sketches and hour novels

So my Brother and his Wife wanted me to take some of my sketchbook stuff and color it in for their kid's room. I went through my old sketchbooks books, expecting a lot more fairies and dragons than there actually were, but found some animals that I felt like posting











So I think I'll find the ones from this that are more 'cute' since the girls are younger than 5...I think the boy might like the tigers.

Other than that, I found this link through David Farlands 'kick in the pants' on how to outline a novel in an hour. It's an interesting excercise because it makes you really get to the piont, which is something I forget about because I love to draw out a character and really get to know it. Which is a problem in children's books because they are how many words? Oh yeah--maaaybe up to a paragraph a page. Anyways, while this is probably not helpful for most K-3 books, when you get to the novelettes, I can see this coming in handy.

I'm planning to put my Zshiki story in a novelette, I just have to um...narrow that honey down. And then stop lamenting the fact that it will be black and white spots instead of full color illustrations. Man, I wish I could fit that story into a picture book...but there's just no way. Well there is a way...there's just no content once its done and I am not satisfied.

but try this because its sort of fun.
http://www.yorkwriters.com/2009/02/sketch-novel-in-hour-exercise.html