My favorite illustrators.

Illustrations make a children's story.

I mean, think about it, would Fancy Nancy be the same without the illustrations? What about Angelina Ballerina? When you say Angelina Ballerina, you don't think:

"More than anything else in the world, Angelina loved to dance. She danced all the time, and she danced everywhere, and often she was so busy dancing that she forgot about the other things she was supposed to be doing."
                                   From Angelina Ballerina by Katherine Holabird

No, you think:

Am I right?

Illustrations are very important in children's books.

I'm warning you right now. This is a very long gushy post.

My very favorite books when I was really little were the ones with the most diverting pictures.

                    Tomie dePaola's Strega Nona books are awesome.

                        Madaline? She was such a brave little girl!

                                  The Sam books are adorable...

And then, by the time I was reading actual novels, I'd gotten to the point where I wouldn't actually read the picture books: I'd just look at the pictures. And then I figured out the kind of artist I did not want to be. Ever.

Did Dr. Seuss's illustrations scare anyone else?



Or how about M. D. Bodecker's Half Magic cover? (that book is awesome, by the way...)

I started really liking Trina Schart Hyman's work. The woman was incredible when it came to colors and style!

from Snow White

Snow White

Her illustrations for St. George and the Dragon were some of my favorites.

Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol

And Sleeping Beauty

And of course... there are all the rest, but I'm going to restrain myself. Ish.


My sister bought me The Ordinary Princess when I was about nine or ten. It's a delightful book, written and illustrated by M. M. Kaye. I wonder why she didn't draw more? I think that was the only book she ever illustrated. **sigh** The book itself reads how the pictures look, if that's anything to go by.

        The end of this book makes me cry every time. It's so sweet. :)

Kinuko Y. Craft does absolutely gorgeous illustrations. She captures light so well, and she has such detail in every picture that you can just sit and look for ages.

Even her black and white drawings are beautiful:

P. J. Lynch illustrates my favorite version of The Gift of the Magi.

And also The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey. Both books make me sniffle by the end of them. In a good way.

Robin Preiss Glasser does the illustrations for Fancy Nancy. Seriously... Can anyone imagine these books without the pictures?

The books would not be the same with out the over-the-top fancy illustrations.

Okay and finally! My sister Kat is a huge source of jealousy for me, because she's quite the artist herself. I tend to look at her work and think, "And I used to think I  was talented." But hey ho, that makes me practice.

Katrina DeLallo Copyright

Katrina DeLallo Copyright

Katrina DeLallo Copyright

(You really must click on the dragon one! The dragon itself took her three hours--She did every scale one at a time. twice.)

As it is, I hope my style of drawing manages to take on a few of these illustrators' characteristics. They say that imitation is the best form of flattery, but I don't want to copy them, I just want to do their inspirations justice. They are an amazingly talented group people and I find that when I look at their work I get the feeling that maybe one day I'll manage to pluck up the courage to take a few art classes... and maybe come a children's book illustrator myself.

God bless!

Treskie

Picture Saturday: In-depth doodles

I love doodling.

It's such fun to do, and my imagination goes wild after the first few. I've come up with the best story plots while doodling. (Whether I've gotten around to writing out said story plots is an entirely different matter...one I will not go into at this time. The end.)

Doodling is like doing tongue twisters before a speech or lip rolls before singing. It warms up your drawing hand and relaxes everything. It's such the best. =)

                     I hate the ballet slippered leg. So much.

                                    But she makes up for it.

God bless!

Treskie

“How dreadful...to be caught up in a game and have no idea of the rules.”

Dear Readers,

   Things have been very busy the past few days, what with the big barbecue on Sunday and family visiting, I simply have not had time to blog!

   There's an awesome game I'd like to teach you how to play. It's called the Letter Game, and it is most agreeable. It's super simple and you only need two players. (Or more, if you feel the urge.) The objective is to eventually write an entire story consisting entirely of letters between characters. The rules are very simple:
   1.) Each player creates a character of their choice to write about/become.
   2.) Pick one of the players to write the first letter. This person gets to set the atmosphere, time period and make a reason for why the characters are writing to each other in the first place. (Did one of them move away, go visiting distant relations, leave to London for a Season?) He or she also gets to decide if the story is on Earth or in a different world, if there is magic, if the characters are humans, elves, aliens, fairies...etc.
   3.) Once the first letter has been written the other player must reply as his or her character, and so on.
   4.) Players should not plan the plot ahead of time, and each needs to work the others' plot into their own
   5.) Players must not ever discuss the plot with each other! The story is written basically spur of the moment. The letters must play off the one before them, and the stories really ought to mesh.

   I think those are all the rules. =)

   This game is loads of fun, not to mention a great writing exercise. (It tends to call out my best writing.) You get caught in a perfect balance between having fun and showing off to your playmate.


   I was first introduced to this when I read this book a few years back.

From the back cover: 

"A great deal is happening in London this season.

For starters, there's the witch who tried to poison Kate at Sir Hilary's induction into the Royal College of Wizards. (Since when does hot chocolate burn a hole straight through one's dress?!)
Then there's Dorothea. Is it a spell that's made her the toast of the town--or could it possibly have something to do with the charm-bag under Oliver's bed?
And speaking of Oliver, just how long can Cecelia and Kate make excuses for him? Ever since he was turned into a tree, he hasn't bothered to tell anyone where he is!
The girls might think it all a magical nightmare . . . if only they weren't having so much fun!"

I am so very much in love with this book, people! It's clever and hilarious, and it has the perfect amount of magic incorporated into it. The characters really come alive. (And oh, the leading males are just... fantastic. Absolutely fantastic.)
So yes. If you want to play, find a partner and create your own letter game. But be prepared for sudden plot twists... You never know what your friend has in store: he or she just might do something unexpected and fascinating.

If the rules were a bit haphazard and unclear, shoot me a comment and I'll try to explain better.

God bless!

Until next time,

your devoted blogger,

Treskie

P.S. The quote from the title is from Socery and Cecilia: or the Enchanted Chocolate Pot

Fantastic!

Many things will happen in this post.

Exciting things.

Maybe.

SO! Apologies for not posting the past week..... Life.... Happens. And gets in the way of the blogger. (me.)  :)

First off:

               The Bourne Legacy was seriously, amazingly awesome!

I loved it.

I will admit that when I first heard about it, I was a little nervous... I mean, how do you make a Jason Bourne movie without Jason Bourne?

Answer: You hire Jeremy Renner.

I think a lot of the die hard Bourne fans are dubious about it because the story was so unique, and they were worried that Bourne Legacy would just be a clone of the other three movies. It wasn't. They managed to make the characters completely different. The only thing Aaron Cross had in common with Jason Bourne was that he was part of the Treadstone project and he had sort of gone rogue. It was a little slower than the rest of the Bourne movies, but the action (I thought) was just as good.

                                How can you not love this man?

I liked how Aaron Cross had a slightly more vulnerable side to him. He could be hard, he could fight, he could kill, but there was something a little more boyish to him than to Jason.

            I hated Edward Norton's character. The man had problems.

            This was my favorite part. He was so sweet there. **sigh**

I was glad the romanced worked. There are some movies where it seems like there's a romance just because a movie must have romance. This one just happened and I approved.

The only part I was disappointed in was the chase scene. It was awesome, it was cool... but it was a tiny bit over the top. It reminded me more of a Die Hard chase scene than a Bourne one. It wasn't really necessary and it felt like they only put it in because Bourne Movies Always Have An Epic Chase Scene.

SO yeah. It's a really awesome film. I agree that it wasn't quite as good as the original Bourne trilogy, but... Jeremy Renner made it equal to them in my eyes. He's a fantastic actor and I'm definitely going to buy it when it comes out on DVD. (Let's hope that the rumors are true and in the next one Aaron Cross and Jason Bourne team up. Can you imagine the epic-ness?)

I was going to post the Piano Guys doing their Bourne cover, but decided against it because everyone posts that with their Bourne Legacy review.

I'm stealing the video my sister did on her blog instead. 


         

Secondly:

I finished watching the first season of Doctor Who.

My little sister is officially against David Tennant. She'd become very, very fond of Christopher Eccleston's Doctor and is under the opinion that David's is not right. She said, "He's not the Doctor! He needs to shave his head!"

Okay then.

I think the same thing goes for Doctor Who as goes with the original Star Treks: You have to go with it and use your imagination or you won't enjoy it.

I fear I am falling into the "Doctor Who Infatuation" pit.

I may have to draw the Tardis.

Thirdly:

I love my doggehs.

              This is Sam. He's my bestest pally. He is the best dog ever.

Daisy.... Will never have puppies.

Daisy does not like the Cone of Shame.

Fourthly:

How can they possibly make us wait until May 1st 2015 to make the Avengers assemble again??? Why would they do that to their most awesome fans? Why? Why!?

Fifthly:

I think I am done blogging for today. I can't say when my next post will be, we have a fantastic BBQ planned for Sunday, and family visiting all next week. We shall have to see when I have free time next. :)

I need to stop using the word "fantastic"... people are going think I'm Doctor Who obsessed. **cough**

God bless, pepes!

Treskie

Picture Saturday-- Land Rover!

Meet my future car.
Its name is Karl.
Love it.

(I told you I was going to try working on things other than couples.)

The color is a bit washed out on here. Grrrrrrrrrr. It's much more maroon in real life. Heh...

God bless!

Treskie

Scots in the kitchen-- What more could you want?

And this is merely one reason why we love the Scots.


       >
And he's speaking GAELIC! 

He also cooks very similarly to the way my family does.

And you can watch him singing here.

He's an absurdly talented person. I think I quite like him.

God bless!

Treskie

Dentists. Need I say more?

Due to a tooth issue back in November, I found myself, sitting in nervous agitation in the waiting room of a dentist's office this morning.

Few things can measure up to the dread one feels while waiting to have a root canal.

After what seems like ages someone pokes her head through the door and says your name. You  get up and follow her down the longest, grayest hallway in the history of the world, wondering if this is how it feels being led to your execution.

Anyone else get that feeling? Or is it just me?

Anyway, it actually ended up okay, but according to my sister, when I'm numb and swollen, I look just like Sean Astin. Erm. Why thank you.... I think.

Heh. SO I decided to share a highly funny video because I discovered that I agree with everything he says.


         

And I have to go back again in two weeks.

Ain't life grand?

God bless!

Treskie

Tagged.....

Again!

'Ello. 

Cait and Mime tagged me in another game of blog tag. :)

The rules:

1. If tagged you must tag five others, giving each a quick sentence as to why you ALWAYS read their posts, and tell them that you've tagged them.
2. If tagged you must post your five favorite words. I know, I know, most people do facts, but facts are hard to think of so...
3. If and only if you want to/can be bothered to/have time to you can put up five questions for the people you've tagged. If and only if you want to/can be bothered to/have time to you can ANSWER the five questions your tagger set. If you want to answer questions but your tagger left none, answer your own questions :)

Okay, so my five favorite words.... vexatious, snazzy, snickerdoodle, booboisie, epalpebrate. 

And Cait and Mime's questions are:

1.) What is the first post you ever blogged about?

     If you mean my very first blog post that would be about me. I know, SO unique, right!? **cough**

2.) Have you ever walked into a glass door? Be honest.

     em.... I have almost walked into a glass door, but I'm fortunate enough to have noticed it before my nose got smashed. (I have walked up to a window, thinking it was a glass door, only to find myself much mistaken. Awkwardness. ) I have, however walked into a screen door. It was brand new, we'd never had one there before. I knocked it off. It was bad. :)

3.) If you could do anything you wanted (expense aside) what would you do?

     Hmm. SO MUCH TO CHOOSE FROM! I'd defo go back to Scotland, maybe tour Europe, sing with Josh Groban, and make a CD. Is that enough? I could go on... No? I shouldn't? Okay. 

4.) Lime green of fluoro pink?

     Purple. I refuse to choose from those colours. **grins**

5.) If you could be bald or have webbed feet, which would you choose?

     Eh. If I could have neither that would be fantastical. But seeing as I've already avoided answering a question (see number four above) I would have to go with being bald. At least I could get a wig. With webbed feet, I'd be absolutely horrified and depressed, I'd be a freak. 

     Oh wait. I already am. Oh well. :)

Okay. So, my questions for others are:

1.) Does the word saxon fill you with fear and dread? 

2.) There are two pills in separate bottles on the table in front of you. One is poisoned, the other is not. They look exactly alike and you don't know which of the two is the deadly one. A man has a gun pointed at you, and tells you that you must choose and eat one of the pills and he will eat the other. If you don't choose he will shoot you. Would you eat a pill or take the gun? 

3.) Do you know who MacGyver is? 

4.) If you could go to a movie over this weekend, which would you choose?  (for me, it would be "Bourne Legacy", because I am SO EXCITED!)

5.) Have you ever played Cowboys and Indians? If not, explain. (**shakes head at your lack of culture.**) If you are American, you have no excuse to have not played it. 

So...I know that I am supposed to tag five other bloggers, but I've been tagged so much in the past few weeks, that I have basically tagged everyone I know who would accept it.... As such (Oh my, don't I sound professional?) I have decided not to tag anyone this time. BUT if you want to do this tag, please, please do. (I have gone to all the work to make up five quessies after all...) Just leave me a comment telling me that you did with a linky to the post. Kay?

God bless! 

Treskie

Picture Saturday

Today's picture was inspired by this song, because it is awesome and I love it.

I rather fancy it.

Next week I'll try and post something other than couples. Like a Land Rover. Haha!

 God bless!

Treskie

On inspirations and upcoming crafties.

   Poof! I'm here! Now what were your other two wishes? (Don't ask me where I learned that, I'm not sure.)

   Something about the word inspiration makes me want to say "Lightbuuulb" in the same way Megamind does.

   Things Which Inspire Yours Truly:

   For me, it's mostly songs that make me go, "lightbuullllb!" and usually, it's just one line of the song, or the refrain that really speaks out. It's crazy how many times I listen to a song and think, "Dang, I need to draw this." A lot of the time, also, this happens when the song makes me cry. (Yeah, I'm that kind of person: Sad song? *Cries*. Sad movie? *Cries*. Happy endings? *Cries*.)
 



Pictures inspire me. I see pictures and go, "ooooh. I love. I copy."


(Or I just get depressed and think, "Disaster! I will never be that good! I will never draw again!")







   People inspire me. Weird people, especially. Well.... maybe weird is too harsh a word? Odd. Odd people inspire.

   Clothes also; Usually period clothing in movies. Or just...cute ones.

      Cool sayings. W. Clement Stone said, "Always aim for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars. **sigh** Isn't that awesome?

                         Reach for the moon, people! Do it! NOW!

My dreams daunt me. I think they're big enough. =)






 





And finally: Movies. I love movies. Especially when the leads are people you can really look up to and want to imitate.

And now: Upcoming Crafties!

For a while, I've been in the mood to be creative. So I had my mom pick me up a big apple box when she went shopping today, and I will start making a big cardboard dollhouse. I can't give you exact dates for when I will be putting it up, but I can almost guarantee that I'll get it up before I start school (my last year!) in September.

There will also be dolls for said dollhouse.

   I am currently trying to break out of my mold with drawing. I draw people all the time.

....and sometimes trees. But that is about it.

 I need to work on landscapes, animals, houses, and cars.

So I checked out a library book on how to draw cars.

To semi quote Pixar's Up,  Cars are hard! (But I have to admit, the Land Rover Discovery I attempted this morning looks pretty darn accurate. Just saying.)

And no, that's not it. But that's what it looks like.

One day I will own a maroon Discovery.

Or a green Range Rover. **nods knowingly**

And that's it. I have officially used up my blogging creativity for the day.

God bless!

Treskie