The First Print of My New Curriculum Arrived

Today via fedex two copies of my new 154 page Jump VBS curriculum in print arrived. You can check my other post with more photos by clicking the following link. http://crosserslife.blogspot.com/2011/06/first-print-of-my-new-curriculum.html

My Books - New Page!

Using Blogger's new tools, I created a page for some of my books listed.  It shows where you can buy them and "like" them on Facebook!  On the blog, you can click the link at the top that says "Books" or follow this link - http://mattsketchpad.blogspot.com/p/books.html.

New Book - The Weed

About two weeks ago, I came up with another idea for a book. This one seemed to fly out. It was short and in black & white. It's called, The Weed. It is up and ready to buy at Lulu. You can check it out at the following links below.

Paperback - http://www.lulu.com/content/4073311

Hardback - http://www.lulu.com/content/4087029

Of course, Jack the Pumpkin Head is also available for purchase and it can be found here:

Paperback - http://www.lulu.com/content/3990650

Both books are available as digital downloads if you want them now and in digital format.

And now, back to the drawing board.

Art & Fear

So I have laid aside the book I have been reading, Animating Culture. It is a bit too academic, but I will finish it eventually. I think it was actually written as a textbook so the academic part is understandable. That's not why I put it down for now though. I got as a gift this week a book I have been wanting for about a year. It is called "Art & Fear". I read an interview with Glen Keane, a disney animator whom I admire greatly in the field of art. Glen had suggested that every artist should read this book, and I am already starting to understand why.

Here are a couple of excerpts:

"Operating Manual For Not Quitting...

A. Make friends with others who make art, and share your in-progress work with each other frequently.

B. Learn to think of [A], rather than the Museum of Modern Art, as the destination of your work. (Look at it this way: If all goes well, MOMA will eventually come to you.)"

"Art is a high calling - fears are coincidental. Coincidental, sneaky and disruptive, we might add, disguising themselves variously as laziness, resistance to deadlines, irritation with materials or surroundings, distraction over the achievement of others - indeed as anything that keeps you from giving your work your best shot. What separates artists from ex-artists is that those who challenge their fears, continue; those who don't quit."

And then this great excerpt about vision...

"After a few months' practice, David (Bayles) lamented to his teacher, "But I can hear the music so much better in my head than I can get out of my fingers." To which the Master replied, "What makes you think that ever changes?" That's why they're called Masters....Lesson for the day: vision is always ahead of execution - and it should be."

It is all great stuff, which I think applies to other realms of expertise, such as missions, home-making, leadership, etc.....

I look forward to finishing it, but don't want to for fear of it being the end of the material. I guess if it is that good, I can just read it once more.

What I Am Reading

Ok, I finished the book titled, "The Complete Animation Course." It was good, but towards the end it was focusing on Computer 3D animation which I am not into doing. I like it, I just haven't been interested in that medium.

So, now I am reading another book called "Animating Culture". It is all about the sociological impact of cartoons on society and of society on cartoons. I just started it, but it looks good so far.

Fat Baby Preliminary Artwork

Soon, I will be posting some preliminary artwork for my children's book Fat Baby.

Fat Baby is Published!

So after three years of work, the children's book Fat Baby is done and available on lulu.com. You can purchase it for for download or buy a copy that is shipped directly to you. If you do purchase one, I would love to hear your feedback. Post here or at lulu.com on Fat Baby's page.
This book was a collaboration between myself and friend, Milton Hendricks.

Fat Baby: Coming Soon

I just finished and uploaded my second book to www.lulu.com. It is called "Fat Baby" and it is a collaborative work with Milton Hendricks. Milton is a friend of mine, who also serves as half of our Forwarding Agent staff for our mission to Italy. His wife, Elizabeth, is the other half. It is a book that we have been working on for three years. So it is nice to have it finished and published. It should be available for print or download within the next week or so, I will post when it happens. Soon I will be posting some of the production work in pencils, ink, etc... for the book as I went along.