Illustration Correspondence Course

Can you draw this turtle?

That is my oh-so-clever introduction to a new segment on Victoria Jamieson Illustration that I'm calling:

Illustration Correspondence Course

Regular followers of my blog (Dad) will know that I am teaching a Continuing Ed class at PNCA in children's book illustration. I thought I'd do some posts on what's going down in the classroom! I hope to get some feedback on what folks out there would find useful in such a class- and also to have a place for participants who miss a class to see what we talked about.

So, week 2 tackled the weighty subject of composition in illustration. I started with an old ditty you might recognize:

I said, and I'm sticking to it, that The Old Masters were illustrators in a way, as their paintings had to convey stories from the Bible to make them accessible to the illiterate masses. Therefore, it was important to be able to tell those stories visually. In this case, it has to be clear to the viewer who is the most important figure in this painting- who the story is revolving around. I talked about 2 ways DaVinci did this:

1) With contrast of dark and light (Jesus is the darkest dark, and the window is the lightest light, so your eye goes there first). We learned in one of my painting classes at RISD to look for contrast in a painting using what I like to call The Squinty Eye Test. You squint your eyes until you can't see colors anymore, just the contrast.

2) And two, with lines. Nearly every line in this painting points, literally, at Jesus' (s?) head.

Contrast is an important thing in establishing importance in a painting, and if it's not there, you can make it up. Using The Squinty Eye test, I see this:

Seurat practically drew a halo around this kid, and I'll bet my granny's eyeteeth that the model did not have a glowing orb around him in real life.
Moving on, I tried to demonstrate how The Olde and Newe Masters of illustration pull the same tricks! And how the rules of composition can translate into the children's book realm.

Quentin Blake pulls that old Glowing Orb trick A LOT! 
And perhaps more subtly, the lines and the 2 blocks of dark draw attention to the relationship between Sophie and the BFG.

Tasha Tudor don't play around with subtlety...

she shines a frickin' spotlight on what she wants you to look at in a painting.

I don't think it's an accident that Max's suit is white- he stands in high contrast against the dark skies throughout the book. Also, take a look at the goat guy- he is also white, but not quite as bright as Max. This tells us, visually, that Max is the key figure in this scene- basically, a "Hey, look at me!" move.
Marla Frazee, you daredevil, you!

She adds so much drama and movement with the simple yet daring act of tilting the earth just so.

I love this piece by Shadra Strickland. And it demonstrates so well the ways that composition can work to tell a story in an illustration.

Next week (aka, tomorrow night), we'll be taking a look at my old nemesis, Color. I'll post my Cliff's Notes later in the week!

For all you Portland illustrators & authors

This one's going out to the illustrators in my class at PNCA, if'n anyone has stumbled upon this blog. I wish I had known about this yesterday, I would have mentioned it in class! Anyway, GALA EVENT this Saturday, March 13th at the Barnes & Noble at Clackamas Town Center. Sixteen local authors & illustrators will be speaking & signing from 3-6. A nice way to meet some of the local illustratin' community!

Here are the details!

Millions of Pigs

Dear readers, I will tell you a secret: I am not 100% completely satisfied with my usual painting techniques. As I've been preparing for the continuing ed class I'm teaching (2nd class last night! I will talk more about this in other posts, because it has been SO fun and such a great experience). Where was I? Oh yes, so I've been thinking a lot about what I learned in art school. One of my favorite teachers at RISD was Ellie Hollinshead. She was truly interested in what her students were trying to say, she was passionate & inspirational, and her classes really got me fired up about narrative painting- which eventually brought me to illustration.

Anyhoo, in one class I remember her coming up beside me & saying, "You know, one of the hardest criticisms I ever received was when someone told me my drawings were a lot more alive then my paintings." And I think I said, "Wow, that is way harsh! You must have felt terrible!" It took me months- years, maybe?- to realize, "Wait. SHE WAS TALKING ABOUT ME!" Because I have felt, in recent years, that my drawings have a vitality that seems to greatly diminish in my final paintings.

So this is something I've been struggling with. I tend to think of drawing as fun and free, while doing the completed paintings is more serious and laborious. So I'd like this to change. The first thing I decided to do was to NOT transfer or trace my sketches when I'm getting ready to do the final pieces. The drawing process- the scratchy lines & the sussing out of where everything goes- is a big factor in creating some vitality in my sketches, I think. When I trace my sketches, something already looks stilted & not quite right.

So I decided to have some fun in the studio these past few days- just to experiment & to try to have as much fun painting as I have drawing. I decided to try a page from Olympig- this is the sketch in my dummy:

I just played around with different materials. Acrylics, pens, colored pencil. I also experimented on papers. I usually work on a gessoed surface, which makes the paint kind of "sit up" from the surface of the paper. I did some experimenting with un-gessoed paper, and I like how the paint "sinks in" and allows the original drawing so show through a little more.

I wasn't exactly happy with any of the results I was getting, so I moved on to just a regular ol' glamour shot of Boomer:

This last one ended up being the painting I was most pleased with. I tried using watercolors and then acrylics on un-gessoed watercolor paper, and I liked both the process and the results. It's closer to the blend of drawing & painting I was trying to achieve.

More experimentation to come!

Inspiration

Well, my revisions are off to my editor! I am using this little break to recharge my creative batteries, and what timing. As you may know, my new book is about the Olympics, and this year has not been short on inspiration:

Simply spectacular. 

I am a big big fan of the photo reference, probably due in part to RISD's fantastic image library. Now I do most of my photo reference searches online. I use them both for, say, figuring out how to draw an elephant- but sometimes, also for plain old inspiration. Besides the Olympics, these photos have been lighting my fire recently:

Neil Diamond- my first crush.

Enjoy the Olympics, everyone- and GO FOR THE GOLD!

Bea is a feminist!

Look how excited she is!

I recently learned that Bea Rocks the Flock is on the 2010 Amelia Bloomer list of feminist books for young readers. Yay! Ewe power! Although frankly, I think it may be due to this chica here:

Thanks to the Amelia Bloomer Project for including Bea- and check out the whole list here!

Revision time

So, I have some revisions due next week for my new picture book. Would you like to know what the revision process looks like for me? Well, it looks a little something like this:

Dummies galore. Those were the major dummies for Bea Rocks the Flock- countless minor text and art changes notwithstanding. So those dummies took a year or two to add up. I'm in my first round of revisions for Olympig! (publication date 2012), so I thought I'd take you on a magical romp through my revision process!

My first dummy:

So, after my editor acquired the book, she sat down and wrote a long and detailed editorial letter. This letter details specific problem areas, sections that are unclear, etc, etc. Lots of people have asked me, "Vicki, do you resent taking direction from an editor in your own book?" The answer is NO, I don't. I thought of this analogy last night, and I'm quite proud of it:

Working with an editor is like going shopping with a friend with excellent taste who knows you and your style well. Well, maybe "shopping friend" isn't exactly what I mean- I mean like Tim Gunn, or someone who REALLY knows their game. When I go shopping (usually 2 times per year, max), I tend to reach for the same items over and over again. That is how I happen to own 4 gray sweaters at the moment. But when you shop with your Tim Gunn-esque friend, she may point you in the direction of a sparkly fuschia top that you never, ever in a million years would have thought to try on. And guess what- you try on that shirt and you LOVE it! Likewise, when I come across a stumbling block in a story, I'll often revert to a tired old solution I've used a million times before- but the clear vision of a skilled editor can point me to solutions that are so much better. Sometimes the suggestions don't work, but all in all, it is so, so helpful to have a skilled opinion there with you in the fitting room. And at the end of the day, to take or to not take that advice- and how you pull off the look- is up to you.

There! I thought that was a pretty good analogy! So my editor's main advice was that my text was too hard to read. I had lots of word balloons that I thought were fun- but would make it hard to read aloud and follow the story. This is my old page 8- and it's important, because it's the first time we "meet" Boomer the Porcine Athlete:

Some important points get lost up there in those bubbles. Here's the revision I did- I still think it's a little wordy, but hopefully I can work on that:

An editor also has a keen eye for detail. I failed to really think about the fact that I used a gorilla for two separate events, and she thought (and I agree) that it would be better to mix it up. So I kept Gorilla in the wrestling scene, but he got cut from weightlifting:

Anyhoo, that's what I'm up to now! It's a fun part of the process for me, because I get excited when I realize how much better the story is getting!

Call Me McGonagall

... cause I'm a professor! Well, kinda! I taught my first workshop at Pacific Northwest College of Art today, and I think it went pretty well! Children's book folk are such kind people, though, it could be kind of hard to tell. Here is a picture of the PNCA building, in the uber-trendy Pearl district:

Just hanging out in that area makes me feel all hip and trendy- and for me, that is saying something. The workshop today was a 2 1/2 hour deal called "Children's Book Publishing 101". I built upon two talks that I have given before at SCBWI conferences & modified them to fit the program. The first half of the class included a breakdown of the different genres (mass market, middle grade, teen, picture book, etc), and a brief rundown on terminology (gutter, f&gs, bleed, etc). Then on to my beloved Powerpoint! 

The first bit was about molding your idea for a picture book into an actual, real-life book, from early dummy stage through publication. Included a heartfelt reading of "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!", and many tellings of rejection letters.

After a 15-minute breather, on to part 2:
Wherein I described how, back in my days as a high-flying, high-rolling designer at Greenwillow (think Don Draper from Mad Men) we would choose illustrators for different projects. I dove right in to the basket of promotional postcards we'd receive daily:

and I outlined which postcards I'd set aside, on this particular day, as keepers. 

I think I know what question is burning on your brain at this moment: "Vicki, tell me, on your first day as a 'college professor'... whatever did you wear?!?!?"

Good question! I mulled this one over for a while, too! I wanted to strike the important balance of mature, but still artsy, but not too young, but still stylish and bestowing an air of knowledge and know-how. This is what I came up with:

Wait, it looks less frumpy in the "after" picture:

"After" because, I felt like I deserved a new haircut after my exciting day. Sharon can't believe it's really me, despite the fact that- as a friend once observed- my hair is much like Kirsten Dunst's (sp?) in that vampire movie, when no matter how she cuts her curly locks, they always grow back the same. I had a heckuva time finding a new stylist to replace my Louisa, but I really liked Marina right off the bat. And I'd say the salon is even as cute as the old Beehive in Brooklyn!

Transformations

Beehive

After a few months of sporadic postings, look at me now- I can't shut myself up! But if you're still hanging with me... Any suggestions for topics you wish you could see covered in a children's book course??!? My 8-week class in Children's Book Illustration begins in March!

Messy Sketchy

I fielded some complaints from loyal readers (read: friends and family) on my recent goodwill tour to Florida about my lack of posting on my blog. Friends and family, rejoice!! Although I am not a fan of the New Year's Resolution (I like to make resolutions all year 'round- in that way I am a real "resolutionary"), I hereby resolve to revert back to my frequent-posting days. And just in time- there's LOTS in store for Victoria Jamieson Illustration... 2010!! A sampling of what you'll see:

1) Olympig! Fever! 

Text (& some sketch) revisions are due at the end of the month for my next book. Walk with me as I lead you on a journey through the creation of my new book!

2) The Student is Now the Teacher

I am proud to say that I will be teaching some Continuing Education courses in children's book illustration at Pacific Northwest College of Art this semester! Why, as a matter of fact, I am teaching a 2-hour seminar this very Saturday! I'll give you the skinny on what's going down in the classroom.

3) My first reading!

I'll be doing a reading on February 20th at Green Bean Books (on NE Alberta, for you Portlanders!) Yes, my very first, and I'm very excited.

4) Messy Sketchy

A new feature (not really- this is actually the usual running feature) on Victoria Jamieson Illustration: random recent sketches if I have nothing else to add as a visual.

I'll leave you with your first installment of Messy Sketchy for 2010- and I'll be seeing you soon!

Adventures in 3-D

Dear Readers,

You may remember that a few months ago, I mentioned my attempts to see one of my characters in The Third Dimension:

You may be surprised, therefore, that I decided to attempt it again! One of the perks of working at the children's museum, besides getting to hang out with kids all day, is occasionally getting to hang out in the clay studio all day. I've really been thinking a lot about my musical-themed book and have been trying to get to know my characters better. It turns out that modeling them in 3-D really helped! I think the process lulled me into a trance of sorts, where I was free to imagine and explore the characters better. Trying to figure out just how Ladybug's hair would fall gave me new insights into her fastidiousness...

And likewise into Fly's rambunctiousness (also, I think she's a girl now?) Not that these models are perfect, or even what I eventually want to characters to look like... it was just a nice process to think about them in a different way.

And since I had some extra time on my hands:

I hope to use this little piggy statue more as a drawing model. He's the star of my next book, and revisions are due soon!

And, just a kid that I made up. Again, I'm trying to understand kids' anatomy better, and modeling really seems to help in that respect, too.