Shanarama @shanan-s - Tumblr Blog

Keeping Momentum through the Seas of Woes and Nos!

My last couple of posts have been about diversifying.

This has indeed been so important in terms of my creative development, as it is for so many of us. It’s one of those key activities that keeps me going against the current of rejections and self doubt.

As I write as well as illustrate I spend a lot of time with material in my head before it goes down onto paper, though I guess that’s just how I work.

I often feel that I literally have a traffic jam of my characters and stories just waiting to get out, but that I can’t get them into my sketchbooks fast enough (or maybe I’m just too much of a perfectionist! ;).

Recently though, having joined Instagram, has been a great way to prompt me into drawing characters or posting sketches more fluidly, like the ones below:

Instagram can also be a daunting and overwhelming environment, when you’re confronted with a constant stream of beautiful and inspiring work by others, so I find that I can only visit it every so often, like twitter and facebook.

But these platforms can also be such a heartening environment, when you’re able to hear about other creatives’ experiences who are battling the tides as well.

For instance, I read a great blog post today by the lovely Kathryn Evans, who shared it via Facebook, which has heartened and fuelled me with positive thoughts for the day, so thanks Kathryn and indeed all who share both the ups and downs.

And in exploring a different avenue during the last few months, that experience has in turn led me to an exciting new picture book story, linked to the image below, so I’m thankful for these times and am looking forward to swimming on!

#shanarama Shana Nieberg-Suschitzky Childrensbookillustrating Kidlit andlynlit Childrensbooks kathrynevans

Flamingos breeding Flamingos!

So, keeping with the theme of Flamingos and producing artwork for products, I have been a busy bee.

I have now put up several designs on Art Rookie, one as such I have pictured above, as well as succeeding in putting up my first design of the Flying Flamingos on søciety6.

They are both great platforms and I am loving the product range in both (though it is a lot of hard work to get the artwork right for each product, for which the dimensions vary enormously!).

However, I must say that I have particularly enjoyed creating a backpack, which søciety6 now offer. I have included it pictured below (which my daughter would love to have in time for school!)

I have purchased a lovely Mumma & Baby Flamingo pillow from Art Rookie for a gift and I am eagerly awaiting my notebooks and beach-towel to arrive from society6 before a trip to the beach for some sun and sketching!

I know only too well that this is not a solely sustainable revenue in itself, as pointed out by Laura C George, in her wise article on this subject, that I found through my research.

However, not only does it please me to know that I have artwork out there now, doing something else apart from trying to find its way into the pages of beloved children’s books, but I have also found that in creating this work, it has freed my mind from what I was currently working on bookwise, and has given me a brand new, shiny story about…can you guess, Flamingos! (What can I say, they make me very happy :).

As a very wise Maths teacher once said to me, “if you’re stuck on a question, move onto another and you may find the solution when you come back to it with fresh eyes!”

This motto has always stayed with me and I have found that, as a creative it has been an essential way of keeping myself inspired and motivated.

Through this process I also joined Instagram, so you’re welcome to follow me on @shanaramadesigns

#shananiebergsuschitzky #shanarama #shanaramadesigns #artrookie #society6 #flamingoartprints #funkyflamingoproducts #@artrookie_#@society6

Self-Improvement Post 2: Finding Inspiration in the Wilds with Julia!

Okay, so my birthday is in May and I think that in May of this year, for the first time ever, I was struck with a sadness about not yet having achieved my goal, namely getting at least one of my books published by now. Tenacious as I am, I felt like the hope lining the drawers of my mind was slightly fading and that it was in desperate need of re-ignition… Cue a fairy g-dmother style experience: the fated discovery of Julia Patton’s website (Pic of the Lovely lady included above), where I stumbled across these fortuitous and timely words…

“I have recently launched personalised "Pictures & Words' creative workshops from my rural studio for one-on-one tutorials.” (it was literally like Julia’s hand, complete with wand, extended out of my computer screen and started swishing magic fairy dust everywhere!).

Well two months later, after navigating round glamorous trips to far flung places (on Julia’s side) and less glamorous family trials, including Dr’s appointments and heaps of music exams (on my side of course!), I found myself on an early o’clock train heading North from King’s Cross, absolutely brimming with heady excitement at the thought of my adventure that I was finally embarking on, a “Creative Kitchen Workshop” with Juls!

Upon my arrival I was met by an equally enthusiastic and bubbly Julia at the station. She welcomed me with open arms and whisked me through the wonderful vistas of Berwick-upon-Tweed to her magical abode in the wilds. With a much longed-for brew in hand, Julia gave me a fabulous tour of her wondrous workspaces and sneak previews of the stunning artwork that she is presently preparing for her book endeavours. Below I have included a couple of photos showing Julia’s excellent “Style Bible”, (I’ve attached a url of the brilliant blog by Elizabeth Dulemba, where she mentions Julia’s book). This is now one of the chief items on my list of things to create!

Julia then seamlessly began our workshop, which was exactly as she advertised: incredibly informative about the industry and full of the options that would be available to me.

I had come prepared with a suitcase full of sketchbooks, dummy books, artwork and books that inspire me, as per our discussions pre-workshop which was to enable Julia to help me make the best choice.

So as the day progressed and Julia became familiar with my style, the type of work that I produce and my aspirations, she guided me to the choices most suitable to my skillset and talents.

We stopped only for the delicious gastro-style lunch (see photo below) that Julia made so stealth-like whilst we were talking that suddenly, Bing!, there were these amazing looking plates of food, just appearing out of nowhere!

Our session ended as gloriously as it had began. Julia had timed it all perfectly so that I had a clear plan of action by the finish, without feeling harried or that we’d been rushing, and she got me back to the train station in good time.

My mini-break was made more splendiferous by my arranging to meet my husband and stay overnight with our dear friends in Darlington!

And the cherry on the top was, by the next morning I had already received a huge email from Julia, filled with my plan of action clearly laid out, useful tips and website links.

This was a truly amazing, unique and unforgettable event, to have had such a long and concentrated amount of exclusive help was a joy. Julia is an inspired soul, who’s not only a huge talent herself, but is able to give such motivated support and encouragement that caters to each individual’s needs in a way that I’ve never experienced from any of the tutors/mentors that I’ve ever had before.

In short, I could not recommend Julia’s workshop highly enough and my main goal now is to do it justice!

#shanarama #shana nieberg-suschitzky #shanaramadesigns #children's books #juliapatton #Davinia andrew lynch #Andlynliteraryagency #children's illustration #one-to-one tutorials #Julia Patton's creative workshop

Self-Improvement Post 1: Going Flamingos!

So this week I shall be doing two posts within my slot.

They are both about the same thing: self-improvement!

This first one is about my decision to create artwork to be printed on products that are sold online. Why? Because whilst I love writing and illustrating Children’s Books and I always will continue to do so, I need to make money in the meantime.

I joined Art Rookie in 2014, which struck me as a wonderful Enterprise and I immediately saw what a great opportunity it offered artists. But I only managed to put one illustration up, then got distracted with life. However it dawned on me recently that by doing this I can hopefully have more control over my destiny. For instance, I researched what was popular and commercially successful at the moment, getting some great advice from Liz at Art Rookie along the way. I have now got several designs completed and I succeeded in putting my first one up last week. This is called “Flying Flamingos” which is the illustration included above, together with the view of how it looks on each of the products below.

The next day after posting I discovered that Art Rookie had liked it so much that they put it on their Instagram page and I received 91 likes in just one day! It certainly was a delightful discovery…along with Instant gratification! (The wonders of the Internet!)

I shall be adding the rest of my collection online at Art Rookie soon, as well as putting them on other such websites as the beauty of this process is that the copyright is completely yours and there’s no binding exclusivity with any of these fantastic companies. My hope is that this endeavour will not only strengthen my status as an illustrator/designer, but also help me towards reaching my ultimate goals in the Children’s Book World.

The next post is about my journey to the North for an Ab-Fab, 1-to-1 workshop with the Extraordinary and truly Amazing Julia Patton! Stay tuned…;)

#Shanarama #Shanarama illustration #Shana Nieberg-Suschitzky #Flamingos #artrookie #@artrookie_#tropics #Flyingflamingos #pink #green #tropicaldesign #artprint #birds #flamingoart #juliapatton

Marble Moon Dreams

This is just a flash post as my week has been uber hectic and it has sadly kept me away from the computer.

But I just had to put something up as I’ve been busy creating illustrations whenever possible.

I decided to include this illustration which I created as a gift to my husband to inspire him on his quest for work.

#Shanarama #Shana Nieberg-Suschitzky #shanarama illustration

One too many eggs!

Hoppy Easter one and all!

#Shanarama #shanarama illustration #shanarama sketches #easter #easter bunny #kidlitart

Ding Dong the Builder’s Gone!

Finalmente, my builders have finished. Hip Hip Hooray!

I loved my builders and what they have done, don’t get me wrong, but man, doesn’t it eat into your time when you have to deal with that, let alone all the other things life throws at you.

So to celebrate, I decided to paint a black and white illustration of a light-house in a storm, which was fairly representative of the explosive release I felt from finally not being distracted by anything else.

This image has been playing on my mind for a while, and I wanted to paint it for both for building up my black and white portfolio as well as to explore creating wild seas for a graphic novel project that I am working on.

And as I love producing my work through painting my illustrations using layers that I then scan into my computer and create a composite within Photoshop, I thought that it would be fun to create a Gif to give you a taste of my technique:

I love the freedom that you gain by creating work on separate layers. It’s so easy to paint corrections without having to do the whole illustration again, though you have to work hard to pull all of the layers together, so that the final result looks like one piece.

This was a breath of fresh air to create and I look forward to creating a lot more dramatic illustrations like this one.

#Shana Nieberg-Suschitzky #Shanarama #shanarama illustration #stormy seas illustrations #lighthouses #crashing waves #composite gif techniques #dramatic children's book illustrations

The Shifty-eyed First Vlog!

Last week I attended a great workshop at the Society of Authors called “imovie Magic: promoting you and your books”, which was given by the fab Shoo Rayner.

Shoo is a practised and expert Vlogger. He’s embraced technology and the benefits gained from it’s use in self-publicizing, notched up hundreds of thousands of subscribers and millions of views and has now generously shared his knowledge and experience in a very well put together workshop. There was a broad cross-section of Authors, spanning different ages and categories, all of whom seemed to absorb Shoo’s tutorial as he took us through, step by step.

Though I know I definitely have a way to go, (as indicated in my title!) it was fun and relatively easy to use this technology, having been guided in such a clear and concise way.

We all know that we have to embrace this form of communication in order to promote our work and I would absolutely recommend doing this workshop to fellow Illustrators and writers as it provides the perfect guidance, without being overwhelming or too technical.

Well done Shoo and the Society of Authors and thank you!

#Shanarama #Shana Nieberg-Suschitzky #Vlogs #Vlog blogs #Shanarama's 1st Vlog #Big Little Tales #Shoo Rayner #Society of Authors

Life under Construction!

What can I say, I’m still struggling to find enough time to spend with my precious characters whilst project managing and designing the building works at my house (I’m nearly there now though!).

I have missed spending time in their worlds, so I invited them to come and visit mine, and as you can see below, they’ve been very helpful.

They’ve brightened a heavy day of decision making, rushing about and sourcing materials, as well as putting a spring in my step!

#Shana Nieberg-Suschitzky #Shanarama #shanarama illustration

Toronto Musings

Following on from Kat and keeping the Canada theme going…

Well, last year my hubbie was working in Vancouver and this year it’s Toronto. So, straight after school broke up the children and I skipped over the pond to spend some quality family time together.

Toronto’s a lively and thriving city, with tons to see and do. The children and I loved taking the trams, exploring the museums, their amazing aquarium, the bookshops (no kidding, we had to bring back an extra bag!), the streets and at such a lovely temperature too!

My children are so lucky to be able to explore these amazing places through my husband’s work and it was wonderful to see the journey through their eyes.

I got time for some sketching (though it’s never quite enough). I loved the house we were staying in. It had stripped wooden floors and stairs throughout and they stairs up to the first floor were so roughly scrapped that the surface seemed full of inspiring characters and scenes, so much so that one night I was compelled to draw them. This then ended up looking like the dreams of my sleeping child, hence its title:

It was quite an adventure, a month full of delights and inspirations. Here are some photos, including a few of my sketchbooks. One day I’ll work up to that graphic diary I aspire to that’s in my head, but this’ll have to do for now.

Fun & Frolics with Character Studies!

Having completed the pdf dummy for my new book I got an exciting request through my Agent to send through some more character studies of my Little Witch.

However, I sometimes find the idea of creating a character study sheet more daunting than a book, it’s like the blank page syndrome. When you’re drawing the images for the story that you create or are working from, the characters have a specific purpose for what you’re trying to evoke in each page, and therefore you’ve got a narrative to follow.

Whereas, when creating a character study sheet, your character doesn’t have the story to guide you, she/he can do anything, hence creating the ‘Blank Page Fear’!

However, I managed to overcome this by deciding to create mini narratives, which usually then involves a run of frames to show my character in different positions, but that still convey a little story, as this helps me visualise her different movements, as in the example below:

Then, after filling the sheet with lots of energetic activities and mischievous goings-on, my Little Witch felt quite exhausted and settled down for a well deserved read of her ‘Wild Witches Novel’:

I also like to draw the studies on separate pieces of paper and then scan in and assemble those images in Photoshop. It helps me not worry about ruining the whole sheet, as you don’t feel tied in and your lines can be looser.

Do you suffer from that ‘Blank page’ feeling at first, and if so, what little tricks do you employ to overcome that block?

#Shana Nieberg-Suschitzky #shanarama illustration #character development #character studies

My, How Time Flies!

So, I’m midway through a week of beavering away on the illustrations for my new book (making up for lost time during the Easter Break!) when I suddenly think… ‘Gadzooks!’ I’ve almost missed my turn on Big Little Tales!!

I’m still working on my Little Witch story and I thought, given the title above, I’d include the latest colour illustration that I’ve been working on below:

I am so enjoying the digital colouring process, which is ironic given that I used to be a fearful purist.

I did have the initial age-old misconception that to colour digitally takes less time, which I’m sure that anybody who’s chosen this path has also had to learn the hard way! (And how!)

But even though it does take lots of time, I love the freedom that you get from being able to changes colours instantly or add/change details without re-doing the whole image again.

What say you fellow Illustrators and writers?!

Do please share your experiences of digital re. traditional.

#Shanarama #Shana Nieberg-Suschitzky #shanarama illustration #children's books #witches illustrations for children's books

Part 2/ 15th Jan 15: The Revelations of Karrie Fransman: A Guardian Affair.

So, on Tuesday I decided to blow off those January Blues and get my creative juices flowing by attending an inspiring sounding Guardian Masterclass called, ‘How to create successful Comics and Graphic Novels’. This event was hosted by the Uber-talented Karrie Fransman (See examples of her work below).

For starters, you’ve got to admire someone who personally greets all 80 something people who attended. Karrie was so welcoming and had such a glow of confidence about her that there was an immediate awed calmness that filled the room as we waited for her to begin.

And she didn’t disappoint! The event was masterfully delivered, well paced with the help of the brilliant Guardian managers and staff, whilst not detracting from the excellent structure and thought that Karrie must have put into her preparation.

She divided the event into three sessions.

First Karrie gave advice about how to pitch your idea to Publishers. She delivered a comprehensive breakdown of the whole process, spanning from the seed of an idea, all the way through to the published end. She used her own experience as a model, to excellent effect. Karrie even supported this by actually laying out all the different stages of what she had submitted to the publishers, relating to her fabulous ‘The House that Groaned’ book.

The next step was a practical exercise, where Karrie set us the challenge of creating a 15minute comic. This is the part where I always cringe and get mini-panic attacks as I just don’t like having to draw/think on the spot. I enjoyed it slightly more than I thought I would, but though I put my comic down on the communal table, I did not stand by it or collect it afterwards! (I so admire people who can do this, I just have to accept I’m not one of them, sorry Karrie!).

And finally, in the last section, Karrie got us to write down our goals, addressing our aspirations, what we’re good at and what we feel could do better. She then skilfully guided us through the route we need to take in order to best sell our work, rounding off with her top ten tips.

All in all Karrie was an absolute inspiration. She had wonderful pearls of wisdom, such as her advice not to set off to complete a whole Graphic Novel from the outset, but rather just the amount needed to first attract the Publisher.

Karrie was honest about the realities of the industry, whilst still having an optimistic passion and enthusiasm about the possibilities available.

I would thoroughly recommend this event if Karrie were to give it again and I congratulate her on having achieved yet another string to her talented bow!

#Shanarama #Shana Nieberg-Suschitzky #karrie fransman #guardian masterclasses #Karrie Fransman Guardian Masterclass

Part 1/ 12th Jan 15: Becoming a 'Studio Ghibli' Character!

Happy New Year all!

This week I have two exciting things to report about, so I'm doing my blog in two parts, Part 1 and Part 2. The second is based on an event that will happen later in the week, but first, I have to write about an amazing exhibition I went to on the weekend.

I took my Husband to Paris for his Birthday, which was joyous, though tinged with sadness about the ‘Charlie Hebdo’ situation (we were very moved about how united and supportive the Parisians were). Lots of places were closed in relation to the tragedy, including a photographic exhibition that Adam had wanted to see.

However, by happy accident we discovered an advert for the exhibition of Studio Ghibli’s artwork at the Art Ludique, Le Musée so we went there instead as, along with my children, we’ve loved all the films we’ve seen of theirs, such as: Spirited Away; My Neighbour Totoro; Ponyo; The Wind Rises and Princess Mononoke, among many others.

The advert said that there were over 1,300 drawings on exhibit, but I thought that may have been slightly exaggerated. However, I was proven wrong! Not only were there thousands of amazing hand drawn and sometimes coloured frames, including mind-blowing, beautifully-drawn pans, but there were also extensive explanations about Mayasaki’s and Takahata’s techniques, including Interviews; Fantastic rooms where there were screens showing 5-15secs of footage that you could then see broken down through lots of the most important frames side by side; and the cherry on the top was to have a free photograph taken of us, which was then rendered and placed in a frame from ‘Spirited Away’!(see above!).

All in all, this was such an inspirational experience!

It’s on until 1st March 2015 and if you like Japanese Animation and want an in depth view of how they achieve their amazing feats of artistry, then I would thoroughly recommend a visit!

#Shana Nieberg-Suschitzky #Shanarama #studio ghibli #Studio Ghibli exhibition #Japanese animation #Japanese animation exhibition in Paris #art ludique #Studio Ghibli exhibition in Paris

Merry Xmas!

#Robin illustration #winter illustrations #christmas wishes

Sketching opportunities in Vancouver

During the summer I took my children to Canada for the whole of August to see my husband, who’s working there.

Having thought that I wouldn’t get much of an opportunity to sketch, given that my other half was working very long hours during the week, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that not only did I have time to do lots of sketches, but that my children have now got to an age where they were drawing away too!

Here are some of my sketches, plus some of theirs.

As you can see, I even managed a watercolour of the night view from my window!

Dreaming girl:

Mine & my daughter's sketches:

Mine & my son's sketches:

Lake Whatcom, USA in the day:

Lake Whatcom, USA at night:

#Shana Nieberg-Suschitzky #Shanarama #shanarama illustration #shanarama sketches

The Wonders of the Web

I recently spoke with a wonderfully wise and lovely art director from a revered publishing house regarding my most recent book proposal. We speak every so often and she’s always generous with her time and advice.

She gently prompted me to try and start earning from other avenues within illustration, for instance editorial work, so that I’m not just focused on Picture Books.

It was great advice and it was around about this time that I was approached by Art Rookie, so perhaps destiny was involved.

This is an online company, which is the brainchild of two young and clever entrepreneurial designers, Jodie and Liz, who saw a gap in the market and like ‘Ohh Deer’ and ‘Source 6’, they offer artists to load their artwork onto different products such as plates, phone cases and cushions as an opportunity for you to make money from your artwork. I’m slowly learning about the benefits of the Web, as it can seem a large and scary place, but it also allows for fantastic opportunities such as this type of business.

There are no upfront costs for the artist, but equally you won’t earn a vast amount, unless you sell thousands. It’s just a great way for you to get exposure and earn something from artwork that would otherwise have just been sitting in a drawer. You keep your copyright and if you decide not to continue, your artwork is completely deleted from their site.

My 1st selected artwork, being my *UV2012 winning entry*:

I have just launched my 1st Art Rookie range http://tinyurl.com/njnv7md

which I have enjoyed designing so much.

My Plate design:

My Cushion design:

Fellow Illustrators, I urge you to have a look at this website as it’s just a great idea.

And please do take a peek at my range. Do buy something if it takes your fancy or if you like what you see, but it’s not suitable for you then you could just heart me, which would be much appreciated as I will then move further up the list the more popular my products are.

#Shanarama #shanarama illustration #Shana Nieberg-Suschitzky #shanarama products #art rookie range

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