November flew by faster than most months, mostly due to travel. Geoff and I were in Paris for about a week, followed by the long Thanksgiving holiday. That left only a couple of weeks for solid work! (I did, however, do some sketching in Paris. See below for some snippets from my sketchbook.)
I concentrated this month on getting my Horace and Amelia "intro" story off the ground. I had hoped to have a suitable first draft finished by the end of the month, and I kind of do...kind of. It's a draft, but I can't say it's in suitable condition. It's still very long and stream-of-consciousness and in the "I'm just getting ideas on paper" phase. There are several directions I could go with this story of how Horace and Amelia meet, and I need to pick one and develop the book from there. And: the whole thing should (ideally) weigh in at fewer than 600 words. Easier said than done. People aren't kidding when they compare writing picture books to writing poems. Each word must be chosen carefully and carry it's weight; there's no room for excess.
On a side note, setting out to write the beginning of Horace and Amelia's friendship inspired me to get reacquainted with a couple of old picture-book favorites, George and Martha. I grabbed James Marshall's George and Martha: The Complete Stories of Two Best Friends from the Santa Monica Public Library and spent a day reading and dissecting all 35 tales of hippo friendship. I had forgotten how funny they are! What I love most about George and Martha is their flaws. They're lovably self-aggrandizing and in denial of their own shortcomings. They have great affection for one another (George stealing a kiss from Martha during his French lesson), but they also love to play tricks (George nailing Martha's slippers to the floor) and take revenge (Martha hiding, garden hose in hand, waiting to spray the unsuspecting George). In short, they're two very human hippos. They ring true. I hope to bring the same quality to my monkey pals.
Aside from working on Horace and Amelia, I did another editorial illustration this month. This one is inspired by the mysterious bee deaths that have been plaguing beekeepers across the country. From what I've read, there might be some kind of "bee AIDS" going around; researchers have found the dead bees to be carrying just about every known bee disease, as if their immune systems had kicked the bucket.
In any case, I did the drawings for this piece in my sketchbook, scanned them in, and used Photoshop to put everything together. The jury's still out on how much I want to use the computer for my illustrations. I certainly enjoy the speed and ease with which you can make changes, not to mention the cool effects and filters that add instant texture to a piece. But I really like creating art by hand. The physicality of the paint, paper, etc. is so much more satisfying than the click-and-drag of the mouse.
In other news, I got an intriguing email this month from a woman at Free Spirit Publishing, asking if I would be interested in illustrating a series of board books. It looks like the deal is ultimately going to go to someone else (an illustrator they've worked with before), but my contact says she "was really hoping to hire [me] for this project" and she'll "definitely" keep me in mind for future assignments. Exciting!
Finally, a quick update on The Birthday Pie Surprise. Steven emailed me in early November to tell me he'd sent it out to four editors at Knopf/Random House, Simon & Schuster, Candlewick, and Putman/Penguin . So far, we've heard back from one, who said that though she liked the story, the art was too "cartoony" for Knopf. Steven said he wasn't sure he agreed, and I'm not sure I do, either! Oh well, we'll see what the others have to say...
Comments