This October a two year long project was brought to
completion. My talented illustrator and graphic design business partner
Julianna Roberts and I conceived this lofty yet realistic plan of
self-publishing graphic novels and children’s books while on holiday together
with our husbands in Astoria, Oregon. We imagined as entrepreneurs it would
meet the need of our creative selves that were not being fully utilized in our day jobs. Even
while we attended Pacific Northwest College of Art, many moons ago, we noticed
that our personalities meshed well and our diverse technical talents would apply
well to a working business model.
 |
| Carolina Medina-Dupaix and Julianna A.B. Roberts circa 2011. Here we are in Astoria, OR. The beginning of Visual Elements Press would later come into being over a delicious bowls of clam chowder. |
Under the Hallow Moon
is an illustrated full color art book about the thirty-one days leading up to Halloween. It
began as a tiny seed, a persistent thought, and desire to stop letting the excuses
be acceptable reasons for not putting our talent first.
I am sharing the concept process in hopes that is
encourages you, fellow reader, to take your own personal dream of the back burner. Let us begin together, by setting
realistic achievable goals which will breathe life into that crazy but wonderful idea. There are
mountains of quotes and how to guides on motivation, creativity, and task organization
but, most of us learn best by doing. Why not get past the fear, today and turn the
energy into an exciting new adventure?
I have worked at several art stores and one thing
that always struck me were the books on art journaling, fine art, and crafting
filled with ideas and stimulus projects. Between Julianna and me there are a proverbial
cornucopia of project ideas. It was hard for me to wrap my mind around being
told what to create. I had that experience in art school already. I began to think
of the psychology behind being give a creative task to do and then it became clear,
just like The Cure song we had to do the "Unstuck".
Thus Under the Hallow Moon was conceptualized
as a count down towards Halloween. Mini poems and lists of characters and
spooky things started the process, evoking the social gatherings, and varied emotions that
make this Autumn holiday special. We hope that our first art book inspires our
readers with the magic that stimulated the minds of our ancestors as they found
ways to explain turning of the wheel of life and the changing of the seasons.
In this wake of project completion comes the task at
hand. It is now an exciting time! An opportunity to test our artistic
professional marketing and PR skills. Will there be bumps in the road? Yes.
Will there be milestones? Well, we have reached a major milestone this year. Remember
to celebrate your own successes too along the way. We’re grateful for the opportunity to share
our collective artistic vision with our global community.
Comments