WEEKLY UPDATE: Portfolio & Writing Updates
An actual weekly update, huzzah! It’s been a rough couple of days, but I finally finished moving apartments and have set up a great space for myself to work on my books and creative projects. It’s a little library in front of a window overlooking the ice cream shop next door. The books aren’t quite organized yet, but check it out:
It’s a really cozy spot. I’m also so much closer to main street now, so I can easily spend a day out at one of the cafes working as well. No longer will I have to suffer the accursed hill in order to walk home from classes.
In addition to moving, I’ve also just finished registering for my courses for my last year of my undergrad. I’m pretty excited for a couple of them: Children’s Literature, Modern Poetry, Advanced Poetry Writing, and FINALLY a Creative Writing Workshop with bestselling author Amanda Peters, just to name a few. I’ll be graduating in May with a major in English and a minor in Classics. This graduation feels like the most impactful that I’ve had. It’s been a really difficult couple of years, but also a very transformative time. I feel like I’ve grown as a person and gained a lot of confidence because of it. And I’ve been loving learning! Although school and work takes up a lot of my personal writing time, I believe it’s worth it in the long run. It’s definitely improved my writing overall and has improved my sense of self. I’m excited to be the first person in my family to have a degree.
Now that the apartment is all unpacked, I can finally hyper-focus on making that art portfolio for the SCBWI event in NYC and finishing If Our Souls Were Flowers. On the art side, I just purchased an iPad Pro for illustrating specifically. I’ve mostly been practicing skills like perspective, anatomy, turnaround sheets, consistent characters and expressions. I’ve also been trying to plot out scenes and moods. I want most of the illustrations in my portfolio to be creative and tell a story, with lots of dynamic movement, and not just be a bunch of flat images. I’ve learned that certain shapes tell a certain story - square shapes are strong and sensible, round shapes are friendly and innocent, triangles can’t be trusted. And you can combine shapes to create dynamic character personalities. Here’s just a couple of the sheets I’ve been working on, and then a fun little fish that honestly has nothing to do with anything.
The plan is still to get an 11-12 month Bachelor of Education after graduating, so I can teach and work on projects instead of tattoo and work on projects. But who knows, maybe If Our Souls Were Flowers will take off and I can retire into my library corner where I just pump out books all day… Haha. Speaking of IOSWF, the first book is completely planned and I’ve almost got the second book plotted out as well. I have the ending and the parts leading up to the ending figured out. The beginning is also mostly figured out, but I need some more substance in the middle. (It’s gutless!) But don’t worry, I will give it guts, just you wait. I think this duology is truly going to be a winner, and I’m very excited for it. Keep an eye out for My Friends Are Weird as well…
See you on the next page,
Willow
