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New Lovelies in the Ink and Stitches Art Etsy Shop!
Stickers, Art Prints, and a Bottle Stickers Oh My!
I’ve been wanting to expand my Etsy store for a long time. It’s been one of those things always in the back of my mind, but when I found Catherine Kay of Katnipp Studios’ YouTube channel all about being an artist and selling on Etsy, I knew the time was now. Sometimes you just need a bit of inspiration to get a move on your dreams!
- Books. Books. Books., Giveaway, Illustration, Published Books, Published Work, Tales of Whimsy, Tales of Whimsy, Wishweaver Wednesday
WISHWEAVER Wednesday: Time Lapse Illustration
Here’s one of our last sneak peek’s for Wishweaver Wednesday inside my book, WISHWEAVER, before it releases on Sept. 1!
For this week’s peek, I thought I would do something a little bit different and share with you a time lapse of one of my drawings from start to finish on Procreate. I hope you enjoy watching Flit and Rolland come to life on the screen!
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- Adeline and the Mystic Berries, Books. Books. Books., Illustration, Picture Books, Querying, Writing
Seattle Writer’s Workshop – Pitching to Agents
So, I did it… I went to my first ever writer’s workshop/conference!
The short version of how the conference went…it was amazing!!!
Now, if you’d like to know more, here we go.
My mom and I went on this journey together, as I took my first steps in the outside world introducing myself as a writer/illustrator. We left for Seattle early enough to stop in Olympia for lunch and to see a bit of the town. We both agreed, the capital of Washington state is a beautiful place to visit!
We continued our journey up to Seattle, and made it to the hotel just before check-in, the night before the conference. We ate our meals at the hotel in their Cascadia Grill restaurant and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves!
There was plenty of time to scout out the next day’s event locations and everything was very straight forward at the hotel. When Saturday came, I was ready.
I had my book dummy in hand for my first alliterative picture book, Benny the Bookworm, and had plans to pitch one agent that day, in-and-amongst going to five different workshops on being a writer and the business of writing (See post on second alliterative picture book, Wishweaver here).
I mingled at the event. I met one of the event coordinators, Brian Klems, and introduced myself. I got to meet several other writers of various genres and we exchanged our business cards.
Mingling…check!
The first class I took was: Book Marketing from your Couch: Social Media 101 and I found it very informative. I was trying not to be nervous for my pitch that was taking place right in between that session and the next, but no such luck. As much as I love my story, and I am excited to pursue my career as both a writer and an illustrator, it was nerve-wracking to put myself and my work out into the literary world.
Would my illustrations be up to par with other illustrators in the children’s book market?
Would my writing catch the interest of others besides just my friends, family, and critique group?
What if I completely forget my pitch in the worst possible moment?
The doubts of we creatives can be high. They often call it “Imposter Syndrome” or that feeling of inadequacy because you haven’t “made it” yet in whatever it is you are trying to “make it” in. In the writing world, it’s feeling odd calling yourself a writer and/or illustrator when your credentials haven’t been built up yet. Saying you are an illustrator but not having had any illustrations printed in anything of major consequence.
I now have some illustration publishing credits with the
Theodore and the Enchanted Bookstore
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Theodore and the Enchanted Bookstore: The Adventures of Robin Hound
Theodore and the Enchanted Bookstore: The Adventures of Robin Hound is available for pre-order!
Book two in this wonderful series about a misfit corgi and his book store-owning companion, is coming out next month on May 14, 2018.
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- Adeline and the Mystic Berries, Author/Writer Interviews, Books. Books. Books., Giveaway, Illustration, Interviews, Misc. Fun!, Uncategorized, What I am Working On, YouTube Video
What I’ve Been Working On & GIVEAWAY!!!
My latest YouTube video is up and this time it’s all about what I’ve been up to the past few months as well as an upcoming GIVEAWAY! I just received over 1,000 subscribers on my Ink & Stitches YouTube Channel and it’s time to celebrate!!!
I only have one question for you before the giveaway is up and running…
Would you rather an art print of one of my
finished illustrations, or an amigurumi
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Swatch: The Girl Who Loved Color – Amazing Book and New Tattoo!
I fell in love with “Swatch: The Girl Who Loved Color” the moment I checked it out from the library and read it to my son. Being an illustrator, the concept of a girl named, Swatch, who tries to tame color by collecting each one in a jar, spoke volumes to me.
All of my own artwork is filled with vibrant colors. I can imagine collecting them myself, just like Swatch did across the pages of this magnificent story.
The fact that Swatch realizes color can’t be tamed reminds me that sometimes, even in my own artwork, letting go and not trying to control everything is part of what makes it beautiful. This story’s amazing author/illustrator, Julia Denos, has a style of illustration that I completely admire.
Her colors are wild! They are splashed across every page, swirling and mixing, and creating their own masterpiece.
It is her colors very wildness that I find beautiful.
After reading this book over-and-over again, and never tiring of its words, I knew that this story would always hold a message within it that I would cherish. Being a lover of body art as well, I felt confident that Julia’s work would always be something I would look at and admire.
There is a part of the book that always gives me chills toward the end; one that I look forward to reaching each time I read the story.
**Disclaimer** This post will give away parts of the story that you may want to discover and read for yourself. You can stop here, but I would love for you to continue to see how I made Julia Denos’ work into a permanent momento for me.
When Swatch realizes that color cannot be tamed, she is riding on the back of Yellowest Yellow and she calls to the other colors (she has back home trapped in jars) and they come to her. The last line of the book is “Together they made a masterpiece.”
Not only did I want the image of Swatch riding Yellowest Yellow on my arm along with all the colors, I wanted that line of the story added in as well.
In the image, Yellow’s face is missing. Julia had included it in a prior image of him roaring and so I started trying to come up with my own face to add to the front of the tattoo. It couldn’t very well be headless if I was to add it to my body.
At first I went too dragon/fantasy style with it. My husband immediately reminded me that I wanted to stay true to Julia’s work and this, though it was nice, was far from her style.
After agreeing, I tried again. I drew an image that was more catlike, but still, it wasn’t quite right.
On the third attempt, I had exactly what I wanted. The new face for Yellowest Yellow was based off of what Julia had already come up with in the prior pages, and it reminded me of my Maine Coon cat, Mowgli, as well. We just recently lost him to illness, so this tattoo ended up becoming a bit of a tribute to him.
Josh in a spot that he doesn’t normally go. It’s becoming a new fav!
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