Saturday, October 30, 2010

Creating a Dummy Book For Illustrators - Part1

Creating a 8 x 10 Dummy Book - PART1
"Creating the Inside Pages First"



  1. Start with a clean work area and plenty of room.
  2. Decide the format your book .
I chose a standard picture book format:

8" x 10" landscape

32 pages
  1. Write down your calculations on a piece of paper.
My book requires 16 pages for a 32 page book.
I will measure each page to 10½" x 8". Notice  I  added ½ inch to the width to allow for binding.





  1. Cut your paper to the correct measurements.
Using a paper cutter, I cut 16 pages  of sturdy drawing paper to exactly 10½" x 8".




  1. Mark off your binding area on each page.
This is important because this will indicate where you score each page.
Draw a vertical dotted line ½ " away from the left edge of each page to allow for binding.
This will leave exactly 10" x 8" pages for viewing.




  1. Score your pages along the dotted line.
The scoring option is found on some paper cutters. It creases the page but does not cut thru it, in order to provide for a clean fold. - (It is just a step short of perforation.) If you do not have this option, fold back and forth cleanly upon the dotted line.




  1. Clip your pages together using binder clips.
I start by stacking the 16 pages together and making sure the stack is even.
 Make sure all  "binding borders" are on the same side.
Now, using binder clips, I clip the stack together - away from the binding side to make sure the stack will remain as even as possible when stapling.




  1. Staple your book together using a heavy duty stapler.



  1. You should have a booklet without endcovers at this point.




  1. Number lower page corners lightly with pencil from 1-32.

I will continue with Creating A Dummy Book for Illustrators - Part2 in my next blog.
Carolyn Dee Flores






Saturday, October 16, 2010

The Illustration Process


 "If They Could Rule The World Like Me"
Carolyn Dee Flores. Oil on cardboard.

THE ILLUSTRATION PROCESS … SOME OF THE BEST LINKS EVER!
Thumbnail to Finished Illustration -  Katriona Chapman

“The Art of The Cover” by David Weisner.

Left Brain Right Brain – Richard Jesse Watson

More from David Weisner – “David’s Studio” and “Straight from the Sketchpad”

Monday, October 4, 2010

"Rafting at Night" and Modeling

Today, I am featuring one of my recent paintings - "Rafting at Night." 24 x 18" Oil on canvas. It is one in a series of five paintings I did based upon the Periodic Table of The Elements.

"Rafting at Night." 24 x 18" Oil on canvas

Since I spent the entire week last week building a miniature model classroom to use as a reference for the new illustrations I am working on (seriously, I did), it was a great change of pace to get back into just plain oil, brushes, tubes and easel.

Sometimes, you just need a break, no matter how much you love what you are doing.
By the way, here is a picture of my classroom.

My Scale Cardboard Model of a Classroom

 Last year, at the SCBWI Conference in L.A. 2009, David Weisner, three time Caldecott medal winner,  talked extensively about  the need to be skilled at drawing. One of his suggestions was to make clay models of your subject, in order to see it with the correct lighting and shadows.  I have been doing that since last year, and it really helps me to create the world I want and understand it a lot more clearly.
Here is model I made of a horse-drawn carriage. Crazy, huh?
Model of a Horse-Drawn Carriage


Retweet of the Day
These are such great tips on illustration! Enjoy.
http://www.teeteringbulb.com/?p=1239

 See you next week. Have fun!
 Carolyn Dee Flores