Transcript: 6/7/12

TOPIC: The dos and don'ts of assembling your #PBDummy. Share your tips! #kidlitart 6-7-12

Guest Post - Will Terry Talks about Step 7: Assemble the dummy

Will Terry grew up just outside the beltway of Washington DC in Beltsville Maryland. His plans to become a circus lion tamer were dashed when he found out he was allergic to lions – so he started drawing them instead! Later – someone lied to him and told him he could make lots of money drawing professionally – the beginning of the end. In 1992 after leaving the BYU illustration program he started showing his portfolio around and began getting work. His work has appeared in national advertisements for Sprint, Pizza Hut, M&M Mars, Pepsi, Fed Ex, Master Card and Citibank and Target and in such publications as Time, Money, Wall Street Journal, Mac World, Arizona Highways, Seventeen and Better Homes and Gardens. His work has also been accepted into The Society of Illustrators. He's illustrated board games for Hasbro and educational books for Leapfrog and in the last 10 years he's focused on illustrating over 25 children's books for Random House, Scholastic, Simon Schuster, Albert Whitman, Harcourt, Houghton Mifflin, and Dial.

When He's not teaching at UVU, working on children's books or illustrating iPad apps he might be working on his new company – FolioAcademy.com which sells online streaming art tutorial videos. Will enjoys snowboarding, hiking, and backpacking with his three boys in the Utah back country and a warm fire with his wife Laurel.


Wow – what an honor to be asked to guest blog! So much good information already posted by some very talented authors/illustrators – I hope I can add a few thoughts that might also be helpful.
Making book dummies has been very helpful in conveying my stories to editors over the years and while I think it's often a very important step I don't believe it's always necessary:

1. I ALWAYS make a book dummy when I'm trying to sell my story with my illustrations to a publisher.
   
   I think it's obvious to most who will be reading this - but combining words and pictures is vital to convey your intentions to an editor. A picture is worth a thousand words and you're shooting yourself in the foot if you don't make an easy to follow representation of your project.
   
2. I DON'T make book dummies for my commissioned book projects. To me it's an unnecessary step to go through the process of making a physical book dummy for manuscripts I've received from a publisher to illustrate. Instead, I make a PDF of my sketches with text so I can quickly click through to check pacing, redundancy, inconsistency, flow, and perception. This is a faster method for me and since my publishers only want to see finished sketches.
3. I BELIEVE there are many ways to make a successful book dummy. I try to avoid getting caught up in “the right way” to do it. I know author/illustrators who have sold books with everything from extremely polished dummy books to simple PDF's. In the end you need to keep in mind that the goal of the dummy is to sell the book and no more. If you've attended writing conferences for any length of time you quickly realize that editors all have different requests for receiving and reviewing book projects. If you prepare your manuscript on the advice of one particular editor you might be creating a submission that's wrong for others. Confusing? Absolutely! The following is a list of do's and don'ts I use in my own submission process. It's not perfect but the following are either things I've learned from editors or things that make sense to me.

The Dos

• Do - make a book dummy.
• Do - make it clean and simple.
• Do – integrate the text where you've designed it to go.
• Do - make it 32 pages (or other multiples of 4 pages where appropriate)
• Do – make it on your computer (if you can) so you can print multiple copies (for loss, damage, or multiple submissions – I use Photoshop but you can use a wide variety of programs – InDesign works well too).
• Do – Include the cover in the dummy book on an extra piece of paper (in addition to the 32 pages).
• Do – Include one or two color samples ( these could be integrated into the dummy or loose).
• Do – bind it like a 32 page picture book (staple, glue, sew, etc. gathered in the middle).
• Do – consider making a digital book dummy i.e. PDF (submission might be difficult if you don't have an editor willing to look at it).

The Don'ts

• Don't - worry about making it actual size (Give editors some credit for imagination)
• Don't – glue pages together to join front and back sketches (I believe that gluing paper together makes for a sloppy, heavy, hard to turn disaster for an editor to examine. Print your sketches on the front and back of each page just like an actual picture book. Your dummy book is a reflection of you. Put your best foot forward by sending a clean dummy).
• Don't – include original sketches in your dummy. (It's the mark of an amateur – if the dummy gets damaged or lost you have no more dummy – show an editor your professionalism by thinking ahead).
• Don't – hand color your dummy (shows you have way too much time on your hands and again becomes original work).
• Don't – paste the text into your dummy (it's messy and detracts from the overall feel and look of the presentation)
• Don't – use a crazy type font (Go with“Times” or something very simple – you won't sell your book based on a funky type face but you can certainly detract from it with the wrong one. Editors work with professional graphic designers. You're not going to impress them with your funky font choice so don't try.)
• Don't – Include “C – copyright” anywhere in your dummy. (It's the mark of an amateur. Editors don't steal manuscripts. If they like it they'll buy it. Putting “copyright” on your dummy will get you tossed aside quickly – established authors/illustrators don't do it so you shouldn't either – you have a better chance of getting hit by lightning the second time than having your manuscript or idea stolen).
• Don't – make an elaborate cover, binding, or sleeve for your dummy book. (You want to look like you know what you're doing – professionals don't waste time on superfluous additions that won't be re-created in the printed book but will only distract from your goal – getting your book looked at.
• Don't - send a book dummy that you aren't proud of (if you know you can do better – do better – this has to be a labor of love – time and money take a back seat to the creation of art!)

Transcript: 5/31/12

TOPIC: How has social media improved your art? #kidlitart 5-31-12

Transcript: 5/24/12

TOPIC: Switching gears: How does it help you? #kidlitart 5-24-12

Transcript: 5/10/12

TOPIC: Picking the spreads for your #PBDummy color samples. How do you choose? #kidlitart 5-10-12

Guest post - Aaron Zenz introduces #PBDummy Step 6: Creating Final Art Samples

Aaron Zenz is the illustrator of 22 books for children, five of which he authored as well.  He also helps his own kids blog about their favorite stories at the unique family review site Bookie Woogie. 


When I was asked to address the topic of creating Sample Art, initially I didn't know what I could share.  Personally, when I reach this stage in crafting a book... I wing it.  Every time.  I don't have a system.  It's a different experience for each and every book.

But perhaps that's a valuable piece of advice in itself.  Sample-making is NOT formulaic.  It can't be.  It should be different from project to project, depending on the needs of the individual book at hand.

The most important piece of art instruction I ever received came from one of my college professors: "Form Follows Function."  In other words, first you determine what the project needs, and then you design around it.  You'd think this would be obvious.  Ohhh, yes, you'd think so.  You'd be wrong.  An example:  I used to create educational software for kids, and the creative director was constantly telling people, "Just throw some buttons down there in the corner of the interface... we'll figure out what they do later."  Those products would ALWAYS be the worst.  There should be a reason WHY that button is located precisely where it is.  There should be a purpose behind that lever looking the way it does.  The best artists, illustrators, designers all have a reason for every artistic element they include (or exclude).

So I can't tell you what ought to go into making your piece of Sample Art.  I can't give you a checklist.  It's not a formula.  Story comes first; Art follows, and art takes into account the needs presented by the story.

But as illustrators, we're storytellers, right?  So while I can't share a formula, I can share... stories.  I can share stories about some of the Sample Art I've made, and I can let you know what was going through my mind at the time, and we can look at what changes took place between Sample Art and Final Art.

 The Hiccupotamus, sample art:


What I was thinking: This is for a fun, crazy nonsense story with lots of slapstick action.  So I figured the colors should be really bright.  This was my first book, so I really wanted to create the illustrations in colored pencil - my great love.

Art direction: Initially, I had the whole book laid out in rigid panels, almost like a comic book.  The one piece of art direction I received was to turn some of the illustrations into pieces of spot art.  The book would be less boxy and the story would be able to "breathe."  On my own, I also changed the character design.  The story would involve lots of running for the hippo character, so I realized he needed some legs above those chubby feet.  I also gave him a face that could be more expressive.

The Hiccupotamus, final art:

___


Nascar ABC and 123, sample art:


What I was thinking:  Cars.  Lots of cars.  If I did this in colored pencil, it was going to kill me.  "The Hiccupotamus" was full of naked purple hippos running through organic jungle settings - freehand drawing made sense.  But cars and trucks and racetracks... all that geometry, all those angles.  I knew I'd need to create the art digitally so I could push and pull the forms around.  So I developed a completely new style just for this book.  I attempted a cut-paper look, working in Photoshop with tools I'd never tried before.

Art direction:  They loved the style.  They wanted humans instead of animals though.

Nascar ABC and 123, final art:

___


Howie: I Can Read, sample art:

What I was thinking: At first, all I knew from the publisher was that the stories starred a cute little puppy named Howie.  So I thought I'd provide 3 sample illustrations in 3 different styles -- I hoped they would take to one of them.

Art direction:  Of course, they wanted a combo...  rendered like #1, but more cartoony like #3.  And I was now told the author had a Bichon Frise puppy in mind.  Could I accommodate?  Why yes, I could.  My only concern was making sure I drew in such a way that the white dog would show up well against lots of white backgrounds... so I kept that in mind with my next test:

Howie: I Can Read, final sample:

___


Nugget on the Flight Deck, sample art:

What I was thinking:  This book was a detailed look at life aboard an aircraft carrier.  The publisher wanted realistic art, so I knew I couldn't use my cut paper style.  I figured the heavy load would be manageable if I created all the art at half-size and then scanned it at 200%.

Art direction:  The publisher flipped out.  They hated the sample.  The whole project came to a screeching halt.  To this day, I'm not sure what the real problem was.  I think the editor (not an artist but doing her own art direction) felt it looked too realistic.  Too many folds in the clothing.  And she said she didn't like how much gray and blue was in the picture  (um... this IS about an aircraft carrier in the middle of the ocean...)

Nugget on the Flight Deck, sample number 2:

Sooo... I got rid of the gray and blue.  She really hated this one too.  Now it was not realistic enough.  All the direction I got: "Somewhere between the two."

Nugget on the Flight Deck, sample number 3:

ding, ding ding!  Winner!
___


Skeleton Meets the Mummy, sample art:

What I was thinking:  Having just come off a really trying project, I needed a break from colored pencil.  So I was already thinking about working digitally.  Plus, this story takes place at night, so I was thinking shadows would make lots of fun shapes.  I wanted to experiment with something very stylized, very shape driven.  Circle forms for the skeleton, squares for the mummy.

Art Direction:  I went a little too stylized.  They liked the look of the flat colors, but the skeleton couldn't just have a big oval head -- it needed to be skull-like... but still cute.  And they wanted him to have joints - elbows, knees.  And have fingers.  And toes.  And ribs.  And the mummy couldn't be square.

Skeleton Meets the Mummy, final art:

___


Chuckling Ducklings and Baby Animal Friends, sample art:

What I was thinking:  I had been shopping this manuscript around for years and had received feedback more than once saying the dummy sketches were too cartoony.  So these new art samples were an attempt to move away from cartoony to cute.

Art direction:  The publisher loved the story.  Loved the art samples.  But they didn't think the two matched in terms of age level.  They felt the story was for older kids, and the art looked too young.  I needed to try to gear the art older.

My plan: Create 5 to 7 new images of ducklings in completely different styles, give them all to the publisher at once, and let the publisher pick the one they thought matched best.

Chuckling Ducklings, new sample 1:

Chuckling Ducklings, new sample 2:

WAIT!!!!   Man - I loved those ducks!  Not only did I love them, they were my favorite thing I'd drawn up to that point in my life.  I decided I couldn't risk it -- I couldn't draw 5 more styles and take the chance that the publisher would pick a different look.  So I sent off the two new samples.  The publisher loved the same one I did, and the project was greenlit.  Here are the four cubs in the new style:

___


Hopefully this little trip down Sample Lane has proved insightful.  Granted, you won't find any answers or blatant instruction.  But maybe there are some lessons hiding in here...  For instance, you'd NEVER want to create sample illustrations for the WHOLE book.  As you can see, I've never had a sample approved exactly as it is.  One sample image, possibly two would be sufficient.

I'm sure there are lots of other little lessons hiding in "stories behind the stories."  I can't wait for yours!

Transcript: 5/3/12

TOPIC: How do you organize your studio and schedule for the most efficient work flow? #kidlitart 5-3-12