For Christmas 2017, I dutifully created another storybook for my family. The story is about our third daughter Katelyn, who always needed a friend. At first, she only liked Mom. After awhile, she would play with her older siblings. But when they left for school, Katelyn was very sad. "Who will be my friend NOW?" Here are a few pages from this book. The main part of the story is about how we in the family tried to help allay Katelyn's fears about growing up and needing to make friends on her own. She was worried especially about going to Kindergarten at the big school. Even though we worked to prepare Katelyn to do all the things she would be exposed to in Kindergarten, on the first day she was so nervous and frightened that she almost didn't go into the Kindergarten room. Thank goodness for the cute little pair of twins that befriended her! I have been learning about how to clean up my drawings and paintings using a Wacom tablet and Photoshop. What powerful programs! But hard to learn as a novice artist. I have to admit, though, that I am obsessed with learning these tools!
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Every family has that one child who is a picky eater...or will only wear one outfit. Let me tell you, our family did! This Christmas, as a gift for my children's families, I determined to write and illustrate one of our famous family stories. When our middle son was three years old, he came to every meal asking us if it was Cowboy food. If we did the proper convincing, he would eat. This carried on for about a year. During that time, he also acquired his own version of a Cowboy outfit complete with boots, hat and stick pony. Then, not only was he a picky eater, he was a picky dresser! Little did we know that we were creating a monster! This project had been rolling around in my mind for a long time, and finally I set a goal to complete it for Christmas 2016. I had the ideas, but I was not sure I had the artistic skill. Years ago I had taken art classes in school. Would that be enough to produce an illustrated children's book? My daughter loaned me her illustration markers and Prismacolor pencils. What she didn't loan me was her training, skill, and talent. Oh well, I decided to give it my best shot anyway. During the process, I asked a few friends for their input as far as how the storyline was unfolding, about layout, and if I was getting the characters' drawings to be expressive enough. I was lucky to get some good feedback. They even said the story was fun and entertaining. They especially liked the surprise ending. I had been promised some layout help from my artist daughter who has a fancy design program. But time just got away from us and I knew I wouldn't make my deadline if I had to wait for her schedule to clear up. So, with just the software programs I knew how to use, I did my best to layout the book. I was not exactly happy considering the limits of what I could do, but it worked for a family Christmas gift. Reactions from the kids has been interesting. I think they have enjoyed it. Some remembered the events from long ago. Others had no recollections at all. The boy the story is about remembered! He even wants to convert the book into an e-book so that he can manage it and get the royalty payments. My trained artist daughters have given me feedback on how to redo some of the drawings to make them better. They have even started me on some illustration videos to help me hone my skills. I have talked to an editor friend of mine to see if he will take a look. Maybe the book has market appeal....maybe not. He said he'd give me his honest opinion. So whether I continue along the path of creating a marketable children's book or not, the kids have informed me that they expect a new storybook each Christmas from now on. They tell me I have set a precedent. They each expect their own storybook forthcoming...with illustrations of course. What have I done?!?!?! |
AuthorMy name is Betsy Bailey. I have sung, written and taught music all of my life. I enjoy writing and directing Children's Theater shows. This blog will be directed to topics on creating the magic of Children's Theater. I would love to hear your comments! Archives
March 2024
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