Inspire Yourself.

*updated each Monday... unless my friend, Procrastination, forced me to host a sleepover.

5.21.2018

Decades

A decade never really seems like much as it's passing until you wake up one morning and say, "I'm about to be how old?!" Suddenly, you become nostalgic and begin to look back over the years to make sure you have something to account for the time. That's exactly what I find myself doing. I'm knee-deep in writing, dummy books, and marketing materials but I'm going to take a little bit of a break (yes, I'm one of those writers who takes a break from writing... to write.) and look at my growth over the last decade.

Scene from Pig & Noodle's Sunny Day (2012)

In mid-2008, I wrote Pig & Noodle's Sunny Day. I immediately knew that I wanted Pig and Noodle to have all sorts of days--rainy, snowy, windy, etc. I published Sunny Day in May of 2012 and soon after penned Pig & Noodle's Snowy Day and Pig & Noodle's Rainy Day. Pig & Noodle's Windy Day was written early this year. I suddenly realized that, instead of publishing them as four separate titles, I would publish them as one--Pig & Noodle. "Awesome!" I thought. I knew I wanted to create new illustrations. I was severely unsatisfied with the work I did on Sunny Day six years ago. I couldn't even be proud of myself for trying because the truth is... I didn't try at all.

I've never really considered myself to be an artist, let alone an illustrator. In my mind, I was doing my own illustrations strictly out of necessity, not because I desired to do so. There was a bit of a gray, negative cloud hanging over me whenever I sat down to "illustrate". I knew what I wanted the reader to see when they flipped through the pages and I just wasn't sure if I was the one to deliver that. But I decided... I owed it to myself, and to Pig and Noodle, to try.

In summer of 2017, I had a something like an epiphany.

The only way people are going to take you seriously as an illustrator, is if you do.

The only way you're going to take yourself seriously as an illustrator, is if you think of yourself as an illustrator.

You have to TRY.

Trying took courage, and once I mustered up enough of that, I started drawing. I don't recall doing much thinking. I pictured Noodle standing on the front porch of their home watching Pig take in the sunlight... and that's exactly what I drew. It was very similar to writing in that way. I just allowed it to flow through my hand.

                           '

Illustration drafts for Pig & Noodle completed by TreLisa D. Christian in March 2018.

I felt an overwhelming sense of pride when I finished. No longer were they the slightly eerie one-dimensional bunny-heads floating in the pond from the original publication. They were coming to life. I don't really know how to describe the feeling that came over me, but it was amazing. I rushed out to my favorite craft store to get the quality paper and color pencils that I would need to complete the project. I worked tirelessly for two weeks to get the illustrations done. About midway through completion, I stopped coloring and looked back at the pages I'd already completed. I saw my creations as I'd always wanted them. Yes, I cried. I couldn't help it. They were mine! They'd come to me TEN YEARS AGO and trusted me to tell their story. And even after I failed them the first time, they begged me to try again. Pig and Noodle changed me as an artist (writer and illustrator). They gave my creative confidence the boost I didn't even know I needed. 

It's been said that... sometimes all it takes is one person to believe in you to make all the difference.

In my case, it took two rabbits who may be fictional to world... but are incredibly real to me. 

(left) Pig & Noodle's Sunny Day (2012) (right) Pig & Noodle (Pig & Noodle's Windy Day) (2018)
original artwork by TreLisa D. Christian

(left) Pig & Noodle's Sunny Day (2012) (right) Pig & Noodle (Pig & Noodle's Sunny Day) (2018)
original artwork by TreLisa D. Christian