More behind the scenes art for my new book, (MOSTLY) WORDLESS!

Some more behind the scenes art! Here's a background from ELLA AND THE PIRATES, one of the stories in my new book, (MOSTLY) WORDLESS. You can check out my Kickstarter campaign and learn how you can get a copy of your own at the link at the bottom of this page!

More Behind the Scenes Art!

Here's more behind the scenes art from my new and very first picture book,  (MOSTLY) WORDLESS! Learn how to get your own copy and how to support my Kickstarter campaign at the link at the bottom of this post!

More behind the scene art for my new book (MOSTLY) WORDLESS!

So as some of you know, I work in pieces and assemble the different pieces in photoshop. So here are a few dry brush drawings that were later incorporated into my story ELLA AND THE PIRATES a part of my new and very first picture book, (MOSTLY) WORDLESS. Click the link at the bottom of this post for more information about the book!

Some Behind the Scene Sketches For My New Picture Book!

Here are a couple of early sketches for ELLA AND THE PIRATES from my new and very first picture book (MOSTLY) WORDLESS. More about the picture book and how you can get a copy at the link at the bottom of this post!

Outtakes From My Kickstarter Video!

So on our first day we raised over $1500 for my Kickstarter campaign for my new picture book, (MOSTLY) WORDLESS! 

I've gotten a lot of good responses on the video, which had to be the hardest part of this whole thing (aside from making the book itself). In order not to have the video look rehearsed or like I was reading, I took my Iphone, mounted it on a tripod and just started talking. I had a good idea what I wanted to say, but not entirely how I was going to say it. You'll notice that I'm not always framed perfectly on the screen because nobody was behind the camera--if someone was behind the camera I would have probably gotten anxious, so this was how I did it.

 Of course most of that talking didn't end up in the video, and I shot it in more than one location on more than one day until I got it right. 

So in honor of everyone's generosity, here are some outtakes.

If you're interested in checking out the book or the finished video, click below!

(Mostly) Wordless, My First Picture Book Begins Here!

I'm starting a KICKSTARTER campaign tomorrow to self-publish my book, (MOSTLY) WORDLESS. I'm very very proud of the book, and if I raise the money, it will be my first picture book in print.

If you don't already know, KICKSTARTER is a crowd sourcing site designed to fund creative projects.

You may never have seen a KICKSTARTER project before. You may have seen a hundred of them. And if you have, other people may have approached you asking just what I'm asking, But I'm still asking, and I poured my heart and soul into this book, and I promise you I'll pour my heart and soul into every book that comes after it. Because I'm just getting started.

So if you can spread the word on TWITTER or FACEBOOK or GOOGLE+ that would be great. If you could tell your friends to tell their friends that would be even better. Because I think this book deserves to be in the world and I hope you do to. But I need your help.

Thank's for your time and indulgence,

One Day Till I launch my Kickstarter for (MOSTLY) WORDLESS!

Just one day till I start my Kickstarter project, (Mostly) Wordless! Here's one of the "rewards" we'll be offering, the Bicycle Tree T!

I hope you're half as excited (but not half as terrifed) as I am for the launch tomorrow! 

My Kickstarter campaign for my first picture book, (MOSTLY) WORDLESS starts in two days!

Kickstarter campaign begins Thursday August 22nd!

Duck Bathworks!

So the bird baths have turned into bathworks. Here's the rough:

I approve of this outcome, as does my agent, Abi. A few more revisions to make for this one before it goes out into the ether!

At the same time I've been editing and putting together my video for my soon to be released Kickstarter project. It's a fun, frustrating, and exciting process. I'm finding that I enjoy editing but that it is really really really hard on imovie '09 and my computer can't support the newer version. But I'm making do, and turning my limitations into strengths.

That's it for now. Back to work!

Entering the Castle

So here's another Duck Island rough. Coming to the point of final revisions with the book dummy, and then it'll be ready to submit! 

Being introduced to Ernst Kleidorf Was One of the Best Rejections I Could Have Gotten

Below is an excerpt from a rejection that my agent received for a recent submission, written by an editor from a major publisher. I'm posting it here without attribution since I wasn't given explicit permission to do so. The author probably wouldn't mind either way, but I decided to post it anonymously just to be on the safe side. You never know.

"I just read Jed Alexander’s LADYBUG AND GENTLEMAN BEETLE. It’s such a beautiful and touching story and the illustrations are stunning. They remind me of one of my favorite illustrators of all time Ernst Kreidolf (sic.) I’m not sure if you’re familiar with him. He was from Switzerland, and I happened upon a show of his in a museum when I was visiting Bern once and I just fell in love..."

I've been getting a number of what you might call "glowing rejections" for this book, but  this was by far the most positive. The principal criticism has been that the book is "too quiet." One editor compared it favorably to Winnie the Pooh and Frog and Toad Are Friends (both major influences) but the current market doesn't seem amenable to this kind of book. I'm still optimistic--these things have a tendency to cycle back around--but in the meantime I'm hoping that some publisher somewhere might be willing to take the risk, and that there is an audience out there still for quiet books.

I hadn't heard of Ernst Kleidolf (the name I assume she meant since he's the only illustrator I could find with a similar name--a forgivable mistake--I'm sure she was recalling the name from memory.) So I looked him up. 

 Once I discovered his work, I realized just what I high compliment it was. I've been told by my agent that my work has a surreal and dreamy quality, something she says that "some day I will be known for." I tend to trust her judgement, so I'll have to take her word for this. I have no objectivity whatsoever about this sort of thing. It's hard for me to even recognize that I have a style. But if my work has anything in common with Mr. Kleidolf, I certainly wouldn't complain.

Here are a few samples from his book,  Der Traumgarten which Google Translate tells me means, "The Dream Garden," a title that seems very appropriate.

Duck Island Rough: The Room of Hats

What can I say? Ducks like hats. Another rough spread for Duck Island.

Eating Fish Soup Rough

So I redid these two figures, and decided that I liked my original figures after all (with a few alterations.) Sometimes you have to see if it's going to work. Here the figures as they were redrawn:

And here's the final composition for the double page spread:

Some people like fish soup better than others. I was never much for seafood, so I sympathize with Mr. Sour Face.

Ducks Bathing

More ducks! I may or may not end up putting this one in the book...