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Hi Joel, Glad to hear that other people experience these little fits of artwork angst, too! You're not alone. And how many times have you heard "Oh, it must be wonderful just to get to draw all day. It must be so relaxing"? I don't know if these will address the specific source of frustration and whether this is all stuff you've already tried, but here are a couple of thoughts: The first thing might be to create a storyboard which follows your friend's text and helps you plan what, where, and when you want to have an illustration. Stick figures will work just fine at this point. Decide first which passages need pictorial emphasis and then create transitions to and from them. This can help you figure out how many drawings you need to do, how much detail to put into each (cuz some will need more than others), and will give you a feel for the "timing". I don't know whether the entire book will be illustrated frame by frame or if your illustrations will serve as rim-shots to the text, but those are the kinds of issues the storyboard can help you resolve. Second, if you have any characters which are repeated throughout the story, spend some time developing them. Draw them in different poses and from different angles. Get to know them. The time spent can really pay off. A friend of mine turned me on to the cartoonist Alex Toth's website. These cartoons are definitely not for small children and have nothing to do with scientific illustration. In fact, there's lots of super-hero stuff and I can't vouch for the tastefulness of everything on the site, as I haven't looked at it that extensively (my disclaimer). But the guy is a master of his medium: he's obviously very comfortable drawing the human figure and has an excellent sense of composition. Check out his site for compositional ideas if nothing else. http://www.tothfans.com/ I'm a firm believer that one can learn useful stuff from a wide range of sources, even super-hero cartoons. Another cartoonist to check out (with a slightly more natural history bent) is Walt Kelly and his great, beloved strip "Pogo". I don't have a website handy but I'm sure there's stuff out there. If you're not familiar with the strip, it featured funny but well drawn animal characters (Pogo the Possum, Churchy the Terrapin, Albert Alligator, etc.) and featured Kelly's dry wit. Classic stuff! Definitely something to emulate. Hope some of this helps. Most of all, try to have fun with it! Amelia >Hello everyone, > >I've agreed (begrudgingly) to illustrating a children's book for a friend >of mine. It's been so long since I've done any cartooning and was >wondering if anyone would have any suggestions or could direct me to some >helpful reference material. I've been staring at blank illustration board >or throwing it across the room in fits of anger since I attempted to >begin. I'm near the end of my rope. Thanks for any assistance or advice >(other than I shouldn't have agreed to do it). > >Joel > > >This email has been scanned for all viruses by the >E.U.P. Telecommunications Consortium Internet service. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Amelia Hansen Corvus Art, Natural History Illustration PO Box 19434 Kalamazoo, MI 49019 (269) 353-2052 http://www.corvus-art.com