Always Deny the Apocolypse

"Always deny the apocalypse, John. You’ll usually be right, and when you’re wrong, no one will be left to say, 'I told you so.’”

A brilliant quote in an article I read on the evolution of technology and how it will effect reading in the future of our society. 


It is called:


The Future of Reading: Don't Worry. It might be better than you think. By John Green

and is a very intelligent ramble that comes from many directions at once and addresses them equally and satisfactorily. He compares the future of books to Youtube, which I found strange at first until he used examples, such as "Charlie Bit Me", to scare the hell out of me. Basically he predicted that it is likely that there will be billions of books with very few readers and very few books with billions of readers.

If one has explored the world of Youtube in depth they will discover that this analogy is very accurate. But in no way do these numbers equal the quality of which these videos or books are! I know for a fact that there are a number of videos out there that are worth viewing and they don't have the recognition. This is true for a number of websites as to how they operate. It is hard to find good/interesting things unless you dig, and often the ones with the most recognition will always pop up first, leaving other works that are either equally deserving--or more--of recognition in their big black shadows.

And it's scary. To think that we will be reduced to reading books of equal quality as this:

This is cute. Really. But I do not look forward to reading books that are of...THIS...'quality.

John Green then went on to address the importance of a story in relative to how Video Games and Blockbuster movies.

He makes an excellent point when saying when you read the the written word, a story, you are in a way making it your own. Either with how you imagine the characters or in the way you relate to it. It makes me wonder about children's picture books.

Am I cheap for wanting to express something without words? Do I take away that something which makes a connection between the story and the reader that make reading worth while? In one section Green compare the The Very Hungry Caterpillar with a book about a really cute dog. The title described exactly that, and I couldn't help but grimace at the idea that that book might be real. My Puppy Is Adorable and These Illustrations Prove It. UGH.

But does that lower the quality of my book? Yeah, the story kinda sucks, I got that...I don't really like the idea of writing an actual story....Ah well. But was it bad I focused on the illustrations? Was I focusing too much on myself rather than if the reader could understand the story?

I guess I should just accept people are going to interpret my book in different ways since there is no clear cut definition. I hope that is good enough.

God...I look back on these journals and I'm like "what do these have to do with my project again?" And then I read and I'm like "Oooooooh~" So all this did have a point. :D

The Tools

So. I guess I haven't really explained the wonderful tools I use in my trade.

There aren't that many truthfully, but I decided to explain them anyway.

First in the Pen and Ink:
I use a special ink called India Ink. Often used by artist and such. It is fast drying and doesn't bleed with water. I work on water color paper for texture and so that the ink doesn't seep through. I can use various sizes of different pen tips to get different types of lines, but mostly I stick with one. Issues I have with this tool is when it screws up, it makes a BIT BLACK MARK. Not fun. But that's what photoshop is for.

Then I use a scanner:

Simple as can be. Stick a piece of paper on it and it transfers it into a digital file. I put this at a very high resolution so that I am capable of adding lots of detail to the work.

After that, I use Photoshop to add color an clean up the picture, removing mistakes and finishing the piece:

I wish I had CS4...that would be so sweeeeeeeet. I have an older version, but it works just as well. It takes time and with a Tablet (above) coloring is much easier as it allows the size of the mark I am making to change with pressure as if it were an actual pen or pencil.

It allows pics like this:

to be awesome sauce. BOOM BABY.

I'm happy as a SQUIRREL...When I'm with Proffessor Quirrel!!

Quote from A Very Potter Musical. Brilliant.

And though it may seem random....it is very relevant. For indeed, it has something to do with squirrels. :D

If you are aware, some where in my story is a character that is a giant squirrel. Here's a glimpse.

Yes. The girl is riding the thing.

But that isn't the point. The area in which my computer is placed shares space (and a ceiling) with a family of squirrels. The skitter and scatter and stuff. But anyway. I was in the midst of working on my pictures on the computer when I heard one make lots of noise that noticeably was not coming from the ceiling any longer.

In stead in was in the wall.

My thoughts were along the lines of "Damn, it's going to die and then smell horrible." Then I realized that it was actually near an access area from our first floor....

Anyway. The point is, I figured out how to get the squirrel. I CAUGHT it. UH HUH.

Here's da proof.

It was great and soft. And adoooorable. Baby squirrels are cute. And annoying...anyway. They distracted me from my work. :/

Formatting A Children's Book Research

In searching for ways to put my book together I have found few options. Often it takes putting everything into a PDF file but no specifications on how.

http://taralazar.wordpress.com/2009/02/22/picture-book-construction-know-your-layout/

This article I read addresses some of those issues, but it goes more into how to make it visually appealing.

The article talks about balancing illustrations and the words, but also mentions examples of books with solely illustrations to tell the story.

This other article dictates why it is so hard to find things on formatting children's picture books. http://stason.org/TULARC/writing/misc-writing/1-6-How-do-I-format-a-picture-book-What-about-illustrations.html The reason being, that most people who submit children's books for publishing send in the text first and then get assigned an illustrator once the story is signed off.

This is frustrating.

What I will have to do is either mess around in page maker or make the physical book by hand. I'm feeling that this may be the better option now...

Out of the Rut

Today, I must use some prompts to do a journal entry. The prompt I choose is...."7 things I want to accomplish in the next week" because planning is always fabulous. :)

1. Finish 60% of needed sketches
2. Start inking said sketches
3. Call someone from the Family Reading Partnership about an interview
4. Look up ways to format a children's book into pdf files for Lulu.com
5. Blog every day
6. Scan and start coloring pieces.
7. Talk to someone about talking to children

And Vio'la

Weekly Review 6

How much time did you spend on your project?
7 Hours on sketching and inking, 2 On Journaling

What did you do for hands-on?
Sketched and Inked 2 pages (so far) and have two more sketches ready to be traced onto final paper.

What Research did you do?
Didn't do anything specific, just looking for reference on google. Learned how to draw a squirrel and a kangaroo. Aaaaaand I had a great idea for research that would help me with my project. Look up formatting a book. 

Did you meet with your mentor? What did you talk about?
Not yet.

Were you in class this week?
Yes I was. Show and tell and all that snazzy stuff.

What do you think your fulfillment of WISE requirements was?
Did journals...Came to class...Did hours...Bare minimum this week, journal and research wise but kicking butt with hands on.

What are your plans for next week?   
Complete the 12 sketches I want for may. All twelve. I only have 5 to go. Then I can ink and start coloring.  

Aaaand POOF

Ever wake up in the morning and have a great idea? And then you do something and you completely forget what it was? But you do remember that it was a great idea? Well, that happened to me this morning.

I woke up, hair askew and excited with this going through my head "Ohmigod that is the best research idea EVER! This is such a great plan!!  I can't wait to do it!!" And then I turn off my alarm and....it's gone.

No recollection whatsoever.

I read this thing that said that within a few minutes of waking up you forget most of your dream. And then withing 10 minutes you forget all of it. That is if you did start pondering on what the heck it was about the second you wake up. Like yesterday, I had a dream. I remember waking up and being like "That was freaky." and I knew if I didn't concentrate on it, I would forget it. But now I can't remember it anyway. Just that it is likely it was a scary dream and something weird happened in it.

Why do good ideas have to come to you when you dream? You will only forget them and then you feel awful for the rest of the day. Dang it.

Just some trivia, the idea for my story came to me as I was falling asleep. I decided to get up and write it down instead of forgetting it....I'm not sure if the same thing applies to that situation but...anyway.

And good news! In the process of writing this, I have rememberd enough about the dream to be able to tell that there was something about publishing involved....OH MY GOD. I just remembered it all. Thank GOD.

The idea is to look up how to format a book so that it looks professionally done. Cause that is one of the deals with Lulu.com. You have to format everything yourself and then upload it in a PDF file...that....was awesome.

I am officially dubbing this the best Blog Post EVER.

So I'll be looking that up later today. :)