refocus

I have a lot of thoughts about digital art vs. traditional media in illustration, but my overriding thought recently has been holy shit I need to actually be able to finish illustrating a book and get a mainland publisher without my kids wadding up my drawings or scribbling on them or hanging off my computer chair. Enthusiastic meddling aside, I only get two hours every evening with these kids, and I actually want to spend it with them. And I can't stay up late, because I can't. The night is my natural enemy. I am the creature that crows in the morning and gets shoes thrown at it. What I needed to do was to whittle more time out of the day elsewhere.

So I invested in a portable mess-free setup, which was kind of a big deal, and now I'm three illustrations into a serious book project. At work. On my lunch breaks. WITHOUT CHILDREN. And I'm obsessed with it. I haven't been really into anything for a long time, and I was beginning to be afraid I couldn't feel that kind of thing anymore. But this book is all mine - written, illustrated, aimed at the mainstream market - and I dream of page layouts and color palettes and character design. I also dream of kisses and footsies, because my sleeping brain can't differentiate very well between one lost feeling and another, but then I shove dream-smoocher aside and get back to imaginary drawing.

I'll still be finishing a drawing a week (or two or three?), but it's a larger work in progress, so there will be less art here and I will be back to talking about my liiiiife in this little space. Mostly about my truck, probably.

REVISED GOALS

1. Finish the book.

2. Submit the book.

3. Publish the book.

4. Rub elbows with Mo Willems and Adam Rex as a peer instead of annoying twitter fangirl.


Yessss.