Winter Chickadee

I am not yet ready to call myself an illustrator. It still feels dishonest to me. But perhaps I've come one step closer.  I have been a member of 'Drawing Tutorials Online' for a couple of years now, it's a fantastic site and if you are looking for an online art class it's absolutely the place to be.  In January I entered a DTO contest. The theme was "Winter" and the only rule was that the image had to be a black and white image drawn in graphite or col-erase pencil.  I participated simply for the experience, with no expectation at all of winning.  

The winners were announced a few weeks ago and the three finalists' work was AMAZING! I wish I could share them on my blog, but alas they are on a private site for the students at DTO and I don't think I'm allowed to snag them.

The most amazing thing about the contest for me was that I received an honorable mention!! I am still on a high from Matt's comments about my image - so complementary and encouraging. Best of all he thought this image/style really fit children's book illustration.

So thank you Matt Archambault for your encouragement and making me feel like I might just have it in me to be a children's book illustrator one day...

2013 'Unofficial' #PBDummy Challenge - Week three of Drafting the story

Well, my story is coming along but I continue to struggle with the the wording...too many words...too little words...the balance of words and pictures....

This afternoon I received an e-newsletter from Julie Hedlund. You may be familiar with her 12x12 challenge. You can visit her website for more details on it. It was a fabulous experience last year and although I am not participating this year, if you are a serious kidlit writer, don't pass up the opportunity to avoid the 'slush pile'!...I digress...this afternoon her e-newsletter left me inspired. She wrote about an experience meeting an agent at a SCBWI conference last year and the advice which she received.

Juile wrote -
"One thing Stephen said more than once at the conference was that he needs to be able to “see” a picture book before he can take it on. That doesn’t mean you have to be an illustrator, but that he likes language that is so vivid that it creates a strong visual impression. When I asked him if he had any particular guidance to give 12 x 12 members in their submissions to him, this was his response:

“For me, I am always looking for craft in language. Beautiful language gets me every time. The picture book market is tough right now, so writers need to know that their picture books need to be one-of-a-kind, original, fresh, strong, and inventive. Most publishers these days are looking for character-driven stories. And, please keep in mind, as Maurice Sendak said, you need to ’leave room for the pictures.”

Wow this is challenging!!

To those of you participating in  2013 "Unofficial" #PBDummy Challenge, how is it coming? I am finding step two really challenging. I am not a writer. I love my idea and I think it has lots of potential, but this writing business is WAY more difficult that one might expect if you've never sat down to write a children's book.

So this week I turned to a professional for advice...Mem Fox. I love her books and her website  offers some great guidance for would-be picture book writers - 'So you want to write a picture book' and   'Twenty Do's and Don'ts'.  If you need some help yourself you may want to reference her articles too.

If you have been on our fb page you may have noticed Pia's question and link to Tara Lazar's blog whose guest blogger Tammi Sauer writes about common 'structures' used in picture books. It's definitely worth a read.

Step Two: Draft The Story

First off, I need to say how excited I am have to have 33 fellow participants in our challenge! I hope that all of you who want to join the facebook group have been able to do so. If you have had any issues, please let me know.

How did week one go for you? This week I spent some time at my local bookstore, looked through my PiBoIdMo ideas from last year's challenge, and I think I am ready for phase two. 

Hopefully after a week of consideration you have picked your project and are ready to start drafting your story....


Throughout the challenge, since I am super green at all of this, I will be leading us back to  the kidlitart blog for some great guidance and information from Wendy Martin.  In this blog post for step two Wendy offers wonderful direction on things to keep in mind as we being drafting our story and gives a number of reference titles which will be worth purchasing or borrowing from your local library.

This writing portion of the challenge lasts for four weeks (until Feb. 10th) which seems like a long time. But writing is one of those things where it helps to write and set it aside for a few days, then come back to it and tweek and tweek and tweek. So don't get caught up leaving your writing until the last minute, because of course this is the foundation for the remainder of the challenge!

If at any time in the next four weeks you feel like a group critique would help, please feel free to make a request on our facebook page. I came across this article on setting up a group critique at 'Once Upon A Sketch' a little while ago and thought it was a great idea.

So sharpen your pencils and let's get writing!

Let's get started!

So Day 1!

First of all, welcome to everyone who has decided to join me for the next 25 weeks. Again, if you didn't see my blog post last night, I have made an official 'unofficial' badge for us if you are into badges and would like to put one on your blog. 

Next, Step One: Pick Your Project

For those of you joining me on this challenge, you may already have a clear idea for your project. I am excited to start a picture book idea that was sprung during Tara Lazar's 2012 PiBoIDMo challenge.
If you need some help coming up with an idea, Tara Lazar has put together some great lists- 500+ things that kids like and 79+ things kids don't like which might get your creative juices flowing.


Additional Inspiration:
(From kidlitart, January 5, 2011)

Caldecott winners, 1938-present

SCBWI Golden Kite winners, 1974-present
Note: Awards for picture book text were added in 1997.

Horn Book Fanfare list for 2011
Horn Book Fanfare list for 2012

Publisher's Weekly Best Books of 2011
Publisher's Weekly Best Books of 2012

New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Books of 2010
New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Books of 2011

Struggling to find an idea?
Check out the series of posts hosted by Tara Lazar during the PiBoIdMo (Picture Book Idea Month) Challenge (November, 2010), and the posts during last year’s NaPiBoWriWee (National Picture Book Writing Week), hosted by Paula Yoo.

Start building your resource library
Here are three books which have excellent overviews on what makes an engaging picture book:

Writing with Pictures: How to Write and Illustrate Children’s Books, by Uri Shulevitz

Writing Picture Books: A Hands-On Guide From Story Creation to Publication, by Ann Whitford Paul

The Writer’s Guide to Crafting Stories for Childen, by Nancy Lamb

 And if you have not signed up yet, would you please make a comment here so we know that you are joining us for the challenge?

Tomorrow is the big day!

Tomorrow we start day one of our challenge. Are you excited?? I am!  To start us off I thought we needed a badge. So if you like badges like I do, please feel free to snag this one and post it to your blog.

See ya back here tomorrow!

The 2013 "Unofficial" #PBDummy Challenge

I had been so looking forward to participating in the 2013 #PBDummy Challenge, and when I learned that both Wendy and Bonnie are swamped this year and would not be hosting the challenge I was really disappointed.  I am too inexperienced as an illustrator to take on the challenge of hosting the official challenge, but I thought I might be able to manage hosting an "unofficial" one. This in no way replaces what Bonnie and Wendy have done, and my hope it that next year we'll be back at the kidlitart blog again.  But for 2013, if you were keen to participate in the #PBDummy challenge yourself and are looking forward to the camaraderie of a social network working on the same project, this is the place!  Everyone is welcome.

I am keeping this year simple. I will post a new blog entry at each new step during the challenge, referencing encouraging blog posts previously posted at the kidlitart blog (a big thank you to Wendy for allowing me to reference their materials). Participants can support each other through the #PBDummy facebook page, and are welcome to participate in weekly Thursday night #kidlitart tweet chats (7pm MST). There will be no prizes at the end of June, just the satisfaction that after 25 weeks of hard work, we will  have a finished a #PBDummy ready for submission.  So if all that sounds good to you, here is the challenge...



What is the 2013 “Unofficial” #PB Dummy Challenge? This is a 25-week-long online group challenge to create and submit a picture book dummy.
Start date: January 7, 2013
End date: July 1, 2013

Who can participate?  Anyone interested in making a Picture Book Dummy

Are there any rules for the challenge? No rules at all for participating. The idea is to have a great time while accomplishing something useful. If you’ve ever taken part in a similar challenge, you know the value of community: checking in regularly, encouraging others, allowing yourself to be held accountable to a schedule—all this will help you get the most from the experience.

Do I have to post my work online?  No, however if you would like to share your sketches or ‘Work In Progress’ on our private FB Group page, please feel free.  Please be mindful that this is at your own discretion: only post what you are comfortable sharing. We will also be discussing our work and creative process in general terms via the #PBDummy hashtag and special #kidlitart chats.
So pull out your #PiBoIdMo stash, dust off those concept sketches you’ve been hoarding since art school, and join us as we commit to getting it done!

The next 25 weeks   Each step in the challenge will be introduced by a post on this blog. There will be a “How’s it going?” Twitter chat scheduled at the close of each step in the process, to keep us on course.

THE SCHEDULE
STEP 1: Pick your project (1 week) Jan. 7-Jan. 13
STEP 2: Draft the story (4 weeks) Jan. 14-Feb. 10 
STEP 3: Develop the characters (2 weeks) Feb. 11-Feb. 24 
STEP 4: Storyboard text and art (2 weeks) Feb. 25-Mar. 10 
STEP 5: Render tight, full-size sketches (8 weeks) Mar. 11-May 5 
STEP 6: Produce final art of two spreads (4 weeks) May 6-June 2
STEP 7: Assemble the dummy (2 weeks ) Jun. 3-Jun.16 
STEP 8: Research submissions; prepare dummy package (1 week) Jun. 17-Jun. 23 
STEP 9: Submit (1 week) Jun. 24-Jul. 1


Additional Resources:
Twitter Tag: #PBDummy
Thursday 7pm MST Twitter Tweet Chat Tag: #kidlitart
facebook page: #PBDummy Challenge


Please scroll back through the posts and guest interviews from 2011 & 2012’s Kidlitart #PBDummy Challenge, which are archived on the Kidlitart blog. These posts contain valuable lists of reference materials and links, and will be referenced throughout this year's challenge. Wendy Martin has compiled all this information into a handy ebook, which you can download from her site for $5, I have a copy and it's a wonderful reference.

That’s it! Nine easy steps to success. Ready to get started? Let’s get to it!  All you have to do now is:
1. Please comment below so we know who all the official participants on the 'Unofficial' challenge are and
2. Join the facebook group if you are not yet a member (#PBDummy Challenge).

Good luck!  We start Monday.

my wish list

I am always spotting amazing learning opportunities online for becoming a better illustrator, more versed in Kitlit but I often don't have the time to sit down and read everything or have to take time to consider whether it's worth it to buy the next lesson etc...I would be buying up everything otherwise!

My blog has often acted as 'bread crumbs' for me to re-find these great resources, but of late I have stopped dropping breadcrumbs.

Today is catch-up day, and here are some spots I need to revisit...

An article on Tara Lazar's blog about stopping the procrastination! Will Terry also guest posted an article for Tara Lazar after PiBoIdMo this year...and of course I love Liz Garton Scanlon so let's not forget her post.

There there are some digital tutorials I am eyeing...of course these are great Christmas gift ideas family peeps!

•  I have refered to ctrl+paint many times for it's free photoshop tutorials, so it's time to give back and there are some amazing downloadable videos available in the ctrl+paint shop for $10 each.  I have always been impressed with the free video so I imagine these will be fantastic and worth every penny....the problem is which one to choose? I want them all!! :)
• Will Terry created the Folio Academy, and it has just exploded with great video tutorials covering all aspects of art creation, so whether you want to paint, draw, do digital art, there's something for you there. I have purchased a few of Will's videos and have learned lots from both of them. My favorite was "Digital Painting in Photoshop", but be sure to watch the bonus video after Chapter 1or 2 instead of at the end!

HoHoDooDa Day 5

Back to Canada

HoHoDooDa Day 4