E-Book (Indie) VS Physical Books; Writing and Illustrating E-Books

Indie books, E-Book and Physical Books, Which is better?

an e-book and a physical book Illustrated by Will TerrySince I’m a lover of both the physical and the e-book – I don’t have a favorite, but I think it’s always good to analyze them things for their advantages and disadvantages. So I have compiled a list of pros and cons below.

Pros & Cons for the consumer as well as the author/illustrator

I decided to list both pros and cons from the consumer point of view as well as the author and artist/illustrator point of view. As if I were to be working with a traditional publisher vs indie publishing an e-book. So if you like to purchase books, Illustrate or write children’s books, this list is for you. If I miss some points please help me by adding your insights as I know I’ll have a different list than some of you. So here we go…

Physical Books, Pros:

Having a tangible artifact; to hold and curl up with on a rainy day.
Larger format for illustrations; A nice illustration to look at, and more fun to paint.
Better legibility in strong light; Like out in the daylight.
Gift-ability; A tangible, 3-D present to give.
Developing a physical library; Looks good on a shelf.
Guaranteed advance against royalties; Cash is king.
Eligible for Caldecott and other medals; Like that’s going to happen to me.
Inclusion in school & public libraries; More sales and fame.
Can be signed; The fans love this, and it’s a pat on the back.
More prestigious; It’s a real book.
Edited by professionals; Fewer typos
Marketed by professionals; People that know what they are doing

Physical Books, Cons

Expensive to purchase
Expensive to print and to publish
Can get damaged and or lost
Hard to see in dim light
Heavy & unwieldy
Less Eco friendly
Limited to multiples of 4 page counts
Travel to purchase & wait for delivery
Can go out of print

E-Book, Pros:

Inexpensive to purchase
Inexpensive to publish
Disaster Proof; you download from your account
Reading in the dark
Light weight; Easy to carry thousands of titles; Moving day is a lot easier.
Eco friendly
Search-able
Adjustable font size
Interactivity
Unlimited page counts
Publishing freedom & autonomy
Update-able
Instant delivery
Quicker to market & royalties
Never goes out of print

E-Book, Cons;

No physical artifact
Comparatively small viewing area
Hard to view in strong light
Not as gift-able
Less pride of ownership
No guarantee of earnings
Not eligible for most book awards
Can’t be checked out at the library
Can’t be signed
Less prestigious
Self edited
Self programmed
Self marketed

Is the E-Book Better, or the Physical Book?

There you have it, a list of pros and cons but no definite right answer. I can only surmise, that both have their pros and both have their cons. E-Books are better for some occasions or personalities and real books are better for others. Like I said, I love them both. I do think it is cool that anyone can publish now with the invention of the e-book. See the process in a previous blog. You may also want to check out the blog where in my friend Kari Brimhall shares the how to create and publish your own e-book. See 4/22/16.

 

 

Ebook; from Idea to Publish to Prosper, I Hope

Ebook: Think, Write, Paint, Publish.

I released another ebook on Barnes and noble.com! My other books were really encouraging. And I wasn’t sleeping anyway. So behold, Pollywog to Frog.

0011a

Two Things I really like about Ebooks

1) I love to draw fun simple little characters

2) I like to be able to pay my bills.

Publishing my own ebooks in my “spare” time allows me to do both. I carry my sketch book everywhere and so if I’m not writing I’m sketching and vice versa. Pollywog to Frog was written in the few hours I have in-between the two college classes I was teaching and the digital paintings were done in-between assignments. And oh yeah, an ebook costs so little to publish. Now anyone can compete with the big publishers.

ebook graphic, a little polliwog, Flippy floppy little sprout,

ebook graphic, a little tad-pole, All his arms and legs pop out.

Ebooks: How to make money as an artist.

One of the best things we can do as artists and business people is develop passive streams of income. The ability to earn money while you’re sleeping, playing, or working on other projects is a really cool thing. I’m already working on my next ebook.

If you can’t write an ebook, find someone who can

If any of you feel comfortable illustrating but not writing and would want to work on producing an ebook, ask around, everyone knows someone who wants to write a children’s book. Find a friend or relative, (Can relatives be friends?) to work with. If that doesn’t work, I have a professional well known author who would love you to take one of his manuscripts and turn it into an ebook. And my buddy, also known as my brother in law is probably still available to take the finished jpeg files and produce the epub files necessary to publish your work. Just email me off list if you’re interested: willterryart@gmail.com

Stay tuned for some Shameless Marketing below

5 ebooks that I recommend

So my three little claims to ebook fame are: Monkey & Croc, Tickle Bugs and Pollywog to Frognone of which have made the New Your Times best seller listA young friend of mine, OK, Wayne’s daughter, has written two ebooks. I Love Chickens Eggs and Baby Chicks and When I Grow Up, I Want to be a Frog, and she is just a little girl. I think I told you this in my last post, but Hey! I want to encourage you.

PS Learn how to draw and paint, and other fun art skills at FolioAcademy.com.

Book Signing his Picture Books – LA

Book signings are a lot of fun for authors and illustrators

My good friend Will here is just loving the opportunity to meet his fans and attending a book signing. One of the things you will love most about being a children’s book artist going to the book signings and meeting fans and signing books that they can’t wait to take home and read to their kids. If you look real close at our blog and our website, you will soon see that my good friend, Will Terry is the more talented and more famous artist here. I, Wayne Andreason, the other Folio Academy guy, don’t have hoards of peeps asking me to sign anything yet. But I like road trips and fortunately Will and I get to do a lot of cool stuff together. Bro time, if you will.

Book Signing for artist and author at the CTA

Will Terry and Helen Ketteman at the CTA Book Signing in LA

A few years ago, Will was invited to attend a big convention and book signing op for the CTA (California Teachers Association) in L.A. Two years in a row they chose one of his picture books as their spot light book I guess.  He was chosen to be the CTA illustrator in conjunction with “Read Across America” and the CTA chose Armadilly Chili to be their “RAA” book for the state of California for 2010-2011. It was such a great gig because they print up posters, conference folders, pencils, stickers, and for Armadilly – mugs, T-shirts, a plush Tex, and even an apron. Also, Helen Ketteman the author of Armadilly Chili was there to sign books and she’s a hoot. That woman has more energy than the sun!

Sun shining through the city-scape of LAWe were lucky enough to go hang out in LA and eat good food. An awesome road trip on the tax payers dime.

We signed books that evening, well his book signing deal not mine, but I was there helping get books out for people, keeping the line steady, crowd controlling and that. It wasn’t quite like a Justin Bieber concert but it was busy. Then were up at the crack of dawn to sign books all day Saturday. About 1000 teacher reps fly in from all over the state for their council meeting and most of them buy the books to take back to their districts for the upcoming read across America day on March 2nd.

“I was so lucky to get this opportunity!” ~Will Terry

Wayne In font of a cool old vacant diner in or near Vegas

I was so lucky to go too and to share in the fun. We stopped in Vegas to visit family and eat. It’s hard to believe it was so long ago. ~Wayne Andreason

Self Publish Your Art Your Stories and Your Illustrations

Warning! Self Publishing Artists and writers are going digital, you might regret it if you don’t

A Running Rat

I’m no expert here – but I do self publish and I have to share what I’ve learned both as encouragement and as a warning. If you want to how to write your children’s books and or illustrate children’s books, now’s the time.

I hope to help you find the motivation to start self publishing your own stories and illustrations digitally. The warning is that if you don’t do it soon you might have regrets in a year or two or sooner.

Lowly Self publishers compete with big business

I’ve been doing a lot of reading of various blogs and web pages about self publishing digitally and most agree that we are seeing a change in publishing the likes of which we haven’t seen in our life times. Until now the gate keepers have been large traditional publishers. They held the keys because they could afford to put up the tens of thousands of dollars to print large runs of picture books. Also, they had established complicated distribution channels that an individual author, or illustrator/artist would be hard pressed to compete with. Most of this hasn’t changed. The day of the large publisher is definitely NOT over and I’m glad – I like the publishers I work with, and most of them have been very good to me.

E books cost so little to self publish

What has changed is how inexpensive it is to publish your work which means that one of the two cards that publishers held, has evaporated. Now the only real advantage a large publisher has is a distribution channel. I’m not underestimating how important this channel is either. Large traditional publishers have relationships with stores that you and I do not. They have publicists working for them to promote our books and editors to polish the final products. They have customers that they’ve established long before you or I ever worked with them, and way before we put on our author and illustrator/artist hats. They know the business better than we. They submit our books to all the major book awards and from what I’ve been told that list is well over 200. Imagine trying to research, compile, address, and pay for 200 give away books and shipping, just to put them in the hands of jurors who probably won’t pick your book anyway. And I’m sure there are a lot more things that they do that I’m overlooking.

The E-Book opportunity may not last for self publishers

The time is now, will, maybe a few years ago but I still see a huge opportunity that isn’t going to last forever. Like the Oklahoma pan handle rush of 1889 there was opportunity for a limited time and then it was OVER. For the first time in our lives a new platform is emerging that is giving the early birds a distinct advantage. I’m sure that you’ve all thought about e-books – I have been for the past year or more. However, I never realized how important it is to be first to market until I started reading and researching. It only takes an hour or so poking around on Amazon or Barnes and Noble to see self published books doing extremely well.

The new e-book digital format is growing

Awhile ago I published my first e-book – Monkey & Croc at Barns and Noble and it’s done pretty well on B&N. The only reason it did so well as it is – is because of the lack of competition. When I published it there were a little over 500 e-books for children ages 3-5 on B&N. Crazy right? Think of how many thousands of books there are in hard copy in that group. Look, I don’t even own an ereader but you can’t ignore this new format – it’s coming on strong. Amazon said that for any particular book that they sell in physical format – they sell 48 digital copies of the same book.

Intellectual property, art and words and pixels for sale.

Aside for being early to market you can afford to sell an ebook for only a few dollars because the only cost you have is your time. Right now the big publishers are selling their ebooks in most cases for about the same price as their hardbacks. This is another reason to get your book to market quickly. While they sell their books high – we can sell ours low and create an advantage for the buyer. Think about it…if you bought a new ereader or ipad and you wanted to load it with content wouldn’t you gamble on a few unproven $2 and $3 books since the alternatives are $12.99 books that you might already own?

I believe there’s still time to capitalize on the e-book movement

My belief is that if you can create a following due to timing – your book could gain the kind of momentum that could build a franchise. If this happens there’s also a good chance that a traditional publisher would want to buy your book and print hard copies. Another option is that you incorporate a print on demand publisher and offer hard copies on your own. Either way the future is bright for self published books. I think that there will always be a place for large publishers but now there is a much larger place for self publishers.

Join a critique group, writers or illustrators, find help

Some drawbacks: You won’t have the benefit of an editor and this places a great responsibility back on your shoulders. My suggestion is to acquire the help of a professional writer and/or join a critique group that can help you polish your story. Another obstacle is finding software that will easily let you turn your jpeg images into an e-book. This was a very frustrating process for me and without the help of my brother in law I don’t think I would have been able to release Monkey & Croc. There has been talk about Barnes and Noble, Amazon, and Itunes holding back publishing software and only releasing it to large publishers. Monkey & Croc suffered a bit with a few minor hiccups because we couldn’t get that software. I think that this will soon change as open source programs become available. Where there is a need someone will fill it.

I published Monkey & Croc on Barnes and Noble’s Pubit.com site. They take 35% of every sale but they give you an account for free and you can check your sales in your back office any time you like. It’s neat to go in and check every day or so.

It’s amazing what parents will let their children do if it means education

Finally for those who don’t think that parents won’t turn their kids loose with an expensive e-reader to beat up, you’re right. However think of the advantages – Carrying an unlimited amount of picturebooks on a plane, train, or automobile will keep kids pacified much longer than the few books parents can carry in hard copy form. And how nice will it be for the parents who have long commutes with children in tow to and from day cares. How long do you think it will be before they develop the kid proof ereader? I suspect it’s around the corner.

At the beginning of my illustration career I was asked to complete an illustration about e-mail – I asked the art director, “What is email”. It’s happening now.

A QUICK LITTLE DIGITAL PAINTING OVER A QUICK LITTLE PENCIL SKETCH

Two Hour Pencil Sketch, Painted in Photoshop

Folio boy will Terry draws in pencil & Paints in Photoshop.

little Boy painted in Photoshop little Boy sketchSince I have been telling lately about my transition from acrylic to digital illustration, I thought I would post these little After and Before pictures ot a sketch I drew then painted in Photoshop. In the beginning I was able to get a handle on the digital painting a lot faster than digital sketching and designing the drawing. So I would do a basic drawing and then finish it in Photoshop. I also enjoy a lot of the play between the pencil drawing and the painting. I left a lot of the hatchy, sketchy, pencilly, lines shining through the paint, on purpose.

This little study took me just two hours to complete and was a lot of fun.

 

Scanning, Re-Sizing, Resolution, & Pixels in Photoshop

Getting the size and resolution right in Photoshop

This is mostly for beginners but a valid subject.

Scan your art or sketch and work in Photoshop to finish, paint or add color.

For those who sketch or start their artwork on paper but like to work in Photoshop

This is a question that we still get a LOT, so we want to address it.

Step by Step 

Scan your sketch or artwork into Photoshop at 150-300 pixels per inch.

Make sure Constrain Proportions is checked

Make sure Resample image is checked.

Set your pixels per inch to 300 pixels per inch.

Decide what size you want the printed piece to be and set your size. I.E. 8”x10”

There are a few things to be aware of when sizing a piece in Photoshop.

Get your Height, Width and Resolution right.

Get it into Photoshop and go to image then image size and just look at it.

Go down to Resolution in the Document Size area and see what you’ve got. If it says 150 pixels per inch, then that is how many pixels equals 1 inch in the resolution of your painting. Above the RESOLUTION there are the two Width and Height boxes, you want those in inches not pixels, so change that if you need.

Above that there are the Pixel Dimensions, this is the total number of pixels, not pixels per inch but per the entire piece. Set your width and Height to Pixels.

Make sure Scale to Style, Constrain Proportions and Re-sample Image are all checked. Like so.

Pixel Dimensions

Width      [big number]           Pixels

Height     [big number]           Pixels

Document Size

Width         [     8.5     ]            Inches

Height        [    11       ]            Inches

Resolution  [    300     ]          Pixels/Inch (Pixels per Inch)

[ x ] Scale Style

[ x ] Constrain Proportions

[ x ] Resample Image

Printers and publishers usually want everything to be at 300 pixels per inch.

They also want it to be so many inches, like 8×10″ for example.

You want your illustrations to look good. So…

Increasing the Resolution does not increase your resolution.

 

Set the parameters and get the scale right in Photoshop

Now that you are working on your sketch in Photoshop, you want to set the parameters and get the scale right.

Screen resolutions is about 72 dpi, (Dots Per Inch, or Pixels Per Inch)

There is nothing you can do to increase the actual information that you have. If you take a small picture scanned in at say 75 DPI and blow it up, it won’t give you ANY more detail. Like a projector, if you back it up and make the image on the wall bigger, the image will not be any more clear, just bigger. So Ideally, when you work, you want your finished piece to be big and clear, you can always make it smaller. Don’t go too big it takes longer for your computer to render.

If you have an 8×10 piece scanned in at 150 and you just change your Resolution to 300, it doesn’t actually change the resolution of your work and leave all the other parameters the same. It will decrease the size of your piece.

The reason I set my scanner at 150 instead of 300 is because I don’t need too much detail to go from a sketch to a finished piece, so I scan it in at 150 then change it to 300, then I work in 300 dpi so my finished piece will be acceptable for the printers, and it will have the detail and clarity that it needs for the size that it will be printed.

So you want your width to be the right size for the printer, say 8 by 10”.

You want your resolution to be 300.

Now you can zoom in on your work and zoom out without changing the end size or resolution.

Make sure Constrain Proportions is checked. 

[ x ] Constrain Proportions wants to be checked so that if you change the width, the height will change proportionally and vise versa. If you want the width wider but want the height to stay the same, if you just change the width, it will skew your art, so it would be better to keep your proportions, so you should just size it bigger and cut some off.

 

MAKE SURE resample image IS CHECKED.

[ x ] Resample Image is important so that if you change your work from 150 pixels per inch to 300, it will boost your actual pixels per inch as well. Otherwise, with Resample image unchecked, you could change your work from 150 to 300 Pixels per inch and  size of your work will drop to compensate for the change. Now when you go to ship that finished work to the printer, your 8 by 10” piece will be more like 4 by 5”, and that is not good. You Cannot just make it bigger with out making it all pixilated and blurry and crappy.

What a publisher wants

Most publishers want your work to be at least 100% of what they want to printed piece to be. 8-9” by 10-11” and at 300 pixels per inch.

 Have fun with it, explore. 

Fool around with some of these and see what happens to your image and the other perameters when you make changes with Constrain Proportions and Resample image checked and unchecked.

The danger is that you can be working along and not realize that your pixels per inch or your resolution or your document size is way too small until you are finished. And that is a painful lesson. Ouch!

 

for more info on this same thing, watch this video by Will Terry.

I Can’t Write, BUT You Get to Illustrate my Book

Hey I just met you this is crazy here’s my manuscript, illustrate it for me. 

Have you ever been in this situation as an Artist?

How often do people offer you the opportunity to do the artwork for their children’s book? It seems that as soon as people know you’re an artist, they want you to illustrate their book. They haven’t got a clue how it works in the real world of illustration, or that maybe you don’t want to spend a few hundred hours designing, drawing, and illustrating a story that it took them 2 hours to write. And it’s their first book, and probably not finished and will need you to fix the story.

It’s always awkward. It would be flattering if these people knew your work, but most don’t. They usually just know your an artist and they they know, (or think) that they are a children’s book writer.

Any way, we put this together awhile back using Xtranormal.com. I would recommend it for you to go have some fun with it but I can’t find it out there any more. I wonder if xtranormal is gone. Oh well, you can waste a LOT of time on there.

 

The Secret Life of a Professional Artist and Freelance Illustrator

The Secret Life of a Freelance Illustrator; Professional Artist

People know nothing about freelance illustration 

a treasure chest full of treasure It’s amazing how many people know nothing about freelance illustration. I think most people assume you have to be crazy to be a freelancer – they’re probably right. Interestingly enough back when I had my highest earning years back in the late 90’s my wife would get comments from women at the park like: “Has your husband found a job yet?” or “It must be hard being married to an artist”. My wife would say, “you have no idea!” I think she enjoyed messing with them. People with good intent would drop little clues like, “I hear they’re hiring over at Home Depot”.

Being a Professional Artist or Illustrator was easier back then. 

Back then being a freelancer was a much easier feat than it is today. I’ve talked at length about the current state of freelance illustration in lectures and one on one. Today the freelance markets are fractured and constantly evolving. I know illustrators who are now bankers, or working at Home Depot. I know editors who are teaching school among other jobs, like at Home Depot. I know editors who are trying to become artists and illustrators. I know illustrators who are now graphic designers or trying to become editors, or work at Home Depot. I even know art directors who have been laid off and re-hired by the same companies to freelance graphic design. I know art directors and editors who have lost their jobs to down sizing and are still looking for their next job. At Home Depot. (the t is silent)

The World has Changed a lot for artists and Illustrators.

The world has probably changed more in the past 10 years than ever before, not counting war or ice ages and crazy stuff like that. I probably sounds naive and over-reaching but can you imagine any other technology that has changed the world in such a short time as the internet? Remember the last time your internet went down and you sat in fetal position sucking your thumb waiting for the horror to end? We can’t do anything without it!

Be happy, Say “no” to bad freelance jobs, and drugs of course.   

But I digress. Let me divulge some of my secret activities! Sometimes I don’t get dressed until the afternoon. I’ve skyped without pants (as far as you know) – maybe with you! – but I promise, not with your daughter. I go shopping on weekdays (sometimes at Home Depot) while the world is at work. I work longer and harder than most people with a regular job. I can’t remember the last time I put in fewer than 70 hours in one week, sometimes more than 90 – BUT – they were the funnest (most fun, but hey! I’m an artist trying to be a writer) hours I could imagine putting in. Most days I wake up pinching myself (dream metaphor) that I get to do this. It wasn’t always like this however. It took me about 15 years to learn that my life is so much better off when I don’t spend more than I make and I say “no” to bad freelance jobs. What are bad freelance jobs? The kind that make it hard to sleap and have you cringing when you wake up. I can’t tell you what they are because your bad jobs will be different than mine. And hopefully fewer.

The Lonely Artist; Freelance Illustrating has it’s downsides

I’ve wished I could stand around the water cooler and catch up on the latest chatter. I used to get really lonely painting all day (and got hooked on General Hospital for about a year back in 1993). I’ve called other illustrators randomly from the old directories just to strike up a conversation. I worked on Christmas day once because the client had to have it two days after or they were going to go with someone else. (to be read out loud with a whiny voice) I happened to get paid $13,000 for that job, it was for Sprint, and it only took me about a week to complete. I could do it now digitally in a few days and enjoy Christmas with my family and saved some of that money. And I once earned $20,000 for a phone call (remind me to go into detail on this one on another blog post). Best phone call ever! 2nd best woulda been when when the doctor told me I didn’t have worms. LOL.

‘Underindulgence’: the Key to Happiness?

I’ve learned to spend less than I make. This is probably one of the most important skills you can learn. Stress is a killer…no really…STRESS WILL KILL YOU. I’ve had about 3 really stressful times. And I wake up pinching myself wondering if I died all those times.

1) Back when I was stupid I got down to about $800 in my account for the entire month and I didn’t have any assignments! I was so nervous I made a few calls to art directors I had worked for in the past. A few of them gave me work and then of course I got a deluge of assignments the week after.

2) Back when I was really really stupid – we were spending more than we were making because we were making lots of money. It was right after a year where I turned down over $70,000 worth of freelance work because my plate was already too full in 1998.Yep – we spent all the money in our account and couldn’t get paid from any of my outstanding accounts for about 3 weeks. (Please don’t think I’m seeking any sympathy – in fact you should leave a comment with your best synonym for dumb ass)…Luckily I had been saving quarters, nickels, and dimes in a jar. I’m not kidding, I got that puppy off the shelf and counted out $90. Later that day I had my car filled up and groceries in the fridge. I Kept checking the mailbox but each day there were NO checks. We stopped driving unless it was absolutely necessary. Did I mention that our two credit cards were maxed? The following week when the fridge was empty I went for the back up plan – the penny jar! SHOOWEE – $20 later and I was back with groceries again – amazing how far you can stretch your last $20 bucks. Remind me to give you an in expensive recipe for black eyed peas. Eventually we got paid – crazy thing was that I was owed about $28,000 in outstanding checks but this is the lesson: Don’t spend it until it’s in your account and even then – DON”T SPEND IT!

3) Back when I was Ultra Mega Stupid – we got in over our heads again. (notice a pattern here? some of us have to learn the same lessons over and over) I had about a year when we were going through a really really dry spell for freelance – this was also a transitionary time – it’s a long story – but basically I had to learn all over again how important it is to save money. We survived! We downsized. We learned what we needed to have to be happy and what we could live without.

It’s not how much you make that matters, it’s how much you keep

The good news is that in the past 5 years I’ve had more money than I did when I was earning much much more. We wasted so much money back then. Now I keep enough money in the bank to pay all of our bills for about 9 months. This is enough time to really make drastic changes if things aren’t working out. Don’t tell my fam, they will find something or things we just cant live without and make me spend it all.

So there you go – the secret life of a freelancer isn’t so secret anymore – Ups and downs yes, but it’s the best JOB I’ve NEVER had.

I painted the image above a few months back for National Geographic Learning. It was one of about 8 paintings I completed for an educational project they had for ESL students. I was given the assignment from Cynthia Currie – an art director I hadn’t heard from in about a decade. It was really neat to get a job from her again – I hope she reads my blog so she can see how exciting it was – hint hint! :)

PS- Here’s that inexpensive recipe for Black Eyed Peas:
1 bag Black eyed peas
Water
Salt
Empty peas into a pot, dig bag out of trash and follow cooking instructions on the package.

Illustration Demo for BYU Art Students

Art Demonstration for an illustration Class at BYU

 I may offend them with a BYU alumni overweight, and smoking!

I was asked by Greg Newbold to do a demo in his illustration classes… so I racked my brain to come up with something that would be FUN but non-offensive to the students. Well not TOO offensive.

Behold! the sketch I came up with. Fun? Offensive? Art?

I really like this sketch and I’m going to paint it but I’m concerned that the student’s might not like that I’ve decided to portray a BYU alumni overweight. And as many of you know, they don’t smoke, so I am taking a little risk here. Not to worry, they may be Mormons but they aren’t that uptight.  :)

Finished, Acrylic paint over Photoshop printed background.

Six hours to paint it

BYU alumnusThis is the finish art demo: It was a lot of fun working on it and talking to students. I was happy that they thought it was funny… or at least, didn’t beat me up for poking fun. I worked on it in class for about 4 hours and spent an additional 2 at home with a few finishing touches.

 

Digital Stage, no lighter than 50% value.

This is the beginnings of my digital stage where I Scan in my sketch, take that into Photoshop and airbrush some smooth, basic colors and keep them kind of dark. My main concern is getting everything no lighter than about 50% value.

Using Photoshop I spent about 20 minutes laying in shadows and basic foundation colors. Then I printed it on watercolor paper. The next step in this method was to stipple a layer of acrylic gel medium over the print. I use a kind of short hair paint brush and a little Gel Medium at a time and stipple it onto the paper, giving it millions of little tiny peaks. Aka tooth. The gel drys clear so you can paint with acrylics right over it. Building up the lighter areas. And of course saving the highlights for last.

 

Illustrations & Artwork for My Own Book

writing and Illustrating my Own Book

“Get used to disappointment” ~Dread Pirate Roberts

These are some character and environment sketches for a book I wrote and tried to get published. I’ve already scored one rejection on. We learn by our failures right? But in the publishing world you need many many failures, rejections, refusals, dis-approvals, and disasters in order to be a success right? (just say yes) I’ve written many a children’s book my friend and so far the score is, Publishers 15 – Will Terry 0.
Enjoy it while it lasts publishers – for one day I shall laugh at you for buying one of my manuscripts…MWAA HAA HAAA!

 

 

 

:) folioacademy is awesome.  (<<< subliminal message)