Kid At Art

Tomorrow I begin sitting my third 10-day silent mediation course. It’s extremely uncomfortable in all ways imaginable, but afterwards the sense of empowerment and peace make it all worth while. It’s sort of like pressing the reset button on your brain.

I’ll be there for the full moon, the equinox, and my birthday. Should be a powerful time. Wish me luck!

I abruptly switched career and life paths when I turned twenty-five. Feeling unfulfilled with my corporate IT job and Los Angeles itself, I decided to follow my passion for art and expression, and made a new life in Austin, TX. Ever since (in between various jobs) I’ve been practicing drawing and visual storytelling. This nine years of practice has cumulated with my first children’s book manuscript, Neat Birds, which I’ve recently submit to an agent. This is a big deal!

If signed by an agent, it means they believe they can get this book a publishing contract. With high hopes, I decided to submit to a VERY GOOD AGENT. Their agency represents the very talented and popular children’s book author & illustrator, Mo Willems. I’ve given them exclusive rights to my manuscript for a month, after which I can submit to other agents. I must wait up to six weeks for a reply from them (they receive MANY submissions), and if I don’t hear anything, I should considered it DENIED (brutal, eh?). Publishing is a competitive industry, and aspirants must learn to flow with rejection. That said, I feel like the book proposal is strong, and those who’ve seen it have had very positive responses — so I’m optimistic!

In the submission package were two documents. 1) The picture book dummy (the book storyboard), and 2) some samples of finished artwork. The images below show the art going from rough storyboard to “finished.”

A little comic I made featuring a new character I've been playing with.