Character Challenge - Day 4 - 5-8 year olds

DAY 4: 5-8 YEAR OLDS

 

Welcome to Cha-Cha! I hope you enjoyed drawing toddlers for the last couple of days. Starting today, we are working on 5-8 year olds. These Kindergarten to 3rd graders are taller, leaner and have lost most of the baby roundness to their features. They stand closer to 4 heads tall with most of the additional height in their legs. Their hands and fingers are more defined than the toddlers and you can now squeeze in that fifth finger without it looking too bulky. When they go to the doctor's office to get measured, their height and their weight might be the same. My son was a "square" for several years with those measurements being the same number.

Play with head shape, they still have big ears and big eyes. Play with hairstyles. Play with body position - sitting, standing, running, squatting. Think about the activities that engage a child in Kindergarten, 1st, 2nd, or 3rd grade. They are doing everything from tying their shoe to writing to reading to playing group sports. You don't have to draw your characters doing any activities - thinking about them just gets your mind visualizing who you are creating.

What is your character wearing? Shorts, t-shirt, skirt with tights, button down? Is he or she bundled up for winter or ready for summer activities?

Who is she or he? Is she into science? Is he into reading? Does he or she like tennis? Chess? gymnastics? Soccer? Drawing? Try to show the character's interests in his or her stance or clothes somehow. Is she shy? Is he outgoing? Is he or she loud or quiet, pondering something or actively doing an activity? Is he chubby? Is she tall and lean? Remember to try a character with glasses or even braces.

Check out how this cartoonist draws children who are 5-8 years old: CLICK HERE.

Once you have figured out a character that looks close to what you are going for, try sketching the front view, side view, back view and if you are adventurous and have the time, try 3/4 front and/or 3/4 back view. For a great, great, great short video about rotating your character, CHECK THIS OUT by Renee Kurilla. (Click on her name to see more of her illustrations.) This three minute tutorial made a huge impact on my approach to creating characters. Animation is a wonderful way to work on character consistency.

I'm not posting more reference because I want you to come up with your own characters so think about this age and start sketching.

Come back tomorrow to see another post about facial features!

Have fun!

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Daily Doodles from this Week

This is how I feel everyday - in addition to the "mom" tasks that I do each day.

 

I love the circus - the variety of acts, the different performers, a dozen different things happening at once. I performed in the circus when I was very young and these are some of my fond memories.

 

My daughter told me today that she wanted "to do something relaxing like ride on a giant panda through the sky." I loved the image so this what I created.

Story Starter #13 - National Pet Day

National Pet Day, April 11, 2013

In honor of National Pet Day let's write come up with some ideas for picture books. First, come up with a list of pets - don't forget to include some crazy ones along with those more common pets:

Be specific on breed if you can. It will help an illustrator see the pet you are writing about.
Dog
Cat
Rabbit
Hamster
Fish
Bird
Ferret
Snake
Racoon
Tarantula
etc...

Now create a list of things that happen with pets - think of good things and bad things:
Get a new pet
Lose a loved pet (passes away, runs away, gets lost in the park, etc...)
Pet has babies
Pet is in a beauty pageant
Pet is in a walk event to raise $ for a local shelter
Dress up a pet
Pet breaks something in the house
etc...

Now take list 1 and list 2 and combine them in the most zany way that you can. Don't forget to use those two special words, "What if..." to create the premise for your story.

What if my pet racoon has a birthday party and my neighbor brings his pet dog?
What if I sneak my pet to school (uh oh, this has been done a LOT - skip this one)
What if I enter my pet bird in a local pet pageant but he can't sing? What is his talent?
What if my pet Lionfish gets his fin caught in a _______and our cat is the only one home to help?
etc...

Now write. There are no bad ideas. No wrong answers or combinations. The wackier, the better.

Have fun and post a comment if you enjoy this story starter.

Writing Wednesday - Story Starter #12

On this day, February 20, 1962, the first United States astronaut orbited the Earth. John Glenn Day commemorates this launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Glenn circled the Earth three times in a space capsule before landing it safely in the ocean.

This day in history can prompt a number of stories for children. Here are some story starters to get the juices flowing:

If you could travel in space, what would you see?
If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?

To turn this writing prompt into a story for children - namely a picture book, you could ask What if questions. Here are some samples:

What if a pre-schooler snuck onto a shuttle and was still on it when it took off?
What if a Kindergarten class took a field trip to Cape Canaveral and a student pushed the Big Red Button marked "Launch"?
What if a four year old went with his family to see a launch and when the smoke cleared, he something amazing? What did he/she see?
What if the astronauts decided to take a pet hamster into space and from all the kids in America, they chose your pet?
What if you are a dog and you just saw your favorite boy get into a shuttle and take off, you need to find him, what will you do? How will you follow him into space?

Come up with some What if questions of your own or use one of these. Don't think, just write.

Leave a comment letting me know what you think of this Story Starter. I posted eleven of them in 2012, if you want me to post them weekly on Writing Wednesday, let me know.

Late for the Parade

Here is my entry for Susanna Hill's Holiday Contest...

 

Rolling through the doorway on her six foot unicycle, Becca Elf hopped off the front stoop and pedaled toward the street. She turned onto the sidewalk and raced downtown. Becca was late for the Sleetville Holiday Day parade and didn’t want to worry her little elf, Eli. As she sped to the tracks, the gates went down forcing her screech to a halt and then pivot back and forth to stay on her perch.

HONK HONK went the train as it passed Becca. 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10 cars and a caboose chugged by before the gates went up.

Becca bumped across the tracks barely staying on her seat and heard a sound in the distance.

BOOM BOOM BOOM went the drums.

“Oh No! The parade is starting!” she yelled to the air. Becca righted her elf hat and pushed her pointy shoes against the pedals as quickly as she could.

“Where’s my elf?” asked Santa from his perch upon his sleigh on his float.

“Mom?!” called Eli.

Becca couldn’t hear Santa or Eli but she was nearby and working too hard to announce that she was on her way.

BOOM BOOM BOOM went the drums.

Santa’s float rolled across the intersection to begin the parade.

“Excuse me! Excuse me!” called Becca to the crowd who was pushing toward the curb to see Santa.

“Let her through!” squeaked a very little girl sitting on the shoulders of a very wide man.

The people parted  and Becca rolled through the crowd. As she bumped over the curb, her wheel hit a purse strap and…

“Oh NO!” yelled Becca

She twisted, she turned, she fell into the street. CRASH!

“Get up!” yelled a small round boy.

“Mom!” called Eli.

“Someone help her!” yelled the woman with the purse who’s face was quite red.

“I’m okay,” announced Becca standing and picking up her unicycle. She placed her right foot on her wheel and with two more steps and a slide of her seat, she was pedaling toward Santa.

“Hooray!” yelled the crowd.

“Hooray!” called Eli.

“Ho-Ho-Hooray!” called Santa as the parade began.

Author/Illustrator - Brenda A. Harris

Each week this May and June (and possibly longer if I can catch these super busy artists), I will feature Author/Illustrators. In the genre of children's literature, there are authors, illustrators, and author/illustrators. This last group does it all and I want to know more about them and their creative process.

My name is Brenda A. Harris and I’m a writer/illustrator/artist.

How long have you been creating art for children?

Well, I’ve always been an artist .  When I was just a baby, my grandfather (an artist) used sit me on his lap, and teach me how to draw people.

How long have you been writing for children?

 I’ve always been a storyteller.  Being the oldest of four children, I liked making up stories for my siblings. Whenever my littlest sister was ill, I liked to help her feel better by telling her stories.  Later, when I had children of my own, I wrote and illustrated stories for them.  I’ve always believed children can fall in love writing, if they discover the magic and power writing gives it’s creator. With that thought in mind, I helped my four children fall in love with reading, writing and art.

Has your art or writing been published yet?

Hardly.  In 2006 I published my first book. It was mandatory.  I was in school getting my teaching degree and the prof gave us a project - produce a children’s book.  I enjoyed producing and self-publishing it. I wish I’d had more time to  work on it.  That was when the writing/illustrating bug bit me.

In 2007, I started teaching in an elementary school. I began to write and read out loud my stories to my students.  I desperately wanted them to see, that library books begin by writing down stories we create.  Another one of my goals was to have students co-write and produce children’s books.  They did. They wrote, illustrated, and even made the book covers for their stories.  The school staff stapled and laminated them.  Then, the books were placed in the school library for students and teachers to read. Even now, I am so happy to have been given the chance to work with my students in this way.

After four years of teaching, I decided to devote myself fulltime to writing and illustrating stories. My husband agreed, and we set a tight budget. I joined SCBWI ( Houston chapter) and learned to self-publish.  I now have an eBook on Amazon.  It’s an illustrated children’s chapter book.  The characters are animals whose habitats can be found in Texas.  I so enjoyed doing research on the animals.  Wildlife rocks!

Where do you like to do your artwork? 

I work wherever I feel most comfortable at that moment: sitting on the floor/table, standing, kneeling, etc.  For example, when I’m tracing my sketches onto my final drawing surface, I tape the sketch  to a window.  The sunlight helps me trace the images onto my art paper, as I stand.

Do you prefer digital or traditional media to create your artwork?

There is something so beautiful and organic about traditional media.  It just sings.  It’s like poetry to me.  Then, when I work with digital, it’s so e- a- s- y!  I just love it.  What can I do, but bounce back and force from traditional to digital.  Sometimes, I even combine them.

Can you describe your creative process for us?

First, I come up with an idea for an illustration. I research the plant, animal, location, etc.  If the illustration involves people, I go into DAZ Studio 4 and use a Poser like program to position and shape a digital mannequin.  I paint it and add lighting.  Once I’ve finished the digital figure, I trace it onto art paper.  Now, it’s no longer digital.   I sketch the background and any other characters.  I retrace in ink.

Second , if I choose, I can scan my sketch into the computer and bring up my scanned image using GIMP.  I play with the color palette in GIMP.  This helps establish  my color scheme.

 Last, I decide whether to use traditional (oil/pencil/ink) or digital media to complete the illustration.

Which comes first, the story or the illustrations?

I’m a visual person, so I think it’s the illustrations.

To learn more about Brenda go to:

My art portfolio is on the www.scbwi.org website.  Make sure you search for Brenda A. Harris. (There’s another illustrator named Brenda Harris!) 

My blog is www.drawacircle.net . 

I’m also on Twitter at @abrendita .

Daily Doodle: Waterway!

This only appears to be a tremendous waste of water. The cement tilts toward the grass so the water is helping the grass and bushes along the other edge of the driveway.

Daily Doodle: Hoopin' on the Beach

Preparing for NaPiBoWriWee

Brainstorming Session

NaPiBoWriWee begins May 1^st and runs through May 7^th. This odd group of letters stands for National Picture Book Writing Week. The challenge is to write seven picture books in seven days. Maybe you’re thinking that this is crazy or simply can’t be done. It can. I participated in this challenge led by Paula Yoo, last year and had a great time. I met a group of caring, supportive, and motivating writers dedicated to writing for children and I am still in touch with many of them today. I am also participating in Julie Hedlund’s 12 x 12 challenge of writing twelve picture books in twelve months so combined; I should have 18 or 19 new drafts this year.

A key to being successful with both of these writing challenges is preparation.

First, if you haven’t done it yet, go sign up for NaPiBoWriWee. Signing up means go to Paula’s website and leave a comment at the bottom of the post that gives details about the event. You have to log in to Wordpress to leave a comment but don’t have to start a Wordpress site or blog – just create an account which means giving your name and email address and coming up with a password. During the week, Paula Yoo will post interviews with professionals in the children’s writing industry and she'll give prizes at the end. There is also a Facebook Group page and a Café Press store with notebooks, shirts, and mugs with the NaPiBoWriWee logo. Okay, enough about the event – let’s start brainstorming!

Start with making a list of at least 10 events in a child’s life. Be specific to the age of your target audience so think about zero to eight year olds.

Here is my list – make your own– the more ideas, the better. Think about unique experiences you or your own children had.

1. playdates
2. running in a sprinkler
3. losing a tooth
4. birthday parties
5. being line leader at school
6. participating in sports
7. taking the bus
8. joining girl scouts or cub scouts
9. making new friends
10. taking care of a pet

Now come up with a list of 10 locations. Be adventurous.

Here is my list – make your own and add to this one. Again, the more the better.

1. beach
2. doctor/dentist
3. playground
4. zoo
5. hair salon
6. pet store
7. grocery store
8. bus stop
9. museum
10. on the bus, or plane, or train

Now mix it up. Take an experience from the first list and use the location from the second list.

Here are some examples:

What if a child lost a tooth at the beach?

What if a child got to be the Line Leader on the class trip to the zoo?

What if a child went to a birthday party at a hair salon?

After you come up with a list of events at locations, think of what can go wrong. Does your mc forget something, lose something, break something. Is he or she afraid to do something?, etc...?

Try this. You need seven ideas. Come up with ten so that when you get to day seven, you still have choices. The pre-challenge is not to let yourself start writing them yet. Before NaPiBoWriWee begins, you can brainstorm and outline your thoughts but DON’T start writing yet.

Last year, each morning (after I got my little ones off to school) I would sit down at my computer, select an idea off my list, and write it. Try to develop your idea with a beginning, middle, and ending. Don’t worry about how great you think this draft has to be – we are not trying to write seven final drafts. Get your idea on the page. You have the rest of the year to tweak, edit, revise, rewrite, illustrate (if you are also an illustrator). We do not post and share our stories with other participants and nobody is checking your computer to make sure you do it. You are challenging yourself. Remember, a picture book is 0-1000 pages with the sweet spot being between 200-700. It is not a lot of words to get onto a page in one day so if you find yourself laboring over an idea, choose a different one for that day. You can always go back to the tough one or scrap it.

You can do this. You have a week to brainstorm your list of ideas. Have fun with it.

Leave a comment and let me know if this brainstorming session helped you.