ISBN's and Oil Pastel Techniques

     It's been a while since my last post, life is full, good and sometimes a little crazy. In my last post I assigned myself learning about ISBN's and Oil Pastel Techniques. Once again I learned that I didn't know as much as I thought I did! What I am sharing on these topics is to the best of my understanding... If I have something wrong, I'm not offended by kind correction.

Understanding ISBN's   
     ISBN stands for International Standard Book Number. It reminds me of a Social Security number for books. It is specific to the exact edition and format of a book. Many bookstores also use it in combination with bar codes to keep track of inventory and restock their shelves.

     When ready, I can get my ISBN numbers through Bowker Identifier Services which is the only authorized agency to buy it from. If your book is selected by a publisher they can also assign your book an ISBN that they have already purchased. Some self-publishing websites offer free ISBN's as an incentive to use their business. Right now the cost for one ISBN is $125. They also sell bundle packages which brings the cost down. If you want more details about ISBN's here is a link to a brochure from Bowker that is really helpful Bowker US ISBN Agency ISBN Guides: Basic Information.

     Here are a few things that I came across that were very basic but I hadn't even thought about them before:

• Hardcover and softcover books ARE considered different formats and require separate ISBN's. 
• Printers and publishers are different.
• Bar codes are purchased. 
• It is important to register a copyright of your work within a certain time frame in order to pursue monetary compensations.

     Purchasing an ISBN is a long ways out for me, but I feel much more comfortable with knowing some of the basics. I am confident I could navigate the ISBN process.

Time for a Little Art!   
     There are many different techniques with oil pastels. Below I've posted one of my favorite beginning oil pastel videos. It is a favorite for two reasons.The first reason is I think she did a really good job at showing a basic overview. Another thing I really like is she uses Pentel oil pastels, they are considered an introductory set.

     A lot of the videos are done with expensive artist or professional grade pastels. I'm just trying out pastels and I'm not ready to sink a lot of money into it. The texture of oil pastels can vary greatly, depending on the brand you buy. They can be hard almost like crayons or soft and creamy like lipstick. The texture of the oil pastel makes a HUGE difference on how you can use them. So two thumbs up for a video that shows me how I can use the pastels I already have.

     This next video I also found helpful. I have tried to implement it into much of the work I've done since watching it. If you look at an item it almost always has different highlights. shadows and slightly different shades of color. This gives dimension and interest. The rule of 3's, that the video below introduces, has helped me give better dimension and interest to my projects. 

     Here is a drawing I was working on. When I tried to sketch it out in pencil first, I was having a hard time with getting piggy to have the right expression. I couldn't figure out the right angles for the eyebrows and mouth. An idea popped into my head... make the expression I was thinking of and take a selfie! Haha! I'm not one for selfies, but I tried it and it seemed to do the trick. (Sorry, not posting it!) I could reference my expression for facial details in my picture. However, when my pig started looking a little too much like me... I decided I had better stop using my selfie. :) I think I may try and enlist my kids to let me take some good expressive pictures of them for a fun collection to reference.

   
      As for technique with the oil pastels, I chose to layer different colored pastels then use a lighter oil pastel to blend the layers together. I started with drawing the pig in pastel. Then I water colored all around the pig and over the whole rest of the page. Then I finished the outside of the pigs window with several different green and yellow pastels.   

     I've noticed in the beginning stages of drawing with pastels things just don't seem like they are going to look good. But when I keep building up the layers it can polish up really nicely. One thing that was mentioned in the first video clip above was the idea to get a higher quality white pastel that would make adding highlights at the end a little easier. I might have to try that. 

     One comment I heard a few times about this picture was "what are those yellow things?". So the pig is suppose to be inside a giant cucumber, the yellow spots are suppose to be the bumps on the cucumber. I guess that part was a fail. All the rest of the picture I was fairly pleased with.

     This next "week" (haha, it will probably be longer, but oh well) I will be spending a lot of time editing my story. I think that will help me plan out my illustrations and get me set up for the next stages of my book. Enjoy the sunshine! Ta ta for now!

The More You Know...

     What came to my mind after researching submission guidelines for children's picture books is the saying The more you know, the more you know you don't know. It's like asking for a glass of water and getting sprayed down by a fire hose. I have so much to learn!

     I learned this week that children's picture books are traditionally 32 pages (about 12 to 15 spreads) and are kept to under 1,000 words. The target audience is generally ages 5 to 8. The other thing is to do my homework when deciding on an editor, agent or publisher because there are a lot of scams.

     As for my rough draft, it's finished! My word count is at 1,378. My goal was to keep it under 1,500 with the initial rough draft and then cut it down to under 1,000 with editing. Lot's of editing and changes to the story will happen, but round one is done :)

     Time to get some picture ideas going!

Unwelcome Visitor
(water color and oil pastel on water color paper)

     Here is a portion of a picture I did called Unwelcome Visitor. I was testing out water color for the background and adding pastel over the top for brighter colors and more details. Water color is a lot faster than oil pastels for covering large spaces. Water color paper still isn't my favorite when working with oil pastels. It takes a lot of work to keep the paper from showing through the pastels.

Wolf
(oil pastel on sketch paper)

   
     This next one, called Wolf, was especially fun for me to do. I felt a little more comfortable working with the oil pastels, especially with how they blend together.

     My kids and I went to the library and I checked out a couple of books on wolves. These gave me some good images to reference for wolf features, coloring and some basic shapes. When I got towards the end of my picture I had to stop referencing the book and only look at my paper to make the finishing touches work right. I was pleased with how this one turned out, except for the right eye. Even at the penciled in stage it just felt off. Instead of fixing it, I became impatient and wanted to get started putting some color into the picture. Hey, that's the fun part! Lesson learned, have more patience with the pencil sketches, a good foundation is worth it.
 
     In both of the above pictures I was working with oil pastels. There are a few things I really like about them so far :

• The colors can be really rich and vibrant.
• They are quick to set up and put away, perfect if you only have short windows of time to work on pictures.
• I can leave the picture for an hour, a day or a week and still come back to work on it without any problems.

A few draw backs are:

• My hands get messier than if I were painting with a brush.
• Oil pastels smudge super easy, which can get on other parts of your picture where you don't want it.

     This week I am planning to learn more about oil pastel techniques. Also I am going to learn about ISBN numbers. I need to know exactly what they are, why they're important and how to get one. I hope you enjoyed reading my blog, have a great week!