Painting the day away + SDCC
I’m working on a soon to be announced picture book. It’s my first time making a book with watercolor, ink and color pencil. It’s simultaneously exciting and terrifying.
It’s also meditative. Calming. I sit away from a screen, in front of a window where squirrels and birds frolic among the trees. I sometimes lose myself in a pattern or color mixing and forget to eat. I forget the hour. I’m consumed by making art.
I make a lot of mistakes. I smear ink, paint inside the lines and it’s less polished. Those mistakes could be fixed on a digital page. But there’s a charm in it. In a painting, minor mistakes add life and warmth.
As I paint, I allow my mind to wander, resettle and focus. Writing, drawing, promoting and earning a living wage as an author is hard. I plan my work years in advance. I often feel that my schedule and demands are non-stop.
But making this book with a brush in hand feels decadent.
And I am full of gratitude.
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Speaking of non-stop schedules, I will be at San Diego Comicon this weekend promoting Super Boba Café! My panels and ARC signings are below.
After Comicon I am away for most of August so I won’t update for a long stretch. I’ll be back in Sept with more.
Until then, happy summer!
Rejection 24 +ALA
My summer is definitely not slow!
This weekend I’m headed to the American Library Association’s (ALA) annual conference for my upcoming graphic novel, Super Boba Café. Recently someone asked why people already have copies of the book? Great question!
Ahead of publishing a new book, Advance Reader Copies (ARC) are released. For Super Boba Café they’re black and white copies (the final book is in full color) and key people like teachers, librarians, booksellers and influencers receive copies. At ALA’s annual conference, those folks receive free copies of ARCs to share with the readers in their lives. It creates great energy and buzz for upcoming books.
Super Boba Cafe marks my first PRINTED ARC. The 12 books prior were available as digital ARCs. It’s very exciting! If you’re attending ALA my events are below.
I will also be at the Rainbow Roundtable celebration for the Stonewall Awards because STRONG received a Stonewall honor. It will be a whirlwind of events and book love!
Hope to see you there!
Rejection 22
One of my many rejected comics from the New Yorker which I wrote about here.
Rejection 21
One of my many rejected comics from the New Yorker which I wrote about here.
Numbers, numbers, numbers
On my Shark Party Tour I
- Visited 5 cities (Portland, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Dallas and Atlanta)
- Presented to 17 schools and libraries
- Signed hundreds of books
- Signed a dozen shoes
Kids ask the best questions including “what is it like to be famous?” and “can you make a book about a megamouth (he meant megladon)?” One frequent question was “how many books have you made?” and I need to be better about concrete answers. They want numbers. They want FACTS.
I am fortunate enough to have many books out and more waiting to be made, so the number fluctuates in my mind.
But the firm answer is
- 12 books published
- 5 books on their way
When I present, I include facts about sharks. I prepared my presentation a couple years ago and I read that there were 400 kinds of sharks in the ocean. Except, like my books, that number fluctuates. Due to new discoveries, the number of shark species identified has increased.
- There are 500 different types of sharks (!!)
- I drew 30 different types of sharks for Shark Party
I’m home and looking forward to making progress on my next book deadlines. I still have events through the summer but nothing like a book tour. Over the summer I will
- Visit 3 cities for book events
- Visit 5 cities for personal travel
First up is the Fairyland Book Festival in Oakland this Saturday at 1pm.
Hope to see you there!
The dragon that haunted me
I’m half way through my Shark Party tour. I visit a lot of schools and I present about my books and my path to becoming an artist. I take requests from the kids and draw live.
At my first school I drew a dragon. At the end of my presentation a child came up and asked to take it home. Without thinking, I said yes. I was wrong. The teachers corrected me (I should know better!) because the dragon would stay at the school for all the kids to enjoy. He wanted to color it in. I told him there *might* be a dragon coloring page on my website.
I checked later. I was wrong (again).
He emailed requesting a dragon coloring page. I told the hubbahubba about the kid and the dragon. He replied “Awww he really wants it! It’s so sweet.”
Thus began my haunting.
I wanted to draw a coloring page for him but I had days of events ahead of me.
I went on to Portland.
Portland was wonderful. I love the soft and lush scenery of the pacific northwest. I visited schools that were kind and welcoming. Most of the kids had colored their own shark princess crowns and were excited to learn about sharks, books and art.
I also had the opportunity to meet cartoonist friends that I made in the pandemic. It was our first time meeting in person and it was joyous! Aron Nels Steinke, Jonathan Hill and Breena Bard all make wonderful, award-winning books (and they’re fabulous people too!) It was a lovely visit.
Still no time to draw a dragon.
I did a set of local school visits in the East Bay. Then I went on to LA.
After a quick two days in LA, I came home late last night. This morning I woke up, took my daughter to school and sat in my studio for the first time in 2 weeks.
There are piles of email, copy edits and two very love-starved cats asking me for attention.
But first, the dragon.
I am no longer haunted! It is here for the kid at my first school and now, everyone.
I’ll be in San Francisco tonight for Vashti Harrison’s Big book tour. Then on to Phoenix, Dallas and Atlanta.
Hopefully the rest of my tour will be haunt-free.