Riding the Train and Doing "Nothing"

One of the photos I took from the train.

Over the holidays my daughter and I took a long train trip to my mom's house - 18 hours there and 18 hours back. I was horribly burned out and was looking forward to the down time. I actually thought I would indulge in some reading, but I read exactly 10 pages the entire time. I did some sketching in the lounge car, but mainly I inhaled the scenery - the factories, the ocean, the backyards. It was amazing. So many things to build a visual story from. I let my mind wander into the sound of the train clicking over the tracks, into the gardens and clothes lines, across the ocean and then… for some reason there were elephants - everywhere - for the rest of the trip. They were leaping(!) in the meadows, walking on the streets, flying over the ocean. (Have I mentioned I really needed a break?)

It was like hitting the reset button for my ridiculously over-burdened brain. My daughter may have been a bit tired of the elephants by the end of the trip, but she was a really good sport and we laughed at the elephants until we cried - one of my favorite pastimes. (Laughing until crying is one of my favorite pastimes - not laughing at elephants. I have never found them particularly funny. They seem rather stately - most of the time...)

I'd say it was time well spent with my almost 13 year old and I felt refreshed and ready to get back to the drawing board when we got back home. You may soon be seeing elephants too, but possibly only if you go to the zoo or come back to my blog… or take a train trip...

TOM SAWYER - TOMIE DEPAOLA ILLUSTRATOR AWARD ENTRY

My 2013 Tomie dePaola Illustrator Award entry - Tom Sawyer.

I have pretty well burned myself out with everything I've been doing lately and I'm looking forward to a break before I start back up again. I finished up November and NaNoWriMo with a Steampunk inspired novel and some well developed characters to illustrate. The genre picked me and I'm glad it did. I'll be creating some black and white interior illustrations and a couple color ones too.

On the current illustration front, I squeezed in my Tomie dePaola Illustrator Award project. Although I had been working on thumbnails and roughs for a while, I had a tight week to do the final. I began the project by picking which literary work I would be illustrating. I chose Tom Sawyer because the imagery was most appealing to me. I only really remembered a graveyard scene, the cat scene "spell" and a cave scene from reading it as a kid. (My favorite story elements were always creepy and scary.)

I listened to a Librivox reading of the book and at points had a tough time getting through it - mainly because of the social interactions of the day. I don't consider this story picture book material as is, but it was perfect for my middle grade illustrations. The over the top theatrical nature of the story gave some nice opportunities for visuals.

I like the way the illustration turned out, but would have worked longer polishing the final if I had more time. Check out more Tomie dePaola entries here.

Stay tuned for Steampunk in the New Year. In the meantime, Happy Holidays!