Part II - SCBWI & West Coast Travels: Seattle

And for the second half of my adventure...

After the conference, Brooke (a new Mentee!!! as well as friend and critique partner) and I flew up the coast to visit the amazingly talented Jessixa Bagley (the third member of our critique group), for a little illustrator fun time. We stayed with Jessixa and her husband, Aaron, also an incredible illustrator. (While we were there, we got a sneak peak of Jessixa's forthcoming picture book AND Aaron's graphic novel. It was pretty magical.)

The Bagleys have a dreamy apartment with a breathtaking view of downtown Seattle, the space needle, AND Mount Rainier. (I don't know about the rest of you, but I am definitely not used to seeing a city surrounded by mountains... and we're talking serious mountains - Rainier, the Olympic Range, and the Cascade Range! WHAT?! Crazytown.)

We had illustrator fun times hanging at the table and working on our projects.

Brooke, Jessixa, and I spent the better part of the time bouncing between cafes, drinking tea, eating pastry, and drawing.

Jessixa played tour-guide and took us to some breathtaking spots in her neighborhood and around the city.

We did some picnicking.

And had a whole bunch of fun.

(photo of Seattle shenanigans courtesy of Brooke Boynton Hughes)

And finally after four glorious days, my fiancé, Ezra, arrived, and the two of us had a lovely long weekend of hanging out and exploring.

There was roller derby,

Sidewalk poetry,

And even a giant sandwich.

Seattle is a magical, wondrous place.

Fin.

Part I - SCBWI & West Coast Travels: LA

Hey there blog readers,

It occurred to me today that August is nearly over. WHAT?! That's preposterous. I don't understand where the time goes. I had hoped to get this post up earlier, but between life, work, and wedding, things have been busy.

In any case, I spent two weeks on the west coast - one in LA for the annual SCBWI conference and one in Seattle, spent partially with my critique group and partially with my fiancé. The conference itself was a sleepless few days of information, inspiration, seeing old friends, and making new friends.

The main conference room

(photo courtesy of Debbie Ohi)

The weekend began with the inimitable Laurie Halse-Anderson, who said one of my favorite things of the whole weekend: "Books are proof that humans can do magic." YES!

From there, the four days passed in a whirlwind of words and pictures and creative inspiration. There were so many great moments, but here are just a handful of highlights.

I met Bruce Degen, who wrote one of the foundation picture books of my childhood. I don't know how many times my mother read it when my sister and I were little. Honestly, I can probably still recite most of it by heart.

Bruce Degen showing original art from Jamberry!!!

Mac Barnett talked about a whale; David Weisner talked about process and finding your stories with a sneak peak of his new picture book, Mr. Wuffles; my amazing agent, Joanna Volpe had brilliant things to say on the agent's panel; the fantastic Carson Ellis talked about her work; and Jarrett Krosoczka gave a light-the-fire-under-your-pants ending keynote. (I actually had the privilege of working at Jarrett's table during the autograph party. His work is super great, and you should absolutely check it out... he has a graphic novel series about a secret agent lunch lady!)

I got to spend some quality time with fellow Mentees--my tribe, and an unending source of support and inspiration--

Cozy Mentees around the fire.

(photo courtesy of Debbie Ohi)

Lunch time with the new Mentees! Congrats new Mentees!
(The new Mentees are amazing. You should definitely check out their work - Brooke Boynton Hughes, Andy Musser, Corinna Luyken, Linda Dorn, and Rodolfo Montalvo.)

(photo courtesy of my lovely mentor, Pat Cummings)

The Gala - pictured with Mentor, David Diaz; AD, Laurent Linn; and loads of fab Mentees 

(photo courtesy of Debbie Ohi)

And with my oldest SCBWI conference buddy, the inimitable Kathy Ellen Davis and Singe Singe.

(photo courtesy of Debbie Ohi)

It was an amazing bunch of days, and I'll end the post with words that I've held on to since coming back to NY. I seriously want to carve them into a wall in my studio... this is really at the heart of what I do. Jarrett Krosoczka concluded the final keynote of the weekend with these four words: Make magic. Preserve wonder. 

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?

Even more chickens...

And the final...

Chickens... again

Hey folks,

I've been working on a handful of new pieces. A while back I posted a painting with a whoooole bunch—let's say a coopful—of chickens. You can't tell in these particular sketches, but I've been drawing (and painting) chickens again. I like to work on the images even as I'm still playing with text (this story is still in the works), so I started doodling and sketching a few new characters based around that very first painting.

Prep sketches from my sketchbook:

 

Stay tuned for the finished painting...

Tea?

Good morning!

Tea anyone?

Character Development

Hey there blog readers,

I've been working on some character designs for a new story. I know I frequently say this, but seriously, this is the best part of the process. Character development is one of the earliest (and most fun!) parts of my process, during which I get to experiment and create the initial visual designs. It's a lot like a kid playing dress up, but instead of costumes, I'm trying different faces and bodies on all of the various characters in the story. I usually have a vague idea about the main character when I start writing, but there are always supporting characters that require hours of quiet doodling.

This first sketch was one of my initial concept designs, but it's followed by a number of new sketches.

 

Until next time!

Forward in 2013

Heya blog readers,

I realize that it's been a while since I've posted any of the freelance work for the Forward's column, InsideOut.

There have been some excellent articles by the prolific, Judy Brown, in recent months. Some of them are tough reads but absolutely worth it. Judy covers it all, from larger themes about body image and fear and the pressure to bear children to the more personal childhood fear of dogs, buying bras, and the devastation of miscarriages.

It's been extremely satisfying to work on a series where every illustration is entirely different. Each month is a new challenge; sometimes the images are more narrative and others more editorial.

You can check out the most recent articles here:

From February: An Old Dog's New Tricks
From March: Cracks in a Holy Vessel
     (The March article sparked a heated debate, and Judy issued a response here.)
And from April: Are You There Hashem? It's Me, Judy.

I'm currently working on the illustration for May's article, which is going to print after Memorial Day.

Tying the Knot

Hey there blog readers,

So, I haven't been talking about it much because it's still a ways off. And truthfully, every now and then, life gets crazy, and you (and by you, I do mean I) forget that there are awesome things coming up... like less than 6 months, coming up...

But then I start thinking and grinning, because I remember that there were balloons.

And it occurs to me that this fall,

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. 

Tantrums

Dearest blog readers,

It has been one of those days, nay, one of those weeks. Yes, it has. Just a parade of indignities, marching one right after the other. I'm not going to indulge myself with the full list, but let me give you a single example; I exploded my fave cooking dish last night. Seriously, it exploded. I wish I were joking. I was boiling water in the aforementioned dish, and all of a sudden, KABLAM!!!!!! Glass and a flood of hot water across the stovetop. It was awesome. I know, sarcasm doesn't always work in print, so lest you think I'm being serious, I am not. It was the worst. 

So, to summarize, the week felt approximately like this:

And now, it's after 11pm on the eve of my 31st birthday, and I'm still working. You'd think that my birthday might perk me up... but it's just been that kind of a week. So I took a break from this current job, and I threw an art tantrum.

And you know what? 

I might actually feel a little better.

Of Doodles and Sock Monkeys

Hey there blog readers,

I recently had a skype-date with an excellent writer friend (who I met at my first SCBWI conference) who read me one of her manuscripts. It was amazing. I am consistently bowled over by my talented peers. In any case, I couldn't get her story out of my head, and as I was between gigs, my itchy fingers grabbed for a pencil.

I filled up pages of my sketchbook with character doodles and thumbnails.

 And without much more prep, I transferred a couple of the sketches onto some good paper and added a wee bit of color.

After I had finished, I realized that I had never drawn a sock monkey before. I'm adding a check to the ole bucket list.