Sketchbook Project 2012—Scarecrow sketch #sketchbookproject

Here's the final sketch from my Sketchbook Project sketchbook. I think I'd like to paint him biggie-size some day. Maybe add a crow somewhere and a corn field all around him. And a yellow brick road around front. Scarecrows can't exist without yellow brick roads, can they?

Moving from GoDaddy

Last December I had had about enough.

When I built my first Web site, it was 2001 and getting up and running on the Internet wasn't the easiest thing to do. I chose GoDaddy to host because, at the time, they were the easiest thing I could find. For some reason I thought their name and logo meant they would be pretty cool to work with. I'm such a sucker.

Since the beginning, I've done my best to make sense of their site. It's hard to figure out what you're doing on it. It's just way too hard to navigate. Not only that, at every turn they try to get you to buy more of their products. When you buy a new domain name, when you re-up your hosting, or just when you bring up the site, everywhere you turn they're pushing more product. Once, when I called their support number, what I really got was a sales person who spent most of our time on the phone getting me to renew my hosting plan.

Still, I learned to ignore it all and stayed with the company.

For most of the past 10 years, I have endured GoDaddy's unfemale-friendly commercials during every Super Bowl. I put up with the same attitude on their site where they tease you to "see the rest" of what they couldn't show on T.V. And I did it knowing my money was paying for it, and I stuck with them anyway.

Last spring I put up with GoDaddy's CEO, Bob Parsons, hunting elephants and then posting the graphic videos of it.

And still I stayed.

Until last December. That's when I heard about GoDaddy's support of SOPA. That's when I decided it was time to jump ship. Turns out a lot of people felt the same way.

Up until last December I was a little frightened of moving away. I had been there for 10 years, my sites worked, my email worked and I was afraid I wouldn't be able to figure out another company's technology.

I did a little research, and I found a local company based right in Pittsburgh that was started just for me. Their name is pair Networks, and they had me at "we have an environmental policy." It took a little trial and error, but all my sites were up and running smoothly within a couple of days, all my emails are in working order, and I haven't noticed any down time since I started hosting with them.

Now I know my money is going somewhere I can be proud to say I support. I don't have to pay for scantily clad women during my Super Bowls anymore.

Book signing success!

Well, we all survived the book signing at the Frick Art & Historical Center over the weekend, and I'm terribly happy with the nice turnout! I thought I would be quite embarrassed by the lack of people in my line, but it turns out people are more willing to admit to liking the twisted stuff than I had originally thought. So, no, no embarrassment on my end at all.

I signed lots of books, and we even got to use the new Square credit card reader which, by the way, a three-year-old could figure out. The image is of our first swiper signing for her purchase. The best part was how much fun the people giving me their cards to swipe thought the card reader was. It wasn't just me.

I brought a lot for people to choose from including copies of Twisted: Tales to Rot Your Brain Vol. 1 (both hardcover and paperback), copies of Yikes! Wow! Yuck! Fun Experiments for Your First Science Fair, and prints, posters, postcards and bookmarks with images from Twisted. We needed the entire table to fit everything.

I have to do a little research about getting into other venues for book signings, but I think this one was a very successful first try. Thanks to everybody for your support!

Now accepting credit cards

For my book signing this weekend, I bought myself a new iPad so I could accept credit cards. Yay!

Exciting and scary, but yay!

The app and hardware is from a company called Square. The app is called "Square Register" and works like a little register on your iPad. I can upload inventory—including images—and prices, and then all I have to do is click the product and the app starts a tally. So far it's been really easy, although I've only been playing. The real test will come this Saturday when I have to use it in real time.

Oh, yeah. This Saturday.

I'll be selling hardcover and paperback copies of my book Twisted: Tales to Rot Your Brain Vol. 1 along with prints, posters and bookmarks at the Frick Art & Historical Center in Pittsburgh. You'll also get a free bookmark with every book you buy, or if you like, you can just buy a bookmark. Your call.

Here's the scoop:

What: Book signing (along with my new buddy Stacy Innerst)
Date: Saturday, April 14
Time: 1:30-2:30 pm
Location: The Frick Art & Historical Center, in the museum rotunda

I'm hoping to see an absolutely huge turnout. I totally want to run out of books and stuff. No pressure or anything.

Women of the Page panel @ The Frick

I made it through the Women of the Page panel at the Frick Art & Historical Center without tripping, burping or falling off my chair. Great news!

It was a fun night and I got to see the Draw Me a Story exhibit, too. Well, sort of. I wasn't wearing my glasses, so I didn't really get to read all the information that was included with each illustration, but I got a general idea of what the illustrations looked like. That should be something.

My favorite illustration was the one by WPA artist George Avison called, "Bucking Bronco." It was the cover for the book Sunflight, and the original painting was matted and framed leaving all the handwritten notes and instructions visible. The book itself was displayed in a case alongside the original.

I also want to see (with my glasses) the sketch Maurice Sendak did of Max from Where the Wild Things Are. It was so small. I really need to wear my glasses next time.

The Chris Van Allsburg one is another one that is probably going to be incredible when I finally see it. All those details. This illustration was for the book The Z Was Zapped. I've never seen the book, but it sounds a bit like The Gashlycrumb Tinies in that it's an alphabet book and each letter meets an untimely demise. And, as a type geek, I love the inside joke: The book follows the "Caslon Players," Caslon being the font the book was set in.

As an aside, I feel terrible for Thomas Taylor. He did the original illustrations for the first Harry Potter book, but was dropped for someone more established after the book became a hit. He was only out of college for two years, and Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was his first commission. Poor kid. You gotta feel for him.

I've got one! (My first book signing)

So on my way out the door after that panel discussion at the Frick Art & Historical Center (that I told you about here), Susan Bails, another one of the nice Assistant Curators of Education there, stopped me and asked if I was going to be busy April 14. It's a Saturday.

She said they were having a Family Day at the Frick that day with book readings and puppets and movies and book signings and would I be interested in signing my books? With my new buddy Stacy Innerst? Stacy? Stacy's great! Of course I would be interested in signing books!

Here's the scoop:

What: A book signing. I'll bring hardcover and paperbacks of Twisted: Tales to Rot Your Brain Vol. 1, some prints and posters of illustrations from the book (I still have to check to make sure I'll be allowed to sell items that aren't books, but I'm going to try), and I'll even give you a free bookmark with every book you buy.
Where: The Frick Art & Historical Center, in the museum rotunda (it's a beautiful building, by the way)
When: Saturday, April 14 from 1:30-2:30

Stop in and say, "Hi!" Please! I'm hoping some people will stand in a line in front of me, not just Stacy.

Sketchbook Project 2012—Accordion player in color #sketchbookproject

Here's that little accordion player girl in color. I wasn't thinking of this when I drew the sketch, but when I was figuring out what colors to use, that raincoat absolutely had to be yellow which automatically required this little girl's hair to be blue.

Don't all little girls who wear yellow raincoats have blue hair?

Draw Me a Story: A Century of Children's Book Illustration

I'm excited to be part of a three-woman panel at the Frick Art & Historical Center on March 28 which will coincide with their exhibit Draw Me a Story: A Century of Children's Book Illustration. Elizabeth Fitzgerald Howard and Elizabeth Perry will be the other two panelists. I will play the part of "The Person Who Is Not Elizabeth."

Our panel is titled Women of the Page, and the last I heard they already had around 70 reservations in the books, which means they're almost sold out. The event starts with a cocktail hour in the rotunda of the museum. The exhibit will be open for the cocktail hour from 7:00 through 8:00.

They're going to start our part of the program talking about favorite female children's book authors. Our panel will then share our experiences as authors and illustrators including our processes, how we became interested in the business, how we developed our styles and how we got our work seen, among other things they haven't thought up to throw at us yet.

I'm not nervous.

The Draw Me a Story exhibit runs through May 20, 2012.

The image above is a watercolor on paper by Charles James Folkard (1878–1963) called "King of the goblins." It's from the book The Princess and the Goblin, published in 1949. The painting is small, only 9 ¼ x 6 ¼ inches. It's part of the collection of the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco, CA. The photo of the painting was taken by E. G. Schempf.

Sketchbook Project 2012—Accordion player sketch #sketchbookproject

The next image I drew for my Sketchbook Project 2012 sketchbook was this little accordian player.

My illustrations @SCBWI Bologna

Each year, the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) mans a booth at the Bologna Children's Book Fair, and they take along a portfolio of pieces from selected members. I entered my work and was selected to be a part of that portfolio, along with just 39 other people. I'm very grateful and excited that my illustrations will be participating!

Along with the physical portfolio in Italy, SCBWI also displays a gallery of art from the participating illustrators on their Website. Here's the link to this year's page. Bummer having a last name that starts with a letter of the alphabet that's toward the end and requiring a scroll down, but there you go. I'm happy to be there.

The image up above is one of the illustrations that will be included on my page in the physical portfolio, and it's the one I chose to represent my style on the SCBWI Web gallery.

Sketchbook Project 2012—Knitter in color #sketchbookproject

And then this would be that little knitter guy after he got himself a little color.

Tots. Made from taters

Anyone who knows me well enough knows I'm not much of a cooker. I'd rather be spending my time creating something that won't be coming out my other end tomorrow, if you know what I mean.

But sometimes, you just gotta do it.

I made some tater tots, completely from scratch which, I realize, isn't saying much, but it's more effort than I usually put out. I was proud of how they looked, and I got a thumbs-up from the hubby. But I don't know that I'll be doing it again very soon. It's just too easy to buy the little frozen guys. Here's the recipe I used anyway, if you're so inclined:


Tater Tots (from Can You Stay for Dinner—her post is funnier, by the way)

serves five, as a side dish

3 medium potatoes, finely grated and dried well
¼ C all-purpose flour
1 t salt, plus more for serving
½ t black pepper (I didn't use any pepper in mine)
¼ C Canola oil

Mix the potatoes with the flour, salt and pepper. Form into 1" logs.

Heat oil in a large pot until it is so hot that dripping a drop of water on the surface immediately sizzles and spatters. Add tots and fry until all sides are golden brown.

Serve hot with extra salt.

Sketchbook Project 2012—Knitter sketch #sketchbookproject

The sketch for the next page of my Sketchbook Project project: a knitter.

Sketchbook Project 2012—Wrinkly dog in color #sketchbookproject

Here you go. The wrinkly dog in color.

The further I get in the sketchbook, the heavier I seem to be applying the spray fixative. I started out worried about when I was working on the back of a page, how the page on the other side would rub and transfer to the page opposite it. So I've been laying on the fixative. Unfortunately, that seems to be messing with the transparency of the paper, so on this page you can see the Frankenstein showing through from the page before.

Not only that, I'm noticing that any green I use bleeds through the paper as yellow on the other side when I spray it.

I don't think there's much I can do about all that, so I'm moving on with the rest.

Damn the torpedoes.

My illustrations are heading to Italy! #BolognaBookFair

At the end of January I submitted a page of my illustrations for possible inclusion in the SCBWI portfolio at the Bologna Book Fair, and this would be the page I submitted.

The portfolio selection team notified me that my page was chosen to be included (yay!). Not only will it be in a physical portfolio at the book fair, but it will also be included on their site. Once my image becomes available (along with the rest of the portfolio), they will send me a link to it which I'll post here.

Here was how they described what they're doing:

"A portfolio of SCBWI illustrator members work will be on display at the SCBWI Showcase during the 2012 Bologna Book Fair and available for browsing by publishers, agents and other attendees from across the world. In addition, a digital version of the portfolio will be posted on this webpage with thumbnails of artwork and contact information as we did for our 2010 Illustrators' Gallery."

The fair will run March 19-22 this year.

Sketchbook Project 2012—Wrinkly dog sketch #sketchbookproject

Here's another sketch from my Sketchbook Project project. It's a sketch of a really wrinkly dog with lots and lots of folds, but absolutely no stitches. That I know of.

The argument against working on spec (or, Why it feels like my idea was stolen) #nospec

Way back on April 6, 2007, I received an email from a publisher that I won't mention the name of here. I thought I finally got a bite after all those postcards I had been sending out. Here was what she wrote:

"Thank you for your interest in working with [us].

We have several projects that we feel match your talent and are interested in knowing if you are still available to illustrate picture books.

[Our] process is simply (sic). We ask that you create a rough cover and one inside spread from the text we provide. From your work we will select an illustrator based on who we feel has the best conveyance of text through art and understanding of appeal in the children's genre."

I ran the proposal past some of my colleagues in the Pittsburgh Society of Illustrators, and I got advice that went both ways. I reasoned that even if I didn't get picked I could still finish the image and use it for my own self-promotion (yet another postcard).

So I did. Here's the sketch I did for the cover.

This was the exact file I sent in (on April 18), with my name and copyright really noticeable right there at the top.

And this was how the image looked after I finished it. To be fair, I didn't actually email the publisher the final image, so the argument could be made that they never saw it.

The editor/publisher replied that if I didn't hear from her by that Friday, then she would get back to me when she got back from the Bologna Book Fair. When I hadn't heard anything by May 11, I sent an email to find out what was going on, and she said she was "still digging out from business travels, but promise to get back to you."

O.K. I guess I needed a little patience.

On September 17 I sent another email asking for the status of my submission, and that's when I found out they weren't interested in my idea.

This evening I was doing some updating of my mailing list, and I was checking out that publisher's site to see if I should keep sending to them (no, I hadn't removed them from my list yet) when I found this.

Yes, stylistically my image and the one here are very different. But nowhere in the manuscript was there any mention of the boy casting the shadow of a monster in his bedroom. Is that so obvious of an idea that somebody else actually thought of it after I did? And if this illustrator and I both sent in the same idea, wouldn't you as an editor/publisher want to go in a direction that wasn't so obvious?

As an aside, when I first found out that they didn't want me to illustrate the book, I kept watching for the book on their site to see what they had picked instead. In the beginning, there was another image on the cover that I can't seem to find on the Internet. It was a computer-generated image of a purple monster standing at the foot of a bed. The monster was in the middle of the frame, looking directly at the viewer as if the viewer was in the bed. The image above isn't the original image I saw online.

I know the illustration on the final book cover isn't taken verbatim from my idea (especially having seen what other companies have tried to get away with in swiping artwork for their designs), but knowing that the editor saw my rough and seeing the similarities in the final cover image, my post Bedtime Monster anti-spec policy has been firmly cemented.

Just say no.

P.S. I've now removed them from my mailing list.

The @arthouse Coop have (has?) digitized my #sketchbookproject

Part of the payback for creating a sketchbook for the Art House Coop (The Brooklyn Art Library) is that they scan every page of your sketchbook and upload them for the whole world to see. They've finished scanning all of my pages, and here's the link to the digitized version:

http://www.arthousecoop.com/library/6123

If you're unfamiliar with the Sketchbook Project, here's a post that attempts to explain what it's all about:

http://nora-thompson.blogspot.com/2011/12/sketchbook-project-2012.html

And here's a ready-made search of all my posts of sketches and finished pages for the project:

http://nora-thompson.blogspot.com/search/label/sketchbook%20project

This was the Sketchbook Project 2012 version. They've just finished signing up participants for the first round of the Sketchbook Project Limited Edition, and I went and signed up for that one, too. I'll be posting about the Limited Edition project on The Rots' blog, so I'll be posting the progress on that sketchbook over there.

Sketchbook Project 2012—Frankenstein in color #sketchbookproject

Here's the finished Frankenstein page of my Sketchbook Project. This is the center spread, so what you're seeing down the middle is the tied-off end of the string from where I bound the book.

Another green Frank.

The only reason I can think of that my Frankensteins are green is because Herman had a bit of a greenish tint to him when The Munsters were in color. I used to be a big Munsters fan when I was little.

Sketchbook Project 2012—Frankenstein sketch #sketchbookproject

Here's the next page in my Sketchbook Project for the Art House Co-op and the Brooklyn Art Library. This illustration marks the center spread which means he's also standing on the halfway-through-the-sketchbook page.

If you missed what this little project is all about, here's the post that explains all the details.