Doodles from the 2014 Midsouth SCBWI Conference

My complete recap of the 2014 Conference is over at Once Upon A Sketch. The conference also got some great coverage in Publishers Weekly and of course there's the conference blog.

Instead of rewriting my notes here (when you can find those fabulous details at the places above,) I'm just going to show off some character sketches for a work-in-progress I did while listening to the speakers.

Also I won a little award again. At this point saying I was honored with the top illustration prize two years in a row feels a little like bragging. But it's my blog so I'm gonna;) This year the conference gave an honorable mention as well to my friend and fellow Nashville illustrator, Cat York.

This week over on Once Upon A Sketch

I've posted the first of my two part interview with Susan Eaddy, clay illustrator and the Illustration Coordinator for the SCBWI Midsouth region. Susan is always generous with her time and advice. Her videos are just fun to watch and make me want to have a go at iMovie. Go check it out.

Also from my continued reading assignment for 2014 here's my fave picture books from the past month:

Sometimes I Forget You're A Robot by Sam Brown - very sweet story about getting what you want. I especially loved the plaintive "beep beeps" of the Robot as he tries to show the main character what he CAN do.

The Twins' Blanket by Hyewon Yum - A great story about learning to share. I especially love how Hyewon Yum manages to capture the different personalities of each twin in very little text.

The Block Mess Monster by Betsy Howie, illustrated by C.B. Decker - the illustrations really knock this story out of the park as Becker shows extravagant expression on the part of the child, the mom, and the blocks who don't want to be put away.

SCBWI Midsouth Sweeps the Bologna Illustration Gallery

I'm ecstatic to announce that one of my illustrations (and the header of my blog no less;) is a finalist for the 2014 SCBWI Illustration Gallery at the Bologna Book Fair in Bologna, Italy at the end of this month.

Here's the piece, it was created for the illustrator's intensive class at the 2013 Midsouth Conference. When I went to Kinkos to get a print made for the regional PAL showcase the guy behind the counter made an off-hand comment that it reminded him of Where the Wild Things Are.

WHAT! did that guy just compare my work to Maurice Sendak?!?

Alright let's settle down and keep things in perspective here….

At the Book Fair, a winner and four runners-up will be chosen. To be honest, that'd be great but to me the real value is being nominated as a finalist at all. My work will be displayed at one of the most prestigious event in the world for children's books.

Making this whole announcement even better is the fact that FOUR other Midsouth illustrators, and good friends of mine, are also finalists! Tennessee and Kentucky are growin' a mighty fine crop o' illustrators down here in the Midsouth! I share congratulations with Susan Eaddy, Kris Sexton, and Cheryl Mendenhall. Here's a look at the finalist round-up, click through to see all their fabulous artwork.

My Roller Coaster Weekend at the SCBWI Midsouth Annual Conference.

Over the weekend Music City hosted the Midsouth Conference for SCBWI. This was my first year on the Conference Committee. I always say that you should get at least one good story out of every event. This time I got two. Here they are:

I was slated to pick up one of the faculty from the airport at 9:54, Friday morning. As anyone who knows the Fabulous Illustrator well enough can attest that I'm an extremely thorough and organized person who likes to make a plan and stick to it. Friday morning was going according to my plan until I (very responsibly I might add) decided to sit down and check the flight schedule for said faculty member's flight.

This was at about 8:45 and I was standing in my studio in a T-shirt and shorts. Remember that her flight was supposed to land more than an hour later at 9:54?

The Internet said it was landing in 7 minutes.

So much for an organized morning.

There was nothing else to do but race around throwing clothes and artwork into suitcases and portfolios then throw it all in the back of the car. Then I texted the faculty member to let her know I was aware of the early arrival. Now's probably a good time to reveal that this person was Bonnie Bader, Editor in Chief at Penguin Young Readers Group/Grosset & Dunlap. I don't know about any of the rest of you but I just couldn't fire off a missive to an editor I've never met in freakin' text speak. Somehow "R u early?" didn't seem professional enough. So I sent a very polite, and long, text asking if she'd arrived and explaining that I was on my way. To which she replied and asked about the best way to meet. I was working on this plan en route. The problem was now I was having to drive and text at stoplights which I never do…. sadly my texts were devolving into "r u n baggage?" and "c u in 10."

So much for professional communication.

Finally, as I pulled into the airport I thought: good grief, if I park and walk in it's going to be another 10 minutes… yet, is it proper to essentially do a drive by pick-up of a faculty member?! My grandmother would be horrified. Efficiency trumped manners this time and drive by pick-up it was. Fortunately Bonnie was very cool about it and probably glad to get out of the airport. We had an interesting conversation on the way to the conference hotel. By great lucky coincidence I discovered she's a regular visitor to Rutgers where I'll be attending the RUCCL's One on One Conference next month so she was able to give me some good travel tips on getting to and from the campus without having to drive.

My only remaining disappointment was that I didn't get stand in the airport with a sign like you see in the movies! I did make one though, and took a picture just for posterity:

The rest of the day unfolded with much less drama. I attended sessions with Josh Adams of Adams Literary and Lorainne Joyner the art director at Peachtree Publishers. Later, as a conference coordinator, I would get the chance to talk with them one on one. Josh has a wonderfully rich, measured voice. I want to work him just so I can hear him talk about revision notes. Loraine was an absolute joy to meet. A real Southern lady, she was friendly and encouraging in her comments on our work. Here's my piece from the intensive: 

Rounding out the rest of our "imported" faculty were Lisa Cheng, editor at Running Press; Michael Bourret, agent with Dystel & Goderich; Jordon Brown, editor at Waldon Pond Press and Balzer + Bray; Stephanie Fretwell-Hill, editor with Peachtree Publishers; Jay Asher, author of Thirteen Reasons Why and The Future of Us; and Kristi Valiant, who recently debuted as an author/illustrator with Penguin Cha-Cha. All were funny and engaging in their sessions and sitting around various lunch and dinner tables over the weekend. I was particular fond of Lisa's bold move to go for the baby crab claws at Friday's dinner because they were delicious. At that same dinner Stephanie told us about her tricked-out suburban that she and her husband lived in while making their way to Atlanta from London. Made me wonder if I could do something similar with our van and go camping with Sprout and Fry. 

My favorite Saturday morning event was Michael Bourret's session on the 10 Secrets of Agents revealed. The best of the ten was the reminder that, even with an agent, you are your own best advocate for your book. He admonished us that if we're afraid of our agent something is wrong.

About mid-afternoon on Saturday, the winners of the year's contests were announced. There was much hootin' and hollering as it turned out to be a great year for some long time members of the region with David Arnold, Kurt Hampe, and Patsi Trollinger winning in the genres for YA, Middle Grade, and Picture Book respectively. Finally it came time to announce the Illustrator winner. I had entered the contest but had already seen Amanda Driscoll's great piece Charlie The Ranch Dog and figured it was a shoo-in. The Midsouth's Illustrator Coordinator, Susan Eaddy took the podium and I was poised to holler "yayy Amanda!" when it dawned on me that the name Susan was saying was not the name I was about to holler. 

Instead it was my name. 

Winning was great. Winning was spectacular to be honest because I've been entering unsuccessfully for years. But even better than that was getting the congrats and hugs from my friends and fellow illustrators in the Midsouth, including Amanda and Susan and all the rest who are named in this Facebook post. This wonderful group of artists inspire and encourage me, a few years ago they critiqued the sketch of the piece that won. It's my face in the picture but the award might as well have all of our names. 

 

Everyone got Mardi Gras beads for Saturday night's
Kid Lit Creator's dinner! Sprout helped me stuff beads
into folders for all the attendees.

The rest of the conference passed in a bit of a blur, I received congrats from all the faculty which was very sweet of them. I did get a chance to thank Lorianne Joyner personally for giving it high honors. Amazingly right after the announcement my overwhelming worry was that I would be late to my First Pages session where each of our picture book first pages were being critiqued. Fortunately I wasn't that late and I didn't have to send any unprofessional texts. 

By Sunday I'd received some great constructive feedback on restructuring my latest work-in-progress from Bonnie Bader, gotten positive reviews of some new illustrations and promos from Lorainne Joyner and Lisa Cheng, and eaten way to much Monell's fried chicken and mashed potatoes at the faculty goodbye dinner.

This year instead of being breathlessly focused on schmoozing and angling for an opportunity to submit work, I was focused on keeping up with the rest of the Conference Committee who were controlling a million little details with precision and humor behind the scenes. By the end of the weekend the people whom I normally would have worried about schmoozing were just regular people. Maybe we'll work together on a book one day. I hope so. But at the very least I hope I have some new friends that I can eat baby crab claws with at another conference. 

For additional inspiration check out this post reprinted from the Midsouth Conference Blog by Meridth Gimbel (click her name to see her awesome piece for the intensive):

1. Every page in your dummy picture book needs to have an action in it, whether it's subtle or dramatic.
-Loraine Joyner (Senior Art Director at Peachtree Publishers) 

Talented YA writers plus the Friday night Dessert Party
equals a cool music circle

2. "Never give up. You'll come across something that only you can write."
-Jay Asher (Author of Thirteen Reasons Why) 

Jay Asher 'splains how he came to be a Vanilla Ice fan

3. A distinct, authentic, relatable voice is probably the most important element to writing a good children's picture book.
-Lisa Cheng (Editor for Running Press Kids)

4. “This is not the music business, there are not high stakes, we don’t make that much money, and someone already has your idea."
-Micheal Bourett (Agent of Dystel & Goderich Literary Management) in response to a question from the audience asking if we need to worry about others stealing our ideas or stories. 

5. “I’ve had your postcard on my bulletin for 1.5 years and have been waiting to hire you." 

-An Art Director told Ms. Susan Eaddy (freelance illustrator) 

Author and Illustrator panel tells how they handle the cycle of writing

6. It takes chocolate, fast food, vodka, friends, and an unwanted dog.
-Answers from the artist/writer panelists to the question, "How do you buoy yourself when you are at the bottom of the cycle of despair?" 

Catching up with longtime Midsouth members 

7. Orient all the pictures in your portfolio the same way.
-Bonnie Bader (Editor & Chief at Grosset & Dunlap) and Loraine Joyner (Senior Art Director At Peachtree Publishers) 

8. A wrong agent is worse than no agent.
-Micheal Bourett (Agent of Dystel & Goderich Literary Management) 

9. "Please do not info dump."
-Lisa Cheng (Editor for Running Press Kids) on telling your audience too much when introducing a new character. 

10. Be consistent when you send out your mailers.
-Loraine Joyner (Senior Art Director At Peachtree Publishers) & Lisa Cheng (Editor for Running Press Kids) 

11. Read, read, read.
-Jordan Brown (Editor at Walden Pond Press and Balzer + Bray) on what you can do to advance your career

Amanda Driscoll shows off the Mad Libs
made just for the Kid Lit Creators Dinner

At the very end I came home to a cake!
And a note of congrats signed by my two biggest fans;)

De-virgo the line

During my SCBWI LA super fast paced yet insightful portfolio critique, artist agent Mela Bolinao correctly observed that I get a little fussy and overwrought with my line-work. "You are trying to make it work too well," she said.

Sigh... this is the story of my line life.

I agreed with her and joked that it was because I'm a Virgo. She surprised me by laughing and saying that as a Virgo herself, she totally understood. That doesn't surprised me, every Virgo I've ever met shares the keen sense of the master puppeteer. We control every strand, no matter how small a part it is attached to. For me personally, this is why I never miss deadlines. Ever.

It's also probably why I've struggled for years to keep the energy of my sketches in my finished pieces. Bolinao said "Loosen up! Let the line go the wrong way! Don't fix it and erase it, just try it." So when I came home from LA I decided to practice on the kid illustrations cavorting across my drawing table for the Lifeway's Agency D3's series. Here are some of my favorites:

I do like how these guys look. Admittedly loosening up the line was easier with little spots because a) they're spots and b) I was a super tight deadline. I continue to experiment on this thank you card illo I created for people I met at the conference. Here was harder because I had time to be careful:

I need to think more like Taurus or Aquarius, just brashly crashing the pencil around the page. Would the Bull or Water Bearer be better with lines?

Maybe, but not deadlines. I bet Virgo's are still the best at those.

SCBWI LA Conference in Notes and Doodles

Two weekends ago, on Saturday night, I was attending my second SCBWI International Conference in Los Angeles. Actually this is what I doing at 8pm Saturday night two weeks ago:

Yep, that's a costume boa and my friends Renee and Heather are wearing wigs. Thats how kid lit creators roll. You can dress us up and we will still find a way to act like the characters in our minds.

However the days surrounding Saturday evening's Black and White Ball were filled with workshops aimed to entertain, educate, and most of all inspire all of us before we headed back to solitary studios and writing rooms. My usual MO is to take lots of notes in longhand while simultaneously drawing furiously in my sketchbook. Below are some of my favorite notes from the sessions and key notes and the sketches that accompanied them. Also check out the  official conference blog here, and my Word Disco friend Jenni Bielicki has lots of other great photos on her blog here. Plus stop into Word Disco later this month for some Schmooze It or Lose It stories.

*******************

The conference begins with each speaker or faculty member stepping to the mic and saying one word. Here's my scribbled down list of words. About 10 minutes in to this I noticed the person sitting a few rows down flipping back and forth through her conference guide writing the words by each of the speaker's bios. Brilliant. I am totally doing that next time:

Opening Key Note:
Laurie Halse Anderson, author
Be brave today

We are lucky, when you were born a fairy godmother crept into the hospital and blessed you with magic. Books are proof that humans can do magic.

Jon Scieszka, author
Kids = nuts. They are the best audience

Giuseppe Castellano, Penguin Art Director
You guys had to pay to come here, all the while daring to be artists. 

Art directors and editors do not sit in ivory towers smoking cigars. We're not elite jerks.

Then he told this really touching story about his parent, particularly his father, coming to America from Italy in the 60's. His father struggled to find a creative outlet as a child while dealing with strict parents who did not approve - and demonstrated their disapproval by occasionally destroying his father's childhood creations. The moral of this story was that if his father could go on to succeed creatively, as an immigrant, with no family support, then we all can.

Steven Malk, agent, on career planning:
Be in control of your career, don't let it control you.
Take a deep breath and slow down.
Know your history, read it, breath it, live the books you create.
If at first you don't succeed, don't abandon ship.

*******************

Kirby Larson, author
Palimpsest (this was her word from the opening) it means writing that has been effaced to make room for more. We all create on the well worn steps of those who went before us.

Editors Panel with
Namrata Tripathi, Andrea Pinkney, Donna Bray, Claudia Gabel, Allyn Johnston, and Melissa Manlove
The main topic of the panel was "What makes a hit, what makes an evergreen"
Hits speak to a moment in time
A close examination of a moment in time can turn out to be an evergreen.
An evergreen is also about the human existence.

Each editor wants a book to have magic

Allyn Johnston thinks All The World is the perfect picture book (I agree)

Mac Barnett, author
Most of all, get the reader to be willing to suspend disbelief.
Don't break the contract with a kid reader.

He told the story of a contest in his book Billy Twitters and Blue Whale Problem where a reader could send in to get their own blue whale as a pet. Then as an example of how to break the contract with the kid reader he played voice mails left by preschool age Nico, for his pet whale Randolph. This had us simultaneously laughing and wiping tears.

Jenny Bent, agent, on queries:
I found myself in this session only because the one I was trying to get to had closed. But I found Jenny Bent to be really funny and personable. She explained the different parts of a query letter giving really great examples of real life successful queries. Google her and you'll find similar information on her blog. Google also query mad libs for a fun exercise.

Matt de la Pena, author
He gave a stunning keynote about growing up the child of teenage parents and how he landed in writing. In short college equaled girls which equaled poetry which equaled no girls but a great voice for YA.

Ask yourself, Where are you coming from?

Write what will be written

Laurent Linn, art director
I've seen Laurent Linn speak many time and I'm always entertained and I always find a new way to look at picture book art. He had do a quiz to see if we could tell what was traditional art, digital or a mixture of both as its increasing difficult to tell.

Carolyn Mackler, author
Writing is an antidote to the darker days.

We should all watch Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee.

Market Report
I admittedly checked out of this one after the picture book news, but here's what I gleaned:
Picture book sales are actually up, driven by character driven books and franchises. Bullying is a frequent theme. A growing number of projects are originating in house.

*******************

Agents Panel with
Ginger Clark, Mela Bolinao, Joanna Volpe, Steve Malk, Jenny Bent

This was Sunday morning, after the Black and White Ball, and it was time for a bit of a reality check. Here it is:
Agents get 25 to 75 queries a DAY. 
You should be careful what you sign away.

David Wiesner, author/illustrator
I saw David Wiesner at the SCBWI New York conference in 2008. In fact I wrote this post about it. I still think the guy is a rock star and frankly I don't ever want to be in an elevator with him because I would probably a) really embarrass myself by stammering about how much I love his work or b) give myself skin cancer by blushing shades of red not found in the natural world. I am happy to admire from afar. That is, until I win the Caldecott, then y'know Dave and I can hang out and be in the same critique group. Also monkeys might fly out of my butt.

Anyway here was his keynote wisdom:
Follow the story where ever it leads
Always go back to old ideas you have, you never know where they can end up

Jarret Kroscocka, author/illustrator
I went to back to back sessions with him and then attended his closing keynote. I admire Jarrett for his unrelenting drive in this business and for just seeming like a nice guy.
Think about colors for each character
Multiple characters means humor is born.
Let your brain go to the more interesting story.
Google story mountain.
Keep a Word doc of all your story ideas.
Visit schools for free while you are getting used to doing school visits.
Create educational value.
Link your books directly to publishers site you avoid any preference for Amazon over independent book sellers.
Give away a little bit of your presentation on-line so they know what they are getting.

*******************

On Monday I attended two intensive sessions, the first with Melissa Manlove on using picture book texts to inform your writing, the second with Namrata Tripathi on creating a better dummy for picture book author/illustrators.

Melissa Manlove:
Do a close reading of every picture book you read. Look closely at language, try to figure out what is working for the book. 

Humor comes from disrupted expectations.

Namrata Tripathi:
Don't say you can do this because there are so many bad picture books out there. That tells her you want your book to be the second worst in the store.

Pay attention to voice and line work in illustrations.

Nashville Public Library Showcase: From Good Idea to Finished Piece

This month I was included in a group of four other fabulous illustrators displaying our artistic process at the Nashville Public Library's Main Branch. That sounds innocuous right? Well for anyone who's never seen the Main Branch of our library let me set the stage....

Our work is displayed behind glass in the main entrance foyer. This room soars three stories into the air and is lit by tall glittering glass windows surrounding the top. A sea of polished granite stretches from the 15 foot high main entrance doors back to a towering bronze and marble staircase that winds its way up to the 2nd and 3rd levels. Cool, efficient library workers hold court over the dark paneled wood circulation desk. Behind ivory walls wait reams of ideas waiting to be discovered or enjoyed for the hundredth time. Everywhere there is the click and hum of learning, loving, and prizing books.

I have been in love with this building since it opened.

I want to go to story hour every week. I want to have a party in the 2nd floor outdoor courtyard. I want to take my sketchbook and draw for hours in the tremendous quiet of the Grand Reading Room. And, of course, some day I want to have my books on the shelves.

My Ladybug spread is one step in that direction, so it's fitting that that is what I chose to display. While its creation was a solitary endeavor, it was definitely improved by the input of the other artists displayed -  talented illustrators and friends. Here's hoping a dreamy ten year old, like each of us used to be, will see the display and realize that they too can find a life in making books. So Nashville readers, go visit the library and everyone else please stop by their sites for a closer look. Below are some pictures of the setup and finished displays of how we get from a good idea at one o'clock in the morning to a finished piece ready for the client:

Isn't this space spectacular?

First here's my display:

Not in Nashville? Read my process here

Our illustrious leader Susan Eaddy, check our her super cool clay creations at her blog, youtube channel and website:

My long time illustrator friend, Cheryl Mendenhall. Check out her CUTE characters at her agent's site. Plus this photo does not do justice to her display which has all kinds of cool projects and she feng shui'd up her display with her tools including a wacom tablet:

Fellow illustrator/designer crossover Kris Sexton brought two of her clay dino models to include. See her watercolor and Illustrator work at her site:

Finally Doug Jones, the self-proclaimed big brother of the group! He creates really funny cartoons regularly for his blog. Check out his fill portfolio at his site:

SCBWI-iiiiiieeeeeeeee

Last Friday I jumped off a cliff in the dark.

For real.

Sure, sure I had a helmet and there was a teeny tiny wire attached to another teeny tiny wire which was presumably attached to something in the dark. I know there was a tree because I got really close to it for about one twelfth of a second before careening backwards to a stop. 

I attended the SCBWI Midsouth Revision Retreat and moonlight zip-lining was the first nights activity. A few months ago I wasn't going to go to the retreat - I just felt squirmy about even saying I was a writer. Then fellow Midsouther Courtney Stevens Potter talked me into being a group leader for the picture book group. I was going to have to jump and hope that I could stay on course - with both rewriting picture book ideas and as a group leader.

I'm really glad Courtney held out that teeny tiny wire because the weekend was just what the doctor ordered for creatives who struggle with creating and recreating amid the noise of every day life. For 36 hours we all took a break from the world and focused on our creative babies. At the picture book table we each bounced around 3 or 4 babies! Revision is HARD but much easier when surrounded by like-minded artists and beautiful scenery (and lots of snacks.) After the weekend I feel pretty confident that I can lash on one of those babies and jump off the next cliff in LA.

Besides turning the creative tap on full force it was also nice to make new SCBWI friends like Heather Dent! Go check out her blog write up. Below are some pics and sketches from the weekend, starting with my sketch of the first nights activity:

The picture book table hard at work. With Mary Uhles, Heather Dent, Hilary Statum and Kim Erickson's talented ankle

Using Courtney as a model on the porch during Saturday's free work time

She was working on being this character

The wall of food was enough to inspire anyone

A bunch of talented writers (and at least one illustrator) who's work is even better after this weekend. Thanks Midsouth SCBWI!

Space on the page

Illustration Friday's theme this week is "Space." Some might obviously interpret this cosmically, but for me this week, space has been about telling a story... or more to the point, how my characters take up space on the page.

Before the SCBWI intensive three weeks ago I rushed through sketches for my new book Twelve Months of Monsters in order to have a dummy to show at the conference. Turns out that's a great way to see what's wrong with your book. On the drive home from Kinkos I had a deeply unsettled feeling that something was just not quite right with all these monsters now that they were actually enlarged full size and paginated into a book. So this week I've been reworking some of them and rewriting some of the text in the process. In the beginning I had held back doing so many of my "crazy" angles and cropping... everyone always comments positively on them, but sometimes I think "is it too much, is it just exhausting?" Maybe it is exhausting, but, in the words of Sammy Davis Jr., I just gotta be me. Now my monsters now have turns, twists, and close-ups on their pages. Their space is more dynamic I think (read: i hope.) In the redoing I was able to play up the hidden story of how they come alive from the calendar. Below are the before and after shots:

Week by week and day by day
Twelve months of monsters starts this way.

Before:

After:

In March when winter ends,
A kite will soar on monster winds

Before:

After:

Week by week and day by day a monster's year goes 'round this way. (this is actually the last page of the book and intended to show the little monster finally getting a bite as she is tucked back into the calendar)
Before:

After: