2011 SCBWI LA Conference

Last weekend I attended the 4 day SCBWI 40th Annual Summer Conference in beautiful Los Angeles, California. It was a great conference filled with good times with good friends. I met a lot of great people like the cute boy on the plane who told me all about how cool Popeye is, awesome illustrators and writers....oh, and the handsome fireman I briefly talked to in the lobby. I knew going in that I wasn't going to be crazy note-taking girl like I was last year, and I wouldn't be doing 4 mega blog posts, but rather sum it all up here in one post because I need to get to work applying what I learned. It wasn't so much about the talking points as it was about soaking up the inspiration of being at an event surrounded by over 1300 children's writers and illustrators. It was a record turnout with folks from around the globe.

It was so wonderful meeting up with so many online friends, and friends from conferences past.

me, Linda Silvestri, Kelly Light, Casey Girard, Diandra Mae, Jim Hill

Kimberly Dwinell, Christina Barragan Forshay, Julia Shahin Collard, me, Jennifer Gray Olson

Congrats to wonderful friends who were Portfolio Showcase and Mentorship winners! ....Eliza Wheeler, Greg Pizzoli, John Deininger, Juana Martinez, and Christina Forshay!

Juana Martinez-Neal, Molly Idle, Debra Pehrson Haun, Linda Silvestri
at the 40 Winks Poolside Pajama Party!

I had a very helpful portfolio critique with Martha Rago, Executive Art Director, HarperCollins Children's Books. She pointed out which of my characters were working for her, and which were not. She also read through my first picture book dummy attempt in many years, and provided tips to improve my storytelling. I will need to take a writing course to better develop these skills.

On the last day of the conference, E.B. Lewis was kind enough to give me a portfolio critique, and he was so explicit about what many of my characters are missing, and pointed out which pieces had the quality he was looking for. This left my mind spinning as it was a complete 180 from what I was told in my critique last year. But, the more I digest his words the more I realize how right he is. He pointed me towards the works I have enjoyed creating most, where the process has been more a part of the work. His critique has had a profound effect on me. I haven't been able to think of much else since. It's like the blinders have been removed, and he has reminded me of my original intentions. For someone to look at your work, and say it could be better is a gift. It felt like Mr. E.B. Lewis looked inside my head, and knew what type of artist I want to be. For this, I thank him, dearly.

So my biggest take away from the conference is the status quo is not good enough. To take a line from Joss Whedon's Dr. Horrible, "...the status is not quo. The world is a mess, and I just need to rule it." Ok, well maybe not the whole world, but I, at least, need to rule my own art. We saw wonderful drawing and painting demonstrations from David Small, Jerry Pinkney, Denise Fleming, Kadir Nelson, Richard Jesse Watson, Marla Frazee, and Paul O. Zelinsky, which made me want to refocus on technique, and experiment with mark making and traditional painting again.

I have to admit, before the conference I was wondering why I was going to LA so soon again, but I walked away with the inspiration, focus, and direction that I was craving. Of course, knowing what to do, and applying it are two separate things. Now that the bar has been raised I've had a difficult weekend with my sketchbook. Paintings are due next month, and there are so many projects I want to do at the moment. But, a few drawings are starting to cooperate, and I feel the first pings of excitement of what they might turn out to be. Stay tuned.... this is still the beginning.

"If you don't jump, the wings never come." -Bruce Coville, LA SCBWI keynote speech

"You never know how what you do will ripple out into the world" -Bruce Coville

New business cards and postcards

 

Do these piggie cards make me look fat?

My new business cards arrived from Overnight Prints. I like this new colorful packaging they arrived in. They remind me of trading cards.

 Here is the front and backs of my new promo postcards. I was going to design them to be mailable, but I couldn't resist filling up the back with art. I also like the rounded corners, and I heard the rounded doesn't mail well. I'll be handing these out at the LA SCBWI Conference next week. I'm saving a few for promotional mailings after I find some nice envelopes.

HP Fangirl- Harry Potter Tribute Exhibition

Atelier acrylic on 8" x 8" birch wood board

Here's my submission to the Harry Potter Tribute Blog hosted by Gallery Nucleus, who has a spectacular show planned for July 09 - August 01, 2011. I was notified that my piece has been selected to be on the blog, and included in the exhibition! Check out the show flyer to see see all the amazing artists contributing works.....even new paintings from Mary Grandpré herself!

When I first started this traditional style of painting acrylics on birch wood panels, I listened to the Harry Potter audiobooks read by Jim Dale to accompany me through hours and hours of late night painting. It seemed fitting to honor the series with a tribute painting. I wanted to pay homage to the magic that every Harry Potter fan has felt through this series, with a little fangirl hugging her beloved Harry doll and Hedwig plush owl.

Final sketch, a quick color study in Photoshop, and the drawing on acrylic stained wood panel.

During the process I sand down some areas to reveal the woodgrain, and then spray it down with water to pop the grain back up again. It starts to feel more real for me as the paint sets farther into the wood, and the highlights are added.

I used a half inch birch board, and distressed the edges a bit.

*edit*

This piece sold at the show opening! 

Prints, Posters, and Canvas Prints are available in my shoppe.

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Indiana SCBWI Conference 2011

A few weeks ago I attended the Indiana SCBWI Conference. I was especially excited about this conference because of the Illustrator's Intensive with Clarion Books Senior Designer, Kerry Martin, where we had an assignment to complete before the conference. We were to complete 2-3 page spreads from Goldilocks & the 3 Bears. Text was only laid in for placement as we were told to concentrate on the illustrations.

Something clicked with me during this assignment. I feel like information from past conferences, picture book illustration books, helpful blogposts, etc. all started to make a bit more sense, and it was so fun to attempt to put it into practice. I've illustrated tons of Illustration Friday words, but to tackle an actual story was exactly what I needed to work on in order to focus on the storytelling. I enjoyed taking this story into my own world with the Goldilocks piggie, and somehow she ended up with a sidekick in my sketches. I had fun with the little details in Baby Bear's room, and I enjoyed pushing the expressions in the porridge scenes.

The night before the conference there was an Open Mic night where writers read a few minutes from their manuscript and received short, anonymous, written comments from the audience. Also, illustrators were allowed to display their portfolios for anonymous, written comments. It's helpful to read an envelope full of portfolio comments to see what pieces stood out, and which may not be working.

Saturday's sessions and breakouts were excellent!  Rebecca Kai Dotlich inspired us with how she became a full-time Poet and Children's Author, and emphasized how there are no excuses to not going after your dreams. She had many obstacles, and not the most ideal writing space, but she persevered.

If you ever have a chance to hear Lisa Yoskowitz and Mary Kole speak at a conference you must attend! Their energy filled the room! They both were very clear on what works and what doesn't during the First Looks session. The competition is intense out there, so bring your A game and be professional.

Many thanks to our excellent faculty for this conference.
Lisa Yoskowitz, Editor, Disney-Hyperion Books for Children
Mary Kole, Agent, Andrea Brown Literary Agency
Kerry Martin, Senior Designer, Clarion Books
Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Poet and Children’s Author

 

This was Kristi Valiant's first year organizing the conference and she did an absolutely amazing job! She put extra care into all the details, with our personalized schedules, yummy buffets, and a great overall event line-up. I can't wait until we get to meet up again in LA in just a couple months. Man, this year is really going fast!

Illustration Friday: Toy

Next month I'm excited to be attending the Indiana SCBWI conference. I'm now working on completing 2-3 page picture book page spreads for the Illustrator's Intensive with Kerry Martin. This tiny robot toy is a small part of one of my pages. He's only 1 inch tall in my final sketch. Since he worked for the IF topic, I threw some quick colors on him which may change after I figure out the rest of the page. Since I scanned in at 720dpi to enlarge him here I left my sketch lines more au natural instead of going through my usual Photoshop Photocopy step, which seemed too heavy for this little guy. I'm liking the softer sketch lines, and may try this for the full pages.

Dueling Banjo Pigs: Leprechaun Piggie

I was quite excited when The Sketchables asked me to be one of the guest bloggers filling in while Joy tends to her new little bundle of joy. I lucked out with getting the topic of pigs!

For Halloween, I had done a Vampire Banjo Pig, so March had me thinking shamrocks and leprechauns, and I began to wonder, just how does a leprechaun piggie earn all that gold?

For more great illustrations visit:
The Sketchables
Dueling Banjo Pigs

Illustration Friday: Chicken Layers Up

Here we see Spring Chicken layering up to face the return of winter. I started these pages when the IF word was 'sweater', and it helped inspire this part of the story. I haven't quite finished coloring and didn't star the shading & highlights yet, but wanted to get these up this week. Critiques are welcome as I'm still making adjustments.

See the previous Penguin vs. Chicken page here.

Illustration Friday: Reverse - Penguin Strikes Back

When last we saw our flightless rivals, Spring Chicken had decided he had had enough of Penguin's winter, and had successfully cleared away all of Penguin's white flakes.

Penguin was not about to give up so easily though, as you can see in this reverse play.

I've been working on picture book writing, but I thought these characters offered a nice opportunity to work on storytelling sequences through images. I've recently been more interested in comics and graphic novels, and wanted to try my hand at it, albeit be a wordless variety.

I don't think we can end this story with our chicken friend down. Penguin's days are numbered as Spring will triumph eventually. I've been feeling defeated by this year's harsh winter, but sunnier days will prevail. So, there may be another mini chapter in Penguin vs. Chicken.

Until then, you should check out the real deal comics over at The Illustrated Section, where the amazing Dani Jones has brought the works of numerous talented artists under one mega site!

Also, check out Abigail Halpin's brilliant new comic, A Thousand Cups of Coffee

and Jannie Ho's super fun Sketchbook Project comic.

The winner is....

I want to thank everyone who participated in the Will Terry 'How To Illustrate Children's Books' Giveaway!
And of course, big thanks to Will Terry for offering such a wonderful prize!

All the names went into the box......

and then there was a whole lot of shaking.
(Good thing I was wearing my wrist brace. ;P)

Our winner!!!
Congratulations Debbie Meyer!

Illustration Friday: Chicken vs Penguin

 This spring chicken says this winter penguin has overstayed his welcome. 

I already submitted some chicken sketches to Illustration Friday this week, but my contempt for this cold winter weather helped inspire another idea. Also, the extra inspiration came since thanks to Jannie Ho it's chicken week! Who wouldn't be inspired by chickens!

I'm thinking I might want to do more Chicken vs. Penguin illustrations. These arch enemies might make good adversaries.

There's also still time to put your name in for the Will Terry 'How To Illustrate Children's Books' Giveaway! Leave your comment on the Giveaway post to enter for your chance to win his 7 helpful video tutorials!

Will Terry 'How To Illustrate Children's Books' Giveaway!

GIVEAWAY!

When Will Terry contacted me about holding a giveaway of his video series on my blog I jumped with excitement! I had already viewed his sample video on Character Development, and found so many useful tips. I found myself wishing I had an instructor explain these concepts as clearly as Will does back in my college days.

Will Terry's "How to Illustrate Children's Books" video series includes 7 videos:

Lecture #1: Book Design
Lecture #2: Storytelling with Pictures
Lecture #3: Character Design
Lecture #4: Illustration Design
Lecture #5: Rendering
Lecture #6: Working with Color
Lecture #7: Success in the Marketplace

For a chance to win the entire series leave a comment on THIS post between now and midnight of Jan. 24th, 2011 and a winner will be chosen randomly on Jan. 25th. Please make sure I can link back to your site to find your email contact info.

Good luck and please help spread the word!

Illustration Friday: Chicken

I had to be sure to participate in this week's Illustration Friday since the super-chick-tastic Jannie Ho, aka, 'Chickengirl' suggested this week's topic, 'chicken'!!! It didn't take long to discover that chicks and chickens are really fun to draw. I noticed my chickens tend to stay egg-shaped, and I couldn't resist outfitting some in turtlenecks and pants. That fella on the top right is an especially big Chickengirl fan.

As I've had picture book writing on the brain and have been busy reading tons of children's books and books about how to write books for kids, some of these guys jumped right into my stacks of books and helped themselves to their favorite stories. I've decided to take on the Kidlitart Picture Book Dummy Challenge. So far, I have 1 very very rough draft finished, and the beginnings of a second story. Since I'm not interested in writing just any picture book, but an amazing spectacular one, it is an extreme challenge to study all the aspects of a great book. All the writing stuff is a bit overwhelming, so it was quite refreshing to pick up my sketchbook again to draw these chicks.

In other news, I'm hosting an exciting giveaway! See details on how to enter in the next post.