SCBWI Midsouth Conference

Where to begin!!!  The SCBWI conference in Franklin Tennessee last weekend was just a whirlwind of information and inspiration.  Keynote speaker, Jay Asher, was incredible.  My portfolio critique with Loraine Joyner, art director of Peachtree Publishing, was both insightful and encouraging.  The food was delicious.  I had a delightful lunch time conversation with agent Michael Bourret, author Bethany Griffin, and editor Lisa Cheng.  But the best part about the conference was being surround by my own kind.  Writers, illustrators, beer lovers, introverts, creative minds, and dreamers.  It's nice to know I am not alone in this journey to publication.    

I think perhaps the most beneficial part of the conference was the illustrator intensive with Loraine Joyner.  I have often heard that if I want to grow, I need to surround myself with people better than me.  This was certainly the case as I sat in a room full of illustrators including Mary Uhles, Susan Eaddy, and Meridith Gimbel.  There was so much talent.  The competition was so daunting that at first I just wanted to hide away in a cave.  I seriously considered keeping my work hid away in a folder and just pretending to be one of the observers.  But when Susan Eaddy called out, "Do we have everyone's work?"  I gathered my things and delivered them to her at the front of the room.  My hands were shaking, but I felt relieved somehow after I left my work out there in the open for all to see.  There was no more hiding.  I just had to embrace who I was and hope that others could appreciate the work I'd done.

All the participating illustrators chose one manuscript out of three to work on over the course of a few months before the conference.  The majority of us, including me, chose to illustrate "Kind of Little Things."  We were assigned to draw a storyboard, character sketches, and a final piece of artwork for the story.  Six of us had chosen to do "King of Little Things" because frankly it was just the best story, and I was amazed by all the different interpretations people had as they made the story their own.  I was pleased to discover that I was the only one to think to make the King of Little Things a small tiny person like Tom Thumb or Thumbelina.  The idea proved to be too ambitious in the end, and there were a lot of flaws in thumbnails because I wasn't able to stay consistent with the sizes, but it made my work stand out.  Loraine Joyner even said, "I LOVE this king.  He reminds me of a professor."  I was able to withstand all other criticism after such praise.    

At the end of the intensive we were allowed to take a look at the actual books and their real illustrations for the first time.  David Wenzel was the illustrator for the King of Little Things and if any of you are familiar with his work than you'll know that he is master.  It was so humbling to compare my work to  

his.  You can see for yourselves the difference in our interpretation of the exact same scene.  I just had to buy the book.  For one thing it is a truly wonderful story and the illustrations are terrific.  My other reason is that it will always have a special place in my heart because I invested so much of myself into the story.  I spent hours and hours developing the characters.  I've grown to love them.  I think this is what it means to be an illustrator.  To spend so much time with the characters that they become real to you.  I still have a lot to learn as an illustrator, but I'm making progress and loving every step of the journey. Thank you SCBWI providing me with such a wonderful support system and community.  This conference has helped me in so many ways and I will most definitely be coming back next year!   

The Feast

I am continuing to experiment with water color without ink.  It's a challenge and I'm certainly not as confident without my trusty sharpie, but this style is certainly helping me grow as an artist.  

Vietnam

I am attempting to be more diverse in my paintings so I decided to make a water color without relying on my dependable black sharpie.  It was a challenge, but I think it turned out well overall.

King Normous

Okay people I need your opinions.  I'm trying to decide which version of these pictures to take with me to the illustrators intensive in Nashville.  Normally I'd go with picture 1, but for this particular illustration I kind of like the raw look.  What are your thoughts?   

Picture 1. 

Picture 2.

Fox Family

A friend of mine offered to give me a Barnes and Noble gift card in exchange for a fox family illustration.  Not a hard decision to make. There are few things more appealing to me than a Barnes and Noble gift cards.  So here is the fox illustration.  The style is largely influenced by Anita Jeram's illustrations in her book "Guess How Much I Love You."  I am such a fan of her work.  Now for the difficult decision...What am I going to by with my $25 Barnes and Noble gift card!

Young Bird Watcher

The redheaded boy in this picture is my brother, Michael.  He is 12 years old and completely in love with birding.  At the last family reunion, while the majority of family members were playing games, Michael would be outside staring up at the trees with a pair of binoculars and bird book.  I've never seen a kid get so passionate about wildlife.  

Different

I once went to a pool party with some African American friends of mine.  When we arrived it suddenly dawned on me that 99% of all the people at the pool were white like me, and my friends were the only black people there.  It was an odd realization.  I suddenly became very sensitive to the looks other people gave them, and I began to see a glimpse of what it must be like to be in there shoes.  My friends handled the whole situation very well and acted perfectly comfortable in their surroundings which I found very admirable.  

When was the last time you were in a situation where you realized you were different?  How did you feel?