Steppin' Out

Jamie Lee Curtis read her book, Big Words for Little People.

Here are some pictures from the Orange County Book Festival. I have the most amazing friends and family! Thanks for coming out to show your support!

Getting Noticed

As I was driving around the other day, the name Jamie Lee Curtis caught my eye on an electronic advertisement board. I know that she has recently written a children's book, so I prayed that the light would stay red a little longer so I could read more. Before zooming off, I learned that Ms. Curtis will be participating in the Orange County Book Festival held on October 4th at the Orange Coast College campus in Costa Mesa. This fantastic free event is in it's fifth year!
Later that week, I e-mailed the event organizers and they replied swiftly. They were very nice and wanted to help me out. Now it looks like there's a chance for me to sell Family Flower there too! In addition, I look forward to meeting and greeting the booksellers, authors, and illustrators. This fantastic free event is in its fifth year, so click on the link below for more information and come join me!

http://www.kidsbookfestival.com/attendee.html

From Imagination to Images

Currently, I am beginning to illustrate a new book that I have written. With Family Flower, the illustrations were floating around in my head first and I had to piece together the story. However, with this next book the tables have turned. I wrote the story first and now I have to enhance it with visuals.

Before I get down to business, I like to just roughly sketch out each page in order to get a vision of what the whole book will look like. I use a large spiral drawing pad and I divide it into fourths with my pencil. With this method, I can easily see the succession of my work and make sure it flows together. If I am having trouble conveying with my hand what I see in my head, I will sketch two pictures or skip the page altogether and come back to it later. It's amazing how much breaks can give fresh perspective.
The next steps will be experimenting with mediums to see which one works best for this story and then taking each picture and recreating it with a lot more detail. Some stages of this process can be slower than others. I may even work on some other books I have up my sleeve and just skip back and forth. That's the joy of being the author and the illustrator I suppose.

New Aspirations

God surprised me at the beginning of this year. He gave me the desire of writing children's books. I have always reveled in drawing and creating stories, so the time has come to start getting some of my work in print.

Family Flower is the first book that I have had published. It is a colorful book that encourages readers to create a bond of affirmation with family members. The importance of this action cannot be stressed enough. You may never know how much a simple action or word may impact those around you each day.

Family Flower is now available online!

http://www.publishamerica.net/product23815.html