Happy New Year

So it is a new year, though this post comes closer to the Chinese New Year.  Time to catch up and get back at it.  I was beginning to get down on myself because of the lull in illustration activity on my part, thus the dead air concerning this blog.  There just hasn't been time.  I know I know, they say that there is always time if you want it bad enough, but I say prioritize.  If shuffling off to a paying job or caring for your family fills 14 to 15 hours of your day, it gets a little hard to squeeze out those creative juices.  Sleep takes precedent.  Anyway, I realized this blog is called Paint Draw Love.  It doesn't always have to be about illustrations.  I have been painting and drawing and love love loving.  So I decided to post a little photo recap of the last few months' projects.

Outdated velvet painting with awesome frame

Remove painting and spray frame white

= Great wedding menu for great friends

Raw wood custom nightstand

Becomes elegant bedroom addition
contracted for Philippe Grandvoinet Decorative Finishes

Tedious taping

Fun fresh stripes
contracted for Philippe Grandvoinet Decorative Finishes

Classy bedroom

Classy textured wall finish
contracted for Philippe Grandvoinet Decorative Finishes

Dining Room walls

Beautiful strie'd and waxed finish with silver leave detail
contracted for Philippe Grandvoinet Decorative Finishes

Before 

After
Faux Marble on mantle 

Faux Marble painted over wood mantle
contracted for Philippe Grandvoinet Decorative Finishes

Process shot of composition silver leaf ceiling

Library ceiling: glazed composition silver leaf
contracted for Philippe Grandvoinet Decorative Finishes

The Slow Trudge

I've missed you guys.  No really, I have.  Doing this blog and pursuing my dream of becoming a children's book writer and illustrator makes such a difference in my life.  But let's be frank, (no not you, Frank),  this isn't an easy path.  I have the wonderful problem of being totally booked with decorative painting work all over the Bay Area for the foreseeable future.  This takes me from being primary caregiver to my lovely Sweet P to only seeing her for those busy couple of hours in the evening and bye-bye kisses in the morning.  Ugh... this really pulls at me.  

Last weekend I had a deadline with my agent so I gave up sleep and muscled through.  I'll post those pics in moment. This week I will be finding some time to add color and a storyboard to them to present to the author.  I also got the bad news that the publisher we were pursuing with this doesn't take submissions from unpublished authors/illustrators.  That is truly frustrating news when all you want is to be published.  There are publishers out there who do still take submissions and that is where we have to focus our energy.  Thank goodness for SCBWI.  This organization keeps me hopeful and also does a tremendous amount of work helping to direct newbies like myself to those open channels.  

This may not be a very informative post, but part of this journey is the slow trudge through life's challenges.  I am not discouraged.  I am continuing my work, even if it only seems to happen in weekend spurts.  

Well, please let me know what you think of my blog and/or my sketches if you get a chance.  I love knowing that you are out there and that you care.   Bon Courage!

Copyright Carrie Cartier 2012

Copyright Carrie Cartier 2012

The Church of SCBWI

Kid Lit Saves/Opportunity Knocks

Hi there!  I'm back from my post-conference blogging break.  To those of you who didn't follow my updates on facebook and twitter during the SCBWI Conference earlier this month, I do apologize.  I don't have time to go into all of the speakers again, but I will try to come back to them in future posts.  This is mostly a catchup post.

 What an AMAZING opportunity this was for me and the 1000+ others who attended!  My days went a little like this....

Arrive at the Hyatt, quickly prepare cup of tea, and sit down to listen to an amazing speech by one of many amazing keynote speakers.  Stand in line at ladies room and exchange business cards and pleasantries.  Find a new seat or spot on floor to hear yet another great speech.  Repeat line waiting routine.  Move to a smaller room for the "workshop" of my choosing depending on whether I wanted to hear from an illustrator, writer, editor, agent, etc. Break for lunch. Two more speeches. One more "workshop". Another speech.  And then off to the social activities of pizza parties, book sales/signings, hippie dance, chapter meetings....

Can I just say how delightfully exhausting it was to know that no matter who you happened to sit, stand, dance, wait, or dine next to, you always had something to talk about.  By the end I was overflowing with inspiration and just wanted to lock myself in a room and draw/write.  But... 

I missed my Sweet P too much and knew that was not an option.  

I have done what I could to keep the creativity flowing.  I have joined a local illustrators online critique group to inspire me to continue to put out my best work and to look at my work and others' in a questioning way.  I have also joined The Illosphere, a site specifically for SCBWI illustrators with fun weekly challenges that just keep the pencil moving.  

Another thing happened quite by chance and forgive me if I get longwinded here.  Just Thursday after my return, I had a friend refer a local book agent my way.  He was looking to pair some illustrations with a manuscript he was presenting to a publisher and art director the next Monday.  I received the story on Friday, but between my decorative painting work, family, and painting signs for a friend's wedding, I was left with one day to complete something...anything.  Then on top of that, the agent calls to invite me to attend the meeting with him.  So I really have to produce something now.  I work until 2am sketching, copying, cutting, and pasting.  I do not at all claim this to be my best work, but my goal was somewhere around "Don't embarrass yourself, Carrie!" 

Property of Carrie Cartier copyright 2012

Again, I am feeling so honored and blessed at the opportunities coming my way.  I have no expectations about this piece, but I was given a chance to listen to an agent and publisher at work.  That is priceless.  They also happened to be very nice men and I did not embarrass myself.  In parting, they left with my sample illustrations for the agent's submission, business cards, and my own manuscript.  

I'll talk more about my manuscript later, but for now I will just say that I am in that waiting place.... and just so happy to be in the game!

SCBWI Summer Conference 2012

So I am on my way to the conference. Car to train to plane to shuttle to hotel. My dummy book sits next to me in a bag , waiting to be assembled from the pile of papers it is now. I was able to get a slight handle on Photoshop and illustrator.  Thank you again, Nikki! Time got pretty squishy over the last few weeks, which leaves me feeling under-prepared.  I am so very happy to be on my way though.  I am so grateful for all the support that continues to come my way. This book journey is long and after months of preparation, I know that I am still only at the beginning.  I will try to keep you informed over the next few days should anything interesting occur.
My traveling partner, once I reach LAX will be the talented Miss Madelaine Standing.  You can check out her work Adventures in Ink, International on Facebook or her website www.grandstanding.com. 
You can also check out the official SCBWI conference blog or Twitter feed to get a general idea of events.
Have a great weekend, I sure will!
I apologise for any mistakes in format or spelling. This is my first blog post via cell phone.

Time!  I need more time!!

I feel like I'm in college again, pushing against a deadline in 5 different subjects.  There is just not enough time in the day to master them all.
I want to tell you guys a little about the workshop I participated in last Thursday.  Julie Downing http://www.juliedowning.com/Pages/books.html did a wonderful job breaking down the process of illustrating a picture book.  She used her book "The Firekeeper's Son" ,written by Linda Sue Park, to demonstrate this involved process from storyboard to finished book.  Oh why oh why couldn't I have heard this information a few weeks ago as I was preparing my storyboard for submission???   It all makes such sense now!  Okay, I'll dial down the dramatic overtones and explain myself.
You have probably heard of the dramatic structure or arc of a story, but I'll give a little history.  In the mid 1800s, a German gentleman named Gustav Freytag wrote a study of the 5-act dramatic structure.  It became known as Freytag's Pyramid.  Now this was for a 5-act play, but the structure works for most any story. According to Freytag, a drama is divided into five parts, or acts: exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and dénouement.  Here is what that looks like for you visual people.

I had understood this in relation to my written story, but hadn't considered its connection to the visual 

images in a picture book.  In her storyboard this arc was evident.  The lines, the placement of picture on the page, the choice of a full-page spread or vignette was all presented with this same dramatic arc in mind.  I wish I had the time right now to redraw my storyboard to include this thought process, but it will have to wait.  

In the mean time, I am happy to say that I have a lovely friend and neighbor, Nikki, who has volunteered to give me a PhotoShop demo today.  Perhaps with her help I can make some of these adjustments in presentation for my dummy to take with me next week.  NEXT WEEK!!! Sorry, brief freak out.  I am very excited to be doing this conference.  I'm nervous too.  But most of all, I am enormously grateful for the opportunity.   

Hopefully I will get a chance to write one more time before I go.  Hope you have a great week!

Staying on Track

Ok, so I made it past Sweet P's 3rd birthday and am attempting to squeeze a few more finished pieces out of the next few weeks before the conference.  I am finding that I tend to make things too complicated for myself though,  and I am making a renewed effort to stay focused.  For example, since Sweet P wanted a Little Mermaid party, I thought it would be fun to draw each of the kids attending as a mermaid.  I need more portfolio material and this could kill two birds with one project.  In the end they did make nice additions to the goodie bags, but I was up till 2am the night before, exhausted, and not oh so pleased with the finished product.  Not portfolio material.  Later I decided to download a free trial of Photoshop and Illustration CS6.  I can just tweek the merkids in photoshop and turn them into something more interesting.  A few hours later playing with the lasso tool and a few dozen brush options, I closed the computer, moved to the dining room table and began to rework a current illustration.  Ahhh, my happy place.  I'm not saying that I won't learn how to use those programs or try to create fresh looking work.  I just had to accept that this may not be the time for it.  I've now made a list and am choosing the shortest distance between to two points to get there.  Short and Sweet lesson for the day, but it comes with pictures. :o)

Copyright Carrie Cartier 2012
Not the best picture, but here are my MerKids.

Copyright Carrie Cartier 2012
Here is my reworked illustration.  The colors need to be enhanced a bit, but I'm fairly please with this one.
Done in Watercolor Pencil and Watercolor paint. 

Tomorrow I will be attending the SCBWI Illustrator's Series Event, which will include a hands-on workshop and lecture with award winning illustrator Julie Downing will focus on thinking about and creating a series of images that work together to tell a story. Can't wait!  I'll let you know how it goes.

I am now in the last month before the SCBWI Conference.  I just returned from a week up near Mt Lassen with the family.  I was able to put in the final hours of work on my "First Look" submission for the Illustrators' Intensive.  Here were my requirements.
1)  THUMBNAILS. 32 Pages.  Thumbnails should be small and loose because they are used to judge pacing and composition, not content.

2)  TWO CHARACTER STUDIES, showing the protagonist from different angles
3)  ILLUSTRATION.  One complete scene (whether a spot, single page or spread), finished in the style that would be used throughout the book.

4)  ONE SENTENCE DESCRIPTIONS of
      A) the characters
      B) the setting
      C) the dilemma
      D) the point/resolution of the story

I thought I would share the drawing portion with you, so here it goes.

Storyboard Copyright Carrie Cartier 2012

  

Balloon Character Study Copyright Carrie Cartier 2012

Little Girl Character Study Copyright Carrie Cartier 2012

Finished Illustration Copyright Carrie Cartier 2012

I was able to get these off last Friday 2 hours before deadline.  I may not be the earliest, but I did get it in under the wire.  So now I am just crossing my fingers that my work will have the opportunity for review.
I did a little research as to what is to look forward to on the day of the intensive.  Apparently last year there were seven of the top illustrators who did live demos.  It all sounds pretty inspirational.  Yay!  I can't wait.
Well, I still have a lot of work to do before I go, so I better get to it.  Have a great day!