Seth Godin is to blame. He gave me the confidence to visually bring life to my picture book. I began reading Godin’s book, The Practice: Shipping Creative Work at the beginning of the summer and my creativity just got away from me!
I started with these nice colored pencils I got for my birthday a few years back. This was my first occasion to use them! Evidence: I am not an artist. But that was no good. So then, I dug out Jemma’s old watercolor “palette” from the closet, along with all of her best brushes, and sat down at my dining room table to paint. I would start with the title character: the Heron. And, as for the results: I was pleasantly surprised.
It wasn’t half bad!
I showed a few people and they thought it was cute. So I persisted. Over the course of several days, I painted the other three characters from the book, my confidence growing after each completed painting. When I’d finish one, I’d let it dry, then photograph it with my iPhone 10 and import it into Photoshop. I ended up painting backgrounds and layering them with the animals and started feeling sort of proud.
This is about the time I began my querying process. So I quickly discovered that most Literary Agents requested illustrations be stored out on the web. To follow that protocol, I developed a little art site, free, of course. When I was finished, I proudly sent the link to several friends and family members. Everyone gave me, “Oh, that’s cute,” and other kind enough accolades. But that feeling, that pride, dissipated quickly like heat vapors rising from a pot of boiling water. Not too long after, I saw this quote on social media from @eliciadonze:
“People hate their own art because it looks like they made it. They think if they get better, it will stop looking like they made it. A better person made it. But there’s no level of skill beyond which you stop being you. You hate the most valuable thing about your art.” – Elicia Donze
Again, such comfort from a sort of harsh reality. Even if I were INCREDIBLY talented in art, I believe I would feel this very way. Nonetheless, along with my first round of queries, I too submitted my art. At the very least, I figured it would help agents picture my intentions for the story. And they were the best of intentions…
If you’ve been following my Pilgrimage thus far, you’ll know my first round of querying has been a complete failure. But a good failure. I’ve taken some time and I’ve been reading and learning through all sorts of resources, and now I know: I probably shouldn’t spend any more time illustrating. All of this was completely solidified by a Querying Seminar I recently attended. It was stated that agents appreciate the flexibility of authors who are willing to work with illustrators. There are so many talented artists out there – they’re making a whole career of it – and I definitely look forward to working with one of them, hopefully someday soon! So now, I focus on the writing, and the featured image is for your enjoyment!
My Pilgrimage to Publication and Beyond 