Well….at least by my grandkids! They are 3 and 18 mo., so I have a ready audience to preview my work – and even help me color! My first book is still just a dummy in their sticky little hands, but they like to read it.
I came to this place late in life when our Christian school closed and I was unemployed. But that thought wasn’t as scary as job hunting at the age of 58. So, with my husband’s encouragement, I am at last trying to refine some skills and go for a lifelong dream.
Kind critiques and suggestions are welcome from you professionals. I hope to grow with your input.
Hi, Laura — I came here via 12 x 12, and am looking forward to getting to know you better. Welcome to the world of children’s books — it’s a wonderful world. (And at 55 myself, I’m here to say it’s never too late to start!)
Thanks, Beth. I appreciate the encouragement. Stories have been rattling around in my head for many years. Many blessings to you in your pursuits as well!
Love the header and glad to see someone my age going for the dream too. I have been a nurse 35 years and have seriously been working on writing for the past two years. The Cancer Prayer Book was published last year by a small publisher and it has not gotten near the marketing that it deserves from the publisher so I am working on promoting that. I find it difficult to self promote but I am learning. And I have a picture book accepted and coming out this spring or summer, release date hasn’t been set. Good to find your site.
Thank you, Terri. Nursing is a calling, thanking you for being a nurse – and I’m sure that your Prayer book has blessed those whose lives its touched. I also have an issue w/self-promo, but meeting people like you and rec’vg the encouragement is really making a difference. Many blessings to you in your new work.
Hi Laura. What medium did you use for your illustrations? Visually, they give a soft gentle effect. That’s lovely, but it is dependent on the story, too. I epublished and illustrated my first book, “Adolfo and Athena” last week. The illustrations were done with pencil. Once I scanned them in, I thought that they were not bright enough for a storybook tale of 2 fighting mice. So, I autocorrected the images using Microsoft. This seemed to make the colors pop. Also, I used GIMP (a free image manipulation program that’s online) to clean up the illustrations. I hope this information helps give you more options to choose from. May God bless your endeavor. (You seem to be in the same boat I am.)
Brenda Harris
http://www.drawacircle.net
Hi Brenda – thank you for the encouragement. I use watercolor – and I have been a little frustrated w/the loss of brightness when scanning in – even w/autocorrections. I will check out GIMP. How wonderful you got your first epub done! Where can we look for it? God bless you and guide you too!
Hi Laura – I to am coming to my dreams late in life. I was checking out your blog and my 7year old son Enero is with me. He says”Oh cool! I like that picture.
The motto of their school this year is “Seize every opportunity!”. Enjoy the journey.
WOW – kid approved! That’s all the accolade I need. Tell Enero thank you from grandma miller.
Welcome to the blogosphere, Laura! I look forward to seeing ore of your pieces here — and glad to hear that you have two young coloring assistants for your blog illustrations. (Delegating is an under-rated illustrator’s skill.)
Hi, Laura! I’ve just popped back in today to let you know I’ve just awarded you a “Liebster Blog Award” — for details, see my blog post today: http://www.bethstilborn.com/blog-love-times-four-another-liebster-more-great-blogs/
Hi Laura…found you blog via Beth (see above). Your illustrations are very sweet, glad to see another person actively chasing their dreams through pictures and words. I am taking a children’s book illustration class online by Mark Mitchell at http://howtobeachildrensbookillustrator.wordpress.com/ and our class discussed the scanning issue. His suggestion was to use a digital camera to take a pic of your work than you can save it into GIMP or Photoshop and tweak it some more, but that a camera…doesn’t have to be super expensive (even most newer cell phones camera’s would work) and the color quality will be better and closer to the original. I haven’t tried it yet, I work mostly in Corel Painter 12 but I am sure I will at some point. Hope that helps and congrats on your Liebster!
Hey Kerie- are we related?? LOL I’m also taking Mark Mitchell’s course. Saw your name at the last critique. Will be there tonight too! Sorry, I’m late on giving a reply..we had a death in the family-my bro-in-law was only 50-killed in a car accid. This has been kind of a lost month. But working on my draft and getting back in routine now.
Sorry about my grammar above, I am typing one hand with a little one on my lap
!
You have said that you aren’t a “writer”. I have to disagree. You are very descriptive with your words. In this article, “sticky little hands” .. nice !! Also, the story of the beagle where you described the peanut butter on one’s face and the other as half dresses and well… the other was just excited. These are such nice details. I think you could really do well at writing !!