Really Very Excellent

Yesterday, my former boss asked how I was doing, and I said “Really very excellent!” She laughed and said she didn’t think ANYBODY had ever answered that question that way. I laughed too, because it was true – probably because I was talking to a FORMER boss and now I’m my OWN boss, but honestly, life is really very excellent right now.

 

One major reason is that Alphabet Adventures is now PUBLISHED and available to purchase!

 

 

There are two ways to buy: Amazon (click here) or through my website. As usual, you can order the book through my website at list price plus $3.00 shipping, and I will personally sign the inside cover and mail to you! Just please be sure to shoot me an email and let me know who to sign the book to, and I’ll be happy to draw a little personalized illustration.

 

 

This book is jam-packed full of clever poems for each letter of the alphabet. It’s perfect for a little kiddo just learning the ABCs, or for an older kid who will love searching for the hidden letters and finding all the easter eggs I hid within my illustrations 😉

 

 

I am VERY happy with how the book turned out, and as usual, Beaver’s Pond Press was wonderful to work with. Illustration is an interesting profession because as I continue to produce books, I can visually see my work getting better. There are still areas I’d like to improve upon, but overall it’s satisfying to see my work becoming more professional and polished.

 

Illustration is also a strange profession because I produced all these paintings over a year ago, and only NOW can people see what I was working on during 2016-17. On the other hand, I’m now working on “Fly Into the Boonies,” and it’s totally taking over my life, but I can’t show anybody my progress. You’ll see that one in 2019! So it always feels a little retroactive, but that’s just how the industry works.

 

 

So….I gotta admit, I really haven’t blogged in awhile, and I’ll tell you why: I had a rough patch, professionally, a few months ago. My last post was super hyped up because I was hoping to get that “Walter the Wiley Walleye” book, and I’d submitted a banner for the SCBWI contest. I was pumped about the banner because it was the first time I’d tried a limited color palette, and I really felt it elevated my work to a new level. I was also really pumped about my character study for the walleye, because he was DAMN CUTE.

 

But…I didn’t win the contest or get the book – the author chose someone with experience creating websites and business cards, to help build his brand as a whole. And I didn’t exactly want to write a blog post about failure or continue working…AT ALL.  Actually, I felt depressed and lackluster for a couple weeks. It’s definitely easy to hate on your work when you aren’t landing jobs.

 

 

But then on a whim, I contacted Mr. Walleye again, since he’d really loved my work overall. It turns out, he’d written a second children’s book about a family flying into the Canadian wilderness via seaplane for a fishing excursion, and he wanted me to illustrate it! I read the manuscript and the story was ADORABLE. Tons of overhead, aerial shots from the plane of wildlife below, views around the campfire of s’more roasting, fishing in boats, shore lunch, and overall adorable-ness. Honestly…a bit more appealing that 32 pages of walleyes and other Minnesota fish swimming around (have you been in a Minnesota lake?? It’s cloudy!! It wouldn’t exactly look like Finding Nemo…)

 

So since that moment, I’ve been very hard at work on “Fly in to the Boonies,” by Bob Allen, to be published by Beaver’s Pond Press. I’ve actually already received approval on the storyboard and rough sketches, and now I’m very busy using my Cintiq to refine and add detail to those final sketches before moving on to painting. This book is HIGHLY detailed with tons of wildlife/trees, animals, and four characters in the family.

I’ve also had to learn a lot about seaplanes and fly-in outposts, a world I never even knew existed. Camping? Yes. Flying in via plane to a secluded outpost in the middle of Northern Ontario? Uhh…I can easily say this will be the most awesome, adventurous book I’ve ever illustrated, and I am super excited about the whole project. It’s also very challenging for me as an illustrator because I’m really flexing my creative muscles as I create these detailed landscapes and really nail down my style as far as rendering human figures. Follow me on Instagram (Nukacolarolla) for occasional sneak peeks!  (But also, be prepared to see me rollerskating and doing headstands…lots and lots of headstands.)

I’ve had other random projects going on – I was commissioned to create comic panels for a market research company!

 

 

This was the first time I’ve EVER had a paying job for comic art. Basically, this market research company had clients from various companies that would stand in the grocery stores with them and observe their interviews. But they needed to be on “good behavior,” so they created a document of “Do this, not that” so they were dressed appropriately and not blocking the aisles! This was a pretty fast project for me, and a fun challenge to problem solve the “Do this, not that” statements. It actually reminded me how much I love comic art, and now my mind is churning away with various graphic novel ideas for when “The Boonies” is complete!  The rest of these comics can be viewed on my B&W Comics page. 

 

 

Besides Alphabet Adventures, Boonies, and the market research project, I’ve also been contacted to create a few movie posters for a local documentary film maker! Those projects are very hush-hush, but let’s just say they involve roller skating and llamas….More to be revealed at a later date 😉

 

And personal friends and family are always welcome to approach me for commissions – I recently created some succulent prints for my friend Jessica:

 

 

And another friend has commissioned a Velveteen Rabbit illustration. Meanwhile, my brother wants me to paint the Minneapolis skyline in his bathroom. Hah! Why not? I’m my own boss now, and life is really very excellent!