Tuesday, January 02, 2007

At long last. It is done. That secret project that Kim and I have been working on is finally done. I wrote a story for my little niece that was born way back in March. I had started it even before that, hoping to get it done as a present to congratulate her for being born. I didn't get it done on time, and since I had my baby shortly after, the project has drawn on and on until now 9 months later it is finished.

This is how it all went down. I wrote the story, Kim amended it a bunch and other people made a few suggestions. (Dan, my husband, wouldn't even read the whole thing, because he is too manly, so he doesn't get any credit for it's content, but he does get a big Thank You for keeping our baby happy while I was working on it.) Then I illustrated it and scanned all the pictures into the computer and arranged them with the proper words from the story. Then I had Kim and the great and notorious Sha'Niqua make some final changes to the text. After that I was ready to print and bind the book. I would have just stapled it all together and called it good, but luckily Kim's expertise stepped in and we were able to do it right with real book binding materials. So now it looks like a real book, (one of these days when the battery in our camera is charged I'll get a shot of the finished product).

Here are some of my favorite pages. The story doesn't even mention a dragon, but I tend to like to include dragons in just about everything I do, so the fairy is riding on a water dragon across a pond chasing a Wish.





And in this picture the fairy is pulling an earthworm out of the ground, this isn't especially my favorite picture, but I like the fact that the dirt around the worm, isn't neccesarily dirt, it's worm poo. Hooray! I also think it's funny that when people see this picture they ask whether she is putting the worm in the ground or taking it out. What do you think?
On Christmas day I was very happy to finally be able to hand the present over to my little niece who I think would rather eat it than read it. She has the only signed copy of it in the whole world. That should make it worth millions! Unfortunately since we accidently bound a few pages out of order it's worth was diminished and it's value is really only a good read and a bit of attention for me!

3 comments:

bug girl said...

It really is a very cute book. If any of you are in town feel free to read it. That includes the manly men, you can read it too.

The Bec-ster said...

that is very cool. I love the little fairy riding on the dragon.

I think she is pulling the worm out not putting it in.

Sha'Niqua said...

It was my supreme honor to be able to read the version early. I hope that someday when PBS makes a documentary on you and your artistic genius, I may be mentioned as "support staff." I'm glad it was enjoyed!