Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Adios Handcrank Productions...Hello...

I tried to do some cartooning over the summer and discovered that the arthritis in my hands has progressed to a point I can no longer do the fine detailed work.

So the time has come to complete the childhood dream of publishing my books. It's now or never.  I have somewhere in the neighborhood of FORTY unfinished drafts in my Handcrank Productions box.

Having children of my own just ground my book writing/illustrating to a dead halt. I have done only three books in the last 15 years....and one was nearly finished.

I think last count there were 30 or so completed books.  I need to deal with the masters and make any last changes to them. Then I need to decide if I am making colored copies or leaving them as coloring books.

But first of I must rename my little "publishing company,"




Back in the 70's is when it got its name.  I was at the park playing with the tractor. We were taking turns cranking it get it "started." Endless summer hours deeply entrenched in imaginary play.

After weeks of this it occurred to me to name my then still imaginary publishing company, "Handcranked productions."

I new I would write books even at that age.

I also knew they would be so off beat no one would publish them due to my poor spelling. So my only hope was to create my own "company."

Our logo was....and still is....


(Interesting trivia - I started counting copies at one point - see the number stamped on the book? I estimate there were an easy 1000 copies done prior to the counting. Next number on the counter is 725. So my dream of having a ton of books out there has already happened.)

The initial idea was....I would hand write them, hand copy them, hand color them, hand bind them and then hand them over!

Gosh darn I was a clever one when I was a child! Bwahahaha! aah, such sweet childhood dreams...

When I finally got rolling I did just that. for a total of ONE print run.

The first thing to go was, hand coping. Hello zerox machine at the library.

then the 'ed' fell off of the name....and we became: handcrank productions

Then they became coloring books and the hand colored ceased to exist.




Hand binding when soon after....hello book binder.

There are in existence some of the originals still. Hand written, copied, colored and bound. Those will be worth $$$$ someday....dreams the young girl at the park, summer wind in her hair as she spins the tractor's crank...

I speak of the company with terms like "we", "our", etc  because there were three of us originally. One has died and the other one has drifted off and grown up.

This is my winter project.

because....these books are waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too cool not to share with the world.


that one will be so much fun to color....

this one will NOT be....see my glaring error??? the rainbow is suppose to be upside down and the colors too. Go on ask me which one of my books I never want to color again...LOL...I had to color back to back copies of Rainbow Flip in 1995 because of this and even all these years later I'm still mad I messed that up!



I hope my winter project will give me some direction as the darkness of the winter depression descends in my mind, and I return to hibernation mode.




I need to go hang our at the park and absorb the childhood energy before I start this project.  My life is heavy on the other end of life energy right now. I need to tap back into that magical time.



a time of wind, laughter, green grass and sticky fingers from popsicle's....

Before I go about doing this, I need to rename the company. To give it a new name.  (insert a ton of legal reasons I can't use the name it used to have).

I have been tossing around ideas. SLUG is currently at the top of the list, cause that is how my brain rolls....

I think I may work with the names of the original and most frequent characters in the books...Bonnie and Todd.

 
I'm totally open to ideas...(looks at my creative friends)
 
Think of a bunch of kids crammed in a sleeping bag and sliding down the stairs.
 
Go back in time, to the freedom of a youthful body that flies in new sneakers, that can ride the wind horses, and know with a strong heart that leaping from the roof with a pillowcase parachute will be perfectly safe...
 
...drinking creek water, catching crawdads and wearing blackberry warpaint...
 
That is the feeling of my kids books.
  
EDIT:
 
well hells bells this hasn't even been published yet and....and...just like that, I renamed the company.
I just did another re-through/proofing look at this blog and BAM there is the name I was searching for...Blackberry Warpaint.

1 comment:

  1. Do you have any copies I could see? The name is brilliant.

    interesting that you are struggling to draw. Me too. I cranked all my appointment scheduling up. I want answers to my issues now. I want to try again to maybe break back into comics or get some books done and children's books have been on my mind a LOT. I need my hands.

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