Announcing:

Trouble for Nils

The Story of a Christmas Tomte

Just in time for the holiday season!

Out now on Amazon.com

Click here for more information

Jerome Needs a Home Available Now!

Jerome Needs a Home

Is now available for purchase.

For more information Click Here!

Meet the animals from 

The Brightmeadow Zoo 

who help Jerome find a Home!

Having fun with Jerome Needs a Home

I have not posted in a while, seems I have been very caught up in my latest creation, "Jerome Needs a Home".  I have been having so much fun with this book!

The main characters in the book are Jerome the "Alien" and Gretel a zookeeper at the Brightmeadow Zoo.  Jerome arrives at the zoo one day in a wooden crate labeled BEWARE.  It ends up Jerome is quite friendly and asks Gretel to find him a home.   They venture through the zoo trying to find Jerome just the right home.

What makes the process of creating this book so much fun for me is the different characters I have been able to draw.  First off, we have Jerome, the Alien.  Jerome could be anything I wanted him to be. Only criteria here was to make sure he had a long neck and big ears, to fit into the story line. 

 

Next, we have Gretel, which was fun drawing a human being. Had fun drawing her with her cute pigtails and bows.  And lastly, the different animals.  The more challenging aspect, but also so much fun to draw.  Take all that and add to it I was able to use a lot of different marker colors. Always so exciting me!

I am closing in on completing my drawings for this book and can not wait to get this one published for all to see!

Gracie's Glasses Available Now

My Latest Release is Now Available!

I am very excited to announce that my latest book, 

Gracie's Glasses is now available for purchase on Amazon.com

For additional information about the book, Click Here

And now I would like to introduce Gracie and Lucy, the stars of this latest story. 

It is all about personal growth

This past weekend I attended the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators regional conference, From Dreaming to Doing 2017.  It was such a fantastic experience and would like to share some of the inspiration I brought home with me.

First off, this was totally out of my comfort zone.  Going to a conference, out of town and knowing no one there.  A bit intimidating, right?  But it was all cool. There were authors and illustrators in all different phases of the process.  From traditionally published authors to self-published authors to those working on their stories. There were authors and illustrators and some that were both.  The speakers were editors, agents, and well known published authors.  It didn't take me long to feel at home and I took in the role of taking it all in.  My motto of the weekend was, I'm here to absorb it all. Or at least as much as I could.

When I arrived back home, I reviewed my notes and came up with three areas to focus on.  I put them into the following buckets - Publishing, Development, and Marketing.

Being a self-published picture book author/illustrator, I realized that to be published traditionally is not an easy undertaking.  This is a long process that involves a lot of rejection and hard criticism.  I am mot sure if I am ready (or ever will be ready) to head down that road or not.   I feel like I am enjoying the self-publishing route for now and will work on developing my skills for now.

That brings me to the second bucket. Development.  During my absorption process at the conference, I jotted down a lot of notes on ideas for improving my craft.  My head is swirling with ideas. Different ways to format my book, new illustrations strategies and brainstorming ideas to name a few. This all gets me very excited as I type.  Watch this blog, I will share as I go.

Then we have the Marketing aspect.  A lot of ideas here.  I was totally engrossed in a session at the end of the day on Saturday about the use of social media, not only as a marketing tool, but for information gathering (without being a creeper).  Word of warning, twitter, watch out, I finally figured you out!   I was also very inspired by a session on Sunday about school visits.  I also don't so much think of this as a marketing tool as much as a way to get out there and share my book.

Aside from my three buckets to work on, I came away with one very valuable lesson that I heard over and over this weekend.  Be true to yourself, follow your passion and life will lead you.  These are words I truly believe and would like to say I live by every day but I do get knocked off course from time to time.  This message was a great reminder to me.  I love writing and illustrating a lot. There is no end goal, except to keep being passionate and to continue to grow and learn.

Now that I have a big list of ideas and things I want to work on.....I will get back to my illustrations for a bit to clear my head and let it all sink in.  Because, as you know, Illustrating is my passion.

And to add for fun here is an illustration I recently completed. 

The caption reads (for the purposes of this blog): 

"I am only measuring my own growth, not comparing myself to others"

Jerome Needs a Quote

"Jerome Needs a Home" 

The title of my next book.

As you may already know, I like to put an inspirational quote with my books. 

One that falls along the same line as the message in my story.  

Jerome Needs a Home has been written, but I am in the need of a quote!

The story is about a strange creature that arrives at the Brightmeadow Zoo, looking for a home.  The zoo keeper, Gretel, tries to place Jerome, unsuccessfully with different animals.  In the end, they make a new home for Jerome, with the conditions best suited for him.

Here are the last lines of the book, to aid in explaining the moral of the story:

Not all living things have the same needs and wishes,

but we all live together, from the birds to the fishes.

We can share what we have amongst all of us.

We don’t really need to cause a big fuss.

The lesson to learn, is we all share the same spaces.

If we share what we have, it will brighten our faces!

Jerome not only needs a home, he also needs a quote!

Any ideas out there for a suitable quote?  

Comment on this post or on my facebook page if there are any good ideas out there. 
or email me at: KarinsChildrensBooks@gmail.com

And of course, I can't help myself. As I await the final proof of Gracie's Glasses,
I must keep drawing.  So for your viewing enjoyment and as an added bonus......

Meet Gretel and Jerome!

My process to creating a book

As I complete the final stages of book number 5, Gracie’s Glasses, I thought I would share a little information about the steps I take to create a book.    

The first step, obviously, is coming up with an idea.  Once I have a subject for my story, I develop some characters and search for a quote that will go along with the storyline.   In the case of Gracie’s Glasses, I used my grand-dog and grand-cat as characters for this story, Gracie, and Lucy.

Writing the story isn’t usually too difficult.  It seems like once I get the first line or two going, the story just flows into my head.  The hardest part of this portion of the process is making my story rhyme.  

Once the story has been written I begin the illustrations.  This is the portion of the process that seems daunting when I start.  Wow, 35-40+ pages of illustrations to come up with! Where do I begin?

I do all my work in PowerPoint.  I know, that seems odd, right?  This was the most cost effective tool I found for formatting my books.  The first step here is to divide out my pages, which sentences will make the best page breaks and places for illustrations.  I format all my text to the correct font and size.  And now I have the beginnings of my book. A clean slate for my illustrations.  

Now it is time to start my sketches. I really love, love, LOVE to create my characters. It is a little intimidating at first.  But so much fun to come up with the drawings.  I just sketch these out on plain white paper, in pencil. All of my pages are not illustrated as a whole picture.  I draw each item/character on the page, individually.  Here we have a sketch of Lucy, looking all juicy after the fish bowl fell.

After my sketches for the page are complete, I scan each of these pencil drawings into my computer and place on the page in my Powerpoint document.  This way I can ensure the drawings will fit together.  I move them around to make sure they will fit appropriately on the page.  Below is an example page with the individual drawings placed on the page.

Now that I have the sketches outlined on the page, I am ready to start coloring.  I trace each of my sketches onto my illustration paper and begin to color!  I use Prismacolor brush tip markers to finalize these illustrations.  Sometimes I have to color a drawing several times before I get it right.  Maybe, I didn’t like the color I chose or the way I did the eye’s or nose or perhaps I just plain messed up!  Here is Lucy, all juicy, once again, the colored version! 

Once I have completed the illustrations, I scan each of them into my computer, just as I did the sketches.  I then import them to a page and line them up, just as I did the sketches. 

All of my drawings are outlined in a black marker. 
There are two reasons for this, one is, I think they look sharper.  The second reason, it gives a guideline for me to remove the background in PowerPoint.  If I were to just bring the drawing in scanned, it will show the entire scan area, not just the drawing.  By removing the background, the black lines help lasso the area to keep. See below an example of the drawing of Lucy, all juicy, when first scanned into the document.  I don't want all that white area. 


Below, is a visual of how this is done.

The white background of the scanned image, no good!

By formatting the image to remove the background and mark areas to keep and delete (in purple),

the image shows correctly on the page.

I import all the illustrated drawings to the page, remove the background, move to the correct spot on the pages and now, ta da, I have a finished page!!

As you can see, the pictures overlap the sides of the actual page in my PowerPoint document.  The images bleed off the side of the page, but only the portion of the image is visible in the final product.  

Here is what the final pages look like for this example.

Some of my pages bleed from one page to the next.  
Here is an example of this. 
(uh-oh, this gives away how the fish bowl fell!)

And that my friends, is the process I take to complete a book. 
Look for Gracie's Glasses on Amazon.com very soon!!

Gracie's Glasses - Interesting Facts

As I work on next book, Gracie's Glasses, I wanted to share a few interesting facts about this book.

Here are eight fun facts about Gracie's Glasses:

1.  The characters in the story are a cat named Gracie and a dog named Lucy.  Gracie and Lucy are the actual names of my daughter and soon to be son in law's pet cat and dog. They are my grand-dog and grand-cat!

2. Gracie and Lucy are both rescue animals.  Cool, right?

3. Gracie was adopted a few years prior to Lucy.  It took Gracie a while to warm up to her new roommate, finding alternative ways to maneuver around the apartment. This is why I made Gracie the character that wants to blame everything on Lucy.

4.  I tried to draw them as close as I could to their likeness. What do you think?

5. The message in the story came to me from a facebook post I saw one day.  It just made me think a little harder about how we all walk around with our own view of life. Sometimes a little oblivious to those around us.  Gracie learns this lesson from a pair of glasses Lucy has her try on.

6.  I am using 4 different shades of gray marker to draw Gracie.  I believe I am running out of ink in my Cool Gray 10% marker. Oh No!

7.  I blame the Washington Capitals for the hold-up in the completion of the book.  I am a huge hockey fan and it is really hard to watch such a fast paced game and draw at the same time.

8. I plan on having a spring launch of the book.  I am really excited about this book and am having a lot of fun working on it!  

Bonus: Here is a drawing from the book for your viewing pleasure.

Book Covers - 2nd Editions

I have noticed, when I have my books in tow for sale, two of my books typically catch the eye of potential purchasers more than others. They tend to select these two books more often after only viewing the cover.

Here are my 4 book covers, which ones appeal to you the most? 

Which ones would you choose at first glance?

What I found, was the chosen two, tended to be The Answer Box and Hanna's New Skill. These two have very simple drawings of the main characters.  This got me thinking, perhaps the other two covers should have similar qualities.

Maybe, the following would be a better cover for The Colorless Forest? 

What do you think? 

Do you like the original Cover on the Left or something new, on the right?

Or, how about the following idea for, Allyssa's Magical Spyglass?  

Which is better, the busier original version or the simpler version? 

I believe, there may be a 2nd edition in the works for at least one of the above books.  

New Book is in the Works!

I am currently working on my next book!! 

I wrote this story a few months ago, but summer got in the way and no illustrations were completed. 

Now, I am ready to go!  New Markers, new characters, and my creative juices are flowing.

What is the title, you ask? 

Well, it is Gracie's Glasses.

Is the book based off a quote, like my other books? 

It certainly is! 

It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see. 

 Henry David Thoreau

The story I try to relay in this book is that sometimes we don't always pay attention to our surroundings or see things from the other person's point of view. 

Gracie is a cat, living in an apartment with Lucy, the dog.  Gracie blames everything that happens to her on Lucy.  One day, Lucy teaches Gracie to look around and see that sometimes, it is her fault.  

Moral of the story, a sneak peek, directly from the book:

Lucy said, “You can’t look at the world from only one view.

There are others living all around you.

Moving and playing in different ways,

it is like we live in a giant maze.”

Gracie is now so happy, and truly understands

how the world is full of others, not just her demands.

The moral of this story, if you wish to discuss,

is that we all have different stories we carry with us.

So be aware as you walk down the street.

You don’t always know the story of the people you meet.

In the end, it took a pair of glasses to teach Gracie this lesson.  
We should all wear a pair of Gracie's glasses to see outside of our own personal view.