Category: Art (Page 6 of 9)

Meet Beth Lovell Illustrator for THE GREAT CONNECTICUT CAPER

February 6, 2015 / Katie L. Carroll

Have you check out chapter three of THE GREAT CONNECTICUT CAPER yet? You’ll definitely want to after reading this interview to see what Beth Lovell has created as an illustration for the Caper. All the beautiful artwork on this post was graciously provided by Beth. Let’s give her a big welcome!

What is your typical approach when sitting down to start a new project?

I draw or paint every day and usually my work is completed in one fell swoop. I work anywhere from 5 minutes to an hour or longer on a particular piece, usually.

Did your approach differ at all for creating your illustration for the Great CT Caper?

Yes, I did multiple sketches for the different characters imagining how they might look, and I sketched and took loads of photos on site at the locations that were mentioned in my chapter and at Gillette Castle itself. I wanted to have as many resources in my own hand as possible for completing the assignment and I prefer if possible to work from observation rather than photos. I did have to Google search for some character ideas however. I scanned all the drawings and paintings and sketches and made a collage in Photoshop laying everything out like I wanted. I printed and re-drew on the prints, and rescanned and re-collaged everything several time before I was happy with it. My husband is a Photoshop expert so he had a hand in it as well.

What was your biggest challenge for creating a piece of artwork for the Great CT Caper?

Working under the deadline of a week was exhilarating and frantic. I think artists secretly like the pressure of a deadline because it focuses you like nothing else can!

Did you do any particular research for this project?

I sketched on location at many of the parks mentioned in the chapter. It was fun to see a few places in Connecticut that I had not yet visited. Connecticut offers quite a bit of variety in terms of terrain, there is the shoreline, beaches, wooded hiking trails, really interesting and unusual architecture like Gillette Castle.

I did Google searches to come up with a couple of characters in my illustration and that was loads of fun. If you have something particular in mind when you start your image search it is fun to see how close you can get to that idea, but also there is a random element there.

How did you get started in illustrating?

I have been doing a drawing or painting every day as challenge to keep art a significant part of my life since 2009. I was trained as an oil painter, but I seriously love drawing, it is so fun and direct, it seems so much more natural of a way of making things for me and I just cannot stop doing it. My drawings have a kind of illustrative quality so I have just been going in that direction more and more. I would love to illustrate more professionally but I have only done a few published things, if you count web venues. I would love to illustrate a graphic novel.

What is your work space like? Do you have any other places you like to work?

I work at home, in our dining room which has my computer desk and scanner, and a large table made from a wooden door. It is a fabulous workspace that everyone in the family uses for various projects, homework, and whatnot.

I also have a small field kit of art supplies that travel with me at all times so I can sketch in the supermarket, or out and about whenever I see something that is visually interesting. I love sketching on location and have drawn many times at the Peabody, and coffee shops, and the New Haven green and around.

What artists inspire you?

This is a big question, and for this interview, I will focus just on illustrators. Before I had children, most of my influences were people who made paintings, but since my kids were little I have just gone mad for children’s book illustrators, cartoonists, and people who make graphic novels. A few who I admire greatly are Mimi Grey whose collaged children’s books are just fabulous and funny she did Traction Man, Kate Beaton who draws Hark a Vagrant, Lucy Knisley whose graphic novel Relish is just fabulous, and Isabel Greenberg who drew Encyclopedia of Early Earth.

Besides chapter three of the Great CT Caper, where else might people find your work?

I have work at www.bethlovell.com. I have a Facebook group for anyone who’d like to share their own daily drawings. https://www.facebook.com/groups/cawdailydrawing/

It goes along with a course I am teaching at Creative Arts Workshop in New Haven, but the Facebook group is open to anyone to join. The more the merrier!

Any upcoming projects you’d like to mention?

I recently had some sketches of Occupy New Haven in the CT Bound flatfile show at Artspace, which is a small show accompanying the CT(un)bound Book Art show going on there right now. The show was up through January 31st. http://artspacenh.org/include/404.asp?404;https://artspacenh.org:443/galleries/gallery5/

And finally, please share something silly/unusual/interesting that you don’t normally share in interviews…

This does not really fit your question, but here goes:

One of my favorite young adult novels is serially written collaboratively by a bunch of different fabulous authors, it is called Click! and it includes Nick Hornby (Author), David Almond (Author), Eoin Colfer (Author), Roddy Doyle (Author), Deborah Ellis (Author), Margo Langan (Author), Gregory Maguire (Author), Ruth Ozeki (Author), Linda Sue Park (Author), Tim Wynne-Jones (Author).

click

So when I heard about the collaborative CT Caper project, I really wanted to try for it. I was so excited to be chosen as one of the illustrators on this project. I’ve always wanted to work on a graphic novel so this seemed like a good step in that direction.

The thing I want to say is that my sketch that I submitted was really sketchy and fast and I had wanted to make a whole perfect ink drawing or graphic novel spread out of it, but procrastinating artist that I was, the deadline approached, and I had to decide if I thought my sketch was good enough to submit. In my heart of hearts I knew I could do better, but in my heart of hearts I knew I also really really wanted to participate so at 11:45 pm I uploaded what I had and I am so glad I did. I want to share that with any and all artists, writers and students, go ahead and try, please don’t wait til you feel like everything is perfect, you are good enough exactly as you are, right this minute!

About the Illustrator:

Beth Lovell is a Connecticut artist who has posted a daily drawing or painting online since 2009, a practice that began as a New Year’s Resolution. Beth has an MFA in Painting from Yale School of Art and a BFA from Indiana University, Bloomington. You can find her work at www.bethlovell.com and littlewolfpress.etsy.com.

Confessions of an Author: Creative Gap

January 13, 2014 / Katie L. Carroll

Confession #7: The creative gap that exists between what an author imagines in her head and what ends up on the paper inevitably leads to a certain level of failure.

As a writer, I have certain images, ideas, nuances, themes, characters (and any number of other things) in my head when I create a piece of writing. It’s not that I necessarily have a set agenda–this is especially true when drafting and the story and characters are still taking shape–it’s more that I have a clear vision for a piece. I wouldn’t call it a message (because who wants to read a message-heavy piece of writing)…for a lack of a better way to describe it, let’s call it a creative vision.

Inevitably, the words I use to try and achieve my creative vision never quite live up to what I see in my imagination. This has nothing to with my ability as a writer; it’s more a failure of the medium of the written word. Writers have to rely on words to paint a physical and emotional landscape for a reader. We create not only worlds and characters, but ideas and feelings that need to come alive through words because a reader can’t see into a writer’s head.

Even now, trying to explain this creative gap is a frustratingly futile attempt. The words you read here are not exactly what is going on in my head. There is a creative gap between my brain and what you’re reading.

English users even try to steal words from other languages to help overcome the creative gap. A word like “umami”, taken from the Japanese, is roughly a pleasant savory taste (tomatoes are said to possess this quality), but really it’s a taste or sensation that can’t really be expressed in our language.

Then there are words that are so complex and subject to a person’s individual experiences and emotions. Success. Peace. Love. A writer can use these words, but has no control over how a reader will interpret it. Words are simply an inadequate form of communication sometimes.

And this creative gap isn’t unique to writers; it crosses all types of creative media. Films, though more visual, lack in different areas than books. When watching a film, a viewer can’t be in a character’s head and hear his/her direct thoughts (except for the occasional voice over). Artists can paint or draw what they see in their head, but there is no commentary to go with it. A person looking at a painting has to draw his/her own emotional context out of it.

So what’s a writer or creative person to do? Give up because our creative vision will never be fulfilled. Create a failure and despair over it. Nope! We accept that the creative gap exists and use all the tools we possess to convey our creative vision to the best of our ability.

Because something magical happens when our (inadequate) words are read. The creative gap works in reverse. Readers brings their own creative visions to the writer’s words. And they fill the gap, not as the writer would have filled it, but with their own imaginations.

In the end, the creative gap does not create a failure, but a piece of work that is unique to each individual who consumes it. A work that is full of images, ideas, nuances, themes, characters (and any number of things) the creator never could have imagined. And that is certainly a wonderful exchange.

Exploring the World of Elixir Bound

September 3, 2013 / Katie L. Carroll

In case you missed it yesterday, I was featured on the Where Writers and Author Meet blog. Here’s your opportunity to ask me ANYTHING! Post your question in the comments and my answers will be posted next Monday.

The fun continues with the Elixir Bound in paperback blog tour (full schedule here)! Today I have a very special reveal *drum roll* … the official map of the world of Elixir Bound! This map includes not only Faway Forest, with the Three River Split and The Sleeping Giant mountain range, but also a look at the entire Great Peninsula.

Places like the cities of Skimere and Lughorn, Blanchardwood, and Drim will play very important roles in the next Elixir book, Elixir Saved. Check back in all month long for more cool reveals, including a sneak peek of Elixir Saved at the end of the month.

Enough blathering! Let’s get to the map! 🙂

“The Bedtime Knight” Is Born

November 9, 2012 / Katie L. Carroll

Today marked the day my picture book The Bedtime Knight, illustrated by Erika Baird, originally released with a company called MeeGenuis. While it’s no longer available there, you can now buy the ebook or signed copies of the paperback on the Purchase Books page.

You also find it at Bookshop, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, or Book Depository (for international folks). Listen to the audiobook on Chirp, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Audible, Libro.fm, Scribd, Audiobooks.com, and Google Play.

When the lights turn off at bedtime, a young mouse’s imagination runs wild. Daddy Knight charges in to the rescue and sheds light on what the shadows really are. Then he empowers his daughter to turn the scary shadows into fun imaginings.

THE BEDTIME KNIGHT is a gentle way to face the childhood fear of the dark. Perfect for a bedtime story or as a read-aloud any time of day.

Celebrating Elixir Bound’s Release Day

September 27, 2012 / Katie L. Carroll

Did you even wonder how an author celebrates the big release day of her debut novel? You might think it’s all caviar and champagne, but it’s generally more subdued than that.

Here’s a picture essay of how I celebrated the release of Elixir Bound.

The celebration began early when Elixir Bound showed up on Amazon a few days before the official release day.

On release day, I had to work at my office job in the morning, but then I got to hang out with The Boy for a little while before it was naptime. Time with The Boy is always my favorite time of the day.

The hubby presented me with flowers when he arrived home after work. The Boy had turned one a few days before and really liked when we said in a high-pitched voice “Happy Birthday!” So all day the hubby kept saying “Happy Book Release Day!” in a funny voice, much to the amusement of The Boy.

My 13-year-old nephew and my twin-not-twin sister threw me a surprise party, complete with a framed copy of Elixir Bound’s cover. I was tickled pink that my nephew was so excited for me!

And there was a festive ice cream cake!

Proud mama with her book baby!

I also had a special post about how I became a writer on fellow Muse author Meradeth Houston’s blog. Thanks to everyone who has shared in my journey of becoming a published novelist. I appreciate all the well wishes and support. And keep buying those books!