Protecting the child’s inner vision

      In this blog post I would like to discuss children and how much we tend to do or not to do in fact to preserve their inner vision. Surely no one would intentionally physically blind their child! Most of us love our children and want the best for them but few of us know how important it is to cultivate our children’s inner vision. I mean of course their ability to see the magical colors that only the soul can discern and see. This can surely best be achieved by letting the child get in touch with enchanting stories and tastefully illustrated fairytales.

     Now the truth is that the aesthetic of television often serves exactly the opposite. It promotes blindness in every possible way; it blinds our mind to the truth and our soul to beauty and unfortunately also distorts our natural taste and makes us addicts to ugliness. I would like to ask each and every one of the parents out there to protect their children’s sensitivity and not only see to it that they are provided with an education – sometimes somewhat superficial – but also to cultivate the child’s psyche by giving him or her the means to discover a universe of beauty that only great literature and art can offer.

     Now is our chance to give our children wings and preserve the freedom with which they are naturally endowed!

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Kids Corner

Welcome to our Kids Corner.  Available soon will be an entire collection of wonderfully written and colorfully illustrated stories that will allow children’s imagination to grow and prosper. …

Source: Kids Corner

Mixing colors in books

In my previous post I mentioned that a writer using the colors that the soul can absorb has an advantage when compared to colorblind writers. A story with distinct colors has the advantage of a colored illustration compared with a black and white image or one created by an artist using shades of grey.

In this post I would like to emphasize that a writer mixes soul colors in his book the same way a painter mixes colors in his palette. The procedure is simple: at first one must determine which symbols help express the specific colors and then mix them in his story. Purple as a soul color can be expressed using symbols like toys, candies, colorful buildings, ballerinas, clowns, flamboyant paradise birds etc; red color can be expressed with ironsmiths, volcanoes, hunchbacked jesters, imposing castles, dwarfs, giants etc; blue color can be expressed with crystal, deep lakes, white birds, personified winds, unicorns etc.

By mixing certain symbols in a clever way the writer can achieve the exact hue he desires in his story and thus produce maximum effect through his work. The key to determining which symbol best produces a soul color is practice in recognizing colors in great artists work. The “Dance of the sugar plum fairy” in music, certain paintings of Mark Chagall like “The juggler” as well as “Midsummer night dream” of William Shakespeare are good examples of blue and purple hues while “Macbeth” is of course dark red. Of course opinions and tastes may vary when it comes to expressing different colors, but the truth is that art without soul colors is completely devoid of true substance.

Colors in writing

Today I would like to talk about the importance of colors when writing a fairytale or a children’s book in general. When one thinks of colors, what comes in mind is the colors as we perceive them with our physical eyes. Of course physical colors are important to illustrators but very rarely we realize how important they are to writers. As an illustrator uses physical colors to paint a picture, so a writer will have maximum results when he is capable of using the colors that the  soul can absorb and feel.

It may seem strange to have someone speak of colors beyond those that we perceive with our eyes but it’s of great importance for the writer as well as the reader to realize what it means to use colors and even hues in a story. It’s sad really that so many writers become so involved in the plot that is the skeleton of the story or in the message that is its heart and they completely miss the value that a written work must bring to our inner vision which is actually the soul of the story itself.  If you download my books, you’ll probably notice that “The crystal knight” has a color closer to “The dewdrop child” that it has when compared with “Blabbermouth’s beard” or “Longarm’s bridge”. In the same way we can observe  that a humorous story has a brighter color than a horror story. A funny story is more yellow or orange than a horror story that could be dark red or black or a dreamy story that is purple or blue.

I will have more to say on the subject in a few days. Please don’t hesitate to ask about anything that seems unclear or leave a comment!

What my work is all about!

I feel the need to express in a few words what is the core of my illustrated stories. When it comes to books, I think the plot comes second. The most important element ,the soul of the story so to speak, is the atmosphere, the special magic contained  in each story.  If you take the time to see my illustrations, you ‘ll notice that each one is unique offering not only a visual interpretation of the story it intends to bring to life but also striving to be a  work of art on its own. While you are on the site look at the pictures and you’ll know that is one hundred per cent true.

New Illustrations

There are available many new illustrations that are not connected with any of my published books.  You can find them all on Dreamstime. They can be used in many occasions like Valentine’s day, birthdays and baby showers. My username is “Tzamalidafni”.

Why I started this site.

The reason I started this site is above all else my wanting to communicate in a very straightforward, clear way the concepts and the reasons that exist behind my art and push me to get better and perfect myself in what I do. I wish to illuminate the secret of creating magical stories that evolve around  the unexpected and the wonderful, but also stories  entertaining the reader and helping him improve himself in the most profound way.

The first secret that I’d like to impart is that I never concentrate on the message of the story but  build the plot  based on images centered on beauty and beauty alone instead. If you concentrate on the message you’ll end up resembling a teacher that everybody listens to but nobody really likes. If you center your stories around images and pictures that you have in your mind serving an aesthetic purpose, the result will be more rewarding by far and well worth the effort you ‘ve put into it.

That’s my first and most basic post but others will follow. So keep reading!