Campfire Bears
*Author’s Note: Greetings to all of my ADKO family & friends. Since I have am no longer sharing my stories via The Adirondack Almanack, Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, I am trying to come up with new ways to stay engaged with my readers. As part of that effort, I thought some folks might enjoy sharing the journey of my latest project as I create it.
“Campfire Bears” is the 4th in a series of children’s book I have written and illustrated. While I very much enjoy undertaking these projects, one thing I can tell you without hesitation, drawing illustrations is far harder than writing!
I sketch each scene out first with a pencil.
(I generally sketch each scene twice- one practice scratch sketch, one final), before coloring it in (I use colored pencils) to make sure I do the best I can to get it all right. Each finished scenes represents a full day of sketching and coloring. My hands are both numb by the time I am done.
Once I finish drawing, I then take several photographs, choose the best one, then edit enhance it on the computer (with my wife’s input) to make everything pop before adding in to its place in the story.
I like using fun little characters (that I can actually draw) to add little pictorial parallel “stories in a story”. In this instance I am using the frog and the squirrel. The frog is in the lower right corner of every scene, simply saying “RIBBIT”. I think I have a special plan for him in the story’s final scene which I will keep to myself until then. The squirrel (which I had to practice quite a few times to be able to draw) sort of mimics what Ari Rae & her Grampa are doing, except using acorns. (Such as roasting an acorn over the fire.) I thought that would be funny for kids.
In Scene 4, I wanted to incorporate a little learning in the story, so I chose tree identification, as Ari Rae & I actually spend time on that when we are on camp hikes. I chose Maple, Oak, Pine & Birch because they are the 4 most common tree types we encounter in camp & I figured that if Ari Rae can ID those 4, she’ll be far ahead of most other kids (and most grown-ups, for that matter). Then in scene 7, I have once again depicted oak, birch, maple and pine, this time without labels, so that this scene could be used to test the child reader’s recognition of the trees in scene 4, as a tree ID learning reinforcement. I’ve continued with this little tree ID sub-theme through the end of the story.
Anyways, I now have finished the draft story narrative, cover design, and almost all of my illustrations for this tale. I thought that instead of waiting until “Campfire Bears” was complete, folks might find it interesting if I shared it “in progress”. I’ve been updating with new sketches and finished scenes as I’ve drawn them.
I now have JUST ONE More illustration planned! (I jumped ahead and did the last scene. In the end the frog got the last word. Bet you can’t guess what it was.) My goal is to sketch out my final remaining scene (the S’more’s crime scene) this afternoon and finish coloring it in tomorrow so that I’m done before Thanksgiving. Once it’s done, I will turn it over to my wife Robin, who will work her ADKO editor’s magic and turn it into a Shutterfly children’s book!
So, I invite folks to read it, comment, and check in on my progress. Folks are welcome to social media share it if they’d like (even though I’m no longer there myself, I appreciate that.). Mum’s the word though! This will be Grampa’s present for Ari Rae this Christmas.
HOLD THE PRESS!!!
My Campfire Bears Story is DONE!
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!
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Ari Rae Marra loves to go camping each summer with her Grampa.
They share many fun adventures in camp.
They go hiking and exploring together.
Grampa even made Ari Rae her own special camp walking stick.
Every morning in camp, Grampa makes Ari Rae’s favorite breakfast, yummy bacon and eggs cooked in a big frying pan right over the campfire.
One sunny morning as Ari Rae got ready to take her first bite of Grampa’s hot off the fire camp breakfast, she looked down at her plate and let out a gasp.
“Oh my, Grampa! Look!”
“Somebody stole a big bite from one of my slices of bacon!”
Ari Rae’s Grampa just chuckled and smiled.
“Must have been a Campfire Bear, Ari Rae. You’ve got to watch out for them. They are sneaky critters, and they sure do love bacon!”
After finishing camp breakfast, Grampa and Ari Rae love to go on fun hikes.
Grampa teaches Ari Rae the names of all the different trees in the forest.
After long morning hikes learning the names of the trees, Ari Rae likes eating Grampa’s yummy camp hotdogs for lunch.
Grampa roasts them right over the campfire on a special hotdog cooking stick that he cut.
One day Ari Rae got ready to eat one of Grampa’s yummy campfire roasted hotdogs when she gasped in surprise.
“Oh my, Grampa. Look!”
“Somebody stole a big bite from my hotdog!”
Ari Rae’s Grampa just chuckled and smiled.
“Must have been a Campfire Bear, Ari Rae. You’ve got to watch out for them. They are sneaky critters, and they sure do love hotdogs!”
After lunch Grampa and Ari Rae love sharing more fun camping adventures.
Ari Rae’s favorite is climbing way up high on big rocks!
In the evenings after supper and another fun day in camp, Grampa roasts Ari Rae marshmallows for gooey sweet S’mores by the fire.
One night as Ari Rae got ready to taste her scrumptious S’mores treat, she exclaimed,
“Oh, my, Grampa. Look!”
“Somebody stole a big bite from my S’more!”
Ari Rae’s Grampa just chuckled and smiled.
“Must have been a Campfire Bear, Ari Rae. You’ve got to watch out for them. They are sneaky critters, and they sure do love S’mores!”
As her Grampa stood by the campfire chuckling, Ari Rae became suspicious and thought…
“Hmmm… Every time I get ready to eat something yummy when I’m camping with Grampa, a Campfire Bear sneaks in and steals a big bite.”
“I haven’t seen anything that looks like a bear around our camp lately.“
“Maybe the Campfire Bear is really my Grampa.“
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About The Author
rdmonroe5
Lifelong NYS resident. Raised in Saranac Lake. Cornell graduate(ROTC). Army veteran, Airborne/Ranger qualified, 10th Mtn Div, stints in Honduras and with JTF VI. 3rd degree Black Belt; 3x cancer survivor; published writer with several featured stories in Adirondack Life Magazine. Residing in Watertown NY with wife Robin & our 3 adult children. Loving Life. Living in the Day I am in.
I think we know who wins the prize for most thoughtful Christmas gift!
Thanks, Richard, well done, love the illustrations.
GUARANTEED HIT!
Wonderful stories Ari will always treasure. Beautiful detailed illustrations that show a story within a story.
ADKO
You’re the best. Can’t wait to read this with my granddaughters!
Happy Thanksgiving
GunRod
Super cute story Dick. Your grand daughter is gonna love it.
Hi Pam! It’s great to hear from you. Thanks! I did one illustration a day. I’ve found drawing to be far harder than writing, though I feel like I’m starting to get the hang of it & develop my own style. Campfire Bears was the fourth of my self illustrated children’s book efforts. The 1st two, Elmo the Fish & Ari Rae’s Magic tree, I think the stories are solid, but my illustrations are, well, not great.
I think I really started to come into my own in terms of drawing illustrations with The Marmalade Cat. Then Campfire Bears built on that effort, I looked online and taught myself some drawing techniques, especially about cartoon faces and eyes. Since Campfire Bears, I am just now finishing the final illustration for my FIFTH (!!!) children’s book: “There’s Room in my Garden”. I’ve spent the better part of the last two weeks immersing myself in the mysterious world of drawing cartoon tomatoes, corn, squash, peas, pumpkins and carrots. I really enjoy doing these projects. Robin turns them into Shutterfly books & my granddaughter reads them over and over again. At least with the 1st 3 she does. I can’t wait to see her reaction when she sees these two under the tree come Christmas. One more note I wanted to share with you- I reactivated my Facebook page this past week. I needed to step away from all the noise post-election, as much to protect myself from all the things I might say as from all the things I did not want to read. Anyways, I culled down my friends list and am back there as I was. I missed interacting with the people I am closest to, you amongst them. Anyways, thanks for checking in. Happy Holidays!