My last (hopefully!) blog update before publication

Hi guys,
It's been a while since my last post- life got a little too busy, although I did get a nice vacation in there too back in October. Much needed!

My goal was to publish a month ago, and obviously I'm a little behind. This is turning out to be a 9 month project, almost like having a baby! But the good news is that I'm almost finished with the 13th spread, which only leaves...

...THREE ILLUSTRATIONS!

And a cover...and book layout with text... but the bulk of the work is almost over and that makes me so excited! I'm trying to finish the last three spreads by Thanksgiving (take a 4 day break to eat turkey, see family and not look at a computer). We'll see if that actually happens. I'm also working on a lot of projects at work and I'm just trying to handle all of it at the same time and not become a crazy person.

After I submit my files and get the printing and proofing of my book underway, I will focus on my marketing list which will basically include every person I've ever met...haha

So you will have a postcard on it's way to you probably in December....yes, you! If you think for some reason I might overlook you, and you would like nothing more than one of my postcards, let me know!

Here is the last illustration I will present, turning out to be one of my favorites, I think. To see the rest, buy the book! :) As always, thanks for taking the time to read my blog!

Another digital coloring update!

Hey guys,
I have 8 spreads done, that's the half way point for digital coloring! I was hoping to be finished with the book by October, but it will probably be November or later. Anyway, every illustration that I finish gets me one step closer :)

Publisher logo done

So since I'm self-publishing and I'm technically the publisher, I need a logo.

I decided on Seesaw Publishing as my imprint name, keeping with the kids theme. I also decided to use elements from my old website logo to create this new one. The first logo can be seen here on my current website:

www.kelseaparks.com

Here is my publisher logo:

I'm still working on coloring my spreads- I've got about 4 done. In the next week or so I'll be buying my ISBN and registering my imprint.

Slowly, but surely the book is coming together!

Digital coloring update!

Hey guys,
I just wanted to post some of the progress I have made since I started the color and texture phase of my book. I have 1 full spread, and 1 single page completed.
Comments are always welcome. Thanks for looking!

Bring on the digital work!

I've finished the inking and scanning phase for my book! And only a little behind schedule... I'm so excited to start working with color and texture.
Here is some of the work I have completed:













I'm having a few people proof read the story for the last time. I have gone through many rounds of editing and revision, but since I just recently changed the story a bit, I thought I better have some more (and different) eyes on it.

I'm hoping to be finished with my digital work by September 1st. I will upload some spreads showing my progress as I go along. Then it's text layout, cover design and file prep.

I'm dreading the part of publishing that I'm least familiar with... marketing this book. But I won't think about that now- I just gotta get this done. :) Thanks for tuning in, and as always, feel free to give me any feedback that you might have.

The Last of the Tight Sketches!!

I've finished phase 1 of my book: tight sketches! Woo hoo! Now I'm moving into the inking stage. I hope to be done with inking by the beginning of July.

Here are the last of the drawings that I finished:

background: cardboard clubhouse

Background: Dining room and hallway

Background: Grocery Store 2

The kids play hide and seek
Jack pretending that he's a bee, and the kids play along

Maia feels left out.

Background: Mouse hole with a little mouse bed, cheese and a mouse poster

Background: An African prairie

Tight Sketches II

Here are a few drawings I worked on over the past couple weeks:

A supermarket interior.

A dragon! Animals are NOT my forte, especially mythical beasts... and I really struggled with this guy. I still might go back and rework some of him. Like figure out what's going on with his hands. But anyway, he is loads better than the original dragon I drew years ago. Maybe one day I'll do a side by side comparison on here of my badly-drawn dragons.

One my my main characters: Maia. She's running away from the above dragon. Her eyes got a little smudgy, I'll be able to tighten those up when I do my inking. I once got the comment on this image that little kids might be disturbed by this and think that she's on fire. I'm interested in anyone's opinion about whether they agree. I personally think the smile tells the viewer that she's not afraid, and it's obviously a book where kids imagine things, but I'm thinking about it still.

This is a bear cave. Our viewpoint is from inside the cave looking out.

Back to the drawing board

Synopsis of my book- Three kids explore different feelings as they go through their day to day activities; anger, anxiety, etc. They learn that by using their imagination they can deal with these powerful emotions and turn a problem into an adventure!

Sound corny? I'm working on the synopsis... the storyline is better, I promise.

Here is the general direction that this project will go in---

1. Tight Sketches
2. Inking and scanning
3. Digital color and textures
4. Text layout
5. Publish!

I'm in the tight sketches phase right now. And I'm pretty much picking back up where I left off when I was in college. Most of my spreads have blank backgrounds, so that is a huge part of what I'm sketching now- filling in the blank space.I'm also fixing a lot of GLARING awful mistakes-weird faces, incorrect body proportions etc..unfortunately they crop up on almost every page, but I'm choosing to see this as a good thing. It will make the whole book a lot more consistent if every page is reworked.