Art Journal

Market

elise — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 01:10:52 +0000

There’s a market this weekend at the Convent in our usual lovely inside spot at the back of the courtyard. Just look for the complex to the right of the bakery. As always the Convent will have all sorts of delicious food, the Children’s Farm will be open near by and our market will have Melbourne Hot live jazz all afternoon.

I’ll be there painting and will have a big range of goodies available including the full range of cards…

and hopefully

a NEW BOOK!

Love to see you there.

Advice: the illustrator’s job – storyboards and roughs

elise — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 23:50:43 +0000

Here’s another response to a question relating to being provided with suggestions for the pictures or a storyboard by the writer:

This sounds terrible but I’d rather not ever have suggestions from the author on the visuals. The exception being something vital that is not mentioned in the story, but is intrinsic to it (like the character is in a wheelchair, or is a moose).

Generally, a story has to be divided visually into scenes that make sense – the writing is half the work, the pictures are the other half. Usually they have different roles to perform and the illustrator, the visual one, is best at working out that visual realisation of the book. Often too, it is not until the illustrator starts to rough out a storyboard that flaws in the story become evident – too many back and forth scene changes, too many concepts in too quick succession, too many words for the readership and the format, repetitions that serve no story function, unbalanced action (nothing happens for 90% of the book then everything exciting happens in only one sentence), too long, too complex for the age group…When I say they’re flaws – it’s not that it isn’t a great story – only that it won’t work elegantly in the picture book format.

There is nothing like putting it roughly into a dummy book to see, finally, how it reads.

Mondoodle 30-08-2010

elise — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 02:01:21 +0000

I’m following a white rabbit right now. It’s having a rest in a cafe to my right and is flying in a balloon on my left. That often happens – an idea or a subject likes to get out in multiple formats for a while until I know it well and know how best to deal with it. I have rabbits on the brain today. The paper wasn’t good for watercolours so I wasn’t able to go for some of the splatty colour I would have liked. I think the page would have disintegrated. You can see how it was getting roughed up just by a simple stroke beneath the writing (which has gone spiky over the blue). I love working with a stylus – especially the dipping-it-in-ink bit.

Drawn/painted/inked on eh-hem Tuesday 31st August 2010, masquerading as a Monday. That’s what happens when I go out on a Monday night and have fun!

Have a lovely week.

Advice: charging for illustrations

elise — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 01:16:45 +0000

I’ve been answering quite a few emails lately seeking advice on aspects of the industry. So I thought I’d put some tailored excerpts here in case anyone else was wondering the same things. Don’t forget, there is always the Getting Published page too which has lots more info and suggestions, especially about whether or not you have to illustrate a story before taking it to a publisher.

Someone was asked to do illustrations for a friend’s book and wondered how to charge for them:

It is quite unusual to do the illustrations for a book before taking it to a publisher – unless of course it is to be self published, or simply to be enjoyed by the person commissioning the work. My rule of thumb is to have a think about how much time each one will probably take you (including creating roughs, going to and fro with them – which could be longer if the commissioning person gets very prescriptive and involved) and then think about what your time is worth. Everyone charging the same hourly rate doesn’t work – so I can’t suggest one. If you are starting out and you keep getting stuck on an aspect of an illustration then you could be charging more than someone who is experienced and has become faster with time – this should be to their benefit, not detriment. It also doesn’t take into account the level of detail, professional design, instinct etc that is specific to each illustrator. Most jobs take longer than I expect and I never stop until the job is right. So I end up not taking on certain types of jobs as I know that they just can’t pay well enough for the time and work involved. The question you have to answer is what is your time worth, and are you gaining any other benefits like exposure, experience, potential future income that might be factored in?

For Trade books (the ones going into book shops) the illustrator is usually assigned a royalty by the publisher, as well as a smaller up-front payment (an advance). The size of the small fee is hopefully compensated for by long term payments over the life of the book. When books don’t get a royalty you really have to get full compensation for the work straight away. And it has to feel fair to you – if you price something at mates-rates as a favour and they go on to publish the work and it is very successful – how will you feel about it?

A final thought – try not to give away copyright. If someone insists because they are self publishing and paying you up-front, try to license use of the images for specific purposes. You may want to reserve the right to sell art prints or use them on greeting cards one day. So long as they aren’t in competition with the book (ie. you couldn’t sell them to someone for another book) there shouldn’t be a problem. Originals are never included in the price of a book commission. They are only paying for the use of the images. If they want the originals, they can pay for them as artworks.

For suggested rates and conditions go to the ASA website.

Mondoodle 23-8-2010

elise — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 07:01:33 +0000

I’m up in the studio bright and early this morning. It’s one of those beautiful Melbourne winter days where the sky is a delicate blue and the sun fills brittle air. I don’t know if I am imagining it but winter sunlight still looks cold. Perhaps it is just because I know that the wind in the bare silver birch has a touch of ice in it and that the shadows will carry no hint of the sun. And that the light itself is slanting across the world, leeched ever so subtly of its strength.

Drawn in the studio, 9.30am on Monday 23 August, 2010. A rugged-up little Owl Girl, not feeling the cold at all.

New Book!! And a launch to send it into the world…

elise — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 08:40:11 +0000

Yesterday a box arrived which filled me with great glee. It was the long-awaited advance copies of my newest picture book My Boots In Season which is new and lovely and little and gorgeous! It’s written by Kerryn Pascoe and she will be launching it TOMORROW. (I can’t be there, most unfortunately.)

Yes Tomorrow!!!

So – if you are looking for something to do Tomorrow in Port Melbourne, come to Readings.

Saturday 21 August 2010

at 2:30pm

at Reading Port Melbourne – 253 Bay St, Port Melbourne, Victoria, 3207

It should be a gorgeous day and I will be so sorry not to be there.

And here’s the day itself! Looks like there was a wonderful crowd – face painting too Congratulations Kerryn!

Have a look at Kerryn’s website and blog for more signings and events. Maybe she’ll be in your area?

Mondoodle & BIG news

elise — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 11:12:05 +0000

Hello lovely friends. Firstly let me apologise for the accidental tuesdoodle. Which isn’t even a word. I was working hard all weekend (hello to everyone at the markets) and then spent the last two days at a school, MGC, in Richmond. Hello awesome girls! We had a very productive and fun two days. Well I did anyway. And had uni on Monday night. Hey peeps.

And the short of it was I forgot to do my drawing.

So here’s one I prepared earlier I think it’s alright to pull one from the vaults occasionally. This is a drawing I did when working on ideas for The Night Garden. I wouldn’t mind doing a book like this one day. Topiary is my friend.

AND now for my other news.

I’m pregnant. With twins.

There, best to come out and just say it. Which will mean… in February when they come, a little slowing down. (Understatement!)

But not yet. I have lots of work to do in the meantime! Lots of markets, painting, working on my graphic novel and, on Mondays, writing my children’s novel. And when they do come, doing my damnedest to keep working when I can. It’s not like the ideas will stop coming.

Mondoodle 09-08-2010

elise — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 12:20:57 +0000

It’s nice to draw without an agenda. I was watching the Goodies tonight, after getting home from uni, and saw Bill and Graham running around in rabbit suits. They do that rather a lot from memory. So I began to doodle, only it seemed more appropriate to draw horns, and when it needed arms, little curled ones looked right. Soon it became a she, and she became very shy and it was clear that this was her first day of school.

I enjoyed the shape of the horns, imagining how the light would fall on the ridges as they curled around. It’s funny how you can apply simple principles of tone to anything and pretend that you know what you’re doing. I mean, how is the curve of that little floppy ear any different to a human or a dog ear? Just because it isn’t something you’re familiar with, doesn’t mean you can’t make it fairly convincing. That’s definitely the trick with dragons and mythical animals. Just treat them like any other shape. Imagine their structure, their curves, their tone and how they would move if real.

Mondoodle drawn at 9.30pm in the lounge, an old episode of the Goodies in the background (the one where Tim takes over from his horse-and-hunting-mad uncle). Monday August 9, 2010.

New arrivals!

elise — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 11:09:21 +0000

I have been quiet for a while! After the show I took a little break – the first in a very long time. And have been getting back into a variety of projects slowly. I even had a break from painting although I’m getting twitchy around paintbrushes now – its definitely time to pick them up again.

I have received a couple of packages lately. It’s one of the most exciting times in this job!

This one is the third of the Sarindi series by Janine Fraser and it is a wonderful book. That has nothing to do with my bias! In this one, Sarindi’s Dragon Kite, a very powerful event happens in Indonesia and the repercussions are huge. Sarindi and his father go on a journey and…well, I don’t want to give anything away!

I loved doing the illustrations throughout this book. And there are a lot of them! He’s a great character.

And then – there is another third in a series that arrived… the final Moorehawke book. This one, The Rebel Prince by the fabulous Celine Kiernan gives us the thrilling conclusion to this amazing series. And for the first time I got to see them all line up, side by side, pictures running across the three books. Hooray! These are advance copies so it may be a little while before they start to arrive in shops… keep your eyes peeled. They’re both worth the wait!

Mondoodle 02-08-2010

elise — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 11:46:15 +0000

After three days alternating between couch and bed I’m feeling much better, if not sounding it! I don’t think I’m patient enough to ever get a long-term illness. I was sorry to miss the market and to not get out into the sun today. Winter can have some amazing weather and I saw it all from my window – hail and cold one minute then bright sunlight the next. Or perhaps that’s just Melbourne.

Here’s a true story, interpreted nicely. As you know our poor old cat died a couple of months ago. He was an excellent mouser, so good that we started calling him just that. Mouser. He would watch a hole for weeks, stalk sounds in the walls and proved his mousing prowess on many an occasion. We could never be cross about it – in fact we were glad that if he ever got lost he would be able to feed himself naturally. He was a cat, after all.

When Mouser went to the great mouse-filled hills in the sky, we started to notice the balance tipping. And then this happened…

Of all the things to choose in the house and larder, they only wanted to eat the cat food. Mice with a sense of humour and justice. When they started being spotted on the kitchen counter however, well.. Let’s end the story there, shall we?

Mondoodle drawn in the lounge, on the couch (where else?) at 8pm, Monday August 2, 2010.