Friday Studio Links- Building My Studio

Starting off the New Year with an old tour. Since I claim to be a Jack-of-All-Trades I thought I'd show one of them. You probably wouldn't guess, but I secretly always wanted to be an architect. Since I didn't become one, I fulfill this need with architectural projects. Here is the biggest one so far. I drew the plans and worked with the city. My husband built it and I helped where I could. Check out some construction shots from when we built my studio.

 

 

 

 

 

Later, I will have a post of what it looks like today, but I'll need to do some cleaning first! Until then here is a sneak peek of my bookshelf.

Links? Well, follow this, which will lead you to a few other posts that show the studio.

The Business of the Business

It seems like the last month has been filled with the business end of what writers and illustrators have to spend a good chunk of their time doing. Running a business. Yes, I'd rather be in the studio drawing or sitting at my desk researching and writing. But a gal's got to do what a gal's got to do.

Design a new look and logo- check!
Design new business cards and stationary- check!

Postcard design and printing- check!
Mailing list of publishers and who is where- check!
Print mailing labels, stamp, and mail postcards- check!
 
Create a new portfolio- check!
Decide on portfolio images- check!
Print images- check!
Assemble portfolio- check!

Register for the local SCBWI-AZ Conference- check!
Prepare and mail portfolio- check! (Yes, a second one!)
Mail PB manuscript and dummy book for conference critique- check!
Proofread, print, and mail first 10 pages of MG novel- check!

Redesign website- check!
Photo shoot  for website- check!
Select and size images for website- check!
Launch new website- check!

Phew! Now back to some writing and illustrating. Right after I write a synopsis and cover letter for that MG novel...

Be sure to visit my new website.

Friday Studio Links!

The Studio of Gail Maki Wilson

 

Since I've been spending so much time in my studio and it's been so long since I did a post just about me, I thought today I'd link you up with some previous posts all about my studio! I hope to someday get all the photographs from when we built the studio organized and show the construction, as well as the construction drawings I drew, to build this little piece of paradise.

My very first post - Studio Tour 

An Adventure in Spring Cleaning - Really? Hmm, looks like I'm need of another one of those!

The Heat is On - At least I can keep those studio doors open for a couple more months.

Spring!- Just because they are about to blossom now.

Clearing Things up- OK. Just because it's something I have to admit to.

 

Launched!

It's time for a fresh start. So I'm starting the new year with a new website! It was so much fun to work up the design, plus having total control over it will allow me the ease of updating images more often. Be sure to check it out now, and come back later. I'll be adding photos of how we built my studio to the Studio Tour section.

The heat is on...

I took these photos this week. Nice sunny days. Warm, but nice. I could still leave the studio door open. Well, now it's approaching 100 degrees, with 105 just around the corner. Good bye open door 'till about...mid September!

The Bookcase- An Adventure in Spring Cleaning

Along with my quest to becoming published, I'm embarking on another, and just as difficult, quest. Becoming organized! The spring cleaning bug bit. That nasty little bug jumped right from the house into my studio. It keeps nipping at me. Finding piles over here and stacks over there. Newspaper clippings hidden among photos. Pencils stubs too short to even grasp. Plastic containers with no real purpose. And books! Stacks of books everywhere! It was time for a plan.

Ikea to the rescue! They have a cubicle style bookcase made just for me. I have cubbyholes for my copies and for the copies from each of the libraries I visit. And I can still stack, but hopefully keep things under control. Like all good organizers bitten by the spring cleaning bug, I started out by sorting everything alphabetically!

The new bookcase fits perfectly on top of my old credenza.

It didn't take me long to fill it up. Yet, I still have room for more!

Two of the cubbies are for library books.
The rest of the books are all mine.

These are a few of my picture books.

One cubby is devoted to signed copies only.
I love collecting these!

Studio Tour

I should start at the beginning, but the beginning happened a long time ago. So I'll start with today. I needed to create this blog as a way to share work-in-progress images of my illustrations with people who couldn't view them elsewhere. I decided as long as I was at it, I'd share my quest to become a published children's book author and illustrator. So I'm starting with where it all happens. In my studio.

My very short walk to work!

My backyard studio, designed and built by me and my husband.

Inside my studio.

The first shot was my opportunity to get the one and only photo of a clean workspace. I had just gotten my new printer and hooked it up to my new computer. Lots of rearranging and cleaning involved. I don't imagine it will look this way for long.

The second shot is what it normally looks like when I'm knee-deep in a project. I've got a stacking problem.

The last shot shows my drawing board the way it looks most of the time. I do start out with the pencils arranged by color, but they don't stay that way for long. I carefully planned where all the windows are in my studio, so I've got great lighting. I truly appreciate how lucky I am to have this place.