A NOTE about Art Notes
aka when I HATE THEM, and when I LIKES THEM.
Hope you are enjoying a joyful start to the intense nonstopness of the Holidaze season!
I just took a 2 week break from my newsletter as needed a reset after some very intense work weeks, plus I was tasked with making sugar cookies for the Food Holiday last week!
Anygobble, I decided to expand on a previous post with my thoughts on Art notes.
Well if you missed it, you can read it here,
or BELOW is a condensed section on just the ART NOTE part.
“… I don’t pay attention to pagination, or art notes. So if I ever work with you, know that I will probably cross out any on your manuscript. “
“Yep, I don’t want them.
Because I’m LOOKING to play with your words.
I don’t want you managing my play, no offense.
As magic comes from play, not from a set of rules to follow.
And the way I work is like a dance. I want to dance with you!!
I want to make OUR book sing, and I want you to let me be free to play my part in that creation.”
FIRSTLY, I want to say something weirder than usual…
I ACTUALLY LOVE ART NOTES!
Which is a crazy thing for an illustrator to say.
BUT, it is always at a specific time in a book’s creation!!!
Definitely not right at the beginning.
Nowwwwwww, let me explain that in more detail. As I’ve always felt like this is a very confusing topic.
Especially since Illustrators, and Authors are kept apart for the most part during the publishing process.
Sometimes this makes me sad as I feel like a depth of the book can be missing ….ON THE OTHER HAND, this depends on the actual story, situation, or the willingness to connect/listen from BOTH illustrator and author.
AND OF COURSE, I do think some Art Notes are necessary at the start,
especially when you are creating that SETTING for getting Publishers interested in BUYING your book. OR for wordless picture books.
OR let’s say a CRITICAL DETAIL to the story…
like a kitten’s mittens needed to have 6+ fingers as it’s an uplifting tale of polydactylism.
That is the place and time for ART NOTES…
but it STILL should leave plenty of breathing room for the illustrator.
NOW when your manuscript is sold, and your publisher is finding the perfecto illustrator for the project….
that’s when I think is the time to toss out any UNNECESSARY Art Notes.
Like suggesting the characters look a certain way,
or it take place at a certain environment,
or you’d really like to include your pet tarantula in every scene.
It is time to TRUST YOUR ILLUSTRATOR to do THEIR part of the heavy lifting, and create the VISUAL story. As sometimes, I have found a few Authors to be too precious about their art notes in their manuscripts.
AND I’d LIKE TO NOTE HERE that BOTH of my authors have let me play immediately with their words, and I’m extremely LUCKY that way.
Huge Shout Outs to Jesús Trejo and Clint McElroy.
NOW ON TO AN ANNOYING EXAMPLE….
I was at an online writers workshop back in the 2020 days, and art notes came up in a discussion. A writer there became infuriated when I said at another conference I attended Dan Santat and LeUyen Pham had talked about how many manuscripts they’d been receiving had WAY TOO MANY ART NOTES recently.
Instead of taking a moment to consider the opinion of two highly respected illustrator/authors, the writer went on a rant saying how necessary ART NOTES were.
I didn’t engage as arguing with a grumpy person online has about the success rate of getting my 10 year old to fold laundry while watching Minecraft videos.
AKA 0%
Interestingly enough, a very respected Agent at this SAME workshop backed me up later saying that the LESS ART NOTES there are, the better the story. As your manuscript should be able to stand on it’s own without a ton of explanation.
ALSO, I am a writer, and will proudly say…A REALLY GOOD WRITER. I say that not to be conceited, but because so many illustrators put down their writing. And I've always gone against the grain, especially when it's involves putting yourself down. YAY ELIZA!!!!!
Sooooo after I have made the first dummy, I’ll probably give writing notes back to the editorial team when I don’t feel like something is working in the best interest of the BOOK. WHICH my goal of this always comes from
LET’S MAKE THE BEST BOOK POSSIBLE TOGETHER.
SO AGAIN, I want to make it very clear that I DO TAKE ART NOTES.
But after my early first illustration pass…
THEN I LOVE to get feedback on my vision from the
ART DIRECTOR, EDITOR, AUTHOR, PUBLICITY, MARKETING….
I TRULY SAVOR the NOTES as TRUE COLLABORATION is a BEAUTIFUL THING.
But OF COURSE, I can not add all the ingredients everyone is suggesting.
As this is what happens if you take all the feedback…
AND that’s why if I’m hired for book illustration….
to sift through all the input, suggestions, and decide what would make the
BEST illustrations, so we can have the MOST SUCCESSFUL BOOK together.
FINALLY, in complete honesty, every illustrator’s dream is NO ART NOTES.
As we would loveeeee not to redo any artwork always. But, I feel the danger in ALWAYS wanting that is you can miss out on an Art Note that pushes your work, and makes you reach a new level an a creator. I’ve gotten ideas for my Art from 2 year olds, which has made me completely open to notes from any age.
So please let me know your thoughts below on art notes.
As I am always open to having my mind changed…
except when it comes to raisins in my cookies. HERESY!!!
A few weeks back, I was invited to participate in the Texas Book Festival, and I had such a wonderful time. It was so fun hanging out with my Author Jesús Trejo, connecting with so many wonderful creators, and fans! You can read my Top Ten Memories over on my instagram including the story of what happened when
taunted me with a request to draw a ‘Horse with human hands on a bicycle.’Regarding deadlines, I finally turned in the bulk of the Artwork for the sequel to Papá's Magical Water-Jug Clock, and got a well deserved break...for a glorious few days sighhhh. And now I’m hoping on to Artwork for my Author debut, and honestly…SO SO SOOOOO HAPPY to run around in circles with it.
As this BOOK IS ALL ME. CRY!!
Finally, this week I did school visits, and had an awesome time playing with so many students!
BIG Gracias to the amazing team at BookPeople who set it all up so I could draw Old Bananas, and introduce my books to so many awesome kids.
Have a great week, whether you have a Flamingo cookie or an old banana!
Agreed that an art note sandwich is the best! Little bit at the beginning, more in the middle, and NONE at the end, ha! Open sandwich I guess.
Limited art notes in the MS, combined with good communication from the art director or editor is the sweet spot. I agree 1 billion % on allowing room for us to play! Let us work the magics!