We’re working on Volume 29, and have been working on it for months—provided you count stewing and brainstorming as part of the working process. Which we do. I’ve been wondering when all the thinking was going to turn into something more. This afternoon, I returned from the grocery store and got my answer. Robbi was working.
I found her standing in front of a makeshift apparatus, a kind of ad hoc photo studio with a white paper backdrop, side lighting, and horizontal support cables strung across the top. We’re imagining Volume 29 as a series of diorama-like constructions. Robbi will create a scene, photograph it, and then move on to the next.
I tried to interest her in conversation about how my day was going. She refused to look up from her work. I decided to let her be.
Here is an initial study, using a paper doll as a stand-in for characters that Robbi will eventually illustrate.
We weren’t happy with how it was looking. Too flat. Not dynamic.
So she tried again, this time with hand-rendered characters and place settings and more dramatic lighting. We liked the result enough to start believing that we could make the idea work.
I’ll be in Baltimore all day tomorrow and the kids will be with our friend Ann. I fully expect Robbi to have the new book illustrated by dinnertime.
Hmm – I think I might have a little crush on the stand-in paper doll. T-shirt tucked into his boxers…shorts pulled up to his knees…and is that a small 1970’s type mustache? What’s not to love?
OMG Don, you are so funny. Only you could love Tom Jr. so unconditionally. Which reminds me… it might be time for a little Don Draws…
HE HAS A NAME??? Tom Jr? How adorable! I love him unconditionally. (Although I would love him more if he were unreasonably wealthy. Let’s be real. We all have a price, and mine’s not too high.) Don Draws…Hey, go for it if you want! I’m still on the edge of my seat for the answers to the most recent Matthew Draws.
Oh, and I meant “socks pulled up to his knees” in my original comment, not shorts. FAIL.
LOL, Don …. I love the “Fail” comment. Plus, I am loving all your comments anyway. My first reaction to Tom Jr. was that it would be so much better if Matthew’s face was affixed to Mr. Jr.
I too am on the edge about the answers to Matthew Draws. I could only even remotely guess at one of them, speaking of FAIL.
I love this concept and am totally jealous that Robbi gets to spend the day building dioramas.
Thanks Jenifer! I try to be funny. :-) As for Matthew Draws – yeah, I really did a sucky job this time. I had a few guesses, but I don’t know if I was right on any of them. I was sort of confident until I saw Robbi’s rendition…then I was just even more confused!
With all due respect, “Tom Jr.” looks more like a “Chad”, or a “Worthington”. He has certainly mastered the art of looking suave and unrumpled, even in his boxers. Maybe it’s that pencil mustache?
Robbi, despite the attention that Chad is getting, I just want to say I absolutely love what you’re doing with your own characters!
And seeing you working. That set-up you’ve concocted with the stools and string is delightful. How do you keep the babies from making a beeline to it and messing it all up? Because they can…ruin everything. ;-)
Robbi, have you seen “Cankerblossom”? I don’t know if it made it to youtube, but it would be worth a search. This clever, fantasy-fairytale with brown cardboard costumes, sets, and puppets would surely charm you. This is the link to the festival where it was performed in Philadelphia.
http://www.livearts-fringe.org/details.cfm?id=12730