Preorder SCOOP & Choose A Free Gift! by Patricia Keeler

It's annoying to Preorder SCOOP THE ICE CREAM TRUCK and then to wait a month or more to receive it. Therefore, preorder giveaways! A treat to get in the mail while you wait for SCOOP!

BE OPINIONATED BUTTON

Square buttons with attitude that read Be Opinionated! Comes on a ribbon with a postcard too! I kind of love them. I have a lot of these!

GREETING CARDS - limited addition

Here is a collection of greeting cards with envelopes. They have art front and back, and quotes inside from some of my favorite children's book authors from the past. Six cards in the package measure 7" x 5".

©patriciakeeler

©patriciakeeler

ORIGINAL SKETCHES CREATED FOR SCOOP

Giving away original art may seem like a big deal, but most of my early drawings are on tracing paper and full of smudges. It feels kind of cool to sign the sketches and send them to a new home. I'd have to pick the sketch as each is unique, but you could choose either Spunky or Scoop.  

©patriciakeeler

Image measures 5" x 6"        ©patriciakeeler

To Preorder on Amazon type in SCOOP THE ICE CREAM TRUCK in the top bar. When SCOOP comes up, tap the Preorder button on the right and checkout! You won't get SCOOP for a month yet, but your publisher's giveaway will arrive soon!

After choosing a gift from above 

message me from Facebook 

or email me at patriciaannkeeler@gmail.com 

with your snail mail address.

*****  IT'S A DRAWN TO PICTURE BOOKS CELEBRATION  *****

SAVE THE DATE!

Three of us in Drawn To Picture Books have books being released this Spring. Whoo hoo! Barbara DiLorenzo, Quincy: The Chameleon Who Couldn't Blend In (Little Bee Books), Deborah Cuneo, Little Dragon and the New Baby (Sky Pony Press) and Scoop The Ice Cream Truck (Sky Pony Press)!

We're having our launch party together at Little City Books in Hoboken— my New Jersey hometown—at 11 am, April 15! You are all invited! More info coming soon.

Facebook:  PatriciaKeelerBooks

Twitter: @patriciakeeler

Instagram: @patriciakeelerbooks
Website: patriciakeeler-author-illustrator.com

represented by Liza Royce Agency www.lizaroyce.com

The Road to Pantone - Deborah Cuneo

During my creative journey, color has always been a little bit of a "Frien-emy". Up until about two years ago, I worked exclusively traditionally. All traditional artists will agree, the color struggles span from finding the right grouping of primaries to mix from, to avoiding muddy colors, contrast, color palettes and so on.

Mixing it up Old School - Acrylic

When I started using digital as part of my art process, I discovered there were "a couple" (sarc) of extra hurdles to getting the color right. One big one was my scanner not picking everything up as it was in real life.  Another was my screen not showing me color correctly. I invested in a color calibration tool, but ultimately, there were still just too many shifts in the color from my screen to what it was in the real world. It was becoming  incredibly frustrating, creating without color consistency. Plus, I had to jump through technology hoops to get the colors to come out the way I wanted. It was a huge time-suck! 

At the peak of my frustration with color in my new medium, I remembered that years ago, I had been gifted with a Pantone matching system fan deck from a friend's father. He was retiring from the printing business and thought it might come in handy for me one day.

An old Friend

I dug it out and started using that to select my colors. I thought it would take some of the guess work out of the color process and create sort of a "control" from computer to print. What a Godsend! The fan deck was from 1987 and the colors had faded a bit, but it still was usable. It definitely helped me keep tabs on the color when working on Little Dragon and the New Baby (Sky Pony Press March 2018).

First Digital Color Palette/ Promo Sheet

Around the same time, an artist friend got me a brand new Pantone palette book, for inspiration. I loved a couple of the palettes and went to play with those colors in Photoshop, only to find out that my older version of PS didn't have the colors that were in the newer book.There was also no way for me to reproduce the color I saw, because there were no formulas for rgb or cmyk . And there was still the fact that my screen was semi unreliable.

Pantone Color Inspiration - Chronicle Books

With a new project on the horizon, I decided to go right to the source...Pantone itself! I found out that Pantone made a fan deck that not only had all the newer colors that I loved, but also the cmyk formulas for an exact or pretty close to exact, match.  It's called the Plus Series Color Bridge set. This set not only  gives you a huge color selection in both coated and uncoated, it also gives you a side by side comparison the cmyk version that comes closest to the Pantone color. For those that are designers too...it gives you Hex and RGB info as well. Yay!! Problem solved... or so I thought. It was an expensive tool and timing was not right for me getting one, because my scanner was also dying.  I would need to choose, but they were equally critical to what I was doing. That circle of thought became a constant source of angst... UGH!  

One day, last week, I was jolted out of my daily, technological pity party, by the sound of the doorbell. By the time I got from my studio to the door and opened it, no one was there, but I was greeted by a box with a big Amazon-smiley and my name on the label. I immediately opened it and to my delight, inside was a bright, shiny new Pantone Plus Series-Color bridge set and a note that said "Happy Birthday"!  I had been discussing my new project color struggles with my Father (a more technical creative) and he went ahead and purchased the set for me.

Best Early Birthday Gift!!

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU, Pop!!  I am so excited, and grateful for the gift and can't wait to use it! It's going to be a HUGE time saver on this new project and beyond!! (sorry for all the exclamation marks, but there seriously are not enough in my book to convey how great this gift was...!) It will be a little sad to have to retire that old fan deck. After all, it was my constant companion during the creation of my debut book, resolved my color issues and saved me a ton in production time. However, I've been informed that my Father will be happy to give it a new home. 

To find out more information about the Color bridge set and other Pantone offerings, just click on the link below:

https://www.pantone.com/color-bridge-coated-uncoated 

Website: www.deborahcuneoillustration.com

Blog: Creating Out Loud  deborahcuneo.blogspot.com

Facebook: Deborah Cuneo Illustration

Twitter: @debcuneoart 

 Instagram: @ataleof2studios

Rip and Snip by Patricia Keeler

 

Winged Zebras isn't finished. I don't think it is working. Maybe it's because they are facing away from each other?   ©pkeeler

A few weeks ago I finished Scoop the Ice Cream Truck for Sky Pony Press —already up on Amazon for Presale! Whoo-hoo! It was an amazing, challenging and wonderful experience!

But last week I felt this need to rip something up, to get over trying to make every image just right, to be random. You know what I mean?

I got some scrapbooking papers.

Three seconds. Rip. Glue. Three seconds. Rip. Glue. Three seconds. Snip. Glue. It's important to be quick or your 'creative' brain will take over and be really annoying . . . "You know, Patricia, those colors don't work." "Just sayin'." "You're going to put that there? Really?"

Work fast and play loud music.

©pkeeler

While that dried, I drew an animal. I could have cut him out of checkered paper, but I put him in Photoshop and dropped in checks.

©pkeeler

I got into my stamp box and found a bird. I love stamps!

At The Ink Pad in New York. I went there to buy one stamp. Guess how many stamps I bought?

Finally, in Photoshop—but this can be done with paints—I extended some of the background colors to make it more cohesive.

@pkeeler

 Easy-peazy!

On Sunday, November 5 you are invited to my studio to see how I work, 
to listen to great music and drink hot cider! 
Hope you can come!

Facebook:  PatriciaKeelerBooks

Twitter: @patriciakeeler

Instagram: @patriciakeelerbooks

represented by Liza Royce Agency www.lizaroyce.com

WIN A SKY PONY EDITOR CRITIQUE!

 Purchase a copy of LIZZIE and LOU SEAL 

and

email Sky Pony Press at wsparkles@skyhorsepublishing.com to let them know.

Now you are in the running for Sky Pony to see your picture book dummy or manuscript!

Looking Inside Sky Pony Press 

with Assistant Editor, Kylie Brien

“Good morning Sky Pony,” my editor says.

She reads at the coffee nook.

She reads at her desk,

In her thinking cap.

too cool                                                   too hot                                                    just right

My editor reads when she walks at lunch,

And with the people standing in line.

“Hmm, smells delicious!”

She reads with publicity

Ming Liu and Kylie Brien

and other editors.

“I like it a lot!”

Rachel Stark and Kylie Brien

She reads in the subway—

All the way home.

"Good night sweet writers and readers!"

Meet Sky Pony author/illustrator Patricia Keeler at Book Expo America 2017, Booth AM34, May 31 - June 2! She will sketch you as a picture book character!

 Facebook:  PatriciaKeelerBooks

Twitter: @patriciakeeler
Instagram: @patriciakeeler

represented by Liza Royce Agency www.lizaroyce.com