I worked like crazy to get ready for my portfolio review - 12+ hours a
day for a week, and even turning down fun things, like having coffee
with Sascha. But it paid off.
I had reviews with 2 people, and
they both went well, but one of them was the best portfolio review I've
ever had! Not only did the AD like my stuff, but...
I made the bulletin board!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
For
those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, being on the
bulletin board is a huge deal - way better than having your samples on
file. If your postcard is up, all the editors and other ADs can see it
when they walk by. If they are looking for an artist and your art
catches their eye, there's a good chance you could get asked to
illustrate a book!!!!!
But even better than that, we went through
my portfolio and talked about what worked and what didn't work for
children's books, and why. So now I have a direction to go with my art
and 2 styles that work for children's books! It was great to get
concrete answers on my artwork, as I've struggled for a while to find a
style that works with children's books. Yay!!!
Pages
Monday, November 13, 2006
Portfolio Review
Author/illustrator Stephanie Ruble has been making art ever since she could hold a crayon, and making up stories since she learned to talk. She's currently working on new picture books, images for her portfolio, and drawing art for unusual holidays. Thanks for visiting!
Picture Book: Ewe and Aye written by Candace Ryan, Illustrated by Stephanie Ruble (now available as an ebook)
Saturday, November 4, 2006
Character Names
Do you have a specific process for naming your characters?
I used to name my characters the first thing that popped into my head. They were usually generic names or people I knew.
Then I started to check popular first names from roughly the same age as my characters (or maybe a little younger, to factor in time to get the story published). This allows me to pick a name that's right for the character and also one that might be the name of the child reading my book.
You can check out popularity of names in the US here: http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames/
It also has a nice feature where you can look up a specific name and see how popular it was in which years.
After I have a first name, I make up a last name. Sometimes I'll look up the last name here: http://names.mongabay.com/most_common_s urnames.htm to see what I find.
Lately I've added a new naming twist. I look up the full name on google - to see what comes up. If the name is famous or associated with adult themed things, I pick a different last name and start over.
And sometimes I still pick names just because I like them, whether they are popular or not - some names just fit certain characters.
So, how do you name your characters?
I used to name my characters the first thing that popped into my head. They were usually generic names or people I knew.
Then I started to check popular first names from roughly the same age as my characters (or maybe a little younger, to factor in time to get the story published). This allows me to pick a name that's right for the character and also one that might be the name of the child reading my book.
You can check out popularity of names in the US here: http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames/
After I have a first name, I make up a last name. Sometimes I'll look up the last name here: http://names.mongabay.com/most_common_s
Lately I've added a new naming twist. I look up the full name on google - to see what comes up. If the name is famous or associated with adult themed things, I pick a different last name and start over.
And sometimes I still pick names just because I like them, whether they are popular or not - some names just fit certain characters.
So, how do you name your characters?
Author/illustrator Stephanie Ruble has been making art ever since she could hold a crayon, and making up stories since she learned to talk. She's currently working on new picture books, images for her portfolio, and drawing art for unusual holidays. Thanks for visiting!
Picture Book: Ewe and Aye written by Candace Ryan, Illustrated by Stephanie Ruble (now available as an ebook)
Wednesday, November 1, 2006
vampire song
Vampires!
Hope you all had a Happy Halloween! We stayed home and gave out candy to gobs of trick-or-treaters, and I made up a Halloweenie song. It's been going through my head since last night.
(sing to the tune of We Are The Champions, by Queen)
We are the vampires, my friend
And we'll keep on biting to the end
We are the vampires
We are the vampires
No time for mortals
'Cause we are the vampires
Of the dark
Hope you all had a Happy Halloween! We stayed home and gave out candy to gobs of trick-or-treaters, and I made up a Halloweenie song. It's been going through my head since last night.
(sing to the tune of We Are The Champions, by Queen)
We are the vampires, my friend
And we'll keep on biting to the end
We are the vampires
We are the vampires
No time for mortals
'Cause we are the vampires
Of the dark
Author/illustrator Stephanie Ruble has been making art ever since she could hold a crayon, and making up stories since she learned to talk. She's currently working on new picture books, images for her portfolio, and drawing art for unusual holidays. Thanks for visiting!
Picture Book: Ewe and Aye written by Candace Ryan, Illustrated by Stephanie Ruble (now available as an ebook)
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