the mustachioed armadillo

having (of course) to join in with the month of Movember... I am a few minutes late...

MOvember fun...

Joining in the fun, here is a character I am sure I have posted before...

PiBoIdMo Begins (and reflections on taking chances)!

So, in a flurry of wordplay, I allowed myself half an hour away from paying projects to jot down some ideas... and WHAMMO... I have a title for a story I have been sitting on, sitting with, and purcolating for a LONG time. Karen Li at Kids Can Press and I were talking about another book idea (sadly dying in the sales team trenches) and I was laughing about the state my family was in. Anyway, she said - you should write about that... and so, I have been, and thinking about all the ways to do it without being preachy, sarcastic or otherwise degrading to my family, (are you getting it might not be a 'feel good' story... lol?). Anyway, starting with an initial idea (that was ultimately lame), I let myself go... further, and further yet, into ridiculousness and past - and lo and behold - there it was. My TITLE. (and NO, I am NOT sharing it!)

As far as my illustration work goes, I have been facing a bit of a crisis... so much work (wonderful) and so much dissatisfaction about what I was producing. It was becoming, 'work'. This is not a reflection on my publishers (I LOVE THEM), but rather on ME... I wasn't pushing. I wasn't having fun, and I wasn't producing work I was really, really, REALLY proud of. You know, the kind of work that makes you want to sing from the rooftops? The kind you dream about, that makes it impossible to sleep till you at the very least, jot it down?

So, I decided to play with this next book (after all, my publisher told me I could)... and at first, i was afraid. TERRIFIED. What if they hated it? What if it made it to easy? What if... SO, I tried it. I played. I did the playful things I admire in other illustrators - and here is why...

At our SCBWI Montreal conference this past October, I spent some time with Laurent Linn (amazing guy and AD at S&S). I had a one on one portfolio critique, but I prepared 2 portfolios... one, filled with work I get paid to do. The other, filled with the kind of work I LONG to do, but end up shying away from for fear of not 'filling' the page, or 'proving' that I can draw. A simpler, playful, textured and 'hypothetical' style - less literal. He encouraged the 'longing' portfolio, to put it out there... and, so I am. I am working on a book - coming out in 2014 with Fitzhenry and Whiteside and I am having FUN. I am allowing myself the chance to explore the 'what if's?' and 'hmm's' that I regularly encourage with my students - after all, if I can't free myself up to explore the possibilities - what right do I have to push them to do the same?

a 'rough' spread for the F&W book (title on side for twitter)

I'm a Chemical Engineer

http://issuu.com/queenseng/docs/im_a_chemical_engineer_online

Full disclosure, comic books were not really my 'thing'. My friend Melanie mentioned this project to me wondering if I knew anyone who could do it. I looked high and low and we could not match the style to someone who had the time to do it. I did not have the time at all, but as always I am up for a challenge and off we went. We are just about to start #2... and we are getting high accolades already - which is awesome.

Watching time bandits and sketching away...

So I am dying to do some darker stuff... Some older books or covers or something... So working on a style that I've always had, and been wanting to do... While my kids are in the tub. This is done in procreate on my iPad in about 30 minutes. The sketch was done while I was doing some homework for my job, watching time bandits. I have the WORST job, lol!

Our boy is eight...

He had a small request, a cake that depicted our literally whirlwind trip to Algonquin this summer. We were in there when the microburst hit, trees flying everywhere, landing on our canoe and stuff, but luckily not us or our kids. When we paddled out of the Barron canyon the next day, there was not a soul around, it was so quiet and beautiful I wept - maybe due to exhaustion - the night before we did not sleep a wink all night, there were snags everywhere and they creaked all night long so we took turns listening and watching... But we had the entire canyon to ourselves. Our kids, 3 and 7 loved every minute of it. Our eldest, Mowat, designed this map in photoshop to put on a water bottle, and I used it to print out icing... We mapped out our route and on the weekend we celebrated #8, with a camping theme, gorp goody bags, complete with bandaids and flashlights, a campfire and kids running around in the dark... Perfection. Oh, and no storm. Thank goodness.

Found a Treasure Trove of old pics...

I found an old book of pictures from 30's to the 50's... so much inspiration, and I am looking to work in some different styles, to switch things up - and so, I did this little sketch as a character study for later... maybe I'll make her in 3D...