Portfolio Critique, French Bulldog Sketches

April 25, 2008September 10, 2019 / still a dreamer / 12 Comments

At the end of my workday, I decided to tool around some web sites and be inspired by other artists’ and illustrators’ work. This coming Monday I’ll be attending my first Illustrators’ Conference ever. I am truly excited.

I’m looking forward to having my current portfolio reviewed, and receiving advice as to how to properly make it a children’s book illustration portfolio. Also, to hear what art directors and agents have to say about the current market, what they’re looking for, how to get there, etc.

So then, after looking at these fabulous web sites, I’m wondering why I don’t have more of my own latest work on my own web site and/or blog. OK – one reason? The shoemaker’s kids are always the last to get shoes. I do everyone else’s work most days and am really over by the end of the long days. Other days, I focus more on my writing. Additions to my blog are more often on the writing side of my talent. Time to present myself more as the artist I am! So ….

Below are 3 recent French Bulldog sketches, featuring the subject matter of much of my artwork … Frenchies. You can also buy a great assortment of French Bulldog cards and prints on my web site, with new items added periodically. Just click the link and look!

I particularly was looking to do images of the faces resting on the floor so you could see how those little jowls spread out and how sweet they looked.

Some of my French Bulldog sketches are in preparation for illustrating one or more of my current children’s book stories which feature Frenchies as characters.

Other times they are in preparation of my artwork which is featured quarterly in Just Frenchies magazine. Hope you enjoy these little munchkins.

Find French Bulldog cards and art here.

Please note: All illustrations, drawings and photographs on this site are © Jeanne Balsam and may not be reproduced in any format without written permission. Thank you!

Book Meme Tag

April 18, 2008April 18, 2008 / still a dreamer / 4 Comments

Ahhh – that Sheri – tagged me again! Problem is – I still don’t know anyone who has a blog!

But I’m going for it and I have an idea … here’s what Sheri’s site says –

To play blogger tag, here’s what you have to do.

Grab the nearest book.
Open to page 123.
Find the fifth sentence.
Post the next three sentences.
Tag five people and post a comment to Sheri once you’ve posted your 3 sentences.

I’m in my office so chose something from a bookcase downstairs. It’s from a short story, “The Little Room”, written by Madelene Yale-Wynne in 1895. The story is from a favorite collection of mine called “Haunted Women.”

5th Sentence: “I know you will like Hiram, Roger; he is quite a character in his own way.”

Next 3: “Mamma said she remembered, or thought she remembered, having been sick once, and she had to lie quietly for some days on the lounge; then was the time she had become so familiar with everything in the room, and she had been allowed to have the shell to play with all the time. She had had her toast brought to her in there, with make-believe tea. It was one of her pleasant memories of childhood; it was the first time she had been of any importance to anybody, even herself.”

Now since I am not in the larger blogging community, what I can do is e-mail 5 people who write, (but have no blogs), and ask them to add to my site if inspired. And we’ll see what we see!

What the WGA Strike Did For Me

February 7, 2008February 7, 2008 / still a dreamer / 2 Comments

In 6 words? It gave me my evenings back!

I don’t suppose I’m terribly different from anyone else when I say after working an average 10+ hour day, having something to eat and feeding the small fry, all I really want to do is relax for a little while. It’s not unusual for me to catch a couple hours TV before hitting the sack if I’m not elsewhere for the evening. I’m not a TV addict at all, but I do enjoy some well done shows a few nights a week. Not too much to ask, right?

And then came the writers’ strike. OK, for awhile some of the shows still had some episodes in the can to play out, and then it just flat out came to Repeats. I’d check online to see if anything good might be on on a given night … more Repeats. Hey, this was getting boring.

Next thing I know, I was picking up that novel I was usually reading at 10:30 or 11 pm at 8 pm. I was doing the artwork I thought I was too tired to do curled up on the couch away from my work desk. I threw in some laundry; cooked something a little more involved. Hey! I remember this! It used to be my life! What’s most amazing is that I really didn’t think I had this energy in the evening until someone took away my quiet, drool time in front of the TV.

I hear that the strike is in the process of being resolved. Figures. Just when I was starting to enjoy it.

The Shipping News

September 25, 2007October 27, 2009 / still a dreamer

ShippingNews Reading the book after I’ve seen the movie is a rarity for me. Usually, like many people I know who still love to read, I read the book first, and if a movie is made, go see it if I feel a decent interpretation might be made or if actors are in it who could carry the author’s characters. And usually, like many people I know who still love to read, I am disappointed in the movie.

In the case of `The Shipping News’ by Annie Proulx, I loved the movie and it did what every movie ought for me – filled my head with wonderful images and left me with a memorable tale – of redemption and the overcoming of a painful life … a great journey for a broken soul set against a backdrop of a rich but harsh country. Having seen the movie, I didn’t know what to expect from the book.

First, Annie Proulx has done her homework – she truly researched the culture of Newfoundland, where most of the story takes place. Her descriptions soon have your imagination spinning. But what initially set me off was her writing style … terse, incomplete sentences, often almost like commentary. It made it a bit more difficult for me to connect. But the more I read, the more it seemed that she was writing as a Newfoundlander, and indeed her style is like the speech of its residents. Soon, it drew me in and had me feeling one with this brusque language.

What I now find most impressive – and I’ve not finished the book yet – is that Ms. Proulx has successfully made me forget everything in the movie and live in her story … no small feat. Only Kevin Spacey, who played Quoyle, remains, and that is because I find him a phenomenal actor. But even there, he is better looking than her character, being neither as heavy nor having as enlarged a chin. More and more, as I read, I’m seeing the author’s beleaguered hero of `The Shipping News’.

If you enjoy a good novel with some meat on its bones, pick it up. If Annie Proulx’s style is off-putting at first, I’d recommend pushing on through it – you’ll soon be engrossed. And I love reading a book that I can’t wait to get back to.

p.s. Having finished reading the book, I again went back to see the movie … and in this case, I found one enriched the other, something rather unusual.