Storyboard vs. Story Bored

EPICURIOUSITY

8 x 10 Graphite

By Katherine Thomas

The journey IS the destination.
I don't know who actually said that, or if it's even a quote, but that's my mantra and I'm sticking to it!
The story of the two adventurers is coming together, little by little. I learned how to make a storyboard, and I've got everything planned out according to the guidelines for children's books guidelines I've been reading. 
The storyboard is like a checklist for me as I go along. It helps me to see how far I've come and how far I have left to go, and reminds me that I'm moving forward, however slowly. 
My fear is that I'll get tired of these two before I finish all the illustrations. I might have to take a few breaks and work on other things in between... which will delay the completion of the project. But it's not like I have a deadline anyway!  
We'll just keep plugging away at it. It's the process of creating a children's book that I've always wanted to experience... and I'm doing just that, enjoying the process, rather than focusing on the finish line... (which is so far ahead that I can't even see it, anyway!)

Something's Afoot

(rough draft for Colored Pencil piece)

Posted by Katherine Thomas 4 comments

Labels: artist, children, Cincinnati, colored pencil, drawing, fantasy, girl, graphite, grasshopper, illustrations, katherine thomas.

New Finished Work: ALOFT

ALOFT

18 x 24 Colored Pencil

By Katherine Thomas

"For once you have tasted flight you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards, for there you have been and there you will long to return."

                                           Leonardo Da Vinci

This piece represents a journey, in so many different ways.
The two companions are sailing off on a journey together, and every viewer will identify with that mixed feeling of anticipation and apprehension that is reflected on their faces.
Creating this piece was another journey. It's almost a chronicle representing my own life. Every subject in the scene: the map, the bookbag, the boat, the grasshopper, the girl... All have personal meaning to me. 

Artistically, this piece was a journey because I've never put clouds in the sky before! I've been afraid of clouds, until now!, but they're as much fun as trees and rocks! Who'd have thought?

EPICURIOUSITY

8 x 10 Graphite By Katherine Thomas

Finally, this piece has started me on an excited journey into the world of these two little adventurers. I can't stop thinking about all the different settings and predicaments I can draw for them. 

Hope your new year is off to a good start, everyone. :)

Posted by Katherine Thomas 10 comments

Labels: character, child, colored pencil, drawing, fantasy, girl, graphite, grasshopper, illustration, imaginary, katherine thomas., magical, map, sailboat, sky

Shipping and Handling: An Exclusive Behind-The-Scenes Look!

Work-In-Progress

16 x 23 Colored Pencil

Almost finished with this piece... maybe another week at most!

But today I took time out to get a print ready for shipping.

Every artist has their own way of preparing prints for shipping, and there is no single right way to do it. Lots of different things will work just fine, I'm sure. But my preferred method for shipping prints is the Paranoid Perfectionist Method. It works as follows:

Step One: The print, business card, and one piece of foam core are sealed inside a cellophane sleeve.

Step Two: Another piece of foam core is laid over top, and the whole thing wrapped with waterproof bubblewrap: bubbles facing outward so as not to risk denting into the artwork through the foamcore. (I did use the word paranoid, remember?)

Step Three:  Corrugated cardboard on top and bottom, taped tightly.

Step Four: Wrap the whole thing with heavy-duty packaging paper, and secure all seams, corners, and once or twice around the girth, with clear packaging tape.

Step Five: Ship via Fed Ex, because it's quickest and has the best tracking.

I've shipped to Denmark, Great Britain, and all over the US with this method, and this one is off to Florida tomorrow. You can bet I'll be tracking it's progress three times a day until it arrives!

Happy New Year, friends!

Posted by Katherine Thomas 7 comments

Labels: Cincinnati, illustration, illustrator, katherine thomas., mailing prints, packaging artwork, Shipping artwork

Between Artist and Viewer

Work In Progress

Final Friday again.... the gallery is open for the evening, with live music and food and festivities galore... crowded rooms full of artists displaying their work, while visitors browse and chat... and once in a while, somebody buys a piece to take home with them. 

I love Final Fridays.

I dread Final Fridays.

Final Fridays are exciting.

Final Fridays are draining.

This past Friday, toward the end of the night, when things had slowed down a bit, one of my studio mates observed that the artist renting the space next to mine had not sold anything, even though his work always seemed to draw a lot of attention and compliments from visitors. 

"His work doesn't sell because he doesn't attend Final Fridays," someone said.

"Right," agreed another, "People want to see you and talk to you when they buy your artwork."

"They're not just buying an item. They're buying YOU."

I was sitting nearby, just listening to this conversation as I drew in my notebook. Afterward, I couldn't get those words out of my mind. 

They're buying YOU.

In a sense, that is exactly what somebody is buying when they buy your artwork. It's more than just an item, like a pair of shoes, or even a pretty decoration. When somebody stops in front of a particular drawing out of hundreds of others on the walls, it is because that piece holds some sort of connection for them. They are looking at a visual expression of something that is within themselves. Maybe it's a very simple connection, like their favorite colors. Or maybe it stirs a memory, or a feeling that they strongly identify with.  Whatever the connection is, they want to meet the person who created it, in order to make the connection complete. 

Most times when visitors want to talk about a particular drawing... it's not just to find out what I was thinking when I created it. They mostly want to TELL me what's on their own mind as they look at the piece. Whether they realize it or not, they've made a connection to the piece, and also to me as the artist, because I created a visual expression of something within them. 

To me, it's just as rewarding when that happens, even if they don't buy the piece. Those are the conversations I love, and the words that I carry around in my head for several days afterward.

Each one of those conversations also affects me and affects the way I look at the piece that was discussed. Sometimes that takes a long time for me to assimilate. I think I'm glad that Final Friday only comes around every four or five weeks!

Anyway, Merry Christmas to all my blog friends! And PLEASE come join me on Facebook, which is where I've been spending most of my computer time! 

Posted by Katherine Thomas 13 comments

Labels: art, child., Cincinnati, colored pencil, drawing, fantasy, Final Friday, gallery, grasshopper, illustrator, imaginative, katherine thomas, map, sailboat, sky

Head In The Clouds

Work-In-Progress

18 x 24 Colored Pencil

Katherine Thomas

This is the first cloud-filled sky I have ever attempted!

I've always been hesitant about clouds, because they can so easily detract from the subject. Also, they too often look like solid objects, rather than what they are: transparent water vapor.

As practice, I experimented with different techniques on smaller paper, until I felt like I had a system of sorts. Then I started in on the big paper. It took about a week, working every day, all day to get to this point! I still need to tweak these clouds, but I'll do that as the rest of the piece progresses.

Interestingly, I've already had an offer to buy the unfinished drawing, of just the cloudy sky with the white silhouette of the boat! I told them no, they couldn't have this one... but I'd be happy to do another piece for them,  depicting that same stage of progress. They agreed, and then mentioned that they would like to hang the two pieces side by side, showing the plain sky alongside the sky with the sailboat. That might be pretty cool!

Posted by Katherine Thomas 6 comments

Labels: child, Cincinnati, cloud, colored pencil, drawing, fantasy, fiction., girl, grasshopper, illustration, katherine thomas, sailboat, sailing, sky, Story