MEET THE ARTIST BEHIND THE KIDS COLORING CORNER
By VIVIAN LaMOORE, STAFF WRITER
Band member Janet Swierczek has been drawing since she was nine years old. As far back as she can remember, she has always had a pencil, crayon, marker, or pen in her hand and paper at the ready. "I need to draw. I am always drawing. I feel more comfortable when I am drawing," she said.
Swierczek is an Urban Band member “baby” Elder she said with a grin. One day while drawing, a character just appeared from Swierczek's vivid imagination. This character is a fashionable and adventurous young lady named Janet, of course. "She has brown skin like us," Swierczek said. "And she has my green eyes," she added with a chuckle and a grin. Janet first appeared in several self-published coloring and activity books in around 2011. What started out to be just doodling and drawing has now turned into her career and life-long passion. And Janet has become the main character in over 53 coloring and activity books.
Swierczek said she has never gone to art school to learn to draw, her talent comes naturally she said, "from the Lord. It's just who I am."
To figure out how Janet would look holding a pencil, crossing her arms, or walking, sitting, or moving in any way shape or form, Swierczek says she performs the actions herself in front of a mirror to figure out how to draw that particular action, such as crossing her arms in the photo on this page. "I just stare at the mirror — sometimes for a long time — but then I can just draw it," she said.
Janet, the character, has evolved a bit since the first coloring book was published. Janet is a recent high school graduate who gets a job as a waitress, but leads a secret life as a young private investigator who "takes down the bad guys," Swierczek said. This is the basis for a new comic book under the title of "Living a Secret Life" and hopefully someday a video game.
"I am still trying to figure out a lot of things in the story. I am not really a writer, that's why I am putting her adventures in a comic book," Swierczek said.
While Janet may be a make-believe character in coloring books and comic books, Swierczek takes her very seriously and has gone to great lengths to protect her brand by obtaining copyrights on all of the books. "In 2012 I went to the courthouse downtown to ask how to get a copyright. They sent me to the museum. A guy there was very helpful. He pointed me to the section of books and helped me figure out how to apply for the copyrights. He even helped me do it right there at the library," Swierczek said.
It is not a process that happens overnight and Swierczek said she was getting impatient and would call Washington DC quite often to ak about the copyright. "And then one day the guy on the phone said to me, 'Are you sitting down?' You know when someone says that it is usually not good news. But this time, it was. He said all of the books I had submitted have been approved for copyrights and I would be receiving notice in the mail. I was just so excited I am glad I was sitting down!" she exclaimed. To this day, Swierczek has each copyright letter laminated, framed, and hanging on her wall at her apartment.
Swierczek said she is not getting rich selling her books, but she is making a small profit. Her coloring books are available through Amazon and her website that can be found at www. janetscoloringbooks.com and follow her on Instagram @coloringbookgirljanet and Twitter at @Booksbyjanet.
Swierczek has incorporated Anishinaabe values in the coloring books and includes Ojibwe language in easy to read and color images found in the Inaajimowin on the Kids coloring corner section. See page 14 in this issue.
