I used to tell my kids stories when they were little.  I made them up.  When they got older and realized those stories weren’t from books, they encouraged me to write them down.

I finally did, then had the great idea that I would illustrate them as well.  A word to the wise–you can never really know how difficult something is, like writing a child’s book, or heaven forbid attempting to illustrate it, until you try it yourself.

Maybe for some, you know, those with real writing or artistic talent, this wouldn’t be such an exercise in frustration.  But I have found that the best way to be forced to acknowledge how limited my abilities are is to test them.

Case in point: the artwork I’ve been blundering through for the first of my stories I’m trying to illustrate.  The story is called “The Big Mean Cat”, so of course the protagonist has to look big.  And mean.  And be identifiable as a cat.

The hardest part has been the expression.  I have piles of paper on my table–failed attempts at drawing a big mean cat.  The reasons for these fails vary–doesn’t look like a cat, doesn’t look like a big cat, looks too mean, doesn’t look mean enough, looks sad enough to make little kids cry.

Another hurdle is the medium I’ve chosen to use–colored pencils.  I’m finding them hard to blend, hard to manage as far as keeping colors light…but I’m learning.  Slowly.

Life got really busy, and I had to give up my bad cat drawing for several weeks.  Things finally settled down, and a few days ago I resumed my efforts.  I hoped that taking a break would somehow help.

After several attempts, below is what I came up with. The drawing is rough, and colored in chalk pastels–not a finished version.  But I think I might be getting closer to mean (but not too mean), big, and reasonably identifiable as a feline.

I’m going to set it aside for a day or two and focus on other creative pursuits.  I’m hoping that when I look at it again, I see something good enough to create a story’s worth of pictures around.

We’ll see–I’ll keep you posted.