New month, almost over.

It's October!  Everyone's favorite month.  It's been October for a while now.  I've already fallen by the wayside when it comes to blogging.

Progress on the picture book I was so excited about earlier has halted!  Sometimes I am in the mood to draw, and sometimes I'm not.  Lately it's been the latter.  I'm about 6 pages into the picture book, and realize I still have quite a few time-consuming drawings to go, and that's daunting so I avoid it.

I'll finish it eventually, but obviously not by my previous goal of Halloween.

Meanwhile, November is creeping up and I think more and more about the novel I wrote last year for National Novel Writing Month.  I really like the story.  I finished the first draft last year, and that's the hard part.  All it needs are rewrites and edits, and I've been wanting to dig into that.

I struggle with writing, I get too wordy, I break rules.  I start to write and then erase everything.  That's my problem with the novel.  Blah.

To make up for the lack of illustrations, here's a random painting I did, of a bear.

watercolor, acrylic, colored pencil
4x6"

Sort of a Mandala

So I have this friend.  We've been coworkers for a while, but only recently did we start hanging out outside of work.  She's teaching me to play Dungeons & Dragons :)

She surprised me with something she knitted just for me the other day!

So I surprised her back with this painting:

I asked her what she likes, and she said she likes mandalas.  I've never drawn one before.  They're intimidating because they're balanced and perfect all the way around.  I didn't think I could do perfection, so I opted for this compromise.  It's one of the D&D symbols with mandala inspired elements.

I liked making this.  I just did random shapes and designs without really having to think about it.  I don't know that it came out harmonic as mandalas should be, its more... chaotic.  Friend seemed to like it, but I know it has its issues.  I suppose the nice thing about real mandalas is they have somewhere for the eyes to focus.  This one is a little confusing, eh?

Plus his tail looks kind of like a dick.  

Windsor & Newton watercolors, black marker, white acrylic, and a purple pen.

4x6"

A first sample

In the interest of giving a peek into my current project, I thought I would share one of my illustrations.  And here it is:

If you cannot guess, it's a picture book about a squirrel community and the homes they've made within the trees.  I am calling it "Squirrel World".  In fact the header image for this blog also features an illustration for the project.

I am a tiny bit worried about this story because it has nothing that other successful books do.  No main character at all.  No problem that needs to be resolved.  In fact, there is no plot.  It's just a rhyming book about a community.  And yeah, I understand that rhyming books aren't looked upon favorably.

Regardless, I had fun writing it and I still have fun when I reread it.  I don't really mind if it doesn't do well.  I like it and seeing it in print will be enough for me.  It's been a lot of fun to work on, which is more than I can say for my experiences in making comics!

After I finish this I have a couple ideas to create a second and third book for the squirrels.  These two will be more plot oriented using characters seen and named in this first book.  They most likely will not rhyme.  Then I have a couple ideas for stories about other woodsland animals - we can stay in the same universe and maybe the squirrels can make a cameo, heh.

Then after that there's a couple well-known public domain tales I'd like to take a crack at (I am VERY tempted by Jack and the Beanstalk especially).  I've got so many plans.

But for this one, I hope to publish it no later than Halloween.  Because of that I'll probably miss making a Thanksgiving book this year (though I have ideas about one!) but I might try for a Christmas one.

None of the aforementioned ideas are meant to be written in the order listed, by the way.  If I go for the Christmas idea, it would definitely have to be first in line.

Oi Oi!

Hey,
I’m Gull Haskell!  Do you like my blog title?  It's a play on words for "seagull"!  And it's also a nod to old learn-to-read books, i.e. "See Spot Run".  Keep reading, and you'll see why I'm nodding to picture books.

I like art and stories. I love to create things. I have taken part in National Novel Writing Month and attempted to make various webcomics (always abandoned after around 20 pages)… I’m never satisfied with my tales and am always searching for something else.

Sometimes I wish I could just complete… anything.

Last year I wrote a silly little poem aimed at children. It has never been viewed by anyone else, it’s just been sitting in my files. I came across it the other day and it hit me that I should be making children’s picture books. Not so long and committed as a webcomic. Not so complicated as writing a novel.  They're short and sweet, leaving little to be dissatisfied with.  Even a year later, I still liked the poem.

That’s what this blog is about. I’m working on illustrating the poem now, and I’ve already got some ideas for the next books. Because I'll be self publishing, I have high hopes of putting out three picture books a year.

Wish me luck.