Stealing is bad....

Ok, I've spent a good part of my day today trying to figure out a way to make my blog and images safer.

The internet is wonderful getting our work out there but unfortunately it also makes us vulnerable in the sense that anyone can just print our art, copy it, save it, distribute it. Who knows what else they can do with it.

This is by no means fool proof of course. People nowadays find ways to do anything basically but at least is something.

You can always watermark your images if you want. I find the watermarks kind of annoying to tell you the truth and I think people can always get rid of them one way or the other. So I don't bother with those.

I wanted to share what I found out with all my fellow blogging friends. Better be safe than sorry, right?

So here is what I did:

* I always make sure my images are at 72 dpi.

* I decided to make my images non-clickable. Usually when you click on an image it takes you to another page and address and you can see it at a larger size. But also people can just print them this way or if you have Statcounter like I do, you will never know if people are clicking on it to get a larger view or downloading it. So I decided to just take that feature away.
To do that you need to be in the HTML feature on blogger. Add your image like you regularly do. You'll see the text will start something like this:

a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_IPpry2xsVJ0/SvnYMgfsdKI/AAAAAAAABng/GIX58ikD0WA/s1600-h/blur.jpg"> .....

You need to select that and delete it. Then look for /a inside two <> (sorry I can't type it just as it is because it doesn't show) right at the very end of the whole text and delete that as well.

Once you do this, your images should no longer be clickable.

* The other thing I did was find a way to prevent people from right clicking my pictures. In other words, copying or downloading them when you right click on your mouse (or click with two fingers if you have a Mac). To do this you have to go to your template in blogger and under layout add a gadget: HTML/Javascript.

Then copy and paste all the content inside the gray box you will see here and save the gadget. That's it.

I hope you find this useful. :o)

Illustration Friday: Blur

© Alicia Padrón

On a cold Sunday morning

Rusty and June sat by the blurry window.

"Hope they bring us treats" thought Rusty.

"Hope they come back soon" though June.

The wonderful Jane Yolen

Nothing much to do this weekend?

Here you have a wonderful series of videos, just priceless information! Enjoy :o)

SCBWI New York winter conference, anyone?

This pic was taken 2 years ago at the NY winter conference. It was my first conference, the only one I've attended actually, and it was wonderful. You might recognize some familiar faces from the blog world. Let's see.. at 2 o'clock you can see Jennifer Morris waving, at 4 is Kim Fleming AKA as Lil' Kim, at 5 is Joey Chappelle, at 6 is Gina Perry, 8 is Jannie Ho AKA as chicken girl, at 9 is Monica Carnesi, at 11 is a bit hard to see her face is Kelly Light, and finally at 12 is good old me, hi there! :o)

I loved going to the conference, I think it was the first time I felt like a real illustrator. This is a huge conference and you get to see so many people in the field, writers, editors, agents, publishers and other illustrators. If you are shy like me, then it's a bit hard to mingle around but it is so worth going. The talks are very inspirational and for me, one of the best things about these conferences is that you get to hang around people like you, who share the same passion for children's books and who just "get you".

I am thinking on maybe attending the next one on January 2010. Anyone going? If you want you can leave a comment here, this way people will know who to look for in case they go.

Beautiful animation

This is beautiful. I enjoyed it very much. Couldn't find any information about it though, only that it was created by french students.

Take a look :o)

Happy Halloween!

© Alicia Padrón

Don't tell me this never happened to you as a kid?
Hee.. don't worry, Alfred the Lion is real friendly. :o)

Halloween is right around the corner.

So, are you wearing a costume this year?

Top ten early literacy series!

© Scholastic 2009

Some of you might know that I worked over the summer on a wonderful little book for toddlers, Brush, Brush, Brush! It will be released on March 2010.

It is part of a series of books published by Scholastic, named Rookie Toddlers.

These are fun little books with side die-cut that are easy for little ones to grasp on.

Have simple and rhythmic text that can be read as a song. And the themes range from self/body awareness, home/family, neighborhood to wider world.

I recently found out that this series has been named by booklist as one of the top 10 early literacy series! If you have little ones, you should really check these books out.

There are 6 titles available right now and there is more to come! You can click here to find more about them. Scroll down and you'll find links to purchase them.

Tweet.. Tweet..

I've been dipping my toes in the Twitter world waters and it has been fun!

If anyone feels like following me, you can click here.

Not that I have such an interesting life... ;o)

Playing around

© Alicia Padrón

I think sometimes when you transfer a drawing to paper you risk loosing all the beauty of the sketch. I'm playing a bit here adding color to a sketch, I kind of like it. I think I'm going to keep on playing and see where it takes me.

Finished my book

I sent out all final art of the book I was working on. Everything was approved, art director happy, I'm happy. Everything is good!

But it is always such a funny feeling I have to say. You invest a lot of time, energy and even part of your soul in a book that when is all finally done I always end up feeling like suddenly the floor has been taken from under me and I'm just standing there, floating.. that kind of feeling.

Haha, but it's good, it's all good. I'm grateful to have done it, enjoyed it tremendously and can't wait to see it arrive to my house in a box!

Now, it's time to move on. Clean my studio, turn the page to a brand new one in my sketchbook, grab a pencil and start thinking on what's next. There is always something to do, work on stories I've written, create dummies for them, make new pieces for my portfolio, the list goes on and on.

So... gotta get moving!

ps. why the upside down pup you ask? Well, thats Lucy's way of saying "the end" :o)

Illustration Friday: Frozen

© Alicia Padrón

3 little penguins playing in the snow

2 had fun

but 1 fell off. :o)

Tips for getting published in this field

The wonderful Paige Keiser has a great post on her blog Fox in Sox.

If you are starting out in this business and dream of becoming a published illustrator, you should really go and read this post. Lots of great advice!

Illustration Friday: flying

© Alicia Padrón

I would really love to do that..

What I've been working on: Sketch

© Alicia Padrón

Here is a little peek on what I've been working on these days. This sketch will not be in the book so I figured it was ok to post it. 

I am having so much fun with this book..  I just know I'm going to miss it when its over. Hopefully I'll be able to share more information about it soon. :o)

Can't wait to see it!

Listen to Maurice Sendak himself speak about this movie and how it completes his book.
Enjoy :)

Illustration Friday: Germs

Germs go to school too you know..


A quick and silly one for this week. :)

Illustration Friday: Pattern

© Alicia Padrón

Rozzie finally got that package she was waiting for in the mail!
It was a special gift from grandma.
Granny knew that Rozzie loved dresses with patterns on them.
"Oh well.." thought Rozzie.
"Maybe I can wear it in a year or two.."

I was waiting for one of the spreads I'm working on to dry when this little mouse popped in my head.

I couldn't help myself and sketched her on a little piece of scrap watercolor paper. It is such a tiny drawing it makes her a little more believable somehow... at least to me. :o)

Shhh.. baby sleeping..

© Alicia Padrón

This is a sample illustration I sent to a publisher a few months ago.

I've been busy working on a board book and I'm having so much fun with it! I'm almost past the sketch phase and soon will start painting the spreads. 

I think that all the steps involved in illustrating a book are wonderful on their own way. The first part, the "thinking" of the book, I find requires lots of concentration from my part and zero distractions. But once I reach the painting phase, I get to just let go of all the thinking and really have fun with it.

I think that is really my favorite part!

How about you, do you have a favorite part of the process?

Miss Potter

This is one of my favorite movies to watch. I've seen it so many times and cry every single time, lol.

It's a lovely film about the life of Beatrix Potter. Such a brilliant lady! 

To me it really strikes a chord I have to say. I don't think I'll ever get tired of watching it...

Illustration Friday: Welcome

© Alicia Padrón

I've been really busy and its been quite sometime that I don't participate on IF. I hate it when I don't participate, so when I saw this week's topic I though this old piece could work. 

I'll try and see if I can manage to make another quick one to add to the theme. Meanwhile I'll post this one. 

This is the last scene on a series of illustrations about a baby fox who gets lost in the woods. If you like to see the whole story you can watch this video.

Hope you like it. :o)

My Matt Phelan mug

What could be better than having a delicious latte on a Saturday morning?.. 

.. I know, having a delicious latte in a mug with an adorable fox in a turtleneck. Hee.. ! :o)

This is my new mug that I got from Matt Phelan's shop. I am a huge fan of Matt's work. His art is so incredibly expressive yet so simple. His strokes just talk by themselves. I adore his work.

You should go check out his work as well as his shop.

He also blogs.

I'll go ahead and finish my coffee now.. :o)

Happy Saturday!

Helen Oxenbury

I wanted to share with you all this wonderful video interview with Helen Oxenbury. 

You'll find she is as lovely as her illustrations. Such a sweet and soft spoken person too. She has illustrated over 100 books and shares her experience as well as some important words of wisdom. 

This video is a treat to watch. It is long so make sure you have time to sit down before hitting the play button.

Enjoy :o)

EDITED ** I just realized that the version I saw is much longer than what blogger let's me post here. If you want to see the WHOLE interview, totally worth it in my opinion, click here. Each video uploads itself one after the other **

Ponyo

Hi there.

I recently went to see Ponyo with my kids and I was drooling during the entire duration of the film. What a beautiful movie!

Here is a behind the scenes video I found of Studio Ghibli. It is such a joy to see them work.

Enjoy :o)

Board book!

© Alicia Padrón

Just finished working on an adorable board book for toddlers! It will be published by Scholastic on 2010. 

Here is just a little peek, is part of one of the spreads in the book. I'll be able to share more information once we are closer to publication time.

I enjoyed this book so much. I think that besides animals, babies and toddlers are my favorite subjects to illustrate.

Life is good now, I am starting to work on another book! This one I can't talk much about it for now. But I'm really looking forward to working on it.

Sorry I haven't been able to post much but I still read friend's blogs and I promise to post from time to time. I love this blog and all my visitors and friends. Thanks so much for being so faithful and for always stopping by. Your wonderful comments mean the world to me. Besides making me happy they make me want to work harder and be a better artist.

Thank you for that! :o)

Clean baby/Illustration Friday: wrapped

© Alicia Padrón

Hi there! Sorry I've neglected my blog lately. I'm traveling now and working too. Everything is going well. I'm enjoying everything around me.

Hope you all have a great weekend :o)

** Just realized this works for this week's IF topic! Still traveling.. thanks to all for visiting my blog and for your wonderful comments! :o) **

100th follower :o)

Delba, who visited my blog, pointed out that she was in fact the 100th follower! I thought the least I could do to celebrate was post about her and her blog. She is a smart teenage girl who loves to read, write and blog. You can visit her blog by clicking here. Thanks Delba, and thanks to all of you followers! :o)

On another note, I will be really busy in the coming weeks. So I might not post as much as I like but I will try to still post every now and then.

Have a great week everyone!

hee...hee!

If you haven't seen this Evian comercial.. you have to!! :o)

Illustration Friday: Worn

© Alicia Padrón

A quick pencil sketch for this week.

To hug a bear

© Alicia Padrón

Here is another baby. 

I remember how wonderful babies smell right after a bath. 

One of my favorite smells for sure. :o)

Watch and listen..

My dad sent me the link to this video. It's really worth watching!! Who needs instruments any way!
The Perpetuum Jazzile choir from Slovenia. 

Close your eyes and listen to the rain...

Be careful baby

© Alicia Padrón

I've been sketching babies recently. 

Boy, they grow so fast..

Ralphie goes to summer school

Thanks to all the people that voted and to everyone that sent me emails and private messages regarding Ralphie's way of speaking. I really appreciate your feedback. 

After giving it some thought, I decided to send Ralphie to summer school and he will be talking properly very soon. :o)

I realize, that even though I liked Ralphie the way he was, sometimes we have to be able to step aside and take criticism in an objective manner. The website is a place for people to visit and both Ralphie and I want to welcome everyone in and not scare them away, lol. 

Thanks and hope you visit Ralphie every now and then.

He'll try and not eat all the cookies but he can't make any promises..

A poll

Lately I've been thinking about Ralphie, the little tour guide on my website. :o)

Someone recently suggested that it would be better if Ralphie spoke properly instead of that "little kid" talk of his. When I was working on the website, I pictured him talking like that and found it funny. But I also think that some people could find it a little "too much".

So, I though I would play my ask the audience card and ask you all what you think. There is a poll on my sidebar. Is completely anonymous so feel free to speak your mind. I promise I won't tell a thing to Ralphie. ;o)

Please visit my website and then quickly answer the poll.  Thank you! 

Illustration Friday: Drifting

© Alicia Padrón

New website!

Hi all, I invite you to come visit my new and improved and.. new.. he, he.. website! ;o)

Let me know what you think. If you see any mistakes or something is not working properly, please let me know.

If you have visited before you may have to refresh each page in order to see the new ones.

Hope you like it!

Illustration Friday: Unfold/Character development

© Alicia Padrón

Roberta knew if she wanted to be a singer she had to be brave.

So she closed her eyes.

And the story unfolds..

Happy Birthday Rorry

© Alicia Padrón

It's my sister's birthday today, she loves kitties.
Here is a kitty specially for you Rorry!

I love you always ..
Ali

Illustration Friday: Craving 2

© Alicia Padrón

Ralphy has a huge craving for chocolate chip cooki....
Hmmm, did I say has?

... never mind. ;o)

Another one: Shy Roberta/IF: craving

© Alicia Padrón

  Roberta loves to sing specially on sunny days.

Now she craves getting all wet and having fun with the ducks as well.

I honestly don't think I'll have time this week to create a new illo for IF, so I guess this one could work. :o)

More character development: Shy Roberta

© Alicia Padrón