SCBWI

Folktale Week 2022

By in Children's, General, Other Challenges, Recent News, SCBWI

Follow #folktaleweek2022 to see all the work shared Nov 14-20, 2022

Every year, I think “I would like to do something for #folktaleweek!” And then life happens and I get too busy. And this year would be no different except my primary EdTech client is going through some changes and quite suddenly stopped having work for me. So starting Friday, I decided to try and get SOMETHING together for this week. I started sketching and pondering and some ideas started to coalesce. I don’t have time to write my own story with the prompts, so I decided to use existing stories for inspiration.

Sometimes when you do personal projects, they sort of make themselves and this one also has a mind of its own. Since I prioritized The Omer Project for the last couple of years, I haven’t done any new portfolio or figurative illustration work in a while. So I decided to go back to a beginning of sorts. When I was a bit younger and studying theatrical design, I was inspired by Erte. I loved the idea of an illustrator who also designed scenery and costumes (and yes, also Maurice Sendak among others). Although I loved his clean, elegant lines, and poster flat colors, his work was never something I attempted to emulate. This is before the days of digital so I assumed it all had to be screen work. This was also over 30 years ago.

I had zero intention of doing this project in Adobe Illustrator. I’ve spent the last several years working on my non-digital techniques. And I’ve hated Adobe Illustrator for a very long time. The software and I first met 25 years ago at a time when you had to reverse paths in order to compound them to poke a hole in a shape. This was not particularly user friendly. And pulling Bezier Curves into place with handles was too much for me.  I didn’t like fighting with my drawing. So my twenty year hatred of Illustrator ran up against a wall five years ago when my vector-ish software of choice, Adobe Flash (formerly, Macromedia Flash, formerly FutureSplash – yes, I was there with it all along), suddenly became software non-grata and I was forced to start creating elementary school spot and technical illustrations using Illustrator instead. 

I have to say this software has improved substantially with age. While there is still quite a bit I don’t know about Illustrator, it seemed the appropriate medium for what I had in mind. And, as I’ve already got a work flow of building library elements in it, it may also be the quickest tool to create the most polished *ahem* rough drafts in my current arsenal. My initial plan was to do up wireframes in Illustrator and print them out to finish traditionally. But there’s not enough time for that. I’ll be lucky if I can get in all seven drafts this week. Also for brevity, I’m going to attempt to do these paper doll portrait style. And I’ll be keeping an eye on how long they take. It’s always good to know how long work takes you so you can give good time estimates. Well, here goes…

Fool - The Emperor Has No Clothes

Day 1: Fool

Based on “The Emperor’s New Clothes” by Hans Christian Andersen. One of the most well-known morality tales, “about a vain emperor who gets exposed before his subjects.“

Day 2: Tree

This is inspired by “The Golden Tree,” a Jewish-Indian folktale that I recently stumbled on. This one will require a little more research but the tale itself is intriguing including it being BOTH Jewish and Indian! With a lack of handy resources, I based the clothing on a combination of 19th century Turkish and Afghani Jewish clothing styles.

The Golden Tree - A Jewish Indian Folktale

And the golden tree grows within that fountain, surrounded by it on all sides. Many have tried to reach it, but all have failed and drowned in the boiling waters. But if you take my shoes, and wear them when you enter the waters, the heat of the waters will have no effect…

There, in that sacred circle, the Emperor saw the golden tree face to face, as had happened so often in his dreams. But now he was astounded to discover that the golden tree was not a motionless object created out of gold, but was itself a golden fountain that sprang up in that place, with molten gold that formed the shape of a golden tree…

Excerpted from https://jewishfairytales.blogspot.com/2021/03/the-golden-tree.html

Attendant to the Queen of the Night

Day 3: Star

An attendant to the Queen of the Night from Mozart’s “The Magic Flute.” Inspired by Erté and Billy Porter.

I technically finished this one at 11:59. Pencils down. It’s not exactly what I intended and still very much not where I’d like it to be, but that’s why I’m calling these drafts!

This is also one of those reasons for my hating on Adobe Illustrator. It’s really difficult to make complex shapes like the star halo look like they’re coming from behind to overlap the fronts of other shapes. 

Day 4: Rebel

The Scarlet Pimpernel. Need I say more?

I AM, however, fessing up to “pant-sing” this challenge. I started late and have been trying to do these around my life, which got a bit hectic these last two days. So I missed posting this one on yesterday’s deadline and will now miss posting today’s. 

Rebel

December 13th

I have officially slipped out of the challenge. I intended to keep going but we went away for Thanksgiving and life happened and so I’m just going to leave these now and take what I’ve learned on to the next challenge or project which is likely to be a much needed portfolio update!

The Old Ways

By in General, Halloweensie, SCBWI, SLH, Work, Writing

I’m supposed to be planning tonight’s big neighborhood Halloween Hotdogs potluck, cooking 216 hotdogs and five pounds of chicken nuggets, but the weather report has gotten so dire for this evening that we had to punt the party to tomorrow in favor of hopefully buying the kids a few more rain/wind/thunder-free trick or treating minutes tonight. Because it WILL happen tonight!

I set a few contingency plans in place, including an opt-in do-over for trick or treating tomorrow night (mostly for littles). So crazy it just might work? I guess we’ll see. The trick may be on me! But really, it’s all about the kids so cross your fingers and wiggle your nose for dry spells this evening!

I’m posting this really close to the wire, but it’s been a while and I wanted to have a go at ‘Muse” Susanna Hill’s 9th Annual Halloweensie Writing Contest! I started something on this subject for last year’s contest but didn’t finish in time.

I’ve been thinking about the origins of Halloween and the cycle of death and rebirth that many cultures, traditions, and religions celebrate, at or beginning at this time of year (in North America). Also, my own grandmother is 101 and a half (you get the halves back again after you turn a certain age). I have been very lucky to have had her in my life these 47 (and a half) years.

The Contest: write a 100 word Halloween story appropriate for children (children here defined as 12 and under) (title not included in the 100 words), using the words potion, cobweb, and trick.

The Old Ways

“Tonight ain’t fit for man or beast,” Granny would’ve grinned.

Rain pelts the window by the flickering gourd. 

I leave warm bread on the sill, in case They still come for tricks. 

“Tonight the veil grows cobweb thin,” Granny would’ve winked.

I set her favorite scones and tea on the mantle.

Ma feels my head, gives me a potion, and tucks me into my quilt.

“Go to sleep, child. Tomorrow’s a new day,” I heard Granny sigh.

Restless and sweating, I must be asleep. Finally, I dream. 

Then bleary and blinking in the morning light, I realize she is gone.

2019 SCBWI Narrative Art Award

By in Children's, General, Other Challenges, SCBWI

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Here it is October. I’ve been away from my blog for so long that Wordpress has updated and is now FORCING me to use blocks. Which means it took me about five minutes to figure out that I needed to add a text block to the layout to be able to begin typing. Ahhh technology. It makes your life easier, right?

So lots of life things broke loose just after New Years that caused me to take a bit of a creative hiatus. Everything’s fine in my personal world, I just had to prioritize other people, house tidying and fixing, and higher paying jobs for a bit. Personal work always suffers when that happens. So I didn’t get a whole lot of that done this year. Some. Not a lot.

Anyway, as soon as the Narrative Award was announced this year, I immediately had an idea but then put it off (see priorities above) until literally the 11th hour when I swept the clutter from my art table and threw these pieces together.

My whole life, people keep telling me to work bigger BIGGER! This is generally good and freeing advice. Unless you’re me. And that’s a very funny thing for a former scenery designer/painter to say. I’m happier working small. And in this case, it made the work go faster and forced me to loosen up and work in the parameters. I did have a bit of a breakdown partway through because I didn’t think I’d be able to finish on time after almost two months of noodling the drawings in my head. But I did. Project-Runway-Make-It-Work style in under 36 hours! So I’m pretty proud of that but it’s not my favorite way to work. 

This year’s Narrative Award assignment: “2019 is the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission’s moon landing. In recognition of this iconic event, the 2019 assignment is to submit a narrative sequence involving a ground-breaking journey, whether historical, personal, or imagined.”

So of course I went historical. In retrospect, I should have used the couple’s (nonexistent here) child as the main character. So when (if) I redo it, he’ll be there. Now, this is actually a true story. It’s not my story. It’s a story one of my friends told me about her family coming to New York over a hundred years ago…

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Christmas Shaped – The Eighth Annual Holiday Contest

By in General, Other Challenges, SCBWI, SLH, Work, Writing Tags: , ,

shapes

In between all the busyness, I got hit with an unusually random idea for Susanna Hill’s Annual Holiday Writing Contest yesterday morning. I’m really not sure where this idea came from. I promise I was trying to write something else. Something poignant and timely. But, um, no.

Anyway, this probably has something to do with me building math curriculum off and on for K12.com for a lot longer than I ever studied it in school. SOMEBODY “up there” has a sense of humor. Math was ever my worst subject but I have learned to love it.

The illustrative collage up top isn’t original art. I don’t have time to make something from scratch today, so a quick collage will have to do for now.

The rules: Write a children’s holiday story (children here defined as age 12 and under) about A Holiday Hero not to exceed 250 words

Here’s my entry:

Square is tired of being just the side of a gift box.

He’s meant for greater things.

Like big green Cone, the Christmas tree.

Or operatic pentagram, always shining at Cone’s apex.

Square is unsure. He’s always been part of a team.

Maybe he can lead the rectangles and circles in building a train?

The annulus around Cone’s base broadcasts big news!

Pentagram is missing! No geometric has seen her anywhere.

There can’t be a Christmas tree without a star!

This is square’s chance.

He will be the star atop the christmas tree!

Square begins to climb, weaving his careful way between colorful spheres and ellipses.

This is difficult.

Square slips and slides down the angle back to Cone’s base.

A rectangle calls to him, “Hey, we need a sixth over here for this prism! Lend us a corner?”

Tempted by the familiar task, square tells himself he can only form a diamond anyway, not a star.

“NO! I will do this!”

Square begins his climb once more.

Half-way up, he slips again but a vertex reaches from somewhere and catches his corner.

It’s another square.

“I wanted to be the star too,” she says, “But I don’t think we can do this solo. Can we go together?”

The squares near the apex but only one will fit.

Square has an idea. He rotates 45 degrees.

“Align your centerpoint with mine!”

With one last leap, they make it!

Together, they are an octagram.

And an octagram can be a star.

2018 SCBWI Narrative Art Award

By in Children's, General, Other Challenges, SCBWI

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Below are all three images from my 2018 SCBWI Narrative Art Award entry. The theme is “Misunderstood Monsters” in honor of the 200th anniversary of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.

I had no intention of using my experimental charcoal sketches AS the finals. I’d bought the charcoals as part of my 100 Days Project, experimentally messing around with media and techniques. I thought the charcoals might be a step for loosening up my drawings and ideas before doing the finals in a more likely medium–  colored pencil or inks. I don’t think I’ve actually worked in charcoal in earnest since I graduated high school. But I saw that I was running out of time and personal projects always have the lowest priority.

Also, I’m pretty sure I bent the rules doing panels instead of single illustrations, and my image dimensions are woefully out of the standard. But I think that’s ok because I really did this for myself. I’ve had this story rattling around in my brain since February when it popped out of my head in Susanna Hill’s “Making Picture Book Magic” class.

Inspired by Caliban and Prospero from Shakespeare’s The Tempest but set in the middle of the 20th century, this story is decidedly NOT a picture book. It’s probably better suited, at least, for middle grade. Since it’s about a boy who draws but doesn’t really read, I envision it formatted a little like Brian Selznick’s, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, interspersing images and story text. I hadn’t tried doing panel narrative illustration in, probably, about 20 years, so I wanted to see what I could do in a graphic novel format.

It was definitely a learning experience. I can see many things “wrong,” and things I’d like to neaten up or do better. I kind of feel like I’ve turned in a draft. But deadlines are deadlines. In general, I’m pleased with the results and what I learned from the process and that counts too.

The winner will be announced on November 17th.

2018 SCBWI Narrative Art Award
2018 SCBWI Narrative Art Award
2018 SCBWI Narrative Art Award

Critiquing Picture Book Dummies – A Checklist

By in General, SCBWI, Writing

Letter (Urban design)

Several times each year, my friend and colleague Terry Jennings organizes a CritiqueFest for the MidAtlantic chapter of the SCBWI.

This is a free event and is described by Ellen R. Braaf, our Regional Advisor, as “… an opportunity to meet with other writers, get feedback on a work-in-progress, learn about the critique group process, and perhaps even find a few kindred souls with whom you can continue to meet. ”

Once-again, Terry asked me to facilitate the session for a group of illustrator-authors. Like last time, several participants submitted book dummies, however there was one woman who planned to attend as an illustrator-only. In the past, I’ve used my own cobbled-together versions of various picture book manuscript checklists to help me with my reviews, but these checklists deal with the manuscripts and not the art.

I went looking around the interwebs for information about book dummies and found several posts on what should or shouldn’t go into a portfolio, several on promotional postcards, and some helpful advice about the technical aspects of creating book dummies—but only one post that addressed the art of the dummy, and I couldn’t find a critique checklist at all.

So I decided to put together my own worksheet. I asked around in a couple of places and got input and feedback from my virtual studio-mate, Tami Traylor; the members of Kidlit 411; The Illustration Department; and Smart Dummies creator, Dani Duck.

I tested my worksheet out in my reviews this week and I think it worked pretty well, so I’m sharing it here in case you’re working on a dummy and need some reminders for self-review, or your illustrator critique group members are adding dummies to their portfolios, or any another reason, really.

Although I included a section on individual image composition, it is meant to address the individual sketches specifically as part of the whole book, and is not intended for robust single-illustration critiques. I did not include critique etiquette guidelines in my worksheet because many good resources already exist. Remember to play nice in the sandbox, and make good art.

Copies may be shared and printed for personal, educational, and non-commercial use. If you share this worksheet I’d appreciate the credit, and if you use the worksheet, I’d love to hear your feedback!

Download: PB_Dummy_Critique_Sheet_2018

 

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