

New Artist to Check Out

2010-04-06T15:17:00.000-07:00

Hey group, I received an email from Scott with an illustrator he recommends. The link is great and I especially liked the section on 'Creative Process'. Thanks Scott for the recommendation, it's inspiring to see the creativity in what odd things happen in the corners of the mind. That just may inspire the next contest.

Artist: David Weisner

Website: Check it out!

Monster Bedtime

2010-04-01T22:31:00.001-07:00

Thanks everyone for participating in this latest contest. This was one to move us closer to the group goal of producing a book together. Thanks for your ideas and interest. Leave comments for each other or for me if you so desire. Great work.

Becca W. - Worm Monsters getting ready for bed.

Kristi G. - More monsters

Nate S. - Just a little more work with the snowball monster from before. The idea was that the dad comes home to discover his son is stuck halfway into his pajama shirt.

Scott W. - Monster 'August' getting ready for bed, combing

Scott W. - Preparatory sketches.

Examples

2010-03-25T09:19:00.000-07:00

Kristi G. sent me two more illustrators to check out. Their websites show their styles and work and hopefully will help you see what illustrators are working on today. Check them out. Thanks Kristi.

Amy Bates

Jen Corace

I FOUND IT!

2010-03-23T12:05:00.000-07:00

Hey friends! After much searching I finally remembered the artist I wanted to recommend checking out. His name is Tony DiTerlizzi and he's illustrated many children's books, most famous being probably the Spiderwick Chronicles series of books that inspired a movie released by Nickelodeon. His website address is http://www.diterlizzi.com/. Check it out. I really enjoy his process and composition. He has strong artwork and has quite a bit on the internet to check out, although most of it is in flash so you'll have to be able to play flash. I hope all's going well with the monster designs. Keep up the great work.

MONSTERS IN PAJAMAS!

2010-03-09T07:23:00.000-08:00

Alright everyone its time for the next contest. This next challenge will be moving closer as a group to the final project: that is making a group childrens book about monsters. The central idea to the book is that monsters are much like little boys and girls when it comes to bedtime, they wear pajamas. The difference is that they wear them in ways that would be unexpected.

The newest contest would center on coming up with a monster design that is similar anatomically to a little boy or girl; size, proportions, likability, etc. This would be similar to what Sesame Street has done for many years, make likable monsters. We had some great entries from our earlier monster contest and I suggest you start there for inspiration if you aren't sure where to start. We need a character or many that kids would look at and laugh along with as they wear their pajamas in funny ways. You could even use shows like Sesame Street for inspiration, but make sure the characters are original, originally yours that is.

I want to have the book printed this year so we need to start this project moving along quicker than before. The monsters from the earlier contest will be incorporated into the beginning part of the book but this next contest will be the latter half of the book. We need to get this ball rolling so lets make the deadline:

Due Midnight on March 31st, 2010.

Logo Ideas

2010-03-07T20:18:00.001-08:00

Here's the submissions for logos for the blog. These are all just quick sketches of ideas that will need to be further developed for use on the blog. Thank you Scott for your input. Now it's in your hands workshop community. Leave a comment or email casting your vote for the idea that sparks your interest the best; although maybe not exactly there yet.

Entry sketches done by Nate S.

Entry sketches done by Scott W

Our Old Europe

2010-03-03T20:59:00.000-08:00

Well the Olympics are over. I really enjoyed them. Aubrey, my wife, and I talked a lot about what event we would train for and a lot about the countries represented. That brings me to the latest contest, pictures of old Europe. We all saw Europe in different ways, awesome. That's what makes these contest entries great, that not everyone is doing the same thing. Leave a comment and let each other know what you think.

Kristi G. - Germany - "I had a hard time with this one. I am not very good at landscapes or backgrounds. I wanted to do a painting of a German village with the reddish, orange rooftops. I think they are so charming. I tried lots of times, but it always turned out with too much detail and just looked too busy and messy. After reading a library book to my girls last night from Elisha Cooper - I love his simple shapes and colors, I decided to go super simple. The houses look pretty lame, but I ran out of time. Any tips on how to make backgrounds look finished without going to detailed and busy?"

Liezl G. - Eiffel Tower - "Liezl was so excited when she found out she had to draw any place from Germany (her favorite place she has never visited) or France (the fanciest place in the world). She chose to paint the Eiffel tower. She painted it like Monet's impressionist paintings after we read a story about him."

Quincy - Garden - "Quincy wanted to paint something from France. Hers is of a flower garden."

Scott W. - Sailing Boat European

If you're paying attention I, Nate, didn't make a submission. I had started one but I didn't finish it in time for the deadline so I didn't post it. I thought it only fair since I made the rule for everyone else. I learned my own lesson. I really enjoyed this contest but in the end...I am finishing up applying to pharmacy schools and had an interview Monday and Tuesday, which threw my whole schedule off. Thank you to everyone that submitted. Great work.

Logo Contest

2010-02-24T12:35:00.000-08:00

Hey friends of the story cyberworld. I am so busy it's not even funny, applying for Pharmacy School is such a dog show (that would be funny to illustrate!). I wanted to challenge you all to a contest, a real contest. Let's have your ideas come out and really take root. Design a logo I could put on the top of our blog that would somehow incorporate the idea of the blog; a shoebox full of dreams, pursuing dreams, something with the blog's name, etc. I was going to just do something myself for this one but I changed my mind and decided to open it up to everyone since this is a group project. I just need idea sketches this time...no time to develop it all the way down as I'm going to set the deadline for midnight March 7th. We'll vote on our favorite then work out the details of how to incorporate it. For now, just use your imagination.

Deadline: March 7th.

The Olympics are here!

2010-02-12T06:40:00.000-08:00

Kristi Gustafson - My favorite Olympic dream growing up is when my sister and I would setup a 2x4 propped up with bricks at either end and pretend to be gymnastic girls.

Nate Stout - This was just an idea I had about a kid that decides to pursue his dream of long jumping. He decides to do a demonstration at school on the slide while all his classmates watch.

Thank you everyone for your interest in these projects. I had a great point brought up by Scott, that I am labelling these entry opportunities as 'contests'. That would denote that there would be a winner. What does everyone else think about the option of making these "contests" into more of a competition? Leave a comment and let me know. I don't know if there could be a prize more than having the title of having received the first place in an illustration or story competition. Bring it up to me. If you have an idea that you don't want to leave as a comment, send me an email. shoeboxofdreamentries@gmail.com I'm up for a range of different, even creative ideas. Also, how could we get more people involved? Let me know if you have any ideas. I think the more the merrier and the more we can inspire each other.

Old Europe Contest

2010-01-01T20:20:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year everyone!

Thank you for participating in 2009. I hope 2010 brings many more opportunities to grow for each of us...moving closer to our dreams. To start of the new year I want to go back in time. This contest is one of setting for those who are interested in illustration/drawing applications. Make a background for a children's book with a setting of old Europe: Germany, England, Spain, France, etc. Try to stylize it to make it yours. The background could be for an existing story, if you were asked to visualize it. A good example to check out would be the link on the right, check out the work of Alexandra Boiger. Her backgrounds help set the mood for the story work.

___

If you are interested in story, make up a short story that takes place in old Europe. Find something unique and interesting. I believe in you guys, you've already submitted some great work. Thank you for your continued participation.

___

Due date: Midnight, February 28th, 2010

Monsters!

2010-01-01T19:46:00.000-08:00

Here are the Monsters! Thanks to everyone that submitted monsters for our contest. There are some fun entries, great job. They’re all in first name alphabetical order.

Sock Monster (lives in washing machine, makes socks) and Chocolate Monster

Aubrey Stout

The Parent Monster

Becca Wiser

Smarty Pants Monster, Teething Monster, and Speedy Monster

Kristi Gustafson

Bobby the Gooey Monster

Liezl Gustafson (age 5)

Garden Monster, Mime Monster, and Arctic Monster

Nate Stout

Patsy the Hairy Monster

Quincy Gustafson (almost 3)

Auguste

Scott Wiser

Modi

Scott Wiser

Man Mader (inspired by a mountain range)

Scott Wiser

Tanya Guymon

Taylor Thompson

Christmas Contest

2009-12-16T11:24:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to everyone that participated in this contest. We had some great submissions and new contributors. Thank you everyone. Here's what we received in alphabetical order, please leave a comment for our contributors.

Kristi (Illustration)

I wanted to create a vintage storybook look to my picture - it did not turn out exactly the way I wanted, but it was fun to get the paints out again. It is a picture of a girl lighting the advent calendar (a German tradition we are celebrating this year with our family).

Liezl (age 5)

Liezl's picture is of the snowman she is going to make if we ever get any snow.

Nate (Illustration and Storytelling)

Arnold was a hard working elf that had many years of helping Santa prepare and pull off some great Christmas’s. Arnold was a hard worker, no one doubted that. He hardly had time to make friends with the other elves that worked in management with him. He dreamed of one day working as the Christmas Eve Head Elf, the elf that had the special privilege of mapping out Santa’s delivery run, where he would go and stop. He knew he would be the best and for that reason he worked his hardest, never stopping to take a break or enjoy living in one of the most magical places on earth, the North Pole.

One day he got a call on his elfPhone, he was getting a promotion from the Big Man Himself, Santa! He was so excited he missed most of the conversation until the words, “You will be sent to Bermuda tomorrow, get ready for some work and sun you lucky guy!” Bermuda, why are they sending me to Bermuda two days before Christmas? Isn’t Santa pleased with my work so far? I thought he would surely want my help for this Christmas’s delivery run. Bermuda? -Arnold thought to himself.

Now you must understand children that most elves would love nothing more than to be sent to Santa’s relief workshop located in the Bermuda Triangle, which every other elf looks at like a vacation. You see, Bermuda is home to Santa’s beach house and a workshop where elves build toys for all the children in the world that live in the south half of the world. Santa stops off there midway through the night to refill his bag with wonderful presents. Elves spend the rest of the year working on presents and surfing the waves, something Santa stays away from as much as possible.

Arnold arrived in Bermuda with a feeling of defeat, he had moved thousands of miles from fulfilling his dreams. What am I supposed to do here in Bermuda? As he climbed from the ELF Arliner 200 into the gentle tropical breeze he was met on the ground by a secretary elf holding a sign with Arnold’s name in big letters.
“Are you Arnold?”
“Yes I am; do you know what my new job is here?”
“You’re going to get everything prepared for Santa’s arrival. We’re almost ready but I guess you’re the elf to get it all done.”
This is great, I still have my chance.

For the next 24 hours Arnold ran around to every factory, pushing elves to hurry up and prepare all gifts for Santa’s arrival on Christmas when he would stop and refill his magical bag of gifts. “We don’t have any time to spare,” he would tell elves in every department. In between factory visits he would walk quickly reviewing papers and talking on his phone to elves up north, making sure everything was coordinated and ready. Santa will see how hard I’ve worked and I’ll get the big promotion next year.

Finally the anticipated moment arrived; it was hours before Santa’s sleigh would land on the runway. The city was filled with elves excitedly making their way to greet Santa, catching buses and talking to neighbors about how the last few hurried weeks had been. Arnold nervously ran down the street, reviewing his checklist a hundred times. “Christmas has to be perfect. I can’t ruin Christmas!” Suddenly his cell phone rang.

“Hello Arnold, I need to have a word with you.” Arnold immediately recognized the voice as Santa’s although he had never talked to him before. Arnold got so excited; maybe he’s going to tell me about my job for next year.

“Arnold you’ve been working so hard and I’m grateful but I need to ask you a question this Christmas Eve.”
“Yes Santa, I would be pleased to do the job.”
“Pleased to do what job?” Santa asked, confused.
“You were calling to ask if I’d work for you next year as your Christmas Eve Head Elf, aren’t you?”
“Oh I see, it’s worse than I thought. We’ll talk about that later Arnold but for right now I need you to do one last thing before I pull in. I remembered as I flew over Canada that I left my favorite glasses there. Could you get them for me; it would really help save Christmas for me…and for you especially.”
“Of course Santa, then can we discuss a future promotion?”
“We will but I really need your help first. Now I need you to look over…” Santa explained where to find the Christmas glasses he really needed to finish the flight. The glasses were made out of fog-proof glass and made delivering so much easier.

“I’ll find the Christmas glasses!” He ran as fast as he could to the store that Santa described and found the broom closet, turning the doorknob and stepping in. The room was dark, the door slammed behind him making the room pitch black. The door was locked. He felt around for a light switch and found one, flipping it on a curtain raised up along one of the walls, revealing the light from outside

It was not a broom closet but the storefront display. He could see all the elves hurrying down to the middle of town where Santa would land in a few moments. He pounded on the glass windows but no one responded to him. Doesn’t anyone see me or know I’m missing? Christmas will be ruined if I don’t find these Christmas glasses! He started looking around the floor of the empty display for anything that looked like glasses, the space was empty though. Why did Santa have me come in here? Maybe his memory is going foggy. I don’t understand. He nervously started fidgeting with his papers, checklist, and then pulled out his phone.

Arnold dialed Santa’s number back and it rang for a few seconds. He pounded on the glass again, no one noticed. Santa’s voice picked up on the other side. “Arnold, have you found my glasses for me?”

“No Santa and I’m stuck in the store front display and no one notices me and I have so much to do before you get here and if I don’t Christmas will be ruined! How do I get out?”
“Settle down Arnold. You haven’t ruined Christmas, that’s impossible.”
“But Santa there’s so much to do still and I haven’t…”
“Relax Arnold; push the button on the back wall and you’ll get what I need this Christmas Eve.” Click, Santa hung up the phone and Arnold spun around to see a button on the back wall which he pushed eagerly.

A hole in the floor revealed a rising object. When it made it to Arnold’s height a spotlight turned on above and revealed a nativity scene. Music started playing overhead, “Still, still, still, one can hear the falling snow…” It was beautiful; a tear fell down Arnold’s cheek. He wiped it away. Christmas can’t be ruined…it isn’t possible.

There lying on the floor of the nativity shined Santa’s glasses, where he must have dropped them as he prepared the scene. They reflected the light and made the Baby Jesus sparkle in the warm glow of the spotlight. Arnold picked up the glasses. How could I forget what Christmas is really about?

Later as he handed Santa the glasses, Santa asked him how he felt about Christmas now. “I love Christmas, especially in the quiet moments. Thank you Santa.” “Of course,” Santa replied.

Santa was able to deliver all the presents that year, but one of the year’s greatest presents was the gift Arnold received. It didn’t come from Santa’s sleigh but the real Christmas miracle from year’s ago when the Christ child was born of Mary in Bethlehem. Arnold learned that we need to take a break from all the hustle and bustle to be still. The next year Arnold got a promotion but it was a special job from Santa to prepare next year’s nativity scene, the greatest job an elf could receive.

Quincy (age 3)

One day some mice ate the Christmas ornaments off of the tree because they thought it was candy. The family was sad because the ornaments were gone, so the mice went outside and made some ornaments with leaves and pinecones. The family loved the new ornaments.

Scott (Animation)

It’s Christmas Time, at a house glimmering with Christmas lights. This punk pizza boy, delivering for Angel's Pizza, dreams of what it would be like to be a real angel: he'd fly and lift that roof up and slam that pizza down in front of these slow customers. "Here! Take your pizza!" Yeah, that would be awesome.

A devil, seeing this punk boy's disposition, whisks the punk away and proposes he duel with a real angel. The punk kid, now equipped with the wings and robes he dreamed of, takes the challenge and struts toward the true, brilliant angel. The punk makes a few jabs at the angel, but he is no match. The angel puts his arm around the punk and immediately pacifies him, and then the loving angel leads the punk through the snow towards a large nativity setting. The devil, enraged, attempts everything to distract the punk from the angel's power (presents, tap dance, and other outlandish stunts). And soon, the punk completely ignores the devil. Just before they see who is inside the manger, the devil whips a black screen in front of the audience, so at least those watching this film cannot see.

But the punk steps in front of the screen and hands the devil a pizza. The punk opens a door built in to the black screen and motions for the devil to exit. The punk shuts the door behind the devil and lifts the screen back up to reveal the bright Bethlehem star and the words sparkling underneath: "Merry Christmas". The End.

Progressing?

2009-12-07T09:38:00.000-08:00

How's everyone's work coming along? I'm just starting my week of finals so I'm finally almost free to create like crazy. (Also my wife is due any week now so I've been up to my eyes busy. I'm sure everyone can relate to being overwhelmingly busy.)

That's what this group is here for. One submission has already been sent in, thank you Scott. I'm stewing over my Christmas story and I think I'm getting closer to a good storyline.

How's it going for everyone though? Is anyone getting frustrated with the contests? Need help? Leave a comment and let the group help! That's what it's here for. Let's get some fun submissions in. Invite people you know to participate. I think the bigger the group is the better, the more input we'll have and the more each can grow.

'MONSTERS!' Contest

2009-11-20T09:28:00.000-08:00

I had a fun book idea that I think we will work on as a group. (Thanks to my talented, beautiful, and creative wife Aubrey who had the idea.) The story is all about monsters. So as a quick contest I want you to design your very own monster. What would one look like if you saw one? I want them all to look different, like in Monsters, Inc. Come up with your own monsters; actually, come up with as many as you want.

We will all take these ideas and make a book together with group illustrations at a later date but lets see what we get from this. The submissions can be a simple sketch or you could color it, maybe you even take it to a full rendered drawing. Just have fun with it, I'm not looking for anything complex, also don't be intimidated if drawing isn't your thing. This contest is more about creativity. The book will be for little kids so don't go freakishly scary, more on the end of fun and light.

Lets have these in by December 30th, 2009; 11:59 PM.

2009 Christmas Story Contest

2009-11-20T09:17:00.000-08:00

Alright, our second contest will now begin. We want story centered around the big December holiday or winter in general (while it's still pleasant in our minds - before January and February come around). Make up a story on your own based on your own imagination or you could make one based on characters from your favorite Christmas stories in a new situation. Other possibilities would be illustrating a favorite story or one of your own. This contest is pretty wide open, the stories can be from other cultures, etc. I'm excited to see where we go with this contest. Remember, these can be down to simple sketches if that's all you end up doing; what's important is that you do something today in favor of pursuing your dreams. Pull that shoebox off the shelf, blow the dust off and do something simple; BUT make sure you submit it.

"Someday is not a day of the week." -Author Unknown

Contest deadline: December 15th, 2009; 11:59 PM

Drawing from inspiration

2009-11-20T09:12:00.000-08:00

Hey talented friends, I just wanted to start an informal list of writers, illustrators, animators, practically any type of storyteller that inspires you. Post a comment with any of your favorites. Maybe it's just the look of their artwork. Maybe its the descriptions they use or the way they bring a character to life through words or picture. Let's have some dialog. If you can find some kind of a link to their work then send that along too in the comment and I'll link the blog up to it.

Aesop's Fables

2009-11-17T19:03:00.000-08:00

For our first contest we focused on a storyteller that used common characters (mainly animals) to teach lessons about life. We had submissions from different stories and here they are. Feel free to leave a comment on any that spark some interest.

Story: "The Tortoise and the Hare"

“I chose the tortoise and the hare. Only this time, the hare is wanting a rematch because he lost and so they go to have a rematch and the tension is a lot more... well intense. The rematch is a marathon split over three days, kinda like those dog sled races in Alaska.... Anyways, with each leg of the race, they both try to out do each other, for example: they are about to blow the whistle, the hare who is now wearing roller skates pulls out a rocket and straps it to his back and sneers at the tortoise. The race starts and the hare shoots off. The tortoise simply looks amused pulls out a small remote control, and presses the big red button. A ramp appears in the path of the hare, and he is launched into the air. The tortoise crosses the finish line, followed by the hare impacting the ground.” –Taylor Thompson, Animation

Illustration: "The Rooster and the Jewel"

Illustration: Scott Wiser

“In this fable, "The Rooster and the Jewell" (originally called Cock and the Jewell), the rooster simply finds a jewel and wishes it were food. I tried to take the story further by having him try to eat the jewel. I also made sure the first frame was light and the second dark to enhance the story. Drawn with a quill pen and digital coloring.” –Scott Wiser, Animation

Illustration: "The Rooster and the Hawk"

Illustration: Nate Stout

"This picture comes from the tale "The Rooster and the Hawk". In this tale two roosters fight over which is the greater of the farmyard, in an act of triumph the rooster that won leaped onto the top of the chicken coup. It boasted of its splendor until a hawk overhead heard the prideful bird and snatched him up. I used watercolor and ink." -Nate Stout, Illustration and Story

Illustration: "The Peacock"

Illustration: Nate Stout

"This second piece I did because I liked a story so much called "The Peacock" in which it describes a peacock being jealous of the beauty of other birds. It wishes to be beautiful and looses its ability to fly in the process. A little sparrow humbles the peacock when he flies away. I gave the picture an oriental feel to just test it out. I used ink, watercolor, sharpie markers, and acetate paper." -Nate Stout, Illustration and Story

First Contest: Aesop's Fables

2009-10-28T15:19:00.000-07:00

For our first contest lets make it bold. Submit an entry that addresses one your favorite Aesop's fables. If your interested in illustrating, try and capture one of your favorites or write a short story using the moral of one of his fables. Really stretch your imagination but lets keep it in the realm of Aesop for this challenge. Make sure your email has your name clearly spelled and the name of the challenge for which it is intended; also give it a relevant title.

This website may help if you're looking for some of his fables: http://www.holyebooks.org/authors/aesops/fables_rev/aesop_fables_rev.html

Submissions will be due at the end of the day, November 15th, 2009.

Bring Your Shoeboxes!

2009-10-28T14:50:00.000-07:00

Welcome everyone to the place where we'll try and work on those dreams we've put up on a shelf in our closet for a future day. This website will be a workshop were you can meet other people who feel similarly, people that want quality entertainment and have always wished to make it a reality. This website is centered around helping make sure your future day to pull down that shoebox is today. Check back frequently to see the current contests, work on a submission and then email it to the website's "curator", Nate Stout at shoeboxofdreamsentries@gmail.com.