Here is a crop of the art for the toddler's bedroom - where the story begins! This was completed a couple years ago. I'm very busy with a 2-3 week gig right now so I might have to mine from the past for a couple weeks. Hope you enjoy!
The harrowing journey of a picture book being slowly created by four friends. I•am•the•illustrator ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Sunday, July 17, 2016
Sunday, July 10, 2016
Busstop Apology
This is an apology to the man I was waiting for the bus with this morning.
You were smartly dressed in a grey suit with a briefcase; probably late forties with short salt and pepper hair. You said good morning to me as I arrived at the busstop — a kind and rare gesture.
A couple minutes later, I asked if it was supposed to clear up later today. He hadn't checked, didn't know. He didn't need to know, he explained. He worked in a cubicle investigating credit card fraud. He said this as if he were dismayed with himself. He said he spent some of his youth working outdoors. He turned back to himself perhaps reminiscing about those times. Taking a page from my ex-wife's playbook of interacting with strangers, I asked him the big question.
"What work do you really want to be doing?"
He paused not long at all. "Something with plants and dogs." He brightened up at the thought; at saying it out loud.
"That sounds pretty chill," I said, inwardly cringing at using the word "chill". And not sure how to encourage him without sounding trite or unrealistic. My ex would have said something encouraging and hopeful, but I was not practiced at this. Instead I said something not encouraging.
"...although, I know from experience, dogs can be difficult to work with." My heart sunk after I blurted these words. Just then the bus pulled up and we got on saying no more.
So, sorry man waiting for the number 2. I too need encouragement to follow my dreams. I, too, go to work at a job that doesn't inspire me or utilize my skill or passion.
Next time I see you, I will try to encourage you. I will share my goals and passions, the ones I am working towards, and maybe tell you about this blog.
You were smartly dressed in a grey suit with a briefcase; probably late forties with short salt and pepper hair. You said good morning to me as I arrived at the busstop — a kind and rare gesture.
A couple minutes later, I asked if it was supposed to clear up later today. He hadn't checked, didn't know. He didn't need to know, he explained. He worked in a cubicle investigating credit card fraud. He said this as if he were dismayed with himself. He said he spent some of his youth working outdoors. He turned back to himself perhaps reminiscing about those times. Taking a page from my ex-wife's playbook of interacting with strangers, I asked him the big question.
"What work do you really want to be doing?"
He paused not long at all. "Something with plants and dogs." He brightened up at the thought; at saying it out loud.
"That sounds pretty chill," I said, inwardly cringing at using the word "chill". And not sure how to encourage him without sounding trite or unrealistic. My ex would have said something encouraging and hopeful, but I was not practiced at this. Instead I said something not encouraging.
"...although, I know from experience, dogs can be difficult to work with." My heart sunk after I blurted these words. Just then the bus pulled up and we got on saying no more.
So, sorry man waiting for the number 2. I too need encouragement to follow my dreams. I, too, go to work at a job that doesn't inspire me or utilize my skill or passion.
Next time I see you, I will try to encourage you. I will share my goals and passions, the ones I am working towards, and maybe tell you about this blog.
Thursday, July 7, 2016
Tuesday, July 5, 2016
Shedding Attachments
At
that first meeting there was Steven, Keith's very close friend, Keith
and me. I knew Steven from back when I got to know Keith.
Steven had impressed me as a guy with a wonderfully droll sense of
humor. He could make me laugh because of his timing and dry delivery.
Steven both speaks and writes like someone who loves language. Also,
Steven loves movies.
After
catching up on life, family, work and current events, we commenced
our meeting. Keith shared the sprout of an idea that I mentioned in
the last post and what the thinking was as far as how the book
would be interactive.
As
we held more meetings, soon Keith brought Chad aboard, a graphic
designer friend that played music with Steven and Keith almost
weekly. Chad, I had never met before but right off the bat was
clearly a genuinely friendly, refreshingly sincere man. I would learn
of his graphic design talents later.
In
those early meetings the story emerged. The case was centered around
a broken cookie jar. How did it break? It happened unexpectedly in
the early morning, it's resounding crash waking up the protagonist,
arousing his passion to solve a mystery no matter how puzzling.
After
Chad was brought on it wasn't long before we had a fifth member, Matt
Jarvis. Keith met Matt while working at Zipper
Interactive.
Matt was brought on to do the programming, to make the pictures and
words interactive.
He
came to several meetings but because of family demands he had to stop
coming. Also, it's fair to say, because of our slow progress he
decided to give us some time to get our assets together. Not sure if
Matt would still be interested in coming back — it's been a heck of
a long time and we are still not done creating our assets. Again,
that is mostly if not entirely my doing.
Because
of the slow progress and lack of a programmer, Keith proposed the
idea of focusing on a printed book. I stubbornly resisted this
notion. I took a stand against it.
This
was conceived as an interactive book and we were all inspired by that
original concept! It's our take on the interactive kids book that
will make our product stand out! It's
our angle!
-I protested. I was afraid of losing my passion for this project. I
was afraid of settling for less than the dream. (Yes, a
procrastinator can be passionate. It's just a lack of praxis that
has got me in trouble.)
Later,
Keith made another pitch to focus on the printed book and by that
time I had softened; I agreed. Now I feel silly for not trusting that
this book is not sufficiently special without interactivity.
These
are the reasons to focus on print first:
Books
are wonderful. We all love the printed book.
We
couldn't rely on Matt to program the interactive book and hiring a
programmer would cost too much. We would have to raise the
programming money.
If
we had a physical book we could use it, leverage it, to raise money
for a programmer or acquire a publisher that wanted to sponsor the
digital interactive version.
Creating
a book and an interactive book at the same time was difficult,
time-consuming and messy.
Nevertheless,
I am excited for the day where we make this book the digital
masterpiece that we envisioned.
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