Art Blog;
My First Havamal
06 February, 2024
My First Havamal is written by my Uncle, Victor Rivera, and illustrated by me! It’s a children’s edition of the Havamal, which is a book from the Prose Edda that contains the Wisdom of Odin, a Norse deity. It has good advice for kids, (or anyone, really,) about how to navigate some of the most common struggles of life, getting to know people, getting along, and how to live a good life. It’s a wonderful book that I am very proud to have worked on.
The Process
Starting work on My First Havamal was a slightly different experience from what I learned working on the Pig Charming book. It was my first time working on a project where I would not just be illustrating the book, but learning how to format books, a skill that would be incredibly useful in future projects. I felt nervous about taking on something this big and was anxious to absolutely dazzle my Uncle with my awesome skills. I started working on this project right as I was opening my Art business for the first time, and I took this project as my first foray into a future of professional work. Sometimes I think I did take myself, and the project a bit too seriously, which of course led to bouts of imposter syndrome and compulsive over-achievement. Everything about this project was unfamiliar and new, and I had to get to know myself as an artist in a brand-new context. I have learned a lot! I have skills I didn’t have before. I have a better understanding of my art and the art of illustration. And I have a brand-new relationship with myself and my work that I hope can carry me into my artistic future. 😀
The Havamal has gone through many more versions and concepts than my other projects. In a way, it reflects my own journey learning to think of myself as an artist, and learning how to conceptualize and complete bigger projects. It’s changed dimensions like five times (lol,). From concept art to the final version, you can also really see how much my art style has improved as well. This project was a growing project, and while I still have a lot to learn, (namely- marketing, the scourge of all creatives,) I feel like I’ve stepped from ancient experienced amateur artist to baby professional illustrator.
Concept Art
Starting out I knew a handful of things would impact the final result of the Havamal book. With the skills I had, I knew the style of the story would be limited. At some point, there were hurdles I’d have to overcome like learning about fonts, layouts, formatting, and cover design. But I knew I had enough skill to start, so I started with concept art!
I asked Victor a few things about what he thought he wanted the vibe of the story to be, and ultimately he said he trusted my artistic instincts to bring the story to life. He gave the script, and said, go ham. I’ve known a few artists who would love this amount of creative freedom. However I, (unfortunately for me, and yes, this is something I’m working on,) am a compulsive people pleaser. I found myself caught between the rock of wanting my project to be perfect and the hard place of thinking any idea I had on my own wouldn’t deliver a desirable result. A problem entirely invented by my own brain.
The design of the story is focused around the character of Odin himself, adapted for a children’s novel. We decided on a character that was childlike so kids could see themselves in the story more easily. Odin is known as a traveler, so many of the scenes show him on the road, passing through a new town, or meeting new people.
Rough Drafts
My First Havamal went through a lot of different renditions, changed dimensions a couple of times, etc, but the core concept for the pages stayed the same throughout. The story is centered around a few of Victor’s favorite pieces of advice from Odin’s Havamal. Each page illustrates an example of the advice given. Original designs like the fancy borders and square dimensions didn’t end up making it into the final draft. Maybe if I ever revisit this project, I’ll bring back some elements I find compelling, like the boat on the title page.
Final Drafts
The final drafts actually went through the most revisions because we changed the dimensions for the final book a few times before we settled on what we wanted. However, I think this ended up being better for the whole project in the long run because I got a chance to touch up old art. I can’t tell you how proud I was to look at the final pieces and really feel like I’d created something worth all the time and work I’d put into it. I could see how much I had improved, and it really is a project I’m proud of.
Cover
Concepts and final art. Victor and I talked often about how to include the symbols that represented Odin in the book, and I especially wanted to do that justice on the cover. I don’t know how the cover translates as a children’s book, and I don’t think we even thought about the target audience’s age, but I think it looks awesome. I would have wanted to pick it up off the shelf as a kid.
Kickstarter Swag
The Kickstarter is no longer live, and sadly, we were unable to meet our goal. We planned a lot of fun stuff for swag, too, including bookmarks, mobile wallpapers, and stickers. We also touched up the concept art as a cool print. Hopefully, I will be able to add these to my shop when I start working on it in April.
The hardest part of indie publishing is, of course, the ‘indie’ part. I have a lot to learn before I am even adept at running a social media account for a small business. I hope that in the future, I will be better equipped to help give my creative projects the wings they need to fly!
The Havamal is my first official children’s book. I am very proud of the work I’ve put into these pages, but I think I took on a lot with this project and all the other things I was trying to do at the same time. I have regrets about the way I managed my time, but have learned a lot about how I function and what I am actually good at. (I talk about tendonitis in Sir Oinkus – another project I was also working on at the same time.)
At the moment, we are working on getting the book posted on Amazon or possibly Lulu. I’ll update this post with a link and an update post when it becomes available!
