Jenn Bower: Process Makes Perfect-- "Authorstrator" Part II

In last week's blog, I promised a glimpse into Jenn Bower's artistic process. True to my word, Jenn takes us inside her uber-creative brain.

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CAROL: Once you have an idea, what's your next step? How many sketches do you do before you know if an idea is working or not? Do you do the sketches digitally? Do you write the text first or draw the images first?

JENN: My process is still evolving.  99% percent of the time I’ve no clue what I am doing.  I simply have this urge to do something!  It’s unbearable if I don’t.  I generate many of my ideas through Tara Lazar’s November PiBoIdMo, as I mentioned last week.  I also like using Scholastic’s Story Starter’s website. 

When I am extremely lucky I’ll have a light bulb moment, typically while walking the dog.  Sometimes an idea will spring forth from a sketch especially if I find myself sketching the same character.  The biggest key to a successful idea is making sure it’s a person, place, thing, idea that you love.  I love nature, I love horses, dogs, cats, cows, frogs and birds, I love quirky and slightly subversive kids, I love little towns, barn, and farms.  When you love deeply you know intimately and I believe that translates to the words you write and the pictures you draw.  I will likely never write about monsters, clowns, snakes or life in the big, big city.  I’ve no desire to have a long-term relationship with those characters.

Much of my process depends on my mood and energy level.  As a single parent working ‘normal’ 8-5 hours, some days I may only have 20 minutes to an hour to work on my craft.    I am a very linear thinker and process most of my information internally before I ever commit to anything on paper.  It drives most people I know crazy.  I know an idea is worth developing if I clearly see the characters and images in my head and I can sense the story arc. My personality needs clear direction in order to move forward.  The book out on submission right now with my agent, Danielle Smith – Red Fox Literary, was that way.  It started with a PiBoIdMo 2012 idea. Then a single sketch.  It percolated in my synapses for another year before I grabbed a legal pad and began writing the story out long hand.

Once I have the bones of the story I then move to my laptop and begin the arduous revision journey.  Namely, cutting down the word count.  Then it goes to my agent for her thumbs-up before I move to thumbnail sketches.  During this part of the process I will pretty quickly pick up any flaws in the pacing or story-arc, so the manuscript keeps evolving.  All my sketches are analog – pencil to paper.  The number of sketches I do often depends on how well formed the images are in my mind.  Some pages I see clearly.  Others are literally blanks so I will do a lot of loose, sloppy copy, gesture drawing to shake out the image.  

I also employ an old Interior Design tactic: tracing paper.

This allows me to layer elements on a sketch and move things around.  I love this phase.  The story really comes to life with the pictures.  I know the image is right when there is magic on the page and I feel this tremendous sense of gratitude. I am pretty spiritual so if I find myself saying, “YES! Thank you God.” then I know I’ve gotten it right.  I also check for action, reaction, and interaction occurring on the page.

CAROL How do you know when to take an idea all the way to a book?

JENN Once I’ve completed all the sketches and firmed up the manuscript I scan everything into Photoshop and lay in the text.  Hopefully I’ve allotted room for the words in my images and allowed for white space and some quiet pages.  All sketches are then shared with Danielle for her review, comments, edit requests and approval.  She typically shares with me which sketches she’d like to see in color comps for the Picture Book Dummy.  Then I begin the painting phase.  For my current submission we went through about five rounds of color edits before she said we were ready to submit.

Join us next week when Jenn discusses and demonstrates the digital tools she uses to paint these wonderful drawings!

Introducing Jenn Bower, "Authorstrator": Part I

Being a member of a SCBWI critique group has lots of advantages: I receive feedback about my manuscript and have the opportunity to learn more about writing by critiquing others. I also meet wonderful writers who are serious about honing their craft and getting published. And every once in awhile, skilled illustrators wander into our group and I'm astonished at their work. Since I can barely draw a stick figure, I'm always in awe of their abilities to tell stories through art and to deepen a story's impact through images.

Jenn Bower is new to the Charlotte SCBWI critique group, but not new to the creative arts. When she started talking about how she illustrates digitally, I begged her to educate me--and my readers--on how this is done. She agreed to fit me into her busy schedule and answer several questions.

Jenn also introduced me to the idea of "Authorstrator"--writers who are also illustrators. I think you will agree that the next four blog posts demonstrate her skills as both. Take it away, Jenn!

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CAROL: Tell us a little about yourself and why you consider yourself to be an "authorstrator”.

From "Bo Peep Gets a Makeover"

JENN: As a kid, I dreamed of being a model, actor, and architect.  I loved telling stories with laughable characters and regaled my relatives with ‘Myrtle the Turtle’ and ‘Chubby’ imitations.  I always made things: Barbie clothes, Barbie homes out of wood blocks, sewing and knitting projects, homemade cards.  I also wrote, produced, directed, costumed, set designed, and stared in some form of homespun Holiday two-man pageant, with my younger sister, or performed in all the school plays.  I knew, since the First Grade when I won the Great Pumpkin Decorating Contest, I was born to create.  

A bit of a late bloomer with a horrible sense of direction, I attended UNC-Chapel Hill for Journalism & Advertising and then earned my BFA-Interior Design degree from Winthrop University.  Too clumsy to be a model, too camera shy to be an actress and lacking any affinity for load bearing wall calculations, I then promptly went to work in the insurance, luxury retail, and investment holding industries.  I hated my life and was insanely jealous of my younger sister who was pursuing her second degree in Children’s Illustration.

The birth of my daughter made me examine the shape of my own life as I was molding hers.  What examples did I want to set?  I always dreamed as a child but fear addled the pursuit.  In 2001 I enrolled in writing for children literature course but found my writing to be acerbic and serious.  I needed to peel back layers of adulthood so from 2008-2010 I wrote and published poems and short stories under a pseudonym.  There was a fantastic online community at the time called URBIS.  I connected with a talented group of writers who really challenged my writing.

In 2010 while cleaning out a closet I unearthed my old college art bin.  As I tested decades old markers and pens for life, I doodled a character and then posted a picture on Facebook.  It was the most commented on and ‘liked’ post of the year.  The match was struck and I couldn’t stop drawing again.  I tend to work in extremes so when the drawing rocketed the writing abruptly halted.

From "Kidlitart Process Post"

In 2011 I joined SCBWI, primarily as an illustrator.  At the 2012 Regional Carolinas conference an editor said something that stuck with me: “You illustrators need to step up your game and learn to write as well.”  Frankly, it pissed me off.  I wondered why this individual didn’t toss down the same white glove to writers.  It nagged at me for a year.  

I participated in PiBoIdMo that November and generated a month’s worth of picture book ideas.  They hibernated in a Moleskein pocket sketchbook. Here is a short video showing me paging through a similar notebook:

At the 2013 conference I participated in the Illustrator’s Intensive led by Dan Yaccarino and his Art Director, Patty Ann Harris from Little Brown Books for Young Readers.  They gave us an actual working manuscript and tasked us to develop characters based on the story.  Something clicked during the process and I knew I was a storyteller that had to write and illustrate my own stories.  The remainder of the conference I sat in on every breakout session related to the craft of picture book writing. 

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Join us next week when Jenn shares her creative process!

Until then, here is Jenn's Facebook profile picture. You can see this lady is someone special!

Jenn getting kisses from Trinity,
her 18 month old, 82lb Doberman rescue.
Really.