Sunday, August 17, 2008

Out of the Comfort Zone

About two weeks ago, I was asked to submit a sample for a possible children's Bible storybook assignment. At first, I must admit, I wasn't quite sure about it, since I was not brought up religiously and this was something outside my comfort zone.

The publisher had a specific scene in mind for the sample and gave alot of reference. Here is the piece I did:
To my surprise, I was very comfortable! I had alot of fun doing this and learned something in the process. (It was pretty neat to see how my interpretation of Jesus would turn out.) Too bad though, I did not get the assignment. But now I'm ready for the next Bible storybook assignment when it comes my way.

So the moral of the story is, try something out of your comfort zone. You might surprise yourself.

15 comments:

pati said...

This must be the cutest Jesus ever, Jannie.

It's so nice the fact that you share with us even the assignments you can't get. For someone that dreams about becoming a professional illustrator it is very inspiring to see your positive attitude no matter what.

Have a nice end of Sunday :)

Unknown said...

wonderful work....nice to see you out of your comfort zone...

Anonymous said...

very nice work! i think it would be very cute to see illustrations like that for Bible stories instead of the usual old-style illustrations I got used to as a kid. Too bad you didn't get it, but at least you got great experience and lessons out of the whole thing :)

JC said...

Your illustration turned out so wonderful! This is one of my favorite stories from the Bible, and I absolutely LOVE your interpretation of it, Jannie! I think it is very appealing to children... and it sure looks like you had fun drawing it! Too bad you didn't receive this particular assignment, but perhaps this same or another publisher will come back with another one! =)

Roberta said...

A two for one....very nice work and excellent advice too!

Candace Trew Camling said...

i really love this! Great job, the fish in the basket are so cute! The characters are wonderful too.

Lisa M Griffin said...

bravo! i love that you still took away something from this... besides a really fun and charming illustration. thanks for sharing!

Donna Farrell said...

Thanks for sharing the image and story behind it. Very positive take away. Love the fish too.

Tracy said...

I can't imagine why anyone wouldn't choose your version of anything! I echo what reg said...this is not like what I was used to seeing as a kid. I would have LOVED this! Great work and inspiration, Jannie :)

P.S. I have a new batch of Kindergartners...hope you don't mind if we write to you sometime in the future! (If I can teach them the difference between LETTERS and NUMBERS!) :)

Alicia Padrón said...

I really love this Jannie! I can imagine it must be a hard subject to tackle. I just think your style is so adorable and works in many ways. I have to agree with Pati that this s the cutest Jesus ever! :o)

Anonymous said...

Hopefully you do get the next one, because your style would be amazingly refreshing in a bible story book. Great interpretation!

Patti said...

I would love to see a whole bible story illustrated by you. It's so cute and fun. You've really widened your range from chickens to Jesus.

Anonymous said...

Good advice about working out of your comfort zone. You did a great job too! That's one adorable Jesus!

Bearuh said...

It would be interesting and fun to illustrate a bible story! I think you did a really good job, I would have picked you for sure!

Unknown said...

Ooh, I understand your issue. I went to catholic school for so many years yet I've wondered about the similar situation. The art looks GREAT and you got a great piece out of it! :0 All prepared now!