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@thedarklingbook
Come visit the Darkling on April 1st, 12-2pm! We will be at Napa Bookmine's location at Oxbow Public Market, at 610 First Street, shop 4, Napa CA. We will be signing books, answering questions, and would love to see you there!
We’re going to have a busy December 3rd. The writer and Illustrator team of “I Found a Darkling” will be at Book Shop Benicia from 10a, to noon and at Barnes and Noble in Fairfield CA from 2pm to 4pm. Books will be for sale and signatures will be free. Please come out and say hi!
In case any of you out there are not on the mailing list or haven't been following our progress with our children's book “I Found a Darkling”, this post is to give you an update. Things are getting done! The Kickstarter campaign was a HUGE success. We almost have all our rewards ready to ship to backers and we've selected a release date. Mark you calendars! December 3rd is the day our childrens book will be released for sale online and in local stores. We still need to figure out how to get it into libraries and schools but we’re happy to do the foot work and learn more about this industry!
If you are local and can’t wait until December 3rd, there will be a pre-release sale this weekend at the Fairfield Barnes & Nobel. Come on out and get your copy of “I fFound a Darkling”
www.ifoundadarkling.com
Formatting of the pages has begun! The writer, Geneva Clawson, is adding the last piece of magic to our children's book: "I Found a Darkling." The book has been finished for 7 months now and slowly the images have been created to accompany the words. I had the pleasure of being the first person to read I Found a Darkling (back when it was called The Darkling) and it's felt like I've been keeping an amazing secret ever since. Over the past 6 months I've been uploading one page at a time and from the outside looking in the book may look good, but once the words are available the book will prove to be great. The art is merely the frosting on the delicious cake, the wrapping paper on the amazing gift, the jalapeños on the cheesy pineapple pizza (try it!) I felt pretty early on that this book was going to be something special and the closer we get to this book being printed the more excited I get to share with the world. Well done Mrs. Clawson We are nearing 50% funding on Kickstarter and we still need your help. If you know anyone who would like to be part of making those book a reality, please share the link. www.ifoundadarkling.com/fund Thank you
The Kickstarter has begun and in the first 24 hours we have a great start! please check out the campaign if can and if you can't back the campaign please share with friends and family! www.ifoundadarkling.com/fund
Almost done with the page illustrations. The Kickstarter preview page is up. Check it out: https://m.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.kickstarter.com%2Fprojects%2F849077613%2F1761198473%3Ftoken%3Dfd7fe634&h=XAQEy97a7&s=1 Check out our website at www.ifoundadarkling.com
Page 22 is done and now there are only 3 pages left to go! If you want all the news and updates on this project sign up for our mailing list at www.ifoundadarkling.com
New page for "I Found a Darkling"! 4 pages left to go. Keep an eye out for my FB live streams to watch me draw live. To hear more about the book sign up for the news letter at www.ifoundadarkling.com The Kickstarter begins June 1st
New page done! 5 pages left to go. If you haven't signed up for our news letter please do at www.ifoundadarkling.com we just made a big announcement to our subscribers last night and you don't want to miss what's coming up next.
This #dailydarkling was made to promote a big announcement tonight. If you want to hear the news, sign up at www.ifoundadarkling.com. #ifoundadarkling #mcink #straighttoink #straighttoink #myart #illustration #blackandwhite #kuretake #childrensbook (at Suisun City, California)
Another page down. I like how subtle it his one is. If you want to know more about our book or just want to share it with friends, (to which we would be eternally grateful) just remember www.ifoundadarkling.com
Progress...
Im writing this brief blog late at night and the author Geneva Clawson is already asleep. Please forgive the inevitable typos and grammar mistakes.
Me and Geneva were walking in our local mall recently and it occurred to me that not enough credit is given to the progress that we’ve achieved. Not “we” as in Geneva and myself (Although we will have had finished a children's book in under 6 months with a more-than-full-time job and the constant attention commitment of 3 children... just saying) No, Im talking about the collective we. The WE who have made life what it is today. The we who have advanced technology and given modern day artist the best way to connect and collaborate yet. The we who have developed tools that grant independent creators the ability to make new and exciting things. We are frikin AWESOME! Despite all that I think WE also tend to focus on the negative aspects of life and often forget that there are so many things out there that are good. This is all a round about way of saying I'm choosing to be aware and grateful for the friends, family, tools, technology, skill, and love in my life. Without it all I wouldn’t be able to do all the things I do.
The Darkling, for me, is more than just a children's book. Its a utilization of the aforementioned progress and a representation of what can be accomplished if you believe you can accomplish it. One of my favorite parts of the illustration process so far is comparing the old thumbnail with the rough pencils for the final page. The progress is symbolic to me of where we started and where we’re heading. A rough doodle lacking detail and composition next to an illustration just awaiting ink and the finishing touches. We started out rough and didn’t know how we were gong to get to our goal and little by little we are asking questions, getting answers and discovering how to create a children's book. Along the way we’re learning, and whats more rewarding is that we have the ability to share everything we learn with a vast community of believers who may be one or two steps behind us. Believers who are making their own progress and using the same tools we are to try, fail, succeed and create.
Im really happy with how our book is turning out and what progress we've managed to make as a writer, an illustrator, and a community of creators. When this page is done It will be dedicated to progress.
Now that we changed the title I have some more #font work to do.
#dailydarkling while my boy eats his lunch. I think I like them better when I add some environment. #ifoundadarkling #blackandwhite #Kuretake #brushpen #myart #illustration #indie #shadowcreature #thedarkling (at Solano Town Center)
Yet another page complete. Let's keep going! If you haven't done so yet, check out our website at www.ifoundadarkling.com.
This page is the first of a two page spread but I ran out of ink. Is that a first world problem? I don't know. Anyway still have some work to do and I'm excited for the end result. More pages to come! www.ifoundadarkling.com #ifoundadarkling.
The Reason Why...
I think the reason why we do anything can tell us a lot about what kind of people we are, or at least what kind of people we want to be. I had a conversation today with a complete stranger at a coffee shop and near the end she thanked me graciously and seemed very surprised by the amount of time I spent telling her about all of the creative things I do. I replied to her reaction that I do what I can to help other people succeed, because while it’s helpful to them, it’s also self serving in a big picture, down the line kind of way.
If I make something and it’s praised and successful then I will be pleased with my work. But if that’s the best that ever happens, that achievement will be my plateau. I may be motivated to make more things but knowing what praise a high level of success can bring has the potential to dull my passion on a long enough time frame. If I play my cards right, I like to think I won’t plateau until I'm on my death bed. (Unless I pull a David Bowie or Tupac and release amazing music post mortem.)
You see, if I help and encourage another creators to make the very best thing they can make, then my investment on their project is only time. The return on my investment is motivation, challenge, and inspiration. Motivation because, as I’ve experienced several times in the past, being around creators makes me want to create. Challenge because if they are able to make something better than what I’ve made, then I will want to improve my own skills. Hopefully we can continue besting each other and continue to make better and better projects. Finally, inspiration because even if they make something that seems incomparable to my work I can still derive wisdom from their experience. Their work may spark an idea in me that becomes a new project and I will have had the unique position of seeing how they came to their conclusion because I helped them come to it. This all may sound a bit selfish but the larger meaning behind it is that I want all of my creative friends to grow together. I want us all to succeed and be the next generation of great creators who all know each other. That won’t happen if I succeed on my own.
The second reason why I make things is for my children. I work for much of the day and even though my amazing wife does a terrific job of raising them, I still have things I personally want to teach them. One of the ways I can accomplish this despite being at my day job for most of the day, is to make the best possible things I can (after they've gone to bed, because while they’re awake I want to help them beat King Koopa) and be kind and helpful to others along the way. I would love for the day to come when someone tells one of them “I know your dad and he was such a great help to me in achieving my goals”. I want my kids to be proud of me. I want them to impressed with me and mostly I want them to carry on a legacy of being helpful, generous and friendly to those in their community.
The last reason I do what I do is in order to prove to myself that all of my theories about progress and man’s ability to adapt, learn and succeed are somewhere in the realm of true. I’m an optimist and one of the things that makes me most proud is smiling in the face of doubters and knowing that I can achieve what I set out to do. And then doing it.
So what do these reason say about the kind of person i want to be? I think it says I want to be a beacon of help and progress in my own creative community. Someone others can look to when they need help. It says I’m a family man and father of 3 who knows that my actions will be echoed by my children and possibly my children’s children even when I’m no longer here. It says I’m a forward thinking creator and that I hold myself to a standard that serves to push me to make better and better projects regardless of the negativity that tries to suffocate ambition.
I’m ok with that.
www.ifoundadarkling.com
