Tag-Archive for » This Tree is for Me «

April 02nd, 2009 | Author: admin

This week I worked on coloring my characters for This Tree is for Me. The original idea was to use patterns from nature to bring the characters to life. I stuck to the plan. Taking the line drawings I produced, I added in color and texture as a test. The following is the result:

Purple Fish Textures Test

Orange Monkey Textures Test

While the textures turned out OK, something was missing. I tried natural textures, manmade textures, geometric textures, etc. but nothing seemed to fit just right. After struggling, I realized why. The lines didn’t want a texture. They were too playful and loose to support them. In the end, Orange Monkey just didn’t look Orange Monkeyish enough and Purple Fish? Well, he was a bit Fishy. I was about to give up when on a whim I applied the same color style as I used in Moo-Pig and in many illustrations on this site. Both Monkey and Fish loved them. I enjoy this technique it shows in my work when I use it. Here is the sketch I came up with:

Orange Monkey and Purple Fish in Colorfulticity.

This works much better. I still plan to implement the textures into the illustrations, but they will be used in the setting. This is a curveball in my plan of attack on the book, but I always follow the illustrations where they may go. It’s always important to me to listen to the story, to the characters, and give them what they need to be successful.

Category: Birth of a Book | Tags: Art, Birth of a Book, Children's Book, children's book illustration, Children's Books, children's illustration, Children's Writing, How to write a book for children, Illustration, Orange Monkey, Purple Fish, This Tree is for Me, writing, writing for children, writing for kids | Leave a Comment

Birth of a Book Part 6: Purple Fish gets the Orange Monkey Treatment

March 26th, 2009 | Author: admin

This week Purple Fish gets the same treatment as Orange Monkey. I produced a sketch of possible poses for him while using a build done in illustrator. I tried to replicate some of the same poses in the Orange Monkey sketch. My immediate response is that Purple Fish will be a harder creature to build character and maintain variation. He is less intricate than Orange Monkey. My response to this will be to be creative in how he is used. I will place him in situations and put objects around him to give him maximum expression of character with his simple look. This means a majority of his character will be defined later in the processes. I have also explored the possibility of adding eyebrows. Following is the initial character study of Purple Fish:

Purple Fish

Category: Birth of a Book | Tags: Art, Birth of a Book, Children's Book, children's book illustration, Children's Books, children's illustration, Children's Writing, Illustration, Orange Monkey, Puppet, Purple Fish, This Tree is for Me, writing for children, writing for kids | One Comment

Birth of a Book Part 5: Establishing an Illustration Engine

March 19th, 2009 | Author: admin

Down to the nitty gritty of illustration. I like to establish a platform or “engine.” The engine is what will drive the illustrations. It will allow me to create effective, print ready graphics that are easy to build and edit, lend themselves to consistency and push the project to its limits in terms of what it can be. To illustrate this project, I am using Adobe Illustrator. I chose illustrator because it fits nicely with the types of images I want to create. I will be able to scale images up and down without having to redraw them or lose any resolution and drop in colors and textures easily.

My first step in establishing the engine with Illustrator is to create a method to simulate the lines I have envisioned for this project. For this example, I will use Orange Monkey. I had originally planned to use a straight, consistent line. However, while doing the sketches I realized that a jittery quick stroke would work best. I decided to simulate the sketch lines in illustrator. I was able to build a brush that did this effectively. My second step was to begin to build the Illustration in parts. By breaking Orange Monkey up in parts, he could be moved and repositioned easily while retaining consistency, much like a paper cutout put together with brads. I broke him up as a body, 2 legs, 2 arms, a tail, and a head. This allows me to swing his arms and legs to position them however I want and reconfigure his face to get the right expression.

I put all this parts together and played around with poses and positions to see how it works. It was incredibly effective. This method allowed me to work fast and efficient while maintaining the life and playfulness of the original illustrations. Following are the results:

Orange Monkey Sketch

Category: Birth of a Book, Illustration | Tags: Art, Birth of a Book, Children's Book, children's book illustration, Children's Books, children's illustration, Children's Writing, Illustration, Orange Monkey, This Tree is for Me, writing, writing for children, writing for kids | 2 Comments

Birth of a Book Part 4: Things are Getting Sketchy

March 12th, 2009 | Author: admin

Paper, meet your new friend the pen. Lets get to know each other! This is the scariest part of my book design process for me to share. The sketches are very honest, very open. They are flawed, ugly, primitive and silly. I never show these; they are meant for myself. However, to fully understand my process, I will share them freely.

I always sketch the main characters first. They are the most important part and the rest of the art should follow them. Who/what drives your story? For This Tree is for Me, the answer is Orange Monkey and Purple fish. I will start with them and allow them to inspire the rest of the illustrations. I have a few rules for my initial sketches.

No color.
No limits.
Draw from your imagination.
No corrections. The eraser doesn’t exist.
No throwing away.
Don’t spend more than 15 seconds per sketch

Yes, you read right. No more than 15 seconds. 15 seconds? This is the most important rule! Why waste time? Throw your sketches out as fast as they come and don’t look back. Make a mistake? Leave it, move on. Keep moving. Moving creates movement, movement creates life. Let your imagination fly. It’s the only way you will know what it is capable of.

Following are two pages of sketches (out of a total of 30 or so) I produced.

Fast Monkey Sketches.

Fast Fish Sketches.

Out of these countless fish and countless monkeys, I pulled my two favorites out. I sketched them on the same page to see how they looked together.

My two favorite sketches combined.

Orange Monkey, meet Purple Fish. Now my challenge as an illustrator becomes retaining the fun, fresh, and lively spirit of these sketches on a much larger scale. If I lose that life, I lose the illustrations.

Category: Birth of a Book, Illustration | Tags: Art, Birth of a Book, Children's Book, children's book illustration, Children's Books, children's illustration, Children's Writing, creativity, Illustration, Orange Monkey, Purple Fish, This Tree is for Me, writing, writing for children, writing for kids | 5 Comments

The Birth of a New Book Part 2

February 25th, 2009 | Author: admin

As part of my ongoing series, here is part two of ”The Birth of a New Book.”

The beginning stages of a book are like the beginning of a new world. Exciting and fast paced. Where there use to be a blank screen or piece of paper, there is life. Ideas begin to grow and swirl and take shape. Their is a slight glimmer of light that shines brighter and brighter. There is movement. All is fresh and new. But then what? Once that world exists, what is the next step. This can vary depending on the writer and the type of story and I can not say what is right or wrong for someone else. Also, I have never been one to learn strictly through a book. One of the greatest teachers I ever had, the talented and insightful Tim McLaurin said it best when he sat before his fresh faced class of writers, pointed out of the classroom window and told them point blank, “There isn’t anything I can teach you in here. You have to learn it out there.” I keep that in mind at all times. So I follow no set course or set of rules or book of how or why. I let this meandering new world dictate to me what happens next.

Let’s get our feet wet! When I last left this story, I pulled it verbatim of how I wrote it 8 years ago. I have grown a lot since then. No, I don’t mean in the waistline! Grown as a writer and a person. My first step with this story is to edit and fine tune the story. I will make notes as necessar. Also at this stage, I begin to think about page breaks. This isn’t always true for writers, but since I will be doing the illustrations as well it is a consideration I keep in mind. As I read the passage, I visualize an illustration…Is it strong enough to make a compelling image? Does it have movement? Variation? Can the idea stand alone on its own page? If not, that is a sign I need to rewrite or reflow. I can’t stress this enough: Every page must have a purpose. One question I constantly ask myself at this stage is “how does this advance the narrative?” If I can’t answer that question, it is a red flag something isn’t working. This story is also different in that it rhymes. Rhythm and the cadence of sounds must garner attention as well. Saying it out loud as it is edited will help.

Here is my first rewrite.My changes will be in pink. My comments in green. Eliminated words will be struck through.

Why Orange Monkey do you live in a tree?
Asked the Purple Fish who lived in the sea.(make this a spread) PF and OM are names, not “the’s” capitalize throughout
Trees are so scary, they reach to the sky! (give emphasis with punctuation, effects how it is read)
And It would hurt very much to fall from that high.(make this a spread)

Trees are hard but my sea is soft.
A sea is a thing you can never fall off. (make this a spread) love the way this lines rolls off of tongue
So why Orange Monkey do you live in that a tree? consistency
Come Jump in the water and live in the sea!(make this a spread) Jump is better call to action than “come.” Should make more compelling image.

Because, said the monkey swinging on who swung from a vine. (more consistent with “who lived in the sea” above”
The sea is not yours but this tree is all mine. (make this a spread) adding “not” gives more meaning here
My tree is hard but your sea is too big. love the directness. “Sea, not “see,” nice catch Stacey!

Compared to your sea my tree is a twig.(make this a spread)

Your tree is so high. High as can be.
My water is low. Come live in the sea.(make this a spread) not completely sold on these two lines, will give further though and revisit.
I love to swing. I love to live life in the sky. “life” is more compelling, more descriptive and appropriate.
I love being a monkey and here is why. (make this a spread)

Up high there is In this tree lives one monkey. That is my wish. Reads with better rhythm.
Because But down deep in the water there are lives many bigger fish. (make this a spread) These sentences now agree and work together better.

And So, said the Orange Monkey that lived in the tree. consistency.
I live up high. Living Down there is for you, up here is for me. (make this a spread) much better.

The Purple Fish just smiled and then swam away. insert “just” for better rhythm.
He loved the water. It is where he would stay. (make this a spread)
And the Orange Monkey was so happy to live up high, smiled back from up in the sky
That he hung Then hanging from his tail, and he waved good-bye.(make this a spread)
The Purple Fish may swim, in his down there in the sea, use “the” instead of “his” to show he doesn’t own sea, use “down” to compliment “up.”
But I’m happy up here. This tree is for me. (make this a spread)

This is just the first rewrite. I am sure there will be many small tweaks here and there. One thing I will be giving a lot of thought to is tense. It is important to make sure past, present and future are all used consistently. In my opinion, this is a weakness of mine so I am careful to watch for it. Page breaks aren’t usually this cut and dry but because of the structure and being a rhyming piece, they are easy to place in this story. As I have the breaks now, there will be 26 pages total. Great! I’m under 32! Plus it will leave room for the title page, cpi data, etc..I will probably add in one more spread to give me 28 pages.

On another note, for people interested self publishing, I have come across a wonderful blog. It is maintained by Stacey Geist and shares her experience as she self publishes her children’s book Stomple and the Super-Huge Temper Tantrum. It contains lots of great insights into her experience. Check it out if you have a moment. Stromple’s Spot.

Category: Birth of a Book, Illustration | Tags: Children's Books, children's illustration, Children's Writing, editing, proofing, Self Publishing, This Tree is for Me, writing for children | 3 Comments

The Birth of a New Book Part 1

February 19th, 2009 | Author: admin

I love to write and illustrate children’s picture books. To me, they present a challenge like no other. It isn’t just about words. It isn’t just about pictures (there are exceptions to this one). It is about the perfect marriage between them both. It is a dance between what is written and what is shown visually. As one gives, the other takes. For myself, it is the most rewarding work process. I can learn more from doing a picture book than from any other type of project. I love the process…the building of the foundation, the first awkward steps, the refinement, the finding of the voice. However, my favorite moment is when the story takes a life of its own. When done properly, when given proper consideration and time, it leaves you. It is out of your hands and becomes what it wants to. It writes itself and tells itself.

Me describing this process isn’t enough to properly share the joy it brings me. That is why I have decided to share this experience with the world. From the start to finish, I plan to develop a new picture book and bring you along every step via this blog. As many of you may know, I am deep in the trenches with my latest effort “Moo-Pig.” However, it has began to reach the point I mentioned earlier. The one where it is out of my hands. “Moo-Pig” has life and I’m very proud of this and ready to start anew.

A few notes about this story. It was written originally in 2001. I also did a few quick mock-ups of what the illustrations might look like. I will include those at the bottom of the poem. Remember, this a very rough draft. So here it is, laid out bare and real. The first step. The idea and original story. My first few steps will include refining this. A little polish will do it wonders. The story is called “This Tree is for Me.” It is a simple poem. In the end, it will be 32 pages:

This Tree is for me
By Jeff Duckworth
Why Orange Monkey do you live in a tree?
Asked the purple fish who lived in the sea.
Trees are quite scary, they reach to the sky,
And it would hurt very much to fall from that high.

Trees are hard but my sea is soft.
A sea is a thing you can never fall off.
So why Orange Monkey do you live in that tree?
Come in the water and live in the sea.

Because, said the monkey swinging on a vine.
The sea is yours but this tree is all mine.
My tree is hard but your see is too big.
Compared to your sea my tree is a twig.

Your tree is so high. High as can be.
My water is low. Come live in the sea.
I love to swing. I love to live in the sky.
I love being a monkey and here is why.

Up high there is one monkey. That is my wish.
Because in the water there are many bigger fish.
And so said the Orange Monkey that lived in the tree.
I live up high. Living up here is for me.

The purple fish smiled and then swam away.
He loved the water. It is where he would stay.
And the monkey was so happy to live up high,
That he hung from his tail and waved good-bye.
The purple fish may swim in his sea,
But I’m happy up here. This tree is for me.