The #kidlitart28 challenge is over! It’s actually been a great help, although sometimes the “warm-up” sketches, as these were intended to be, pretty much ran away with the day.

I’ve learned that the few NF  #Storystorm ideas just didn’t seem to spark any fun image ideas. And that when in doubt, I default to birds: owls, ducks, geese, chickens as well as generic birdies. Who knew?

So now the task is to go back through the #Storystorm list and see which ideas survived intact, which morphed into something worth pursuing, and which should be abandoned for now.

Day 28 is in honor of all the eccentric female relatives I grew up hearing stories about, mostly great aunts and cousins who defied convention in one way or another.

Because there were two more #Storystorm ideas recorded in January than there are days in February for the #kidlitart28 challenge, I’m opting to skip ahead. This little sketch is based on an idea from Day 30 of the Storystorm challenge.

And, apparently, I love birds.

This #Storystorm idea was concerned with indecision, but another character sneaked in to shift the story in a different direction.

This #Storystorm idea was vaguely about being alone–but I didn’t have the heart to draw her without a friend. He’s saying, “Why are you hiding? Can I hide, too?”

I owe this challenge a sketch for #Storystorm  idea 20 since I got ahead of myself with idea 21 yesterday. But this particular idea is so specific that I don’t want put a scene out there until I work some things out.

So here is today’s sketch: a frog who may or may not have a part to play!

I goofed up–this is an image for day 21’s #Storystorm idea . . . not that it matters!

This has been an extremely valuable exercise. Many of the Storystorm ideas I would have thought viable either have no clear visual direction, or would not be fun to draw. Which is good to know early in the process of developing a picture book idea!

Talking to her washing machine . . . not something I do AT ALL.