Calculated Chaos Week
5 days of play, planning & prep.
After months of pre-planning, sketching, and revising you get that magical note in your inbox: “You can move on to final art!”
You celebrate!
You panic.
So to ward off the doom of a never-ending to-do list, and to settle the nerves of making that first spread (for a book that will be seen and published AH!) I invented CALCULATED CHAOS WEEK! :
It’s a week to prep, play, and plan, before you start final art for a picture book.
It’s meant to be messy and fun, experimental but purposeful.
It’s time constricted for a reason, and four books in, it’s become my favorite, most essential kick-off tradition.
So today, I’ll share what that looks like. We’ll look at the materials I use, how I plan the week, and what I want on hand (and decided) at the end of 5 days.
5 Days of Calculated Chaos at a glance:
Day 1-2: PLAY
Gather what you have
Make notes
Play with something new