This post was actually intended for Monday, but I’m apparently still having some issues with WordPress, as my original draft of this didn’t save. So! Here’s for round two! (man it sucks trying to rethink what you already wrote >_<! Just the ultimate brain fart is what I’m left with right now.)
Anyway, originally this post was going to be completely about all the books I’ve done with Ms. Perry, but since this is coming late, I decided to do something a bit more interesting. Now I’ve been working with Ms. Hunter, doing Children’s books for well over ten years now, and naturally, my style has changed a bit with each title as I’ve sought to find ways to more effectively put my ideas onto paper, and improve my process.
So, I decided to do a little experiment, by comparing the old with the new. Not just the shifts in my style between the work I’ve done for Ms. Perry, but to go back and reflect on my earliest work, which I myself haven’t seen in over ten years. Now if imma be honest, some of it is pretty cringeworthy for me, lol, so, here goes!
My first children’s book ever was called Tim the Cat, by Roland Hansen, which was done back in 2007.
A somewhat sad, but cute story about a kitten that was abandoned at a junk yard because of the white patch on his nose, that distinguished him from the rest of his litter. It is while Tim is at the junkyard, that he ends up meeting a crew of junkyard rats, who are surprised to find a cat that doesn’t hate them.
So in a strange twist of fate, little Tim is taken in and raised by the rats, until finally he left and found a home in the company of a kind woman and her husband who found him on the street.
There’s a lot more to Tim’s story– how has to adjust to life as an actual cat, while living with other cats, and how in a weird way, his time with the rat’s taught him bravery against seemingly unbeatable odds.
There’s a lot that I can appreciate about this book. A story about being the odd one out, but using it to your advantage. Reflecting on my work, there’s a lot I like about my old style, and obviously areas I see that I’ve improved. I mean this was back in the day when I did more traditional artwork. I like the roughness it had, which is something I try to keep in my digital work.
I burst out laughing when I saw this again! Because I’m like, whoa, wait, what the hell happened to Timmy! When you go years without following up on a story you’ve read and come back to it, it’s like looking at it with fresh eyes, and boy did I! I had to friggen re-read the story because I had completely forgotten what it was about.
Basically, to make a long story short, Timmy became a gansta! From the words of Timmy himself:
“Hello, my name is Tim the Cat. Maybe you read my story about how I became a hero and everyone loved me. Well, I have a different kind of tale to tell today.
I went from not having any friends to everyone wanting to be my friend. That was extra special to me because of some things that happened to me when I was a kitten. First, I didn’t have a dad, I only had a mom. Then a very mean man took me far, far away and dropped me off at the dump. I grew up very sad and sometimes mad about what had happened to me.
As time went by, the other cats still liked me but didn’t treat me like the big hero. I missed that feeling. Since there weren’t any more dogs coming into our yard to scare, I decided to try something else. I decided to cause trouble!
That’s right, I thought that if I did that everyone would look at me and talk about me again.
I became very good at being bad!”
I’m just kidding about the gangsta part, but, he got into some mess!
But of course, Timmy couldn’t’ be gangsta forever. Like most kids, sometimes being a bit too playful has some humbling consequences, when the game goes to far, and someone gets hurt.
As I mentioned earlier, my style tends to shift between books. In this case, I do miss some aspects of the first one– the watercolory- crosshatching of the traditional mediums. In this case, I experimented with digital and traditional. Not only that, I went for more dynamic angles and was able to show more depth in my work. The main downside to it is, working this way was still very new to me, and it feels rough, not so much in a way that I like.
There’s still a few more books to share before I get back to Ms. Perry, but I think I’ll call it a day for now, to keep this post from going on for too long.
I do hope you liked this post though, even though it’s a break from my norm :) And as always, till next time, Enjoy!
Monday Morning Post- Old vs New pt 1 Hey Guys! Bea here! This post was actually intended for Monday, but I'm apparently still having some issues with WordPress, as my original draft of this didn't save.
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