Illustrator's Place Web log

Once an author has become famous, does being well known mean that his/her future book covers are so important or do you think that their books would sell equally even if the covers were, let us say pretty awful?

Do you think for instance that a terrible cover on Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, J.K.Rowling's second book would have made a big difference to actual  sales of the book?

 

I reccently came accross this guy, and when you love real art like I do, well then I couldn't leave him unnoticed. His name is Mr. Randy Boni and his artwork has to be seen to be believed. Chainsaw art. Take a look you won't be dissapointed.

http://www.abundance-acres.com/

This is a poem which I read in the recent edition of the SCBWI bulletin. I think it's great, and it is so true that it almost makes it sad to read.

Asian Festival of Children's Content (AFCC), 26 - 28 May 2011

Once upon a cyberspace, children explored the world through libraries, bedtime tales and story books. Books are still around, but they are looking different. As technology puts media access into children's pockets and bedrooms, how do content makers stay connected with connected kids?

Get the answers at The Asian Festival of Children's Content (AFCC) in Singapore from 26 - 28 May 2011. Organised by the National Book Development Council of Singapore and The Arts House, this festival is back - bigger, better and bolder.

Join experts from around the world at Asia's gateway to the international children's content market. Celebrate, contemplate and collaborate on exciting new ways to engage, educate and empower the world's children on a global stage through uniquely Asian content.

For much more information http://singaporebookcouncil.wordpress.com/afcc/afcc-2011/

  Feb 17

Trying hard to get book Illustrators rates reduced for first time and self publishers.

For some time I have been working on trying to get reduced illustration rates for both first time and self published authors. It's a pretty difficult thing to do, but I am sure that there are many out there who can help. I am fully aware that many artists are already working for too little as it is, but I also know that there are far too many who are getting away with charging way overinflated rates. If anyone out there in the world of book illustration would like to help, then please advertise this offer on your websites.
Of course this should not just refer to Illustrators, but also to Editors, Proof readers, Printers and anyone else involved in the production of books. The idea is simply to assist those up and coming authors to get a head start. There are literally thousands of great authors in the world whose work will never make it onto paper because of overinflated costs and that's a great shame indeed.
If you need an example look here.  http://www.illustratorsplace.com/
Thank you.

I think that a majority of parents out there are well aware of the huge problem that exists within getting young children to read more. I regularly visit schools, normally classes with children aged from nine to fourteen years old. Apart from the very few avid readers among each class, the actual interest in reading a good book or novel compared to that of classes of the same age group twenty years ago is extremely low indeed, in fact I would go as far as to say dangerously low.
Now who exactly has the blame for this?   Well I think that I can safely say that nearly all parents do!

The modern society within which we live is absolutely flooded with far too many easy diversions for our young children. Some of these items such as Playstion's, Nintendo's, Wii's, etc etc may very well stimulate the minds of their young users, but the problem lies right there.
The children no longer have to use their imagination, which to me is the most dreadful shame of all.
Imagination is the very soul of reading a good book, one gets to use their very own wonderful imagination whilst reading. This very reason more often than not,  makes a good book far better than its movie version. This use of their imagination is something which has definitely been lost within a large majority of our young school children during the last decade.

How do we now recuperate what has been lost?

I personally feel that this can only be recovered by a much more interactive interest from the Parents and Guardians of our young children. Parents must stop, think and realise exactly what they are taking away from their children by allowing them endless amounts of time playing with electronic games, when they really should be making sure that their children are dedicating far more time to reading great books.
Reading as I have mentioned before, breeds tolerance and understanding of other ways of living, places, times and cultures. It develops a greater concentration, self-reliance and confidence, as well as building vocabulary, use of language and general knowledge, the majority of these which will definitely not found on Playstations, Nintendo's or Wii's etc.

Here are just a few things about Art which you might surprise you.

Oil paintings generally cost less to frame than equally sized prints.

The frame for a painting generally costs more than the actual paint and canvas used to produce that painting.

Lighting on a painting needs to be dimmer at night and brighter during the day.

Fluorescent lighting causes more fading of artwork than incandescent lighting.

Most artists are left handed than right handed. 
 

Giclee prints are just high quality ink-jet prints on fancy paper or canvas.

Art prices are set just like any other prices, by their supply and demand.

Added lighting almost always enhances any painting, regardless of the style or colour.

Art has surpassed the stock market in appreciation over the past twenty years.

The first pigments used in painting were ground from earth, minerals and organic matter. Pigment is finely-ground coloured powder which, when suspended in a medium such as oil, egg or water, forms paint. Most pigments are now made chemically and are more permanent.

In 1962 Leonardo DaVinci's Mona Lisa was valued at $100 million? Who knows what it would be worth today!

 
1. One out of every eight letters you read is the letter ‘e'.

2. In 1939 an author named Ernest Vincent wrote a 50,000 word novel called Gadsby. The only thing unusual about the novel is that there is not a single letter ‘e' in the whole thing.

3. There have been over 20,000 books written about the game of Chess.

4. Perhaps the most uninteresting book ever written is the calculation of pi to two million places, in 800 pages. Just think of the TV special that could be made from this script.

5. In the book, Les Miserables by Victor Hugo is one sentence that is 823 words long. When Victor wrote to his editor inquiring about their opinion of the manuscript, he wrote, "?" They answered, "!"

6. If you stretched out all the shelves in the New York Public Library, they would extend eighty miles. The books most often requested at this library are about drugs, witchcraft, astrology and Shakespeare.

7. Interestingly, William Shakespeare invented the word "hurry."

8. And speaking of Shakespeare, can you imagine John Wayne reciting Shakespeare? Well, he did one time, and won a Shakespeare contest.

9. The following words were invented by William Shakespeare: boredom disgraceful hostile money's worth obscene puke perplex on purpose shooting star sneak Until his time, people had to have their conversations without these words.

10.Americans buy 57 books per second. It would take a shelf 78 miles long to hold all of one day's books.

11. More than two and a half billion Bibles have been made. If you put them on a long bookshelf and started driving along the shelf at 55 mph, you would have to drive 40 hours per week for over four months to get to the end. All these Bibles would fill the New York public library 467 and one-half times.

12. The Bible contains 3,566,480 letters, or 810,697 words.

13. Leo Tolstoy wrote a large book called War and Peace before computers and copying machines. His wife had to copy his manuscript by hand seven times.

14. Americans buy approximately five million books a day, and 125 new titles are published every day.

15. The first published book ever written on a typewriter was The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Mark Twain used a Remington in 1875.

16. It took Noah Webster 36 years to write his first dictionary.

17. Jonathan Swift wrote a classic book called Gulliver's Travels that borders on science fiction. It was written before science fiction was what you called such books. In this book he wrote about two moons circling Mars. He described their size and speed of orbit. He did this one hundred years before they were described by astronomers.

18. The man who wrote the Sherlock Holmes stories, A. Conan Doyle, was a professional ophthalmologist, an eye doctor. Because in his time specialty medical practices were hard to build and didn't pay well, he had to take up writing to make ends meet.

19. For the last 12 years of his life, Casanova was a librarian.

20. Charles Dickens had to be facing north before he could write a word.

As a very special request and a limited time only Illustrator's Place have come up with an Anti crisis discount scheme for all self published and first time published authors. Now you can have your book illustrated without having to worry about those high illustrators fees. This system will leave you with more funding for your book printing and promotion. Please contact us for further details.

I happen to like the music of Christina Aguilera, and she is also one of the few modern artists who can actually perform live and sound fantastic, so I was interested to read this.

James Franco and Lady Gaga have been the talk of the art world ever since the two began dabbling in performance art, but they're hardly the only prominent pop-culture stars to have a glittering foot in the art world. Recently, in fact, a rising tide of interest in contemporary art has led more and more celebrities to enter the gallery and museum sphere, oftentimes as collectors, patrons, or producers - a fact that has brought no end of satisfaction to Los Angeles dealers, who have long sought to tap into Hollywood money (and the celebrity endorsements that come with it) in earnest.

While there's no mistaking these stars for the Steve Cohens or David Geffens of the world who spend millions on attention-grabbing historic works, these actors, designers, musicians, and sports gods have been throwing their support behind a number of rising (and established) talents in the art world.

Have you ever seen this guys work? His name is Edgar Mueller,we think that his artwork is great, it's always done on a huge scale and so very realistic, take a look. Just such a shame that after so much hard work it all gets washed away by the next rainfall.

New exhibition receives glowing reviews with features appearing in the Telegraph, Metro, Yorkshire Post, Stylist and women's magazine Grazia.

Fancy & Imagination - Beardsley and the Book Illustrators features illustrations from the period between 1890 and the 1920s. The works on display come from the University's collections and also private collections.  
The exhibition includes the work of major illustrators, including Aubrey Beardsley, Arthur Rackham, Harry Clarke, Edmund Dulac, Walter Crane, Kate Greenaway, Kay Nielsen and Jessie M King.
The exhibition in Leeds will run until 12 February 2011. Admission is free and the gallery is open from 10-5pm, Monday to Saturday.

This subject is never that straight forward, but here is some good advice.

The amount of money which you will require to budget for your book illustration work will depend completely upon the nature of the project in hand, the time scale, the detail involved and materials used etc.  For example,  a few small simple black-and-white line drawings will command a much smaller fee than full page colour illustrations used in some children's story books. This attention to detail will obviously affect your final illustration costs. Before searching for, or contacting an illustrator, make sure that you are able to develop a detailed proposal of your required work , this will enable you to present your project to him as accurately as possible. In turn allowing the illustrator to give a far more accurate estimate to you, his customer.

Illustrator's Place is pleased to announce the new book printing service. Do you have a book that you have been dying to write for ages, but have been put off by the astronomical printing fees? Why does it cost so much to print a book? Well things are changing, get in touch and let us give you quote for any type of book printing which you have in mind, hardback, picture books, softback, colour, black & white with all types of bindings.  Don't delay contact us today for a free no obligation quote, you won't be disapointed.

Bleed refers to objects that extend beyond the edge of the printed page area. This following gives you a good idea as to why bleed is needed, exactly how much is needed and how to fix issues with bleed.

Why do we need to add bleed?

A. Once a job has been printed, the press sheets need to be folded, bound and trimmed. For each of these finishing steps, there is a certain margin of error. Bleed makes it easier to avoid issues with:

• mechanical limitations
• the behavior of the paper when running at high speed through a machine
• operator errors

B. When a press sheet is folded multiple times, the thickness of the paper causes the inner pages to gradually shift. This is called creep or shingling.

To compensate for this effect, the entire content of page is shifted slightly to the left or right, depending on production needs and the design of the content. To be able to move pages, you need the content to extend a bit beyond the trimmed page size.

C.  Paper is an organic material which may shrink when it is subjected to humidity and mechanical stress.

What happens if no bleed is used?

If the page content exactly fits the page itself, such errors could cause a thin white line to show at one of the edges of the page. To avoid such lines, the design elements have to extend beyond the trim edge of the page.

Actually all the reasons why bleed is needed also explains why small design elements should not be positioned too close to the outer edges of the document. If a small page number is put right at the edge of the page and that page is trimmed incorrectly, the page number may simply be cut away.

How much bleed is needed?

Generally the bleed amount is set to 3 millimeters or 1/8 of an inch. Many prefer a bit more bleed - 5 millimeters - especially for large books, thicker paper or jobs with many sections.

Bleed requirements can be different from one printing company to another and from one job to another. Contact your printer in case of doubt or look up their recommendations on their web site. Once the design of a job has been finalized, modifying bleed can be a real hassle so it is better to use the correct value right from the start.

Artists Brush types

Artists' brushes can normally be categorized into two different groups, according to the type of hair used, A (bristle) and B (soft).  Each type can then be further defined by the shapes which available in each different hair type.

A. Bristle - The bristle category includes the original hog hair brush, but also the synthetic stiff brush like the Artisan brushes which are suitable for water mixable oils.

Shapes available include: Designers, Rounds, Spotters/Pencils, Riggers, Lettering/ Liners/ Stripers, One Stroke, Mops, Wash, Filberts and Fans.

B. Soft - manufactured from goat, sable, squirrel, ox, synthetic, pony and camel hair.  Sable normally produces the best soft hair brushes, particularly for use with water colour.  The conical shape and scaled surface provide unrivalled points, responsiveness and colour carrying capacity. Largely as a result of the cost of sable, other hairs are used for soft brushes, either on their own, or mixed.

Shapes available include: Long, Flat, Round, Filbert (short and long) Short, Flat/Bright, and also the Fan brush.

Two Additional Points To Note about artist's Brushes

A. The sizing of brushes is most commonly done by a number system.  Although each number does not necessarily reciprocate the same size brush in different range, and this is particularly noticeable between French, English and Japanese size brushes.  It is therefore very important that the actual brushes are compared, rather than relying on the sizes of the brushes you currently own.

B. Long handled brushes are available for oil, alkyd and acrylic , where painters are more likely to be at a distance from their work, rather than water colourists, who work closer to their work thus the brush handles are normally shorter.

Enter Chubbly the Aviator's latest competition and win this Brand new Nintendo DS. Just simply answer 20 multiple choice questions. All of the answers can be found right inside his new book ‘The Flyer is Born'. Don't delay answer today. Competition ends at midnight on the 28 of February 2011. (Terms and conditions apply). See T&C's page two.

www.chubblytheaviator.co.uk

This type of rubber (eraser in the USA) is popular very with many artists. It is made from a soft, rubber, and is especially suited to removing large areas of pencil work; it doesn't damage the paper easily but has the drawback of not being very precise. Gum erasers tend to crumble as they are used, especially when they are used daily. The rubber also leaves a lot of eraser residue. This "rubber dust" must then be carefully brushed away as the rubber particles can leave marks on the paper. Many artists use a soft wide brush to sweep away the loose rubber residue. Art gum rubbers are normally tan or brown in colour.

A far less common type of rubber is used to rub out ink pen. Pulverized pumice stone is blended into this type of rubber making it very abrasive indeed. The main problem whist using this type of rubber is that if you are not extremely careful it will also remove some layers of the paper, making the paper become extremely thin and tear very easily. This type of rubber is typically a half pen rubber and a half "art gum" rubber, and I must admit I never like using them.

Kneaded rubbers are a type of eraser common in most artists' pencil box. This type of rubber has numerous uses. They can be molded into a point for rubbing out very small areas and tight detail, or moulded into a textured surface and used like a reverse stamp to give texture, or used in a "blotting" manner to lighten lines or shading without completely rubbing them out. The weakness with this type of rubber is that they gradually lose their efficiency and resilience as they become increasingly infused with particles and carbon which they have picked up from rubbing in the environment around them, eventually marking the surface that they are being used on. They are also not very effective when trying to rub out any large areas as they tend to become deformed under vigorous rubbing.

Soft vinyl erasers have a more plastic-like feel about them and erase much more cleanly than standard type cheaper pink erasers. They are a lot smoother, softer and non-abrasive, making them far less likely to damage any canvas or paper. The downside is that they are prone to cause smearing whilst erasing large areas or dark marks. These erasers are generally used for erasing light marks or more precision erasing. Technical engineers and draftsmen favor this type of eraser for working on technical drawings due to them being very gentle on thin paper. Vinyl erasers are normally white.

The electric eraser consists of a small length of rubber (much the same as in the end of a pencil) which is then gripped in a special holder and inserted into a small housing at the end of the small hand held unit. This is then driven at high speed by a small electric motor. A button located on the side of the unit turns the motor on when pressed, and off when pressure is released from the button. As the eraser turns at a relatively high speed, it achieves a smooth and complete area of erasure with a minimum pressure and damage to the paper. I tend to use this type of eraser most of the time, so I highly recommend them, especially the battery operated Sakura model shown here. The device is designed for erasing pencil lines or shading completely and precisely in a very short time, compared to using a normal or kneaded type rubber eraser.

Recently I was asked which type of eraser will generally work the best?

Of course the answer is really not that simple. Each different type of eraser is also made up from very different types of rubbers, gums and vinyls' therefore this gives each eraser it's own unique effect. This will then depend on what type of paper it is being used on, and also what type of material it's going to rub out  IE: Pencil, carbon, graphite, coloured pencil etc, etc.

Anyway I will endeavour to do my best and explain the erasers which I use, and above all which I find work the best for me.

In the United Kingdom, you are the copyright holder for your material as soon as it is written down - you do not need to apply for a copyright or register your work with any other organization. The exception to this is when you are writing as part of your employment - for example, you may be a journalist working for a newspaper. Copyright then will last for 70 years until the end of that calendar year in which an original author dies.

There are no copyrights over ideas - so always make sure to get an idea down in writing. Similarly and interestingly there are no copyrights over titles, although you could be accused of "passing off" if you used a well-known title for your own work.

If you have any concern about proving that you are the original copyright holder of any unpublished work, you can post a copy of your manuscript to yourself and keep this, unopened. The postmark will provide proof that you wrote the work before the date posted. This is the method that many authors use, and one which I still personally use today.You may also like to deposit a copy of your manuscript with a bank or solicitor, getting it dated receipted.

If you are worried about protecting your idea from being copied when you send your work to agents or publishers the Writer's Handbook suggests that you ask anyone who sees your work to sign a letter, thus confirming that they will not use those ideas or disclose them to anyone else. This idea when put into practice can be difficult, publishers and agents receive so much unsolicited material that they may already be considering work that is similar to your own.

The Society of Authors also publishes a series of leaflets about the various aspects of copyright law, priced at £2 each.

Contact: The Society of Authors, 84 Drayton Gardens, London, SW10 9SB (Tel: 020 7373 6642). Another useful publication is Helen Shay's Copyright and Law for Writers.

 

Finding an illustrator online can be a very tricky business over the internet, there are literally thousands to look at, and it can take ages. With just a quick search in your preferred search engine for book illustrator's, whether it be a UK book illustrator or any other, depending on your location a huge amount of results will appear.  You may even be able to find freelance illustrator's websites and prices online. I am not suggesting that you try to contact famous illustrators, because normally their prices are so high, and they only tend to work through agents and publishers.  It isn't necessary that you look for anyone local. The whole design and drawing process can be started, carried out, amended, and completed entirely online. For example my entire website was designed and constructed over the internet without ever coming face to face with my website designer and administrator. So it is possible and completely normal to do the entire book's art work over the Internet, In fact a good majority of my work is done is this way, even down to the final artwork, which will appear in the published book. Never be afraid to ask questions about prices right from the start, if the illustrator has enough experience then they should know roughly what sort of price you are looking at for your particular artwork. Of course it won't be spot on, but it will be close and give you a good idea on budgeting right from the start.  One final item to be clarified right from the start is to always make sure that you have a clear contract from your chosen illustrator, this will  help you to determine the prices, payments along with timescales etc, and if you can't see what you are looking for on the contract, just ask. I hope that this helps a little.   Steve Keeping, Chief Illustrator at Illustrator's Place.

The simplest airbrushes work with a single action mechanism, whereby the depression of a single "trigger" results in paint and air flowing into the airbrush body, and the atomized paint being expelled onto the target surface. Cheaper airbrushes and spray guns tend to be of this type.

Dual action or double action airbrushes separate the function for air and paint flow, so that the user controls the volume of airflow and the concentration of paint flow through two independent mechanisms. This system allows for greater control and a wider variety of artistic effects. This type of airbrush is more complicated in design than single action airbrushes and tends to be more expensive.

Paint can be fed by gravity from a paint reservoir sitting on top the airbrush (gravity feed) or siphoned from a reservoir mounted below (bottom feed) or on the side of the airbrush (side feed). Each type gives its unique advantage. Gravity feed instruments require less air pressure for suction as gravity draws the paint into the mixing chamber. Typically instruments with the finest mist atomization and detail requirements use this method. Both side and bottom feed airbrushes allow the artist to see over the top whilst working, with the former sometimes offering left and right-handed options to suit the individual artist requirement. A bottom feed airbrush typically holds a larger capacity of paint than the other types, and is often preferable for larger scale work such as car body spraying applications including tee-shirt design.

Paint Mixing
With an internal mix airbrush the paint and air mix inside the airbrush (at the tip) creating a finer atomized "mist" of paint. The external mix air leaves the airbrush before it comes into contact with the paint creating a coarser stippled effect. External mix airbrushes are normally cheaper and more suited for covering larger areas with more viscous paints or varnishes.

An airbrush is a small metal or plastic pen-shaped tool that sprays fluids in a controlled and precise manner. Pressurized air from a compressor, pressurized tank or propellant can is forced through the airbrush, causing a vacuum which draws the paint into the air stream. The air and paint are then mixed, atomized and then sprayed onto the working surface.

 

 

 

How do you select an airbrush?    The best airbrush for you is dependent upon the desired application required (fine art, mural painting, illustration, hobbies and crafts, fingernails and make up, ceramics and sculpture, etc.) and of course your budget. Most artists today use single or dual action internal-mix airbrushes because they produce the finest sprays. Airbrushes can be used for all types of applications, but some are more suited to specific applications than others. For example, if your work is large and you need a large amount of paint, then an airbrush that is adaptable to an external reservoir is necessary. On the other hand, if you work on objects where minimal amounts of paint are used, e.g., photo retouching etc, then a gravity feed airbrush is the best choice. The various types of airbrushes, side feed, gravity feed and bottom feed are all available from the manufacturer in a range from novice to professional with corresponding prices.

What types of paints can be sprayed through an airbrush?
Most types of paints can be airbrushed. However, it is very important to reduce or thin paints to a viscosity no thicker than milk so that they are fluid enough to be sprayed. Some cheaper and often grainy paints may be difficult as they will tend to block finer spray nozzles. For example, artist acrylic colours are thinned with water and oil paints are thinned with oil mediums before spraying. The list of things that can be sprayed is extensive but here are just a few. Gouache, Oil, Watercolour, acrylic, fingernail paints, fabric dyes, emulsion, cellulose, polyurethane, cake colouring, varnish, lacquers, stains and primers. The first airbrush was patented in 1876 by Francis Edgar Stanley of Newton, Massachusetts USA. Stanley and his twin brother later invented a continuous process for coating photographic plates.

The airbrush that was first given the name Air Brush, was developed by Abner Peeler and used a hand-operated compressor, the inventor patented it "for the painting of watercolours and other artistic purposes". It was rather crude, being made from a number of spare parts from a jewellery workshop. It took nearly 4 years of development before a proper practical device became available. The first certain marketed 'atomising' type of airbrush came in 1893, presented by Thayer and Chandler art materials company at the World Columbian Exposition in Chicago, and invented by Charles Burdick. This device actually looked like a pen but worked in a very different manner to Peeler's device, being essentially the same as a modern airbrush. Aerograph, Burdick's original company, still makes and sells excellent airbrushes in the United Kingdom.                                                                                                                                          

 

 

 

 

                          An airbrush actually works by passing a stream of compressed air through a small venturi, which in turn creates a local reduction in air pressure allowing paint to be drawn up from an interconnected reservoir at normal atmospheric pressure. The high exit velocity of the air atomizes the paint into very tiny particles as it blows past a very fine paint-metering component (nozzle). The paint is then blown onto the selected material. The operator controls the amount of paint being used by varying the trigger both up and down and backwards and forwards which opens more or less a very fine tapered needle used to control the element of paint being metered, as well as the air pressure being applied. An extremely fine degree of atomization allows the artist to create such fine and smooth blending effects when using the airbrush. The airbrush technique allows for the blending of two or more colours in a seamless way, with one colour slowly becoming another. Freehand airbrushed images, without the aid of stencils or friskets, (type of masking material) have an almost floating quality, with soft defined edges between foreground and background colours. A skilled airbrush artist can produce paintings of photographic realism and also simulate almost any type of painting medium.
Some airbrushes use pressures as low as 20 psi while others use pressures in the region of 30-35 psi. Larger "spray guns" used in the car, boat and aircraft industry spray painting need 100 psi or more to adequately atomize the thicker paint using less solvent. These spray guns are capable of delivering a heavier coating more rapidly over a much wider area.
Whatever type of airbrush or spray gun is being used please remember to wear the correct breathing equipment to protect from the very fine particles of paint which are very harmful to our lungs, and once this spray is inside them it cannot be removed!

Gravity feed, double action, internal mix airbrushes are normally classified by their three characteristics. The first is the action performed by the user to trigger the flow of paint, while the second is the mechanism for feeding the paint into the airbrush, and the third is the point at which the paint and air are mixed.

 

Watercolour paints are transparent by nature. The colours labeled opaque on the watercolour tubes, such as the cadmium's, will appear opaque until thinned with water to become transparent. Because these paints are so transparent, applying layers of colour to a painting will intensify the hue and make it more vibrant. These paints are also sold in compressed block and pastel form, and not always in a tube. They are generally used for paintings that require a more washy, less intense painting. Some watercolours will leave a satin finish and will not change in value when dry. This paint will remain soluble and must be kept behind glass once the artwork is finished.

Gouache is water based non-permanent water soluble paint, somewhat like watercolour except its particles are larger, among other things it contains chalk and is opaque. Because of the particle size gouache comes to life when airbrushed. The large particles are more reflective whether brushed or sprayed but the atomizing of the spray enhances the characteristic. These colours tend to be more vibrant when wet and will dry to a flat matte finish.  Bear in mind that dark colours will always dry lighter and the light colours will always dry darker. It can be painted on watercolour paper, illustration board or other paper surfaces, but not normally on traditional canvas. I have to admit that gouache has always been a favourite of mine.

 Acrylic paints are water-resistant when dry although they should be varnished to protect them, can be framed without glass. You can paint on virtually any surface as long as it's properly prepared. You can paint any style from thin watery layers to thick globules. Acrylics should be allowed one to two weeks to properly cure before applying a coat of thick paint or varnish.
When used correctly, acrylics will not crack. However they will crack when flexed when paint is frozen or cold, when painting over slick or oily surfaces, when using a cheap canvas or when painting or varnishing over an area that is not properly cured. Acrylics should be given 1 to 2 weeks to cure before applying thick paint or varnish on top.

Examples of the main steps you will almost certainly encounter while working on a children's book.

A few questions before starting anything, you must think of the contract. What do you want from it, and what you absolutely do not want from it? How many pages are in your story? What are the page sizes? How many samples will the illustrator provide me with? What will be the deadline for first sketches? What is the deadline to see the final artwork? What is the deadline for delivery? And more than likely loads of other questions.

The research phase is very important, and of course always necessary. Born from this underlying background information will be your first sketches.
These will then be submitted to the publisher. Normally this is done by e-mail, so it is very important to provide them with your sketches in good shape. Good quality pdf or jpeg files. Insist on feedback from the publisher.
Now you will be waiting for them to see what they think of your work. It's the one of the most frustrating times!
Finally they will send you their thoughts, they may even ask for some revisions to be carried out. Sometimes you may even have to change everything, and it's important to provide them with new sketches as soon as possible. Sometimes they may like the piece, but they might ask you to change some minor details.  In this case you are very lucky, you have made it at last. Sometimes depending on which publisher you are working with, they may ask you for up to ten revisions, so you also have to know when to say enough is enough!
At last the drawings can be finalised, and in my opinion the best and most enjoyable part of my work as a book illustrator. The colours go on and the sketches finally come to life.
Submission stage of final artwork. (The Waiting phase)
The lengthy wait for approval. Quite often this can take a while (at least one week in most of our assignments). Your work has to be reviewed by many people, and really that's not a bad thing.
New revisions....Sometimes there may still be minor revisions, but very rarely at this stage. You might be asked to change a colour or two, but not big or important things.
Final waiting phase...Now all that you will have to do is send them your final illustrations, via a carrier or postal services, and then that's it at last! Now you can sit tight and wait patiently to see your books being published, often this can easily take several months and sometimes even longer.
I hope that this helps to clarify things a little better.   S.Keeping  Illustrator's Place.

Children's book illustrators normally have a very difficult job. Unlike many artists who create self-contained pieces, the illustrator always works within the constraints of a "book." In these picture books, each illustration must respond to their relevant stories. Whilst artists may interpret and add detail, it is not their job to try and retell the tale. Although at the same time the illustrator is responsible for enhancing the story through visual aid. The Illustrators also need to layer their work, so that every reading bring about new visual discoveries.

Many Children's book illustrators will have a degree in illustration, or "Art" in general. But equally they may also be self-taught artists. In both cases, they are totally aware of the market, and know exactly how hard it is to convince a publisher, create, launch and promote a new children's book. The most difficult part of the job is not the creation, or finding some awesome ideas, but most probably the "waiting phase". This comes when you're waiting for the new revisions which the Art Director or publisher may well ask you for.

Against the grain ... detail from The Little Red Hen by Andy Warhol, Doubleday Book Club edition.
 
They are a long way from the iconic pop art for which he is best known but a set of illustrations for a children's book series by Andy Warhol are set to go up for auction in New York next month.
Warhol's pictures illustrate the story of the little red hen, a folk tale about the value of team work, and show a perky little red hen happily sowing her grains of wheat, as a lazy cat, mouse and dog - who is reading the paper - look on. They were drawn by Warhol early in his career, between 1957 and 1959, for the Doubleday Book Club's popular series Best in Children's Books.

Auction house Bloomsbury said the volumes up for sale had "lightly worn dust jackets with some minor chips". The delicate drawings of four storybook animals are expected to fetch 600 dollars.
The Warhol illustrations will be auctioned as part of Bloomsbury Auctions's sale of 365 original illustrations and books, alongside a host of pictures and letters from 19th-century fairytale illustrator Arthur Rackham, a privately printed edition of Beatrix Potter's The Tailor of Gloucester, rare Oz books by L Frank Baum and the artistic estate of award-winning African American children's illustrator Tom Feelings.

An attractive cover design visually conveys a book's message and will generate feelings of anticipation excitement for discovering further adventures or insights. This not only allows the author a greater sense of pride, but can also generate those all important book sales. An engaging cover will definitely create positive feelings and make people want to buy it.

Your own book only has a few seconds to attract reader, retailer and reviewer's attention, so make sure it's your book that they choose.
Customers buy with their eyes, so a well designed cover gives your book more value. If you are planning on setting a price that is in line with books in the current market then your book must satisfy that value in order for it to sell. Your target market will be looking for a well designed book cover.

How long do you actually spend looking over each book in a store? Readers look at the spine, front cover and back cover before promptly making the decision to buy. All this in usually done in seconds!

A reviewer can appraise a certain number of books at a time and guess which ones they always choose? You got it, books with interesting and well designed covers! These have a much better chance of being actually read by a reviewer.

So give Illustrator's Place the ideas that you have in mind, and let them come up with a professional prospective which will really sell your book. Excellent work, good communications, and all done for the most reasonable price out there.

  So you've written a story.           

Now you will need to have someone check it over for you.
To edit, comment, and help you get it to a standard ready for submitting to the publishers.
An agent would do this, but if you're a new writer you need to make your manuscript as good as possible in order to get an agent interested in you in the first place. And of course publishers have editors who hopefully will edit your manuscript.  But take my word for it, they won't even bother looking at your work if it's not up to a good standard to begin with.
So there are several ways to go about this, you could ask a competent friend to go through your book very carefully, or you could pay an expert. I personally wouldn't give any of my friends a manuscript for editing, even though I have many who are teachers, and among them an English teacher.
Professional book Editors are trained to scan your work, efficiently checking not only your grammar, but picking out writing defects and spelling errors immediately, should they exist of course! 
When your editor has finished their part of the job I personally thoroughly recommend that you have your work Proof read, this will be the final stage in the preparation of your writing before going to print.
The reason why I recommend Proofreading is that believe it or not errors often still exist even after your manuscript has been edited by a professional editor, 'everyone is fallible to some degree'. Therefore it is essential that another pair of professional eyes give your work the final 'once over'. It doesn't do us any good at all to have two thousand copies of a book printed only to find that ten pages in there is some glaring mistake! I read a lot of books and it's amazing just how often a mistake does appear.
I do hope that this helps the budding writers among us.       Regards Steve

Illustrator's Place guide on how to start designing a good Book Cover.

People say, "Don't ever judge a book by its cover", but this may be one of the silliest things that have ever been said. How many times have you not bothered to open a book just because the cover was really bad?  Book covers really do matter a lot. Don't forget that it's the first thing readers will see.
 
Here are some good pointers to bear in mind.

Look at covers of books that you particularly like. You don't want to copy these covers directly, but determine yourself, what is it that makes it work for you? If you're working with an illustrator, give him copies of these book covers as examples to work with.

What exactly is the book is about? Undoubtedly this is the hardest part of book cover design, knowing exactly just how to whittle down hundreds of pages into one clear image. If it's a novel or non-fiction, find a certain image which is the heart and soul of the book, whether it be photograph or artwork but something which best represents that book.

Always make sure that you choose a good font for the title and author name. Slight variations in lettering can convey a much different meaning. Elegant script lettering for an action fiction novel could be entirely inappropriate, and a very heavy type face maybe completely out of place on the cover of a romantic novel.

We recommend the use of at least four colour printing for the cover, and a six colour print process is further recommended. Experiment with different color schemes for the type face, including borders and any other design elements. Colour is just as important as the main image and fonts.

If you can afford it, design the cover with raised lettering for some extra attention. However do keep in mind that a book cover should also look sharp in a relatively small jpg, like on Amazon and Waterstones, as a growing number of people now buy their books online.

Please don't forget the spine. The spine design is just as important as the front cover and often gets overlooked. This is quite often what a browser first sees on the shelf. So make it professional and make it stand out.

   

Competition on right now! Free special prize. Go to  www.chubblytheaviator.co.uk    please don't forget to check out your chance to win a very special copy of The Flyer is Born!
There's a new quiz online right now, go to News or to the free pdf
downloads and click on 'Chubbly the aviators general aviation knowledge
quiz'. Here you can enter the competition, it's free and even if your
general aviation knowledge isn't very good, it's interesting and can
only help to improve it. Most of all you will love the prize!

Chubbly the aviator now has his own official website dedicated to the books in the series of The Great World Adventures of Chubbly the Aviator. Please let all of your friends and family know about the fantastic new site. It's packed full of loads of great stuff, including a very active blog, lots of free downloads and much much more. Just click on the picture for a direct link to his brand new website.

Here at Illustrator's Place we are all really excited with the release of Steve's new book 'The Flyer is Born' which will be published by Sad Woody Books in March 2010. The novel will  appear first in English making wonderful reading for children aged 10 upwards, and also a great help for those students studying English language. It will  be followed by a copy in Castellano as well as the second book in  the series  'A Hunch in Paris'.

Felicitar a Steve Keeping de Illustrator's Place por su alucinante novela de aventuras para niños 'The Flyer' primer libro de la serie 'The Great Adventures of Chubbly the Aviator'. El libro ha sido publicado por Sad Woody Books y estará a la venta el próximo Marzo a un precio de 7.99 euros. Steve esta ahora trabajando en su próximo libro, segundo de la serie 'A Hunch in Paris'. El libro podrá comprarse también en Español a finales de año.

Congratulations are in order for Steve Keeping from Illustrator's place who has just had his new children's mind-blowing adventure novel 'The Flyer' from the series of books 'The Great World Adventures of Chubbly the Aviatior' pulished. The new novel published by Sad Woody books will be available from March 2010 priced at 6.99 sterling and 7.99 Euros. Steve is currently working on the next book in the series 'A Hunch in Paris'. The book will also be available in Spanish later on this year.

 Tengo dos razones para enseñar esta imagen en mi pagina blog. Que tal queda una foto en el blog, y lo más importante mostrar mi gratitud a mi coche fiel, que tiene ahora 37 años y nunca en todo este tiempo me ha fallado. Es siempre un placer conducir mi pequeña cucaracha, Gracias mi fiel Beetle.

Two reasons for this picture, the first is because I wanted to see how a photo looks on the blog page, and secondly and more importantly, I just wanted to say thank you to my faithful old Lady, who is now thirty seven years old and has never once let me down. It's always pleasure to be able to drive you. Merry Christmas my little beauty.

   Lo siguiente resume qué es esta vida para mí

Un pequeño bote amarrado en un pueblo pesquero de Grecia. Un turista estadounidense que pasaba por allí, alabó al pescador griego por la calidad de sus pescados y le preguntó cuánto tiempo le había llevado pescarlo.

      -No mucho-, respondió el pescador griego.

      -Pero entonces, ¿por qué no se queda más tiempo y pesca más peces?

El pescador griego explicó que esa poca pesca era suficiente para cubrir sus necesidades y las de su familia.

El estadounidense preguntó, -Pero, ¿qué hace con el resto del tiempo?

      -Duermo hasta tarde, pesco un poco, juego con mis hijos y duermo una siesta con mi esposa. Por las noches, voy al pueblo a ver a mis amigos, tomo unos tragos, toco el bouzouki y canto algunas canciones. Vivo una vida plena.

El estadounidense lo interrumpió -¡Tengo un Master de Harvard y puedo ayudarle! Debería empezar por pescar durante más tiempo cada día. Puede vender todo el pescado extra que pesque y luego, con los ingresos extra generados, puede comprar un barco más grande.

     -¿Y después?-, preguntó el griego.

     -Con todo el dinero extra que le brinde el barco más grande, puede comprar otro barco y luego un tercero y así hasta que tenga una flota entera de pesqueros de arrastre.

      »En vez de venderle sus pescados a un intermediario, usted puede luego negociar directamente con la planta procesadora o quizás pueda abrir su propia fábrica.

      »¡Entonces podrá dejar esta pequeña villa y mudarse a Atenas, Los Ángeles, e incluso a Londres! Desde allí usted podrá dirigir su nueva gran empresa».

-¿Cuánto tiempo me llevará?- preguntó el pescador griego.

-Veinte, quizás veinticinco años-, respondió el estadounidense.

-¿Y después?

-¿Y después? Bueno amigo mío, aquí es donde se pone realmente interesante-, respondió el estadounidense, riendo. Cuando su negocio sea realmente grande, podrá comenzar a vender acciones y a ganar millones.

-¿Millones? ¿En serio? ¿Y después?-, preguntó el griego.

-Luego, finalmente, podrá retirarse, vivir en una pequeña villa cerca de la costa, dormir hasta tarde, jugar con sus nietos, pescar algunos pescados, tomar una siesta con su esposa y podrá pasar

sus noches disfrutando momentos con sus amigos bebiendo, cantando y tocando el bouzouki.

 

La moraleja de la historia es:

 

Hay que saber adónde quiere ir uno en la vida... porque probablemente ya esté allí.

                         Steve Keeping  14.08.1963  hasta mi último día

Please take the time to read the Web log entries, who knows you may even start to learn another language along the way!

Does this sum up life for you? 

 

A small boat docked in a Greek fishing village, A nearby American tourist complimented the Greek fisherman on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took him to catch them.

"Not very long," answered the Greek fisherman.

"But then, why don't you stay out longer and catch more fish?" asked the American.

The Greek fisherman explained that his small catch was sufficient to meet his needs and those of his family.

The American asked, "But what do you do with the rest of your time?"

"I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, and take a siesta with
my wife. In the evenings, I go into the village to see my friends,
have a few drinks, play the bouzouki, and sing a few songs . . I live a full life."

The American interrupted, "I have an MBA from Harvard and I can help you! You should start by fishing longer every day. You can then sell all of the extra fish that you catch and then with the extra revenue generated, you can buy a bigger boat."

And after that?" asked the Greek fisherman.

With all the extra money that your larger boat will bring, you can buy a second boat and then a third one and so on until you have an entire fleet of trawlers.

Instead of selling your fish to a middle man, you can then negotiate directly with the processing factory or maybe even open your own factory.

You can then leave this little village and move to Athens, Los Angeles, or even London! From there you can direct your huge new enterprise."

"How long would that take?" asked the Greek fisherman.

"Twenty, perhaps twenty-five years," replied the American.

"And after that?"

"Afterwards? Well my Friend, That's when it gets really interesting, "answered the American, laughing. "When your business gets really big, you can start selling stocks and make yourself millions!"

"Millions? Really? And after that?" said the Greek.

"Then finally after that you'll be able to retire, live in a tiny village near the
coast, sleep late, play with your grandchildren, catch a few fish, take a siesta with your wife and you can spend

your evenings, enjoying time with your friends drinking, singing and playing the Bouzouki.

 

The moral of the story is

 

   Know where you're going in life........because you may very well already be there.

                   Steve Keeping  14.08.1963  until my final day              

This is a test Chubblog entry showing you that it is very easy to add an entry to the blog

Por favor tomese su tiempo en leer las entradas de la web log, Quién sabe si mientras lee podria estar aprendiendo otra lengua.

Hello,

This our blogging section, keep an eye out here!