SCBWI MENTOR PROGRAM FINALE

After I made the final revisions to my storyboard and got the OK from Yuyi, I started on my 16"x10" refined sketches. The first step was to enlarge the actual three inch thumbnail sketches to the final size (shown here) and then begin refining them. Determined to finish all 15 sketches and start some final illustrations, I bought more duct tape (see previous post) and got to work. With the end in sight, I drew hour after hour in the last two weeks until my best work was on the vellum. I will elaborate on this process in upcoming posts and will show all completed work from the program in the next post. For now, here's a look at the finale of the Nevada SCBWI Mentor Program.

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The final gathering took place at SMAC - St. Mary's Art Center in Virginia City, Nevada. It was built in 1875 as a hospital and has since been restored and converted to an art and retreat center. It has approximately 16 guest rooms, a big art studio, and various meeting and sitting areas. Upon my arrival, I was welcomed and given my room assignment with fellow illustrator, Kjersten Anna Hayes, who was mentored by Laurent Linn. It was a good match.

As more people arrived, we played an ice breaker game and learned lots of useful information about one another. For one thing, there wasn't a tattoo in the bunch. What are the odds of that these days? We also learned who could fly us out of there if the roads were closed, who could light a fire without matches, and who could ride a unicycle. Despite the lack of tattoos, it was an amazing gathering of dedicated children's illustrators and writers from all over the United States and beyond.

That evening the entire group of 30 gathered in the studio for introductions and to listen to Simon and Schuster Art Director, Laurent Linn and Atheneum/Margaret McElderry Imprints Editor, Karen Wojtyla. The information was very good. Afterward, I noticed just how nervous I was getting. Without having time to step back and view my work as a whole, I didn't have a clear picture of how much I had accomplished. I was looking forward to a good night's rest.

The next morning we broke into our mentor groups to present our work. This is when we learned that, along with the three illustrators in the other mentor group, we would be making a second presentation to Laurent Linn and Karen Wojtyla. (Surprise!) We spread our work out on tables and began.

In my group were Abe Bern and Diana Monfalcone. Abe is a writer who was working on picture book text about a girl and her kite. It was a beautiful piece. Diana is an illustrator/writer working on picture book text and illustrations created from historical events of the local region. Her subject wasn't the easiest to communicate through a picture book and she had done a lot of work to bring everything together. It was interesting to see how different each of our projects were and yet how similar the overall process was. This initial session was valuable for each of us to gain perspective on our progress. We discussed our processes, triumphs, and what we needed to work on. Feedback from Yuyi was really helpful, as usual. The areas in my project that needed work didn't surprise me. One of the most valuable things I gained from this experience was the knowledge that my sense of what is working and what isn't, is on track. I can proceed with confidence knowing I'm paying attention to the right areas.

It was nice to have the first presentation as a warm-up and as Yuyi said, to figure out how we were going to present our work to an art director and an editor. You've got to be able to think on your feet! So we did. I presented a summary of my picture book along with my full size sketches, a dummy of my book, thumbnails, the start of a finished illustration, and a finished sample of my work so they could get an idea of my style. Yuyi also added information that she felt was important. Feedback was really encouraging. I'm not done yet, but I now have information from three professionals that I can use to take my work to the next level.

Using various references to define my grandfather character,
I begin to refine a sketch.

Every presentation was great to see and it was valuable for us to hear all the feedback. I really enjoyed the different styles and backgrounds that everyone brought to their projects. Laurent Linn's group interpreted three scenes from either Alice in Wonderland or The Wizard of Oz. My roommate, Kjersten is a papermaker/collage artist and used her creative and intricate skills on The Wizard of Oz. Jennifer Egan created an urban Alice in Wonderland with her bright colors and incredible attention to playful detail. Cynthia Kremsner brought The Wizard of Oz to life in a combination of colored pencil and digital work and also showed a picture book that she was working on. Everyone's work was stunning and it was so great to have conversations with these dedicated illustrators in fluent illustration language. I felt like I had found my people at last!

Picture book author/illustrator, Jim Averbeck was available later to answer questions and give insights into the writing and illustrating process. Afterward, we changed scenery and finished out the day with a tour of the historical cemetery up the road and had dinner at Goldhill Hotel, the oldest hotel in Nevada (built in 1859). There were lots of entertaining ghost stories exchanged over the weekend. As you can imagine, everything in the area is haunted.

The last day, we were able to meet in our groups again and talk about what we all needed to do next. I still have one character that I need to sit with and develop some more. As with all stumbling blocks, there is great potential to create something amazing if the time is spent to push through the difficulties. Before I do that, I will finish one of the illustrations. It's an underwater scene that I'm really excited about. After that, I will complete the changes to my sketches in order to put the final dummy book together for my portfolio and future submissions.

I found myself overwhelmed with gratitude by the end of the weekend. My mentor, Yuyi Morales, had so much to share and went above and beyond to guide my progress throughout the program. I never expected to write a picture book and I wonder if she regretted that I did. If she did, she never let on. She was very patient all the way through. Even more important than patience, she didn't let anything slide. If there was something to improve upon, she pointed it out.

Of course, recognizing one gratitude lead to a flood of others as I thought of my family, supporters, the other mentors, friends I met, Suzanne Morgan Williams for lighting the fire under me in the first place and for putting great events together with Ellen Hopkins...I went on and on. Let's just say my goodbyes were not totally coherent and a bit sappy at the end. I still well up when I think of all the people that have been a part of this segment of my journey. Would I work those crazy long hours again doing sketches over and over until I couldn't do anymore? Absolutely! It was amazing. (OK. Time to go. I'm feeling grateful again.)

If you bought shares to help pay for my journey in the Mentor Program - the next post will have all of the Mentor Program artwork in it.

The end of the Mentor Program isn't the end of my journey into children's publishing. It's really the beginning. Stay tuned!

WEEK ONE OF THE SCBWI MENTOR PROGRAM

While I was getting ready for the beginning of the Mentor Program, I was very excited and quite nervous too. I could have done without the unexpected visit to the vet for a wounded cat and the car trouble the day before I left, but it all worked out. The cat only needed a "lampshade collar" instead of surgery and the car...fixed itself. Go figure. I guess it kept my brain occupied. Since my return I have been processing everything I learned at the beginning of the 2009 Nevada SCBWI Mentor Program. (Beetle illustration copyright by Kristen Schwartz)

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I don't know if it was the genius and authenticity of the faculty, the timing, or a little bit of everything that made this the best SCBWI event I have been to over the years. (Of course, Suzanne Morgan Williams and Ellen Hopkins did a brilliant job organizing it!) Overall the tone was hopeful and the information accessible with each presenter giving lots of examples for better comprehension.

I have read and read about illustrating picture books and gone to conference workshops, but there is nothing like being in a small group with the luxury of asking lots of questions. I was able to get answers to questions that had been worrying or hindering me in some way. Some questions seemed silly to ask, but from my roots illustrating botanicals, notecards, and logos, children's publishing is a foreign land with lots of mysteries. Each question was treated respectfully and seriously. (Not to say there wasn't plenty of humor.)

Yuyi Morales walked us through her picture book process from beginning to end and Laurent Linn, Art Director at Simon and Schuster, took us through his process of art directing a picture book. Laurent Linn said that children's publishing is an industry that truly cares about children. I would take it further and say that children's publishing also gives generously to the people that aspire to work in the field. No wonder it feels like home.

It's a humbling experience to start over as an illustrator in a new genre, but with Yuyi Morales mentoring me, it feels obtainable. In our first meeting I shared the "thumbnail storyboard" of my folktale. If you are unfamiliar with thumbnails or storyboards in this context, they are a very very rough and small map of the layout of a picture book. I wasn't completely happy with my first layout. I guess you might say it wasn't consistently magical. It became clear after talking with Yuyi that I needed to think from a different point of view to stir up the visual magic. That night I woke up and realized that I was in the middle of rewriting my folktale. I continued on - awake this time - taking out the elements I didn't like and emphasizing the ones that I did. In the end I felt more connected with the story.

Laurent Linn gave a presentation on the difference between picture book illustrations and non-picture book illustrations. He presented examples of both - comparing and contrasting - emphasizing the fact that picture book images are not static. They make an emotional connection with the viewer and tell a story. They are also not portraits. This presentations was pivotal for me. My illustrations for Faery Medicine are character studies for the stories that accompany them and are not necessarily for the children's book industry. They are definitely more in line with portraits. As I pondered more of my work, I had to laugh when I remembered that I used to call my botanical illustrations "botanical portraits". What Laurent said clicked. I get it. It's the big simple secret that was right in front of my nose...the one in the portrait.

I could go on and on listing every pivotal moment. The truth is, every moment was pivotal. Even listening to writer Jane Yolen affected my illustration process. I looked forward to hearing her speak because I like her work, but I was surprised at the outcome. It was truly an amazing conference.

Since I've been back, I sent Yuyi the rewrite on my folktale and I'm waiting for feedback before I do another thumbnail version of the illustrations. Well, actually I already did another one. I was too excited not to, but I expect to do another one after she reads my rewrite as she will probably have suggestions for revisions and pacing on the story. It's all good practice. So, I leave you with my most recent storyboard inspired by a Vietnamese folktale. Stay tuned for more!

(Horizontal lines on the page represent text placement. The vertical line down the middle of the illustrations represents the gutter or space between pages.)