Friday, April 29, 2011

Embarking on a New Adventure

When I was a little girl, I spent a large amount of my time drawing and writing.  I tried to write many stories, but they were all either terrible, or abandoned before they could become terrible.  In undergraduate I even took a creative writing class, but nothing came of it and I eventually pursued a more academic study of literature.

Before I left for Ireland, I came up with an idea to do sketches everywhere I went and turn them into a pretty little children's book.  Of course, I took more pictures with my camera than I drew while I was there.  But now that law school is done, I figure that I can go back to my photos and do sketches from them of the various places I visited.  I've given it a lot of thought and I would like to introduce you to my main character and his little insect friend:


The colored-in little guys are the ones I'm using: duck and lady bug.  The rest are just doodles I tried and rejected :)  The idea is that Duck will travel the world, checking out the major sites in each place he visits.  He'll be found on every page along with Ladybug.  I've envisioned it as (an educational) children's book that adults can enjoy looking at.  Sort of a mash up of Madeline and Paddington Bear with a hint of Eric Carle.  It's an ambitious aim, I know, but I may as well shoot high.  I plan to do pencil sketches with water coloring and black inking for the illustrations. 

So I'm pretty sure Duck is just about the cutest thing around, but the big question is where he should visit first: London or Paris? (please don't let your vote be affected by my jacked up sketch of the Eiffel Tower!)

Let me know what you think!  Whichever gets picked will become my first *real* attempt at writing a book and Duck's first stamp in his passport.

3 comments:

  1. You can count on me for your first sale when you get published! LOVE the idea.

    My vote is for Paris, oui, oui!

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  2. Love the duck...and the Eifel Tower isn't that "jacked up." That said, I still vote for England. Little Duckie's first trip should be somewhere where he/she won't have to confront language barriers. Maybe by book two, he/she will be ready to deal with Bonjour and Adieu. :) Love the idea!

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  3. Taryn: thanks so much - I'm going to hold you to that ;)

    Lynn: John said literally the exact same thing!

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