Catching Up and News

Hi all,

Clearly I took a bit of a break from blogging. Just a quick reminder that while I don't necessarily post here very often, I do regularly post tons of sketches and artwork (and pictures of my cat...) on Instagram @lisa.anchin. Here's just a small sample from my feed:


It was a busy end to 2015 and start to 2016. I spent much of the fall and winter holed up in the studio, working on what was then a super secret project, but which was officially announced in February in Publishers Weekly's Rights Reports.


As soon as I can share images or process work, I will. It was such a fun project to work on, and last week I turned in the final piece of artwork. It was a mad dash to the finish line, but it's all done. (Many thanks to Orli Zuravicky, Patti Ann Harris, and Doan Buu at Scholastic for their tireless and amazing work.)

And this week, I did an interview over on the Cynsations blog about this little guy

who was a finalist (!!!!) in SCBWI's Illustrator Showcase at the Bologna Book Fair. You can check out a the list of the other winners and finalists on SCBWI's Big Winners and Shortlist page. I am incredibly honored to be featured among such a talented group of artists. (A huge thank you to Angela Cerrito and Chris Cheng.)

Hanging around

It's a lazy sort of Saturday, perfect for just hanging around. Hope everyone is enjoying the lovely weather!

Happy and Bright

Wishing everyone eight days of brightly burning candles, more latkes than a person should really eat, and dreidels that all come up gimel.

Autumn...

...is my favorite.

Three Weeks, Five Pieces

Hey there blog readers,

Thanks for all of the kind messages and good wishes sent in the last few weeks. It's been a crazy and hard month.

It's also been a little nutty because, once again, I'm gearing up for SCBWI's summer conference in Los Angeles. Over the last slightly-less-than-three-weeks, I hibernated in my little studio and finished five new pieces for my portfolio. Whew. And now it's time for all of the last minute running around, pasting, taping, printing, and packing.

Well, ready or not, here I come.

Rhinoceradical

Hey there blog readers,

Yesterday was a very productive day. Not only did I send out all of the finished artwork for the penguin book I've been working on, but I also rescued an earthworm, started making my first batch of homemade ice-cream, worked on two new portfolio pieces, and found my way into the NY Times.

I posted it to other forms of social media, but I was woken up—in perhaps one of the best ways possible—by a text message from my mother, "YOU'RE IN THE NY TIMES!!!!!!!" I made it into the Metropolitan Diaries section of the paper. (If you're not familiar with it, it's a Monday paper MUST-READ. It contains little stories of NYC and often provides a much-needed Monday morning smile.)

Yesterday, the Metropolitan Diaries... next, who knows? Maybe the Book Review? Ever upwards and onwards.

And in that same vein of ever onwards, after wrapping up the penguins, I've been prepping my portfolio for this summer's SCBWI conference.

In the past few weeks, I've been doodling, not penguins, but a rhinoceros. Herds and stampedes of rhinoceroses. Rhinoceri? Rhinoceroose?

Rhinoceradical for sure.

Nearly-Summer Fun

Wherever you are, dear blog-readers, I hope the weather is as delightful as it is in Brooklyn today. And I hope you're outside enjoying it.

Far off Places

Hey there folks,

It's April! It's Spring!

Sort of...

The cold weather seems to be holding on, reluctant to make way for warmer days. I don't know about you, but I have been dreaming nonstop of warmer weather and far off places.

What's it to you?

Today's color warm-up might just have an attitude problem.

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.

The Difficulty of Defining Goals

This month over on the KidLit blog, we're talking about goals. I've been attempting to write my post for the past week and have deleted more first paragraphs than I would have thought possible. Allow me to explain.

Most folks in the field of children's illustration will tell you that their ultimate end goal is publishing a book. I do want to acknowledge that, yes, of course, I'd love to publish any of my books, but I have a lot of trouble thinking about publication as an actual goal. When you define your goal as publishing, you essentially place your hopes and hard work in the hands of sales departments, "the market", and an industry, which, though it strives daily to create excellent content for children, is still an industry, and by definition, concerned with the production of commercial goods.

I can only speak for myself, but, as an illustrator and writer, my goals are about my craft. I want to learn as much as I can about illustration and storytelling and spend each day experimenting with words, composition, character, color, and line. While I do hope to publish someday, I cannot control what someone else will think about my work. I can, however, strive to tell the best stories I possibly can. It's a subtle distinction, but to me, it seems a very important one. 

Fellow kidlit blogger, Jen Betton, and I were talking about this post, and she summed up what I was trying to say rather succinctly. "Publishing isn't your end goal, but rather storytelling is. Publishing is the secondary—important, but secondary—reward to telling an awesome story."

Long term objectives are great; I cannot wait until I can walk into a bookstore and find books by all of my talented illustrator colleagues and friends. However, it is really important to take pleasure in the work itself and in the process of getting there.

Good News

Hey there blog readers,

Like most folks, I have doubts now and then. It's all too easy succumb to the worry and anxiety, but every once in a while, someone or something reminds me that it's all going to work out fine.

And today, dear blog readers, today I have some brand-spanking-new, career-affirming news.

 I just signed on to my VERY FIRST official FOR-REAL-DEAL picture book project!! (Weeeee!!! Jumping up and down in the studio!) I'm illustrating a manuscript for Sleeping Bear Press. While I can't say much more about the project yet, I wanted to share the news with a handful of sketches. Because you may be seeing many more like these...

SVA, Pinocchio, and new work!

Hey there everyone,

Exciting things afoot. The School of Visual Arts' Illustration as Visual Essay program is turning 30 this year, and the department is celebrating with a massive exhibition this fall. Alums of the program were recently asked to send in all of the things we've been working on since graduation - tear sheets from newspaper and magazine illustrations, published or self-published books and comics, products, fine art, etc., so I popped into the department yesterday to say hi and drop off a few small things.

In addition to asking for published work, the department put out a call for anyone who wanted to play. One of our fab faculty members (and local italophile), Carl Titolo, brought 100 small wooden Pinocchios back from Italy. Using the Pinocchio as reference, we were challenged to create a drawing, painting, or story in an 8"x8" piece.

If you'd like to see for scale, here's Pinocchio hanging out in my studio.

Usually I play around for a while with compositions and scenes, but for this project, I had an idea immediately. As soon as I saw the little Pinocchio, I knew what I wanted to do. 

I started out with a few warm-up sketches of Pinocchio. 

And then moved on to a marionette character that I actually came up with years ago. I refreshed my memory of her proportions and updated her a bit.

I did a few rough thumbnails and sketches.

And came up with this sketch...

...which after a bit of tweaking and cropping to make it more dynamic, finished up like so:

In the fall, the department will post all of the submitted pieces on their blog and Facbeook page. I can't wait to see what fellow alums came up with!

The exhibit opens in November, and I'll update with dates and more info later in the year. Stay tuned!

Happy New Year!

Hey there, party people,

It was a big, fantastic, fun, filled-to-the-brim sort of year here. It's hard to believe that 2013 is nearing a close. But old years end, and new ones fly in, whizzing and spinning with the unknown. And I will be greeting this one with friends and fizzy drinks and fireworks. 

Wishing all of you a bright, sparkling end to the year, and may your 2014 be chockfull of stupendous, extraordinary things!

Happiness is...

Hey there blog readers,

I know it's been ages since I posted new work. It's been a busy fall... and winter. Right, it's December. Yeep! When did that happen?

I say busy, but I also mean excellent. Life has been completely and totally swell of late. After the wedding (currently working on a post about that...), there was a trip to New Orleans for illustrator fun times, the holiday mishmash that was Thanksgivukkah (I'm sad I won't get to use this word again for several decades), prepping for and moderating the SCBWI illustrator panel last week, jobs (right, work), family whatnot, holiday things, and a whoooole lot of drawing and painting (including two new dummies!). Yep, all in all, it has been pretty grand.

Since things have been so happy and excellent of late, I wanted to share a little piece that makes me grin like a fool from dummy #1. For those of you who are illustrators, if you're like me, you mimic the faces of your characters as you draw them. Frequently when working I take photobooth pictures and keep a mirror handy, not just to check out my ridiculous mug, but to really nail the emotion of the character. Making this piece was an incredibly fun and joyful experience. I couldn't help smiling.

Happiness is...

Summertime Magic

Hey folks,

I hope all of you have had your fill of watermelon, beach visits, outdoor movies, ice-pops, picnics and chasing fireflies across the lawn. It's the 1st of September, and fall is on it's way.

Enjoy your long weekend and soak up these last days of summer!

California Bound

And I'm off... wish me luck, folks.

See you in a few weeks, NY. LA, here I come!

Also...

Also, a duck.

Oof July...

Hey there blog readers!

It's been ages, I know. Things get all kinds of crazy around here in the summertime, and this year is no different. July was particularly nutty, filled with personal-life things—a dear friend's wedding, the birthday of my spouse-to-be, a full-day illustrator boot camp (this one, not as an attendee... I planned this particular mini-conference), going-away lunches, a couple of visits to friends and family in other states, and, of course, looooads of work - hand-lettering, wedding invitation design, new paintings, manuscript edits, book dummy revisions, book designs, and sketch after sketch after sketch. Whew. I'm tired just thinking about all of it.

Most of the book-related work, as has been the case for the last two Julys, was prep for the annual SCBWI Conference in LA. You remember which one.

So, with the clock ticking down, I'm adding finishing touches, printing the last pieces out, and dusting off my portfolio.

Time to put that best foot forward.

Yep, more chickens...

It seems that we're starting to hit critical mass. This isn't just a handful of chickens anymore, so let's recap...

Thus far, we've seen a coopful, a sketchbookful, and a yardful of chickens.

Now, what would you say to a bedful?