Making It Exist
2026 May Roundup
Not much was completed this past month. I started lots of projects but nothing is done. I’ll share some progress though…
Make it exist first, then make it good.
I have recently found this philosophy instrumentally vital. I build up these magnificent pictures in my head while rocking a baby or doing endless dishes, but rarely get pencil to paper or stylist to screen. This month I’ve made a point to START each project at the very least, because then the momentum might encourage me to keep going! Let’s dive in.
June 4th is the 5th year anniversary of #KidLitPostcard Day and the creator set a theme this time: “You as a little kid”. I immediately jumped to sketch out my first idea of “me as a little kid”… When I was a kid I put on a semi-professional rollerskating show for the neighborhood kids with my sister and some friends. I designed and xeroxed flyers and everything. My brother sold “concessions” (aka Little Debbie snacks he stole from our pantry). I saw the image so clearly in my head, sketched a variety of layouts, got feedback from my critique group, but I still struggled to get it to a place I was happy with. I need to set it aside for a little bit, let it marinate, maybe settle to make it a spot illustration some day.
I moved on to Idea #2: my kindergarten dance recital. My dad tells anyone who will listen the story of my five-year-old tap dance recital dressed as a pride of lions. At one point in the routine, we grabbed the tail of the lion in front of us and tapped in a circle. The girl behind me either tugged too hard or my safety pin was faulty causing my tail to pop off my butt. All the parents held their breath anticipating a melt down from me but I just burst out laughing and let the show go on. I’ve always loved this story. I don’t have any footage or photos of the performance as it was back in the stone age before smart phones, but this is how it plays out in my mind:
Stay tuned this week for the final color reveal on Thursday!
I submitted a design to the masthead contest for the SCBWI Illinois virtual event “Fall Harvest: Community Gardens”… I wasn’t going to enter initially but I had a chunk of time to kill by myself waiting for an oil change and had a little spark of inspiration. I chuckled to myself at the idea of “community” being any and all creatures that could enjoy a garden… Overall I like the end product. I’m not sure if the voting will be anonymous or not so I’ll share the image later. Voting starts this week!
I know in the last newsletter I mentioned a series of spot illustrations about Corduroy’s origin story. I got a little sidetracked but each “spot” is generally sketched out so I’m working to make progress on these in the next month.
I‘ve been trying to make a point to sketch on paper when I’m starting a project. It forces me to keep starting over and trying a variety of iterations, tracking my progress and thought process. When I sketch digitally I tend to constantly erase and keep working on the same image. It also helps leaving a sketchbook around so I can start an image whenever, wherever, and return to it when all my monsters are napping.
May was spent making things exist. I’ll work in June about making the things good.
Time to get making!
Great point, Anna! I feel like I'm always trying to get things done so quickly instead of just letting them sit.
...I need to work on that. Haha.