Turns out when you don't sleep for a number of nights, you eventualy go to bed and end up just sleeping through a lot of alarms/phone calls.... Sorry this post is a bit late.

What I did:
- redid some paintings (5 hrs)
- made some small fix-up paintings (3 hrs)
- fought with the scanner (5 hrs)
- researched frames (1 hr)
- went to michaels... twice (1.5 hr)
- talked to Mark about installation (20 mins)
- sketched out installation (45 mins)
- prepared 2 test signatures (4 hrs)
- took signatures in to printers (1 hr)
- thought about artist statement (1.5 hr)

What I discovered/accomplished/encountered:
     This week I completely re-did two of my illustrations due to some un-photoshoppable problems. I also made some smaller paintings to photoshop over some of my previous problems. (Like that creeepy reaching hand).
     I am still not done scanning, but I had to re-do all of my previous scans to get rid of the nasty watercolor wrinkle. The scanner hates me, but I am gaining patience (and I studied for my physiology exam while I worked. bonus!)
     I looked in to some frames at Ikea, but I ended up going to Michaels and ended up getting 2 different kinds of frames. I will test and see which one works better tonight.
     I talked to Mark for a few minutes about installation. He said recently that I could use a small table and some floor pillows for my project, so I went in to make sure they were still available (and they are).
     Photoshopped and indesgined my test signatures. I gave it to Kolossos yesterday, I will be picking it up as soon as I finish this.
     As for my artist statement (It is the artist statement that is going on the wall right?). I was thinking of a couple things: 1) A description: A children's story exploring a very different point of view, bones.   2) Teaser-esque: One curious girl. One extraordinary pair of glasses. One unforgettable adventure.  3) More "traditional" artist statement: What do you get when you meld the whimsy of a children's story with the scientific, yet beautiful world of bones? You get an unforgettable adventure through the eyes of a curious girl who gets to see the world through a very new and unexpected perspective. Join Kay as she explores and brings to life the world of bones.
-- I was also thinking I could do something short on the wall and glue or paint my more traditional artist statement on the table. I am allowed to paint the table (thank goodness! the one he was showing me was bright fire-engine red!).
-- Also, as part of my installation, I was also thinking about making a "life-size Kay" painting and adhering that to the wall somehow. Maybe it's too much. Thoughts?

*** edit: help! So the frame sizes available are either a bit to small (but correctly proportioned) or too big (and weirdly disproportional). Should I just trim down the original drawings to fit? Or should I make nice "correct sized" prints? Or buy a more expensive custom fit frame?

What's Next:
Finish scans. Photoshop scans. Final to printer by Monday @ 830am sharp. Test bind & sloppy bind by Tuesday. Buy and frame all pictures by Tuesday. Finished book by Thursday.
   

oops!

curious kay

fish skeleton!

What I did:
- priced out/tested kinkos/kolossos. (1.25 hrs)
- bought binding supplies at Hollander's (30 mins)
- illustrations (21 hrs)
- scanning and such (2 hrs)

What I encountered/discovered/accomplished:
     So Kinko's wants to charge me $3.75 for one 11"x17" double sided color sheet of 32# paper. One run for one book would cost skyward of $98. Kolossos wants $0.78 meaning printing there would only cost about $40. I got a test print  from each to compare paper and ink quality and I have come to the conclusion that they are the same. I also wanted to factor in that I would want to do at least 2 runs of the prints just in case I mess something up while binding. (Printing 2 sets at Kolossos is still less than one at Kinko's. Ridiculous!)
     We also talked about binding for a bit. Perfect binding would be about $65 per book at Kolossos and I would have to make at least 3. Although their binding looks pretty seamless, I am pretty excited about hard binding by myself. In fact, I went to Hollander's and picked out some book board, PVA glue, binding cloth, and an awl. I bought extra supplies so I could practice. I think I am going to make a half size version of my book soon, just to practice getting the indesign files right and sewing the pages together.
     Done with illustrations!! REJOICE REJOICE!
     Scan scan scan. Still working on getting the whole process down to a science. I tend to mess up a lot (aka. things are crooked, hairs and fuzzies get on the paper, etc...)
   
   
What's next:
     Put together the files to send to the printers. Bind! Collect frames and things for exhibition!!

What I did:
- tested paper (2.5 hrs)
- paper research (1.5 hrs)
- illustrations (20 hrs)
- scanning (1 hr)
- book binding (3 hrs)
- test
- looked in to framing & chairs/table (1 min)

What I encountered/discovered/accomplished:
     I sent some of my new paper through the printer. I really like the weight of the 60lb hammermill, but i like the color vibrancy of the mohawk and the color depth of the strathmore. Although I don't know if I will actually need to pick out the paper, as it seems I should probably get everything professionally printed. It was still nice though to play around with the printers. I forget how finicky they are.
     I know I should be done with my illustrations, but they take so long and lately I've been focused on other things... However I would rather take my time and do it right the first time. Although I see the end! Just a few pages left!
     I scanned in some of my finished drawings. Still need to tweak them in photo shop.
     The book binding crash course was awesome. I definitely understand my book a lot better now. I was just going to go in blind and hope everything came out good. But now I have a better understanding of how the pages need to be laid out in indesign and how I need to format them for the printers. I also have a much better grasp on binding. Can't wait to practice more!

What's Next:
     Finish Illustrations and focus on scanning/photoshop so I can have everything sent out to the printers by the 25th.

Paper trail.

I feel like everything these past two weeks has been centered around paper.

What I did:
- Illustrate (23 hr)
- Visit Allen Elementary (3 hr)
- Fixed pagination (3 hr)
- Visited AADL (1.5 hr)
- Emailing (2 hr)
- Bought lots of paper (2.5 hr)

What I encountered/accomplished/discovered:
     I didn't finish all my illustrations over break (which I am very bummed and anxious about). But I did try to use my time wisely... While waiting for the fancy Arches watercolor paper to come in the mail, I spent some time working on my storyboard. In fact, I got some absolutely priceless feedback from my target age group.
     I did an exercise where I brought in the story board and asked them to describe to me what was happening in each picture. This was incredibly helpful since I am relying on my illustrations to tell the story, not words. It also helped me get rid of extraneous details and clarify the important ones. I also think I made the ending more significant.
     I visited AADL and spoke with a lady named Erin about how to present my book. Although I can't host something at the library, I could take my thesis to a school or community center. Laura, librarian and storyteller was able to offer me some advice about presenting my story. She said that because the visuals are so important to me, I shouldn't take away from that by trying to narrate. She gave me the contact info for someone at the library who does more visual storytelling (like comic books). Hopefully I will get some interesting solutions from him.
     I am doing the binding workshop on Tuesday, so I went on quite the paper finding adventure. I was able to track down the number for Xpedx, even though they are closing at the end of the month. I went to the store and got an awesome deal on three types of paper. I am trying a Mohawk stock and 2 different weights of Hammerhill. I also stopped into MBS to look at what they had. I ending up finding some Strathmore matte inkjet paper to try as well.

What's next: 
     Obviously my next step is to print on all the papers. I want to see which weight works best and which paper brand takes the color best. I will have this done by Tuesday. I will also finish my illustrations and scans of them by next weekend.