Paper Wings Podcast - A Fantastic Reference

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/

Final Book Cover: Book Illustration

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.

Illustration Contest: Book Cover Design

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

Moving! Illustration Contest

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.)

Illustration Workshop Challenge

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.

ILLUSTRATION WORKSHOP #1 - The Concept

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.