NAVIGATING LIFE AND BUSINESS WHILE BLOGGING

Dear Readers,

I've had this blog since 2009 and I’ve really struggled with it over the last few years. Not because I’m having difficulties finding things to write about, but because there is too much to write about and I’ve tried to stick to specific topics for my audience here. Other topics, I decided, were for my other blogs. This resulted in zero posts anywhere. Three blogs and two websites is simply too much to maintain. This journey that I’ve been writing about is much broader and tangled up with every other part of my life. Compartmentalizing it is not working. I started this blog to share my experiences with the hope of helping others. That is still my objective...

Longing to Go by Kristen Schwartz

What I've decided to do is create categories for different post types. Eventually you’ll have the option to subscribe to everything or just the categories you’d like to read. Here are some of the categories I've been thinking about: 

SMALL BUSINESS

In my business, what I call my day job, I help small business owners with all aspects of their websites, SEO, social media marketing, graphic design, ads, staying up on technology, etc. These are things that can come in handy for anyone running a small business, including freelance designers and illustrators.

FREELANCE DESIGN AND ILLUSTRATION

These are business experiences that are specific to illustrators and designers.

CHILDREN’S PUBLISHING

Information specific to children’s publishing.

ART

And of course I’ll be sharing my art.

BOOK DESIGN

I design and implement both print books and digital books. This is a broad perspective as my experience in this area started in 1995 and continues to the present.

STAYING HEALTHY/SELF CARE

I’m getting older, just like everyone else in the world who has a birthday every year, so I’ll share posts about navigating a changing body. I'll also share posts about being in business as a major introvert, working in a field where it's necessary to sit for hours at a time, and many other health and self care related topics. I spent years working in the health food industry and studying alternative healthcare and botanical medicine, so I will occasionally share information about that too.

BUDGET/SAVING MONEY

Over the years my husband and I have survived eliminated jobs and years of low earnings while getting back on our feet. I’ll share ways to hack life and save money, especially when you think you’ve already cut back in every way you can.

PARENT TOPICS AND COLLEGE

I’m a parent of a college age daughter. I'll share survival info for parenting while pursuing a dream and running a business.

RANDOM LIFE

This category may be a catchall for odd stuff. For example, we have a dog and a cat and weird things come up that I’ve learned to work around while still maintaining sanity in my business and personal life. Who knows what will show up in this category?

This blog will be going through a transition over the next months as I redesign and ultimately transfer from housing it on Blogger to exporting it to my hosting account. I'm sure I'll be writing about that too. Stay tuned. I hope you’ll continue with me on this journey...

FINDING HUMANITY, CREATIVITY AND DREAMS AGAIN

The 2016 U.S. presidential election sank to new lows, creating a difficult and exhausting time which didn’t get easier afterward. I realized just how bad it was when I fell asleep during dental work. My dentist drilled, wrenched at, and cut away a stubborn crown that needed replacing and even though he started working on it before the nerves were completely numb—it was still a welcomed break from watching fear and hatred trample values I cherished. The election left me impatient with people, wanting to be alone and feeling like I would never tell another story again.

Kristen Schwartz - Forest of Dreams

People acted as if the election was a prize they could win for themselves by hurling personal insults and ill will at the expense of the other side. It was brutal and I felt like an ineffectual citizen in a country I didn’t know. In normal elections we debated ideas and issues, voted, won or lost, and continued on afterward—just as we had before the election. We dealt with policy changes as they came, had occasional disagreements, but I never lost hope. This time, I lost faith in humanity, my sense of humor, and sank into shame at the spectacle we had become. Thirty-three years of voting and nine presidential elections, I had never seen anything like it. I knew we were better than that.

Shepard Fairey - Greater Than Fear

Almost every segment of our population was targeted and denigrated. That isn't okay, nor should it be treated as the new normal or tolerated at all—particularly for political candidates and those elected. Our country's subtle and not so subtle threads of racism were very visible, along with prejudices against women, LGBTQ+, Muslims, immigrants, people with disabilities… and on and on. There were no limits. As a creative, I thought I would never be able to get out from under the hatred I witnessed to create another piece of art—ever again. I walked for miles and dumped 30,000 words of gibberish out of my brain before I began to make a dent in the rubble that encased my creativity. There was finally a crack of light and a small trickle of inspiration...and then another and another until I had a plan and a line of projects in my queue again.

Illustrating, writing, making music, animating—whatever

Shepard Fairey - Defend Dignity

art you create…it’s an expression and reflection of humanity we desperately need to bring us together. Art can make us feel joy, love, sadness, hope, struggle—all the things we have in common. With art we can motivate, celebrate, understand, inspire and give hope. We can heal our wounds and also shine a light on the real issues we keep trying to sweep under the rug. I'm not talking about political issues. I'm talking about treating each other with dignity and as equals, truly listening with compassion, engaging in thoughtful conversation, and dropping defensiveness. It isn't easy. It takes a lot more effort than bullying and slinging hatred, and it is most definitely worth the struggle to become more invested in each other. We're all in this together.

When his term is over, this incoming president, will go back to his tower. If we don't deal with the things that divide us in the meantime, we will again be fighting among ourselves in the next reality show. We're better than that.

Do whatever you can to keep making art.

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Helpful tips to deal with negativity and worry and stay on the creative path:

• Remember—we’re all in this together. 
• Have conversations and connect with people.
• Stay interested and curious about different ideas and viewpoints.
• Seek commonalities where there don't appear to be any.

  

  Shepard Fairey - Protect Each Other

• Stay up on the facts, but don’t become consumed or overwhelmed by the news.
• Stay clear of trolls. 
• Listen to real people talk about their lives—from all walks of life. Just...listen. (If you’re isolated, you can listen to or read firsthand accounts online or in books.) Observe what comes up for you. Just...observe. 
• When worries pop up, ask, Is it true? If it is, do something about it.
• Get involved or make donations. Even small amounts of time and money can make a profound difference. (The American Civil Liberties Union and the Southern Poverty Law Center were helpful for me. They're working 24/7 to preserve our rights, promote understanding and battle against hatred.)
• Upset over political policy? Speak up productively. The U.S. government works for the people…all the people. Don’t let them forget it. Pick up the phone and call your representatives. Do your part and free your mind.
• Refresh non-violent communication skills.
• Take media breaks. Unplug for as long as you need to. 
• Fill your brain with art, love, laughter, etc.
• Create in whatever way you can—as often as possible.
• Hug the people you love.
• Hug your pets, if you have them. Their love is unconditional.
• Remove yourself from people who invalidate your feelings.
• Don’t invalidate your own experience or pretend it isn’t happening. Work through it.
• Breathe deeply and be present by engaging with your surroundings with each of your senses—touch, taste, sight, smell and hearing. (I am not suggesting to lick the walls…)
• Disengage from unproductive conversations that go astray—especially when they undermine you.
• Spend time in nature.
• Pay attention to self care - get plenty of exercise and sleep, eat right, etc
• Walk until you feel the weight lift and the stress break free. This might turn into a longer walk than you expected, so wear the right shoes, bring food, water, a flashlight, etc.

What to do when you're inspired and feeling good:

• When you’re inspired—take it and run. Create!
• Make a ripple. 
• Share.
• Pace yourself.
• Help others find their mojo again. The community needs you and your art to help them recharge again.
• Make a list of things you can create now and also later. Keep adding to it. This can be a creative bank to use when you’re mired in muck.
• Develop and refine your system of creating so it becomes second nature. I bust through my issues easier than I would have in the past because of the two mentored programs I did with Chris Oatley. In Painting Drama 1 and 2, I developed a system of finding inspiration and illustrating that I didn’t have before and I am extremely thankful. 

Stay alert, don’t poke the trolls, take care of yourself and do your best to find laughter and love to sustain your creative endurance. Feel free to add to these lists in the comments.

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Shepard Fairey's beautiful poster art has inspired thousands through several elections. You can download his art through the Amplifier Foundation and you can also see the other artists supporting change through art.

THE ART OF COLLABORATION

Those of you on my email lists have been hearing a lot about my current art book collaboration, Encounters with the Imaginary. Some of you may have heard about it on other social media outlets. The book is starting as a KickStarter. (There’s a fine line between sharing and spamming that I’ve been mindful of along the way, but I want to make sure that no one misses out.) If you’d like to be on my art list for special announcements about projects like this, make sure to let me know…

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Encounters with the Imaginary

Encounters with the Imaginary is an art book—a product of months of collaboration with 19 other artists—all amazing—and, I’m convinced, part Energizer Bunny. I am officially exhausted.
The collaboration is part of Boneshaker Press, the business started to house the project that has turned into an art community and much more than I ever expected. There are interviews, opinion pieces and works in progress you can read on our website here. There is also an art group on Facebook here. The artists of Boneshaker Press are from all over the world—a truly exceptional group of talent, skills and passion for illustration.

The book is available through our Kickstarter for a couple more weeks and there are lots of fantastic bonuses too—like large canvas and mini prints.

Sharing this project has been very different than I’m used to. Generally I post or send my images out by email and those interested buy prints, cards, books, etc. For this project the group decided not to share all the finished images until the book ships. Since I’ve been getting a lot of messages and emails with questions about what I’ve illustrated for the book, I thought I’d share the line drawing and part of the finished piece (above). It has been so tough not to share the entire final illustration! My character is the Great Owl, a rather large, benevolent creature who lives in a massive forest. As usual, I've written a short story for the illustration that is also in the book, along with some background on the development of the piece.

The Great Owl—line art for my illustration in Encounters with the Imaginary

It has been an exciting time. While you’re checking everything out, I’m going to try to get a nap in before the next project starts…

SO YOU WANT TO WRITE AND/OR ILLUSTRATE A CHILDREN'S BOOK—Now What? Workshop May 14, 2016

When I first started my journey into children’s publishing, I didn’t know anything or anyone else doing the same. I spent the first few years frozen in my tracks because I was intimidated and overwhelmed by learning about this new world. I was sifting through a mountain of sometimes conflicting information as the publishing industry was in constant flux. All I wanted was to be able to sit down with someone and ask questions—especially ones specific to my projects. I went to conferences and did all kinds of research, but I was still getting hung up on details I later learned didn’t matter, or worse, I was doing things that could actually cause obstacles for me.

If this sounds like you, bring your project and join me at my Children's Publishing Workshop in Tahoe on May 14th, 2016. I love to share what I’ve learned so people can avoid common mistakes, save time and get going in the right direction. And you'll meet kindred spirits! (Sign up here - http://www.bonafidebooks.com/calendar )

The workshop is being held at South Lake Tahoe publisher Bona Fide Books. They regularly get children's publishing questions and because that isn't their area, they often turn those questions over to me. Children's books and the children's book industry are entirely different from the rest of the publishing industry and demand is great enough once again to offer my workshop.

Are you too far from Tahoe? There has been quite a bit of interest from people who are too far away and I'm considering doing an online version of the workshop—complete with one on one time. Just like the in person workshop, class size is limited to remain personalized and allow time for plenty of questions. If the online version is of interest to you, let me know and I'll keep you in the loop!

Here are the details for the Tahoe workshop. I hope to see you there!

 

And remember...if you're interested in creating in any capacity for children's publishing, do yourself a huge favor and join SCBWI! It's the absolutely best step you can take. 

PAINTING DRAMA 1: An Art School Do-Over at The Oatley Academy

Looking back: Almost exactly seven years ago I started this blog. At the time, I was beginning a mentorship with illustrator Yuyi Morales and I wanted to share my journey. I also had this crazy idea to fund it by offering different amounts of art to those who contributed. It worked, but boy do I wish Kickstarter had been around back then!  Check out the original funding post here.

Little Red by Kristen Schwartz

It seems fitting that I’m re-igniting this blog to share my experiences from another mentored illustration program—Painting Drama. I spent quite a few years getting portfolio reviews at conferences from different art directors and the varying viewpoints were starting to pull me in different directions. It was time for regular guided feedback from one qualified person instead of many. Taught by Chris Oatley of The Oatley Academy, Painting Drama is about composition...and so much more. It was like an art school do-over for me. I went in as blank a canvas as I could and in the end, I learned more in 12 weeks of Painting Drama than I did pursuing my degree.

This was no workshop for the casual creation of art and I wouldn’t have applied if it were. I was looking for maximum growth, which, in my mind, involves great discomfort—a “Dark Night of the Soul”. For me, this term refers to an inner crisis that leads to great growth on a very personal level. It’s a place I go when I’m so far outside my comfort zone I feel I can’t handle things in my current capacity. I either have to give up or meet the challenge head on. There’s usually a feeling of hopelessness to rise above, then renewed resolve, followed by picking myself up and continuing on with newly acquired skills and perspective. The lack of anonymity in a mentored course creates even more discomfort. Stir in some blood, sweat and tears and it’s a success. I knew that in order to push my skills to the next level, I needed a big challenge to trigger that process. When the right opportunity appears, it’s necessary to trust…and jump.

And trust I did…
During the first weeks in class I discovered that most deadlines in Painting Drama were less than a week to complete thumbnails, comps and final illustration—on top of everything else in the lesson. My heart sank. Just doing an illustration took me a full week—never mind the thumbnails and comps. Hopelessness, dread and panic washed over me. What was I thinking? I was never going to survive. Everyone else seemed just fine and the more I looked at their work, the worse my work looked to me. I knew I would be getting kicked out of Painting Drama for failing miserably. BINGO—Dark Night begins!

To stay in the correct frame of mind when the panic took over, I asked myself what my purpose was for taking the course. The answer was, “To learn to see and create compositions more intentionally, to capture the essence of emotion and to reach my goals in children’s publishing”. That shift in thinking is what made all the difference in the world. It didn’t stop me from sometimes thinking I wasn’t going to finish in time, but remembering my purpose made me work much smarter and also made the process more meaningful. All the solutions were inside me...somewhere. All I had to do was be the best me I could and trust myself. On the second assignment I worked 17 hours straight solely on the illustration. I decided that wasn’t a viable option or habit I wanted to continue. So, I restricted my time on the actual illustration and became more thorough in the steps leading up to it. As I continued on, the illustrations went quicker and the results got better and better.

On the left: I used skills I already had to best meet the composition deadline. In this case I illustrated from photographs I took.
On the right: For the last assignment, I re-did the illustration to implement feedback and better meet my standards for a finished illustration. This time, I didn’t illustrate from photographs, but I referenced them. I relied more heavily on my emotions to complete the characters and environment. The time allotted was the same for both illustrations.

By being limited on time, I learned to use the skills I already had as a starting point. That way I was able to do the very best I could with the concepts I was learning. I ultimately began thinking about it like budgeting money and living within my means. Since I wasn’t willing to abandon sleep (=debt) and adopt an unrealistic lifestyle to finish an illustration, it was necessary to challenge my current workflow and find a better way. I essentially re-invented my way of working—a huge benefit for me and my clients. It became a profoundly exciting challenge and I achieved more in less time than I ever thought possible.

In constantly reminding myself of my goals, I also stopped paying as much attention to how “bad” my work looked. Instead, I was focused on composition first and the finish improved with each illustration. Painting Drama was like a creative lab where I felt safe to experiment, fail, refine, explore and work as hard as I could without being diminished for not being perfect. It was the environment I wish I had in college.

Conquering my past...

Heading off to Otis Parsons at 19.

I started out in college illustration classes as a “star student”. On two separate occasions at different colleges my departure from turning in "perfect" work after struggling with new techniques was met by the words, “I’m disappointed in you.” Both professors said these words in front of the entire class during critique. One continued on with a rant and the other continued by writing me a “letter of disappointment”. I was devastated. I’m not even fragile when it comes to critiques, but when they’re personal and it happens twice at a young age, creative growth can freeze in place. In that environment the idea of failing is terrifying…but failing is necessary for growth.

In Painting Drama, although sometimes pushing back the urge to hyperventilate, I felt safe enough to fail. I didn’t always get the concepts right on the first try, but Chris never said, “I’m disappointed in you”. He pushed us to “Be brave. Be honest. Be professional.” He trusted us to dig deep and do our very best and we trusted him to be honest without making it personal and crushing our artistic souls. I will be forever grateful for the opportunity to be part of an environment like that. (I tear up just thinking about it.)

The results...
The composition concepts in Painting Drama gave me a new visual language and the best tools for creating compositions I’ve ever had. It’s all still sinking in and I think benefits will be surfacing for a long time. So far I have renewed inspiration as if my creative brain has been unlocked and I’m able to envision many more images, partially due to the time spent analyzing, drawing, and photographing my surroundings. It really opened up a new world. I also gained an appreciation for my own experiences in life and art. Time goes by. We live our lives. How often do we stop to realize the value of our experience? I learned to do that in Painting Drama and gained a much greater level of confidence in the skills I have. I don’t know if this will make sense, but I feel like Chris was “The Wizard” and he gave me a scroll containing the attributes I had forgotten or didn’t even realize I had.

He was also able to pinpoint areas each of us needed to work on. Because Chris knew our goals, he could advise us on skills we needed and next steps to take. In some areas I was closer to my goals than I thought and there were others I didn’t realize I needed to work on. It was invaluable information. The ability to give feedback to someone with their potential in mind, without discouraging them about where they are in the present, is a rare talent.

The time Chris Oatley puts into his students is unbelievable and beyond generous. He has remarkable insight into each as individuals, a point of view on composition I've never encountered before, and a genius way of delivering content and assignments that keeps everyone challenged to the utmost—in every way imaginable. I have never known an instructor like Chris and I know Painting Drama will continue to impact my art for the rest of my life.

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I didn’t even get to the amazing community that comes with Painting Drama and all the Oatley Academy courses. Bringing together a nurturing creative community is yet another thing Chris has a knack for. Watch for upcoming posts about my amazing classmates!

More information about the Oatley Academy

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NaNoWriMo YOUNG WRITERS PROGRAM: The Importance to my Daughter and Fellow Future Storytellers

The first book our daughter wrote.
There is one sentence inside.

When our daughter was born we began feeding her a steady diet of books. We read to her every day, many times a day, but especially at bedtime. By the time bedtime reading was an hour, she craved more story than picture books could offer, so I read books like the Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia C. Wrede, Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis, Protector of the Small quartet by Tamora Pierce, Redwall by Brian Jacques and eventually, Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. Tolkien's work was by far the most challenging to read out loud. His sentences can be rather…um…long. (We kid that his sentences sometimes go on for a couple pages or more.) The imaginary worlds of daytime play were built from bedtime stories and included at least 14 "invisible" friends like Gandalf, Kazul, Bilbo and Aslan. She acted out parts of books, made up new parts and memorized long passages to recite.

When she was 6, her favorite author was Tamora Pierce (still is) and she announced she wanted to become a writer. It was only natural that she would want to write books like the authors she admired so much.

Enter NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) – a challenge to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days:

While I was participating in NaNoWriMo, and having a great (and torturous) time doing it, I noticed they had a Young Writers Program where kids could participate and set their own word goals. Since our daughter was interested in becoming a writer, I suggested she give it a go.

It was an experience I will never forget. She was 6 and set her word goal to 500. Later she changed it to 900, but ended up going beyond that. Every day she climbed up on my lap and told me what to type for the day's installment of Jurassic Barbie. I was on the edge of my seat as she spun her tale:

Year One – Jurassic Barbie

"Oh, by the way, I forgot to mention that I am also an archaeologist. One day when I was digging I uncovered an interesting discovery. I found proof that long ago there had been Jurassic Barbies and that they had wings so, they were really more like fairies. There were even some that lived in the water. When I looked at the cells I discovered that they had been alive since the beginning of earth, but that they had looked different than they looked later on…"

---excerpt from Jurassic Barbie by Hannah Brown

Many times she ended the day on a cliff hanger and made me wait until the next day to find out what would happen. I wrote exactly what she said, changing nothing. It was hers and hers alone – a great accomplishment.

When the month was over she looked forward to setting her word goal even higher the next year. She even practiced typing faster so she could keep up with her thoughts and do it all herself. In the meantime, she read books at an amazing speed, no doubt collecting inspiration for future writing.

NaNoWriMo year two and beyond:

Year Two – Jurassic Barbie continues

One little problem we discovered when November rolled around again and she embarked on NaNoWriMo on her own – she absolutely hated to write! Not only was it intimidating to have ideas swirling in her head that she couldn't keep up with, but punctuation stopped her dead in her tracks. It wasn't intuitive enough for her yet and she really wanted to do it "right". My advice? Leave it out! Don't punctuate. Don't edit. We'll do it later. The world was lifted from her shoulders and she wrote freely. (It was quite a task to add punctuation to her very long 1000+ word sentence – rather Tolkein-esque – but we did it.) The story was a continuation of Jurassic Barbie from the first year. The book contains lots of amazing made-up science details on bringing an extinct creature to life – how she collected cells and created different parts and all the characters that helped her do it. And, like any good story, there was danger and intrigue with characters trying to steal or destroy her project.

The years went on. Her word goals doubled and tripled for NaNoWriMo and her stories became more complicated. The most challenging was in 2012 – a novel with only one character in it. She quickly discovered how difficult her concept was, but she got through it and learned a lot from it. Last year, at 13, she surpassed 50,000 words. She had a group of friends to write with who made all the difference in the world and a lot of encouragement from the online community of the Young Writers Program. In her words, "In the past couple of years, however, I don't think that I could have made it to my word goal without the support that I found on the NaNoWriMo website from other young writers."

Being a writer is more than just learning to write – life skills and inspiration:

Year Five – The Leopards of Ireland – snow
leopards kidnapped and held at a testing facility
in Ireland! (I was honored she asked me to
illustrate the cover.)

Our daughter's writing skills were achieved very organically (in part because we homeschool and let her interests guide her learning). She knew what she wanted to achieve and NaNoWriMo helped her progress without taking the joy out of it. She had no desire to take writing classes and any mandatory writing she did for state requirements was like pulling teeth. Now, because she has become such a skilled writer, she can take those state standards and twist them to her will – usually putting a humorous spin on something someone else thinks is important.

Always seeking to improve her writing, our daughter now researches grammar, word meaning and punctuation whenever she is curious. It isn't unusual to hear her say she spent the morning learning how to use semicolons, hyphens, em dashes or any other type of punctuation for a particular project she's working on. She does it as she needs it and it makes all the difference in how she feels about the information.

Writing for NaNoWriMo introduced valuable time budgeting skills. From her first year with NaNoWriMo she would set a word goal and then divide it by the number of writing days to figure out how many words she needed to write per day. If she wasn't able to get to her daily word count, she knew what she needed to do to meet her end goal.

As if merely existing weren't enough, NaNoWriMo also supplies pep talks from other Wrimos (NaNoWriMo participants) and seasoned authors like Scott Westerfeld and Justine Larbalestier. They throw out writing prompts and suggestions for those days when writing seems impossible. Scott Westerfeld says, "For a lot of people, Nano is a great way to move away from the concept of a muse they must wait for. It teaches you to write whether or not you feel inspired. You can find the inspiration in rewrites or after an hour of hard slogging. And basically, that’s the best way to get to a novel length. The muse, she is fickle. Nano is a machine."

This is a personal journey, but for teachers who wish to harness some of the joy and enhance the process, the Young Writers Program has impressive teaching materials they supply free of charge to groups and classes. It is truly an amazing program for anyone wishing to explore writing.

The importance of writing and loving it:

Does our daughter still want to become a writer? Well, she is a writer and no one can take that away. Does she want to do it for a living? She doesn't know. One day a couple years ago she mentioned hesitantly that she might not want to be a writer as a career and there was a brief melancholy moment – I think because she had been so adamant before. But she said she thought about going into the sciences, linguistics, or perhaps forensic linguistics. She loves words and language (and science and math), is a four time K-8 spelling bee champ, a three year participant in regional final spelling bees and she has been learning both Irish and Spanish with plans to learn many more languages. There is no way to remove the writer and lover of words from this young woman. Writing will always serve her in whatever she does as a valuable part to her chosen career. And who knows, she may still pursue writing as a career. The future is...an open book. (Couldn't resist.)

Thank you NaNoWriMo from the bottom of my heart, for your dedication to the pursuit of writing for joy and for inspiring others to discover it…

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Our daughter is currently raising money for the NaNoWriMo Young Writers Program. If you would like to participate, you can do so on her fundraising page or directly on the NaNoWriMo Young Writers donation page. The NaNoWriMo goal is to revamp the Young Writers Program website and expand their outreach to correctional facilities, halfway houses, and juvenile detention facilities. Every little bit adds up...

IF AT FIRST YOU DON'T SUCCEED, FAIL, FAIL AGAIN (just keep making it better)

This year at the SCBWI Spring Spirit Conference, illustrator/writer/instructor, John Hendrix gave us permission to fail. In fact, he suggested we do our best to fail at least 10 times. It's actually a requirement in his Illustration and Communication Design classes at Washington University. I love that. I had a couple illustration teachers in college who taught that it wasn't okay to fail - even on an honest attempt at an assignment - especially if you were usually highly successful. I was one of the unfortunate students who presented early in the semester with pieces the teachers really liked. They sang their praises and it felt great.

I later learned that I would receive a rather personal wrath from those same instructors when I deviated from my successes to experiment with new ideas. That felt really bad and discouraged me from experimenting freely. I have been back on that uneasy ground for the past two years experimenting with new ideas and techniques. Last year I did 5 new pieces for my portfolio and I only feel that one was a success. It was hard to pull the failures from my portfolio after all the work I did, but I learned a lot in the process. 

Chicken Licken - before

For this conference, instead of rushing to create a new batch of illustrations, I decided to make what was staying in my portfolio even better. I took a cue from Eliza Wheeler, 2010 winner of an SCBWI LA Conference mentorship and 2011 winner of the LA Portfolio Showcase. Eliza blogged in 2011 about how she improved her portfolio based on feedback she received. The pieces I decided to keep in my portfolio were already ones that I really liked (that's important) and I had gotten feedback in critiques from art directors on how to make them better.

Chicken Licken - after

In order to improve these pieces without touching the originals, I had to perform digital surgery - some of which involved (gasp) new techniques for me. I've been doing minor edits for years, but decided to branch out. And you know what? It worked! The faculty at the conference viewed our portfolios and put sticky notes on some of our illustrations. All of the notes I had were on pieces I improved and all were positive...except one. It looks like I'll be pulling another piece from my portfolio. I've been told to pull it before and I did, but I tried to save it one last time. Against my better judgement, I put it back into my portfolio after trying to resuscitate it. I find it really appropriate that it was John Hendrix who declared it a fail - but he also said one of my other pieces was "weird and charming" which is one of my favorite bits of feedback yet. "Weird and charming" was an experiment from a couple years ago and will be staying in my portfolio. I hope to add more weirdness and charm in years to come. In fact, I wouldn't mind in the least if people started describing my work...or me...as weird and charming.

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On a side note, while improving my portfolio, I decided to redo my website (again!) to better reflect what I do. My offerings have been morphing too. I've been working hard to only do the work I love most, so I'm featuring book design and layout more prominently. Check out the new look of my website and my new children's illustration portfolio.

If you'd like to have a reminder that failure is okay - check out these mini Failure is Required sketchbook/journals by John Hendrix.

CHILDREN'S PUBLISHING: The Long Journey to Illustrate for Children

This month marks the Four Year Anniversary of this blog and my journey to learn everything I need to know to become a children's illustrator. It hasn't been easy. There have been highs and lows and everything in between. My family has sacrificed a lot. My paid working hours have given way to long unpaid hours at the drawing board and although I've done my best not to affect family time while working intently on my portfolio, I know I have.

Hitting this milestone has made me reflect back, not only on my journey into children's publishing, but on the years leading up to it. After thinking about it all, I'm surprised I continued on, but that's how determined I am. It has been both fantastic and uncomfortable...

LOOKING BACK:

2000

After my daughter was born I decided to give up freelance illustration and focus, instead, on her. She was right beside me at 6 weeks old as I illustrated my last book. I had a non-creative part time job to fill in the gaps and continued selling my illustrations as cards and prints.

2005

That was fine for a long time, but then job drama began to suck the creativity out of me. On the side, I had occasional clients, but I missed bigger projects and more than anything, I missed working on books. I joined the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. I'd been thinking about it for a few years and thought illustrating children's books was something I would like to do.

2007

Funny how things happen. I was just comfortable enough not to follow any real dreams and that's right about when my part-time job began to disintegrate. Suddenly I was very uncomfortable. What did I have to lose? In June 2007 I jumped ship to paddle the lonely waters and go back to pursuing a full-time living on the creative side. I had a plan. I set up local art shows, workshop schedules and began looking for clients.

Unfortunately, two weeks after I quit my job, there was a major wildfire in our town that destroyed or damaged over 300 homes and other structures. Several thousand people were evacuated. It devastated our tourism economy along with my big summer art show plans, but a rep approached me, wanting to sell my illustrated cards across California. Design clients also began trickling in and I started to relax a little bit.

But not for long! In October, on the 5 year anniversary of my husband's hire date, he and his coworkers were notified that their department would no longer be needed(!).

Inside I was panicking like nobody's business, but I held more tightly to my paddle and kept going. Clients and opportunities kept coming, but the only illustrating I was doing was for myself. I really wanted to illustrate more books - especially children's - but… I didn't know how to illustrate children's books and that meant I would have to do some really hard work. It would be even more difficult than finding clients. So, I didn't.

2008

But you know, if you want to do something badly enough, even if you don't tell anyone, it has been my experience that someone will come and find you and put those wishes right in your face for you to confront. And that's exactly what happened. I finally had to face the fact that I really wanted to illustrate children's books even if it was going to be hard to start over and learn everything I needed to know. So, in December of 2008, even though it was terrifying, I applied to the Mentor Program with the Nevada Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators.

2009

I was accepted into the Mentor Program which marked the beginning of my dedicated journey into children's publishing and the start of this blog to chronicle and share the process.

PRESENT DAY

Four years of intense study is now finished. This summer I made the decision that I would get back to work bringing in new clients instead of letting them trickle in by themselves while I toiled at the drawing table.

Does this mean I'm no longer working on my children's illustrations? Not on your life. I'm just working differently. My dedication to new clients is in the forefront. Working on my portfolio takes up less time and no longer feels like a second and sometimes third job. This means, I have a life again. My portfolio has a life too, as it circulates through the publishing houses...

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To find out more about my experience in the Nevada SCBWI Mentor Program you can read through my 2009 blog posts. You can find out about applying to the Nevada SCBWI Mentor Program on their website.

Riding the Train and Doing "Nothing"

One of the photos I took from the train.

Over the holidays my daughter and I took a long train trip to my mom's house - 18 hours there and 18 hours back. I was horribly burned out and was looking forward to the down time. I actually thought I would indulge in some reading, but I read exactly 10 pages the entire time. I did some sketching in the lounge car, but mainly I inhaled the scenery - the factories, the ocean, the backyards. It was amazing. So many things to build a visual story from. I let my mind wander into the sound of the train clicking over the tracks, into the gardens and clothes lines, across the ocean and then… for some reason there were elephants - everywhere - for the rest of the trip. They were leaping(!) in the meadows, walking on the streets, flying over the ocean. (Have I mentioned I really needed a break?)

It was like hitting the reset button for my ridiculously over-burdened brain. My daughter may have been a bit tired of the elephants by the end of the trip, but she was a really good sport and we laughed at the elephants until we cried - one of my favorite pastimes. (Laughing until crying is one of my favorite pastimes - not laughing at elephants. I have never found them particularly funny. They seem rather stately - most of the time...)

I'd say it was time well spent with my almost 13 year old and I felt refreshed and ready to get back to the drawing board when we got back home. You may soon be seeing elephants too, but possibly only if you go to the zoo or come back to my blog… or take a train trip...

TOM SAWYER - TOMIE DEPAOLA ILLUSTRATOR AWARD ENTRY

My 2013 Tomie dePaola Illustrator Award entry - Tom Sawyer.

I have pretty well burned myself out with everything I've been doing lately and I'm looking forward to a break before I start back up again. I finished up November and NaNoWriMo with a Steampunk inspired novel and some well developed characters to illustrate. The genre picked me and I'm glad it did. I'll be creating some black and white interior illustrations and a couple color ones too.

On the current illustration front, I squeezed in my Tomie dePaola Illustrator Award project. Although I had been working on thumbnails and roughs for a while, I had a tight week to do the final. I began the project by picking which literary work I would be illustrating. I chose Tom Sawyer because the imagery was most appealing to me. I only really remembered a graveyard scene, the cat scene "spell" and a cave scene from reading it as a kid. (My favorite story elements were always creepy and scary.)

I listened to a Librivox reading of the book and at points had a tough time getting through it - mainly because of the social interactions of the day. I don't consider this story picture book material as is, but it was perfect for my middle grade illustrations. The over the top theatrical nature of the story gave some nice opportunities for visuals.

I like the way the illustration turned out, but would have worked longer polishing the final if I had more time. Check out more Tomie dePaola entries here.

Stay tuned for Steampunk in the New Year. In the meantime, Happy Holidays!

NEW WEBSITE LAUNCH

My new design for my illustration and web design website.

November is always a busy month for me. NanoWriMo starts, I begin work on my Tomie dePaola illustrator award submission and, of course, I'm submitting promotional postcards to publishers. This year I've got another source of buzz too. I've redesigned my cyber reality. A Journey Illustrated has a new look and so does my general illustration and web design blog. This is because I've revamped my website to better reflect my business as a whole. I'm realizing that many people don't know that, along with being an illustrator for the last 27 years, I've also been a web designer for 10 years. I specialize in empowering small business owners with the knowledge to manage their cyberselves and stand out in a sea of cookie cutter solutions and cloned websites. Over the last 4 years, most of my time has gone into studying children's illustration, but now that my children's illustration portfolio is circulating in the publishing world, it's time to take new web design clients again. I thought it would be a good idea to let people know, so I'm spreading the word.

So, have a look at my new website. It's a responsive design which means it adapts to whatever size screen you're viewing it on. (Responsive also means you can play with it, so when you get there, check out what happens when you grab the bottom right corner of your browser window and drag it to the left.) Have fun and if you feel inclined...I hope you'll help me spread the word!

SCBWI SUMMER CONFERENCE GOODNESS PART I - Pacing a Dream for the Long Haul

An illustration created for my conference portfolio.

While preparing for the SCBWI Summer Conference, I thought a lot about my journey so far. It began when I joined SCBWI in 2005. Suzanne Morgan Williams, the SCBWI Regional Advisor to Nevada at the time, was one of the first people I met and I was instantly struck by her genuine enthusiasm to find out about me and help me get where I needed to be. She truly cared. I didn't realize how important that was at the time. I also didn't know much about children's publishing. Since I was already an illustrator, I figured I would just submit my work and start getting jobs. (What a knucklehead.) I wasn't fully invested in my pursuit for another four years. That's when I finally accepted how much work I needed to do and started working - hours and hours every day. In my mind I would do this concentrated work on my portfolio for a couple years and I would be in. (Again - knucklehead.) But the years ticked by and I realized working on my portfolio 8-12 hours a day (unpaid) and then moving on to several more hours of client work (paid) every single day wasn't realistic for the long haul. I know illustrating is an endurance sport, but when desperation creeps in I start to wonder how long I can or should keep up this pace. Was anyone else going through this? Was I kidding myself?

A quick sketch of Bryan
Collier during his keynote.

Enter Bryan Collier, whose soulful illustrations inspire me tremendously. He gave an amazing keynote at the SCBWI Summer Conference that was like an illustrator's sermon comparing this journey to the planting and growing of a seed into a fruiting tree. It was such a relief to hear someone acknowledge the struggle, the sacrifice, and as he put it - being so close to the dream it's like looking at it through a glass wall. He described it so well. He knew. Bryan Collier took his portfolio to publishers every week and looked through that glass wall for 7 years before he was published. He acknowledged the sacrifice many of us made just to come to the conference - hours and hours preparing, spending money that perhaps we needed elsewhere in our lives. He knew. The room was full of passionate hardworking people on a quest with these struggles, many of them with tears pouring out of their eyes. I've heard plenty of great stories about illustrators and writers being discovered at conferences, but this year I needed to hear something different. Bryan Collier provided that and so did Tony DiTerlizzi, who worked on and sent his portfolio to children's publishers for 10 years before he was published.

This opened an important dialogue with my friends about maintaining hope and sometimes losing it. These are things we don't often talk about - not really. We pretend the struggle doesn't exist or we believe so strongly that something is about to happen and if we sleep a little less and work just a little longer, it will. But now we're talking - about being realistic, being balanced and how important our peer connections are. Otherwise we might just drop out and disappear like others we know who were so close to breaking through that wall.

All of these conversations came full circle at the airport after the conference. I had the great fortune of flying home with my friend, Suzanne Morgan Williams. The timing couldn't have been more amazing. I was actually sitting there writing an email to her when she said my name. I had an important story to tell her. She didn't know that four years earlier she was the reason I hadn't succeeded in giving up on my own dream. I had already stopped going to conferences and submitting my work when Suzy took the time to contact me - out of the blue. She had been looking at my website and said if I was serious about illustrating for children's books I needed to take advantage of the Nevada SCBWI Mentor Program. I considered what she had to say and it was then that I committed to the work it would take to attain my dream. I applied to the program, was accepted and had the amazing opportunity to work with Yuyi Morales. It was a turning point. I would love to give you a publishing success story here, but I'm still looking through that glass wall.

Who knows how long it will take, but I will continue working on the illustrations I love at a slower pace now, keeping in mind what my wise friend Suzanne Morgan Williams says to do. Live your life.  It's something we can forget as we push for our dreams and work one more hour, just one more day, or one more year because we are so close, but living our lives to the fullest gives our dreams the best place to grow…

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It is no wonder that Suzanne Morgan Williams received the SCBWI Member of the Year Award at the 2012 conference. She has made a difference to countless members over the years - including me. Congratulations Suzy!

If you get a chance, do look for Bryan Collier's illustrations. At the time this was posted, his website was not working.

AWAY and BACK AGAIN

Heading to the 2012 SCBWI
costume party at the LA conference

This is the longest I have been away from this blog since I started it in 2009. It has been a time avalanche since I began preparing for my March workshop (which was absolutely fantastic). I spent the rest of my time getting ready for the 2012 SCBWI conference in Los Angeles and, of course, doing client work. I also had a lot of important family events to give special attention to. Something had to give and it was the blog. I am back now and look forward to posting about the conference very soon. Until then, I will be processing it all...and unpacking...and catching up with my family. See you soon...

So you want to write and/or illustrate a children's book. NOW WHAT?

Parts and pieces for a past submission

I have been illustrating and designing professionally for over 25 years, but I didn't discover children's books until after our daughter was born. That's when I truly fell in love with them and became serious about pursuing children's publishing. It was quite a humbling experience and I made a lot of mistakes. Tahoe publisher Bona Fide Books has asked me to give a talk and workshop on the subject. This month I will be sharing my mistakes and everything I've learned in order to help others get a better start in children's publishing. If I had known all of this information when I started out, it would have saved me years! If you are in the area...I hope you will join me.

Information from the publisher:

Bona Fide Books is offering a two-day session -
“So You Want to Write and/or Illustrate a Children's Book. Now What?”
Thurs. Mar. 22 from 7:00 - 9:00 p.m. (FREE)
and Sat. Mar. 24 from 10:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. ($75)

Writer and illustrator Kristen Schwartz will be leading this two-part session aimed toward helping writers and illustrators of children’s, middle grade and young adult books find their footing in the publishing industry. The Thursday session is a Q&A and a breakdown of top tips and tricks for creating and submitting marketable work for younger audiences. This session is free and open to the public, to be followed by a $75 intensive, personalized class Saturday Mar. 24 from 10 a.m.-2:30 p.m., including a half-hour lunch break. Part two will include familiarizing writers and illustrators with industry tools and the query process, and working directly with attendees on how to publish their personal projects. Space is limited; call now to reserve your spot in the Saturday session. 530-573-1513.

For more information, contact Kim Wyatt at Bona Fide Books or visit our website

The Saturday session is intended to help writers and illustrators learn what specific steps need to be taken on their individual projects to keep them moving forward toward publishing. I will also be introducing the art of talking about your work, so that when an opportunity comes up to tell people about your project, you don't draw a blank (been there, done that). This will lead into the query process and researching publishers that are a good fit for you. It will be a full and productive day, so bring your projects with you!  Feel free to contact me if you have questions.

PubSubPackMo 2012: FINALE and BONUS DAY

Past promotional postcards

PubSubPackMo 2012 was an even greater success than last year. My mailing list has nearly doubled, my new postcards have been ordered and my labels are ready to print. I did things a little differently this year and it went pretty smoothly. Along with names I collected throughout the year, I used lists of publisher names I found online and didn't pick up the 2012 Children's Writer's and Illustrator's Market, although I did use past editions. Things are changing way too rapidly to rely on anything other than publisher websites these days, so all I needed were publisher names to get me started.

I know this isn't exactly an exciting topic and I heard a lot of crickets in my blogging audience, but it's important to stay on top of things when you're putting your best work out there. I came up with 26 new publishers to mail postcards to, 6 that want email submissions and 6 that need a separate mailing list. The last 6 look promising, but I don't have the right work to send to them yet. I need to create a new category of work to fit their subject matter. The main type of new work I'm considering is in nature, which I've done for other markets and would love to do for children's books. I will continue to collect publishers in this category throughout the year and create some pieces that could cross over.

Stay tuned. I'll be doing another post in a couple days to announce the details of my March workshop for writers and illustrators embarking on their own journey into children's publishing. Contact me if you'd like information sent directly to you. Until then, it's back to the drawing board for me...

PubSubPackMo DAY 19: FINDING THE RIGHT PUBLISHERS

Stacks of books everywhere...

It's day 19 of PubSubPackMo. Have you discovered any new publishers? Are you feeling disheartened? Have no fear. This kind of research really makes you take a hard look at your work to figure out where it fits best. That's why it's important. As you familiarize yourself with different publishers, prospects might become more difficult to find as you narrow things down. Last year I got stuck about halfway through the month and threw a brief pity party for myself. (Read my post about it for a pep talk - How Do You Find Hope Again?) This is often when breakthroughs happen and new possibilities emerge.

If you're stuck, maybe your thinking isn't broad enough. It's easy to get into the mindset that big, well known publishers are the ONLY ones out there or at least the only publishers that matter. Not true! Setting a goal to work with the big houses is fantastic, but don't overlook independent publishers, small publishing houses, regional, niche, educational, etc. Here are some ideas to keep you going:

• Do you have specialties or interests in any particular subjects? Some niche publishers and organizations publish quality kids books that might complement an interest of yours. Start with your state and work out from there.
• Does your work fit the educational market? There are scads of educational publishers that may not already be on your radar.
• Check out novelty and gift book publishers to see if anything in those areas fits your work.
• Take a field trip! Research isn't only done in front of the computer. Take a day at the museums and go to museum gift shops to check out the great publishers that specialize in books of all kinds for kids. Jot some down to look into. Go to the zoo and look at their shops. Visitor centers are another great place, as well as independent bookstores and specialty shops of all kinds. Any interesting place that has stuff for kids is a great place to research.

Give it a try. Getting off the beaten path might just lead you to some new inspiration. I'll check in again before the end of the month with more tips on finding the right publishers. Until then, happy researching!

PubSubPackMo DAY 11: SETTING UP A PUBLISHER DATABASE

It's day 11 of PubSubPackMo and whether you're researching publishers to familiarize yourself with the many houses out there or developing a growing mailing list for promotion, it's probably time to think about creating a database. There are many ways to do this. Here's what I do:

Throughout the year I list publishers and notes about publishers in a text file for later research. I come across leads all the time and it's usually when I'm in the middle of a job. If I stopped to research every time I found something, I would never get any work done. This text file serves me well at PubSubPackMo time, but it would be a mess to have as my mailing list. That's where the database comes in.

You can see my column for notes in
this partial view of my database.
(Click for larger view.)

Developing a database allows you to organize your information based on different criteria that you specify. For my databases I have columns for publisher name, contact person, and address, but I also have an unlimited area to keep notes about each publisher. In this spot, I list my impressions, what types of work they publish, guidelines specific to the publisher, what work I have that is a good fit and what I want to send first. I also have categories where I list what I send each time and the date sent.

A big part of setting up the database is using it for mailing labels. When I'm ready, my software - the same software that houses my database - takes me through the set-up where I decide which fields from my database will print. I obviously don't want my notes and some of the other information to print. My software gives me options for which mailing label I want to use and then adjusts the text to fit.

What software to use? I use open source software for Macs called NeoOffice, but there is a lot of software out there to choose from. A great place to start is with the most popular office software recommended for your computer. Read the reviews and technical notes to make sure you know what you're getting into. Many programs give you options and "wizards" to help with your database set-up, but if you're having trouble navigating your database software, there are lots of tutorials and videos online. You can also pay $25 for a month at Lynda.com and take a mini-course to get up to speed really fast.

One caveat about databases - software changes, crashes, becomes obsolete and otherwise useless. I keep my original text only file of all my publisher information as a back-up and I also print it out and keep it on hand - just in case. Over the years I have had several instances where I've been glad I did. Don't let your time and hard work be wasted!

I'll be posting about different types of children's publishers next. In the meantime - keep on researching!