Creative Tuesday: Morning and Tic Tocc No. 18

Good morning my friends. The sun was actually out this morning and waiting with a cup of coffee for me. The sun is so nice. Clouds are trying to take over, but hopefully the happy little sun will swat them away. The theme for this Creative Tuesday is MORNING! Wander on over to Mr. Toast's blog to see more morning awesomeness.

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Below is my Tic Tocc exercise from the wonderful Kat over at her Wright Story blog.

This time around we had to think of something that has been stressing us, big or small and then use that as inspiration to create with positively. I myself swear I never have enough time. I have so many ideas/projects I want to do, but not enough time in the day. If I could just freeze it just for a bit that would be great. Below the Crowley's find themselves frozen in time for a quick bit.

It was as if all time stood still. Well, I think it actually did if only for the quickest second. I’m sure it was somehow related to the portal and wormhole being open at once. I looked around and it seemed I was frozen in a running position. The monster Verona released from the copper kettle was stuck in the midst of consuming the unicorn hunter. Verona herself had an odd look of delight adhered to her face. Auntie X was standing near with one knee drawn up, an elbow pulled in and her other arm straight out. What I was assuming was the proper wormhole traveling pose. Pete cowered behind the stone wall, with George and Georgina clinging to his neck. From the looks of it they were clinging a little too tightly cuz Pete’s tongue was hanging out and his eyes were slightly bugged. My dad was saluting. Don’t ask me why, maybe it was for Auntie X, who knows. My mom was to my right, she was in the middle of falling on her face, but hung in the air due to the funny thing that was going on with the time and space. Auntie Minniford was the last one to be accounted for. She was in the air about a foot off the ground with her arms outreached trying to grab for Reginald. The birdcage door was sucked open by the suction created by the combined forces of the portal and wormhole. Reginald got sucked right on out. It looked like he was being drawn into the wormhole in which Auntie X would continue her travels. 

Side note: Reginald is the bird that lives in the birdcage that Auntie Minniford has in her hair.

Sunday Sketches and Neato Stuff I Won From Kat

It's fall and little fox here is gathering leaves or something along that line, maybe they're mums, not sure, but whatever fox is holding they're all fall color like and bringing them on over to Sunday Sketches. I'm in a fall like mood, so I used a color I don't use that often, a nice rusty orange perfect for fall. Also, first time I've ever really drawn a fox, well, my version of a fox. When I sat down just a bit ago to draw something I had the slightest idea what I was going to draw, usually I have at least an inkling, but I had nothing, so I started out with a circle and the above came to be.

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I also recently won a giveaway from Kat over at her Wright Story blog. All the below lovlies for creating came all the way from Cornwall. Not every day I get a package from England, I was quite excited.

Cornwall

I love this collage sheet!



Doo-dads and a lovely piece of paper that came
in the package.

Enjoy the rest of the day!

e-Book Review: The Ghost in Me

Hello and welcome to another fabulous Wednesday where I will be doing an e-book review. The book today is a middle grade novel called The Ghost in Me written by Shaunda Kennedy Wenger. The story follows Myri Monaco, a girl who is your average eight grader with a quite a fear of public speaking and she also happens to live with a ghost. This was a cute book. I quite enjoyed reading it. It started out like a regular old book about a regular old girl who liked this boy and she happened to live with a ghost and all was okay in the reading, but then I got to a point in the story and I just read it straight through cuz I had to see what happened. While reading it I went, “Oh! Oh!” a couple times.

The Ghost in Me is perfect for the range Shaunda has it marketed for: 10-14 and I’d even say young adult cuz I'm a full grown adult and enjoyed reading it. Cuz as an adult sometimes when you read a book that’s meant for the younger crowd you have to tell yourself this is a book meant for kids, but I didn’t have to tell myself that to get through any of the scenes in this book. The only thing I wasn’t really a fan of was the font the book was done in, but that’s just me being picky ol’ me. There was a time or two where I wanted to jab Myri and tell her to get over her stage fright, but I guess when you have a severe case of fear o’ public speaking you’re kinda like how she behaves. There was a point where I mighta dry hurled a bit, but I'm sure kids will love the scene. I'm going to try not to give anything away here, but there's this one part/thing that I really found funny involving a chair Myri's grandma bought an e-bay. He, he, good times. I also like how Myri has a distinct voice in her narration. The story was unique. I personally think it would make a good movie made for the Disney channel. Perhaps somebody should contact them.

This was a fun read, so I say go get yourself a copy.

 It’s available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and CreateSpace. It comes in print and e-book format.

Check out Shaunda’s blog HERE!

Tic Tocc 17

Kat's Ticc Tocc from her Wright Story blog is back this week, so here is my take on her prompt.
In my dream there was a door
The door was in a wall
The wall was made of stone and vines
The stones and vines cracked and crawled
They cracked and crawled up to the top
Where up on top there was a tower
In the tower was a man
This man he wore a scowl
The scowl told me he was the man
The man in which we sought.
I shot up straight in bed. I was breathing heavily, not that I was really scared or anything, but maybe because I had such a major revelation it took my breath away. I was pretty sure I was asleep and was waking from a dream, but then I really didn’t remember a dream, just a poem and it was weird cuz it was not like how you memorize something so you can recite it in class later and then still remember it cuz it never really left your mind or something, no this was like I just heard myself say a poem out loud. I reached up and patted my head to check for bumps or bruises cuz maybe I wasn’t sleeping, maybe I fell and hit my head or something, but then I looked around and I saw the moonlight outline the objects in my room and then I reached down and felt my blanket and sheets, so I did go to bed for the night, so it was some kind of dream or something or some kinda major revelation as I said earlier that really got me excited affecting my breathing even though I really didn’t realize it cuz I was asleep. Are you all still with me here? So what I’m saying is, I knew where the portal was.
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The above piece of course involves the Crowleys. That is Sharonda narrating in this piece, but then she narrates all the pieces cuz the story is told from her view point.
I've also added a picture here, not related to Tic Tocc or anything, but my posts always have some kind of illustration or picture, so here is an odd picture. One of my shoes hanging out with my bucket o' marking untensils. Why did I stick my shoe there or take a picture, don't ask me, who knows, maybe I subconciously want to get into shoe advertising. Now go buy Toms.

Ha! Bye!

Sunday Sketches Meets Auntie X

Hello and happy Sunday Sketches my friends! This illustration actually was a really quick sketchy doodle I did for Sunday Sketches a bit back and now here is the finished piece. The Crowley's are no longer grey! This an illustration for the middle grade novel I'm creating involving the Crowley family. Below is the text that goes with the illustration. This is a few pages into the story, right after Sharonda's sister accidently makes a portal into another dimension in their basemen.                                                  So I then continued on to the living room.  That’s where whatever was up was happening. My mom and dad stood in the middle of the floor with my Auntie Minniford and next to her was a strange looking lady.  This woman was tall and slender and had thick black hair that ran down her back and ended in a sharp pointy tip.  She also wore a one piece greenish silvery unitard looking thing and covering her face were these large black sunglasses that wrapped around to the sides of her head.  I had the slightest idea who she was.

My mom saw me standing in the doorway.  “Sharonda, honey.” She paused tipped her head to the side and looked at me.  “You okay?  Are you sweating?”

I wiped the back of my hand across my forehead.  I was sweating.  “Um, mom dad, you two kinda need to come with me.”

     “Oh, hon, can it wait,” my mom asked.  She stood there next to my dad with her signature magnifying glass hanging around her neck.  She was an amateur sleuth, a detective in training.  She was always looking for clues, clues for what, I was never too certain.

     “Um, mom, this is kinda really important,” I said bouncing on my toes.

     “In a minute hon, while you’re here we want you to meet somebody.”  My mom waved her hand in the direction of the woman who looked like she was from outer space.  “This is your dad’s very distant cousin.”

     As in light years away distant, I thought.

     “You can just call her Auntie,” my mom said giving me a meek smile.  It looked like my mom wasn’t too certain about this woman.

     Auntie turned towards me, in one sharp movement, I swear I was able to hear her slice through the air with her turn.  I was wondering if her arrival had anything to do with what was going on in the basement.

     “Auntie, Auntie X,” she affirmed in a deep silky voice.

Which Way To Go With The Crowleys

I need everybody's opinion and help on this one. These are the Crowley children; Sharonda, Verona, George and Georgina. Now, do they stay their original grey color or should I give them some actual color. I like them grey, but I think they pop a little more with the added color. So, set one or set two.

Tell everybody you know to come and take a look at the Crowleys and give their opinion. I'm really moving forward with their story and I'm going to start some more illustrations, so I want to know which way should I go?

Why are they grey in the first place? Well, originally the illustrations were going to be mainly grey toned with a splash of one color, but I added more than one color, but never changed their skin tone. Is it time to?

e-Book Reviews Every Other Wednesday and An Idea

Hello my friends. I know I said Wednesday is my official e-book review day, it is, but I think it might be every other Wednesday cuz I have an idea. The one Wed. I'll do a book review and then the next week will be something different, but I'll get to that in a sec. First why don't you check out the e-books reviews I've done so far.

Amanda in Arabia: The Perfume Flask By: Darlene Foster
Read Review HERE!

In the Image of Grace  By: Charlotte Anne Schlobohm
Read review HERE!

The Boyfriend Thief  By: Shanda Norris
Read Review HERE!

   Fall Girl  By: Marybeth Smith
   Read Review HERE!

Next Wednesday I will be reviewing The Ghost in Me By: Shaunda Wenger

(I made the text below big so it would seem all exciting like)

Now here's my idea. I have a lot of children book illustrator bloggy friends and lots of us are on the same journey, so how about we start sharing our stories here. Explain what you have done promotionally so far, how long it took you to find your style, have you gotten any jobs yet, so on and so forth. If anybody is interested, use the contact me in my sidebar or leave a comment or something.

If you are used as the trying hard to get there children’s picture book illustrator of the every other Wednesday, I’ll send you an e-mail with questions for you to answer and such and then I’ll have you send me some pictures of your work and any links you might have, or you could just write out your own little essay thing and I'll send you a list of key topics to touch on, which ever way you'd prefer.

Sound good? Yes, no?

Creative Tuesday: Kitchen

The Crowley's kitchen. Complete with George and Georgina's booster seats.

Hello my Creative Tuesday friends. This is my entry for kitchen, it is what one would call very rough, but I wanted to contribute something, especially since I didn't do the last theme (coffee/tea break I do believe) and I feel guilty if I don't particpate in my co-ops after a while. So I just scanned in my sketch and I was just going to draw over my sketch lines so you could see it better and then I felt I had to at least add some color. I have to go back and fix the perspective on the table, so yeah. I actually had a lot planned for this theme (see my idea sheet below) but I started to build myself a new website and got sucked into that (it looks really cute thought).

Pete and Doris on They Draw and Cook

I finally finished Pete and Doris' recipe. It is up on the They Draw and Cook website. You can go to the site and print the recipe and keep it all for your own. You can actually make Pete and Doris's Pizza Chicken Garlic Bread or you can just sleep with the printed recipe under your pillow. You can also send it as an e-mail to someone, kina cool. Go check it out.

Click on the picture a time or twoso you can read and see everything.

e-Book Review: Amanda in Arabia

Hello and welcome to my official e-book review day! Today my book is Amanda in Arabia: The Perfume Flask. It is a middle grade novel written by Darlene Foster.

The story follows twelve year old Amanda who wishes for adventure for her birthday. She soon receives tickets to the United Arab Emirates.

She certainly finds adventure!

I really enjoyed reading this. It actually gave me that whisked away to a different country feel. The descriptions of the surroundings were very well done and gave you a feel for the UAE. I also learned many interesting things! The story is well paced. It has nice moments of enjoying the UAE and then there are parts with action and adventure. There wasn’t really anything I didn’t like. A time or two I thought Amanda felt kinda young via mainly vocabulary. She says tummy a couple times, but that’s okay cuz I know a lot of us out there still use that word. The story is on the shorter end, but I didn’t mind cuz there are many times where I don’t feel like reading one of these nine-hundred page novels written for kids and I’m an adult and I feel like that, so I’m sure many kids would enjoy the length of this. I think it would be best for the younger end of the middle grade range, like 9-10ish, but then I enjoyed it, so you could say ages 9-adult. It’s a cute book and Darlene had a lovely way of describing things.

WARNING! You might want a camel when you're done reading this! You might also want to board a plane in search of beautiful new settings and adventure!

Check out the e-book or print version at these sites: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Diesel and Smashwords.

Amanda has another adventure in Spain which I will also be reviewing at a later date (I look forward to reading it).

Darlene's website. Darlene's blog.

Bye for now!

Sunday Sketches and Illustration Friday

Doris' dinner certainly was mysterious.

This is my illustration for Sunday Sketches and Illustration Friday this week. I've been keeping up with my Sunday Sketches, but haven't done an Illustration Friday in forever, so when I saw the theme for IF it really sparked my imagination, so I figured I could use it for both, so my IF and Sunday Sketch are both very mysterious.

This was inspired by the most awesome 80's teen movie Better Off Dead starring John Cusack. In the movie his mom is always making these really odd meals, like she boils the bacon and then the one night his food crawls off his plate. I actually found the clip on YouTube. I suggest watching it from beinginning to end (the clip). I love this movie.

This movie has influenced my art before. I have this one painting I did called Two Dollars. If you've seen the movie you know what I'm talking about.

Also Doris and her friend Pete would like more friends on their Facebook Page.

You can click the link above or their box in my sidebar.

Come back on Wednesday. That's when I'll be doing my e-book reviews! My reviews are now getting their own day!

My Illustrated Middle Grade Novel; Sharonda, Pete and the Rest of the Crowley Family

Here's what I've been up to. One; I wrote an e-book, a young adult novella called Actuality: A Teenage Vampire Novella (check out my sidebar). The characters Wade and Heather wanted out, so it had to be done. But since I completed that, I've mainly been working on my middle grade novel Sharonda, Pete and the Rest of the Crowley Family. I'm mainly focusing on the text right now, but here's some of the illustrations so far, well, some are just quick doodles, but this is in sequnetial order.

I'm sure you've seen these all before, but now they're more in order. I'm actually missing one (I can't find where I saved it) and I still have to decide if I want to use the spring green or the mint green (which do you think?). The illustrations still have a long way to go, but I want to get the text down first. I'm about 15,000 words so far, so it's coming along. I'm about half way there. This is all I'm working on from here on out. I got my novella outta my head. I have tons of other stuff in my noggin, but it's all being shoved aside. I mean it for real this time, so if I'm not around much its cuz I'm working with the Crowleys.