Thanksgiving Dinner Party Portraits

The day after thanksgiving, we went out to dinner with some family. Where did we go? Out for SUSHI! However, the wait to fill the big order was a little long and tedious so I am glad the kiddos at our table were provided with some crayons. Here's what I did with a little box on the waxy paper placemats. Maybe I could turn it into a restaurant side show...offer my services. What do you think? (Just kidding of course)


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Halloween Fun! Despicable Me 2 Characters Costumes: Gru, Agent Lucy Wilde, Minion

Just a quick post, post-Halloween. Maybe the costume links will help you out for next year or for Comic Con sometime. :-)

This year my little toddler wanted to be a minion for halloween. He LOVES the Despicable Me movies. So I followed suit...I dressed as Lucy Wilde, Agent for the Anti Villain League and made a lovely nose (click for instructions) complete with stick-on mustache eyebrows and used a bald cap for my hubby to be Gru.

Here are some supplies, the pics and some costume tips...

Minion-
yellow construction toy hat
yellow shirt
denim overalls
shipping labels to print logo on (logo below...print out on Avery 8164 shipping label, then cut out and stick on)
black stretchy gloves
Black shoes
minion goggles (toy or created yourself)


My Minion (sans gloves)
Agent Lucy Wilde, AVL :
Orange hair spray color
large sunglasses
pink and white polka dot material to make a scarf or buy this one
turquoise dress
spike heels (white or neutral)
lipstick (for lipstick taser)
shipping labels for badge printout



Here's a file of the badge to print out in MSWord. If you don't have that program, here's a pdf. print out on Avery 8164 shipping labels or its equivalent. My printer was losing its ink so the badge book I printed ended up a striped turquoise instead of full turquoise. But if you have turquoise duct tape or cardstock, just use that to make a flip open badge holder and stick your labels inside.

 Gru:
Black jacket
preferably black skinny pants (but all we had were gray slacks)
gray and black striped scarf (all we had was gray so I used black tape to make stripes)
Bald cap (or naturally bald head)
Long nose (here are the instructions I used)
Dollar Store stick on mustaches for eyebrows
rubber band

I made the nose and the eyebrows as one aluminum foil piece, kind of like a unibrow with a nose. Then covered in masking tape. Painted with flesh colored acrylic paint (mixed yellow ochre, white and alizarin crimson). Let dry. Stapled rubberband to ends of eyebrows so it could go around head and hold on to the face. Then used the stick on mustaches as actual eyebrows.








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No Excuses...But I'm back: Hosting Erin and Philip Stead and more

Hello all. I'm so sorry I was absent all summer and for half of Fall. I won't make any excuses only say that family, work and life passes by quickly and sometimes the blog gets left behind.

But on to the now...

The book idea I blogged about last, the one that has to do with collecting (and something SOOOOO much deeper), is all dummied out and in the hands of a very dear copy editor friend, who loves it, and is passing it on to her very dear editor friend. There are no assurances, but a friend on your side in the business is always a lovely thing.

In July I was privileged to host Erin and Philip Stead at the summer BYU Symposium for young readers. It was a wonderful experience. Erin is kind, a bit shy, and very humble about her own art. She attributes all her success back to her husband, Phil, nudging her into children's books. They make a great team all around. Phil is also kind, the more outgoing of the two and very excited about creating new art. They had great tips and fun stories to share. Here's an image from my notes.


I'm currently finishing up with a patriotic book due out June 2014. As soon as the publisher's catalog is out with the cover art I just turned in, I'll post a link. I am REALLY loving this book. The text is actually lyrics in the public domain and has been illustrated before. However, I hope with my spin on the book, it'll take it to an expanded sphere. I know speaking in generals and not giving any specifics is annoying, but unfortunately, that is sometimes the biz.

And just a little more of a sneak peak of that one...probably as much as I can show right now (but look at earlier posts and you'll see another):


On that note (of having to be hush hush), I'm also working with a VERY big client...NOT on a picture book at all, and I can't say a word about it until probably February (that's so annoying, I know). But just be happy for me and know that if my house doesn't get decorated much for the holidays, it's all because I'm feverishly trying to make deadlines.

WISH ME LUCK!
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Collecting

I'm working on another picture book manuscript and illustrations (a personal project that I hope to present for publication someday)...and I'm collecting. I'm collecting memories.

Last summer my dear Grandma passed away. She was such a sweet and lovely person, always trying to serve and love others. I can't deny that she was my favorite Grandparent. So I began collecting my memories of her, like...

  • Her white patent leather purse on a gold chain strap
  • The black licorice she kept in plentiful supply
  • Her blue hair 
  • rolls and jam
  • peaches and cream
  • beautiful, handmade, quilts
  • the petite genes she passed on to me (she shrunk to about 4'11" through the years)
  • her little black heels
  • pearls
  • her smile
The list goes on and on. So I wrote a book. Based on truth. Beautified through the music of art and words. As I mentioned last week in my notes of Poet Lance Larsen...MUSIC TRUMPS TRUTH. Hopefully the music of this book will bring out the truth of the truth. I hope to share it with you someday. But for now,  here is a simple photo...me and my Grandma...



What are your memories of your Grandparents?

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12 tips on writing from Utah State Poet Laureate Lance Larsen

Here are my notes from Lance Larsen's Speech today

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Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers- How to write

illustration by Julie Olson

Here are a few tips from Sharlee Glenn about writing picture books...

1. Choose a suitable shape for your story. Is it circular (start and then end at about the same place)? Is it linear? Is it an arc? Think visually.

2. Use ACTIVE not PASSIVE voice. 

3. Use Concrete Language. Circle all your adjectives and adverbs and decide if they are really needed or if the sentence could be written any differently? Make each word count.

4. Omit Unnecessary Words. Take out take out take out...anything that is absolutely not pushing the story or plot forward.

5. Voice. Distinctive voice from author and from character.

What to write?

  • write memories from childhood honestly & truthfully
  • write down how you felt, thought, and acted as a child
  • write things that you would never tell anyone
  • write the story that is in YOU
HOW?
  • read a lot
  • pay attention
  • write a lot
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My photo
I'm a freelance illustrator working in the children's book industry. I love kids and raising my own 4 children. They are the inspiration and the passion behind all I do in art and in life. See my website at JulieOlsonbooks.com

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