Thank a teacher.
Here's a rare moment from me: I'm sharing work that isn't very good. This sequence is the thought process I went through in trying to illustrate one spread for a picturebook that comes out next fall.
My art mentor, SCBWI great E.B. Lewis, has been pushing me to see things differently, and now, after about 2 months of working with him I *finally* understand what he meant when he said I wasn't putting myself into the story enough.
I totally understand now that illustration is the same as writing.
I get it.
Because he's a good teacher.
Wrong. All wrong.
A little better. But still no.
A little better but the reader isn't IN the story yet.
No.
No.
Yes.
This is just the rough pencil sketch -- the designer, art director, and various editors at the publisher will have their own opinions. But this is a lot better than I'd have done before taking art lessons.
Thank you, E.B.!
-- Ruth McNally Barshaw
