Bookplate Contest: Design revealed (finally).

written by Julie R. Neidlinger      1 comments      link this post     






To my shame and dismay, it's taken me this long to get the bookplate design to Todd, the bookplate contest winner.

I started the design immediately but hit a serious wall of creativity. I even had two earlier versions (the first of which you will not see, the second can be seen partly done here) that I didn't finish because I could tell they were heading downhill.

The ideas that Todd gave me to work with were gold, and I thought they'd be a breeze: whimsical astronauts, dinosaurs, frogs -- the idea of all kinds of stories bursting from a book, mingled with swirls...

Alas, I struggled. My first attempt looked like I was trying to channel Edward Gorey, and doing it very badly. My second attempt was just as bad, and bordered on creepy.

I junked them, and left a blank piece of paper sit on my desk, taunting me.

Get this done, Julie! I thought for weeks.

Finally, last night, I picked up a pen and decided I'd just start scribbling and sketching and do as many of these "practice bookplates" as I needed to loosen up. I figured that once I got rid of the "I must do a perfect job" I'd stop being so tight and over-controlled with my drawing.

The result? I used one of those "practice" sketches. Sometimes thinking of something as just a warm-up lesson is all it takes to get past some weird art blockage. Hard to explain.

Anyway, I hope Todd likes his bookplate.

Links:

• 2007 Bookplate Contest
• Todd's Blog entry on winning
  

Labels: bookplates, contests

Copyright (c) Julie R. Neidlinger      12/20/2007 11:58:00 PM      (1) comments      Links to this post    

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