Typical Day
Nancy Draw wakes up at 8:45AM and leans over to turn off her Edward Gorey alarm clock. After groggily making her way to the bathroom in her Where the Wild Things Are PJs and "matching" Goofy slippers, she takes a hot shower to freshen up. She may be working from home, but she doesn't want to smell like it.
After a smart breakfast of granola (with a poorly-drawn raisin man on the front), she gets her creative juices flowing by drawing a few illustrations on the front of the box. She doodles a couple easy characters she's invented—she calls them Batty Banana and Miles Milktoast. Nancy doesn't know where they'll adventure with Craizin Raizin, but she knows it'll be a balanced breakfast when they get there.
At 10:00AM, her workday begins. Nancy puts illustrations with a few greeting card texts that she finds online and submits them in hopes that they'll be chosen and produced. This particular company allows for open submissions year-round, so Nancy openly submits on the reg.
She spends some time going through the online requests—it's usually a good idea to do some Googling to see which companies are looking for illustrations. Some only hire seasonally; others may suddenly be looking for new talent if they lose one of their regular illustrators.
Even though she likes to spend as much time as possible at the drawing board, she doesn't want to see opportunities slip by because she didn't feel like going online that minute.
By 11:30AM, the search engine is exhausted. Nancy puts in an hour on a personal project—a children's book written by a frien who asked her to illustrate it. The book is called The Selfish Shellfish, and is about a self-obsessed crab named Mortimer who must learn to share and get along with others. How great would it be to draw those cute little animals and get paid for it?
Okay, so maybe she'll get paid for it. The children's market is highly competitive, and children are the pickiest customers imaginable. But Nancy knows you don't get ahead in life by being shellfish (she read it in a book somewhere), so she always says yes to a friend in need.
Nancy leaves her apartment at 1:00PM to run some errands. First stop is an art store to pick up some supplies; she burns her way through colored pencils and ink pens pretty quickly, and she needs to stock back up on both.
On her way out of the store, she also makes an impulse purchase, buying a large Styrofoam ball and four yards of patterned cloth. She's not exactly sure what she's going to do with them, but she'll think of something.
After stopping at her favorite coffee shop for a bite and a pick-me-up, Nancy arrives at the Parkers' house at 2:30PM. The Parkers have commissioned her to create a mural on their daughter's bedroom wall. Nancy suggested doing a Disney scene (Nancy has what some might call an unhealthy Disney obsession), but little Tonia Parker is more of a Dora the Explorer kind of girl. Nancy will have to leave her biases at the door.
She spends three hours working on the mural, and ends up getting about a quarter of the way done. Nancy charges by the project rather than by the hour, so she's making sure to keep a steady pace. She might not have a firm time limit, but it has to be done before Tonia changes her mind about her favorite characters.
At 5:30PM she goes down to say good night to the Parkers. Or she tries to, but they counter with an invite to sit and eat with them. Tonia has even made placards so everyone knows where they're sitting (kids really know how to guilt you into staying). She's drawn the best Cinderella on Nancy's card that her six-year-old fingers could muster. Nancy gives her a major smile and high-five in return.
That said, she can't stop thinking about how the folds of Cinderella's dress are just slightly off. Curse of the artist.