I'm taking my favorite class again, at the UW Extension with superhero Brenda Z Guiberson. The class is called Illustrating Children's Picture Books and our big focus is dummy building. Brenda does amazing edits of manuscripts besides kick butt art and dummy critiques. This is the THIRD time I've taken the class -- it is really a super boot camp for projects that need a bit of toning. I can't recommend it highly enough.

And it is my third time because...I love it! The other two times I've taken it I had stories that didn't quite sing to me and no amount of Brenda-izing could save them. But THIS time around I'm digging the story and art I'm working on and feel like singing that song from West Side Story "Something's Coming" (before all the fighting and death happens when Tony is about to meet Maria and not his impending doom.)

Here Brenda shows us examples of picture book art styles...Raul Colon's scratching and some scratchboard samples.

I turned in my manuscript again after receiving some great edits/comments at the last class. I also turned in a redo of some character designs I've been working on for my bunny brothers story.

Here they are as they've been since, hmm, November or something? And Brenda wanted me to get the bunny on the left, he's a 3rd grader, looking different from the middle guy who is a kindergartner. And the baby of the family, who is in the 2 to 3 year old range, needed to look less beefy compared to the kindergartner. Brenda also suggested sticking the eyes of the younger two bunnies below the half way points on their noggins. Below is my redesign:

The one in the middle is named Cheeky. I like that his ears mimic the arcs of his eyebrows (I'm not sure if that will work for every pose, though.) He, the budding thespian, is delivering an impassioned monologue. I think he looks angry in the redesign so that needs some tweaking -- he's not angry, just acting. I feel like the three characters are three parts of my own personality, though Aaron will tell you I most resemble the middle guy who is predominantly a whiny pain in the patoot. Just wait till I write Aaron, The Naughty Farting Dog Who Dies In A Horrible Way and we'll see who's so funny then.