Kindle Store

When I spoke with Andrea Hazard, the woman I had interviewed before the start of this project, she had told me that I would be able to sell the book on Kindle and make 100% profit.
I wanted to look into this, and what I found was:
-it would cost 99$ to publish a book on the Kindle Store
-eBook will help me to convert a word document or book into a PDF or HTML etc.
-the book and profit is 100% yours, ZERO cut sales.

Where are the People of Color in Children's books?

My mentor suggested this article written by Walter Dean Myers, called Where are the People of Color in Children's books? When she told me the title I was excited to read it, because even though I am really white looking, I'm Mexican and have been interested in this. Myers gave the incredible fact that out of the 3,200 childeren's books written in the year 2013, only 93 featured people of color. Myers mentions as he was growing up as he saw only white kids in his books, he wasn't able to humanize them, they didn't feel real and the lives of white people were not meant for the lives of people of color.
I found this article to be very helpful, because the book that I am illustrating is featuring a kid of latin american culture.

Falling behind, and Catching up

This week has been rough, with family drama and catching up, I haven't been able to blog and work on my project as much as I had hoped. At my mentor meeting we planned this productive week and I feel bad I couldn't keep up. I've realized in stressful situations I tend to fall behind on work and I've decided to not let that happen this week. So this weekend I'll catch up completely. Tonight I plan on at least finding this article my mentor had brought up to me so we have things to discuss tomorrow. This weekend I'll have 8 sketches done and the research on the Kindle Store, I will share this with my blog.

Thursaday Class 3-20-14

-I spent about 4 hours so far on my WISE project. not including my mentor meeting and the weekend on the way.
-Hands on, iv'e been working on my sketches, I have 3 done and I'm working on two right now.
-I met with my mentor on Friday but we didn't talk long considering we had already spoken on Tuesday to make up for the cancellation before.
-I have 9 right now and after my mentor meeting I will have 10 then on Sunday I will blog specifically on my project and how my sketches are coming along.
-Yes, we watched Barnsong, a documentary made by a WISE student, about another WISE student's project. We were also given past WISE projects like our own to evaluate/ comment on.
-Next week ill have about 6 to 8 pages done and will be completely caught up on my journals.

Commenting on blogs

Vinny and Feeney both have very different projects and very different ways of journaling. I don't know anything about either of their projects, so they did a good job in breaking it down in a way that someone like me can understand. After seeing both of their blogs, it made me want to add pictures in my next entry!

Barnsong

What I liked most about viewing this, was that it was two projects in one. The whole time I was watching Austin cut down trees and do all this manuel labor, I was like "oh jeez thats a lot of work and in such weird hours of the day" but then I thought, "wait the camera man would have to be with him through out the whole experience." Another thing that caught my attention that has brought a new view on the WISE project process is when he said "Everything takes longer than you think." Because so far even just a few weeks in, I have noticed this to be true. Also things don't always turn up the way you want them to, like when the trees didn't fall the right way and he had to bring out the tractor to help take it down. The camera man would have to have a lot of patience, and I really liked how he used other students to write songs or sing or play an instrument through the video, it was a team effort in both projects.

Sitting down with the Author

I met with the author of my book and discussed how he wanted the illustrations to be done. He's a family friend and is really easy to talk to, which made the experience fun. We went page by page, splitting the story up and discussing how he envisioned the illustrations in his head. We discussed the process a little and he gave me a lot of free reign. Which can make things complicated or a lot of fun, he and I made REALLY rough sketches of each page. He gave me a reference book, so I can see how detailed he wants the art work. The book is The Salmon Princess by Mindy Dwyer, it's quite simple so I don't thing it will take me too long. I'm trying to get 3 sketches done per week so far I have 3.

3-13-14 Thursday Class
-So far this week I have spent a total of 5 hours on my WISE project, not yet counting my time I will spend journaling. I also got some extra time with that half day we so graciously received yesterday.
-Last week on Friday was supposed to be my first mentor meeting, but Ms. McCormick had to cancel due to a last minute meeting. So I had my meeting on Tuesday, and will have another this Friday, the meeting was very helpful, I got the chance to explain my project, and she asked a lot of really useful questions. One point that she brought up was that when I do decide to journal on my process of illustrating, to make it understandable to people liker her, who don't go through that process normally.
- I had my meeting with John Norman the author on Sunday which was very helpful, we reviewed notes and created very rough sketches of each page. We discussed style and he even gave me a reference book.
-My WISE fulfillment this week was good, I got a lot of the foundation done that I needed in order to really start the work of this project.
-By the end of this week I plan on having 2 page sketches done.

3-6-14 Thursday Class
-This week I have spent about 4 hours working on my WISE project. Before I can finish the 8 hour minimum I would have to talk to the author of the book John Norman which is arranged for Sunday March 9th at 3:00pm. So far I have taken notes on how I think the book should look and when we meet we can compare and compromise.
-Before I can make the storyboard I need to make sketches on each page, which I still need to figure out after my meeting with John.
-I have not yet met with my mentor, she is a woman I have not yet had a conversation with, but I have high hopes.
-Journaling is a interesting process for me, I have a lot of notes written down but I have yet to transcribe them into journals.
-In class this week we received a packet on how we can keep our journals interesting for readers. We also got into small groups with people we don't normally talk with, in order to talk and learn about other's projects.
-My WISE class fulfillment this week was adequate, I was exited on Tuesday 3-4-14. As far as my project is concerned I worked on what I could without the guidelines I needed from the author.
-Next week once I have had my meeting with my author, I can begin the actual process and research of my project.