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Let me tell you about our little dog, Windry. She is something else!
From the moment we got her, she challenged and delighted us. She is a beauty from all angles. I wanted to capture her bold personality and stunning looks in a book for my son, but just knew I had to share her with the rest of the world.
The idea for a book about her started simmering in my mind when Cesar Millan, the Dog Whisperer, was popular. I have his books and followed his teaching, but I did everything wrong. She, or I, was the poster child for what Cesar says shouldn't happen. She liked to challenge everything we said (a trait Shiba Inu's are known for). The more calm and assertive I tried to be, the more she did the opposite. She definitely had her own ideas for who is the boss and how things should be, and she made that known. I liked to imagine what SHE was thinking in those instances and that is how the idea of this book came to be.
Personally, she was a learning experience for me to draw and paint. From a drawing perspective, she was difficult because where the shadows fell on her, and should be darker, she was lighter in color, and where the color wraps the form and usually is grayer, then she was warmer and oranger in color. It took me awhile to figure her out a formula for her. I love this brown sketch paper and thought it was perfect to enhance her coloring, and have her emerge from the paper.
I love this little girl so much and am so grateful for her company. She is currently fifteen years old and nearing the end, so I wanted to make sure to capture her spirit on paper. I have other books planned in this series, and hopefully she can continue to entertain us all, long after she has left this Earth.
From the moment we got her, she challenged and delighted us. She is a beauty from all angles. I wanted to capture her bold personality and stunning looks in a book for my son, but just knew I had to share her with the rest of the world.
The idea for a book about her started simmering in my mind when Cesar Millan, the Dog Whisperer, was popular. I have his books and followed his teaching, but I did everything wrong. She, or I, was the poster child for what Cesar says shouldn't happen. She liked to challenge everything we said (a trait Shiba Inu's are known for). The more calm and assertive I tried to be, the more she did the opposite. She definitely had her own ideas for who is the boss and how things should be, and she made that known. I liked to imagine what SHE was thinking in those instances and that is how the idea of this book came to be.
Personally, she was a learning experience for me to draw and paint. From a drawing perspective, she was difficult because where the shadows fell on her, and should be darker, she was lighter in color, and where the color wraps the form and usually is grayer, then she was warmer and oranger in color. It took me awhile to figure her out a formula for her. I love this brown sketch paper and thought it was perfect to enhance her coloring, and have her emerge from the paper.
I love this little girl so much and am so grateful for her company. She is currently fifteen years old and nearing the end, so I wanted to make sure to capture her spirit on paper. I have other books planned in this series, and hopefully she can continue to entertain us all, long after she has left this Earth.
I created the illustrations in two different mediums to show the contrast between what is happening, to what we imagine Windry is thinking. For the drawings, I used Prismacolor Premiere Colored Pencils on Bee Company Brown Recycled Sketchbook paper. The paintings were done with gouache on Arches Watercolour Paper.
This is my first book in which I both wrote and illustrated. I have other books published which I illustrated but this is the first in which I wrote, drew, painted, and layed-out the design and type . . . everything. It's my baby! Since it is self-published, if I can recover the cost to produce this first one, that will go toward the cost of printing the second in the series, then third, and so on.
This is my first book in which I both wrote and illustrated. I have other books published which I illustrated but this is the first in which I wrote, drew, painted, and layed-out the design and type . . . everything. It's my baby! Since it is self-published, if I can recover the cost to produce this first one, that will go toward the cost of printing the second in the series, then third, and so on.
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