Tyger Tyger Burning Bright

or how to pick the right postcard illustration.

It is hard and scary to do because your postcard is your calling card (or roaring card) and your first impression (or next first impression) with the publisher. And it has to read well (shrunken down from original size) and not lose details that matter. It has to speak like a child would and be heard over everything. It has to be taken seriously even if it is funny. It has to have personality and charm. It has to have something to say. And it has to be memorable. But most of all it has to say "Barbara" (or whatever your name is-- yes, you the creator).

So I picked Rory -- the angry tiger boy. I love him. He's got all of the above. And he shrunk well with this postcard (altho he hardly shrinks from anything in real life). And he's in a story I am working on too. And if that doesn't pan out he may very well be in his own story.

My goal is to now send out 3 postcard mailings a year. I've found a few reasonable postcard people who do small runs and a husband who can do my scans at work for free. Got editor lists, got art director lists, got a cute little tiger. I love tigers.



It is all coming together......Grrrrrrrrreat!

Update! Ninety Postcards sent to ADs and editors all carefully researched and targeted. Best postcard yet!!

And I expect a 10 percent return rate but I hope more.

I've become so good at stepping back and looking at things objectively. But I am so ready to start my own project or somebody else's I love.

The learning curve

I wanted to scan a picture of the St. Louis Arch but my scanner is on the fritz.

Anyway, I spent part of my day going thru seven years of papers from classes, conferences, internet etc., and filing, tossing and rereading (as in good editor/writer critiques) and realized how much I have grown as a writer/illustrator in that time. I also realized how much the industry has changed (half the staff is no longer there) and what I have to do to with my mss/dummies to make them marketable. I put critiques with mss and or dummies... and I read them now with courage and knowledge and desire to tackle.

The good news is I that I have a few that I KNOW are close to marketable. The bad news is that I have some dummies and mss that need work... but I am no longer clueless as to how to fix them. And some that need to be finished... aha.

What I learned about myself as a writer is that I sometimes write two stories at once... and I have to pick one and chop the other. I GET IT. Finally.

But now my studio is organized by files for every ms project, a file for agent/interview questions, a big fat file of writing tips, a file for illustration tips, a file for making my own bio, a file of editor bios which needs editing..., a file of all kinds of rejections, and a file for my own personal needs/research.

I have a lot of work to do.

But I have come a long way in eight years and have a few projects close to go.

The learning curve for writer/illustrator is winding down I hope.

Or maybe it isn't a curve at all but is a circle. Heheh.

Another Proud Auntie Post

My English nephew's techno-pop hit "Starry-Eyed" is now featured in the new teen superhero movie called "Kick Ass."


It is playing right here in town, and whether or not it is my cup-o-tea I am going to see it.


Yahooo! You go Johnny!! (Can I touch you? .... oh no... wait a minute... that is gross). ;}

You worked hard for this and you made it!!!

And I going to tell all of my kid's friends.

Hippo Birdy Two Ewes

Hippo Birdy Two Ewes
Hippo Birdy Two Ewes
HIPPO BIRDY TWO EWES
Hippo Birdy Two Ewes!




Yes. The Big One is today and to compensate for the total shock and denial I feel about it I am going to illustrate my own birthday card using the ewe. A cinnamon colored ewe.

Who ewe? Yes, me. Actually, I'll nix that birthday card and finish that neglected second illustration for my newest book idea. And substitute the hippo and birdy with a wooly bear caterpillar. Already got the birdy one down in another illustration anyway.


Hippo Birdy to me!

Memories of Art Directing and how I got there.

Long ago when a I was a twenty-something I lived in poverty in NYC. It was a nice poverty tho. Why? Because I lived in a pre-war sixteen story elevator building on the Upper West Side right off of Central Park West. (Fanny Brice lived in my building...cooowilll). Right off of Central Park. It was my side yard.

I was quite lucky to find this apartment, and came very close to living in the YMCA (which I can tell you is a good incentive to keep looking for an apartment). I found this apartment through an advert at FIT. FIT was where I was to begin post-grad work in fashion design (it should have been fashion illustration as that was where I excelled). I snatched it up on the spot. Location, location, location. I loved and still love that area to pieces.

But I needed a job to live there and did not want to be a poor student.

Fast forward....

I was not cut out for fashion design. And illustration was at best a limited endeavor.

So I changed gears and moved from the fashion world to the advertising world. I liked it... especially the art and copy part.
I went to night school while I worked as an assistant for a big ad firm. I studied and created art campaigns and learned copy writing.

And I could walk to work!!

Eventually, I made my way up to art directing. But what I didn't realize is that art directing is not simply coming up with images and matching them with the art. NO, THE REAL JOB is stated below.

What much of it is is quality control which brings the final art to production for print/film.

This involves checking and fixing and finalizing proofs for :

Color
Design
Layout
Type
Readability
Content
Anatomy
Composition
Text Placement
Type with Image Choice
Sizing
Copy Proofing
Storyboarding
etc...

Now, imagine doing this on several different projects at once. And imagine the client saying they want changes and more changes and more changes and it is due tomorrow at the 9:00 AM meeting. Because the client is in town and is leaving the next day at 10:00. The big client.

And the typesetter (this is before computers) is all flustered with the little window he has to get the job done. And the printer can't possibly squeeze your most important job in this week.

No one appreciates the art director.

But without them you get no results. Or poor ones at best.

And who wants poor results?

Not I.

I miss those days. Central Park at my feet, walking to work, working as an art director. Making things happen.

It takes one to know one

(An artist I mean)


Sent to me by an artist friend:

Can an artist with multiple personality disorders have a one-woman show?

(We'll have to think about it and get back to you.)

PB word count and my angst

I visited one of my town's two bookstores (yes, we have two and they are still kicking) to check out the picture book section which is in the back of this lovely, classy, galley store. The shelves for pbs are broken up by non-fic, concept, toddler and classic/new. There are also shelves for new titles, topical titles, themed titles, puzzle books, fairy/folk tales etc...

I focused on the new/classic...the largest shelf. Because I wanted to see what I see as a classic and what I see as a hip and fun pb. There is a difference. And today's hip and fun could become a classic I suppose.

(My teenager is nagging at me saying, " I need to go home do to my mountains of homework," interspersed with, "I LOVE WHERE'S WALDO.")

"So do I Emily... who doesn't... in a minute..."

I perused about twenty books. Mostly new titles I've heard about or googled beforehand.

But I came back to two books that always leave me laughing/amazed and a wee bit sentimental... those being Lily and her Plastic Purse and Skippy Jon Jones. These books are not short (in any aspect)... and they have everything... everything. They are rich and they linger, and I LOVE THEM. They really touched me and they still do. And the writing is good and the plotting is good and they have enormous heart with a touch of humor. They capture real child emotions and situations and adults relate.

I want to beef up my writing to match their's but with all this 'keep thine short...what is a writer to do....?' Grrrr. I want to add add add.

Minor beef...