This illustration will probably not be in the final children’s book I’m currently putting together. I changed my mind about a few story details. Thus, the sub plot involving pirates looking for a telescope before ultimately realizing that one of the pirates was in fact using a telescope all along (HA!) will be jettisoned! Oh that was a hilarious 15 pages of the book I regret leaving on the subway by accident.
THRILLING THURSDAY and again with the Creative Process
Last week I showed what I sometimes do with ripped up paper, and this week I thought I’d share what happens early in the morning with only one human sized cup of coffee. Where do Ideas come from? When I do school talks and kids ask me that, I tell them that for me, they often come from observing yourself and others with a sense of humor. I sold many a Nickelodeon cartoon with that philosophy. But sometimes ideas come from a doodle and a few lines of narration. One morning I drew a cat driving (or riding) a cabinet. In fact here is that very sketch!:
After that sketch I began to wonder why the cat was doing such an odd thing and thus drew a few more pieces of furniture and pets doing inexplicable things with them. It turned into a few short panels that told an…ahem, interesting story?
I showed my wife what I’d done and said, “Look what I’ve done!” I waited for her to sigh and then I continued, “I don’t know what this is, but it’s pretty silly, eh?” She read it and… laughed. Laughed quite a lot in fact. I mention this because she does not always laugh at my ideas. She can’t hide her true feelings for some of my less inspired creations, so she stopped pretending to do so long ago.
“Do…more…of…this.” She gasped between laughs. Okay I’m exaggerating. She let some coffee go down the wrong way is all.
As it stands now, my little story is an eight page mini book (or comic) that I’m folding and stapling as we speak. I won’t be posting it on line until it’s been out there in the real world for awhile as I feel it would serve well as a promo mailer. What was my point about the creative process? Um, sometimes ideas do indeed come from out of thin air, the origins of which are completely mysterious. They still need a little work though, if you want them to have any chance at becoming something completely ridiculous!
Oh, and here’s a little sample of that finished mini book right here!:
Thrilling Thursday Children’s Art
I am working on my second children’s book that won’t be out
til…well, some time next year I would guess. In the mean time,
here are some sketches of said book I can share. Some houses and
yes, a pirate. You see, you can never have TOO many children’s
books featuring pirates. Look it up. It’s a fact.