Nomadic Concepts

The Ephemeral Life and Phoenical Death of the 'Stache

2012-01-24T16:33:00.000-08:00

read below for my eulogy to my husband's moustache...

Since time immemorial, men (and women) have striven to attain lofty heights (and lengths) of hirsutism. For the past 27 months, Justin Collard was just such a man.
Now, it's been said of the Biblical Samson that a man's strength is sapped at the cutting of his hair, but in fact, 'twould be folly to believe such lore.

The truth is, while many a hipster has clutched his fedora in mourning...

...and perhaps even angels have shed a tear or two...

...the hewing of Justin's moustache should not be seen as a death...

...but as a rebirth...

Truly, for it is only through the fall of such a great and powerful mass of curls that a newborn force may rise:

A werebaby has taken its place in this world, "plucked," as it were, from the spectral realm, to take its (f)rightful place amongst society's margins...

So friends, do not feel betrayed by the exposure of Mr. Collard's upper lip, nay.

Feel humbled, and rejoice.

For the 'stache is reborn.

And will live again...

My Illustration in the LA Times!

2011-10-22T11:01:00.000-07:00

This Sunday, October 23, 2011, I become an officially published illustrator. By officially, I mean published ON PAPER (yes, I'm old-school). Not just any paper, but in a major newspaper - The Los Angeles Times. It may seem like no big deal to some of my peers, but to me, being printed on paper, even newsprint, means that an editor believes that a broad audience would enjoy my work. Am I a Luddite? Possibly. But this post isn't about the merits or legitimacy of e-publishing. It's about my process of making the piece for the newspaper I've been reading ever since I learned how to read.

Have you ever seen the LA Times Kids' Reading Room? As lifted from the text of an upcoming Art Show:

"As illustrators, putting visual imagery to text-pictures to words-is part of the job description. This is challenging when the text is in the form of a book, where sequential imagery enhances the words. It is even more challenging when the entire story needs to be distilled into one image. The L.A. Times Kid’s Reading Room is such a challenge.

Nestled cozily inside the Comics section of the Sunday Edition of the Times is a story with an illustration. How does an illustrator interpret these 600 words into a single image? The process starts with a reading and rereading of the story. An illustrator will look for crucial plot points – introduction of a character, set-up of the problem, climax, or resolution. Often these plot points will ignite images in an illustrator’s imagination. “Thumbnail” drawings are made, tiny explorations of different compositions and perspectives. One of these thumbnails will seem best to represent the story in the eye of the illustrator, and will be chosen to finish. The resulting image will accompany the story and enhance the reader’s experience."

As some of you may know, I'd made myself a bit of a niche market by drawing animals wearing costumes. But lately I've been focusing on drawing human kids too, since they're at least half of the equation in illustrating for children. Getting my illos of kids up to par with those of animals has been a long process, and it's been a challenge to find confidence in what I've produced. Also, I'd been missing drawing my costumes! So imagine how excited I was when I got the call to illustrate a Halloween story!

But if you want to learn more about my process, read on, but first check out the final result: lat.ms/q4YIg2

Back now? Good. So, I accepted the assignment and read and reread the story I was asked to illustrate. First things first, I needed to draw some kids wearing costumes!

My first pass character sketch:

I wanted to make sure that the kids were multicultural.

My initial composition thumbnails:

The final piece was going to be relatively small when printed, so even though I wanted to include a lot of characters, I had to be sure to make the viewer's eye linger on Jack.

The initial rough sketch for the chosen compositional layout:

My idea was that the swing set would focus attention on Jack yet set him apart from the crowd. It just ended up looking weird. I rejiggered it in Photoshop.

This is the rough sketch that I sent to the Kids' Reading Room editor at the LA Times for approval, as she'd requested:

Approval from the editor received, I moved forward.

This is the hand-colored version, pre-Photoshop:

I printed the final sketch onto bristol board and went in with watercolors and water-soluble colored pencils. As you can see, the colors are fairly muted and the background characters' faces are indistinct.

I scanned this in, and continued to work on developing the faces and colors in Photoshop.

Everything was going swimmingly, and it looked like it would be finished 3 days ahead of the due date when... a fact was brought to my attention. Cue scary music...

Somehow, from the very first character sketch on, I'd been drawing one kid in a silver box. However, the story mentioned THREE kids in one silver box. Oh no.

I didn't have time to start all over again. I could either hope no one would notice (yeah right, kids have eagle eyes), or do some major problem-solving.

I went to work on the solution: I scooted the merry-go-round over, "harvested" two kids from a promo illustration I had done a while back and added them to the back of the original silver box kid. I tweaked their outfits and features to make them fit in better, as they were colored and rendered using a slightly different technique. Even if you can see it now, here's hoping you didn't notice when you looked at it the first time!

Sigh... The fact is, it still shocks me that I had made such a basic error. But at least I got to flex my problem-solving muscles! This is all to say LESSON LEARNED, and hopefully my telling this story will help other illustrators to remember: always read, re-read, re-read again, and maybe even have someone else read your source material to compare to your sketches if you can!

With that said, this is the final version I sent in:

As you may have noticed, I left the trees green-leafed. This was a conscious choice since the illustration was for the Los Angeles Times, and most of the trees around Los Angeles don't lose their leaves in Autumn. I also didn't put in any pumpkins or other Halloween paraphernalia. This was due to the size constraints of the printed version. None of that stuff would have read unless I had used a more graphical technique.

Newsprint isn't a forgiving format:

When I received my tearsheet in the mail, (though thrilling!) I noticed that some of the colors I used, the blue tones in particular, came out dark - a good thing to know if I ever get asked to do this again. Considering this was my first illustration printed in a newspaper, I think I did pretty well. Now that I've gone through the process, though, I think I could do even better next time!

Thanks for reading!

Micro-Comic: Doomday Predictions Through The Years...

2011-10-08T14:44:00.000-07:00

The Best-Laid Plans - no Burning Man for me

2011-08-23T10:27:00.000-07:00

How disappointing to learn that I will not be going to Burning Man after all.

Our camp guru, Mama Nicole, read the tea leaves and decided that the rejection of the initial art car drawing and the camp site request are a sign that she shouldn't go this year. Nicole's a 13-year veteran of Burning Man, and had never been rejected before, so I suppose I can understand how she would be turned off by being turned away. The only problem is, without her leading the group, all the planners decided to throw in the towel.

With something as trippy as Burning Man, perhaps one must take "signs" seriously as they could effect your entire experience, but let's look at the "signs" themselves. One rejection in 13 years? I don't think most people are as used to rejection as creative types like me are. Heck, Nicole herself even rejected my idea of distributing a mini-comic at the Burn, citing the "newbie over-gifting" issue, and I was still gung-ho to go!

Not to say that there weren't legitimate reasons for canceling the camp; I'm trying to put a writerly spin on this. So, to continue: I've experienced some form of rejection in most of my creative endeavors, but like an insane person, I keep trying and hoping for a different result. The trick is to adjust and improve. When we adjusted the "the product" - the design of the art car - to conform to "the marketplace" - the approval board - it was accepted. (I didn't post about it when it happened, but the revised concept was accepted and was mid-build when the camp site request was rejected). Supposedly, the camp planners only problem with the revised design was that then it wasn't their "pure idea" and they were in some way "selling out" and Burning Man had become too rigid and boundary-setting, yadda yadda. So the camp site rejection was the final straw. I wasn't in a position to argue, but if it had been up to me, I

would've resubmitted the camp site request, and I bet it would've been approved just like the art car was. Instead, the camp planners felt misunderstood and p.o.'d and dissolved the group.

But this is how artists starve, maaaan! *shakes fist at sky*

Eh. So, I lost out on a chance for a wacky life experience (well, I still have my ticket, but there's no way I'd try to go it alone without the infrastructure - that's crazy talk! - so I'll be scalping someone for sure, ha ha - any takers?), but hopefully I'll have learned something from this.

I'll let you know when I figure out what that something is. Until then, here's one of the sketches I did for the camp costumes. It was in the process of being made, so it too is in project purgatory:

Another post to file under "inspired by..."

2011-08-18T12:02:00.000-07:00

inspired by the save-the-date...

2011-08-17T17:36:00.000-07:00

All this talk about "the End, the End..." - I couldn't help myself. FYI: the guy on the right is my dad. He's fun to draw!

The front of the save-the-date postcard

2011-08-17T10:06:00.000-07:00

So you can see the final product...

Illustration of the Week: Through Fires and Droughts

2011-08-12T17:38:00.000-07:00

I'm not going to start listing the reasons why I haven't updated this blog. I will tell you, however, that I've written out about a dozen entries and then not posted them, simply because I'm not sure anyone is actually reading this, and if that's the case, then what's the point of typing out my "diary." See, the more I think about the fact that I, as an artist/writer, "need a platform," the more I chicken out about what to write. The blog needs to be deep and meaningful, and add fullness to other people's lives. The blog need to be interactive, offer choices to my audience for the development of future characters and storylines. The blog needs to even be fully customized to reflect and project my personal style consistently.

So instead of addressing that cliff of a load of challenges, I ignore it instead. And what does my blog turn into? A wasteland? Well, maybe not, but I was trying to make a connection between what I'm writing and the illustration I'm posting. Perhaps it's a bit of a stretch...

Anyway, the illustration above is part of an invitation I'm working on for a party. It starts out dark, (i.e. droughts, fires, floods, etc...), and then on the flip side there's a punchline. The text will be going in later, obviously. Just thought I'd post it to blow off a few cobwebs around here.

And now, back to work!

Cover Art for Class Book at Local School

2011-02-09T10:56:00.000-08:00

That is the illustration I whipped up in response to this email I received:

"Michael, my 5 year old, is in Kindergarten and I am helping organize a project where the students are going to create a class book which is going to be hardbound. The title of the class book is "When I Grow Up..." Each student will have two pages in the book, one for illustrating and the other for writing a couple of sentences describing what they want to be when they grow up.

What I thought would be a great addition to this book (which all the parents are going to purchase) is if you did the illustration for the front cover. I thought of you right away because I figured you would come up with something clever for a children's class book that fits the theme. When I mentioned this idea to Michael's teachers, they were so excited. The theme, by the way, is "When I Grow Up...".

Your picture will be used for three class books as there are three kindergarten classes (60 kindergartners). The illustration should be done in marker according to the publisher because they scan these pages in and they say marker turns up best. It does not have to be anything fancy like when you submit to illustrator contests, etc. Just something cute to complement the children's work inside. We can also mention in the front pages of the book your name under illustrator. It could be your published work, technically."

I don't think it actually counts as published work, but I thought it would be a fun project, and the homeroom moms even came up with a small token payment, so I felt appreciated. I rarely, if ever, have used marker in my illustrations, so the challenge was to acquaint myself with the media, (and the particulars of its color distribution), before working on the final piece.

Art Car: Client Concept to Finished Drawing

2011-01-29T14:34:00.000-08:00

Though perhaps Burning Man is not your cup of tea, in the spirit of the no-cash system, I helped design an Art Car in exchange for an entry ticket (BTW, oh wow, am I really going to Burning Man?!? For those readers who don't know me, this is an improbable occurance!)

This year's theme is "Rites of Passage." Here is the rough sketch the "client" gave me for the group's entry, dubbed 'Ride of Passage':After a short chat, I made some changes to the client sketch, and submitted first draft:
After I received feedback, (needs a removable platform, make the phoenix more phoenix-like, it's a limo, not a clown car, etc), I made changes:
This drawing was submitted to an Art Car mechanic/builder and approved through the initial screening, and is now working its way through the DMV for approval (in this case, they call it the Department of Mutant Vehicles, hah!)

I now have my ticket to Burning Man, and had fun on this little project. I can't wait to see if the "Ride of Passage" will actually get made!

Commission: "Texas Flags: After Jasper Johns"

2011-01-29T13:01:00.001-08:00

Ok, so I know it's been about five million years since the last time I posted, but there are good reasons, I swear. First of all, I was out of the country for a month, driving from Guatemala down to the Panama Canal, on a small portion of my dad's big Panamerican Adventure (he's somewhere in Peru right now if you want to check out his blog). Second, I have been hard at work on a picture book, and the basic rule is not to post any of the content publicly. Third, now that I am nearing the end of the picture bookmaking process, I am writing a middle grade novel, and the same rule goes for writing, as well as imagery. And finally, fourth, I am lazy about updating my blog. (at least I'm admitting it!)

Anyway, here I am, so you all can take a deep sigh of relief: life goes on. I recently completed a painting for a couple from Texas. They were interested in a painting by me, but weren't sure exactly what they wanted. We talked about their interests and over the course of the conversation, I came up with a fun idea: do a play on Jasper John's "Three Flags" triptych while displaying their Texas pride. Here is the final product:

SCBWI Los Angeles Illustrator's Day Contest Entry - Zombunnies!

2010-10-09T12:21:00.000-07:00

SCBWI Illustrator's Day is coming up, and I entered the contest. The challenge was to create an illustration to complete the sentence:

"IT WAS NIGHT, AND THE RAIN FELL; AND FALLING, IT WAS RAIN, BUT, HAVING FALLEN, IT WAS..."

My entry may not be entirely "kid-friendly," but I think it works for a middle grade (e.g. 8 to 12 years old) boy, especially around Halloween.

Pet Painting Commission - Pug in a Crib

2010-10-07T12:10:00.000-07:00

I realize that I forgot to post a pic of the commission I finished awhile back. Actually, I'm not sure I ever mentioned it in a post here, but it is one of the factors that instigated my creation of the Alphapugs, anyway.

The pug needed to be in a crib with a mobile hanging over it. I was given details about the nursery and a photo reference for the costume, (and of course, the pug herself), but the rest was up to me!

It took a lot more work than I had anticipated, (composing it to include all the details was a challenge), but everyone was happy with the end result. In fact, I'm even considering including it in my illustration portfolio!

Illustration of the Week: Cyrk Cat

2010-09-23T16:45:00.000-07:00

After "Cyrk - Red Elephant," by Mieczyslaw Wasilewski

Alphapugs!

2010-09-17T22:17:00.000-07:00

Whoa, it’s been over a month since I last posted. The good news is I’ve been MAKING ART fairly continuously in the interim. Here's a little something about a mini-project I did for fun and love.

While I was on the plane to Ireland, I did a series of sketches of “Alphapugs” – Bug Pug (Love Pug) was only the beginning, people! You can see all 21 of my alphapugs at my Facebook fanpage, or by clicking here.

The initial idea was to include a little booklet in the wedding gift bags that I made the label for, but this ended up being a little too weird for the bride and groom. So I ended up using this sketch series as an excuse to teach myself a new coloring technique in Photoshop and get really fast.

I didn’t get REALLY fast, but I definitely got better. To give you an idea, Fug(ly) Pug was the first one I colored, and one of the last ones I did was Thug Pug.

I posted some of the pug designs on various products up at my Zazzle Store - if you're in the market for pug-related merchandise, please have a look!

Multi-Tasking

2010-08-06T11:12:00.000-07:00

This has been a short week, having been bookended by post-conference zombiefication at the beginning, and now, packing for a trip to Ireland with my family. I'm still digesting the conference, riding the wave of post-RealLifeInteraction social network activity, and wanting to apply my notes to my art in the studio. But I've got a couple projects that have a DEFINITE deadline. This was my week to work on it all, since before the conference I was getting all my promo material, web presence, and portfolio together, and for the next two weeks, I'll be chasing leprechauns and rainbows.

The most pressing deadline is my friends' wedding next month. They are a supercool couple who don't mind a little levity in their lives, so I'm designing a few things to add some 'zazz' to their wedding, among them, gift bag labels and napkin rings. I swore to myself that by the end of this week, I'd get at least one image to the ready-to-print stage, and here it is:

It'll be a sticker on the gift bag. And there's even room for a handwritten note, if one were inclined, though not so obvious if it's left blank. So it's a starting-off point for the happy couple.

Sooo...while Ireland is a lovely place, and I'm definitely going to be doing lots of life drawing while I'm there, I'm a little nervous about the timing. I wanted to be able to send out all my mailers right after the conference, but then again, I don't want to be out of reach if anyone tried to contact me. It's not that I'm a total luddite, it's just: who wants to pay for international data charges or be chained to a sticky keyboard in an internet cafe? (Anyone reading this right now who's an art director - hi! I'm out honing my craft! I'll be back soon and delighted to look at all the contracts flooding in - ha ha) So I'll be sending out the mailers after the trip, even if it seems to them like I just sat on my hands a while.

So, are you wondering why I'm going to Ireland NOW? The Ireland trip was postponed back in April, when the volcano in Iceland exploded - we actually woke up the morning we were all packed, set to leave, to talk radio informing us that airspace was closed. This time in August was when everyone else could go, and I do have a very flexible schedule, after all, so who am I to complain?

I'm me, that's who, and I wouldn't be me if I didn't do a little complaining once in a while! *Stomp, stomp, stomp!*

Ok, I feel better.

We now returned to our regularly scheduled programming of all happiness and light, all the time.

Pre-Conference Jitters...

2010-07-29T23:40:00.000-07:00

SCBWI's big summer conference starts in less than 9 hours, and I'm having trouble getting myself into bed. It reminds me of getting ready for the first day of school when I was a kid - bag perfectly packed, outfits picked out, room clean...yet, sleep eludes me. That's ok, though, since it gives me a chance to post a few more images before the post-conference uptick in views (hello, new friends!)

Tank Ewe (take 2, a redux of last year's)

When Pigs Fly (image from my WIP, used for my promo postcard)

The portfolio showcase is the evening of Saturday, July 31st. Here's to smoooooth sailing....

G'night!

Ripples in the Water...

2010-06-25T15:12:00.000-07:00

Have you heard of Ripple Sketches?

Check out ripplesketches.blogspot.com if you want to make a donation to help the animal victims of the Deep Water Horizon Gulf Oil Spill, and pick up some cool art in the process.

I actually made a few quick'n'dirty ones myself. They've already been purchased (by total strangers, which is exciting!), but you can see them here, if you want.

As noted, until the end of September, I'll be donating to IMMS the proceeds of all greeting card sales from my seascape series as well as 75% of all other net sales until the end of September!

The Mandrill Illustration - in Kite Tales!

2010-06-01T22:28:00.000-07:00

I was chosen to illustrate a poem about a mandrill in this summer’s Kite Tales newsletter. Kite Tales is published by the LA chapter of SCBWI.

THE MANDRILL

by Thalia Chaltas

Mandrill manhandled the mangroves

and bit them till they cried,

He ate their leaves, stomped their roots,

and then lay down and died.

I started with a ton of preliminary sketches, since this assignment was officially A Big Deal, since Kite Tales is read by a lot of kidlit industry professionals. Mandrills and mangroves are not everyday images in my life, so I decided to really research what they were all about before committing to any of my sketches. I think it paid off.

Here's a link to the issue, my illo is on page 13!

Venice Art Walk - Year Three

2010-05-29T11:43:00.000-07:00

The Venice Art Walk took place this year on Sunday May 23rd. My paintings were on display at my uncle Sudad (Steve) Shahin's studio. As a sculptor, my uncle has a lot of blank white walls in his space that needed a little something, and as a painter, I have a lot of art to loan out, so it's a symbiotic relationship...

Out of the three years I've done it, this time the artwalkers offered the most praise, and even a few e-nibbles. None of which resulted in an actual sale, yet, but...still, it was certainly nice to hear.

FYI, the turtle painting was the most popular, based on the number of inquiries. The seascape series in general garnered the most attention.

Illustration of the Week: Swim Fan

2010-04-14T21:52:00.001-07:00

Fun sketch - riff on Manet's Olympia

2010-04-14T21:43:00.001-07:00

So, if I'm going to be painting pictures of peoples' pets as a source of revenue, I might as well spice things up. How about putting your pet in a old-school painting, such as Manet's Olympia? (link NSFW.) And maybe the pet owner too?

This prelim sketch was done on spec, (and without reference photos of the actual subjects) so we'll see how it goes. I'm tempted to start the real painting anyway, and just fill it in when I get a bite!

Pet Painting Commission - delivered!

2010-04-14T21:38:00.000-07:00

Hudson the fluffy white dog has finally found his home, resting on the mantle.

Please keep me in mind if you are thinking about getting a pet portrait done!

Experiments in art!

2010-04-14T21:34:00.000-07:00

Here are some experiments using acrylic ink. They aren't done, but I thought that I'd post them as is, since it's been a while since my last post.

The Owl and the Pussycat

2010-03-18T09:22:00.000-07:00

I've been told that it would be a good idea for my portfolio to include an image based on a well-known fairytale or nursery rhyme. So I decided to give it a go.

This image is based on the Edward Lear nonsense poem, "The Owl and the Pussycat."

Here's part of it:

The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea
In a beautiful pea green boat,
They took some honey, and plenty of money,
Wrapped up in a five pound note.
The Owl looked up to the stars above,
And sang to a small guitar,
'O lovely Pussy! O Pussy my love,
What a beautiful Pussy you are,
You are,
You are!
What a beautiful Pussy you are!'

4 new paintings!

2010-03-17T09:14:00.000-07:00

It may seem like I do things in spurts, and maybe I do, but really, it just takes me a while to upload it all to the blog. Here are some paintings that I've finished since the last painting I posted. That isn't to say they were started since then, too. These all stretch back for some time, since I spent the last year focused almost exclusively of children's book writing and illustrating. But now I realize I can do both. My paintings don't have to be heart-wrenching, soul-searching, or deep, just as long as they communicate. If you think that equates to having sold out, well then, boo on you. Anyhoo, having the art studio to work in is a real help also in getting these paintings done. I don't have to put everything neatly away at the end of each and every day, or worry about getting paint on the carpet. And - extra bonus - no embedded cat hair! All this to say, I'm grateful for my situation. I feel like I'm really making some good progress.

You can see these in higher quality (and order cards and prints, heh) at my Fine Art America page: http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/julia-collard.html

P.S. I just have to say for my own sanity that the paintings really do look better in person - the colors are more vibrant in real life (especially the sea turtle painting!) Also, since I use a lot of acrylic medium to add depth, there's quite a bit lost in 2D. If you ever want to see them in person or see a side-view photo, let me know. Ok, I feel better now.

more drawings of kids

2010-03-01T14:16:00.000-08:00

kids in color

2010-03-01T14:12:00.001-08:00

sketches of kids

2010-02-15T19:13:00.000-08:00

well, I've really been trying to determine a more illustration-y style for my drawings of kids. humans are a lot harder to draw than animals, because if the locations of features are even the tiniest bit off, the whole thing looks wrong. in other words, it's easier to get away with stuff when one is drawing animals. anyway, here are some kid drawings.

Illustrations of the Week: Echidna

2010-01-24T17:36:00.001-08:00

Just for fun, just for practice, just what I can show without giving away my precious ideas....

And by the way, I do realize that I'm not posting an illustration every single week. I'll think about rectifying that, really I will. It's just that I didn't make any New Year's Resolutions this time around, so my level of blog upkeep has not increased proportionately with the time of year.

Prints Now Available!

2010-01-24T16:51:00.000-08:00

I signed up on Fine Art America so that interested parties may purchase my original paintings and/or prints of my paintings and illustrations. So, now's your chance to prove that you weren't just saying it - that you meant it when you said, "I want that on my wall!"

Touché!

http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/julia-collard.html?tab=artwork

Painting: I Can Has Banana Phone?

2010-01-11T12:35:00.000-08:00

I finally delivered this commissioned piece, so I can now post an image on my blog: ta da!

This is HappyCat, the mascot of sorts of icanhascheezburger.com , enjoying the use of his many banana phones. (Don't know what a banana phone is? Search for it in YouTube, and you're welcome in advance for the earworm.)

The piece measures 18" x 24" and is painted using all acrylic paints and mediums. (yes, mediums, not media; it's a personal preference)

Over-worrying: I hope I won't get sued by the now-defunct Russian cat food company that initially used HappyCat in one of their ad campaigns. I definitely managed to add my own twist to it, and it's not like I'm rolling in dough Shepard-Fairey-style.

Enjoy!

Illustration of the Week: Rainy Venice

2009-12-09T13:02:00.000-08:00

This one's just for fun. It's based off of an image I liked from the LA Times about the rain storms in Venice, Italy some years back. Thought I'd give it a shot, since I usually avoid leaving so much "blank" space, since light backgrounds usually feel unfinished to me.

Illustration of the Week: A Literary Giraffe

2009-11-18T22:23:00.000-08:00

This little dude is slated to be copied onto bookplates for a donation program a friend of a friend is handling. I like to think Giraffy's reading up about knitting turtlenecks or something.
(click on the image to enlarge)

Illustration of the Week: Home, Tweet Home

2009-10-17T09:35:00.000-07:00

Whipped this up yesterday as the front of a card for a housewarming party (we're going to one today). The inside of the card reads: "Home, Tweet Home"

It was made by dry-blending colored pencil on plain 8.5" x 11" sketch paper.

I just colored right on top of the original sketch, no transfer. If I had to do it again, there are a few changes I would make, other than the obvious of using real art paper and watercolor and more interesting background and lighting: I'd also make the birds larger, since their expressions are hard to see when the image size is reduced to fit the card. (Click on the image to see it larger)

on vacation...

2009-08-18T19:11:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the long delay since my last post. First I was preparing for the SCBWI National Conference, and then, just two days post-conference, we left town for a 10-day trip to the East Coast. No rest for the weary! hah.

As I type, I'm chilling in the "Chauffeur's Cottage" of a historic manor in Bar Harbor, Maine, (pronounced Bah-Hah-Bah), resting after a day of lobster eating and bald eagle spotting. I haven't had a moment still enough for sketching. But that means I'm on the move, filling up my mind to the brim full of ideas to take with me to the drawing table!

For example, who knew there was a nightly Lumberjack Show just outside of town? I sure didn't! Who knew lobsters could grow to be 6 feet long? Prehistoric, man! And I didn't know pitcher plants and cranberries grew side-by-side in bogs, either. And one more: seals take 10-15 second micro-naps by 'bottling' - just sticking their noses out of the water so they could breathe while catching a little shut eye - by bottling, Harbor Seals don't actually have to haul out to sleep (unclear on whether this is specific to this particular sub-species).

Those were just a few of the little factoids that keep me smiling. I'll be back in a week!

Children's Book Illustration Project for Pacific Northwest Children's Book Conference 2009

2009-07-31T11:41:00.000-07:00

Those of us in the illustrator's track at the PNWCBC were given a scribbled prompt that an anonymous person in the writer's track had written earlier that day. We had to create a story around the prompt, and then tell the story visually.

My writing prompt:
"The red lady's hair perfectly matched her orange dress and she bobbled along like a giant pumpkin. 'Sweets for Sweetie,' she sang as she rolled into the bakery."

Our first assignment was to create a front and rear view of our character. Here's what I did:

Then we had to come up with a story using all of the narrative points in the prompt. For me, it all just happened organically. There was all this talk about "No Cutesy-Pie!" being Linda Zuckerman's hard and fast rule, and here I was drawing a big lady going to a bakery...well, I couldn't resist.

On the last day, the illustrators (there were 8 or 9 of us), had to go up in front of the whole conference group and explain our process. I had a pretty good 5-minute walk through of it, but I think it worked most of all because of presentation, not the bizarro interpretation of the prompt. The story, in short: Sweetie's the daughter of Cutesy, the big lady. Sweetie's sick and tired of Cutesy's pie. They've plumbed the depths of their individual psychoses. Sweetie fantasizes about the demise of her mother, ergo: "No More Cutesy-Pie!"

Everyone had a good laugh, and it felt pretty good!

Tank Ewe

2009-07-24T17:02:00.000-07:00

(click the image for a closer look)

In advance of the SCBWI Summer Conference, and in response to the Pacific NW Children's Book Conference from which I just returned, I'm planning on making a Thank You card by printing this image on the front, and then you flip it open to read "Tank Ewe."

Silly, but that's the way I like it.

Illustration of the Week: sleeping cats

2009-07-08T16:39:00.001-07:00

Ok, here's one before I leave for the conference...sorry it's not a funny one.

I had cats on the brain after doing a cat-related panel for a picture book I'm working on (can't post those), so this came out. It's probably not right for a kid's book, though with some writing in the blank spot, it could possibly be an example title page for my portfolio. Or maybe even a greeting card. Who knows...

So, I'll be gone until July 19th, visiting friends and attending this: http://www.ceed.pdx.edu/children/

This means there will be no illustration next week - be strong!

Bear Taxi

2009-07-03T16:13:00.000-07:00

Here is this week's "Inspired by" illo, prompted by Justin uttering the phrase "Bear Taxi."

Click on the pic for a closer view...

I have no idea what Justin was referring to when he said it, except that it had something to do with this show about grizzly bears we watched on the National Geographic channel, which featured Brutus: http://biturl.cc/jl

Scuba Pickles.

2009-06-24T18:37:00.000-07:00

My friend Laura had a dream that she and her pug, Pickles, were scuba-diving and came upon an underwater city. I thought I would try my hand at an interpretation.

Whaddayathink?

Status Update

2009-06-04T16:56:00.000-07:00

Progress Report:

MG Novel: 8075 words with full outline for the rest. I have to keep reminding myself of Anne Lamott's "Sh**ty First Draft" concept, and not get all freaked out over what I've written so far. I want to submit it for the MS review during the SCBWI Conference, and the deadline is June 11th. I'm afraid I won't make it in time. It's not that I don't have enough pages - I totally do, I just feel like it's all over the place, because each time I sit down to write, my style seems to have a mind of its own, and depending on my mood, it can be all psychological, or all dialogue, or all action, or all oblique references, or spoon-feeding, etc... This reminds me of my handwriting - always different, depending on any number of things. So, I'm a bit concerned that my writing isn't going to quietly settle down into a set style, and that these inconsistencies in voice are going to be a problem down the line.

Picture Book: MS complete, and is under 700 words. Storyboard complete. Preliminary sketches for dummy are about half-way done. And here's a cellphone pic (why do I hate scanning so much?) of a style trial starring everyone's favorite bactrian (two-humped) camel (not that you can tell)
It's hard to keep pushing ahead on this one, keeping the faith, because of all the bad news about the PB market. But push I must, and I need to keep reminding myself that even if it isn't going to go anywhere, at least I'll have it for my portfolio, and for experience from which to build.

Illustration Portfolio: I've got a good handful of sketches (see above for ex.), but nothing inked, nothing colored. I think I'm just scared. I'm not sure exactly why - probably afraid of the possibility of discovering that I'm not simply the BEST CHILDREN'S ILLUSTRATOR IN THE WORLD. I don't think of myself as a perfectionist, but...that's my hypothesis, and I'm stickin' to it.

Magazine Articles: I've submitted one to Faces, a children's magazine put out by Cobblestone Publishing. I won't hear anything until August about that one and I'm putting the general mag effort on the back burner until I finish up for all the deadlines for the other things.

Classes: I'm not taking any right now, but I've got two critique groups, and loads of SCBWI events that I keep signing up for like it's going out of style. Went to a Easy Reader Writing ...er...Seminar(?) last weekend. I think I have at least one little something that can be modified a bit to fit the parameters. We'll see.

Painting: Also on the backburner, but I am slowly and sporadically getting to work on the HappyCat commission - luckily, I gave myself a GIANT lead time, so I'm not upsetting anyone by taking this long on it. Here's a sneak peak of the WIP (a closeup shot, and blurry b/c it's a cellphone pic)-- I am happy with the eyes, but the rest of the face is crooked and too smooshed. This may take a while...

I'm Alive, I Promise!

2009-06-02T18:24:00.000-07:00

I'm writing and drawing and painting and and and...SO MANY deadlines, and SO soon! Will post more after June 14th, pinky swear!

My Latest Twitter Profile Pic

2009-04-10T10:34:00.000-07:00

It being #followfriday on Twitter, I thought I'd let you know:
you can follow me @juliacollard

In Honor of National Poetry Month...

2009-04-10T10:27:00.000-07:00

Here's an oldie but goodie I lifted from an ancient SCBWI Bulletin:

My New Spell Checker

Eye halve a spelling chequer.
It came with my pea sea.
It plainly marques four my revue
Miss steaks eye kin knot sea.
Eye strike a key and type a word
And weight four it two say
Weather eye am wrong oar write
It shows me strait a weigh.
As soon as a mist ache is maid
It nose bee fore two long
And eye can put the error rite.
Its rare lea ever wrong.
Eye have run this poem threw it.
I am shore your pleased two no.
Its letter perfect awl the weigh.
My chequer tolled me sew.

- Sauce unknown

Most People's Muses Help Them...

2009-04-02T17:08:00.001-07:00

at the laptop...

at the lightbox...

NOT helpful.

Since the last time I checked in...

2009-03-11T23:41:00.000-07:00

On Saturday I received feedback from my best college buddy, who also happens to be a former editor at Scholastic. So, while she is intrinsically biased, I asked her to pretend my ms was straight from the slush pile. She had a few changes here and there, but nothing major. She said, "I would feel proud to read this to my children (if I had any)." Well, that sounds good to me!

In other news, as a result of the many hours I spent trawling the web in an effort to procrastinate, I made a few discoveries. One is that another college buddy (lost touch) is a literary agent and is active on blogs and at conferences. (UPDATE 6/09): met up with him when he was in town for an SCBWI event -- what fun!!)

I spent eight hours yesterday working on one illustration in Photoshop, and I got just part of it done. I imagine I'll get faster as I get used to this particular style I'm going for, but sheesh!

Everyone I've shown the illo to has appeared to be really impressed. Grain of salt, though. It's hard to get a real sense of the illo's worth because none of these people sit in a room reading slush dummies all day, and besides that, I'm standing right there, so it's hard to be critical. But I like seeing people smile, and this picture makes them do just that.

Did I mention I got a commission? I'm painting an 18"x24" portrait of "Happycat," the I Can Has Cheeseburger cat. After that, I've got a pretty good lead for another commission to paint a couple's dog. (No official agreement yet, but they've seen my portfolio, and want me to come in and meet the dog).

The copious amounts of money I'm going to be flush with will be used to defray the costs of my SCBWI membership and conference fees. Anything left over goes towards getting a new heating/cooling system for the house. By the way, that 'copious' comment...yeah, that was sarcasm. But I'm happy. Besides, in this economy, it's amazing that people want to buy work.

I went to my first SCBWI event tonight -- the Westside Schmooze. It was Picture Book Critique night. I knew three people there, all from various UCLA classes. So, not as scary as it could have been, even though I didn't get to sit with any of them. As my ms was read aloud, I held up the roughs for each page.

I asked for comments about length, as I am afraid it may be too long. I'm not sure if it was the power of suggestion, because although they nodded, they were unable to provide me with a good example of something that could be excised. I think that if it really needs to be fixed, it will require a reworking of the story, because all the lines they suggested where all part of the established repetition and would leave a gaping hole in their wake if they were removed.

One woman said she thought that I needed to take my story to a conference and have an editor look at it. She said it in a really nice way, so I'm taking it as a compliment.

A Runcible Spoon

2009-03-05T23:45:00.000-08:00

I’ve been reading tons of literary agents’ and editors’ blogs, trying to find out who is looking for what and what kind of query letter they prefer. Long or short? Funny or formal? Also, I’m starting to feel like all my sentences are still overly long and contain too many unnecessary transitions, conjunctions, etc…

SHORT, DECLARATIVE SENTENCES! SHORT, DECLARATIVE SENTENCES!

Unfortunately, I’m also reading about how the number of query letters these people have been receiving has skyrocketed as of late. This makes me nervous. Even though I know my story is good, and I know my illustrations are good, are they good enough to negate the fact that I really have no 'real' published credits to my name?

--

Later –
So, I worked on my story again today, and I ended up adding words, something I’ve been telling myself not to do! I think I’m worrying too much about the story not flowing. So far, the only critique I’ve gotten is that it’s a little long. (So, I cut some, but now I’m almost back to where I started!)

But the majority of my day was spent reading blogs. All of which is turning from something that was maybe-sort-of productive to something that is really a ‘new and fascinating’ way to procrastinate.

Yesterday, I worked at the studio until the cold weather froze me out (it’s an uninsulated garage), so I was able to escape the evil yet tantalizing lure of the internet. And I got three SFD illustrations done. SFD, for those who haven’t read Anne Lamott’s “Bird by Bird,” stands for Shitty First Draft. Meant for writing, but I have appropriated it, because the concept has enabled me to get something, anything(!) down on paper.

Soooo…I have two, count ‘em TWO SFD illustrations left before I have completed the SFD of the dummy! So close! I will have to redo most of them, probably all of them, because now I have to work harder on consistency, meaning that my characters have to look like themselves throughout the story.

One more thing before I call it a night: So, I’ve been reading all about the things “Not To Do” in query letters, and I took them all out of my draft (yep, they were pretty much all in there, or at least it felt that way). However, I took all the stuff I didn’t even dare put in my query letter and put it in my JacketFlap profile. Now I’m worried that people won’t say, “Oh, that’s nice. I wanted to know a little more about her actual experience (or lack thereof) and that’s why I’m looking at her profile,” but instead will point their knifelike pointer fingers at me and hiss, “AMATEUR!”

All that to say, I know. I know! I know I’m not published in anything that counts to anyone in the children’s publishing world. But I had to put it somewhere. Otherwise, I would feel like I would be lying through omission. Please don’t sneer at me. At least not until I regrow a skin.

And by the way, I just want to put it out there that I got a letter in the mail two days ago from my UCLA Ext instructor saying, “…I know you will be published…I love your story.” Ahh, that's better. Nothing like a little bit o’ that to stroke my newbie ego.

Do Elephants Get Migraines?

2009-03-03T16:45:00.000-08:00

So, my doctor says I'm too stressed out. Which I think is ridiculous. If I decided to venture off and do the thing I love, how can I be stressed? I know, I know, it's the nature of the beast (me), but I always assumed I was pretty laid back compared to all my friends working corporate jobs. After all, I get to doodle and write notes to myself all day, and I don't get in trouble for it anymore. I guess the 'problem,' if you want to call it such, is that I am taking the process too seriously. What, no more long nights researching rhinoceros feet? Pshaw.

Hello World.

2009-03-02T15:38:00.000-08:00

As much as I would like it to be, Tweeting just isn't the same as blogging. And also, as opposed to reporting on ALL my daily doings, this here blog will be strictly work-related. (Well, as strict as it can be, given the circumstances).

Here's (work-related) me, in case you don't know:

Basics:

- BFA from NYU
- MBA from UCLA (studied painting there as well)
- Member of SCBWI

Facts Pertinent to the Setting, (yet unmentionable under any circumstances, b/c it screams "AMATEUR"):

- Writing since eight years old

- Illustrating since 10 (won some contests, submitted to Cricket Magazine, etc...)

- Wrote and illustrated first 'Children's Book' at 11 years old, "The Foot That Crunched LA" - (and it stays in the vault, thank you very much!)

- Wrote screenplays and storyboarded scenes before, during and after college.

- Wrote my first full-length book at 21. (And, oh, I thought I was so clever! Adverb this, and adjective that, blah, blah)

- Photoshopped out tourists and power lines from clients' vacation photos as a side gig until 2003.

- Learned the ins and outs of starting my own company in Business School.

- Post-B-School, endeavored to build fine art portfolio before undertaking the writing/illustrating. Some samples (not all pertain to children's book illustration, but you can get the idea): http://picasaweb.google.com/nomadicconcepts/NomadicConceptsJSCSArtSamples?feat=directlink

- Currently, fulfilling commissions for paintings, and the rest of the time working on stories and dummies.