A little while later, a screen encased in a wooden kiosk appeared in our school hallway. None of us had any idea what to do with it and none of the teachers did either. Every so often we’d make unsuccessful attempts to figure it out, and try to make the turtle move by blindly pressing keys.

A while later, our little school shifted to primary only and we were shipped off to a larger school with a gym, and a bigger library that housed a computer, complete with Oregon Trail. By this time at least one fortunate student in our class had a home computer and knew how to turn the thing on and access the programs. We played Oregon Trail for hours, losing our oxen in pixelated rivers, and repeatedly dying of dysentery.

In grade 7 a portable computer lab appeared on the muddy bit of dirt behind the parking lot and the gym. I can still remember the bright whiteness of the place and the smell of plastic and vinyl off-gassing. It was wonderful and it was filled with enough Apple II’s to accommodate our entire class. Just as important, we had a teacher (Mr. Graham) who understood the potential for the little machines (as well as how to fix the weird formatting errors in our text files). We left Oregon Trail behind for Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? and the ability to type up our reports and creative writing stories and print them out on reams of perforated paper.

Those little computers, loaded with our floppies that we carefully printed our names on in felt pen and stored in the cupboard in the back of the trailer, also had colour screens and a basic paint program. I spend hours drawing colourful scenes: dragons crossing rivers, trees with bright fruit, clouds…

High school, for me, was completely devoid of computers. There was an elective computer programming class which I did not take, and two units hooked up to the internet (whatever that was), where one could get information from newspapers, apparently, to help flesh out reports and essays. They sat, largely ignored, across from the librarian’s desk.

In the first year of the design & illustration program at Capilano College we were taught ‘wrist skills’ – drawing by hand and design thinking without the aid and distraction of a computer program (a very useful skill). But in truth, there were just way too few computers to go around. When our class of 28 was unleashed upon the 10 macs in the library it wasn’t pretty. We carried our work around with us on zip disks, 100MB each. Of the 10 library computers, only two had zip drives – which meant we had to upload our work through one of the two to a central server and then download it to our machine and that took ages. We watched the class ahead of us, a naturally combative group driven further mad by deadlines & lack of sleep and pushed over the limit by slow upload and download times, physically fight over machines.

Motivated mostly by the desire for convenience, and with a bit of room in my student loan, I enlisted the assistance of a classmate to help me cut through all the computer jargon, and I bought my first computer, a PowerMacintosh 8500. I knew nothing about it or computers in general; I was completely ignorant, my last contact with a computer being with an Apple II in grade 7. I had no idea what RAM was or how much it was or what it did. I only knew the capacity of a zip disk and I just knew the thing needed a zip drive.

The machine was massive and so was the monitor. Another classmate helped me load and unload it from my car. But I loved it. It meant freedom. It meant I no longer needed to get up at the crack of dawn to get to the college library before the doors open so I could be at the front of the line for a machine. It meant I could pull all-nighters in the comfort of my home. It meant I had time and space to blindly stab at it and figure out the programs. I have no idea where I’d be if I hadn’t made that purchase of my first mac. I was just ignorant enough at that age to buy a thing I had no idea how to use, and then figure out how to use it. In my first year out of college, I illustrated my first published book cover on it in Photoshop 4.0.

It’s mind boggling how completely Apple technology and devices are now integrated into my workflow and my life and the studio I share with my partner. Sure, for design work it makes sense, but I also use it when I’m painting, I use it for illustration work. I use it for entertainment and for education. I use it to be social and I use it to organise my business. I carry a laptop with me that has 6 times the memory of my first computer and is a fraction of the size. I’ve produce huge pieces of artwork on a machine I can carry under my arm. It has given me freedom, it has expanded my career options and my creativity. And it is a beautifully designed (not over-designed), piece of technology and a joy to use.

I was unprepared by how profoundly I could feel the loss of a man I have never met. But at the same time, I am completely unsurprised by the emotion. And the first thing I thought about when I heard the news of his passing, was my first interaction with an Apple computer in that fluorescent-lit computer lab, in grade 7 in 1989, drawing pixelated dragons.

(embiggen poster)

I currently have 4 pieces of art in a group show at the Seymour Art Gallery in North Vancouver (Deep Cove), for the Seymour Art Festival. This is kind of a new thing for me; I don’t usually show my work.
The pieces I included are not children’s illustration exactly, but our show is themed on faery tales, reinterpreted from the artists’ point of view. Some of the pieces are delightfully dark – as original faery tales often are – and others are whimsical.

My co-exhibiting artists are Rachael Ashe, Cynthia Nugent (who is also a children’s book illustrator) and Robi Smith. Our show slot is from June 7-12th. The opening was last night and it went really well. On the final day, June 12th from 1-4pm, there are a few things for kids (a face painter and a puppet show). As well, the artists will talk about the work, and Cynthia will hopefully demonstrate some of the moving parts in her assemblages like she did at the opening last night.

Deep Cove is a beautiful place to spend and afternoon, and there is a great doughnut shop across the street from the gallery, so drop by and hope for sun!

The festival continues until July 3rd with new exhibitions each week by more artists. More details in the Seymour Art Festival brochure: (download the pdf).

Rachael Ashe posted a few photos she took on Monday, before the exhibit was hung.

My letter was P.

(the pony is modelled after my first pony, Duffy, partly seen in the photo on my about page.

I haven’t found the poster yet – that’s stashed away somewhere deeper in my files. But I did find it online, on the websites of a couple other illustrators who posted it alongside their letter illustrations. Here’s L and W.

Today’s post comes to you from Darby, a time-traveling heroine, with help from my friend and fellow CWILL BC member, author kc dyer.

-Kirsti

~*~

Hey Kirsti-Readers!

My name is Darby Christopher, and Kirsti has very kindly agreed to allow me a visit here to her blog today. This picture book illustration blog is a favourite for me, because of all her illustrations of animals. I don’t have any pets myself – apart from my Nan’s cat Maurice – so I like to check out all Kirsti’s cool illustrations whenever I can.

Today, I’m just back from a sidetrip to Vancouver Island, as a part of the blog tour celebrating the launch of my new book Facing Fire. It picks up the story of what happened after the magical summer that you may have read about in A Walk Through A Window, and kinda highlights my own special talent. I can’t draw like Kirsti – I wish I could! – but I do seem to have picked up a talent for slip-sliding-through-time…

If you are interested in learning more, you may want to have a peek at my new book. You can find out more about it at www.kcdyer.com

Or better still, how ’bout winning a copy as a prize? If you leave comment on this post, Kirsti will put your name into a draw to win a free copy of the new book – Facing Fire. And if you actually link to this post somewhere else [like in another blog, or facebook post or even a tweet] we’ll put your name in for the draw for BOTH of my books. So comment away! (Contest closes October 20, 2010)

By the way, if you’re into looking for prizes, [especially if you like making videos], check out my blog HERE at Darby Speaks. I have an AMAZING contest going with some totally fantastic prizes. And if you like twitter, you can follow all the latest on the contest and the blog tour and launches @DarbyWalking.

See you there.

Thanks for having me, Kirsti!

~Darby

My answer to this week’s Tuesday Tell-All question.

From Publishers Weekly:

CPSIA FAQs

• The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act goes into effect February 10 and requires third-party testing of all products for children 12 and under, including books, audiobooks and sidelines. This includes older products on-shelf as well as books shipped after the deadline.

• AAP and other industry trade groups are lobbying to have print-on-paper and print-on-board books exempted. They also are looking for clarification on testing protocols and other specifics.

• If the Act stands as currently written and interpreted, significant costs and longer production times will negatively affect publishers and retailers, potentially putting some out of business and causing books to be removed from stores, libraries and schools.

• The industry is struggling to comply with the Act in time for the deadline, even as it waits for resolution and interpretation from the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

For the latest updates and clarifications, go to www.cpsc.gov/about/Cpsia/cpsia.html.

-Industry Scrambling to Comply with Child Safety Act
By Karen Raugust — Publishers Weekly

UPDATES:

Jan 15, ’09 article on Publishers Weekly.

February 7th ’09 article on Publishers Weekly

February 9th ’09 article on Publishers Weekly

On the CWILL BC blog, there’s a new series called Tuesday Tell-All, where authors and illustrators can answer the question of the week. Join the conversation over there in the comments section, or suggest a question for a future Tuesday.

On Bubble Stampede, two authors carry on a nine month conversation about promotion. The conversation touches on everything from the dreaded author photo to social networking to book signings.

And as always, Just One More Book!!! is going strong with interviews with writers, illustrators, editors, publishers etc etc. (there’s a new interview on the site about children’s book illustration gallery shows that looks interesting).