It's been a busy week! There was a Twitter pitch event (pitching ideas to agents and editors) and Illustrator Day (which went awesome, thanks for everyone who helped me pick out some portfolio stuff) and its Inktober all month long. It makes me realize how much I miss posting art everyday. Between writing and illustrating my own project and lining up the next gig and the everlasting search for the right agent, I'm not sure I'll be able to go back to that for a good while... which is a pretty good problem to have.
BUT...
I want to try something new and I'm hoping it will stick. I'm forever reading comics and graphic novels and books I probably should have read in School. Reading and studying the type of books I want to create is really good for my soul and honestly, some of these books are just magic caught on paper and worth checking out.
Whenever possible I try to get my books from my library and only buy the ones I know I'll read / study multiple times. Libraries are awesome and ours has a fishtank in it that makes my 2 year loose his mind.
This week: Witchlight by Jessi Zabarsky and Anya's Ghost by Vera Brosgol. Both books has really strong female leads.
Witchlight is amazing. High fantasy with really beautiful flat art and limited pallet. The pallet shifts with with the passing of the seasons. It's got love, a hint of revenge, learning, growing and forgiving in a super easy to follow story. It's a nice little adventure to read in between DnD sessions or if you're waiting in the parent pick up line for an hour, but for me the art style is why I bought it. The linework is amazing and the use of negative space with the limited colors is the sign of a great artist.
Anya's Ghost is up next and man its awesome. I'm a Vera Brosgol fan so I had high expectations going in and wasn't disappointed. It's a cool gray color scheme throughout the book and it really helps sell the ghost story told within (no spoilers because it's in the name) which is drastically different the last Vera book I read: "Be Prepared." As you may have noticed.. I don't identify as a girl BUT I found Anya relatable. I had three of four just friends like her in school. If my word isn't good enough, Neil Gaiman said it was a masterpiece and he's WAY smarter than I am.
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