LA SCBWI Conference

Halloo blog readers,

Where to begin?

Four days, thirty-six pages of notes, a heap of new friends... The conference was a roaring whirlwind of a weekend that left my head spinning and sparks shooting out of my ears and fingertips. (This was very dangerous for my sketchbooks, but worry not, there was no lasting damage.)

Like last year, there were an astounding series of workshops and keynotes, from the heartfelt to the irreverent:

The amazing, Arthur Levine

The inimitable, Tony DiTerlizzi

Patricia MacLachlan

(you might remember this book of hers, Sarah Plain and Tall...) 

Melissa Sweet giving a painting demonstration

Jon Klassen (illustration crush!) talking about Harold and the Purple Crayon

Like last year, I attended the illustrator intensive:

Tony showing original work

(photo courtesy of Debbie Ohi)

Final panel (L-R, Tony DiTerlizzi, Melissa Sweet, Laura Godwin, Eugene Yelchin, Jon Klassen, Cecilia Yung, Rubin Pfeffer, and Antoinette Portis)

(photo courtesy of Debbie Ohi)

Like last year, I submitted my portfolio into the annual Portfolio Showcase, and just like last year there were over 160 incredible portfolios laid out on the tables.

At the showcase 

(photo courtesy of Debbie Ohi)

But entirely new this year, my portfolio won an award... !!!!! I was completely stunned. You can't tell from the above photo, but many of the portfolios on those tables were nothing short of breathtaking. I feel so incredibly honored to have been selected for the Illustration Mentorship program. A gigundo thank you to David, Pat, Cecilia, Laura, and Priscilla. The five members of the Illustration Board, each choose one portfolio, so I have four co-mentees who are all super talented: Jen Betton, Maple Lam, Karyn Raz, and Brian Won. I'm so excited to work with them this year!

With fellow mentees

(L-R, Jen, Karyn, Maple, & paper-Brian)

And then, you know the saying... all work and no play... this year's gala theme was the "Hippie Hop", 60s attire, tie-dye, gigantic afros, and flower tattoos encouraged:

Hippie Hop

(photo courtesy of Debbie Ohi)

At the party with two of my fave conference buddies,
Kathy-Ellen & Ashlyn

I know I keep using words like incredible and amazing and mind-blowing and head-spinning... but it really was. The conference is an extraordinary event with some of the most creative, encouraging, and kind people I've ever met. If you want to read more, there's some pretty good coverage of the conference here. (Not to mention, the two gals pictured above and I are featured in one of the photos.)

Talk about talented, hanging out with awesome, creative-types

(L-R, Christina Forshay, Maple Lam, David Diaz, me!, and Juana Martinez-Neal) 

(photo courtesy of Debbie Ohi)

Finally, I'll leave you with some work. Here's what my sketchbook/journal looked like.
Three of those thirty-six pages:

Conference high

Stampede

Morning blog-readers,
It's just about 6:30 on the west coast, and I'm about ready to head off to Century City for a weekend of workshops, key-notes, doodles, intensives, illustration fun, writers, editors, and a crazy, amazing, positively stupendous herd of picture book folks running around the Century Plaza. And I just might be ready. (I might also be carrying twenty pounds worth of postcards, promotional pieces, portfolios, business cards, and book dummies with me all day, but that's another story...)


But back to the business at hand... Conference! And illustration! I'm hoping to find a wee bit of time to post throughout the weekend, but to give you an idea of the schedule, today I'm going from 8-8:30 - and I do mean 8am until 8:30pm. Whew. 


But if I don't, I did want to leave you with a piece of art before the rush begins.


I finished this piece not long before I left NY... 

Bunnies & SCBWI

Hey there blog readers,

It's been a busy couple of weeks - between a job, a surprise party, conference prep, and the very recent possibility of some exciting new work, I've been running around a little crazy. (When I say conference, I mean the same little dealie I went to last summer.) But! Things seem to be mostly in order. The suitcase is packed, and with six freshly cut and taped book dummies, a newly loaded portfolio, and a blank sketchbook, I may just be ready to get on the plane for LA.

In the midst of all of the crazy, between scanning and printing and binding, there were a handful moments for some much needed doodling time.

I give you the ballerina bunnies:

Ta da!

Not sure where these are going, but you may see more of this little character after the conference.

Turtles

While we were away, I did a fair amount of aimless doodling. Mostly turtles, as it were.

Don't be surprised if you see more of this little turtle guy in the future...

Hot.

Hey there everyone,

I arrived back from vacation yesterday to NY at 96º... which, of course, made me think of penguins. Obviously. Penguins.

I don't know... vacation brain, maybe? That's a thing, right? Let's go with that.

Summertime

Hey there blog readers,

It was a busy June filled with loads of projects. I ended up with a big job requiring pages and pages of sketches. Incredibly fun, but I can't say much more than that. Non disclosure agreements and all. I also recently started work on two new projects with a couple of different publications, more about those in coming weeks as things get underway. Alas, jobs and massive amounts of sketching left little time for blog-ifying. But I'm back... albeit briefly. On Thursday, I'm heading off for vacation, on a Pacific Northwest adventure extravaganza, visiting Seattle and Portland for the first time with the boyfriend.

I may try to post once or twice while away (I do have to bring my computer along as the aforementioned new projects will require some work), but more likely than not, it'll be a quiet few weeks. Sooo, I'm going to leave you with a whole bunch of sketches and some summertime fun.

While in the process of getting ready for the big SCBWI conference out in LA (early August), I decided I needed a new Coco and Oscar painting. Clearly it was time for some brainstorming.

My first sketches are usually pretty rough, but these few are exceptionally sketchy. I actually did these first couple of pages on the back of two photocopied crossword puzzles while on the subway.

When I got home, I began to firm up a few of my favorites.

With a quick revision...

I actually really loved this last sketch. It might just be my favorite. Alas, I decided it would be a hard read for someone unfamiliar with the characters, so I went in a different direction. I will probably still go back and paint a bunch of these when I have some time. They're too much fun not to.

And finally, the full color painting. 

Happy Summer everyone!

Dinosaur!

Hallooo folks,

I was doing some brainstorming last week, and I had a shocking thought. It occurred to me that I had never painted a dinosaur. Whaaa?!

I've drawn dinosaurs, of course. I've done random sketches and doodles, drew a handful in preparation for a sea-monster piece, aimlessly doodled t-rex's and stegosauruses along the margins of notebooks... but all in pen or pencil. The last dinosaur I did in full color was a pastel drawing for a friend years ago. YEARS?! Seriously? Years? How is this even possible?

I didn't waste any time...

Next gaping hole to remedy: robots.

Yes, life is awesome.

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.

New work!

Hey there everyone,

My thumb's on the mend, and I was approved for some light drawing and computer whatnot by the doc last week. Getting back to work has been wonderful but slow. Though I can still draw, it takes longer to warm up. But! The stitches come out on Thursday, so with a little more care, I should be back to normal work soon. (Side note... This week I also adjusted my lastest to do list with a new number one slot: become ambidextrous. If you're feeling ambitious, try showering one-handed and lefty. Ooof.)

But I digress. Because I was okayed for some light work, I took some time to put the finishing touches on a piece I was working on pre-injury.

A sample spread of Randall and Euphoria.

Mother's Day

Happy mother's day to all of the excellent mama's out there!

I've been a bit quiet of late and will be taking a forced break from making things for the next few days... I had an unfortunate run in with a mason jar on Wednesday night. Two and a half hours and x-stitches later (I don't actually know how many... I wasn't looking when the doc stitched me up), my thumb looked like this:

Which means I've been working lefty, and this is pretty much what I can manage right now...

Happy Mother's Day!

Birthday

Busy, busy day today... but still plenty of time to do a wee birthday painting for the best sister a girl could hope for.

Happy birthday D!

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

More new things!

Halloo everyone,

I've been playing a bit lately, using a few new characters to experiment with technique and composition. This one just recently came off the drawing board. It's an illustration for a story I've been messing around with. You might recognize the oversized alligator from here. Since that post, the story has undergone some major revisions, so Randall - our large green friend - is mostly unchanged, but Euphoria has had a bit of a makeover. Alas, she is no longer pith-helmeted. She does, however, sport a spiffy spike-y sweatshirt. I'll get my sketchbook pages scanned in and show you some of the character prep work soon. Until next time!

New work!

It's been a busy couple of weeks with loads of new work. There have been paintings, drawings, new layouts, new mailers, new faces and some familiar ones...

Oscar on the farm

Birthday

Halloo everyone!

As some of you might know, I seem to be marking a significant number this year. I've been thinking a bunch about growing up this year and made a recent (albeit fairly obvious) discovery - you can grow up without becoming a grown up! Woooah! Amazing.

So I made a little birthday list. 

Now take a closer look... At one item in particular...

I got home late last night, just around midnight, and walked in to find that my apartment looked like this:

My ever-amazing bf had filled our ENTIRE apartment with balloons!

I thought it was amazing...

The cat, however, wasn't convinced.

Cards: Clubs

Halloo all!

So finally, FINALLY, I had some time a few weeks ago to finish the last suit for N's deck of cards. Clubs!

As with the previous suits, I already had a series of easy templates, so I quickly subbed the clubs for spades or diamonds or hearts.

Again, I moved onto the Ace next, using the Spade and Diamond and Heart motifs...

For the royal cards, I decided to do another set of birds. I had two sets of mammals - rabbits and foxes - so I decided that there ought to be two sets of birds, one song bird - Sparrow/Spades - and one set of birds of prey... owls! 


So after my owly sketches, I tackled the Jack, who I wanted in profile like Sparrow Jack, though a bit less mischievous and more dangerous.

I imagined the Queen to be rather bored with it all, though still a dangerous royal lady, and I modeled her with a decorative headpiece, like the Rabbit Queen.

And finally the King, who like his Lady Owl would also be rather royal, somewhat bored, but still a dangerous old bird.

Like the suits before, I made it a little package, but, alas, I forgot to photograph the actual printed cards. So, until next time!