Recently, I heard a statistic that surprised me. The speaker said that from 5% to 25% of fiction readers draw/paint/sketch pictures of the characters and/or scenes from the books they read and love. Really? So many? That fascinates me.
Curious, I asked on my Facebook Page if there were any fans of my books who have illustrated characters or scenes from them. Granted, Facebook showed that post to only 6% of those who follow my Page, but I did hear from one gal—Wendy Lyson—who was kind enough to send me some of her sketches based on my book, Heart of Gold. Above is one of her drawings of Shannon, this one in her 4th of July dress. Below is one of Todd and his puppy, Nugget. I love them! And I was delighted when she gave me permission to share them.
After I posted those drawings from Wendy, I heard from another artist (Monica Bruenjes) who started a blog, Novel Characters, for the express purpose of posting her fan art. She hasn’t done a character from one of my books yet, but in glancing through her blog, I saw more than one writer friend’s books in the mix. And I thoroughly enjoyed looking through her illustrations. She’s quite talented.
So now I’m curious to know, do we have any readers of Inspired by Life and Fiction who like to sketch or paint characters from the novels they read? If so, would you care to share your illustrations?
~robin
Robin Lee Hatcher
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Wow — what an interesting twist to reading! Artists get inspiration from everywhere — why not from the pages of a book? Alas, I am no artist, though I would love to be, so no illustrations here. I did do a collage of all the promo bookmarks and book cards though and I think it’s neat. I made it in the inset of a door in my little den. Makes me smile every time I see it.
Kav, a collage of bookmarks and cards sounds like a great way to put them to use. Especially if they remind you of favorite reads.
Monica sketched the characters from Undeniably Yours on her blog. It was so much fun to see her visual interpretation of my characters!
It’s my impression that reading attracts creative people with imagination. So I suppose it makes sense that some of those creative folks are creative with pens, pencils, ink and paper. I’m glad!
Yes, I saw the sketch for your book, Becky. So fun!
Those sketches you shared above are great! Wow, she’s really talented. 🙂
When I was a child, I loved drawing my own characters from stories. Sadly, my drawing skills didn’t really
progress as I aged (in other words, I still draw as I did when I was 7 years old, LOL).
But I love seeing artistic talent in other folks – – especially people I know. My own 3 children are quite artistic (though they’d never admit it). Not sure where they got that talent. 😉
Hey, Patti Jo. Like you, I’m inspired by the creativity of others. I have painted with oil and acrylics at different stages of my life, but I am by no means skilled at it. Wish I had more time for it. I put a protective cloth on my table with the intent of leaving out my paints and such so I would use them more often. Soon after, I got my kitty. No more leaving anything on the table. :-\ Pinky loves to zoom across the room, launch herself at the table, and slide with the tablecloth as far as she can go.
Thanks Robin & Becky! Books are really inspiring, when I read I can “see” the characters and settings in my mind and it’s a fun challenge to try and get it out of my head onto paper. I would love to do more research on the topic because I know fans producing art isn’t anything new. A lot of famous paintings were inspired by plays, opera, poetry and books. (Ex: Shakespeare’s Ophelia from Hamlet by Sir John Everett Millais.) I think it’s really neat how different art forms can be inspiration to others. Anyway, this all reminds me that I’m behind on posting in my blog so I better get back to it! If anyone else has some fan drawings to share, I’d be happy to post them on my blog too.
That would be great, Monica, if you got to post some other sketches. Thanks for the offer.
I don’t sketch or doodle like that any more, but I did it a lot when I was a child and teenager! My preteen daughter does it all the time.
How fun to watch our children explore their creativity! Love it.