Hello friends of Centipede Dragon! I hope you are still out there.
I had grand plans to get back into the swing of things last November after Thanksgiving, but as you know, there hasn’t been a peep from me since. I mentioned previously that there was a fair amount going on in life, and therefore, something had to drop off the radar. Unfortunately, it has been these posts, but as I find them so therapeutic, I won't give up on them no matter how long the time in between.
I’m happy to report that one thing has not dropped off my radar: the continued writing and creating process.
My new(ish) job has indeed greatly impacted upon my time to create. But it has actually inspired me to re-think my creative process. Every day at work I am surrounded by incredibly intelligent and talented individuals, and what has that done? It makes me push myself beyond the "very comfortable Alice" that existed prior to January 2017. This has meant that I have taken a new approach to illustrating book three.
What is this new approach? Sketching! I’m talking real, pencil-to-paper, eraser marks everywhere, tiny 2.5 x 2.5” squares of drawings. You’re probably surprised to hear that an illustrator hasn’t been in the habit of sketching! I am guilty of neglecting this invaluable skill; a while back when project budgets started getting skinnier, I actually eliminated this step from my production process in order to save time. I began directly drawing in digital format, and while I always lamented that the quality of my illustrations suffered, the clients seemed to be happy, while I was saving time to take on more work.
Sketching, however, is more than producing a road map for your final artwork or a skill to lose if not used. It is practicing coordination between mind and hand, and it’s a thinking process in itself.
Therefore, I hope you’ll forgive me my post-writing absence. Know that book three is well underway, and could perhaps make a 2019 release date!
I had grand plans to get back into the swing of things last November after Thanksgiving, but as you know, there hasn’t been a peep from me since. I mentioned previously that there was a fair amount going on in life, and therefore, something had to drop off the radar. Unfortunately, it has been these posts, but as I find them so therapeutic, I won't give up on them no matter how long the time in between.
I’m happy to report that one thing has not dropped off my radar: the continued writing and creating process.
My new(ish) job has indeed greatly impacted upon my time to create. But it has actually inspired me to re-think my creative process. Every day at work I am surrounded by incredibly intelligent and talented individuals, and what has that done? It makes me push myself beyond the "very comfortable Alice" that existed prior to January 2017. This has meant that I have taken a new approach to illustrating book three.
What is this new approach? Sketching! I’m talking real, pencil-to-paper, eraser marks everywhere, tiny 2.5 x 2.5” squares of drawings. You’re probably surprised to hear that an illustrator hasn’t been in the habit of sketching! I am guilty of neglecting this invaluable skill; a while back when project budgets started getting skinnier, I actually eliminated this step from my production process in order to save time. I began directly drawing in digital format, and while I always lamented that the quality of my illustrations suffered, the clients seemed to be happy, while I was saving time to take on more work.
Sketching, however, is more than producing a road map for your final artwork or a skill to lose if not used. It is practicing coordination between mind and hand, and it’s a thinking process in itself.
Therefore, I hope you’ll forgive me my post-writing absence. Know that book three is well underway, and could perhaps make a 2019 release date!
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