From the Studio
3 surprising lessons as an illustrator
DO YOU SEE WHAT I SEE?
I always wanted to tackle the challenge of illustrating a children's book. The chance came with a really wonderful author, Tracy Weldon, and we bonded over her story that champions imagination. It's called, "Do You See What I See?" - Here are the three surprising lessons (many smaller ones) that I learned from this experience!
1. THIS IS WAY BIGGER THAN PICTURES
Turns out, a book is a stage - a lot like a Broadway show. There are characters with rich emotions, scenes full of rhythmic timing, and lessons about life that must pack a punch. Oh yeah, - and there are words ... lots of words and they come in layers and have timelines that have to display on the page without the help of animation. These word-scenes are in the head of your author and you must dig them out!
2. LEARN THE NUANCES OF THE AUTHOR'S VOICE
There is a profound difference in the effect of a book depending on who reads it. Particularly, who reads it outlaid I must have read the manuscript 30 or 40 times ... but along the way, the author and I were having some challenges. In her gentle way, Tracy was telling me a few of the illustrations didn't make the grade. I was panicked. I want so badly to do a good job. In the throes of this on a ZOOM call she said, "Close your eyes and let me read it to you ..." That made all the difference. The AUTHOR's voice is the original voice -- like finding the Dead Sea Scrolls, or the first recording of the Rolling Stones. The AUTHOR's voice is the generator of the story. And I heard the story in a new way.
3. SKETCH THE COVER THROUGHOUT THE PROCESS ...
If I had to do it all over again I would have been sketching the cover all through the process. That retrospective would have been so powerful when it cam time for the cover to do it magical job on bookshelf. As a newbie, I saved the cover till last and found myself trying to recreate feelings that I had all along the process. That extended the time I needed at the end. Thing of the cover as the gateway to a great story ... of course marketability is critical, but the magical moment of a cover for a child is much more the point.
-- And there is so much more! Pick up a copy of "Do You See What I See?" and give it to the children in your life. I stimulates imagination and reminds us that, unlike the digital world, human imagination has no limits.
P.S. That adorable little dog is Giuseppe. I have had him for 22 years. He is very very old now and he is attached to my hip.
PART 1: "Nkele" means "Welcome In"
Wrestling the Image ..."Nkele"
NKELE
A painting in progress — and a prayer.
This piece (below) is named for the Nigerian Christians who are hunted and killed for their faith in North Africa. I shudder when I think of them. I pray when I paint.
NKELE has been taking shape quietly this year — sketched out in the margins of other work, including illustrations for Tracy Weldon's beautiful children's book Do You See What I See? It is a large canvas, and it is asking a lot of me. I don't expect it finished until next winter. Some things take as long as they need to.
The question I keep returning to is this: How do I make a painting that is a prayer for them?
What you see below are the raw beginnings of answering that question — Ala prima sessions, early energy, the first marks of something I hope becomes worthy of what it carries.
This is Part 1. The wrestling continues.