Kelley McMorris

Children's book illustrator, fantasy illustrator, squirrel advocate, chai latte connoisseur

[literaticat]

Hello Jennifer, I wonder if you could give a brief description of how you like to see picture book queries from writer-illustrators. How much detail should there be in each ‘dummy’? How many different picture book ideas are good to send in a query? Any advice about an attractive query pitch?

I would send one manuscript / dummy in a query. If they are interested, they will ask to see more - but keeping it to one dummy will be a lot less daunting.

If I were querying picture books as an illustrator - in the body of the email (or the form) I’d have the manuscript of the book - and then I’d provide a link to my portfolio so they could see my artwork - and a link to a dropbox with the Dummy in it (such that anyone who has the link can view, but it isn’t just up on the internet randomly).

The dummy should be a sketch dummy -- doesn’t have to be PERFECTLY tight sketches - but shouldn’t be totally unlegiblely loose, either. You should also have a couple of finished pages to show what your color palette and finished artwork looks like. 

[kmcmorris]

First, I wanted to say I came here after seeing your work of Cleopatra. Gorgeous, and the expression on her face is what captured me. Secondly, I haven't gone through your posts yet so sorry if you've answered this. How often do you work on personal projects? Do you have the energy to work on personal projects after working on paid work all day? I'm trying to work on personal projects more often, as a designer.

Thanks for your message! Before having kids I used to work on a personal project every month or every few months. Now that I have kids I do about one personal piece a year.

If it’s something that I’m really excited to draw, it’s easier to find the energy at the end of a long day.

The more personal work you produce, the faster you can build a portfolio that will bring you the jobs you want. But don’t feel pressured to overwork yourself or make yourself miserable. 2020 is a hard year and we’re all just doing the best we can.

[kmcmorris]

I designed and illustrated this cover for THE WISHNER'S CURSE, by author Camille S. Campbell. This was super fun to do because *~*SPARKLES*~*! You can read about the process and see WIPs at my blog.

THE WISHNER’S CURSE is now available on Amazon .   

[kmcmorris]

Here’s my favorite illustration I did for RANGER IN TIME: BATTLE ON THE BEACH by Kate Messner. You can read more about the process of illustrating this at my blog!

[ghiblizine]

✨ Preorders open for SPIRIT: A Studio Ghibli Art Book! ✨

Spirit is an unofficial charity fanzine, dedicated to the many stunning and unique films created by Studio Ghibli! With 70+ pages of amazing content, our bundles will also include a variety of merch and even a Major Arcana deck! Preorders will close June 10th!

Info: artist list | 6 x 9 | 70+ pages | perfect bound | charities

PREORDER NOW! reblogs appreciated 💕!

[kmcmorris]

I have an illustration in this zine! Here’s a preview!

[kmcmorris]

For the first time in months, I had the time and energy to just #sketch aimlessly. No deadline, no goals, no reference photos. I felt like drawing a mermaid, so here you go, juuuuuust under the deadline for #mermay2019 lol

[kimsokol]

New work for upcoming historical fantasy tabletop RPG Age of Aether!  Goblins have longer arms in this setting, I swear I know how long an arm is.

[kimsokol]

Hey @claudela , you ask I answer - and the answer is OH LORD NO I do not just start painting, oh my god I wish I could instead of banging my head against a dozen steps over the course of 20-odd hours.

First it’s thumbnails - sometimes there’s a couple dozen, sometimes just a few, sometimes it’s stuff like this where I have a few to choose from and some more that I just straight-up deleted before finishing because they were bad.  Absolute unskippable first step to figure out composition, TBH.  I used to do these in a sketchbook, but I’ve been trying to work on my value structure so I’m doing them this way instead.  Then I grab a bunch of reference, both photos and other peoples’ art, and try out some colour stuff.

Then, once I’ve got client approval (and a tweak or two) on the comp, I shoot some deeply embarrassing reference photography… when I can I use a friend or hire a model, but this one is all me, my living room, and some empty D&D character sheets taped to the wall.  Also need some clothing reference, in this case just a bunch of photos of Oliver Twist because that’s what the client asked for:

…then take all that and do a final drawing with some final-ish colours to send to the client.  Tell them that there’ll be other posters in there later, I swear.  Think about how I’ve committed to a whole wall of wanted posters and wonder how the hell I’m gonna do that.

Next step: start painting.  Oh god, this is awful.  I’m a joke.  Why did anybody hire me I have forgotten how to do anything I am a menace to myself and those around me, I’m a sham of an artist.

Don’t panic.  (Okay, panic a bit, but then get over it.)  Keep painting.  Pay attention to the reference.  Ask friends for critique.  Redraw things that need redrawing.  Focus on the big shapes.  Draw some damn perspective lines instead of just eyeballing it.  Think through the figure in 3D, where the light would actually hit.  Work out the wanted posters in separate documents and warp them into place.

Get a great paintover from a friend pointing out some places where the colours could use tweaking, stuff about the head angle and the hand pose, and that even for extra-long arms they’re probably too extra long.  Paint and repaint over stuff I’ve done before.  Get it working.

Finish the background.  Flatten the whole thing and paint over top to make it feel a bit more integrated, and make the wanted posters feel less sharp and pasted in.  Final tweaks.  Finally, a painting.  Take a deep breath, send to the client, and desperately pray that they’re happy with it.

For the actually-painting part, a lot of that just comes down to years and years of practice (I’ve been using Photoshop since I was 13, and that was 18 years ago) and for the brushwork - lots of experimentation, flat brushes with angle jitter set to pen tilt that allow some nice directional stuff, and master studies of oil painters to get an idea for how they do their brushwork.  Also a lot of crying.  I promise every amateur artist out there that professionals will gather together and go “OH GOD HOW DO I DO ANY OF THIS, WHY DO WE DO THIS, ART IS A CURSE” (and then get it out of our systems and remember that we do love our jobs a lot and we’re so lucky to have them, but art is still very hard, why do we do this.)

[dearartdirector]

Dear Art Director, I want more than anything to be an illustrator, but I'm afraid. I'm afraid it's too risky, not a stable career as far as income goes, and that there are already too many illustrators out there, and I'll never get into the business. Any advice for someone starting out with these fears?

Everyone starts out with fears. And continues with fears. And ends with fears. Sometimes your fears change, but you’ll always be scared, insecure, and have doubts about something. No arbitrary level of fame or success quiets those voices. So get used to it. If you are not ready to face down your fears every day, I do not think art is a good career for you. Do other careers have fears too? OF COURSE. But there are definitely safer, easier careers. Accounting, for one. People always need accountants. (No one ever wonders if there will be enough jobs for them as an accountant.) Or really any career where you’re not literally putting your deepest emotions and self-worth out in public view for judging by literally anyone with an internet connection. That really turns up the volume on any normal doubts & insecurities you have and pumps them up to deafening level.

You know who else has voices in their head? People who give up their creative dreams for “safer” careers. Just the other day we answered a question from a 43 year old woman who gave up on being an artist, but it’s still haunting her decades later. She’s desperate to know if it’s too late for her to try to be an artist in her 40s. 

So it all boils down to this: You are going to have doubts and fears no matter what. You have to choose: Would you rather be secure and have fears that you wasted your creativity? Or would you rather be an artist and be scared that your career is not secure? You have to choose what scares you more. And don’t be brainwashed by Pinterest motivational quotes: Either choice is valid. You are still an artist even if you don’t do it full time or you just do it for a hobby. It’s YOUR choice. You have to live with it.

And this is also not a black and white decision. There’s plenty of middle roads to take. There are many kinds of art jobs — many more than you probably realize. Some are riskier than others. But some are pretty solid. You don’t have to be a freelance illustrator to be a professional artist. I have plenty of friends that have very stable jobs in art. You should not be basing your decision on what other (especially non-artist) people think is stable. You should talk to people who are real working professional artists and ask them what they think. They will probably tell you that it is both very rewarding and very very hard and scary to have a job making art — the judgement really wears on people, but many artists feel it is still preferable to having a non-art job. Some will definitely say making art a job (and not keeping it a hobby) sucked all the fun out of it. 

Unfortunately, no one can make this decision for you. Ignore all the non-artists trying to convince you not to be an artist. Ignore all the Pinterest platitudes trying to convince you that you’ll never be happy if you’re not a full time freelance artist. What do you want more? Or, more accurately, what do you not want least?

—Agent KillFee

[kmcmorris]

Wow, this is incredibly succinct. It’s important to note that there are lots and lots of jobs that could be considered “art.” Some are freelance, some are employment. Some are more stable and well-paying than others. There are many, many ways of being an “artist” and it’s not an all-or-nothing situation.

[dearartdirector]

People tell me im good at what i do. I feel like im good at what i do. Ive even been educated with a degree for what i do, and art directors tell me they like what i do, that they will keep me in mind for future projects. The work never comes. I keep in touch with my work, i get responses but no jobs. im at a loss here. I thought i was born to be an artist, but the market shakes its head. Truthfully I'm lost as a person. I don't want to quit you, illustration, but I'm literally dying here.

I have seen many artists in your position. I have often been the AD who has said to artists “You’re doing everything right, when the right project comes up I’d love to work with you.” — And I never say that to people unless I mean it. Unfortunately the time between “ready to be hired” and “hired all over the place” is variable. I have seen it happen so many times: An artist develops their work and gets to a unique voice and a hirable skill level. They have all the right connections. Multiple ADs have their eye on the person. We all know they’re going to “break through” all at once and get hired a ton of places…but it’s just a matter of timing. Once they get that first job or two the momentum quickly picks up speed and their career is off and running. A year later no one even remembers that they were struggling to find work.

Unfortunately I don’t know what to say other than hold on. If you’re getting responses and people are saying they’re keeping you in mind then trust that and hold on. ADs don’t say that shit to be nice. I can’t tell you how long you have to hold on. It may take a while for the right manuscript or Magic card or magazine article, etc. to land on that AD’s desk that says YOU on it. You may need to get a side job or take non-art work to hold on but please hold on. You are pushed right up against the glass and you just need that one commission to break through the crust. Do a good job or two well, communicate well, hit your deadlines, and the gossip machine will click into effect and all those ADs who told you they were keeping you in mind will start seeing that job and hearing from the AD that hired you what a great job you did. Chances are, some of the other ADs will be jealous that they didn’t get to hire you first. We seriously do gossip about you artists all the time. And we root for you too. 

Just hang on. Keep making great work. Keep showing it around. Send out that newsletter quarterly. Keep networking. A year from now, you’ll go back and read this post and will be surprised you doubted this much.

Just.

Hang.

On.

—Agent KillFee

[kmcmorris]

I was thrilled to illustrate the cover for RISE OF THE DRAGON MOON, by Gabrielle Byrne and published by MacMillan, 8/2019. Thanks to Ellen Duda for the job!

[kmcmorris]

WHAT TO DRAW WHEN YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DRAW

Draw from life. This is the best way to learn to draw. Drawing from life teaches your mind to translate 3D objects in your vision to 2D shapes on paper. Learning to think in 3D will give your drawings a visible confidence and consistency. Draw people at the cafe, on the subway, in church. Draw your pets while they're sleeping, draw your own feet, visit a zoo and draw the animals, set up a still life on a table and draw that. It doesn't really matter what you draw; as long as you're drawing from life, then you're exercising that 3D-to-2D muscle in your mind.

Draw from photos. Drawing from photos doesn't help you practice thinking in 3D, because you're translating a shape from one 2D surface (the photo) to another (your sketchbook). However, photos can introduce you to shapes that would be difficult to find in real life - cool stuff like castles, tigers, planets. Sketch any photo that interests you - and it is totally ok to trace things just for practice.

Draw from your imagination. This is where you develop your personal voice. When you draw from imagination, you're not just copying what you see, but remembering things you've seen before and interpreting them in your own way. Keep this fun and light; don't try any complex crowd scenes or else you'll get frustrated. The more you draw from life and from photos, the more material your imagination will have to work with, and the easier it will get. All three practices feed into each other.

(If you liked this post, I have more advice and tips for aspiring artists at my blog!)

[tiny-librarian]

I just wanted to post this again, after my dear friend included it in a post of hers.

It’s a BEAUTIFUL piece of artwork, and the artist, @kmcmorris, did a fantastic job on portraying what Cleopatra VII would have genuinely looked/dressed like, rather than the over the top and stereotypical Egyptian style she’s almost always shown in. It’s always been one of my absolute favourite depictions of Cleopatra, and wanted to share it with everyone again.

[kmcmorris]

Thank you so much, @tiny-librarian !!!

[kmcmorris]

I re-opened my Etsy shop so you can buy prints and stationary directly from me!

I only have a few prints available, so if there’s a painting you’d like that’s not available in my Etsy store, I have more in my INPRNT shop.

[kmcmorris]

Oh hey guys! The newest Ranger in Time comes out tomorrow! I wrote a blog post where you can read about the process of illustrating the cover. Check it out!

[kmcmorris]

I’ve been told that, like my art, I look very “wholesome.”

[kmcmorris]

The process behind my recent painting, “Hoichi.”

[kmcmorris]

Good morning!