Shout out to all the great Moms out there!
Whether your children are human, puppy, or lost space alien, this day is for you!
Just because I act like a kid, doesn’t mean I can’t grown-up when I need to. Lucky Charms for breakfast and still getting things done. Boom!
I know, as a young author, I need to be blogging as much as possible. However, I struggle to know what’s worth blogging about in the first place. Perhaps it’s my visual arts background that makes me feel that if there’s nothing worth looking at, there’s nothing worth reading. The process of writing a children’s book, while challenging, is not very visually stimulating.
However, until we have new art, I thought I’d give you a peek at the writing process.
One thing I wish more authors did was show us there crumpled up piles of rewrites. It’s easy to assume that the amazing book you just read was written in just one sitting. As if god was speaking directly to the author who only had to transcribe each perfectly placed word.
In reality, for most of us at least, writing is a long and grueling process. Similar to chiseling away at a sculpture, and wondering if you’re even using the proper hammer.
The biggest challenge for any children’s book writer is deciding whether or not to rhyme.
Yes, if you can manage to craft the perfect meter and rhyme, your book will be beloved, at least by relieved parents. However, a clumsy attempt can ruin your otherwise delightful tale.
So for the last few weeks I tried my hand at a completely rhyming draft of Shivering Snivels & His Shadow. It was not far off in the first place, since I found many of my lines were already beginning to rhyme.
Since I majored in Filmmaking, not writing, my first step was to study rhyme and meter. Then I broke down my manuscript (as is) into all of its respective parts.
How many words are in each line? How many syllables? Is there a pattern?
(Because there should be)
Then came the crafting. Taking the lines that didn’t fit the pattern and rewriting them, over and over again, until they fit with the rest.
Now I have to ask myself, “Is it good enough?”
Is it close enough that a little editing will bring it home?
Or should I go back to an earlier draft?
So I decided to make some neat found-art collages for my friends. They turned out a lot cuter then I thought they would, so I decided I’d share them here!
So send some love to your friends! Let them know this Valentine’s Day that, no matter their dating status, they are adored.
Feel free to copy and share! The soul of found-art is the free exchange of materials. The base of these images are from my favorite cards at the store. Then I layered them into multiple editing programs and added my own type and shapes on top.
Some are better than others, and none are even remotely what I SHOULD be working on. However, sometimes an artist needs to take a break from making something “good,” and just have fun.
Hope you enjoys these little pieces of e-art. I know I enjoyed making them. And, remember to give yourself a break now and then to just do something for the fun of it. Even if the stuck-up art critic in your head hates it!
Here’s your chance to take a closer look at the amazing trailer art. Kara Jaskolka, our amazing artist did the line work and I did the fill work. We managed to create a wonderful trailer in just 6 weeks!
Kara and I are still playing with the style, and excited to start working in color, but these will go down in history as the first official incarnation of our spooky tale!
Snivels Stormyweather may be a very miserable name, but he is a very miserable boy. At the beach or at school, Snivels always seems to find fearsome phantoms stalking him from every shadow. When Snivels own shadow comes after him — life certainly seems spoiled for this scaredy cat.
Special Thanks to
-LaluCoo aka Kara Jaskolka
Our extraordinarily talented Illustrators who developed the art in the film.
-Joshua Nicholson
-Lauren Clare
-Leara Morris-Clark
What an amazing website, don’t you all think?! I know I couldn’t be happier.
To use the words of the great Penny Lane,
“It’s all happening!”
So many wonderful things are in the works! I’ll be releasing The Shivering Snivels Trailer in a week, as well as GRADUATING from ArtCenter College of Design’s Film department.
I was just offered a paid position producing, and being the Production Manager on, the beautiful indy film “Night Train,” written and directed by my dear (and talented) friend Jeanne Marie Spicuzza.
AND I’m working on a lovely Ocean Science Series to sell to The Aquarium of The Pacific. I plan on this becoming an ongoing collaboration with this wonderful educational center!
Hope you all enjoy the new site! Beyond the blog, check out Light and Pigment for my ever developing portfolio.