Learning Watercolor

For a long time I’ve wanted to get good at using watercolor so I can illustrate with it. I love the way watercolor looks. But I’m afraid of it. Irrationally terrified. Pencil can be erased, and with acrylics or oils you can paint over mistakes. But if you mess up a watercolor painting, it’s hard to fix. Sometimes I do something I don’t like and when I try to lift it out of the paper, I end up ruining that part of the paper. Then no matter what I do, it won’t look right. So I’ve done lots of nice big drawings and then instead of painting them with watercolor like I planned to do, I just let them sit. 

What’s the worst thing that could happen? I mess up a drawing and then I do another one. And consider it practice. Or I figure out how to turn a mistake into a happy accident, and stop being a perfectionist.

Right now I’m learning to do skin tones, and I’m doing it in my art journal, because it’s small and just for me and not as scary. I won’t show you my first attempt but I’ll give you a hint: It was bad. Here’s the second one.

I’m using this book and it’s really helping me.

Realistic Watercolor Portraits: How to Paint a Variety of Ages & Skin Tones by Suzanna Winton

Weekend Links: It's All About the Art

My daughter's 3d grade art project that was selected for a county-wide art show.

I'm not an illustrator, but I love art. I grew up surrounded by it. My mom is an artist and my brother became an animator. So for all your artists and illustrators out there, this post is for you. 




The video above is shameless advertising but I loved the artist's style. Alison Woodward, a Vancouver-based illustrator used paint and washes to create a gorgeous picture I'd love to have on my wall. 

Video 2 is an illustrator I was introduced to through 12x12, Shawna JC Tenney. In her video she shows how to create a texture for Photoshop.

And finally, a bit on the long side but helpful if you're an illustrator wondering how much to charge for your work. Here's Will Terry giving his two cents:

Have a great weekend!

Happy Coincidence

Yesterday I went to the library to look for books on picture book illustration. Along with a whole armload of those I happened to find a book called ipad for Artists by Dani Jones. A little off topic but too interesting to pass up. And I have hardly been able to put it down. Here are some things I’ve learned.

The author was born the same year I graduated from high school, which means she’s good with technology, and I feel old. However, this book explains things so I can easily understand them. She also happens to be a children’s book illustrator and author.

I’ll be doing some travelling in the next two months and taking my ipad with me. I may never produce any masterpieces of illustration on my ipad, but this could be a fun way to be creative on the go. Some people do make gorgeous art on their ipads, and others use them as digital sketchbooks.

 I really like Jones' method of brainstorming and creating characters she can develop later on her computer. And there are instructions for saving color schemes, adding textures from photos, and lots of other cool things. It’s another medium to explore, and who knows, playing with it might lead to greater creativity in other areas? 

Weekend Links: Inspiration All Around

My husband is a former archaeologist and he's shared information with me that you don't usually get in school. His experiences fueled my curiosity, and I developed an interest in history, science and anthropology that I, sadly, never had in college. What does this have to do with writing? A lot, I've found. 

Katherine Appelgate, the author of One and Only Ivan took her inspiration for her story from a real life event (Click here for the details.) Brian Selznik also drew inspiration for his novel The Invention of Hugo Cabret from a book he read about the history of automata. And even the great Sir Arthur Conan Doyle found his stories in ones told before. 

In the following video Brian Selznik speaks of the inspiration behind The Invention of Hugo Cabret. And the link below that takes you to a short clip about the legend that inspired Doyle's popular The Hound of the Baskervilles:

The Rebirth of Sherlock Holmes Video : Castle Secrets & Legends : Travel Channel

And for all you illustrators/artists out there, inspiration can be all around us. Here's one of my favorite photo tours of artists making art from everyday things:

http://memolition.com/2013/02/02/the-best-examples-of-street-art-in-2012-48-pictures/

Have an inspirational weekend and keep your eyes and ears open. You may find your next great novel/illustration lurking in a most unlikely place.

Resistance and The War of Art

“It’s not the writing part that’s hard. What’s hard is sitting down to write.”

Steven Pressfield

I just read The War of Art by Steven Pressfield. Ok, I confess, I didn’t read it. I listened to the audio book. Twice. (Warning: Don’t listen to this book when your children are around. He uses some profanity.) And then I bought the book so I could highlight stuff. It’s so good! It’s all about resistance. Really? I thought it was just me who insists that I really, really, really want to work on my books, but when I get an opportunity to do it, I decide I have to organize my closets or purge my email box or make homemade sauerkraut. You mean this happens to other people too? What a revelation.

One form of resistance he talks about is not finishing things. I do that! Right now I’m about 85% done with two projects, and I’m feeling that pull to walk away for a while. I don’t know what to do about the end of a story I’m writing, and I’m wrapped up so tightly about it that nothing I’ve written this week really works. But I’m going to win these battles. I’m not giving in to resistance.

Pressfield talks about the culture of healing that exists in places like Santa Fe, New Mexico. (I have some favorite gurus from that area.) If we accept the idea that we have to heal ourselves emotionally before we can do our work, we are giving in to resistance. He says:

 “The part of us that we imagine needs healing is not the part we create from. That part is far deeper and stronger. The part we create from can’t be touched by anything our parents did or society did. That part is unsullied, uncorrupted, soundproof, waterproof and bulletproof. In fact, the more troubles we’ve got, the better and richer that part becomes.”

He says it’s our personal lives that need healing, and that has nothing to do with our work. But it can be healing to our personal lives when we do our work. I have experienced this myself in a big way, but it still struck me as an epiphany.

He goes on to tell the difference between a professional and an amateur. If we really want to write books or make art, we have to turn pro. We have to show up every day no matter what.

The third part of The War of Art is about where our inspiration comes from. Pressfield calls it muses or angels. I believe angels whisper in our ears. I believe the stories I write exist before I write them, and I just have to let them come through me.

So now, every time I feel resistance coming back, I put this audio book on and listen for a while. If I know my enemy, I can win the battle.

Illustration Weekend Links

For the illustrators out there, or writers who want a peek at the illustrator world, here's three great (and short) videos:

Lynne Chapman describes the process of illustrating Bears on the Stairs in this five-minute video:

 

One of my favorite illustrators, Mark Buehner, shares a three-minute video about illustrating:

 

A 10-minute video by Kathleen Kemly about illustrating Molly by Golly:

Weekend Links

Brilliantly simple advice in less than five minutes by Neil Gaiman, author of Coraline.

Maria Popova, from Brain Pickings, talks about Ray Bradbury's book, Zen in the Art of Writing. She mentions his use of lists as a method of inspiration. Here's a sample quote:

"I was beginning to see a pattern in the list, in these words that I had simply flung forth on paper, trusting my subconscious to give bread, as it were, to the birds."

And to fill your artist's bucket, an unbelievable display of chalk art:

 Happy Weekend.

10,000 Hours, Really?

In my reading lately I was reminded of Malcolm Gladwell's observation in Outliers that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to master a skill. The idea that all 10,000 hours don't need to be deliberate practice hours is intriguing. Elizabeth Hyde Smith in Make Art Make Money suggests that as we look back on our life in relation to what it is we are trying to master we can see many different ways we have been practicing all along. In my, case as an artist, when I look back I see many melted crayons: some in the car from leaving them behind by accident, some near the porch from sitting in the sun drawing too long, some specifically melted to get a certain effect on a project. I would explore my dad's art making tools wondering what each was for. I learned that Xacto blades are really sharp and when used with enthusiasm can sometimes cause trips to the hospital for stitches. Mom's are good to provide transportation in such a case.

The hours turning tissue boxes, brass fasteners and other bits of this and that into cars for Barbie dolls and friends; hours making up the stories that went with all the stuff that my friends and I made, using our imagination to see what we could make from the bits of this and that-- all of these hours are part of my 10,000. Look back, see the connections, how many of those hours do you already have? What can you do to get more of those hours in a similar way? How can you follow the passion you've had for such a long time? I think I'll look for my answers as I dream as I did as a child and play a bit more so my work can be more play.

The Biggest Question?

Why? How? Who cares?

Last year my husband gave me a wonderful gift for our anniversary. He knew how much I like to read, even though it “takes me away” from our real life together, he gave me a Kindle. Wow, books and more books all the time. Answers to questions too. Sometimes an inkling of a clue to a big answer to a big question.