art + architecture + design
Self-talk
How do you talk to your inner child?
Do you treat him/her like you would treat someone you love?
What lies do you tell yourself?
GOALS: update
WOW it has been a busy couple of weeks! Who knew that chasing my dreams and accomplishing goals would so all-consuming. But it has been such a blast so far and honestly really encouraging.
(If you are interested in following along on the day to day I provide a lot more frequent updates via Instagram (@the.megan.mill) and Facebook.
Goal: Author/Illustrator
If you want to know more about the book I am writing or get a copy of it, you can see the Kickstarter page here . There are also other rewards, like vinyl stickers, postcards, prints, or commissioned art. The campaign goes until the end of February and as of right now I am only $700 away from my goal! Which means 39 lovely backers out there have helped me to get 72% of the way!
The process itself has consisted of so many different pieces, from sketching, inking the final drawings, painting the illustrations, scanning, digitally editing, page layouts, text editing, marketing, researching publishing methods, connecting with nannies on social media, reaching out to organizations and companies to collaborate (that hasn’t been as successful as I would have hoped… thus far anyway… but if you want to collaborate please let me know!), filtering through unsolicited advice, thanking backers, prepping files for print… Gosh, the list goes on and on!
In reality though, it really has been fun to have a goal to reach for and go after. And even more encouraging has been the chance to get to connect with so many awesome people! Lots of nannies have messaged me to say how excited they are for this book… how they have been looking for a resource like this or how they wish there were more children’s books on the market related to the topic of nannies. I never knew how big the nannying community actually was! So many others out there who also love kids and crafts, creativity and playgrounds. But also so many other who have gotten close to a little one, developed a bond, but then had to say goodbye. It really is a tough balance of holding on and letting go. And not just for nannies… in life in general. No matter who we love, nothing is permanent and we will all face changes, transitions, and goodbyes.
Because of the excitement I have seen and how much I have enjoyed this process, I am feeling more and more confident that this will not be my only children’s book. I have one or two more in mind for now… But am trying to not get too far ahead of myself… Gotta finish one first!
For those of you who don’t know me or really know my history, I have struggled with depression on and off for most of my life. There have been a lot of days where everything has felt so remarkably meaningless and it was hard to get excited about anything. So the fact that I have goals right now… and not goals that were part of a pre-determined plan (graduate high school, go to college, get a degree, get a job, etc.), goals that I am excited about and actually want to achieve… this feels big. My life feel full of passion and authenticity and dreams! (Man, I sound like a sappy commercial or something…) And to bring it back down to earth, ya, there have been hard days. Days of anxiety and self-doubt and frustration. Days where I have said “holy crap holy crap what am I doing, I’m not qualified for this, I’m going to fail, ahhhh”. But all-in-all it has been a good season.
Though, speaking of seasons, it has been remarkably cold here in Virginia recently. So one of my other goals to walk all of Blacksburg hasn’t gotten a whole lot of focus. In fact, I think I have only been on three outdoor walks since the new year. But as things warm up I am excited to get back into that as well. Today I went out on a trail I never knew existed and found a beautiful field, informational plant signs, and some deer poop…. So, that was a win, right?
Thanks for following along on this journey! I would love to connect with you, hear your goals and passions (or what you saw on a walk today!) so feel free to leave a comment below! :)
GOAL: author//illustrator
Hey friends,
As it has been miserably cold here in Blacksburg since the new year started I have unfortunately made no progress yet on my goal to walk all the streets. However, I do have some other goals on my list for 2018 that I have yet to share here on the blog. For example, I would like to complete a Lynda CSS course before the year ends. I would like to attempt to screenprint with the kit my husband gave me for my birthday last year (preferably without making a complete mess of my apartment…). I would like to knit something following a pattern (that isn’t a scarf, pillow, or standard headband). But as this post title suggests, the big one for the day is my goal to write, illustrate, and publish a children’s book. I am really excited about this one and have already been working for a couple months on ideas, sketches, research, layouts, etc. There will definitely be lots more to come in future posts about the process, the origin of the idea, the inspiration, and my emotions related to it all, but for now I wanted to share a little research project I have been working on in order to learn more about the world of children’s books.
So in college I majored in architecture. This obviously meant I took lots of design courses and in design courses one learns the importance of diagrams. There is beauty to the distillation of an idea down to it’s core parts/nodes/interactions/relationships. In college I also took a children’s literature course (which I LOVED). The remainder of this post will be a combination of those two areas of my past experience as I explore popular children’s book covers (primarily the ones listed here).
As I have been working on the artwork for this book it has become increasingly obvious that having a good cover is vital. But what constitutes a good cover? Why are certain ones more successful than others? And let’s be honest here. As much as we would all like to say that we try not to judge books by their covers, we know we all do it. We’re visual creatures with a ton of sensory input to sift through every day and the world is FILLED with books and art and illustrations. It would be impossible to not function this way. But knowing that, how can one little book ever hope to stand out admist all the others?
(and before I get discouraged and anxious and fall into an existential crisis, let’s get going…)
Book Cover Analysis
Aberdeen
by Stacey Previn
- mouse the main subject
- eye drawn to the red balloon
- colorful flowers
- eye moves upward to top right
- subtitle: can a little mouse have a big adventure?
The Bear and the Piano
by David Litchfield
- magical environment with fireflies and vines
- central layout
- curtains suggest a performance and help frame the subject
- why is there a piano in the woods? is it big or is the bear small? what will the bear do with it?
Book Uncle and Me
by Uma Krishnaswami, Illustrated by Julianna Swaney
- she’s looking off to the left (what’s over there?)
- the birds flying add motion
- sign that says “Vote Samuel” (do we meet samuel?)
- the question we’re all asking…what’s a book uncle?
- colorful stack of books (inviting and fun)
- obviously about reading; she is holding a book, stack of books, sign says “books free give one take one read read read”
Cat in the Hat
by Dr. Seuss
- A classic book with a well-known cover
- based upon thirds
- blue, black, white, and red
Cogheart
by Peter Bunzl
- title stands out well amidst so much going on
- dashed line for movement (blimp)
- the fox, people, and blimp are all moving in a counterclockwise direction
- subtitle: a stunning adventure of danger and daring
- windup fox, moon/stars/clouds, clock, 2 people, buildings, key, locket-like photo
- suggestive of travel, especially traveling in time
Counting Thyme
by Melanie Conklin
- cold blue background with most warmth form the window with the girl in red
- papers thrown/flying
- Thyme spelled like spice…maybe a name?
- bird in a window…why?
- just in general, a question of what is going on? what is this about? I am intrigued.
Dave’s Cave
by Frann Preston-Gannon
- distressed, masculine font
- warm colored focal point (caveman)
- he’s looking off at… what? his cave?
- simple, but asks a question of what is special about dave’s cave? he’s smiling… is he proud of his cave?
Full of Beans
by Jennifer L. Holm
- has a stamped/lithograph/letterpress quality
- solid colors
- movement off page
- just the hand of a kid within the visible frame (leaves mystery)
- dog in a wagon filled with cans (of beans?)… where are they going?
- subtitle: Never tell a lie…Unless you have to.
- what might you have to tell a lie about? mischievous. sounds like like adventure/trouble/mishap
Goodnight Moon
by Margaret Wise Brown, illustrated by Clement Hurd
- classic book
- solid colors
- layout based upon diagonal eye movement between the red-orange of the fire, to the red-orange of the curtains, to the moon in the window
Henry and the Guardians of the Lost
by Jenny Nimmo
- red focal point (jacket on boy, assumed to be Henry) with cool colored surroundings
- is that a mini person by him?
- markings on the archway suggest historical/ancient/mystical
- wolves hidden in the woods on the sides (danger lurks)
- he’s looking upward, presumably at the markings
- is Lost a group? a place? anyone lost in that forest? does Henry meet the guardians because he gets lost? does he become a guardian?
Journey
by Aaron Becker
- the red of the boat and crayon match; similar to title
- from focal point of boat in lower left, follow gaze of girl up to the castle where presumably her journey will take her; movement
- upon closer inspection a light purple bird in the sky above the towers that seems out of place compared to the colors of the castle, but more similar to the brightness of the boat
Leave Me Alone
by Vera Brosgol
- yelled title is the focal point
- secondarily the old lady yelling it
- and then eyes go to the four individuals who look friendly and interested in the lady (and are probably the reason for her exclamation…)
Little Red and the Very Hungry Lion
by Alex T. Smith
- colorful
- expressive characters: mean looking lion, girl looks disapproving/quizzical
- set of three: lion, girl, goat
- eyes looking up at lion, lion looking at reader
- is the lion going to try and eat the girl? neither her nor the goat look too concerned about that possibility…
Madeline
by Ludwig Bemelmans
- classic book and cover
- eiffel tower and miss clavel are aligned but slightly off center
- the real focus is not France, nor the eleven girls, but Madeline in particular who is turned around to face the reader and is along the central axis of the page
The Night Gardener
by Terry Fan and Eric Fan
- assumption that the night gardener of the title made this owl tree
- how is the boy related to the story? is he the gardener? discoverer?
- it is, indeed, nighttime
- stable and centered, cool colored; nonthreatening cover
One Day in the Eucalyptus Tree, Eucalyptus Tree
by Daniel Bernstrom, Illustrated by Brendan Wenzel
- colorful jungle-like scene
- animals looking down from vines/tree
- boy looking at pinwheel in hand
- he’s in motion, walking and looking happy
- assumed to be aimed at younger readers given the repetition in the title
Pax
by Sara Pennypacker, Illustrated by Jon Klassen
- dog/fox/wold looking out over the land toward the sun; assumption that it’s name is Pax?
- is it longing for an adventure? looking for something? enjoying the sunset? wild? tame? lost?
- this one is pretty vague as to potential plot
Penguin Problems
by Jory John and Lane Smith
- assumption: the problem has to do with too many penguins
- repetition and pattern (and breaking it)
- simple and effective color scheme
- one different hidden among many of the same
- is he confused? concerned? annoyed?
- could be a counting book…
Saving Wonder
by Mary Knight
- deer is the focal point, with antlers become trees that two children (silhouettes) are sitting in
- Wonder the deer’s name?
- wonder at nature? (mountains, clouds, branches with leaves)
- perhaps a pun suggesting that both nature and the feelings of wonder toward nature are in need of saving?
Some Kind of Happiness
by Claire Legrand
- looks like a golden section/rectangle ratio might have been used for the layout
- central axis with multiple points of interest along it including a house, person, and crown
- I first assumed the person was looking up the hill at the house, but perhaps walking down in the woods toward the crown?
- where is the happiness found? multiple kinds of happiness?
- yellow of the crown draws eyes downward; seemingly hidden in the forest
The Storyteller
by Evan Turk
- off-center
- the stories extend beyond the border, as do the clouds (storytelling of a world beyond the current borders?)
- big and exciting and magical
- illustration reinforcing the title
- what’s in the bag? what does he tell stories about? to whom?
Tree
by Britta Teckentrup
- subtitle: a peek through picture book
- owl’s hold like a peek through hole into a home/different world; let’s look inside
- colorful, cool background with warm colored trunk and animals
- simple shapes and generally inviting
We Are Giants
by Amber Lee Dodd
- title in red and giant
- red echoed in the flowers
- shadows/silhouettes are secondary focal point
- shadows bigger than the people/kids really are; perhaps they feel big and powerful? holding hands with friends… the power of friendship? are they playing pretend?
When Friendship Followed Me Home
by Paul Griffin
- pun on a dog named Friendship or the dog becomes a friend
- title shaped to fit the dog shape and is the primary focus
- mostly shades of blue with yellow accents
When the Sea Turned to Silver
by Grace Lin
- double symmetry broken by the sea/horse/people
- downward slope and fear of children and anger of horse create an overall scary scene
- disruption of peace and order
- intertwined cool and warm colors, though dominated by the blue of the sea; interrupted by the silver of the horse
- seemingly Asian symbols on top and bottom
Wolf Hollow
by Lauren Wolk
- writing in a journal (in a place called Wolf Hollow?)
- the title is in a hollow created by the trees/words
- perhaps an actual cozy, secret place, or safety is found in the process of journaling?
- description within the script that acts both as a frame and a conveyor of information
Wow. Okay. So, I think I am done with that exercise for a while. That took longer than I expected!
In conclusion, I think there are a ton of excellent cover examples that use all sorts of methods for conveying the subjects of their stories and arousing interest in the reader. Overall the basic concepts I seemed to pick up on include:
- Warm and cool colors of the illustrations
- Movement and stability in the layouts
- Symbolism, metaphors, puns
- Typeface, font size, and color
- The direction of the gazes of the characters
- How to create focal points and move the readers gaze
- How to invoke questions and interest
So, any thoughts? Insights?
Stay posted for more information about my 2018 goals, specifically the upcoming children’s book!
color & being
miscommunication
OBSESSION
n!ghtmare
A project that I have been working on here and there for a while. (one spread is still in the works and not shown here.) A repurposed children’s bedtime book that I got from a thrift store. No longer for children.
the (edited) world we live in
A while ago I bought this book from a thrift store for two dollars. It looked promising, but I had no idea how much fun I would end up having with it! It has served as a place to get out emotions, to play around with song lyrics stuck in my head*, to make a mess, to be punny… Still so many pages to go (and so many dinosaurs!) but these are some of the ones I have collaged so far. Enjoy and let me know your thoughts!
*primarily Stressed Out by Twenty One Pilots
(softness)
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abstract relations vi 