WIY Media Kit
“I have been given a few different baby memory/keepsake books and this one is, by far, my favorite.”
Parenting has evolved. Baby books have not. Who Invited You? is ready for 2021.
It’s irreverent and sentimental. It’s made for really tired parents.
Who Invited You? is made for people who never filled out that other precious baby book. With brazen prompts and checkbox answers, it's designed to be easy. Do you play your baby like an air guitar? Items we had to fishhook out of your mouth? Food we dropped on your head while trying to hold you and eat? It’s a book for babies and parents . Every baby crawls and gets teeth, but you’re the one whose life just got drop-kicked.
BIO:
Khara Ledonne is an artist and mother of two. She grew up in the tree-hugging northwest, worked as a sign painter and muralist in NYC for 12 years, and escaped from New York with her lover on a leaky sailboat. On the way to Florida they got knocked up with their first child, and panic-moved back to the trees where she now lives and continues to work as a painter of multiple trades.
BOOK INFO & CONTACT:
Who Invited You?: An honest baby book for the first yearBy Khara LedonneISBN-13: 979-865041761343pp, full colorPublication Date June 22, 2020List Price: 19.99Available on AmazonSynopsis: A first year baby book for slobber-tired parents to catch real memories instead of dull milestones.Author/Illustrator Contact:Khara Ledonnekhara.ledonne[at]gmail[dot]com360.201.1097FAKE Press Release:
QUESTIONS:
What is your process?
Everything is written and illustrated by hand in ink and gouache, then scanned and formatted in GIMP (a freeware parallel of Photoshop). While it would have been more precise to do it all on a computer, I felt that the imperfections of hand-writing matched the intention of the book: reality over perfection!
How do you find time to write?
This project began just before Covid-19 smacked the nation. We were in lockdown with a baby & toddler, while my partner did grad school online, and I eeked out an income during the day. This book was made while the boogerballs slept. The paintings were done during rare miracles of simultaneous napping, and the rest was done at night after they went to bed.
What was your inspiration?
My inspiration for the content was everything I wish I’d had as a parent. Visually, our garden was the inspiration for the illustrations. We have a tiny yard with raised beds, and most of the paintings were done from life: Birth of a baby mimics the growth of a garden. Also, plants are dirty and wild, which really spoke to the style of parenting I wanted to capture.
What was the hardest part of the process?
Being isolated and being a novice to publishing made the process feel like stumbling alone in the dark. While I’m confident as an artist, I’m new to photo editing and formatting. Simple things, like how to upload a pdf with the correct dang margins, threw me into a tizzy of frustration.
Do you play your babies like an air guitar and stick cheerios to their foreheads?
Yes and yes. At least half of the book’s content was taken directly from our experience as a parents.
Do you have advice for mothers yearning to make creative projects?
Listen to the Artist/Mother podcast. Find or follow other artist/mothers who inspire you, so you don’t feel alone. Let yourself take baby steps. There will always be sleep regressions, dirty undies flying about, or spaghetti to make. If all you can do is one drawing or paragraph a week, that’s enough!
Where else can people find your work?
My first writing and illustration project was The Sea Blog, chronicling the mishaps of a novice learning to sail and live aboard for a year. After that came Animal BnB, a satire of the online hospitality industry and humans’ impact on the natural world. My miniatures and paintings are largely inspired by the cosmos and natural landscapes, and can all be found on at www.kharaledonne.com
BIO LONG VERSION: Khara Ledonne is an artist with two young sons and 20 years experience as a muralist and miniaturist. She grew up in the Pacific Northwest, where her first mural was featured in Seventeen magazine. After art school she and her student debt moved to NYC where she lived for 12 years, working as a sign-painter and muralist. Through Evergreene Architectural Arts she worked on the restoration of the Empire State Building and designed ceilings for the Hotel Atlantis in Dubai. She experimented with micro painting on the side and started making custom miniatures, which have been featured on Etsy and MyModernMet. Miniatures provided a portable profession which she could take on the leaky sailboat that she fixed up with her partner to escape from New York. They made it halfway down the east coast before becoming pregnant with their first child, which is chronicled in her first illustrated project, The Sea Blog. They panicked, sold the boat, and moved back to Washington where she currently lives. This is her first published book.