If youāre like me, you go through your days just sort ofā¦ accepting the way things areā until you catch yourself mesmerized by an Apple TV screen saver depicting satellite images of our planet and think:
āI am the. tiniest. speck. of. dust. in the universeā¦ā
When this thought enters my head, itās crucial that I push it out super quick, because it will spiral me into a rabbit hole with no conclusion, leaving me overwhelmed ā BUT! ā Artistically speaking, I do love taking on projects that keep me thinking critically and I, therefore, need to study life to be able to draw it. (Believe it or not, I do not inherently know how to draw things!)
Iāve been submerged in the deep ocean for a few months working on a picture book called MERMAIDSā SONG TO THE SEA.
If you follow me on Instagram, you might have seen me post something about āfinally being able to draw fish.ā Seems silly, right? I, of course, can draw something fish-ish from my head but I wanted to be more accurate for this book, which takes place in a coral reef habitat. And, besides fish, there were even more sea creatures and plants that I had yet to make sense of - like the MANTIS SHRIMP. Orā¦likeā¦did you know that bay scallops have 200 EYES? Or that there is an octopus that lives inside a coconut?
I am forever thankful to Diana Hutts Aston for writing a beautiful manuscript that has me acting as a temporary marine biologist (and to the folks at Hippo Park for believing I could do it!). Especially because it keeps my speck-of-dust-feeling-self on my toes.
Iām unable to further elaborate on these *intellectual discoveries, but please do check out some thoughts that had me in the weeds this path month:
A realization: Spider webs and street patterns - they arenāt really that different. Weāre basically spiders on a larger scale. š³ This is the screen saver I was talking about vs. a dewy spider web:
A revelation: Sea shells and flower petals have similar structure. Behold a bay scallop and a poppy:
A predicament: The mantis shrimp is SO COOL, but somebody please tell me, how do you draw this thing?
There are so, so many legs involved. Iāve watched countless videos and Iām sad to report that they are quite mean andā¦punchy. Even so, I drew mine looking kinda cute. You gotta know the rules before you break āem. Derrrp:
Speaking of cute, Iām just going to plop this image of a leaf sheep sea slug right here and wrap up the rambling:
This month marks the beginning of summer, but Iām already looking ahead.
ITāS FALL! publishes in just 12 weeks and I hope youāll forgive me for essentially skipping over a season like a department store, because Iām too excited.
If you follow any other publishing folks, Iām sure youāve heard about how pre-ordering books is a really great way to help an author out. Hereās a wonderful post that breaks it down.
Itās hard to write books, illustrate books, present at schools, and also be a marketing repā¦ most of us are just introverts living vicariously through our art. But in order to keep at it, we need to succeed on some level. No pressure. š°
I need to pre-apologize for the amount of ITāS FALL! posts you will most likely see in the coming weeks before the book is available. Here I am, enjoying one of the only copies currently in existence before it becomes a book that belongs to everybody and not just meā¦ I canāt wait for you to see it!
I broke out of my introvert bubble and visited some elementary schools last week. It takes a big effort to put together an interesting slideshow for kidsā¦ but even just one conversation with a kid about making books makes it worthwhile (and I had many)!
I had help from my local indie, An Unlikely Story, who introduced me to some great librarians and also lugged boxes of books back and forth to each event. I appreciate you all.
Sleep, Creep, Leap - I read about this gardening analogy for creative work on Austin Kleonās substack, so perfect.
Colors - One of my most favorite episodes of Radiolab (that is now almost 10 years old), in which I was introduced to the Mantis Shrimp for the first time.
Rippinā the Rainbow an Even Newer One - A followup to the Colors episode of Radiolab, 7 years later (Mantis Shrimp really are scary though!)
A Shade of Yellow - the (not-kid-friendly) playlist Iāve been listening to while I work.
I was totally amused and surprised by this Harry Styles video:
And then I read this article about AI and immediately felt like everything I just wrote about is moot ā or, on the contrary, is it more important than ever to nurture human connection? *Do not read if you have anxiety and like sleeping at night.
*intellectual in the loosest sense possible.
Great post! Canāt wait for these books -- and those pictures are so cool!
Love these nature thoughts! Iām actually working on a book that involves seashells, flower petals, rocks, and acorns right now so Iāve also been thinking a lot about these shapes and how they are related! The spiderweb/map connection is one Iāve never thought about before. So cool.