December 16, 2008

Illustration of "Red Bear"
from Adventures with Sophie
Playdate with Bella
by Sharon Lee

Thus far this winter, my creativity has been expressed through the writing and illustrating of a children's book. It is a series called "Adventures of Sophie", the first installment named "Playdate with Bella."

The process of making a book is very different from painting and I find myself retraining my focus as I work on the various components of the book. While writing I need silent though when I paint I prefer music or podcasts. Because my house and studio tends to be cold I find myself working on this project in the inner sanctum of my bedroom where I can stretch out my legs and prop up my back comfortably and my studio where I paint sits cold, dark and dusty. Doing a book at this time is also forcing me to learn computer programs and websites that I have until now ignored. The beauty of painting is that it is a timeless activity very much the same as it was many many years ago.

Peace Always

Sharonhie
Playdate with Bella
Sharon Lee

July 29, 2008

Years ago I worked as an art director for a low budget feature called "Drawing Down the Moon". As with most low budget features you get a mix of people who know and don't know how to do their assigned job(s). Although I had never worked as an art director in a film before I have been around many films and I think on my feet. By the end of the film I was making less and less errors and things began working out for me.

On low budget movies an art director can actually carry the load of several titles. I was to work with the hair and makeup people, special effects (we had to kill a few people and needed to figure out how to make exit bullet wounds and bleeding), costumes, set design and props. As you may have guess the budget was minimal and I spent many of my days beg, borrowing and stealing things that were needed for the set.


Working on this film gave me a greater appreciation for the amount of work and the number of people that go into making a film. Even though on camera there may be only one or two people. Surrounding them are many: on the streets taking care of business, at the office making arrangements and "fixing" things that go awry, as well as the camera person, camera assistant, director, assistant director, make up artist, art director, continuity person, sound engineer, boom holder,grip, gaffer, script person, etc is an entire community