On zooming in, and changing perspectives....
Shrinking to the heights of seedlings!
Since moving back to New England, spring has become my favorite season. It used to be autumn (and I still love it!) but something about just how icy and gloomy winter tends to feel here makes the eruption of leaves and flowers feel magical, you know? In Portland, I was spoiled— winter was still pretty verdant and mild. Here though, spring makes me get outside more, notice the tiny details and get growing in my balcony vegetable garden.
It’s really nice tending to an outdoor space—bonus points when it feeds us too! But when you check in with something every day, helping it grow big and strong, it’s really a nice opportunity to step outside of yourself. I bring gardening up because I’m also diving back into the world of this little friend:
Fia, if you’ll remember, is the protagonist (cheerful antagonist?) of the picture book dummy I’m working on, What’s Eating Sunshine Street? I got a little side-tracked back around February/March as I focused in on MoCCA and taxes— but last month I was able to square away deadlines and now I’m trying to wholly focus on her. Focusing on one project is rather hard for me— especially when it’s something I want to pitch. Is the idea valid? Should I pivot and do something with immediate results? Should I start over? I annoy myself with such thoughts, but I am reassured that all books probably go through a phase like this. The only way past these dumb thoughts is to just make the thing, and so here we go.
In my last post about WESS? I mentioned that it was hard to find Fia’s look for a while— and after not drawing her for a couple months I realized I had forgotten all the things I learned! So I took a little time to draw her, trying to keep pushing character acting:
