Embarking on an Adventure

A BIG Adventure with an Eensy, Teensy Teddy Bear

I've started a journey that I'm really excited about. I'm in the process of planning and putting together a Patreon page to focus on a personal project for the rest of this year. After that if you become a patron, you will get to help me decide what to work on and share with you next. Won't that be fun?

The Project

I'm illustrating a story my 86 year old mom told her grandkids many year ago. These were my older sister's kids, Kara. She asked me a while ago if I'd like to do something with some of Mom's stories she had. Um, yeah. She sent them over and here we go....

I will share more soon. In the meantime enjoy this video introducing the project. You can also read more about this adventure on my website.

It has been a while since I've posted. I have a ton going on which is all good, so I've not been around here much. Today, this is something I have to share!

Every month SCBWI hosts a drawing challenge #SCBWIDrawThis with a prompt word. For May the prompt words was #Alone. I thought long and hard on the concept of alone, trying to visualize what would epitomize this word. This idea struck me the morning the illustration was due. I almost didn't finish it having self-doubt take over about half way through. If you watch my video on YouTube, you'll see I started with a girl that was just not working, but the idea wouldn't let me go. So, I finished it late that night and submitted it with minutes to spare. See the full gallery of participants here.

I present to you: Alone

How often did you sit alone as a child on a teeter totter waiting, wishing, hoping someone would join you?

10 Steps of Illustrating Ellie and Her Emotional Dragons

A behind the scenes look at my process of illustrating the children's picture book Ellie and Her Emotional Dragons written by Joseph Goodrich.

The project begins:

1. Manuscript cut up into text dummy

2. Thumbnails and exploratory sketches

3. Character development

I love drawing dragons and so this project was particularly fun since it has FOUR of them! And I just had to create Ellie as an elephant, and since the four dragon's colors match up to emotions, blue, green, red and orange, that lead me to a purple elephant. Plus, I love purple.

4. The painting splattering begins

After developing characters and getting approval I did this rough color sketch to establish my basic color palette. I didn’t end up using this spread, but it still holds a special place in my heart.

First color study to establish my palette

"I am speechless.  And there are only a few times in my life where I remember being moved to tears (of joy). Marines usually have a tough time with showing emotions. This is PERFECT!  Exactly what I was going for. I have accomplished many interesting and challenging feats in my life but this has to be at the top for one of the most proud accomplishments.  Thank you for helping me make Ellie and her Emotional Dragons a reality!

~Joseph Goodrich, author

I tried a new painting process born from my experiences with #paintplay which I started when I got Procreate on my iPad Pro. I use the Apple pencil sometimes and my finger a lot too. Over the last couple years, I’ve been pushing my color palettes (#colour_collective) and loosening up my style. I finally had a chance to put this experimenting to the rigorous test of illustrating a full picture book.

I've always loved the idea of splatter painting, but never had the courage to let loose and do it. Until now. I love how paint splatters encourages the imagination and how shapes emerge and inspire the next step of painting. There’s such energy and playfulness. I loved breaking out of confines of my previous painting style. It helps also to have the freedom to paint on the couch, or comfy chair, in bed, or up on the roof in the garden — Even at my nephews graduation from High School. Shhh. (They announced like 1000 students. Yeah, huge.)

5. Just keep painting

I worked on all of the spreads in stages. I couldn’t finish just one since I was still figuring out what finished was. It drove my business partner (who is also my husband) crazy that I didn’t finish at least one piece so he could see where I was going. I didn’t even touch the cover until I thought I was sort of, maybe, kind of, a little bit close to the final of one of the spreads. They’re never really done for me until I’ve sent the final file and the book is in print and even then I’m afraid to look at the printed book for fear of hating what I did.

I’m happy to say in this case that — well, in pretty all my picture books, I’ve never hated what I did. I always see ways and things I could have done better, but I think that’s a good thing. That means I’m growing, developing and always exploring and getting better — or at least different and hopefully … ugh, this word — marketable. I’m not a trend chaser, but I have been trying to freshen up my style.

I digress.

Meanwhile back on the drawing board...

6. Finalizing the art

Once I figured I was reasonably finished, I transferred the files to my big Magic Machine Mac and opened them all in Photoshop where I finalized details and cleaned up some of the splatter using my Cintiq. I did at least one or two more rounds (some spreads more than others) to finish and polish and make sure I had consistency with the characters (her hair butterfly), nose lines, clothes colors, etc. I had a long list I made sure to check off as well as character pages for quick reference.

I didn’t do the cover until the very end when I was satisfied with the style and knew what I was shooting for at the finished level. Originally I had a different cover in mind, but this image spoke to me and begged to be the cover, and then I had to add the neighbors (read to book to find out why) next to them on the back cover.

I was happy with the family, the houses, the neighbors and trees and turned in this one.

Something is missing...

Can you see what’s missing from the final cover?

Dragons!

Sometimes I think too literally, and I figured the dragons would be waiting for Ellie in her bedroom closet since that’s where they exist — they’re magical. I was going to have them out on the balconies and in the windows of the house, but that just didn’t work. I had to shake logic loose. These are dragons. They’re her friends. They should be front and center, same as the family.

7. Publication

The dragons added a fun pop of color to the front. Which the folks at Wisdom House took and ran with when designing the cover with the playful and colorful type to bring together an appealing cover that hopefully will draw attention and pull readers in to enjoy Ellie’s story in learning to deal with her emotions with the help of her colorful dragon friends.

I hope you enjoy this touching story. It was a joy to illustrate. I would love to hear what you think of my process or feel free to ask any questions.

If you'd like to hire me to illustrate your book, please check out my post on Hiring an Illustrator and please contact me.

8. Official Release

November 16, 2018 was the official release date and Ellie and Her Emotional Dragons is out in the world!

Ellie and Nali, @2018 Traci Van Wagoner

9. Buy it Now

Buy it now :

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Joseph Goodrich

©2018 Traci Van Wagoner

10. Reveling in the great reviews

I'm very happy to say that Ellie and dragons are getting a lot of great attention, including a star review from Kirkus Review (see the review).  And several great reviews from Readers' Favorite.

"What an absolutely enchanting story! I fell in love with the artwork from the first page. The illustrations by Traci Van Wagoner are just fantastic, done in a style I have never seen before. The ink spatter style gives sweeping movements and is filled with energy, and I felt myself being carried along by the events. Young readers will be swept up into this tale by becoming visually engaged. There is so much to discover in each brightly colored panel, including subtle references to the colors of the little dragons."

~ Fiona Ingram for Readers' Favorite

I will share more great news in a separate post, so stay tuned.

Thank you for joining me here and celebrating my creative journey along with me. I'd love to hear what you think of this book that helps children learn to deal with the emotions. Feel free to share.

#process #kidlitart #releasedate #bookbirthday #EmotionalIntelligence