Day 22 of the 30 in 30

Here is a bunny! I don't know if he's cuter than my other bunny, but he's more purple. Purpler bunnies are slightly superior in many ways. Well one way and that way may or may not be color. Spoiler: it's color.

This paintings is for two challenges: #30paintingsin30days and #kidlitart28  Leslie's site for the 30 in 30: https://www.saetastudio.com/february-30-in-30-blog  This image is 2.5"x3.5" colored with Daniel Smith watercolors, inked with a pentel brush pen on Arches Watercolor Paper.  

Process Post

 I put all of this up on Instagram as I was working on it, but personally I think it's kind of neat to see the process of a painting all together in one place.

This is the the first full sketch I did for this illustration. I think I have some roughs somewhere, but those are even worse than this. 

Here is the full final sketch I created before I went into colors.

I had a lot of trouble with the paper I used. The color was not soaking in and not working right in general! I did get the paper replaced by the company but it was a lot of work to do to start over.

I traced the image and started over. When I trace my own work I'm not just tracing. I actually make an effort to change things. Some things I will erase and change completely after moving them to tracing paper.

Here is the drawing on the paper. I transferred it by using a burnt umber pigment on the back of my tracing paper (this can be done with crushed graphite as well). The drawing I did looks lovely right down to the erased bits I forgot to brush away. 

I had to go over some of the lines with graphite because I couldn't see the lines Usually I don't need to do this. Before I started painting I put down some masking fluid.

At this point I have a lot of paint on the paper, but I'm not happy with the shadowing at this point so I had to go in later to adjust everything.

This is what the final illustration looked like before I added inks. I'm not as happy as I could be about the clothing, but overall I like it.

I've been told that I should try leaving out the inks, but I think I would miss them too much. I love how different an image looks when it's complete. I'm noticing just now that maybe the colors could be adjusted to see to show off the wings a bit better, but other than that I'm happy with how this turned out. 

I don't have a title for this painting yet, so if you have any suggestions visit my Instagram page and give me a suggestion for a title!

My 2018 Goals

Here is a list of (at least some) of my 2018 goals!


1. Finish the WIPs for my Portfolio 

I need to finish the illustrations I started for my portfolio. The goal is to replace the work that's older than 2017 with all new work.

2. Complete at Least 5 Challenges

 I hoping this year to complete several challenges. The ones I'm hoping to complete are: Tara Lazar's Storystorm, Julie Hedlund's 12x12, Leslie Saeta's 30 in 30, Becky Fyfe's Chapter Book Challenge and Dani Duck's Smart Dummies

3. Send Out My Illustration Portfolio to at Least 12 Art Reps/Agents/Editors

This is contingent on my completion of # 1.

4. Find at least 12 Places to Approach for Freelance Work

Submitting work to magazines is included in this.

5. Complete at Least 3 Submission Ready Picture Book Dummies 

6. Send Dummies to at least 12 Agents/Editors

This is contingent on my completion of # 5.

7.  Keep up on my Instagram Accounts

I'm going to attempt to post on these several times a week!

8. Do at Least 1 Creative Project with my Kids Every Week

This can be big or small.

I may not be able to complete all of these, but at least I have my goals mapped out. I'm not worried about failure as much as not trying!

What are Your Goals for 2018?

A few years ago I stopped making New Year's Resolutions and started making New Year's Goals. I'm making some new goals to help me through the year. I try not to do this on the first day of the year because I'm not making resolutions but goals.

I like to make my goals as specific and attainable as possible. Since I don't have a picture book published making my goal "Getting Published" or "Getting an Agent" isn't going to work. I make goals that I can make happen. I can't force someone to publish my work, or be my agent, but I can make myself polish manuscripts, create dummies and send out a certain number of query letters in a year.

Before I start listing my new goals I'll do a recap on my 2017 goals:

1. Win Storystorm I'm happy to report that I won Storystorm last year! I get so many ideas from this event every year. I'm taking part in it again this year! You can sign up here until January 9th!   https://taralazar.com/2017/12/28/storystorm-2018-registration-is-open/

2. Win the 12x12 Challenge 2017 was the first year that I was able to complete the 12x12 Challenge. I have learned so much being a part of this group. I now have a wonderful critique group that started in 2017 and will continue throughout this year as well. I can't have 2017 without this group in my life. Registration for new members starts January 9th: http://12x12challenge.com/membership/

3. Look for Freelance Illustration Work I did get some illustration work in 2017, but nothing that I went out and looked for. I will need to start looking for new sources of inspiration this year. 

4. Finish 2-3 Picture Book Dummies I was not able to finish any dummies last year. I focused my energies on other things. Maybe I can make this a goal this year.

5. Submit at Least 6 Different Manuscripts to Editors/Agents I wasn't happy with my work enough to send it out as is last year, so I did not do any submissions last year.

6. Spend More Focused Time on Social Media I started two instagram accounts this year, so that's progress. My personal illustrator's account: https://www.instagram.com/dani_duck_art/ Where I post my artwork and different things about my artist life. And my Smart Dummies Challenge account: https://www.instagram.com/smart_dummies_challenge/ This is where I post blog posts, kidlit events and pictures from illustrators, writers and other people in (or that can be related to) the kidlit field. The tag for this is #smartdummieschallenge. The tag is to help me see your work so I can share it. I found I needed two accounts so my personal work didn't get buried in someone else's work.

7. Spend More Time With Family I did not have any freelance jobs around Christmas and I admit that it felt good. I was able to spend more time with my family and it was a crazy time. It was absolutely wonderful and I hope that future Christmases are mostly busy with family things.

SO that was my last year. How did your year go? What are your goals for 2018? Let me know in the comments! 

Challenge Yourself in 2018

Here are different writing and art events you can use to challenge yourself this year!
Challenges are Writers (W), Artists (A.), or both (B.) Start planning out your year now.

Did I miss any great challenges? Let me know in the comments below! I believe all these challenges are still running.

January

W. Storystorm by Tara Lazar starts (previously PiBoIdMo). Get 30 book ideas in 30 days. Sign up late December - early January).

A. #kidlitart on Twitter starts it's PB Dummy Challenge. Challenge lasts 6 months. Last year they mixed things up and did the Build a Portfolio Challenge instead (#BAPC) and also did an Kidlitart Art Challenge (#kidlitart28). Join #kidart on Twitter Thursday nights at 9pm EST for more information!

B. Julie Hedlund's 12 x 12 sign up starts and runs through February. Finish 12 picture books in 12 months. Lots of great webinars, prizes and support. Gold members can submit their work directly to editors and agents.

February

A. Leslie Saeta's 30 in 30 starts. Normally this challenge runs in January. This year it runs February 1st - March 2nd. 

March

W. Chapter Book Challenge (ChaBooCha) runs this month. Hosted by Becky Fyfe. Finish your chapter book in 30 days.

W. Janice Hardy's Revise Your Novel in 30 Days  Get your novel edited in 30 days.

B. Reading for Research Month (ReFoReMo) Sign up starts February 15th. Read books to improve your own writing!

W. 50 Precious Words Runs March 2nd - 6th. Hosted by Vivian Kirkfield. Write a 50 word story with a beginning, middle and end.

April

W. Angie Karchers Rhyme Revolution For the month of April Angie posts a different writing challenge every day. Challenges must be completed daily and posts commented on to win prizes.

May

W. National Picture Book Writing Week: Write seven picture book manuscripts in one week. Hosted by Paula Yoo.

June

A. Daisy Yellow Index Card A Day Challenge. In this two month challenge your create one piece of
artwork every day for 61 days.

July

A. World Watercolor Month  Create 31 Watercolor Paintings in 31 Days. Hosted by the World Watercolor Group founded by Charlie O'Shields.

August

I couldn't find a challenge that's still running for this month!

September

A. Smart Dummies starts! Create a Picture Book Dummy in 30 days. Sign up in August 15th through the first week of September. Hosted by yours truly (Dani Duck).

A. Leslie Saeta's 30 in 30 catch this one if you missed it in February!

October

A. Inktober starts (#inktober on Instagram and Twitter). Create 30 inked drawings in 30 days! Created by Jake Parker

November

W. National Novel Writing Month. Get your Novel written in 30 days!

December

A. December Watercolor Challenge Hosted by the World Watercolor Group founded by Charlie O'Shields.

Other Challenges

A. Doodle Day This is the challenge that never ends! Started in May 2013 this was meant to be a month long daily drawing challenge. Alison K. Hertz started this not knowing what it was. Now she'll continue hosting this forever just because!

A. Illustration Friday A weekly art challenge. No official sign up needed.

A. Draw This! A monthly challenge (due on the 20th of every month). Hosted by the SCBWI. Participants must be current SCBWI members to win.

B. Sub Six A challenge to submit 6 picture books in a year. Most people submit far more, so it's mostly a support group. Need permission from Alayne Kay Christian, Stacy Stenberg Jensen, or Debbie Bernstein LaCroix to join the Facebook group.

A. 52-Week Illustration Challenge by Nicky Johnston. Create 1 illustration a week for 52 weeks. Participants post their current week's illustrations in the facebook group.

W. Inky Girl's Daily Words Debbie Ridpath Ohi hosts. This is to help writers short on time come up with a regular regiment for writing. There are great badges you can put on your blog for writing as little as 100 or for 15 minutes a day. There is no formal sign up. 

A. Color Collective A weekly art challenge on Twitter based on color.

Want a reading or blogging challenge? Feed Your Fiction Addiction has a huge list of reading challenges as does Girloxox.com I'm sure several of the challenges repeat on these, so if you can't find what you are looking for on one the other likely has it!

The Right Tools

I was getting my haircut the other day and my hairdresser (Diane) and I got into a discussion about the tools we use.  I was fascinated by her insight on this, because what we do is so different. Fundamentally hairdressing and art is the same in many ways. You need to have better tools for better results.

These are a few of my favorite brushes!
I generally just use the tallest one (angled)
and the big round brush on the left.

Buying Higher Quality Tools Can Cost Less Overall. This seems counter intuitive. How can I possibly justify spending $100 over $25 on the exact same colors of watercolor paint and paper? The paint tubes may have less in them, and the paper may be the exact same size, but they are not the same! Quality matters over quantity.

1. The Frustration Factor

In my conversation with Diane, I said it might be okay to buy cheaper supplies when starting out. Diane corrected me right there. She said that it doesn't make sense to start out with cheap supplies because if you become frustrated with the limitations of the tools then you won't continue creating art. I know that this is 100% true.

I had some older acrylics that I was attempting to paint with, but unfortunately I was just becoming frustrated with them because they were old and the binder had separated from the colors. I could not get the paints to move across the canvas like I knew they should. It wasn't until I bought new paints that I felt like I could paint. With the frustration gone I was able to create work faster and better.

2. Better Paints Paint Better

One of my paintings that I had trouble with. The darker colors just wouldn't stay on the paper. 

When I first started using Daniel Smith watercolors I just bought one tube of red paint. I didn't have the money to be messing around. What I found was not only did the color flow across the page better, but I was using less of it to cover the page. Since I'm using less paint I'm actually paying less to paint!

3. Substrate is Everything

Okay you get these fancy colors, but you are actually wasting money if you are putting them on cheap paper. I bought a brand that I thought was going to give me good results. I think there was a problem with the sizing on the paper, and this could have been a factory problem, so I'm not going to name the particular brand I used. The problem was the paper got to the point where the paint wasn't soaking into the paper anymore. I wasn't able to add any more color to certain areas! The company I bought it from was able to replace the paper (I paid for the upgrade), but this doesn't make up for the amount of work that went into paintings that aren't usable anymore!

4. Acid Free Isn't Archival

One thing that you might not think about when you're illustrating is how long is your work going to last. You may just want to make work that you create and you don't care what happens after that. If you are buying acid free, know that that it is likely a limited time deal. I've made the decision to use archival for most of my illustrations now because I want them to last a long time after I'm gone. Also the paper I'm going to use most often, because it works so well (Arches), is archival.

My favorite pens!

5. Time is Money

One thing that you need to remember is your time matters. When you are creating something to sell this is so important to consider. Say you paid $10 for your supplies, so selling your work at $20 may seem like a fair price. Well, what if that item took you five hours to create? You are making $2 an hour when you sell your item. I don't know about you, but my time is worth more than $2. Working retail at $7-12 an hour seems like a better deal to me. If your supplies cause you to spend 2-3 times the amount of time on a project than you should spend, then those cheap supplies could be costing you money!

--

I'm hoping this is something you will consider when buying art supplies! Buying more expensive supplies may just not work for you and that's okay. This is something I want people to consider because it will end up saving you money in the end.

I will make a post about where you can cut on expenses. There is so much in this post already I feel like I've got a lot in this one post. Please ask me questions and remember to enjoy making your art!

Smart Instagram Madness Dummies

If you missed it in the Smart Dummies group: I started an Instagram page for Smart Dummies! The name is @smart_dummies_challenge. If you are already connected through my personal page @dani_duck_art you can get to it there or go to: https://www.instagram.com/Smart_Dummies_Challenge/

I will be taking images from people who are following me on Instagram/have participated in the Smart Dummies Challenge. Use the tag #smartdummieschallenge so I can find you! To get it started I'm looking at all my followers/following to get things started, but hope to switch to the hastag later!  You do not have to be an artist to be featured. You will be tagged so people can find you.  

The main purpose of this is to spread awareness for Smart Dummies. I'm also hoping it can also be used as a way to share tips and techniques. More people are going to look at this than my personal profile because people can submit and get their artwork shared. 

I'm going to try to be very picky for art so everyone gets their best work out there. It has been a bit more than 24 hours and I've gotten 24 followers so far!  Maybe it's not a ton but It happened in a day, so not too bad! I hope we can grow the Smart Dummies event together.