Day #8: Scraggle Cat, Scraggle Cat, what are they feeding you?

 

Day 8:

What do you see, scraggle cat?

 

★ ° ·. . · ° ° ·. . ·゜☆ ★ ° ·. . · ° ° ·. . ·゜☆

 

 

 

 

 

Day 8:

Picture Book Illustrator (and author) #2:

David Wiesner

http://www.davidwiesner.com/

http://www.hmhbooks.com/wiesner/

I fell in love with David Wiesner when I was in college and saw Tuesday in the book store.

His work is awe-inspiring, beautiful, magical and absolutely amazing.

©DavidWiesner

I've spent years pouring over his work as an adult,

and I can't wait to share it with my children and my sibling's children.

Whenever I buy pictures books for kids,

there is ALWAYS a Steven Kellogg, 

and there is ALWAYS a David Wiesner :)

©DavidWiesner

His website is really great too...

I particularly enjoy his entry called "The Beginning"

http://www.davidwiesner.com/work/the-beginning/

His books usually have very few words in them,

but then don't need them. 

Not one bit.

Here are a few of my favorites:

©DavidWiesner

 

★ ° ·. . · ° ° ·. . ·゜☆★ ° ·. . · ° ° ·. . ·゜☆

 

 

As per usual, the first sentence...

 Day 7:

Getting Chinese takeout shouldn’t be this hard, Megan thought as she ran down the street, the flimsy plastic bag clutched tight in her hand.

Day # 7: I know what Otters like...

 

Day 7:

What do otters like?

He looks kinda neurotic about it, doesn't he... like maybe he's lost sleep over the issue?

 

★ ° ·. . · ° ° ·. . ·゜☆ ★ ° ·. . · ° ° ·. . ·゜☆

 

 

 

 

 

Day 7:

 

Ok, so I guess I've been doing this wrong and we aren't supposed to share our ideas...

for fear of people stealing them?

But I feel really lame not sharing anything,

so instead, I'll share a new Children's Book Illustrator that I love every day...

and I'll keep my super secret journal of extra brilliant ideas (ha...hahahahahahahahaha)

all to myself (hahaha... super brilliant ideas, I crack myself up.)

So, Picture Book Illustrator (and author) #1:

My ALL TIME FAVORITE:

Steven Kellogg

http://www.stevenkellogg.com/

Mr. Kellogg is just all around an awesome guy,

he seems to be all about the pets and the kids,

and I love that.

©StevenKellogg

I have spent years pouring over his books as a child,

and his illustrations as someone who would love to be a children's book illustrator.

©StevenKellogg

His work is jam packed with detail,

so each page can keep you entertained for quite some time.

©StevenKellogg

 Plus his stories are so whimsical and fun (and funny).

Here are a few of my favorites:

©Steven Kellogg

 

 

★ ° ·. . · ° ° ·. . ·゜☆★ ° ·. . · ° ° ·. . ·゜☆

 

 

As per usual, the first sentence...

 Day 7:

Val looked back over her shoulder, she was sure someone had followed her when she left the café.

Day # 6: People Are Strange

 

Day 6:

Mostly I was just having fun smudging pencil lines and then making highlights

with my eraser.

 

★ ° ·. . · ° ° ·. . ·゜☆ ★ ° ·. . · ° ° ·. . ·゜☆

 

 

 

 

 

Day 6:

 

Brushstroke Adventures:

A series of books in which a kid at the museum finds themselves talking

to a painting (Mona Lisa, Van Gogh, etc),

they are then pulled into the painting and taken on

a time period specific adventure.

 

★ ° ·. . · ° ° ·. . ·゜☆★ ° ·. . · ° ° ·. . ·゜☆

 

 

As per usual, the first sentence...

 Day 6:

Lanie held the jar up to her face and watched as the tiny monster inside banged furiously against

the side of the glass.

Day # 5: The Awkward Teenage Years

Day 5:

He's embarrassed, y'all.

Also, blow-holes are overrated *foreheadsmack*

(also, the text is not hand drawn, because I suck at hand drawn text ;_; )

 

★ ° ·. . · ° ° ·. . ·゜☆ ★ ° ·. . · ° ° ·. . ·゜☆

 

 

 

 

 

Day 5:

 

The Embarrassed Orca: A coming of age story...

wait... no! Just kidding!

Actually, I was thinking about it more in terms of

him being an Orca who wasn't particularly interested in being

a carnivore... but felt pressure from his family and

friends to eat meatses.

And no, I'm not a vegetarian,

I love meat. LOVE IT.

I was just thinking of it more in terms of

having to live in a world that expects us to be one way,

when we want to be another.

 

★ ° ·. . · ° ° ·. . ·゜☆★ ° ·. . · ° ° ·. . ·゜☆

 

 

As per usual, the first sentence...

 Day 5:

Hailey stood outside the front door rocking back and forth. She was too excited to stand still.

Day # 2-4: Weekend update

I'll be posting my weekend progress on Mondays :)

Day 2:

 Boy... he sure is lopsided, isn't he?

It's amazing what you don't notice until you look at a picture of your drawing 0_0

Day 3:

 Hedgehog

Day 4:

Happy, Jumping Flamingo...

me thinks his front-most wing should be a bit larger XD

 

★ ° ·. . · ° ° ·. . ·゜☆ ★ ° ·. . · ° ° ·. . ·゜☆

 

 

Day 2:

 

A pocket-sized Teddy Bear who comes to life,

inspired by these little sculptures my friend makes:

 

Day 3:

 

Book Title:

Many Monsters Under My Bed 

the story of a girl who likes the monsters under her bed.

 

Day 4:

 

 Book Title:

Jack

the story of a Jack o' Lantern protecting his house on Halloween night.

(in keeping with the Jack o' Lantern legend)

 

★ ° ·. . · ° ° ·. . ·゜☆★ ° ·. . · ° ° ·. . ·゜☆

 

 

As per usual, the first sentence...

I reached my 2,000 words a day goal for Saturday and Sunday,

but I'm still working on today's :)

 

 Day 2:

The wind was blowing in a Westerly direction that morning, something it hadn’t done in 20 years.

Day 3

Tabitha was growing concerned, that dog had been following her for the last half hour, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t lose it.

Day 4

 

Today was Maddie’s 16^th birthday, today was the day she finally got to go to the surface.

 

Day #1: Let the Challenges BEGIN!

It is November 1st,

that means all the challenges I blogged about have begun!

(Here's the blog post I made: http://littlebearries.blogspot.com/2013/10/joining-in-on-fun-in-month-of-november.html )

I'm happy to say, I haven't failed on Day 1, lol!

I wrote my 2,000 words for the day, 

I did a sketch,

and I thought up a Picture Book idea!

I'm not going to bore you with the 2,000 words,
but I'm writing 2,000 words in a new story every day (a twist on conventional NaNoWriMo)
So here is the first line from my first story:
The back corner of the fourth floor in the campus library is Marjorie’s favorite spot in the entire world. 

but here's my SkADaMo entry:

 This sketch is called: 

Please tell me I'm not the only ginger with invisible eyebrows.

LOL. It's something I think about too often.

And here's my PiBoIdMo entry:

The Adventures of Will and Crumb

(yes, these are my cats)

I'm sure I have "Awesome cat syndrome"... which is something all cat owners probably have,

but I think these two are comical and interesting.

I did a few little sketches to go along with the idea.

Will is black, Crumb is big and fluffy... the picture of him crying is

how he looks after we give him the Lion Cut. MWA HA!

Yarn and Knitting and Crocheting, OH MY!

So,

I have *never* been able to knit or crochet well

(as in, I can make a scarf, the end)

It's always been something I've wanted to learn, though... 

so I'm puttin' the ol' nose to the grindstone and trying to figure it out.

So far... I have some tools of the trade,

and I'm going to see about getting some lessons.

These crochet hooks make me think of dental picks...

Which makes sense, because right now, trying to knit or crochet is as torturous as a trip to the dentist.

The yarn sure is beautiful, though.

Joining in on the fun in the month of November

I'm sure you've all heard of NaNoWriMo...

but have you heard of SkADaMo and PiBoIdMo?

SkADaMo is "Sketch A Day Month" put on by Sketched Out.

No pressure, no rules (other than you should try to make a sketch a day)

and no pre-made themes. Just doodle!

You can also follow Sketched Out's blog to see what she doodles every day!

Want to join in?

Click on the "Sketched Out" link above,

or the button below to find out how:

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Next up is PiBoIdMo,

or "Picture Book Idea Month"

hosted by Tara @ taralazar.com

Every day your task is to come up with a new picture book idea.

It doesn't have to be a full story... it can just be a title, or character name,

or anything simple that could *BE* a story someday.

Every day on Tara's blog, there will also be an awesome guest post by someone

in the Children's book/publishing industry.

How cool is that?

If you're interested in participating,

signups are open until Nov. 7th,

just click the link to Tara's blog above,

or the image below:

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Finally, there is NaNoWriMo,

National Novel Writing Month.

If you're unfamiliar with NaNoWriMo,

it's a way to encourage budding (and in full bloom) writers to write,

by setting goals for the month of November.

If you're interested in joining in, click the link above,

or the image below:

 

 It looks like I've got a busy month ahead of me!!!

Drawings from pre-made color palettes: Cold Stare

I love Design Seeds,

everyday they come out with a new color palette...

so I thought I'd do a quick little drawing from the color palettes

during the week.

The palette I used today is Cold Stare:

http://design-seeds.com/index.php/home/entry/color-stare2

and here's the image I made:

I found this quote and wanted to save it in some way,

so I figured it would be a good candidate for the color palette illustration.

Where the other was all computer generated,

I decided this week to try a sketch.

I've been wanting to work on my drawing skills for a while,
so a daily sketch might not be too bad an idea.

The image above is a web quality png,
please feel free to use it

for web purposes,

but let me know if you do...

(just cause I'd like to see how you use it :) )

If you're interested in using this image

for a print project,

please contact me:

littlebearries@yahoo.com

A Giveaway and some help for a friend

Good Morning, everyone!

First up...

I have been following these kitties for quite a while:

And recently, poor Ginko has developed seizures and needs rather pricey medicine

to help keep them at bay.

Having had a dog with severe seizures,

this is a matter close to my heart...

nevermind that I LOVE reading about these kitties on the internet!

They have their own website HERE!

Also nevermind that their owner, Chun (aka Puppy52)

is one of the sweetest folks you'll ever come across.

ANYWAYS, to help gain some funds for Ginko's pricey meds,

Chun has created this lovely illustration of Yoshi

that you can buy through Zazzle on things like shirts and bags.

BUY BAG HERE:
http://www.zazzle.com/yoshi_doodle_on_a_bag-149049736594645579

You can also opt for the "Photo-quality Yoshi"

LOL... aka, a photo of him...

A brother has to do his part to help his sister out!

I opted for the illustration...

because I believe in the cause

(100% of the proceeds go to Ginko's meds)

but also because... look at it!

It's a lovely illustration!!!

You can have a kick ass, cute as heck bag

(which you'll love even more if you check out Ginko & Yoshi's blog)

AND you'll be helping a kitty out!

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Next up is a giveaway that I thought might interest you... it's an "our scale"

decorative item from the very talented Mijbil Creatures.

If you've never checked out Mijbil Creatures...

DO IT NOW!

Such cute stuff :)

You have a chance to win this tiny squirrel, and it's box of tasty macaroons!

You should check out the blog post with the giveaway anyways,

for a tutorial on how to make your own squirrel!!

The giveaway ends when there is a random drawing at the beginning of November!

Handmade Hats... a preview

Here's a little hat I made,

modeled by a Neemo...

I've made many more hats... 

but I haven't photographed them yet -_-;;