While most people avoid clutter, Steven Reddy loves it, and what’s more, he loves to draw it. He wants to make people look not once but twice.
“I always thought in the back of my mind, ‘Eventually I’ll make a book,’” he said. “I’ve got over 60 sketchbooks, and I thought, ‘There must be enough material in here that I [could pull] my best work to make a book.”
Those 60 sketchbooks often depict everyday scenes, from a house down the street to a cluttered studio space.
The Magnolia artist has created a Kickstarter campaign to raise money to transform 35 years of sketches into a book titled “Now Where Was I? A Sketchbook Memoir.”
Creating the book
Reddy hopes to raise $12,900 on the crowd-sourced funding website to print his book and distribute it on Amazon.
After getting a degree in art from the University of Oregon, Reddy took a detour and taught fourth and fifth grades at Magnolia’s Lawton Elementary School for 15 years. Even then, he would incorporate art into many of his lessons.
Two years ago, his high school art teacher contacted him and invited him to teach oral English in China. So Reddy was off, teaching and sketching for a year in Asia. There, he connected with urban sketchers in Bangkok and Singapore and was invited to participate in the book “An Illustrated Journey.”
This is my chapter, he says, pointing to the page split between sketch and text.
“This kind of gives you an idea what my new book will look like,” he said.
Reddy is often searching for a book that combines memoir, art, how-to and a little something about the artist. When he couldn’t find what he was looking for, he decided to create it.
There are three parts to Reddy’s book. There’s the sketches; a detailed annotation accompanying the text to describe the medium, location and any stories that go along with the art; and the final component: a memoir.
“The very first consideration is the quality of the drawings,” he said. “Then the second consideration is how it fits into the story arch. I want there to be a narrative.”
For the book, he’s compiling the drawings to tell the stories of his life, his travels and his journey through maturity and coming into his own, as a person and an artist.
“It’s the kind of book that I would want to read,” he said.
Reddy sketches on site in pen and ink, then goes back later to add color with watercolors. A typical sketch will take him between two and four hours.
While most people would find beauty in a sailboat and sketch it, Reddy would rather draw “all the junk that sits beside” the boat. He loves going to vintage malls, workshops and studios to draw all of the little details piled up in the corners of rooms.
He recently went on a sketching outing with fellow artists in Edmonds. Everyone else focused their attention on the docks, boats and buildings, but Reddy perched on a corner and drew a phone booth instead.
The Kickstarter campaign
While freeing, independently publishing a book isn’t cheap, so that’s where Kickstarter comes in. Reddy created his campaign to pay for printing and production costs. Kickstarter is democratizing, Reddy said: It’s for the little guy, and it promotes the arts.
“I like the idea that only people who would be interested in this kind of project contribute,” he said.
In the Kickstarter format, different pledge levels receive gifts, specified by the creator. The gift for Reddy’s highest pledge amount ($1,000) promises that he will travel anywhere in the United States to sketch the donor’s workplace or home and then include it in the book. He recently received his first $1,000 donation and will travel to Connecticut this fall to do the sketch.
Copies of his book are Reddy’s most popular incentives.
“It’s important to remember that Kickstarter is not a store; it’s not a place to buy things,” Reddy said. “You’re really doing it to support the artist.”
The key with the Kickstarter campaign is to set the amount to cover expenses but not too far beyond what you can expect to raise. The response has been good so far.
“There was an initial burst where all of my friends and family [donated], and then once they’ve pledged, it’s like, ‘Cool, now I’ve got to work a little harder,’” he said.
Even though he plans to distribute on Amazon, Reddy is still sending his book to traditional publishers, to see what they’ll offer. A traditional publisher has the benefit of an established distribution network and promotion, Reddy said, but they also pay less.
A part of the community
After spending 15 years as a teacher in Magnolia, Reddy has gotten to know a lot of the community. He doesn’t leave his house without running into former students and their parents.
“I’m proud of having been a teacher for so long,” he said. “And I [left] it reluctantly.”
Laura van Horne’s son Simon, 8, was in Reddy’s class previously and again when he came back to teach second grade this year. Van Horne volunteered in the classroom and saw that Reddy was “so passionate about art, he lives and breathes [it].”
Simon didn’t like school, but after a year with Reddy, he loves it, she said. For Simon’s birthday this year, van Horne commissioned a sketch of all of his favorite toys drawn by his favorite teacher.
Even though he’s using 35 years worth of sketches, Reddy said he will have plenty for another book after this one. He usually creates three or four sketches each week.
“I’m a drawing machine,” he said.
When he left his job as a teacher to pursue art, it was a risk, Reddy said, to leave behind the benefits and the security of a steady paycheck. As soon as he did, things started to come together; now, he teaches art multiple places in Magnolia and throughout Seattle. He’s teaching a group of Magnolia mothers in a six-week drawing class that van Horne is participating in.
Van Horne has already donated to Reddy’s project.
“I really hope it works out for him,” she said. “I hope he raises enough and gets his book out.”
Reddy also gets commissioned work, like van Horne’s toy drawing.
“It’s been nice how all of these elements have come together to support this chance that I’ve taken,” he said. “That’s really gratifying.”
For more information on Reddy’s Kickstarter project, visit www.kickstarter.com/projects/492806857/now-where-was-i-a-sketchbook-memoir.
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