For my first assignment for the Oatley Academy we were instructed to make fancy animals! Essentially, take an old portrait painting, stick an animal in it. I chose to make mine a slow loris because well... look how cute he issss! Turns out cute translates into kinda creepy when you throw in some cleavage and stick him in a wig and a dress but oh well. Hope you enjoy.

Photoshop Painting Studies

I don't have anything particularly creative to post today... Lately, I've been trying to focus on leveling up my basic painting skills... Since art school, my practice in drawing from life has kind of gone to the wayside, and I can tell my work and confidence is suffering. Lately I've been going back to basics, taking some online classes through Lynda.com and the amazing Oatley Academy, and also learning new software in the hopes of making myself more marketable. Hopefully I'll have more fun stuff to post soon.

So... I've been horribly neglecting this blog in recent...months, and now is a good excuse to get back into it. Yesterday was my first day of Oatley Academy Live!, a school created by Disney artist Chris Oatley to help struggling artist's in all facets of their creative journey. Just in the past 12 hours I've learned a lot and gotten some great insights, and most of all, it's so great to feel like I'M NOT ALONE!!! 

It's been a struggle for a while now to maintain working 2, sometimes 3 minimum wage jobs 45+ hours a week and also have time and energy left over to spend on my art. My art career got pushed the wayside, and I've been battling with feeling like a failure and "is it even worth it to keep trying?" "I'm never going to make it," "My stuff will never be good enough and I just don't have the time to improve it," "I'm never going to make any kind of decent money." Joining into the OA has shown me that not only are there tons of other people out there feeling the same way as me and struggling with the same demons, but also that there are plenty of VERY successful people out there who went through this same ordeal and came through to the other side. And these are the people who are teaching these classes and providing us with the tools to climb that mountain of artistic self-loathing, bad self-esteem, and all around despair, and come out on top.

 The goal of OA Live! is for us to come up with and most importantly COMPLETE a personal project. Part of my struggle is being indecisive and jumping around from thing to thing and project to project before I ever finish anything, so this will definitely be a good challenge for me. 

Above is my first homework assignment. I couldn't post it in the forum without having it hosted on a website, hence my return to the blogosphere! (Spell check recognizes blogosphere as a real word, whaaaaat?!) It was pretty helpful and insightful for me to lay out, and also made me realize my abilities need some serious work. We'll see where this journey takes me!

A little teaser...

My blogs have been lacking lately, but trust me when I say it's not for lack of work! I've been drawing and painting my booty off working on The Mermaid and the Moon with Get Out Books. My deadline is two weeks away, and after that it's marketing, marketing, marketing before it's released this fall! I can't wait to see it in print. There's not much I can post yet, but I do have a few teasers that I can show you in the meantime. Enjoy! 

Moon's and Mermaids

Tax season is over which means one of my four jobs has come to an end, leaving me time to finally get started on "The Mermaid and the Moon," written by Susan Pace Koch and published by Get Out Books. I wanted to do a practice run/color study before I get started on the actual watercolor pieces, and below is the finished product. I was fortunate enough to have it be selected to be shown in AAU Children's Book Gallery show at Tr!ckster Gallery in Berkeley, starting May 3rd! 

Marnie the Mermaid Character Designs

I'm getting started on my very first book! Here are some of the character designs for "The Mermaid and the Moon," written by Susan Pace Koch and illustrated by yours truly. Pick your favorite! 

©Tracie Timmer 2014, All Rights Reserved. 

SCBWI Masthead Contest!

So this one was tricky… Website mastheads obviously have pretty thin dimensions, and within those I had to include imagery from Contra Costa, Alameda, Marin, and Napa counties. And also had to include kids in some way and incorporate the idea behind the Society of Children's Book Writer's and Illustrator's. Also had to include that big long title that you see in the image, and be able to make a smaller logo out of it, phew! So the idea I came up with was to have some kids painting a mural of the Bay Area.

In other news, I'm currently in the process of signing my first book contract! Look for "The Mermaid and the Moon," Written by Susan Pace Koch and illustrated by yours truly, Fall 2014!!