So if you want to draw a 1969 Dodge Charger...

… there's a kid at College Grove Elementary that's right there with you.

Last week I was quite honored to be invited to speak at College Grove Elementary about illustrating and books. It was during the school's Read-a-thon and my SCBWI friend, Kristin Tubb, explained it would just a few minutes in the morning in front of the entire school.

ulp, the entire school?

Actually it went wonderfully well and 250 kids turned out to not be as intimidating as I'd imagined. Fortunately another SCBWI friend Stephen Shashkan advised me to prep the teachers that the kids could ask questions, that way they'd have time to think up some good ones. And it worked! The kids all asked incredibly great questions including my favorite from a kid who wanted to know if I could explain to him how to make his picture of a 1969 Dodge Charger look shiny. When I responded that I could tell he'd really been putting effort into his picture he said "yes ma'am if you need to know how to draw a 1969 Dodge Charger I can tell you all about it." So there if you have it, 1969 Dodge Charger fans - your reference guru is in the 4th grade at College Grove Elementary.

Here I am talking about the illustrations in Beyond The Grave

My Favorite Books This Week Plus What I Blogged at Word Disco

True to my New year's Resolution in this post, I've been reading 5 books a week, rating them, and researching the agents who represent. Here are some of my favs so far:

The Santa Trap - Jonathan Emmet and Poly Bernatene, really funny with a satisfying ending

Tornado Slim and The Magic Cowboy Hat - Bryan Langdo, great illustrations

Crankenstein - Samantha Berger and Dan Santat, really funny illustrations that go with snappy story

Carnivores - Aaron Reynolds and Dan Santat, this book is funniest book I've read in a while. Great story and great illustrations.

Also over on Word Disco this week I discuss what happens when a sketch for a good idea leads to an existential crisis. It's all part of the job. Read that post here.

My New Year's Resolution post has been hijacked by the cold

uh lessee… what can we say about 2014 so far…. IT'S COLD!

Apparently right at the moment the entire North American continent right down to Miami is suffering from a polar vortex that causes terror not unlike this:

It causes weather apps to look like this:

All that being said, instead of my traditional blog about a New Year's Resolution I've been paging through beach house listings… palm trees…. baked oysters… ooooo aaaaaahhhh - Ouch my fingers just froze to the keyboard!

(fingers gripping coffee for warmth) Back to resolutions….a few months ago I read how a particular agent I admire reads five picture books a day no matter what. That struck me as a particularly good goal to have. But five a day is pretty tall order. I know that sounds crazy since I have two small children and we read books all the time but I pretty sure that agent didn't mean she reads the SAME 5 picture books every day. And I'm pretty sure they are not all about princesses and airplanes. So to make this resolution workable I'm reading 5 new picture books a week, preferably published in the last 3 years. For at least 15 years I've been flipping open the cover of every book I see to read who published it. Because of that I have a built in knowledge of which publishers I'd love to work with but connecting projects to agents takes a little more research. So on top of five new books every week, I've decided to create a rating system - ones I love, ones maybe I can learn from, and ones that -ah- don't fall into the first two categories. With the help of this system and Publishers Marketplace I can track which agents work on projects that I admire.

Five books a week, seems pretty easy. Kind of like resolving to listen to more music. But one thing I learned from my 2011 resolution to draw every day is that in order to fit one's dreams into a schedule full of kid work, school work, client work, house work, family time, and taking the occasional shower the dreams need to be bite-sized. Five books a day is definitely chewable.

And I'll start it right after I wrap up in five sleeping bags, de-ice the door, chisel out the car and skate the minivan to the library.

The NEW Once Upon A Sketch is Officially Open

I'm happy to begin 2014 writing on the renewed Once Upon A Sketch blog with my fellow contributors:
Donald Wu
Chris Jones
Norm Grock
Jennifer Zivoin
Jannie Ho.

Each of us bring a different perspective on creating art, especially for children. Check out our first collaborative post, What We Wish We Knew.

The Naughty Car Twelve Days of Christmas

In case anyone wonders why we didn't manage to get Christmas cards in the mail…. here's what we were doing:

On the FIRST day of Christmas my cars gave to me a transmission crunching badly...

On the 2nd day of Christmas my cars gave to me
TWO pink dribbles
and a transmission crunching badly

On the 3rd day of Christmas my cars gave to me
THREE trips to the dealership
two pink dribbles
and a transmission crunching badly

On the 4th day of Christmas my cars gave to me
FOUR different rental cars
three trips to the dealership
two pink dribbles
and a transmission crunching badly



On the 5th day of Christmas my cars gave to me
FIVE problem codes
four different rental cars
three trips to the dealership
two pink dribbles
and a transmission crunching badly

On the 6th day of Christmas my cars gave to me
SIX cranking no starts
five problem codes
four different rental cars
three trips to the dealership
two pink dribbles
and a transmission crunching badly

On the 7th day of Christmas my cars gave to me
SEVEN more radiator puddles
six cranking no starts
five problem codes
four different rental cars
three trips to the dealership
two pink dribbles
and a transmission crunching badly


On the 8th day of Christmas my cars gave to me
EIGHT wheels sitting useless
seven more radiator puddles
six cranking no starts
five problem codes
four different rental cars
three trips to the dealership
two pink dribbles
and a transmission crunching badly

On the 9th day of Christmas my cars gave to me
NINE mechanics busy
eight wheels sitting useless
seven more radiator puddles
six cranking no starts
five problem codes
four different rental cars
three trips to the dealership
two pink dribbles
and a transmission crunching badly

On the 10th day of Christmas my cars gave to me
TEN miles in a tow truck
nine mechanics busy
eight wheels sitting useless
seven more radiator puddles
six cranking no starts
five problem codes
four different rental cars
three trips to the dealership
two pink dribbles
and a transmission crunching badly

On the 11th day of Christmas my cars gave to me
ELEVEN charges on VISA
ten miles in a tow truck
nine mechanics busy
eight wheels sitting useless
seven more radiator puddles
six cranking no starts
five problem codes
four different rental cars
three trips to the dealership
two pink dribbles
and a transmission crunching badly

On the12th day of Christmas my cars gave to me
ZERO cars a working
eleven new charges on VISA
ten miles in a tow truck
nine mechanics busy
eight wheels sitting useless
seven more radiator puddles
six cranking no starts
five problem codes
four different rental cars
three trips to the dealership
two pink dribbles
and a transmission CRUNCHING BAAAAAAADLYYYYYYY

Glitteramous

The Sprout has a habit of making up and mashing up words to best express just exactly how beautiful something should be. Usually that something is a version of a princess/fairy/ballerina/bride or anything that might be frothy, flowing, bouncy or decorated. This past week her new word for that was glitteramous, as in:

"Mommy, I don't like that cake. It's not glitteramous"
"Mommy, I want Santa to bring me a bride dress - one that is GLITTERAMOUS!"
(exasperated sigh) "Mommy why can't I wear ALL THE DRESS UPS to the doctor?! You know I like to be glitteramous!"

However glitteramous makes me think of something that is both glittery and enormous.

Like a ballerina hippopotamus.

Is this glitteramous enough for you Sprout?

My Return from Rutgers: Two months later and it still feel intense

I promised myself I would write a post about my trip to the Rutgers Council On Children's Literature Conference for one very simple reason: While researching for the conference I never read a blog written by an illustrator who had applied without a manuscript. Was there anything special to know if all your mentor sees are your illustrations? I can't tell you how many times I typed that question in various forms into Google. Turns out I did get some answers to that question and on the plane home from New Jersey I started scripting out this blog post.

Then while standing in Baggage I got a text asking if I was available for a couple of new illustrations projects with a tight deadline. As should be very obvious by now, illustrators are like Ado Annie from OKLAHOMA….
we CAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNN'T SAAAAAYYY NO.

Two months and two projects later here's that blog from that flight home, dusted off for punctuation:




One Intense Day
My mentor was Doris Ettlinger, an illustrator who's watercolors are simply stunning. Here's a cover from her new book, releasing in January from Sleeping Bear Press:

Beautiful right? This is a no brainer purchase for Fabulous Illustrator - I love the beach and now I've met the illustrator. One of the things Doris suggested that I've been really trying to push is using a complete overhead view at least once somewhere in the sequence of illustrations. Here are a couple of examples she showed me:

From Pilgrim Cat, by Carol Peacock

Also from S is for Sea Glass by Richard Michelson

I've always loved angles in my work but these are extreme! I'm looking forward to "tipping over the edge" and looking straight down on my characters.


The keynote speaker was, Susan Campbell Bartoletti. Her speech was inspiring, except for when she showed Nashville's embarrassing Nathan Bedford Forrest statue in her presentation.

Everyone sitting near me swiveled around to ask "is that really IN Nashville?" Yes, shudder, it is.

Lunch with the editors was the beehive of networking I expected it to be though everyone I met was surprisingly open and even expressed interested in seeing more work after the conference.

So from one heck of an intense day here's my top 5 take-aways for anyone planning to apply or doing the legwork after being accepted:

Number 5: Make sure there's a picture of each person in your research. Shortly after the morning introductions, the curtain separating the two rooms of mentors and mentees rolls back. Seeing a room full of NY editors and agents suddenly appear before your eyes can be... ah... daunting. But we illustrators are visual people and being able to recognize faces made it easier. I was pleasantly surprised how many people looked like their Linked In profile.

Number 4: Check the list twice, or 15 times. The list that Rutgers publishes of the mentors changes several times before the conference, even the night before. I also recommend starting your research even before knowing that you are accepted. It doesn't go to waste and it makes for much less cramming in September.

Number 3: Remember how way back in May you didn't feel you had a dummy worth sending and you only sent in the 5 illustration samples? I feel you, but realize that your mentor only sees your work that morning. So take your portfolio! Otherwise all they have to give you feedback on are the 5 copies sent months ago. The wireless signal in the building is not great so don't count on getting online... its best to schlep the hardcopy with you. The schlepping is worth it because I was able to show it to industry folks beyond my mentor and 5 on 5 Group.

Number 2: Leave early from the panel discussion right before lunch and stalk your lunch table. I was surprised by how many people didn't do this. While the panel discussion was interesting, if you've attended years of SCBWI conferences then I bet you've heard the same info before. The mentors are seated for lunch at the same tables they sit in the 5 on 5 groups. Its easy enough to look at the table groupings and figure out your best lunch dates, park your portfolio bag, and guarantee some networking.

Number 1: This is possibly the biggest take-away…. if I had to do it over again I would apply with a dummy. While I brought mine with me, my mentor wasn't expecting to give feedback on it. Even if its not the sterling document that you want it to be, send it in so that your mentor can be prepared. My work changed a lot from the time I applied to when I actually attended the conference. You can always bring an updated dummy with you.

Finally what I learned from the weekend was keep working.

That means in your hotel room that night. 

The conference ends at 4 pm. I returned to my hotel and worked for the next 6 hours on an adrenaline high. Don't miss the chance to use the conference as an artist's retreat because when better to work than after a day of consultation and inspiration.

As a shout out thank you to Doris Ettlinger for letting me post her work on this blog check out where she lives online:

www.dorisettlinger.com

facebook/dorisettlingerstudio

etsy/DorisEttlingerStudio

Illustrations © Doris Ettlinger