Sometimes...You Fall. - By Deborah Cuneo

Did you ever see those memes being passed around on social media? It shows a group of pictures showing what "THEY" ( fill in who they are) think I do vs. what I actually do? Of course I laugh at a lot of them, but unfortunately, there is an element of truth in that humor. (all meme images are from Google, they are not my images)

 (That last one hit a little too close to home, as of late!)

Being a visual creative, you realize that everyone has a different perception of how we make art happen, what skill set might have been needed to accomplish the final product and how long they think it should have taken. The reality is, that it's extremely hard work, long hours in isolation, and is not always a smooth journey....especially when you decide to try something new!  

Not to say that every single project is a total disaster. Sometimes I start a job and everything seems to just fall into place, with the exception of a couple of minor speed bumps on the road to the finish. But occasionally, both the creative and technical hurdles to get a job done, can become overwhelming. And just as you jump over one hurdle , you're met with another and another after that. Sometimes those hurdles come fast and furious, one right after the next, so you just keep jumping over them and continue moving forward, right? But, sometimes...you fall.

 

Illustration by ©Deborah Cuneo - "How The Coyote..." - Pioneer Valley Books

And it's okay. It's during that rather abrupt halt in artistic momentum, when you're laying on the cold, hard ground of reality, feeling totally exhausted, emotionally drained (and somewhat defeated), that you realize it's not just your artistic skills that are going to pull you through. It's your ability to troubleshoot and find creative solutions for problems you never even knew existed, that now become your most valuable skill! It's also in that moment of despair and frustration, that we seem to be the most creative!

Being a bit of a podcast junkie, I recently came across a great Ted Talk about frustration as a catalyst for creativity. ( link below) 

https://www.ted.com/talks/tim_harford_how_messy_problems_can_inspire_creativity

By the time I listened to this, I had already begun to figure out how to resolve my technical hurdles for my current project,  but I found the similarities between what lead to my solutions and what was intentionally done to those creatives to inspire innovation, really intriguing. I also found it interesting that the scenario that most people usually do everything to avoid, can actually produce a very positive, creative spark!  

Little Dragon - Sky Pony Press

Thinking back, it truly was in those toughest times, when everything in my creative process was overwhelmingly frustrating, that I seemed to tap into my most creative thinking. Now ...I hope it all pays off !

Website: www.deborahcuneoillustration.com
Blog: Creating Out Loud  deborahcuneo.blogspot.com
Facebook: Deborah Cuneo Illustration

Twitter: @debcuneoart 

 Instagram: @ataleof2studios

Thumbnails - By Deborah Cuneo

As an illustrator,  when you hear the word  thumbnail, you probably  think of  a rough, miniature doodle.  It's  always been a tried and true way to flesh out an individual piece or an entire storyboard.  And... while I do start each new illustration with a small, rough sketch, over the years, the idea of "thumbnail" has become so much more  a part of my entire, creative process.

I generally start every illustration with a rough thumbnail.  If I'm working on a group of spots for my portfolio, or a book project, I eventually end up with a series of these rough little drawings in the form of a  storyboard. I've also been using thumbnails to write out the text with illustration notes for myself. But, for me, their usefulness doesn't end there.

I like to work on the entire series or book project  all at once to keep everything consistent, but tracking all the details  while working that way, can be a bit overwhelming, especially now that I 'm working more with digital tools and layers. I tried many different ways to keep track of what I did, but being a very visual person, I kept coming back to those simple little rectangles with the line down the middle.

 So...now I use the thumbnail format for everything from tracking how many of the main elements have to be rendered in separate  layers, any revisions that need to be done, to mini color studies to give myself a full color overview and pretty much everything in-between.

Color Tracking - Little Dragon Sky Pony Press-2017

Color tracking thumbnail, close-up - Little Dragon Sky Pony Press- 2017

I find that the "at a glance" of the entire book, at different critical points in my process, really help me to keep tabs on all aspects of the project. And, I always have the thumbnails close by, so I can look them over with fresh eyes from time to time. Kind of like occasionally stepping back from a painting, only in this case, it's the whole project. When I do that, I can see things about the project that I couldn't, by just looking at one piece at a time, for hours on end. If something jumps out, I jot it down on the thumbnail sheet and mark it off when I address it. It all becomes part of the documentation for my project and they're nice and small, so easily put in the file.

Overview thumbnails - Little Dragon Sky Pony Press-2017

I had always just printed out my own thumbnail sheets, but we all know what happens to loose sheets of paper, despite our best efforts to keep everything together. So,  I'm happy  to announce that one of my blog buddies, Diana Delosh, came up with a small portable book, with lots of pages of my favorite little rectangles with the line down the center.

ThumbNailer / interior-   created by Diana Ting Delosh

 It's lightweight, portable, feels great (I'm also a very tactile person), has 51 pages with 8 thumbnail boxes per page and best part...it's totally affordable ! It's called ThumbNailer and you can get your book through Amazon.  I have Prime, so I got mine in 2 days and no shipping!

ThumbNailer /cover -  created by Diana Ting Delosh

https://www.amazon.com/ThumbNailer-Diana-Ting-Delosh/dp/1537479679/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1473527011&sr=1-1&keywords=diana+ting+delosh

I think this is going to work out really well, not only for the beginning sketching part, but also for keeping all aspects of my book projects together in one place.  For the price of a big, fancy cup of coffee, I can get one book for each project, as well as have one in my purse at all times in case inspiration strikes.

I'm just about done with the art for Little Dragon, but I always have another couple of book projects in the works that the ThumbNailer will be perfect for!

Website: www.deborahcuneoillustration.com
Blog: Creating Out Loud  deborahcuneo.blogspot.com
Facebook: Deborah Cuneo Illustration

Twitter: @debcuneoart 

 Instagram: @ataleof2studios

When Good Eggplants Go Bad (...and other tales of technical woes) by Deborah Cuneo

I don't know about anyone else, but this last few months have been especially challenging. Between kids leaving the nest, family health issues and a reboot on my book, I've been operating at a higher stress level and pace than normal. Unfortunately, real life goes on no matter what disasters are happening around you and there didn't seem to be any relief in sight, so I did what all of us do...worked right through it, cause' we're all professionals, right? (flashback to David Wiesner at njscbwi).  And for a while, I was able to successfully juggle it all and bury my stress in my art.

Burying the Prize - Pencil Sketch

Part of my "therapy"  was working out the palette for the book and spending countless, grueling hours teaching myself how to use my new digital tools. I was now ready to bring my color vision to life for Little Dragon!

 I felt a tremendous sense of satisfaction from the accomplishment  and that had almost completely balanced out all the stress from my personal life... when somewhere between finishing the final sketches and right before turning in the final cover art, the Earth must have shifted its rotation, causing a permanent state of full moon. Out of nowhere, my cover art and almost all my new tools, completely disappeared from my computer.  The ones that remained, well, any time I would select them, they would shut down Photoshop and destroy the file I was working on. Did I mention that the cover art was due the following week?  <Insert stress here!>

MINE! - Pencil Sketch

My hubby, who never met a mechanical or technical device he wasn't able to fix, was more than a bit baffled and no quick fix was in sight.  Panic set in! So what do you do when months of developing digital tools have completely left the universe and the art is due in a few days?  You take a breath, regroup, say lots of prayers and recreate the tools......"old school!!!

Creating Textures

I have to say, it was quite therapeutic  to use all my organic art tools again, after a year of focusing on digital. I didn't realize just how much I missed them.   After a couple of days of work, I was able to recreate pretty close to what  was lost in the computer and  the act of doing so, put my mind back in balance. I also found another way to use the two media together , which made me very happy and I'm thinking that in the end,  the art for the book may be better for having the experience (maybe that was the master plan all along???). 

Life...or at least kid lit, book life, was all good again... and quite randomly, as mysteriously as the programs and the computer in general , stopped working... it all went back to normal and I made my deadline! < insert sun shining and angels singing here!> 

From the book: Little Dragon - Sky Pony Press 2017

 

So, how do eggplants work into all of this?  During one of the days that I was having a bit of an internal, meltdown over the situation, I decided to go to the local farm stand, get veggies for dinner and just try to clear my head. Starring at all the colors and textures of the produce that's out this time of year, is quite inspiring!

 I began to make my way through the little marketplace and I happened to notice all these beautiful eggplants to one side of the wooden bins. On the other side, two eggplants that were every bit as fresh (just a little weird looking) caught my eye. They were seemingly cast off to the other side, rejected, in favor of the new, shinier eggplants.

I decided against eggplant for dinner and started to walk away, but my heart went out to the two rejects. I wondered what would happen to those poor vegetables after being cast  aside like that. Do they start hanging out  with the wrong eggplants and turn to a life of eggplant crime?...what was their story? So, I created a little photo shoot ( yes, right in the middle of the crowded farm stand) to highlight the heartbreaking reality of what happens when good eggplants go bad.

("The Meeting") When Good Eggplants go Bad   By Deborah Cuneo

When Good Eggplants go Bad  By Deborah Cuneo

Website: www.deborahcuneoillustration.com
Blog: Creating Out Loud  deborahcuneo.blogspot.com
Facebook: Deborah Cuneo Illustration

Twitter: @debcuneoart 

 Instagram: @ataleof2studios

Risk and Style...Keeping It Real - by Deborah Cuneo

"Talking" / Ransom Gallery Show / Brooklyn NY  - Acrylic and colored Pencil

Risk

noun

1. exposure to the chance of injury or loss; a hazard or dangerous chance

  

   At any gathering of  visual creatives, the topic of style usually comes up, with the main question being whether or not an artist should change their style  during the course of their career. I've heard so many opinions on the subject  from both sides of the desk (so to speak) and everyone seems to have a valid reason for or against.

"Discouraged" - Pencil Sketch

   Deciding to change it up was not a decision I took lightly. It would mean abandoning what I knew,  what was warm and cozy and familiar for so many years, but it came down to one major factor...I wasn't getting the employment results I was looking for using my older style.

   I was also starting to let  my internal feelings of discouragement get to me, to where even it was starting to come out in my art. It became a business decision.  It would be a huge, scary risk to change my style, but I didn't anticipate any injury  or imminent danger resulting from the intended change. Other than it possibly not being well received and having to figure what direction to go then, there was really no reason not to try...so I did.

First Step - B/W Promo - Digital and Pencil

First Step - Color Promo - Digital and Pencil

  

I suppose I could have continued in baby steps,  but to go down that path meant the evolution would be dragged out...and why?  So I could delay the inevitable for another day, a month? How many more years would I be willing to sacrifice to being in artistic limbo, just so I could remain creatively cozy and comfortable in my little box that I literally painted myself into all these years? 

   The answer...none. And, It was already clear ( to me, anyway) that anything I produced that was remotely similar to my old style, would  most likely get the same results. I had to make this change count, it was the only way I was really going to be able to move toward the result I wanted. So, I put my fear aside and just jumped right in. 

Jump! - Digital and Pencil

  I tried something completely out of my comfort zone. I felt that in order to make this work, I had to stretch myself to the point of being creatively uncomfortable and bring myself to a place where I couldn't predict or control the outcome, because in that dark, scary unknown, is where all the wonderful, creative possibilities are!! 

"Little Dragon" Sky Pony Press/Color Sample - Mixed Media

A lot of this new style is tied up in the book I'm still working on, but I will be showing some of the new work at the NJ SCBWI  June conference and then updating my website shortly after that. Will my professional risk have been worth it?... I don't know.  Will  I crash and burn?...maybe. Could I end up totally flopping on my face...I suppose... but,  it could also work out really well too!  I can't predict or control the result, only put myself out there and commit to do my very best, while continuing on my newest artventure! 

Website: www.deborahcuneoillustration.com
Blog: Creating Out Loud  deborahcuneo.blogspot.com
Facebook: Deborah Cuneo Illustration
Twitter: @debcuneoart