Since last September I’ve been working on the illustrations for a new children’s book, Let’s Visit New Hope by Gayle Goodman and Roy Ziegler. The authors, who live in New Hope, found no children’s book anywhere devoted to this unique, culturally rich river town, and so set out to create a book that would highlight its history and family-friendly sites and events. I’m honored they asked me to provide the artwork!
I’ll be writing more posts about the process of developing the book and my illustrations here in my blog, and I’ll be happy to answer questions if you’d like to leave comments. We used Amazon’s Createspace to self-publish the book, and I can answer questions about self-publishing too since I’ve worked with other authors to self-publish.
Our book launch is on Sunday March 1, at the Parry Mansion in New Hope, and the public is invited. It’s the perfect place for the launch since Benjamin Parry, the man who built the first ‘Hope Mill’ after which the town is named, is our narrator for the book.
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I love your work. Very interesting to see your processes. I go through similar steps for my little handmade books. Though I’ve only sold them locally. At the moment, I’m using the “Book Creator” app on my iPad, to format my books into ebooks. Also from the app, a pdf can be created to allow for printing hardcopies. Though it’ll take me quite a while to do, in between all the other arty projects I have on the go and running a busy household. 🙂 Looking forward to your future posts.
Janette, that’s so very kind of you! I like your poems & paintings about everyday things too. We have a lot in common, even across the globe (I’m in the US). Just last night I was at a meeting with other illustrators, we get together once a month, and 2 of them brought a Surface – I think it’s the MS version of an ipad – and I thought perhaps I’ll look into getting one. If I do I’ll read more of your posts on apps & techniques for ideas.
Yes, Australia is a long way from you! From what I see in your lovely drawings, humorous writing and sketches; we do have similar interests in everyday things and life. 🙂
The Ms Surface tablet, from what I’ve read, sounds very good, but I don’t think you can get the “Art Set Pro” app on it. I do most of my art (with my finger, rather than a stylus) on my iPad using this app; there’s also a few others I like. I’ve tried a lot of art apps, but this one suits me well. I think it’s because the media is so rich and naturalistic and the app has a very user friendly design.
I can see you are very skilled and knowledgeable in your field and I’m sure to learn a lot from viewing your blog. I hope you will find on my blog, some helpful information. To be able to help and encourage others, is one of the aspects I love about blogging. All the best, Janette. 🙂
Thank you for those tips, Janette – yes, I’m experienced in hands-on art materials, the challenge if I get a tablet of some kind will be learning which button to touch instead of which brush to pick up! May I ask, are the apps you use free, or do you buy them once, or is there an ongoing monthly fee for using them? The thing my tech-savvy friends mention,which puts me off, is having to subscribe to ‘the Cloud’ for Photoshop, which is, as far as I can tell, a fee forever. I’d have to decide if it’s worth it – sometimes, when I look at the mess I’ve created all around my drawing table by using markers, paints, pencils, pastels all in one piece, I think it would be nice to use a tablet and have nothing to put away afterwards.
Hi Pat, no there is no ongoing fee for using the art apps. Once downloaded you have a seemingly endless supply of: paint, ink pens, oil pastels, pencils …and so on! Though, of course my iPad is usually connected to the internet, but it’s handy that you don’t need to be, to use most apps, including the art apps.
This week I’ve been sketching about, using: marker pens, paint washes, paint pens… .different coloured papers, in the “Art Set Pro” app and a bit in “Bamboo Paper””. ..no mess, no clean up! 🙂 Funny about the timing of your comment, because I mention more about the ease and advantages of drawing and painting on my iPad in a post with a few pics, which I hope to finish and publish tomorrow. 🙂
I think with an iPad you definitely have access to the best art apps, some of them are just not available on an android tablet. I don’t use photoshop, I think it’s more a computer program than an iPad app. Hope my coming blog post will be a help; meanwhile I look forward to seeing more of your delightful work. :)..All the best, Janette.