Which Pots: Writing & Sketching
Hi there, Friends!
So, right now, I’m in the middle of developing a new children’s book called, Which Pots!
The starting motivation behind this book involved a delightfully cozy illustration I made of a girl on a walk through the woods with a cat, modeled after my own, Miss. Pupoo.
As this is my first major push into picture books and children’s literature, I thought it would be a fantastic opportunity to document my overall writing/sketching process & my efforts in getting it agent-ed and published!
This series of posts are for those interested in following along on the development of a new picture book!
Alright, are we ready to get started?
First Up: The Vomit Process
Yes, you read that right. When first brainstorming a picture book, comic or graphic novel, I try and get all the ideas out of my head as quickly and as fast as possible, hence “The Vomit Process”. I find that if I take too long in the beginning, I tend to over-analyze what I’m doing, which can lead to stagnation & wasting precious creative time.
Part of writing a story is about “seeing” it first, because only then can you really “see” if the “juice is worth the squeeze!”
The process looks like this…
When brainstorming and ideating on Which Pots, I knew right away that I was on to something. So after the Vomit Process and cleaning up the mess I made a little bit, I boiled the basic story down to this…
Title Page Mock-up
The Basic Story:
Which Pots is about overcoming the desire for perfection & learning to see mistakes as memories! The story follows Abigail, whose potted plant isn't growing anymore and who visits a pottery studio in the deep woods to create a suitable alternative.
Certain the vine covered studio must belong to a Witch, Abigail nervously enters and is soon immersed into a dazzling world of peculiar pots, delicate dishes, crafty ceramics, painted planters, decorative decanters, and raku relics!
In the studio, Abigail tries to learn how to make a new pot for her plant. However, at each attempt, “a full-of-mistakes total-failure” occurs.
Defeated, Abigail struggles to see past her mistakes, yet due to some ‘witchy’ means, magical floating ‘artist hands’ are soon revealed throughout the entire studio!
Will Abigail learn to see the memory of who and how each pot was made? Will she embrace her own mistakes and make a pot she is proud of?
Well, of course she does! It is a kid’s book after all…but the magic is in the making! :)
Next Up: The Manuscript Food Chain
Ok! The basic hook and story has been figured out! Now, it’s time to put real words to paper. My manuscript/writing process starts with ‘vomiting’ ideas onto the page, but soon a process of devouring begins…like a Food Chain! The way I look at it, each revision should absorb the “nutrients” or “nutritious” parts of the draft before and make changes to revise, simplify and consolidate the story into its core essence.
The process looks like this…
Gobbling up the previous versions, helps me see my story not as something perfect, but rather something which needs to evolve over time and can always been seen at a different/new angle.
HUGE TIP: As my food chain process is concluding, I always try a few different ways of writing the core story to see if something new breaks loose or a new pathway reveals its self.
Examples: First person/Lyrical, Third person/Omniscient , Limited, Apostrophe voice & Mask voice.
Shout out to Ann Whitford Paul and her book: Writing Picture Books (It’s a life saver, ya’ll).
Initial Sketches
After devouring the story of Which Pots over-and-over again, I managed to digest it into a suitable manuscript of 40 pages (definitely needing a bit more revision), but I was ready to see what this book might look like! So, I broke out Adobe InDesign, laid out my text in an appropriate book size (square 8.5x8.5) and got to sketching it out!
Special Ability: Now, when building a picture book, the main thing to remember is that the visuals can & should reveal aspects of the story which the text does not state. Typically, the Illustrator is at the mercy of the text they are provided. However, as an Author/Illustrator, I am in the perfect position to revise my text at the same time I develop the initial compositions. So while the process was a bit time consuming…Which Pots really started to feel like it was building toward something strong. :)
Here are some of the results of that effort...
Now, while I LOVE the volumetric sketches that I developed for the layout of the book, it might not be the ‘right’ aesthetic look for the story. So, it’s time to spend some time exploring rendering options and styles to see what these characters and settings might look like if taken to their fullest extent.
The NEXT POST follows that process….