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While changing your style can be exhilarating and exciting, it can also be a tad bit scary. I keep catching myself trying to pull out my safety net (vectors), but that would just put me back in my rut.
So like this little boy, I'm facing down my monsters and working through the fear.
As my pal Jenny would say, "Onward!"
I've been going through one of those angst ridden struggles I think we all go through in our creative lives. Mine focused on style issues.
Mainly, that I've become dissatisfied with my work and the process. I felt as if it had become formulaic...as if I'd been assembling illustrations rather than drawing and painting.
While I'm very happy with the educational jobs I've been getting, I hunger for some picture book work in addition. I really want to tell a story.
So I've been working on some new stuff. I'm sure it's not where it's going yet, but I ENJOYED it. I went without sleep to work on it. This is a good thing.
It feels really good to enjoy working. I got that kind of creative "high" thing you get where you get goose bumps and your teeth chatter. I haven't felt that in a long time.
I'm taking another writing class. I know, it seems as if I'm a perpetual student these days. Well I am, and I hope I always will be.
It's thrilling when something you've been struggling with suddenly clicks into place and makes sense. I love that feeling whether it's art related, writing related or simply life related.
The class I'm taking this time is Uma Krishnaswami's Advanced Workshop for Children's Writers. I love the format of this class. It is exactly what I've been looking for.
These days, I've been using workshops as much to "get things done" as to learn new things. When I take a writing workshop that involves critiques, I HAVE to sit butt in chair and write something. It's just like a deadline for an illustration project.
The format of Uma's advanced workshop is perfect for this. It's not based on weekly lessons or lectures, it's all critique based. We take turns posting work (picture books, mid grades, YA, you name it) two participants at a time.
The best part is Uma's critiquing method. It's unlike any critiquing method I've ever used and it's just brilliant. It's a very high-level first look.
The idea is that we're looking at the big picture. We're not worrying about whether this word or that word works best yet. We're making sure the story arc, the characters, the voice, the point of view, etc. work before we worry about the things that might change anyway.
The way it works is that you use the symbols +, *, and ? to make comments. The + denotes things you like and that you think are working, the * is used to talk about things that aren't working for you, and the ? is for asking questions and making general comments.
For instance, I might read someone's ms. and then in a separate post, I'd write:
+ I think you've got a really strong story arc here.
+ I absolutely love your main character.
+ Your dialog seems very authentic. I especially like it when your main character uses slang.
* I'm not feeling your main character's motivation. It doesn't seem as if she REALLY wants to get the golden egg.
* I think your rhythm worked really well until we get to the part where the goose falls asleep. I lose track of it from there and can't seem to pick it back up until the last few stanzas.
? How does your character know that the first egg isn't the right one? Is this something that will show up in the art?
? I'd really love to see your mc fall into the batter. That would be so funny, and it would be just the right spot to interject some humor.
I brought this method back with me to the Junkies and we immediately adopted it. I think we've had really good results with it so far.
In short, I'm very pleased with Uma's workshop. I will be taking it again and again. I've written three manuscripts in the first 7 weeks.
You really can teach an old dog new tricks.
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Self promotion — it's one of the lessons about this business it took me a long time to learn: if they haven't seen your work, they can't give you jobs. It seems so simple, but for years, I thought they were just going to "find" me somehow.
I've done more self promotion in the past few months than I have in ages.
Holli and I have taken out a page in the 2006 Picture Book, I have a portfolio on their site, I put up a portfolio on childrensillustrators.com, we've redesigned the Picture Book Junkies website, and I sent out post cards yesterday.
I plan to follow-up this mailing with a Halloween post card and a Christmas postcard. Y'all check back in and hold me to these goals.
