Big Announcement!

I have an agent!!

 After many, many years of illustrating, writing, revising, and rejections, more revising, more illustrating, more writing, I am beyond excited to announce that I am now being represented by Rebecca Sherman of Writers House for all of my book related projects!

It was through my fantastic critique group, The Girllustrators, that I first made the connection with Rebecca. As a group, we send out one collective postcard mailer a year to various agents, art directors, and editors. This year, our postcards were Texas themed recipe cards, and it was through this mailer that Rebecca first contacted me. Since then, Rebecca has been working with me to polish several of my projects, and her advice has been tremendous. I'm grateful to have found an agent who invests so much time and thought into my projects.

Thank you so much Rebecca and Andrea for working with me and my little projects. I'm looking forward to being part of such a wonderful team and community of authors and illustrators! 

xo

nessa dee

Howdy Y'all!

xo

nessa dee

Reluctant Swimmer

It started with a sketch...

She's one of many swimmers I've sketched lately, but I just loved her 'attitude,' so to speak.

So, out came the paper, Mod Podge, and paint, and I set to work bringing this little sketch to life.

 I spend a lot of time picking the right papers to use in my art. The paper combinations might look random and haphazard, which in some cases it is, but in most cases, there's a lot of thought as to which patterns and colors I'll use. For example, in a travel themed piece of art, I might layer my canvas with maps and old travel adds, or I might add recipe pages for a food themed painting. In all of my paintings and illustrations I try to use general, but bold patterns that have stark, contrasting colors to base my canvases because I know that once the paint is layered on, only hints of these patterns will sneak through, so the bolder the pattern, the more likely it won't be completely obscured.  Once the background is finished, I sketch out my subject and get to painting.

Then comes the fun part... dressing the subject.

 I generally have an idea for a color, or a particular look I'm going for, and I pick out a bunch of papers that I think might work. If I'm painting a bird it would be the feathers, or a robot, his metal casing, but in this case, it was this girl's swimwear. I thought I wanted a navy blue swimsuit, so I picked several papers that fit the bill, along with a few other colors with classic patterns. I held each paper up to the painting and tried to imagine the finished piece. Once I narrowed the papers down to a shortlist, I cut out the suit in each color, laid them out, and photographed them. The cutting was through trial and error. I started big, and trimmed it down to fit. If I'm illustrating a piece that requires more intricate scissor work, I'll have a detailed sketch and trace the images on my paper before making the cut, but I thought I could eyeball this one.

I had to call in the jury to help me decide the winning suit...

Then it was glued down, sealed and given some extra details before the I called this reluctant swimmer finished.

xo

nessa dee

Austin SCBWI Header

As part of the prize package for winning the Austin Writer's and Illustrators Working Conference portfolio showcase, I was given the opportunity to redesign the Austin SCBWI website header! It was a wonderful opportunity, and I'm beyond excited to see the header up. This was the final design:

To see the design on the Austin SCBWI website, click here.

A big thank you to Austin SCBWI for giving me this opportunity, and to Sam Clark and Amy Farrier for all of your help! And thanks again to Candlewick Art Director Kristen Nobles, and illustrator Molly Idle for awarding me with the grand prize. I'm still giddy from the conference!

xo

nessa dee

Quilt

I love quilts. There's something so comforting and inviting about these hand-stitched blankets. It's not just their utilitarian purpose, to provide warmth, it's all of the love and care that goes into their creation. I have fond memories of watching my grandmother and great-grandmother putting hours and hours of labor into their quilts. My favorites were always the ones that were pieced out of the leftovers from previous quilts, or old shirts that found new life within the patched blanket. Those quilts often times had crazy color schemes which fantastically clashed, but that's what I loved about them. They were energetic and funky, and bright.  

Gangy (my grandmother) always kept a box full of scraps in her quilting studio for her grandkids. She taught her grandchildren how to thread a needle, piece the scraps, and hand stitch them together to create a quilt that I'm sure any tiny creature would have marveled at. I think about the patience she showed when teaching us each and every little step. I often think about those moments when I'm frustrated in teaching my own children tedious tasks. It takes a lot of patience to make a quilt. It takes a lot of patience to teach your children. And I'm not always the most patient person. Sometimes, like having to rip a seam and start over, I have to take pause, and start again with my children. But hopefully, with each little stitch sewn, each little patched seam, each little lesson taught, some crazy, beautiful, fantastically bright thing will emerge.

xo
nessa dee

Borrow

xo

nessa dee

Progression

A step-by-step picture progression of my process. The illustration is for my latest picture book dummy, and I'm trying to play around with the style for the book. There are a lot of tricky scenes to illustrate, so the style has to work within the context. Hopefully, I'll have it figured out soon, and can start the submission process!

xo

nessa dee

New Work

Here's a sample book cover I did for a project. Although it didn't get used, I still really like it, so it's going in my portfolio.

xo

nessa dee

Agatha

Just a little digital sketch I did yesterday. I named her Agatha because I think she looks like an Agatha, and I love the name Agatha, and had my third child been a girl, that child would probably have been christened Agatha. I don't why she's sad, but perhaps I can cheer her up today when I'm sketching.

xo

nessa dee

Draw This! Bounce

SCBWI has started a new feature for illustrators to submit work based on a monthly prompt. The first month's prompt word is bounce...and this is what I came up with:

I'm going to try to participate each month, so you should be seeing more of these in the future.

Happy Memorial Day!

xo

nessa dee

Meet Nigel and Mr. Turtle

I met a couple of new characters yesterday. This is Nigel and Mr. Turtle. This wasn't our first meeting. Nigel popped up in my sketchbook last week, and Mr. Turtle joined him during church on Sunday. (I listen to the sermons better if my hand is busy...honest) They were so cute, I had to see what they would look like in color with their matching outfits. 

And now I'm introducing them to you. :)

xo

nessa dee

Materials used: Acrylic paint, scrapbook paper, glue, and embroidery thread.

Check This Out!

My art is featured on Other Cool Birds today! Thank you so much, Lafayette Wattle, for the lovely write up! You can read the post here.

xo
nessa dee

It's a Wrap!

Conference weekend is over, and now comes the fun part...processing everything I saw, heard, ate, and learned. There's always an overwhelming amount of information presented at these writer's and illustrators conferences, so much so that I feel like I just received an entire education crammed into two short days. My brain is fried, but thankfully, I took copious notes, so after a short detox, I'm going to dive into my notebook and bathe my brain.

One of the events in the conference was an illustrator's intensive where we were given an assignment to illustrate a specific sentence in the Pied Piper story. We were instructed to submit sketches to Kristine Brogno, the art director at Chronicle Books, to which she offered feedback. Then, based on her feedback, we created final art pieces which were presented at the conference.

This was my sketch:

The feedback included varying the ages of the children more, as well as the expressions on the adults. Overall, she liked the movement of the piece from left to right, and the environment.

Here's the final:

Overall, she said the piece was very nice. She liked the diverse characters and the movement in the piece, as well as details like the ballerina which she said kids could relate to. While I did change the expressions on the faces of the adults, I could have pushed their expressions and body language further, as well as the expression on the piper's face...she commented that his expression seemed a bit basic.

Other comments from illustrators were to change the red-headed boy's striped shirt because it was too similar to the piper's, reposition the little girl in front to de-emphasize her as the focal point, and to clarify the vignette of the man standing in the window above the piper.

After finishing the Pied Piper piece, I liked the colors and the feel of the piece so much that I wanted to do more. So in the week before the conference, I worked up another illustration from the story where rats are taking over the city because who wouldn't want to paint a plethora of rats?

This illustration still needs some finishing touches, like about a dozen more rats, but the deadline of the conference forced me to call it quits. Deadlines can be a good thing, otherwise, I might still be painting rats!

xo

nessa dee

Clever Fox

Just wanted to share this little fox painting I finished last week. It's going to be one of a series of woodland creatures. I hope to get the others painted soon, but right now I'm working on a couple of illustration projects in preparation for a Society of Children's Book Writer's and Illustrator's conference I'll be attending in a couple of weeks. I've been painting like mad, and I can't wait to show you the new illustrations, but for now, you'll have to settle for a fox...

Does anyone else feel like they need to restart the New Year. I feel like we've been rushing and running so much that I didn't get my year off to a good start. Here it is, the end of February already, and I haven't even made my list of resolutions. As a matter fact, when I uploaded this fox picture, I realized I still had pictures from Christmas on the camera. So I have some catching up to do with this here blog. And just for the grandparents...

I can't tell you how much joy this little cutie brings to our lives. He certainly keeps me on my toes, but he's quite charming even when he's full of mischief.

xo

nessa dee

Narwhal

There's still time to get this guy before Christmas! He's for sale at Cherry Tree Creative in Taylor, TX, along with a whole collection of vintage and handmade items. They stay open late on the third Thursday of every month, which happens to be tomorrow!

Are you ready for Christmas?

I'm not...yet.

xo

nessa dee

Three Zombies and a Robot

I love this picture. I love it when my kids unknowingly settle themselves in order by height. They do this quite often, usually in age order. It's quite easy for them since there's 5+ years between each child. Their ages aren't relevant in this case, though, but somehow they've managed to stair step themselves into another perfectly posed position... a great opportunity for a photo, even if it is of mindlessly basking in the glow of a television.

And here's a little guy I've been working on. He's not quite finished, but I'm growing fond of him, so I had to share. I bought some old Bingo cards from my favorite store, Cherry Tree Creative, and I've been searching for an opportunity to use them in my paintings. He was one such opportunity.

I think I'll call him Bingo, Original, I know.

He'll be available for sale soon, so if you're interested in him, leave me a comment.

Have a great weekend!

xo

nessa dee

Rocket Dog

Well actually, a rocket AND a dog.

 These are a couple of recent paintings that I sent to Cherry Tree Creative, my favorite store for unique, handmade, and vintage finds. I am so excited to get to sell my paintings at this store. It is a treasure trove of things that are infused with imagination, saturated with character, and filled with history. If you're ever in Taylor, Texas, you should pop in for a spell. It's worth a special trip.

xo

nessa dee

The Angel Guardian

Well, as promised, I'm back to tell you a little bit more about one of the projects that kept me so busy over the summer. I had the wonderful opportunity to illustrate The Angel Guardian, written by Michelle and Chris Miller. The Angel Guardian is a children's illustrated book and matching angel doll designed to help children get more sleep and make bedtime fun for everyone.

 The illustrations for this book were created using collaged paper, acrylic paint, and lots of love, and then assembled in Photoshop. 

I had so much fun bringing these characters to life for the book! Now it's your turn to help...

The author's have launched a Kickstarter campaign to help with the production. You can read their story, see their video, and get a sneak peek into the book here: http://bit.ly/angelguardiankickstarter

They need to raise $7,500 on Kickstarter to bring the book and doll to market. So please help spread the word!

If you’re not familiar with Kickstarter, here’s a quick intro. How it works is that people describe their project on Kickstarter.com, set a funding goal and deadline, and create a series of rewards that backers can choose from and receive in exchange for pledging money to support the project. Rewards are often the product itself, along with unique rewards customized just for Kickstarter backers. It’s an all-or-nothing model, meaning the project either hits its goal and receives the money it needs to undertake the project, or it doesn't hit the goal before the deadline and receives nothing at all.

For this project, rewards include the ebook and an autographed hardcover copy of the book for $25. For $45, you get the trio - ebook, autographed hardcover and angel doll. You also get a second hardcover book free to give to the charity of your choice.Check out the site for more rewards!

Thanks so much!

xo

nessa dee

Well, Hello Again!

Why hello little blog! It's been quite a while since we've chatted. A lot has been going on in our life the last couple of months, so much that it's hard to fit it all in a post. I didn't intend to wait so long between conversations, but the busyness of life left little time for us to talk. I've missed our little chats. I've missed being able to reminisce with you, and show you what we've been up to. We've got a lot of catching up to do, so I hope you're ready for an earful. For now, I'm going to give you a little peek at one of the projects I have been working so hard on...

I'll tell you more about this exciting project tomorrow. 

Nice talking to you again, little blog!

xo

nessa dee

New Work

I've been working like crazy in my studio, lately. Unfortunately, I can't show the book I've been working on just yet. I do, however, have a little something to show you. I recently entered a contest and was forced to get a little creative with my illustrations. Since my scanner's not working, I ended up making sketches, taking pictures of them with my phone, and emailing them to myself. I then colored everything in Photoshop. Here's one of six panels I did for the contest:

Like I've mentioned before, digital illustration is not my strong suit, but I am really happy with the result of these latest illustrations. I will show you the whole storyboard eventually. At the moment, though, I am working on a manuscript for these characters, so I don't want to reveal too much!

Enjoy the weekend!

xo

nessa dee