Laundry day, Apartamento Magazine, and Letterkenny

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I like doing laundry. It’s the only place I can sit and relax while the washing machine is chugging away. I sit next to it so I can lift the lid when it gets hung up before the spin cycle. When it starts to grind I reach over from my comfy camp chair and lift the lid, then go back to reading my new issue of Apartamento with an eye-catching clair ligne drawing by Nazario Luque on the cover — he’s the king of Spanish underground comics. After that I watched an episode of Letterkenny, my new favorite show, second only to Rick and Morty.

After all that relaxation, I got a craving for a cup of coffee, which got me back in the mood to dig in to my children’s book project. I spent several hours researching exactly how many pages the typical children’s book has (32), and how many actual pages there will be for images. That’s more complicated, but I narrowed that answer down to 14 two-page spreads after subtracting the front and back covers, the front and back white-matter, the copyright page, and the title. 14 two-page spreads translates to 24 images for single pages and 2 images for two two-page spreads.

The sketch below shows Momma Jay walking her Pomeranian. This picture has nothing to do with the children’s book. I used my Rotring Isograph .20 for the fine lines. My Rotrings are a smooth ride compared to my rather scratch Rapidograph technical pens.

Muji and Copic Markers work together

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I intend to do pen and wash drawings for my children’s book and I’m waffling between watercolor or markers. I use Muji gel ink pens for my sketches. Muji pens are silky and always deliver a great line…and they’re only about $1.10 each. However, when I apply a wash, there’s noticeable bleeding if I slather on the water when I’m impatient.

With alcohol-based markers such as those made by Copic, the ink lines don’t bleed at all. I have an awesome collection of Copic markers that’s been gathering dust for ages and I have an equally awesome collection of watercolor gear that I haven’t used since the 2017 Inktober.

Muji 0.38mm gel ink pen and Copic markers

Muji 0.38mm gel ink pen and watercolor


These two mother Steller’s Jays are the same character but they don’t resemble each other at all. In fact, they don’t resemble a Steller’s Jay in any way. That’s okay because these characters aren’t really like the garden variety Steller’s Jays that dig up my flowerbeds. Still, for my own sake I have to create a “look book” for my story’s characters just so I’ll have a way to remember to draw them the same every time they appear. I’ll post the look book here when I’ve completed it. It’s already on my project mind map, which is another reminder to me to keep focussed and on track.