Rejection is a B word

Well, as you can tell, I got back my first rejection letter. The first of a possible five. It hurts like hell. Hell, I say.

I don't want it to be a reflection of my talent, because know that it is not. However, you can't help be feel a little hurt by any type of rejection. And I've been receiving these type of form letters, rejections, since I was seventeen. Yes, it was at the age of seventeen that I started trying to do something with my artistic talent that would be fun and hopefully profitable.

Now here I am, about to be 43 years old and still receiving rejection letters. It's almost enough to break your spirits. Seriously. And although my spirits have yet to be broken, it does absolutely nothing for my confidence.

What I have never understood is why is it that my paintings and such are so popular and my comics are not. It just backwards that the talent that I have no interest in exploiting is excepted and the talent that I wish to exploit no one seems to be interested in.

Still, it's just one rejection letter. I guess I shouldn't let it weigh so heavily on me, but it does.

Hell, these places gets hundreds of submissions a week. I don't understand how they could have even reviewed mine. It makes you wonder if they just attached a rejection letter and put it into the SASE I provided.

BASTARDS!

lol

E.W. Forge

Sucks to be average.

(Yet another discarded, original, illustration from my Children's book).

Can I just say that the worst part of creating any cartoon image for me is the inking. I suck at it and I don't find it to be interesting at all. I believe the trick of a good inkier is to take the pencil drawing and elevate it to another level. Taking what the artist did and giving it that extra pop. To me I always feel like I am just tracing something that I already did. So there is no sense of wonder or creation. I wish I had the inking skills where I could just know when to make a like bold and when to make a line thin, but it's just not a skill I possess. To be honest with you, the coloring aspect is not really a skill I have either, however can fact that. After all....I am an artist. :)

As a side bar, today I got my proposals together for four different publications. However, by the time I took them to the nearest post office, it was closed. Sucks, right? I mean, I could have taken them to the main post office, but I figured that they still wouldn't go out until Monday, so why not wait? Besides, the truth is, it can take anywhere from six to nine months to hear back from these place. (It's like trying to get my comics syndicated all over again. And I could wall paper at least one wall of my bedroom with those rejection letters.)

E.W. Forge

Getting it all together

Okay, this is one of the illustrations that I actually hope to use for the book itself. It is also one of the three illustrations that I plan on mailing of to my publishing hopefuls. I got to tell you that I went back and forth with this picture and it actually almost did not make the cut. I had actually made the decision to cut it for the one with Littlephont putting on his pants, but got talked out of it. In the long run I think I made the right decision.

Why was I originally going to scrap this one? Well, mainly because I could not get the prospective right, as it related to our main character sitting up in bed. But I think it turned out okay in the end.

************

Today, I went out and spent a boat load of money on supplies and copies so I could put my best foot forward when I got ready to send out my proposals. I bought printer ink, bonded paper, mailing envelops, labels and went back and forth trying to get my illustrations to copy down to a size that would match every other piece of paper that I was sending out. Printing ain't cheap, but a brother's gotta do what a brother's gotta do, right?

Right.

E.W.Forge

Here we go again.

This is another one of the original illustrations for the book. It is a bath tub scene, duh. It a simple enough, cute little piece but I had to step it up a notch. This is one of the few originals that I did not change all that much. However, make no mistake about it, I did change it.

Anyway, on to the good news. I have found three potential publishers that I plan on sending my Children's book proposal too. I'm never and excited all at the same time. Why nerve you ask? Because, rejection sucks. And trust me when I tell you I know what rejection feels like. I've been getting rejected since I was eighteen. That's right. "Eighteen". That's around the time I started trying to get my comic strip posted. (Still hasn't happened.)

Anyway, wish me look. I plan on going to Staples and making copies, buying a better grade of paper for my letters, envelopes, etc.

E.W. Forge

Publication is hard!

Publication is hard! Okay, technically I've only started looking this week, but still.

Friday, April 15, 2011, I went to the Dallas Public Library and checked out the above books. Sadly, there are so many publishers that do not accept unsolicited bodies of work. I understand, but damn. I was hoping not to have to look for an agent, but I might end up going that route. Either that or Self-publication. Don't get me wrong. I'm not down on agents, it's just that I sure would like that 15% percent or so to go to some kid's charity. That is my wish anyway. I will still give a percentage of the book to a charity, because that has been on my heart since I decided to do this, but once again. "Damn." lol

Know what else sucks? It sucks that there are a bunch of contest for writers and illustrators but I waited to late in the year to be illegible.

Whatever, I refuse to give up. I can make this happen. I will do the work. I will pray about it. And this will happen. This is my calling. I know it. I've always know it. I just have to put my whole heart, my full head and half...no, no, full @$$ into it. lol

Stay tuned.

E.W.Forge

Moping like my character

Another discarded illustration from the book. I actually like this image, but I decided to go with one that did a better job of showing him moping then this one. Yes, I know it's hard to believe, but it's true.

Anyway, I'm not very happy. Know what I learnt today? Today, well yesterday actually, I learned that finding a publisher that takes unsolicited works from unknown writers is harder then I once imaged. So, it looks like I jumped the gun when I ended my diner date with my girls to go to Staples and make all those expensive a$$ copies. Now, I know I need to focus on finding at least three established publishers to send my work off to.

I think I'll make a journey to the library tomorrow (today), after my hair cut and see what I can find out.

Today I had dinner with two of my greatest friends. Notice I said "greatest" not "best". That is because great surpasses best. I have know these two ladies since I was eighteen years old. EIGHTEEN! We have worked together. Cried together. Shared most of out biggest experiences together. Heck, I think they have shared all of the biggest moments in my life with me. I don't think there is a single thing about me that these two ladies don't know. They know more about me then my family. So, is there any wonder why I would share with them all of the illustrations, the dummy book and the the premise of the book (plus my idea for a sequel).

Of course that is not all we talked about, but it was a big part of it.

Above you see yet another drawing that was discarded from the book. It was cute but I found a better vantage point for it. (Vantage point. Did I use that correctly?)

E.W. Forge

Littlephont

This is the second reincarnation of Littlephont. This is actually the first new drawing for the book. As you can see, Littlephont looks monstrous. Now he has all of the basic elements of what I wanted in the first drawing, but with more exaggeration then the one you see in the first post of the character. I wanted him to have of a cartoon look. I also wanted him to be a little homely. Homely cute, not homely ugly. This one came out homely ugly. As I drew more of the illustrations he just naturally came together. Below is more refined and permanent.This is what Littlephont looks like now. Ain't he a cute little ugly joker. This was initially the first page illustration of the book, but I has since been illuminated for one that told the story a little better.

Quickly, the story of Littlephont's name. He was just named the Sunday before last. It occurred when I was proofing one of the lady's resume and I was telling her that she should use a 'little font". I then jokingly told her that would be a nice name for a little boy; Littlefont. She told me that I should make that the name of the character of my book. I told her that my character didn't have a name. Then I decide that it was a pretty good name and the rest is history. So, although the name is not used in the book, if you ask me his name I will tell you it is Littlephont.

E.W. Forge

Judging a cover by it's illustrator.

In 2009 I created and wrote a children's book. This was not the first concept for a children's book that I had ever conceived; in truth I have had many. However, it is the first that I believed would be easier to bring to fruition. The premise is simple, the story cute and, if all goes according to plan, both parent and child might even learn something at the end. How could it miss?

In August of 2010, while on vacation I worked on the illustrations for the book and told myself that I would have all of them completed before December so that I could start sending it off to publishers. Above is one of the actual original concept drawing for the cover page of the book, featuring the primary character. It was drawn with pencil and colored with Primacolors. As you can see, it is unfinished. That is because I am one of the great procrastinators of our time.

Still, I'm kind of glad that I did not finish the illustrations while on vacation. Wanna know why? Because, If I am honest with myself, although cute, those illustrations were lackluster and probably did not contain my best efforts. Plus, I truly was not ready to submit to a publisher. At the time I was not clear on all that goes into making a children's book. I hadn't taken the time to educate myself completely on the process.

Now, although not a pro by any means of the definition, I believe I now know what it takes to get my story published. I now know how many pages a typical children's book contains. I have all of my illustrations penciled. I have completed the *dummy book. I have completed three colored originals and I think I have refined my manuscript and cover letter. Now I just have to make some copies and seek out publishers.

I am starting this blog in order to share my journey; the things that I have learned. Any rejections I might receive in the process. Any success I might obtain along the way. The joy of creating in itself.

I will post some of the original pictures. Sketches, both good and bad. Even things that I drew on envelopes when I was trying to capture a movement, position or facial expression. Every hit and miss I have keep with eventually make it's way here.

You will get to see pencil drawing with errors. Then you will see them again as they are cleaned and inked. Then on to the finished color copy. Plus you will see the different incarnation of the main character, Littlephont. Pronounced, Little-font. I'll share with you the story of how Littlephont got his name, since he didn't originally have once since it was not germane to the story, tomorrow.

Anyway, come back and visit me. Hopefully I can do this and finish adding color and ink to the illustrations at the same time. We shall see.

E.W. Forge (Somebody told me the other day that my first two initials spell "ew" forge. How rude, but I kind of like it.)

*(A dummy book is a simply a sample copy of the book allow the viewer to see the placement of the illustrations and text in order to see if the layout works.)