GUIDELINES FOR THE ILLUSTRATOR

There has been a bit of discussion lately on the fair practices for illustrators. Because this concerns me on many levels I have prepared a webpage with my personal guidelines. Because this set of suggestions may be helpful to others in our industry, I have included a link to the page here. An Illustrators Guidelines.

Learning to Be Still

I firmly believe that the way we choose to handle disappointments in life affects many outcomes. I had a very disappointing month, as many of you know now. The children's ABC yoga book that I had been awarded was pulled back from me, followed by an auto accident which left my car totaled. Instead of digging my heels in and trying to control the uncontrollable, I took the last couple of weeks off from my artwork to contemplate life, wait for a settlement from the insurance company, and negotiate a new children's book opportunity (with the help of Sherry Rogers....thnaks Sherry for your advice!) for the Smithsonian Institution which came my way from Soundprints while I was out of town for 5 days.

Today I have good news...

A few moments ago I received a call from the book shepherd handling the children's ABC yoga book in California....the book project is back on and they asked me if I would still accept the opportunity to work with them and illustrate the book! I cannot tell you how happy I am. It turns out the author felt rushed to make a decision in choosing an illustrator and in the end she still decided I was the ideal one for the job. Now I just have to figure out how I am going to juggle all of this work, but I am happy to have this sort of dilemma rather than the former!

Working on a new story

This is an illustration from a story I am developing. I want to create a wordless picture book with images that should eventually tell their own story. Just a beginning....
©Ginger Nielson 2008

News Fiash!

Hi everyone! Okay, I finally have some great news to break to all of you. Check out this Sneak Peek of ribbons I designed for jcaroline creative earlier this year. Here is one design, as posted on the jcaroline blog...you will have to go and look at the others. There are even more to come, but this is just a peek at the first few releases. The ribbons will be sold through jcaroline's online shop! She has so many fantastic, "drool worthy" fabrics, papers and accessories in her shop....I love browsing.

And...

Remember this illustration I created a while back? It was spotted by Nikki at DewDrop Craftz in the UK last winter, and now she is carrying it as a rubber craft stamp in her online shop! This is my first design for her, but we have lots of other products in the works. I will announce them here on my blog as they come to fruition.

Time to Chill!

©Kathleen Rietz
Waiting for good news can be so hard at times. Life can change in the blink of an eye. Creatively speaking, I have had so many new things going on that I just want to blab about, but can't yet. And then, last Thursday one of the books that was assigned to me was suddenly "unassigned" to me. Friday (July 4th!!) I was involved in a pretty horrible car accident and rushed to the emergency room. Well, when I got home that night, I discovered that my kitchen sink was leaking! LOL! It is said these things happen in threes. I am trying really hard to keep my chin up. I am just looking for some good news...and some "chill time".

This was the sample piece I submitted for the book assignment. I got a nice portfolio piece out of it. : )