Behind the Scenes: Photo Diary

I thought I'd share a little BEHIND-THE-SCENES PHOTO DIARY!

Making this book has been a very special/challenging/inspiring experience for me, so it's been weird not to share a lick of it with anyone. To be alone and isolated the whole time. It's been really hard. The thought of sharing what has become my daily routine makes it feel somehow, less lonely. So here are some pictures from my life as hermit...

This is where I spend all my time. It's surrounded by old props I've painted from the Macy's windows. Every morning I'd pull out my quota for the day (3/4 pages) that I'd be penciling or inking.

This Macy's prop says it all! I've never had to push myself so hard, keeping myself working passionately 7 days a week totally unsupervised for 7 months straight. It's been an exercise in self-discipline.

"Getting ready for work" for me has meant rolling out of bed, brushing my teeth and putting on a bra. And ta-da...I'm ready!

My dad made me an adjustable hinged drafting table which I use to keep my neck problems at bay. And I use an egg timer to make me get up from my desk every hour.

I've used this same plastic palette since 7th grade. And I use my Grandma's old paint brushes for painting with ink.

I went through a lot of blue pencils.

The mammoth pile of 192 pages occupied one side of my sofa like my roommate. Or a 7 month houseguest.

Besides my book for company, I have Creepy Squirrel Baby to talk to. I expect that this obvious hunger for companionship properly explains why I'm on FACEBOOK so very much.

I've kept myself sane by keeping my ears occupied. I've plowed through tons of music, podcasts (Mostly This American Life & Stuff You Should Know), many audiobooks (including all 7 Harry Potter books...TWICE), and live radio. However, my main audio-companion has been John Richards on KEXP. I listen to his show every single weekday morning.

I take breaks in the afternoon to ride my bike around Prospect Park, which is only 2 blocks away.

Or I'd bike over to the studio for the afternoon to work around my studiomates in Outpost 51.

I'd flatten the pages I made each day under a big pile of books sitting on the floor of my room. Fancy.

While inking my book, I decided I couldn't draw hands. So each morning I'd erase all the hands that I was supposed to ink that day and I'd redraw them, usually using photo reference. Hence I have hundreds of photos on my computer of my hands! This is my favorite one.