Dreaming of Whale © Maud Guilfoyle, Charcoal 5.25 x 7.5 inches
When I did my first e book I designed it as I had designed previous downloadable books for my website, pocketcards.net. I use Indesign and Photoshop CS3 and wrote the text around the images. Writing more than image-making was a challenge for me so I thought it would be easiest to place all the images in order then write around them, hoping to be inspired by the art. Well, then I realized writer's block was as much a challenge as artist's block. And in e books, no text wrap ... No nicely fitted in spot illustrations in a corner of a page or art zig zagging down a page meandering around text. So, I learned about paragraph styles instead of using tabs or space key, and how to lock graphics inline so that when you add text or edit the image stays with the text it is supposed to and doesn't float all around. The second book,
Artist to Artist Handbook still had me playing with images before the text was written, I think to avoid writing. I was more confident with a brush than with words. Like all art forms, writing requires practice, practice, practice. By the third and fourth book,
Artists and Money, and
Art by Two, I had a system. My image file would have several folders in it that related to the sections of text. I write all the text, first, second and third drafts before I insert images.
