If so what do you do to seek help when tackling a very tough art project?  I am a great artist but I am trying new things and they just are not working out.  I have these images in my head and I just can't seem to get them on to paper.

As some of you know I have been writing children's stories that I need to illiterate.  They are about unicorns and fairies.  I am usually great at drawing fairies.  The problem is I have always drawn young maiden fairies, either nude or in long flowing gowns with long hair.  But the character in my story, Fay, is not a young maiden, but a young girl.

I see her as about 7 years old with brown shoulder length hair in a short summer dress.  I can't seem to get it right.  As soon as I figured her head was good enough I had problems getting the legs to look right below the hem of her little dress. They looked thick and too short.   To be honest her whole torso looked to short.  

I have only ever drawn children once or twice, one was a little angel.  She turned out ok but I meant for her to look about five and she looks eight.  I drew that one as forward facing picture, I need to draw Fay from the side and keep screwing up the profile of her forehead, legs, and feet.   I just can't seem to get my muses to cooperate to night.  I expected the face and hands to be hardest (i have a hard time with hands) but I can't even get the length of her legs right to night.

My muses just don't seem to speak to me as often as they use to.  And I can't really force myself to draw because it ends up looking horrible.  How do you create a master piece when the muses are silent?  Are there any herbs or scents to inspire creativity?  Some incantation to call on the muses?  Any thing of the sort?  I really want to get this done, it really means a lot to me to finish at least one of my books and get it published!  I think it would be a wonderful contribution to children every where and would most certainly be good for me.  But the harder I try to more I seem to screw it up.

you might want to search through images to find a frame you like, then use a projector to get your basic shape down, fill in details as you'd like them

I remember using magazines to help refine my drawings of women years ago.  I used the ladies in the magazines as models to help get the exact proportions of their faces and bodies right.  Maybe I should buy a issue or two of parenting magazines to learn to draw kids?

I am not an artist, but I do notice when I'm drawing that girls have straight waists not curved, their faces can be chubby or thin depending on the image that you want to portray, but I think that in order to perceive that they're young you may want to make their eyes bigger though still almond shaped(??) to make them look more like fairies.  And I think that fairies, girls or young maidens have slender legs, so I wouldn't try to make the legs look child-like, the rest of the image should take care of that.
I couldn't find any spells here for creativity though when I searched google, there were some.  I would search for a spell and use what is right for you.  
Hope this helps..
                           marigold

Indigo,

The idea of RealEyez is good as well as your follow-up.  Something else worth looking into is the "How to Draw" books usually found in the children's section of your local library.

As for spells, scents, etc. I would suggest meditation on the image of the girl you want to draw.  Whatever you do to setup a workable meditation, do that.  Light whatever inscence you normally would light.  If you play music for meditation, play that.  Once the inspiration strikes keep everthing else going (inscence, music, etc.) while attempting to draw the image you have been meditating on.

Ooh, ooh, ooh, I know the perfect incense for you...It's put out by a Houstonian lady who started from her home.  The company is called Raven's Nest (I believe that's the web address as well), and the incense is called Fairy Garden.  I am in love with many of her fragrances.  If that incense doesn't inspire a few woodland muses, I don't know much else that will.  

Thanks for all the good ideas every one.  I have some free time tomorrow afternoon so I might try again.  Maybe all I need is a good nights sleep.  If not there should be something I can do to get my muses singing again.

Try meditating about your pictures.  Maybe the reason your muses are not working as you think, is you are blocking them.............clear your mind, meditate and it will come to you.......take a break,  let it flow, ask them to guide your hands to draw the child.
You are uptight about it I can tell from your posting.  You need to relax and let it flow, it will come when the time is right.  You have a blockage right now with your muses, you need to open it back up.......you need to relax sweetie.............

I just finished recovering all my dinning room chairs, I was having a problem at one time, then I relaxed and things went better........I finished them.............
When we try too hard, it blocks it, relax and let it flow.....................

LadyFae

I did it.  I managed to draw a child's face in profile.  It was so easy I could have kicked myself once I figured it out.  The trick was to shorten the face from the nose to the chin.  But then I started to run out of time so wasn't able to get it perfect, but it is a start.  A little practice should be enough to make the rest of the body fit the face.  I screwed up and made all her limbs to short so it looks more like a 5-year-old than a 7-year-old.  And once I have practiced the face a bit more I need to work on hands.  That is something else I have trouble with.  The trick with those until now was to draw maidens with long, flowing sleeves that his all but the tips of their fingers.  Or to draw them with their hands behind their backs.

One of my jobs offered me full time work so I quit the other one.  With just one job a day maybe I'll have more time to work on my art.  I know that at least I'll be happier, Wendy's was an absolute hell hole.  and by the time I had work 3-4 hours their then 5-8 hours at the BP I was often to tired to do much of anything when I got home at night.  Much less work on a frustrating art project.

My Muses are singing again!  About a week or two ago I had a major breakthrough drawing Fay.  Then yesterday I managed to draw a wonderful image of my unicorn Pearl.  The best thing, today I managed to draw an entire scene out of one of the stories.  Using a perspective I had never attempted before.  It worked beautifully.  I am really excited!

Just had good news from my unicorn oracle cards.  I asked weather or not my book would sale well enough to quite my day job some day.  One of the cards I drew said a happy surprise was about to come my way.   Then I was going trough them preparing to put them up and I noticed one was upside down.  I strive to keep them all the same way so this was odd.  The upside down one? let go of stress.  Then a bit further though the deck one was faceing me!  That one?  Creative; draw,paint,think,and act in creative ways    (bounce)

You can buy little wooden models at the local hobby stores.  They have them in male, female and child sizes.  

I like using playdough to create a 3-D model to use when drawing characters that change position.  I put it in a bag so it doesn't dry out between uses.  It is advantageous as you can change the position and see different views.  

Use a glob of playdough for a base and a small dow rod sticking up out of the center (I use barbeque skewers cut to length) insert the model onto the dow so it will be upright.  Then you can change the angle of the legs and arms to represent the different angles of motion you wish to capture.  It really is helpful in the depth perception as well as the appendage proportions of your 2-D image as you draw it.

You will want to create it a bit small, no more than 4 inches tall or the weight of the playdough makes the legs fall off.  

The only hazard is children in the vicinity who love to enhance your work!

Another thing you might want to try for inspiration is going to a play ground. What better place to be inspired to draw children than at a place where there are all those smiles and good energy