SCBWI & Los Angeles

Halloo folks,

This update is long overdue.

As it is each summer, the SCBWI LA Conference was a whirlwind of good friends, loads of fun, and creative inspiration.

There was much hanging out, doodling, and goofing off with these two lovely illustrators.

(With Maple Lam and Brooke Boynton Hughes)

There were lots of great patterns.

(With my first ever conference buddy, Kathy Ellen Davis, and Ashlyn Anstee)

 There were Mentees.
 

 (Pictured with Mentor, David Diaz)

There were costumes.

   (With Art Director, Laurent Linn, and Brooke Boynton Hughes)

There were cupcakes... and goofing off. Did I mention goofing off?

  (Mentees and friends celebrating birthdays)

There were so many incredible speakers.

    (Meg Rosoff)

   (Judy Schachner)

    (The stunning character bibles that Judy S. creates for each book.)

    (Marla Frazee and Allyn Johnston talking picture books.)

    (Editor, Justin Chanda, talked about Debbie Ohi's fab book.)

    (Aaron Becker sang to us.)

    (And shared sketches that didn't make it into Journey as well as a sneaky peek of Quest.)

    (All 1200 attendees skyped with Tomie dePaola, who was sick and couldn't come.)

    (And Judy Bloom inspired us to tears.)

There was even found-art inspiration lying around.

    (#kefreeart)

And after all of the inspiration and the conference was over, there was still more goofing off.

Yes, I said more.

The tree didn't seem amused. It was looking at something else.

And we may have gotten lost in a good book... er, books.
  

I left LA feeling recharged, with a sketchbook filled to the brim with all kinds of new ideas. As always, many thanks to the folks at SCBWI, the illustration board, and the faculty for an incredibly memorable conference.

Ever Onwards

Hey there blog readers,

It's been about two weeks since the conference, and I am just starting to feel settled back into normal life. Two days of jury duty didn't exactly help, but, regardless, it does alway takes a bit of time for me to readjust and remember where I left off. Since then, I've resumed work on my picture book project and have started fleshing out a few new ideas (that came out of the conference) for books.

As I've said in past posts, the conferences themselves can be both inspiring and overwhelming. When I finally board the train back to Brooklyn, I leave the conference center with my head spinning. It takes some time to filter all of the advice, the comments, and the new ideas and integrate them into my work. However, the SCBWI conferences consistently leave me wanting to keep working and striving towards making even better books and illustrations.

I showed this new piece in my portfolio, and I thought I'd share it. Thought it's a nugget of an idea for a longer story, it feels appropriate and relevant to what I'm talking about. Because now—post-conference—I'm taking the comments from the professionals with whom I spoke and from my peers, and I'm forging ahead, trying to do the thing I love best in the world. Ever onwards, ever upwards.

Doubt and Inspiration

Hey there blog readers,

I had a bit of inspiration tonight. After a long day, during which I went through approximately a ream of paper making completely unusable sketches--yes, unusable--I finally had a breakthrough on a story I've been working on. The manuscript clicked and the sketches started to make sense.

It felt a little like this:

And then, after a day of not getting things done and a long evening of productive work, I took a break to scan facebook (grooooan, I know) and listened to this:

 

It really struck a chord. 

It's Ira Glass (of This American Life fame, and if you've never heard of Ira or This American Life, stop right now and get thee to the website, browse the vault, and subscribe to the free podcast in the iTunes store this instant... I promise you won't regret it)... ahem, Ira Glass talking about people who tell stories and who do creative things. It really struck a chord. We all experience doubt about our choices, our careers, and the things we make, and in the  process of learning, we all make things that fall short and disappoint us. But, as Ira says so well, the best thing to do is to keep working, to keep at it, and to fight through it.

It feels good to look back at the day knowing that though the first stack of sketches wasn't what I had hoped for, I couldn't have produced tonight's drawings without all of that work. 

SCBWI Winter Conference Recap

Hey there everyone,

It has been a crazy, whirlwind, head-spinning sort of week and weekend. The head-spinning may have resulted from the all too dangerous combination of conference-overload and cold medicine. Yep, I got sick just in time for conference weekend. No worries, though. I powered through and came home with a journal full of inspiration.

My illustrator friends are scattered across the country, so SCBWI conferences have become a lovely sort of reunion. Two of my dear illustrator friends even bunked at my tiny apartment in Brooklyn.

 Pictured here with fellow Mentee, Maple Lam. (Photo courtesy of Debbie Ohi.)

The first day of the conference was the Illustrator Intensive, and it started with an amazing presentation by Shaun Tan. He told us, "You know an idea is great when it starts to tell you what to do."

He showed some of his incredible drawings, 

and he even signed a book for me!

Floyd Cooper not only gave a talk but did a piece right in front of us!

David Ezra Stein talked about his inner artist and inner critic. (Inner artist pictured below.)

The Brothers Hilts talked about their recently published book, The Insomniacs. Check it out, it's amazing. I loved what they had to say about books as a whole: "The book as object is the art. That's what's going to be in 1,000 tiny hands and seen by 1,000 tiny eyeballs."

After and between all of the amazing talks there was time to hang with illustrator and Mentor, David Diaz and my fellow Mentees.

(Photo courtesy of Debbie Ohi.)

I also got to hang out with the amazing gals from my Critique Group, Brooke Boynton-Hughes and Jessixa Bagley. 

Finally, at the end of the day, we browsed the Portfolio Showcase. There were over 200 portfolios! 

(Photo courtesy of Debbie Ohi.)

The next two days of conference were chock-full and jam-packed with workshops and lectures, and Mo Willems took off his shoe.

A major highlight of the weekend was the Illustrator Social on Saturday night. Tomie dePaola came as a surprise guest to chat and hang out with us. 

Another amazing moment was the announcement of the Portfolio Showcase winners. Among them were two friends.

Jessixa won runner-up!

 (Photo courtesy of Maple Lam.)

And fellow Mentee Andrea Offerman won the grand prize!

(Photo courtesy of Maple Lam.)

The Mentees spent loads of time hanging out together...

 (Photo courtesy of Debbie Ohi.)

especially in the hotel lobby.

 (Photo courtesy of Debbie Ohi.)

And later in Debbie's hotel room,

 (Photo courtesy of Debbie Ohi.)

we checked out Debbie's potato

(Photo courtesy of Maple Lam.)

and napped.

 (Photo courtesy of Debbie Ohi.)

It was an inspiring and exhausting entirely excellent weekend. Many thanks to Lin Oliver, Stephen Mooser, and the amazing staff at SCBWI.

Stay tuned for two additional upcoming conference-related posts, Mentee Monday and journal doodles.

May Memorials

Halloo there blog readers,

I posted earlier in the month about Maurice Sendak, but between stitches and life keeping me busy, I didn't have a chance to write about a couple of other May memorials. May was a sad month for the children's book community.

In addition to the loss of Maurice Sendak, on the 15th, Jean Craighead George passed away and on May 26th, Leo Dillon. 

Jean Craighead George (picture courtesy of Books of Wonder)

Not sure how many of you read Julie of the Wolves or My Side of the Mountain, but George was responsible for both of those titles and over 100 others. I remember reading My Side of the Mountain outside in my backyard. I was enchanted, pulled into Sam's world, where you could escape suburban and city problems. It was the kind of book I just couldn't put down. Imagine it! Living in a tree! In the woods! On your own!

I also remember reading Julie of the Wolves; Julie was required reading in school, but I also read it with my mom. When I was little, my sister and I would burrow up against my mom on her bed at night, and we would read together. Sometimes we would take turns reading from the book-of-the-week, others, my mom would read to us. (She also did voices!) Nights spent reading with my mother are some of my favorite childhood memories. There were a handful of special nighttime moments when we would come to the end of the chapter, and I would look at my mom, knowing it was already waaaay past bedtime. She would look back at the book and flip ahead counting the pages. "Well, just one more," she said before plunging back into the story. Pure magic.

Leo & Diane Dillon (picture courtesy of Books of Wonder)

I actually had the pleasure of meeting Leo Dillon last year at an event at Books of Wonder. He was an inspiration. I'll never forget how encouraging he was when I told him that this - illustration, writing, work for children - is my life's passion. With his wife, he illustrated over 100 titles, including my dog-eared version of A Wrinkle in Time. 

Maurice Sendak (picture courtesy of Books of Wonder)

Though so unbelievably sad, it comforts me to know that I will always be able to find all three of these children's book greats, pulling Where the Wild Things Are or Why Mosquitos Buzz in People's Ears from my bookshelf or curling up with My Side of the Mountain.

Chomp

Halloo everyone,

You might have heard the news already - one of the most influential illustrators in the world of children's illustration passed away today. Maurice Sendak inspired so many of us, igniting our imaginations and feeding our creative spirits. Where the Wild Things may just be the perfect picture book. I, for one, remember the first time I heard those delicious words, Let the wild rumpus begin. Pure magic.

But rather than provide my own longwinded obit (there are plenty already out there), in honor of Mr. Sendak, I give you some new work, a giant alligator who may or may not end up eating someone. (The manuscript for Randall and Euphoria Jones' adventure is still in progress, and that naughty plot twist has yet to be determined...)

RIP Maurice Sendak

2012

New Years resolutions stress me out. I just don't like them. Whether it was trying to get organized, exercising more, or eliminating m&ms from my diet, January's well-intentioned resolution often became December's guilt trip. Rather than continuing to fall into an inevitable cycle of December angst, I decided not to make any more annual resolutions.

While I have stuck to my resolution against making resolutions, I do, however, think it's valuable to have goals and high hopes. So this year, I made a list of hopes for 2012. Rather than pressuring myself to be someone I'm not or do something that will make my stomach lurch with guilt come December, I did a little journal doodle about angst-free things for the new year.

And I can say with certainty that the year is looking like a happy and hope-filled one.

SCBWI

Hey there, folks!

It was a crazy, exciting, whirlwind of a weekend. It was SCBWI's (Society for Children's Book Writers and Illustrators) annual winter conference in NY, and I decided to check it out this year.

Read on for photos from the weekend, conference-inspired doodles, and more!

The weekend started out incredible and continued to astound me day after day, panel after panel. Friday was the illustrator intensive, featuring workshops all about digital media and the possibilities and potential new media holds for illustrators interested in children's publishing. It was an amazing series of panels organized by one of my favorite people in the universe, Pat Cummings (far right in the photo below... Pat is not only a widely published children's writer and illustrator, she's also my advisor) and by Cecilia Yung, a veritable force of nature in the publishing industry. Cecilia (far left in the photo below) is not only a board member at SCBWI, but also an Art Director and Vice President of G.P. Putnam & Sons and Philomel, imprints at Penguin.

Saturday was similarly action-packed. We started off with a keynote address by Lois Lowry. Lois Lowry!!

If you haven't read The Giver or Number the Stars or Anastasia Krupnik, you should head to the nearest book store or log onto Amazon RIGHT NOW. Your twelve-year-old-self will thank you. Not only was her address inspiring and interesting, but it was really funny. She shared a number of letters that kids have sent her over the years. A couple favorites:

After Lois Lowry, the day continued with a star-studded faculty list. The following panel, about creating and recreating the picture book, featured Jane Yolen, Mark Teague, and Patricia Lee Gauch. Again, if you have never of these folks, do fix that. Jane Yolen, a former Smithie, is a prolific children's writer; Mark Teague, a kids' book illustrator with a great sense of humor; and Patricia Lee Gauch, another force of nature in the publishing industry who has perspective from both sides of the editor's desk.

During the day there were a number of break-out workshop sessions with individual art directors, editors, and agents. Later, however, we heard from two more of the greats, R.L. Stein...

and Jules Feiffer.

Sunday was a shorter day, but still action packed, with a really thoughtful and honest keynote by Sara Zarr, a newer author of children's fiction.

"They say, write the book you want to read. I'm going to give the speech that I need to hear," she began. "The time between when you're no longer a beginner but have yet to break into the business is probably the hardest in your career. Your greatest creation is your creatie life. It's all in your hands. Rejection can't take it away; reviews can't take it away. The life you create for yourself as an artist may be the only thing that's really yours. Create a life you can center yourself in calmly as you wait for your work to grow." (vaguely paraphrased)

After a panel on humor with Mo Willems, Lenore Look, and Marvin Terban, Linda Sue Park was our final speaker for the day. She is also another new-ish author who I am not as familiar with, but after hearing her speak, I will definitely be checking out her books.

I came away from the weekend with pages of notes,

some really excellent advice from a talented group of people, a small head cold, a whole bunch of silly doodles (including but not limited to the following...),

and a whole bunch of inspiration.

And on that note, of to the studio I go!