January 2018 - Round-Up
I entered 2018 with a slight case of inertia, but having things leftover from 2017 to finish has really motivated me. I think that sometimes the prospect of starting a bright, shiny New Year with a spring in your step and a brand new list of goals can be a bit intimidating. Having old tasks to complete already sitting on the to-do list, took the pressure off and I gained momentum by simply carrying on where I left off. So, the second half of January has flown by and it's because I've been spending a significant amount of time glued to my desk - but I'm not complaining.
I finished my final Christmas Elf collage. I'm not entirely sure it fits with the previous collages in the series but I like it, it amuses me.
The book cover that I mentioned in the last post has also moved along, but I can't share any of that yet.
I can, however, share two woodland related collages that join the fox collage I created last year - an owl and a hare. Again I'd like to create a series of at least five of these as I think they look really effective, so keep an eye out in future for a deer and a badger.
I've also been pondering how creative folks on social media manage to stay active and continue to look creative when they are working on projects that they can't share? I often find tumbleweeds passing through my instagram account!
January 2018 To-Do List
My New Year mostly begins with finishing things off from 2017. The only brand new thing to start at the minute is my website, so although that will be constantly evolving, if you are reading this, then I've clearly made some progress. The first thing I need to finish off is the series of christmas elf collages that I began in December - I always intended it to to be a series of five. As always when you are doing something just-for-fun on the run up to christmas, I ran out of time. I have the idea in my head, I just need to execute it - I'll be using slightly different proportions to the previous four pieces so I'm hoping it will still work with the others as a series (if not I might create a sixth).
The second project I need to start/finish is a book cover for a crime fiction novel that I'm creating for my friend and a rising new author, Karen Pomerantz. It is a bit of a throwback to my work as a graphic designer and much removed from the children's illustration that I'm predominantly working on, but it gives me the opportunity to practise some of my rusty photoshop skills. Although we have started discussing ideas and making sketches, we haven't quite landed on anything concrete. I feel pretty confident everything will click into place soon. I've worked with Karen previously on covers for a couple of short stories (see below), so I know roughly where we are headed, but pinning down a final image for this one is taking slightly longer just because there is more content to consider.
If you would like to read either of these short stories (for adults) by Karen, you can find links below, the first is a thriller, the second is a horror that was released for Halloween 2017.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Trapping-Honey-Karen-Pomerantz-ebook/dp/B00OETCFE2/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1515435594&sr=8-2&keywords=karen+pomerantz
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cost-Living-Karen-Pomerantz-ebook/dp/B0762XBR6V/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1515435594&sr=8-1&keywords=karen+pomerantz
I also have several other ongoing projects, but I think I'll save those for another time when I have more visuals to share.