At least, I think it’s my last picture. Tomorrow I’ll be moving over to inDesign to import all of the pictures into the 32-page book template and position them with the text. I’m heaving a generous sigh of relief at completing this part of the project, and I’m looking forward to taking the next step toward getting this book published. Yea!
I’m drawing close to the end of painting all of the images for the book. However, I’m not certain that I have completed all of the paintings. I suspect that I’ve missed some of the images that were part of the storyboard. To make sure I’m on the right path, my next step, tomorrow, is to insert all of the completed images into the inDesign template to see what’s missing.
As I’m writing this, I realize that one my lack of organization has slowed down my progress immensely. Sometimes I feel that I’m just rushing ahead, pedal to the metal, without knowing which direction I’m going. Inevitably I’ll have to backtrack to get back on the right path. Throughout this project, I’ve gotten off track dozens of times and I’ve had to correct myself dozens of times. Fortunately, I realize that it’s normal to lose focus. It’s also normal to make corrections. Getting distracted and noticing that you’re distracted is just part of any long term project. I don’t beat myself up about flying off into the wild blue yonder.
Saturday is chore day. Between loading the washing machine and the clothes dryer I colored this image using my iPad Pro and Procreate. I used the the Frankentoon Nautika brushes for this image. In particular I like the Nautika Ink, Sponge Build-Up, and the Poster Marker. I use the Classic Inker for inking the line work. The color palette is from Frankentoon’s Crayon brush pack. Having a simple, coordinated color palette is a big deal for me.
I’m using Squarespace for this blog. All in all it’s an easy way to post quickly. It can auto-post to my Tumblr site. The only problem is that the images are not imported to Tumblr; there’s only a link back to the Squarespace image. This means that anyone logged to the Tumblr dashboard won’t see the any of the images unless they click on the link, which isn’t likely. Starting with this post I’m going to stop auto posting. I’ll have to go to Tumblr and manually update that blog. “What a drag!” said the lazy man.
I have only a few more pictures to re-ink and then I’ll move on to painting. My publication date is May 15, but I won’t be ready. I’ll push back the deadline a couple of weeks. Fortunately, in late May and early June I’ll time off my day job to work on the book, complete it, and then start working on the next book. I’ve got a plot in mind that involves Jimmy Jay, Buddy Butterfly, and a trip to Mexico!
After doing quite a few iPad drawings over the last 5 months, I’ve learned that I really don’t sync with digital drawing. It’s not me. I fiddle with everything endlessly and my drawings end up looking “digital.” I’m doing all of the drawings for the next book using traditional media, pen and ink all the way. I’ll still do the coloring digitally, but once I’m more comfortable with watercolor, I’ll do all of the painting using watercolor. All of these decisions mean I’d better write “practice painting with watercolor” on my to-do list.
In this picture Momma Jay is asking Bernie the Buddhist Dachshund, the owner of the house, if he’s seen her son. She’s in for several big surprises!
The helping hand belongs to Bernie the Buddhist Dachshund. What a kind soul he is!
I’ve stopped putting Amazon affiliate links into the posts. I personally don’t mind seeing affiliate links in posts, and sometimes I actually follow the link to make sure one of my favorite bloggers gets a few dollars for his efforts. My reason for leaving out affiliate links is that I’m really pushed for time these days and I’d rather spend my extra few minutes tweaking my posts. I especially need to spend more time proofreading them.
My problem with proofreading is that I hate to reread my writing. Rereading is painful drudgery. Most of the time, when I type the last word of a post, instead of rereading what I’ve just typed, I say to hell with it and push “Save & Publish” button. The consequence is that every post has typos and missing words. Fortunately, my partner reads my posts and gives me a post-it with a list of my careless errors and oversights. If there are no errors in this post, it’s because she took the time to make sure I don’t embarrass myself excessively.
This is one of the few 100% digital images in this series. My original pen and ink sketch didn’t cut the mustard. I decided to wing it and get a picture in the hour I have to work. I decided to do it all in Procreate, and this is what I came up with. In this picture Jimmy has just landed at the bottom of the chimney and he’s wondering what kind of a mess he’s got himself into.
I’m going to sleep on this one and see how I feel about it tomorrow.
