Campfire Bears

Posted On November 22, 2024

*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!

HAVE A HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

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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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