paintings prints and stuff

Another very very rough sketch for Lucy's book Another very rough sketch. Lots of words added to the list of possibilities but any ideas welcome as nothing is fixed yet - everything is a the very fluid, sketching out and thinking through stage, With other books that I did for Sam they were around a theme - him on holiday or playing football etc - this one is a bit different and so I'm needing to plan how I put it together a little more.

   ABC for Lucy, illustrated book, Rough initial page layout - subject to many changes! I've been managing small amounts of time for more 'serious' painting - but the little bits of time here and there, while busy with other things,  I've been working on ideas for a book for Lucy who will be one at Christmas. I thought I'd make it a little dual purpose and appeal to Sam (age 4) as well as he'll be learning to read any time soon. Drawn in an A4 sketchpad, several of these to a page, done leaning on the steering wheel of the car while waiting when I was taxi for family to various appointments, so they are very rough and merely getting down thoughts and ideas of how it will go. I didn't have my list with me when sketching but here is what I've got so far: A - apple, angel, aardvark, apricot, anteater, ant,  auntie B - blue, butterfly, bed, ball, boat, bear, bee, banana, boy, big, bouncing, batman, books, buzzing C - crimson, cat, cot, carrot, camel, c...

Sam feeding chickens, Pitt pen and coloured pencil. Vivien Blackburn I've done the above sketch of Sam feeding the chickens for his book and the pencil drawing below, that needs colour adding (with watercolour/mixed media) of the house they were staying in - just a few yards away from 'ours' shown a couple of posts back. I've including Lucky the farm cat, his parents peeping out of the windows and a bird on the wall. Tomorrow I might get the colour added. I need to keep a balance between the cartoon figures and the style of sketching.

cover update - this is how it's looking at the moment - front back cover opened out The text box and underlining in the title are just Publisher stuff that won't print better? I think so

Sam goes to Bosworlas , initial design for front cover, subject to change :>) Vivien Blackburn back cover I think I'm going to make a book for my grandson for his birthday about his holiday with us there. I'm using the painting of the farm as the cover and I'll include the painting he did. Now I need to do sketches of his activities there, like jumping down the steps, the farm cat, the farmer and his tractor, the chickens and cows, the beach ....... The painting wraps around front and back covers like this screenprint of opened cover for Sam goes to Bosworlas . Vivien Blackburn I think I need to move it up slightly on the page before printing. Unfortunately I can't take images right to the edges - unless I print A3 - or design the book a little smaller and cut it down when printed. I don't think I like the vertical type with the image when seen folded either ..... all is subject to change at this very very early stage. The font is based on my handwriting....

I;ve only had a very little time this week for painting and I haven't photographed it yet. Here for the time being is a slide show of Sam's Christmas present book - the cover and illustrations in order. As before, the blue lines and dotted lines are publishers guidelines and text boxes, which won't print or show in the final. My printer is having a nervous breakdown and I haven't been able to print it yet.

front and back cover design for Sam's book NB It's a screenprint, the guidelines and text boxes obviously aren't in the final print I've been working further on 'the book' - sheesh it takes some time - scanning and then building it in Publisher - and the working out with a little torn pages mock up just how the pages work and what number is opposite/on the back of which. A definite left brained activity and not my strongest point! The writing is provisional and needs polishing - I definitely need some more practice at this. centre pages I decided to only show Sam. their cat and the snowman, Mum and Dad feature as off stage voices only. It kept a simplicity to it and concentrated on the main characters. What do you think? I used the font that I created from my handwritin g on a fun programme and the snowflakes from the fun snowflake-cutter-programme - nothing is ever wasted is it? :>) I might have another go at a font - a little less higgledy piggl...

Sam ready to go out in the snow , illustration in pencil, watercolour, coloured pencil and with a digital border. I've been working on the illustrations for the book for Sam for Christmas. I had to wait an hour at hospital yesterday and made a start on the line drawings, adding some more this morning and adding colour this afternoon, after scanning them (in case I made a pigs ear of them when adding the colour :>) ). line drawing done whilst waiting at hospital and watercolour + coloured pencil + digital border - ready to add to book Their cat weaves in and out of the action throughout. Now I have to start assembling them and brushing up on the storyline in Publisher. After this I may get the current painting finished - I hope. c&c welcome :>) and any advice

I've edited the book a little to improve it now I've seen my copy and it's available on blurb - anyone interested in having one, just click on the link on the right there and you can see the first few pages in a preview. (those who subscribe will need to actually go to my blog to see the necessary widget as it doesn't show up on the posts you receive so click here to take you to the blog post http://vivienb.blogspot.com/2008/04/book-is-available.html and the widget is on the right. evening at the beach, charcoal on grey paper with white pencil, Vivien Blackburn. one of the images in the book Their programme does need some work, it's a beta version and it crashes from time to time and after working for a while it gets slower and s l o w e r - closing it down and reopening it seems to help but it does get annoying. Working with a lot of large image files has got to be using a lot of memory so maybe those of you with nice new computers won't find this a prob...

front and back cover of the book - Seascapes: Vivien Blackburn My book arrived today! I'm very happy with it apart from a couple of small silly errors that I'd made - very minor ones like forgetting to change the font on the back page so it doesn't match the title page. So once I've put them right I'll make it available for those who have emailed to say they would like to buy a copy. so - if you'd like one - watch this space :>) I can definitely recommend blurb. The one thing I don't particularly like is the payment system - a bit like imagekind, where they don't pay out until a certain sum is reached. Blurb are fairer though, they pay monthly (for anyone interested) but don't pay until the money owed to the author is over £12.50 and they charge a £3 admin fee for sending it. That's £3 for sending payment for 1 book sold or 100. The colours are true and the quality and binding is good. I will definitely make some more, including one on sketchi...