Fixing and Correcting My Children's Book art- new art style + better tools

 

I know when you finally get the nerve up to follow through with your idea and put color down on paper. You might stand back and look proudly on that wonderful piece of art work. As you should, it takes courage to create, design, write, illustrate, draw etc. All creativity comes from a special place within each of us. Yes, we all have it. 

But if you look and think too long you might start to NOT like your work, we all do that too, we over critique ourselves right out of completing some of our works, or we just put it away and move onto something else. OK that is me. Not anymore though, I am done with feeling overwhelmed with all that is life, so much that has come my way. OK I'm veering off the artwork track, sorry. My thoughts get ahead of my.

Everybody gets side tracked with all the responsibilities in life, I completely understand. I can't even count the things I've started, stopped and never returned to over the years. 

Maybe your a little like me, get bored and long for something new?  I really like NEW challenges and am finding that my children's books are not giving me that, sure each page is different, but I am not very interested in drawing the same character and same clothing and keeping each page " aesthetically pleasing" or staying cohesive throughout the pages of the book. Originally I made every page a new character, each different colors, clothes, etc. Then when I saw all my page files together, that's when I realized it looked all over the place, my eyes were overwhelmed and that is when I understood the reasoning behind keeping the subjects, characters etc. looking the same throughout your books.

Yes, I get it.

My first children's book I created in 2014, each page I did in soft pastels, I sent the files of to a local printer, I had 16 books made. I no longer have them because I overthought my artwork and got rid of each one!

A hard lesson learned, as " bits of an Artist life"

https://www.sandihester.com/

https://youtu.be/t9QDahh51dQ

I just love to binge watch her videos!

Anywho, Sandi says, " do not get rid of your works, whether you like the way it turned out or not...

Sandi is right, the good, the bad, and the ugly is all part of your art history and you should keep all of it, even if for your eyes only. If you have room of coarse, part of why I no longer have my old artworks is because I often clean out clutter, no pack rat here. That is why I no longer have old artworks. It is my dream to retire on a beach somewhere and so I do not want to have to pack up too much stuff. That being said I do wish I still had some of those works....

No crying over it though, I am always creating, moving forward and onward it's what I do. So should you. There are too many other worries in the world to bog yourself down with lost works. 

You can create a little challenge for yourself and recreate some of your lost art, by memory, what fun that would be. I am looking forward to consistently sharing my videos and process with you. Though I still remain torn with my preferred work. Story telling is such fun, so is illustration, painting and designing. But the process of full color pages of children's books is so time consuming. 

And on top of it, I start my new job Monday, that's in 2 days!

So much for my semi retirement and new art career. ( insert smirk here)

I will just have to be diligent and keep working towards my goals, sharing positivity, joy and happiness with all of you. Because it's good for the world.

God Bless!

How to be Happy & Stay Happy - Daily Activities to Build Happiness into Your Life

Opening my Authors copy of zine 1 of 4 Happy 365 Activity Zines.

I call these activity zines, zines instead of books because they are different than your typical activity book in that. I believe each page draws you in with the colorful pages and simple activities. I have seen some very wordy self-help, mindful activity books on the market. Some that felt like a big task to take on. And for me these were discouraging instead of feeling welcoming and encouraging. I didn't want my Happy 365 activity zine to feel like that at all. I'm not trying to dis anyone and their hard work or well-planned books. No, not at all, there is enough room for everyone and every book or zine on the shelf.

But no, you know partly why I call my activity zine a zine. I say partly because the other half of my reasoning is. I want; I demand that I get these zines out for people because everyone deserves a good, happy life. One filled with love and joy. Even in the tough times, happiness can be found and with Happy 365 showing you the tools and skills you have and need. You will create the happy life you deserve.

                                            Get your Happy 365 zine here - https://shorturl.at/nMtf1

When a Mindful Activity Zine/Book is Too Big - Make It Four Books/Zines

This activity book is going to be too thick as in too many full color pages and too costly to make it affordable. Also, I do not want this activity book to be overwhelming when seeking to enhance and improve oneself.

Here you can see why my decision to split the Happy 365 activity book into four separate activity books or zines as I prefer to call them.

Each activity zine will contain one activity a day for 3 months or a quarter year. If you complete each book, or zine, you will have complete one year of self-improvement activities.

With these completed pages which are just over 100 pages it would be a very big book or zine. I want, I need this activity book/zine to be inviting and not intimidating. When someone, anyone picks up the 

Happy 365 activity zine - Happy 365 activity book

My wish it that it draws you in with the colorful pages and easy to understand and follow activities. The activities will be fun, creative, and positive. A mindful set of tools at your fingertips.

Each page is designed to work with the tools you already have. Some skills you may not even know you have. We are built with human emotions so trust me you do have skills, the skill to love, the skill to hurt, the skill to want, the skill to move forward. You are an energy source, you just need to learn how to focus your energy on the right path for you. And how to channel your energy towards all things positive and good. You can control your emotions; you can create a future that is productive and meaningful.

With only one Happy 365 zine you can complete the activities over and over again. Look at the activities differently, complete the activities with a renewed insight, challenge yourself to try again. Grow and learn as you go. Sometimes the best way to learn is to do one simple thing at a time.

GET YOUR ACTIVITY ZINE 🠞 LINK HERE - https://shorturl.at/78X5G

 

What Is A Psychiatric Technician?

psych tech scope of practice link -  https://psychtechs.net/uploads/eng/scope.pdf

I'm an LPT ,is me, that's me! I'm a Psychiatric Technician. Hello

Licensed by the California BVNPTE link - https://www.bvnpt.ca.gov/licensees/psychiatric_technician.shtml

I'm So Mad, I could Just Scream!

 

Feeling like I'm coming apart at the seams. I could just scream!

Can you relate? There are days I really want to tell the world and everybody in it where to go. Of coarse I am not going to release my rage on the world. Why would I, only my family, those I love and those that love me, and maybe my work family really give a hoot about how I am feeling. I know this. 

I also know throwing a fit only hurts those around me and will make me feel incredibly worse then before.

Managing emotions can be hard but if you start now and learn to identify what makes you angry. You will be able to better manage your feelings when something goes wrong because you an prepare and better understand what triggers your anger. Try working through some anger management tools and learn how you react and respond to stress. You deserve to be happy, and you deserve to stay calm and relaxed. So do practice self care and show yourself a little grace, forgive and move forward is a good plan. Do better and be better is a good motto.

Be Happy and stay happy

Be Happy - Practice Your Happy Face

 One of the 365 days to a happier you activities is to practice your happy face. Spend time looking at yourself in the mirror making the best happy faces you can make. Think about which of your happy faces you give to different scenarios in life. As in when seeing a random person, do you smile big showing lots of teeth or do you glance up, paying no mind and keep walking? Plan to make an effort to smile often, smile big and at everyone. Even if your not sure someone sees you, smile big any way. Before long smiling will become a habit and that is what you want. Retrain your body and mind to smile and smiling will help increase joy, increase positivity and help you be happy and stay happy.

I wish you all the happiness in the world. You deserve it! Spread joy and laughter and feel good about who you are and where your going in life.

Updating My Debut Novel Book Cover

Editing and adding to my novel feels like a big endeavor, however I am very excited about this journey and so happy I can share it with you. If you are someone that loves to read books, any books, even children's books. You are my kind of people. You are my tribe.

My debut novel is filled with adventure, coming of age life lessons, love and loss, and self discovery. Along with a divide in people and class, I think I captured the story of these two main characters that have lived and evolved in my head for several years now. It's pretty crowded in my head now, as I've got many more characters for other novels still floating around up there. But these need two are so wonderful and I have loved them so much, they need to be shared with the world. I think Jha would make the most wonderful new Disney Princess and I am excited to hear readers thoughts on that subject alone. But if I get the boo hoo, no one loved my book. That is ok, an honest review is still a review even if it's not a good one!