Magic Fishes and Storybook Wishes

My life is settling back into the normal level of chaos, and I managed to get some character development done this week on my magic fish. Yes, friends, I'm playing with imaginary animals again.

I joined an online group called the Picture Book Dummy Challenge, a support group for people who want to illustrate a picture book and have it ready for submission in 6 months.  I don't feel like I'm a skilled enough illustrator to do this yet.  I actually have a personal time line that gives me 3 more years to learn the skills it will take to illustrate a book, but I have stories and I like a challenge, so why not join this group and see how it goes? 

I also joined a picture book writing group that will help me get 12 manuscripts ready for submission by the end of 2013.  The 12 x 12 group has group critiques, inspiration, and professional development, including talks with publishers, agents and other published writers.

What I hope is that by the end of the year, I'll have 13 polished stories and a better sense of layout and design of an illustrated picture book. 13 in 2013 -- am I tempting unlucky numbers?  Time will tell.

For the first time "character development" means drawing out the character in different poses and emotions.  I'm used to the kind of character development that involves words and descriptions, so this is a challenging direction for me.

And to keep me painting and drawing just to express myself, I have my friends at Paint Party Friday to help encourage and celebrate art in all its manifestations. 

The story I'm polishing now and am going to illustrate is called "Grace and The Magic Fish."  A girl in a poor fishing village has to go against tradition when she dreams of catching a magic fish.

Here's an excerpt:

 "One night, when Grace was so hungry she could barely sleep, she had a strange dream.

She rowed a boat downstream, cast a line into the water and caught a huge red fish.  It was the prettiest fish she’d ever seen, and so big it would feed her entire family.  It looked like it was smiling.

But she began to worry.  When she brought the fish home, everyone would know she’d done something girls weren’t supposed to do.  How would her father and brothers feel?  They worked hard to catch the fish they brought home.  What would the other villagers say?  “They’re so poor they made their daughter go fishing.”

I will post more of the story as it develops. For  now, though, I have been drawing the ruby red fish.  In traditional stories, the magic fish is often a herring or flounder, but since I'm a Memphis girl, I'm playing with a catfish.

These are gouache sketches of said fish:

First fish, happy guy with shiny pink fins & tale

Let's add whiskers and some personality

He's insulted that Grace won't take him up on his offer and fusses at her.  Failed layout but I like his indignant expression.

The girl, Grace, began to emerge in doodles at a meeting just yesterday.  I think she'll be a tall skinny girl, but who knows where the doodles will lead.

all life starts as a doodle

Thanks for stopping by and make sure you exercise your imagination every day.