Creative Picture Journaling: How to

Dear Chicago House,

Over a year ago I started a sketch journal. At the end of each day I sketch out a series of simple pictures that capture my day. Mr Chicago house and Miss Chicago teen enjoy seeing what I draw ... particularly if it involves them.

There are no great masterpieces..in fact some of the drawings are terrible. Put it down to late night  tired eyes syndrome, when I  have a difficult time focusing. Some days absolutely nothing interesting has happened. But  picture journaling is a great way of capturing the passing time and now I have started I find it difficult to stop.

How to keep a  Picture Journal

1. Buy a good quality blank book...something that inspires you. I use these classic black sketch book available from Barnes and Noble.
2. Invest in some drawing pens. I use fine line markers from Prismacolor
3. Sketch what ever pops into your mind and be yourself. It may help to sketch at the same time everyday but don't beat yourself up if you miss a day. Below are some example sketches from my journal and because I am being myself there is a fair amount of swearing!

Here's the day I braved the cold and snapped these photos of ice on Lake Michigan

and another when I had a bit of a melt down with my sewing machine while making this Christmas advent calendar. Mr Chicago bought some tools that day and Miss teen was rather irked that she had 50 pages of her AP euro book to read.

Some days my picture is something as simple as enjoying time in the kitchen with Miss Teen

and other days I just draw a pattern

Love from

Creative in Chicago

XX

Categories: Art, books, How to, How to's, Tutorials

A funny laugh out loud book.

Dear Chicago House,

Just about 100% of  creative skills have been directed towards work recently with little time left for anything else. So I thought I's share with you today what I have been working on.

Its a book ...

a very funny book ...

and got published today!

Hooray for Mr Bison's Journal, by Edward Bison. So far it is only available as a Kindle book, but the paperback is due for release next week.

It's is a collection of over 100 stories and observations and when I read it I literally cried with laughter. I illustrated each of the stories with a pen and ink drawing...and I can tell you now I had to draw some pretty bizarre stuff. Toilets feature highly in this book so I will leave the imagination up to you!

I also designed the cover and formatted the whole thing ready for print,generated a copy compatible with the Kindle, revamped the author  website ready for the launch, made a promotional video, and persuaded Mr Bison that he needed a Facebook fan page ...phew... it was a mega load of work and now I am tacking the promotion part of the project

But at last it is out there and if you are after a good laugh I highly recommend it... at only $6.99 it's a bargain...BUY NOW

Love from

Creative in Chicago

XX

Categories: books, recommendations