Creating for the Fun of it!

Take a break from artWORK and get back to making artFUN!

Hello! ¡Hola!  Happy Lunar New Year!

I am ALIVE, but have been very very very busy doing revisions on one picture book, and final art for another picture book. All at the same time!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

Unfortunately, sometimes this happens in publishing with schedules combining. I try to avoid it, but it's just the reality of Children's Book Illustration aka freelance. Stuff gets delayed, and you sign on another project…then all the sudden everybody wants everything the same week! I was warned of this by my dear friend, and all around brilliant illustrator/author Kenard Pak. And he was soooooooo right, and OH HO HO here is his newest book for pre-order below with text by Deborah Hopkinson!!

I command you order NOW!

ALSO, shout-out to Lian Cho who I saw do this for her friend Jess Hannigan
in her great post last week, and it made me want to do the same for my friends!
Yay FRIENDSHIP IN PUBLISHING!!

Now back to the ElizaCave,
as there is no cave I would rather be in then one filled with children’s book illustrations of my own making.

But, in the middle of chipping away at both projects.. I started to feel super itchy to PLAY!!!

Craving experimentation, and to get away from the current work I was doing. Which honestly I love what is happening in my work, but it is still WORK!
Sometimes you just have to take a step back from the art you do for work! Whether that be for school, freelance projects, jobs, etc etc….

AND MAKE ART JUST FOR THE FUN OF IT!

Thimble o’ Tears 10 cents!

Believe me, I know this is impossible to do at times as a working illustrator, but I truly believe it feeds your ART, and advances you in your career. Play allows you to make better work in the long run!

So back in December when I had a very short break, I decided to participate in ‘The Imagined Book Cover” Challenge on Instagram.

Art by Mark Timmins!

You are given a week of book titles, and create what you think the covers would look like! I've never done one of these challenges, but have always LOVED this one!  I had originally wanted to do the “Folktale Week” which Jacob Souva talked about on his newsletter, and his art came out lovely! Go check it out!
But the timing just didn’t line up. Maybe this coming fall will be myFolktale TALE!

Another reason I chose to do a challenge, and not just scribble whatever,
is because I wanted to shut off my writer brain as well.
Being given prompts helps me with that. As I write as much as I draw, which has honestly been a constant my entire career.

Art by Monty Lee

So when I first got the prompts, I did sketches of all of them, and decided which ones I really wanted to do. Then let myself be ok with not doing all of the them.

My other big advice is give yourself permission to not beat yourself up for not finishing one of these challenges, and instead have FUN with it. As otherwise it can quickly become work AGAIN, and that brings stress! Not inspiration.

And YES, I do believe in pushing yourself outside your comfort zone, but I’m always kind to myself first as my Art needs to come from excited inspiration.

Floating Monster Head o’ INSPIRATION!

My other GIGANTIC REASON for not doing all of them was they usually release the prompts early, so you have more time to do the Art. But, that didn’t work for me as I was trying to meet another deadline at that time. The only time I had available was to do art the day of when each prompt was due to post.
So instead of posting Art I wasn’t digging, I decided to just not post, and AGAIN that’s totally ok. I LOVED what Carson Ellis recently said about the same thing!

Around lunchtime I went in to make a cup of coffee and there was a rough-skinned newt on my doorstep. They're so cute. I came back to my studio to paint it and after three tries, I gave up. I didn't like any of them. I posted the third newt painting and then thought, "Why should I post a painting I don't like?" and I deleted it. - Carson Ellis

So here below are the ones I decided to do, and LOVED!!!
If you click on them, it will take you to my instagram posts where I talk a bit more about each prompt, and the stories I created for them!

This made me so feliz, and I have no regrets whatsoever about NOT doing every prompt.
Especially since I had to go back to my work cave halfway through.

But, what a treat to PLAY, & experiment with collage, limited color, and more!
I was definitely re-energized enough to go back to painting another entire book!

What do you do to re-energize yourself for making Art?
Costco Sheet Cakes, and lying face down on your studio floor count, TOO!

I AM THE AWARD WINNER!

I won a Pura Belpré Youth Illustration Honor a few weeks back, and I’m still fully absorbing it. I honestly never expected to win an award EVER. I keep a list of personal goals, and have never listed an Award once!
AND I even said to an Editor friend last Spring…
"I have accepted that I will never win an illustration award, as I just love drawing funny TOO MUCH.  And funny illustrators do not win awards." 
Welllllll, American Library Association made me eat my words!  

You can read my full list of Gracias at my instagram post as making books certainly takes a village, and I fully acknowledge the award wouldn’t have been possible without each of them. LOVE ALL OF YOUS!! MUSHY MUSH!!!

BUY MY ART FOR A GOOD CAUSE!!

I donated an art print of my dream size tortilla to the awesome LatinX Kidlit Publishing Auction. The Auction proceeds benefit the Latinx Kidlit Book Festival, a 501(c)3 nonprofit literacy organization.
There are tons of awesome items in the auction and you should definitely check it out! Also, this is an awesome opportunity to get art from me as I hate shipping, but I will always ship for a good cause.
(Especially if it’s shipping a Ninja Turtle Romance! ^_-).

CONNECT TO YOUR INNER-CHILD like Maurice Sendak and ME!

Finally a big out-out to the very kind Rachel Michelle Wilson who gave me big CONGRATZ for my award in her excellent newsletter recently! It was an awesome one to be in, because it was all about Maurice Sendak's creative process. My favorite part on Maurice was the following…

When talking about the process of trying to honor the child, Sendak said:
 “All I have to go on is what I know—not only about my childhood then, but about the child I was as he exists now. You see, I don’t believe, in a way, that the kid I was grew up into me. He still exists somewhere, in the most graphic, plastic, physical way…One of my worst fears is losing contact with him. I don’t want this to sound coy or schizophrenic, but at least once a day I feel I have to make contact.” 

I TOTALLY RELATE TO THIS!!!!!!!11

THIS IS ME, AND SHE IS ME.

I found this photo a few months back when I was going through my parent’s photo albums, and I instantly knew at that moment…
after years of intense work…
AND I’m talking therapy, art, writing, etc…I KNEW

I had found my way back to her.

And that’s why my work is currently at the level it is.
As we are working together side by side to make it supercalifragilisticexpialidociousAMAZING!!!

Wish you all the best of cookies, and the best in your creating!
-e

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