Girl Doodles

A random collection of doodles - back to school girls.  One thing I've been trying to embrace is less than perfection in my sketchbooks and being able to share them.  It's okay to work out the junk in sketches and show them!  Each sketch is a lesson, a step closer in knowing a subject or expressing an idea.

I do have a belated conference recap to share with you. I will work on that this week.

At the beach

Ha! I wish I was heading to the ocean.  Although I will be close.  I'm off to LA for the SCBWI Summer Conference.  I CAN NOT WAIT!

I hope to blog when I get back, but I may need to take a few weeks off from blogging to enjoy the last days of summer with my sweet family.  Lots of new work to share soon and the conference review when I return, I promise!

In the meantime, you can catch me over at The Sketchables.

Illustration Friday - Double

Another attempt at watercolor.  I'm having fun with these little sessions.  Some I just start doodling and see where I end up, this is one of them.  As I was working on the first boy, I thought - ah ha! If I add in a twin it would fit nicely in with this week's Illustration Friday theme, 'double'.  So here we have it, double trouble. 

A day at the beach

Yep, that's the life.

Can't wait to see these worked up...off to carve more!

Studies

More watercolor studies.  Practice, practice, practice. 

It's really Heather vs. Watercolor as I try to make this stuff behave. 

I need to find out what else tween/teens do besides listen to ipods. Mine are weird - always drawing, writing, working on the computer drawing and writing. My youngest is a craft hurricane. (I have no idea where they get that from...hmm, hmmm.)

And monkeys making banana splits for breakfast.  This one will be fun as a block print. 

So two more studies that will make their way into the world as prints, hopefully soon. I'd like to spend the weekend carving.

Do you go crazy working on new pieces for your portfolio before a conference?  Is it just me?  Do I have some weird manic procrastination disease?  You know, you wait until the last minute and then think, omg - I need new work for my portfolio right now.  Just me?  Okay, I will accept that.  I find procrastination incredibly inspiring.  : )

Scary Stuff!

Oh, how I wear my favorite medium like a security blanket. I just have such a hard time feeling like my work is done if it's not turned into a block print. I've been playing with watercolors all summer, and I mean playing - totally for fun and many of these little doodles don't live to the see the sunrise. So I pulled out the good stuff today and worked up a few samples from a dummy book that I'm working on. (Yeah for beads, right!)

These are tiny studies at 3" x 4 1/2". I feel like a have about 100 more paintings to go before I could market a watercolor style. But the good side is that I have two lovely little color study for new prints that I will start carving tomorrow.

Experimenting - it's scary stuff!

Who Me? Tips for Writing a Bio

If you are on online you need a bio and probably more than one. Here are some hints to help you shine.

More than one bio? What?
I know, right! You thought one would be good enough. But guess what? Different bios are needed for different occasions. The good news is once you have them written, you can plug them in online in your various sites and networks and tweak them as needed.

You need a long bio of 200 words of more - use it on your website or where more information about your career is needed, such as a press release.

A short bio - under 100 or better yet 75 words - use this one for online portfolios or professional membership sites.

And then a 'sum me up' in one sentence bio - best used for bi-lines and your twitter or facebook account.

Who are you?
Before we get any farther, make sure your real name is easily found on all your accounts like twitter, your blogger bio and even your Etsy profile if you have a shop. As a blog writer, it helps me when I feature artists if I can call them by their real name.

1st person or 3rd?
Since people want a personal connection to the artist or writer when they looking at a blog, facebook or twitter I say 1st person is nice and friendly.

On your website - that's a toss - 1st person sounds friendly and direct, 3rd sounds more professional - but you can go either way.

Listing on a portfolio site or member listing/profile for professional organizations?? I'd go with 3rd person.

No matter what point of view - keep your bio professional, on topic and well edited!

What to include?
Relevant information to your career only - if illustrating or writing isn't your day job this can be tricky. Include your day job only if it's relevant to your creative career or ties in to show an area of expertise that you also write about or illustrate.

Things to include about your creative career would be your education, experience, awards and memberships. I would also say to sum up what you like to write or illustrate.

More bio writing tips here and here.

A Long and Short Example:
Long - Children's book illustrator Heather Powers has illustrated for the educational, magazine and picture book markets. Heather's work focuses on quirky characters, multi-cultural themes and crafts. She is currently under contract writing her first jewelry design book.

She has a BFA from Kendall College of Art & Design where she studied printmaking and painting. Heather was awarded the Tomie dePaola Portfolio Award in 2008. She has been a regional advisor for the Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators for the last 4 years.

Books illustrated by Heather include Story Game for Perfection Learning and Conor's Gift, published by Yeowon Media.

Short - I'm a children's book illustrator, SCBWI regional advisor and bead artist by day.

And one final word when it comes to writing a bio - if in doubt, search it out - just check out other artists' or writers' bios to see what they have included. Always search up - find bios of creative professionals who are a few steps ahead of you on the career ladder for the best examples!