Alice Y. Chen's Blog, page 15
September 9, 2014
What’s YOUR review?
Before I get on with the next post, I just want to do a check-in with my readers! For those of you who have purchased and/or read the book, WHAT DO YOU THINK? Did you like the story and the characters? Did you find Centipede Dragon too passive, or didn’t find his motivations for helping others truly believable? Did you find Ariel a strong role model for your daughter? How about Ben to your son? Would you like to see more cheekiness in the animals? What else?
I would be very grateful for any feedback, and if you have purchased a book, for a review on goodreads or Amazon, or, anywhere! They say it’s all about the reviews after all...
I would be very grateful for any feedback, and if you have purchased a book, for a review on goodreads or Amazon, or, anywhere! They say it’s all about the reviews after all...
September 4, 2014
I Forgot
A bonus post for this week, the one I should've lead off with on Tuesday, seeing as this event occurred over Labor Day weekend!
Politics and Prose in DC was hosting a presentation with Mr. Brian Lies, a children's book illustrator/author most notably known for his "Bats at the ____" series. Mr. Lies anthropomorphizes a group of loveable bats who frolic at night either in a library, at the beach, or in a baseball field. In this 4th book, "Bats in the Band," the bats are back making music and mischief. Mr Lies, in town for the Annual National Book Festival, gave a fantastic presentation in a more intimate setting, where he talked about how the "Bats" books came about, revealed secret "Easter eggs" within the book, showed original art, present and past (one he did in the 2nd grade, spelling errors and all), and got dared by a child in the audience to pick up his over-sized, over 30-lb book he had made especially for presentation purposes.
This presentation was really special to me for so many reasons. The fact that he showed where he started in his own art as a kid echoed my thoughts about my own art in my bumblebee collage. Also, I too had wanted to create an over-sized book myself, so that at a presentation setting, the kids could physically immerse themselves in the book, by being able to practically sit "inside" the book! But most of all, he was just an encouraging, thoughtful person who is very clearly interested in entertaining the kids. In the frustrations I have had throughout my journey thus far, I frankly have forgotten about this goal at times. So thank you Mr Lies, you just made a fan for life out of me!
September 2, 2014
More feedback…
I hope everyone had a great Labor (Free) Day weekend!
Here are some more brilliant pictures from those kindergartners from my 2013 visit. By the way, all the names here by coincidence happen to start with A....
And here are my answers!
– Q: From Annika, on page 10 are the sheep dreaming to shear themselves so that they can make the food that Ariel dreams about? A: I see why this is confusing, because the threads that make up Ariels’s imaginary worries are drawn in the same line that comes from the sheep’s sheared wool! I’m sorry for the confusion, but no, the shaving sheep in the bubble is a part of Ben’s imagination; Ben’s thinking of any number of impossible things that can happen since the impossibility of his sheep mysteriously reappearing after disappearing happened.
– Q: Anthony wanted me to color in ALL the empty spaces with the humans. A: Anthony, YOU certainly do a great job coloring in all the spaces, but I like to keep the empty spaces in order to be able to show off the line details in the art! Were it all filled in, you couldn’t see the lines.
– Q: Audre was confused when on page 4-5, all the objects are drawn in blue, while the rest of the images in the book are in full color. A: This particular image was a stylistic (and unfortunately confusing) way to introduce the reader to the peaceful, quiet village that Centipede Dragon lives nearby. But I wanted the village to recede into the background, to draw your eye to the upper left and right corners where Centipede Dragon first appears in full color, and then in the upper right corner, where he’s camouflaging himself.
– Q: From August on page 10, why does the cord goes into the bubble? A: You found one of my “Easter eggs” where I’m connecting what’s really happening in the scene to what Ben is imagining. It was meant to be a “sight gag” for adults.
Sorry for the confusion, kids, but great job in questioning me!
August 28, 2014
Creating pictures that say something.
I had to re-post this picture because I interrupted myself with the discussion on the lack of diversity in children's books.
So before I digress any further, I want to point out the traits of this drawing style that have influenced/predominated my overall artistic sense. What I want to point out here is how patternistic, connected, graphic, iconographic, and FLAT, this inherent style of mine is. The repetitiveness in the stripes on the bees, the dots of the eyes, and the wingspans, are all working to create balance and harmony, while maintaining visual interest. Bright bursts of color are also visually balanced throughout to dispel any discordance the color fields themselves may introduce. These are traits that in general many of us appreciate in art. But these traits have literally been dominant in my art.
I used to think that I drew the art for Centipede Dragon in this manner because it was simply the easiest and quickest way for me to create 30+ images for the book. But the truth occurred to me as I was clearing out my old artwork from my parents’ house last year. Every time I picked up a piece, I noticed that this style was evident long ago, beginning with my beloved bumblebee collage circa 1976-78.
Do you believe me? I hope so, because it’s my only explanation!
So before I digress any further, I want to point out the traits of this drawing style that have influenced/predominated my overall artistic sense. What I want to point out here is how patternistic, connected, graphic, iconographic, and FLAT, this inherent style of mine is. The repetitiveness in the stripes on the bees, the dots of the eyes, and the wingspans, are all working to create balance and harmony, while maintaining visual interest. Bright bursts of color are also visually balanced throughout to dispel any discordance the color fields themselves may introduce. These are traits that in general many of us appreciate in art. But these traits have literally been dominant in my art.
I used to think that I drew the art for Centipede Dragon in this manner because it was simply the easiest and quickest way for me to create 30+ images for the book. But the truth occurred to me as I was clearing out my old artwork from my parents’ house last year. Every time I picked up a piece, I noticed that this style was evident long ago, beginning with my beloved bumblebee collage circa 1976-78.
Do you believe me? I hope so, because it’s my only explanation!
August 26, 2014
A Call to Action: more diversity in children’s books.
Remember my Centipede Dragon post regarding my decision (at the brilliant and gentle insistence of my librarian friend) to finally make the kids Asian in my book? I stated as fact that "children's books featuring minority kids don't sell," and pretty much didn't go any further; my attempt to tiptoe around the flash-point topic of race. In case you want to delve a bit deeper, All Things Considered did great reporting about this topic last week:
http://wamu.org/programs/all_things_c...
It's 8.5 minutes long, and probably the most honest discussion I've heard in mass media about why diversity in children's books has not yet taken hold.
All Things Considered then interviewed a Vermont bookstore owner who advocated activism for diversity in books:
http://wamu.org/programs/all_things_c...
This one’s about 6 minutes long. This too is a very level-headed response to what could be a hot-button topic!
But I hope these 15 minutes will give a great background to what is going on, and what diversity means, as Ms. Bluemle defines it: Diversity means …”[ ] the book must feature a main character of color in a story that is not driven by racial issues. So mainstream stories of kids having all kinds of adventures and different genres of literature.”
Hmm, I think Centipede Dragon fits the bill!
To go back in history, NPR first reported about this on June 2, 2014: http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2...
To leave you with a visual sense of why this “weneeddiversebooks” movement came about, I’ll leave you with this graphic from: http://blog.leeandlow.com/2013/06/17/...
http://wamu.org/programs/all_things_c...
It's 8.5 minutes long, and probably the most honest discussion I've heard in mass media about why diversity in children's books has not yet taken hold.
All Things Considered then interviewed a Vermont bookstore owner who advocated activism for diversity in books:
http://wamu.org/programs/all_things_c...
This one’s about 6 minutes long. This too is a very level-headed response to what could be a hot-button topic!
But I hope these 15 minutes will give a great background to what is going on, and what diversity means, as Ms. Bluemle defines it: Diversity means …”[ ] the book must feature a main character of color in a story that is not driven by racial issues. So mainstream stories of kids having all kinds of adventures and different genres of literature.”
Hmm, I think Centipede Dragon fits the bill!
To go back in history, NPR first reported about this on June 2, 2014: http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2...
To leave you with a visual sense of why this “weneeddiversebooks” movement came about, I’ll leave you with this graphic from: http://blog.leeandlow.com/2013/06/17/...
August 21, 2014
What about the pictures?
I’ve been devoting a lot of time to the writing process because writing doesn’t come naturally to me. What does come somewhat easily for me is drawing, regardless of whether one thinks I am actually good at it. So how did the illustrations and the style for the book come about, you might ask?
You can see from my professional work that my illustrations must suggest as much 3D-form as possible, through application of perspective, core shadows, cast shadows, highlights, reflected lights, textural detail, etc. So you’re probably wondering, how does what appears on the left translate into what is on the right:
I can’t really tell you because I simply don’t know. What I can show you though is this:
This illustration very early on in my artistic career demonstrates a tendency I have exhibited in the way I have viewed the world (not literally, of course) since before I could even write my own name. We’ll explore this tendency of mine further in the next post!
You can see from my professional work that my illustrations must suggest as much 3D-form as possible, through application of perspective, core shadows, cast shadows, highlights, reflected lights, textural detail, etc. So you’re probably wondering, how does what appears on the left translate into what is on the right:
I can’t really tell you because I simply don’t know. What I can show you though is this:
This illustration very early on in my artistic career demonstrates a tendency I have exhibited in the way I have viewed the world (not literally, of course) since before I could even write my own name. We’ll explore this tendency of mine further in the next post!
August 19, 2014
Logan's question
Back to kids and their questions. Their very difficult, insightful, I-don’t-really-know-the-answer-to-that questions.
Here’s one from Logan, from the same class as Gigi:
Logan, Logan, Logan….I don’t know! So I went back to flesh out Centipede Dragon’s back story. It started like this:
Centipede Dragon woke up one day in the upside down bowl of an acorn cap that was precariously nestled in acorn leaves. He was alone, but was not lonely. He was as large as a centipede, a centipede centipede, but he certainly didn’t look like an ordinary centipede.
….As days went by, CD began to get hungry. So, he’d crawl out of his acorn cap bowl and carefully make his way down the trunk of the acorn tree.
…. As he grew bigger, it became easier to navigate the trunk of the tree, for his body was so long that his head basically touched the ground when his tail was still up in the tree.
I went on and on for PAGES, imagining how he might have fended for himself, what he did with his days. Gradually he became aware that he was no longer alone in the tree: a nest with baby birds appeared. He watched as a larger bird would come and feed the babies. Then one day the large bird didn’t come. And then it was many days that the larger bird was conspicuously absent.
And that’s when I was truly able to answer Logan’s questions.
Here’s one from Logan, from the same class as Gigi:
Logan, Logan, Logan….I don’t know! So I went back to flesh out Centipede Dragon’s back story. It started like this:
Centipede Dragon woke up one day in the upside down bowl of an acorn cap that was precariously nestled in acorn leaves. He was alone, but was not lonely. He was as large as a centipede, a centipede centipede, but he certainly didn’t look like an ordinary centipede.
….As days went by, CD began to get hungry. So, he’d crawl out of his acorn cap bowl and carefully make his way down the trunk of the acorn tree.
…. As he grew bigger, it became easier to navigate the trunk of the tree, for his body was so long that his head basically touched the ground when his tail was still up in the tree.
I went on and on for PAGES, imagining how he might have fended for himself, what he did with his days. Gradually he became aware that he was no longer alone in the tree: a nest with baby birds appeared. He watched as a larger bird would come and feed the babies. Then one day the large bird didn’t come. And then it was many days that the larger bird was conspicuously absent.
And that’s when I was truly able to answer Logan’s questions.
August 15, 2014
Gigi’s question and my answer
Hi all! Thanks so much for the great response for the book giveaway, which ends this Monday, August 18!
So now, onto Gigi's question:
Well Gigi, the answer is I created the story so it is fiction, but does the fact that Centipede Dragon came from an actual symbol drawn by an actual person make him real, or non-fiction? Or, since he is a symbol that represents bringing good fortune to the Miao people, was he then always fiction?
So now, onto Gigi's question:
Well Gigi, the answer is I created the story so it is fiction, but does the fact that Centipede Dragon came from an actual symbol drawn by an actual person make him real, or non-fiction? Or, since he is a symbol that represents bringing good fortune to the Miao people, was he then always fiction?
August 12, 2014
Taking it to the masses
Apologies for my silence since last Monday! I was announcing the winners of another giveaway and then dealing with that the rest of the week! Now we are caught up.
I had previously recounted that only one kid—Daniel, who was out of my targeted age range—had read the book thus far. I could no longer put off that I needed to test drive my book on actual 3-7 year old kids.
In May 2013, I read Centipede Dragon A Benevolent Creature to 21 kindergarteners. Ms. Danielle, their teacher, had prepped them for my visit so that on the day when I walked into their classroom, there was a sudden whoosh! as they quickly assembled in front of me.
In my opinion, the true test for anything in life is to vet it through a 5-year old, if you can manage it. Kids this age see the world with a clarity not clouded by personal experience. They keenly observe and fiercely question. They laser-point out a hole in your plot because to them it is oh-so obvious. They are not concerned with filling in the blanks as adults often do. A kid will tell you what s/he wants to see changed in your book. Nothing personal, rather, it’s what s/he is thinking at that particular moment. The next moment will be snack time, and the next, nap time.
Ms. Danielle then asked her students to draw pics that describe their favorite part in the book, or, ask a question. The feedback from that one school visit was so laser-sharp insightful, that in many future posts you’ll see how they influenced and improved the book.
Here’s a brilliant pic by Gigi. In the next post, you will read what Gigi’s question was, and my response!
I had previously recounted that only one kid—Daniel, who was out of my targeted age range—had read the book thus far. I could no longer put off that I needed to test drive my book on actual 3-7 year old kids.
In May 2013, I read Centipede Dragon A Benevolent Creature to 21 kindergarteners. Ms. Danielle, their teacher, had prepped them for my visit so that on the day when I walked into their classroom, there was a sudden whoosh! as they quickly assembled in front of me.
In my opinion, the true test for anything in life is to vet it through a 5-year old, if you can manage it. Kids this age see the world with a clarity not clouded by personal experience. They keenly observe and fiercely question. They laser-point out a hole in your plot because to them it is oh-so obvious. They are not concerned with filling in the blanks as adults often do. A kid will tell you what s/he wants to see changed in your book. Nothing personal, rather, it’s what s/he is thinking at that particular moment. The next moment will be snack time, and the next, nap time.
Ms. Danielle then asked her students to draw pics that describe their favorite part in the book, or, ask a question. The feedback from that one school visit was so laser-sharp insightful, that in many future posts you’ll see how they influenced and improved the book.
Here’s a brilliant pic by Gigi. In the next post, you will read what Gigi’s question was, and my response!
August 4, 2014
Centipede Dragon makes the (local) news!
Sorry, I meant to post this last Thursday, but had family in town and was busy playing host.
My first interview for Centipede Dragon appeared in the last Thursday, July 31, 2014 edition of the Mount Vernon Gazette:
If you want to see what the paper is about, here are a couple of links:
http://www.mountvernongazette.com/
http://connectionarchives.com/PDF/201...
Please let me know what you think!
My first interview for Centipede Dragon appeared in the last Thursday, July 31, 2014 edition of the Mount Vernon Gazette:
If you want to see what the paper is about, here are a couple of links:
http://www.mountvernongazette.com/
http://connectionarchives.com/PDF/201...
Please let me know what you think!
