Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays
December 10, 2007 by pghpicturebook
First of all, thanks for all who wrote comments about John’s article (see “Welcome”). I just wanted you to know that the comments need to be filtered, which is why it takes so long for them to appear sometimes…(I’m not sure how to turn that filter off…or even if I should?)But I think that everyone who has written will be allowed directly in the next time they wish to write…let me know if there are any problems. sorry for any inconvenience.
Our next meeting at the Barnes and Noble (Waterfront) will NOT be the first Tuesday (which is New Years Day) but the second Tuesday of January…January 8th!
… at the last meeting it was suggested that we have a theme for the upcoming critique session…and we’d draw, paint, sketch or sculpt etc according to that theme and bring that artwork with us to the meeting.
The theme will be: “New Year”
Baby New Year? or Confetti? or Party Hats? or New Year Resolutions? …the list can go on and on. It’s all just for fun so…enjoy!
I hope to see all of you there…have a great holiday season. -Rose
PS: if you’d like to participate and cannot make it to the meeting…maybe you can add your blog’s link in the comment section here…and we can view your artwork on your blog???
Here’s a blog I stumbled across awhile back—
http://characterdesign.blogspot.com/
The focus seems to be on character design for animation and comics, but there’s plenty here to inspire us picturebook illustrators. Look at the sheer amount of sketching that goes into character design for an animated feature. Whew!
Whenever the credits for a Pixar movie roll I’m always struck by the hordes of people who contribute their bit to the project. We on the other hand, working solo, are responsible for a huge amount of design for each character in a story. Plus set design, costumes, lighting, choreography, camera-angles, &c, &c.
What if a picturebook made as much money as a feature film, and could support a talented crew to turn out the illustrations?
John, we’d all probably get a lot more (and maybe even better) art done if we collaborated more…I guess that’s why PSI and the illustrator’s group from WPaSCBWI are so important…so we can at least chat with one another and learn with and from one another…I’m grateful for all of the artists that I’ve met here in the Pittsburgh area!
But, what an interesting site! there’s a lot of information on this blog! (and a LOT of work goes into one of these animations.)
I didn’t realize until the workshop that you and Carol did last spring how much a picture book is like a movie…not just a handful of pretty pictures but an entire feature film (lighting, costume, set design, action, etc) in a book form…in my opinion a good picture book is every bit as interesting (if not more so) than any ol’ feature film!!!!!!
PS: I also watched one of the ‘you-tube’ anatomy lesson videos!
an interesting blog! thanks.
I like your idea of blogging the new year, and since I can’t make it, here’s the link to the image I did for the concept:
http://lizjonesbooks.livejournal.com/114614.html
Yeah, it’s bizarre. But it is a visual meditation on good and bad possibilities in the new year, nonetheless!
John– I’ve noticed this trend in graphic novels, as well. GN comes out of the comic tradition, and it’s very much a team effort, which makes sense when you think of the sheer number of panels they have to do, and the need for consistency. I agree that collaboration could be a really good thing (and so would the steady paycheck for artwork that comes from working under a group venture… *sigh*)
I did make a step towards greater art community in the new year– just joined PCI!! Wooh!
Love the artwork on that site, and it’s so nice to see familiar names!
Ah, and John– have you discovered “Drawn”?
http://drawn.ca/
It’s one of my favorite blogs…
Thanks for the tip! I checked out Drawn—a lot of fun, and inspiring. It especially gets me thinking about how to promote on the web.
I’m working on a children’s book right now, it’s about the pilgrims & Plymouth—they want it to look like a graphic novel. Just when you thought children’s books couldn’t get any more labor-intensive, along comes this new wrinkle. Figure 2-3 times as many separate images on a page as a conventional kids’ book.
Wait. Stop and think. Is there a harder way I could be doing this?
Oh my goodness!!
It really is a lot of work– if you can do any of it digitally, it really speeds things up, though. Think cut and paste– some background elements and certain poses can be massaged a bit and reused.
I’m seeing the surge in graphic novels as a blessing, since the genre is a little less glutted than some of the other fields, and I’m very new. But I haven’t sold one yet… We’ll see.
Good luck on the pilgrims! How long does it need to be?
(and there’s another wrinkle– usually a lot more pages… ) *sigh*
*sends you a gallon of virtual espresso*