Sketchbook Notes
Hello, Pigeons!
It's March!!!! I wish I could say that it's almost turning into autumn here, but no... Summer is staying for good. It's been the hottest week so far this summer and we've even had power cuts.
But an extended summer means more nectarines in the basket and sunflowers in the garden. March is also my birthday month! I’m excited about cake too!
Things are starting to get busy over here so keeping up with the daily sketchbook practice has been hard. I admit I've skipped a few days, but I try to remember the sense of accomplishment it gives me and how nice it is to look back and flip its pages. You can see your personal growth, physically in your hands. Each page is a challenge, and maybe a failure too. I've been trying to dedicate time to sketching from photos ( I usually browse Pinterest for something that I would like to draw, say: badgers... and so I sketch a couple of different poses and faces) and also I've been dedicating time to making paintings, with gouache and watercolors. As you can see in the images below, the subject is capricious and I try to keep it loose and spontaneous.
Let’s talk about Picture Books!
I’ve read a lot of blogs and every artist’s approach to the process is similar and quite different at the same time. I know I’ve changed how I approach a new project, especially after having some books under my belt. Now I feel confident (or at least as confident as an artist can be) in my process.
In this case, “A Gift of Feather”, written by Ken Schept and published by Macmillan. I was approached with this manuscript and the Editor and Art Director had very few pointers or demands. They wanted to give me the freedom to do what I felt the manuscript demanded. It was a story about the loss of a grandma and about grief. So, it is not an easy subject to approach. I felt the book didn’t need to be colorful and detailed. However, I didn’t want it to turn out bleak and dreadful.
My first step is always Characters. I read and re-read the manuscript until I get a feel of what they are like. I ask some questions to the Editor about all the details that are not specified in the text ( in this case the story takes place in a Jewish Family) about ages, city, year the story is set in… etc
In this particular case, the story didn’t demand for a lot of research. I did research for the Jewish Cemetery and candles, of the type of city landscape I wanted (Of course I chose NY!) and the birds I would use to tie the whole story together. But I’ve had other projects that need a lot of research for historical reasons. In that case I would dedicate a lot of time (sometimes weeks) to get a holistic grasp of the era, the clothes, buildings, etc… and then I jump onto characters or as I build my reference library I simultaneously develop the characters.
This is the tidy version of a hundred dirty sketches.
Soon these characters start flowing onto the page of my sketchbook. The older sister seems quieter and thoughtful while the little one was loud and rumbustious. Grandmother went through some iterations as she read a bit dated (I still love her though, maybe because she was inspired by my grandma).
Then I usually feel like I need to paint a scene or something that makes the story come to life. Until I don’t “find” this moment, I am unsure whether to start with the layout for the interior. With this story, I imagined the girls arriving at Grandma Dot’s apartment in the city. The book is very specific in talking about the color grey; the city, Grandma’s hair, the pigeons, and the feathers. So I had this idea of making Grandma’s world monochrome with sepias and charcoal grey and the girls in bright colors. They bring with them joy and color.
As soon as I had this image, I knew I had it. The atmosphere of the book. Subtle but not joyless.
Onto thumbnails. I like to do them small and loose. Preferably on real paper. It gives me a view of the whole board and I can see clearly the rhythm of the book. I like to give breathers between complicated spreads or if I feel a certain part of the text needs a special moment. In this case, too, I had the freedom to do the layout as I pleased.
Once these are approved (and on occasions this part can go super smooth and the editors like what you’ve done… and sometimes there is some back and forth until we reach the perfect layout).
Next, it is time to polish these sketches. Usually, some of the changes that come up in the thumbnail phase, I do them in this stage, so the editors get a more fleshed-out idea of the scenes.
For example: in the spread above, we changed the view of the cemetery and the girls walking to the funeral, for a view from inside the car. So the cemetery was a small detail from the window, more subtle and not so scary.
Below are some other fleshed-out sketches. The scene at the cemetery was very difficult to balance. How can you make a scene in a cemetery not bleak? I still wonder…
This book is one of those rare magic things that come out beautiful and without any hiccups. Just a lovely experience from start to finish.
After all the sketches are approved, I move on to the finals. At this stage, editors might ask you to do two spreads in color to show in meetings and for promotion. So I jump straight onto the spreads that I love the most and that show off the book the best.
As you can see this image suffered little change from the first initial illustration I made as inspiration. I think we all felt this was the “soul”of the book.
Once I was done with the interiors and they were all approved, we moved onto the cover. This is something that varies from project to project. Some editors want to do this first and some approach it at the end. I preffer to do it at the end, because I have a better grasp of the characters and colors, and I think it ends up being more cohesive with the rest of the book.
For this book, I did several iterations with handlettered titles.
Final Cover!!! Yay!
I also did some endpapers filled with feathers and a back cover with grandma’s vase of feather collections. And… the project was done!!!
The overall timeframe for this book was about 6 months from start to finish. After all the work is done, it is a game of patience until the actual physical book is in your hands. Usually a year later.
I’ve enjoyed working on this book so much. Probably because I had the freedom to explore new techniques and be looser with the backgrounds (which I normally would do very detailed!). Thank you to Liz Szabla and Mariam Quraishi, the dream team behind this project who were always so lovely and positive, and encouraging! And to Ken Schept for such a beautiful text, it was a wonderful journey.
These are some of my little discoveries from last month:
Aokky’s Bird Instagram: IG for beautiful pictures of birds. I always go to this IG to sketch birds because it has the best detailed pictures and of specimens I don’t usually see in my area.
Julie Avisar’s IG IG This artist is pure inspiration. I am very anxious to grab my color pencils and try some of her techniques for fun!
On my reading list for this month I have: Emily Dickinson’s Gardening Life and Beatrix Potter’s Gardening Life, both by Martha McDowell. I’ll let you know how I liked them. I can absolutely recommend The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell for a historic read and The Namesake by Juhmpa Lahiri (also by this author The Lowlands) for rich, vibrant and heartbreaking stories about migrants, displacement and identity.
Thank you for reading me! Wishing you a lovely March! See you next time!
Sketchbook Notes
Hello!
Welcome to my tiny little corner of the interwebs! Thank you for making time out of your busy schedules to read this. I hope I can make this a cozy space where I can share some insights, discoveries, ups, and downs, and projects and eventually build a community of likeminded people.
Let me introduce myself, in case you are new around here: Hi! I’m Romina ( she/her), I’m 44 years old and I am an Argentinian illustrator, although I haven’t always been an illustrator (that is a long and winding tale that I will leave for another time), I have a background in Graphic Design and I’ve worked most of my life as a set designer for theater companies.
Only 5 years ago, I took a leap of faith, put together a portfolio, and jumped! I have been very lucky since and I am continually overwhelmed by the response to my art.
This first issue is all over the place (I know!), but it’s because I feel the need of putting everything in context, as many of you don’t know anything about my process, background, etc. I don’t want to make it too long. I know we all have very busy lives filled (or bombarded with content). So I will try to keep it short! Hopefully, as the year progresses, the story will unfold naturally and you will learn a little about me, but most of all, about how to face a long-term project, how to develop a personal project, and how to inspire yourself and recharge your creative jar.
-The Burnout & how to dig yourself out of that hole -
So… last year, after 3 years of working on children’s books non-stop, I finally had a burnout. It was a confluence of many different issues (too much work, a chronic illness, the pandemic and lockdown, and a very horrible covid spell), but the result was: a complete inability to make art in any way. It was evident my well of ideas was dry. I needed time off.
I would say, in the first couple of months of 2022, I was in recovery.
I started by taking some time off, started knitting, decorating, baking, gardening... just to do something different (I know I am immensely privileged to be able to do this!). Then I slowly began doing silly drawings and paintings of things that made me happy during a very dreamy vacation. I kept the bar very low “Just paint what you love, it doesn’t have to be a new portfolio piece… it can just live in your sketchbook, privately.”
Allowing this time to find myself again, was so important. I realized that since I started this illustrator journey I hadn’t stopped to breathe and recharge. Of course, I was going to burn out!
Nothing made sense, but I just kept going. The point of these drawing and painting sessions was to get rid of the fear. Fear of making mistakes, of not having a consistent style, of not being good enough, of not being original enough… you name it, we all have those!
Slowly but surely, ideas started to surface. A little glimpse of a scene. I started to imagine what book I would love to illustrate right then and there… and instead of waiting for that miracle manuscript to fall into my lap, I wrote it. A simple, cute story about a bird. It was a beacon of light that I had to follow, so I re-wrote, sketched, and painted.
I joined a private critique group with some of my fellow The Cat Agency illustrators and the story kept changing and evolving thanks to their input. This group means a lot to me. As illustrators, we are always alone on our drawing boards and rarely interact with colleagues. Especially if you live far away from a city, Zoom meets with other illustrators can be a way to recharge your creative jar. It’s so refreshing to chat with them and learn that we all go through so similar situations with our work and we get to support and encourage each other.
At first, the story was about anthropomorphic animals who lived together in a tomato patch. I was happy giving my little bird a vest and making little miniature houses for her friends. But soon enough, the lack of a human kid was very crippling to the storytelling. I needed to anchor the story to a little girl, who would help and nurture this broken little creature.
My agent: Christy Ewers, and another associate agent: Christie Megill, also read and added to the feedback for this little story. And the story changed again, and again. Here comes the advice part: be open to receiving criticism, feedback, and opinions. Sometimes you are so entwined with your story that you fail to see where it falls short, what it lacks, and what is redundant. Their input was invaluable and I’m glad I have their trusty eyes and ears!
After almost 8 months, there was a dummy, sample pages, and a manuscript.
This little bird book is still a work in progress, and I promise I will keep you posted about the journey and where we land. I just wanted to use this project as an example of how in the middle of despair and apathy, you can start to find some sparkles inside. Follow that spark - it might end up in a sketchbook tucked away- but occasionally if you nurture it and dedicate time, it grows into a year-long project.
A little side note: this little creature below fell from a tree in the park and ended up living with me in the studio for 2 months. Now she is healthy and free but visits my patio every day (because I have the best treats!). Her name is Bertie! Proof that life imitates art imitates life!
- The daily sketchbook practice -
Now, as I am starting this new year, I feel like I am in a new place, creatively. I decided to take seriously my daily art practice. Something I’ve tried many times but always fail. When I’m on a break or between jobs, I dedicate time and effort to sketching daily, but as soon as I am swamped with work, the sketchbook is abandoned forever.
I realized that I was putting too much pressure on what a sketchbook practice should be. I imagined doing beautifully painted pages, and character studies with carefully designed layouts…. but the truth is, my sketchbook practice is messy and my pages are not tidy (sometimes they are, but sometimes they are a beautiful mess). Of course, the practice goes out the window when I get busy so I have to remind myself to keep it simple. For that, I made a sketchbook that I bind myself, out of Fabriano Mixed Media paper, so as to be free to play with gouache, pencils, inks, and anything and everything.
I am painting a little something every day since the beginning of the year. Somedays I make detailed illustrations or studies from textile artists like Josef Frank (Obsessed with his designs, but failing hard to incorporate all that color into my own practice). Somedays, I do small ink drawings that occupy a quarter of a page. But still, I sit for an hour, and work my creative muscle. The first week was so hard, I had to force myself to sit and not give up ( just like going back to exercising!)… “It doesn’t have to be perfect and you don’t have to show it to anybody”.
In fact, that is why posting pictures of it here is a bit weird because I still want to keep it a safe space where I am allowed to do anything I want. I encourage you to try it, it is fascinating how quickly you unfold when there are no other eyes on the page. I am now looking forward to my sketchbook time because it’s like a play date with my art supplies! Let me know if want to know more about this practice and I will make an Issue on just sketchbook practice.
If you want some inspiration for daily art practices I recommend:
Alena Kudriashova - Gastaldi ‘s IG and Youtube where she explores a daily art practice and makes incredible watercolor studies and plein air paintings.
The Countryside Chronicles IG and Youtube This one is aimed at nature studies, and if like me you love collecting specimens, then you will find endless inspirations here.
This short documentary about Beatrix Potter that inspired me to keep on pursuing my silly animal drawings.
Thank you for reading me! Hope I didn’t ramble too much! It would be an honor to meet you again next month when I’ll talk more in-depth about the Picture book process: Thumbnailing, Character sheets, Rough Sketches, and Finals using my newly released book: A Gift of Feathers as an example.
Pip Pip!
Romina