Bed Rest

I have been mostly bedridden this entire week. It sucked. Although I have little physical work to show for my week. I am ready to bust out of the gate starting... now.

Not a lot of physical things happened, however, I was able to think and see a lot.
What I did:
- Read and re-read lots of children's (and not so children) books: 3hrs
- Took a walk through a playground with a broken camera: 45 mins
- Emailed a lot of people: 1hr
- I don't know if this counts, but went to the David Handler/Maira Kalman lecture and waited in line to get my book signed/meet them!: 3 hrs
- Researched David and Maira's work: 2 hrs

What I encountered/discovered:
     The first thing I learned, was that my immune system sucks. Maybe it was from the shingles, or maybe from not sleeping. No worries. I think I am caught up.
     I like re-reading books a lot. Especially picture books. There are usually extra details in the background that always come out and surprise you. Little things that would seem insignificant but end up making the story seem even more charming and real. I have been thinking a lot about how I can use these details to make my pictures/story more whole. In my latest pagination revision I tried to make it very clear that each place that Kay visits is a part of her everyday life, and it only becomes more special and fascinating with these glasses. For example, perhaps instead of making the cat front ground when she is laying on the ground, it could be chasing something in the background for a few pages... just a thought. I will be playing around with this.
     I went to take a walk through Burn's park without the snow on the ground. Alas. I need to buy a new camera. Mine is officially retired. The fresh air was nice and there were actually a couple kids there who I creepily watched. I wanted to get a better feel of how kids play.
     Emails. Housekeeping. Nothing too spectacular there. I was supposed to stop in the AAPL this week to talk about a reading for my IP finale, but obviously leaving the house wasn't an option.
     David Handler and Maira Kalman are my newest book crushes. I dragged myself to the lecture Thursday evening, feeling a bit better, but dreading the make-up essay the most. To my surprise, the speakers were more than I could have ever hoped for. Not only were they funny and fascinating creative people, but they rekindled so much fuel for my project. Sometimes I forget why I am doing this project... then I see artists like them and I remember. I am inspired and I am reenergized. I didn't exactly feel like staying to get a book signed, but there was no way I could pass up an opportunity to meet them... and meet them I did.
     The best piece of advice I got was from Maira. I thanked her for a wonderful lecture and told her she was inspiring and when I told her I was writing/illustrating my own book, she says: "you probably saw us up there and thought, 'they have no idea what they're doing. I can do that too.'" Maybe she was being sarcastic, as she can be, but somehow it was comforting to believe that I don't have to know everything right now. I'm still allowed to make mistakes and discover.


What's Next:
     Get my butt into gear! I will have a color version of my storyboard by Tuesday and by Thursday I will have all my revisions done to start painting!

In Deep

So as you may have noticed, I have completely forgotten to post last week. I have been so submerged in this project, I almost forgot it was a class. So here is what I have been up to for the past two weeks. 

What I did:

- Plymouth Public Library (3 hrs)

- Re-wrote plot (2 hrs)

- Researched x-ray views in the media (1.5 hrs)

- Explored medium/style (4 hrs)

- Sent various emails to possible resources (1 hr)

- Michael's trip for supplies (1 hr)

- Barnes and Noble research (1.5 hrs)

- Thesis updates (1 hr)

- Re-wrote/re-drew plot again (3 hr)

- Scanned in minis to make book (1 hr)

- Reference photos (2 hrs)

 What I accomplished/encountered/discovered:

     I came in to the semester knowing that my story and visuals needed a lot of work. I headed down to the Plymouth public library to find some books that were recommended to me. "Wonderstruck" by Brian Selznick and "The Arrival" by Shaun Tan. Although both books were checked out, I was still able to find some especially helpful resources. The librarians were more than happy to recommend lots of wonderful children's books with beautiful illustrations. This helped me get a better grasp on how to develop a style that fits the book uniquely. For example, Shaun Tan's "Takes from Outer Suburbia" is a collection of short stories, each with its own extremely different illustration style that compliments the story perfectly.

"eric"

"buffalo"

     This really got me thinking more in depth about how I can visually convey the magic and wonder of Kay's new x-ray world. I started playing with different mediums, seeing the feelings each conveyed. I researched a few places in the media that used an x-ray vision or x-ray glasses (e.g. video game Batman: Arkham City detective mode, pirates of the Caribbean movie, and even some spoofs of .  I made little color thumbnails and eventually when I found the styles 

another plot revision

a quick color sketch of "regular view"

"x-ray view"

paint paint paint!

i love bones

to loosen up, I took a few minutes to paint a quick skull

What's next:

     I.

Only trouble is interesting; and character is everything.

Found the title quote while researching over break and I think it really relates to my feedback from December Review

What I heard:

- Seeing the bones through the glasses for the first time, we need to experience Kay's confusion, excitement and wonder (longer moment?)

- I am treating Kay as a supplementary device, I need to make her a character

- Lots of set-up for a such little anatomy.

- Need to convincingly feel emotion with Kay

- Most scenes are static and take place in the middle ground

- More magic

- We look through Kay's eyes early to set us up for the x-ray views

- The cast coming off is anti-climactic

- The main trouble for Kay is her loneliness, the arm break is merely what causes the trouble

What I am going to do about it:

- I am going to take more time in the beginning to show Kay's need for friends (instead of us just seeing kay hanging from the tree, we also see a bunch of other kids around her.)

- Kay's moments of exploration will be longer and more in depth instead of just a quick glance at a cat or fish. We will see the animals and people from different angles and distances to express Kay's curiosity and to make the images more dynamic. This also solves the problem with little anatomy and lots of build-up.

- Kay's moment of rejection and frustration with being unable to play with her friends is more dramatic.

- Play around with medium to see if I can make things stand out without color and to differentiate between the x-ray world and regular world. 

- Kay will check her arm with the glasses every few pages to show healing and time passage, not a montage.