Marla Frazee - Saturday Morning Keynote

Marla being
generally awesome

Marla Frazee is a longtime SCBWI member, incredible teacher, and all around terrific person. Her books have won Caldecott Honors, movie deals, and numerous illustration awards. Marla's keynotes are always a lesson in picturebook magic and heart/life insights so she's the perfect choice to set the vibe for our first time back together in person. Marla thanks SCBWI for bringing us all together again as well as thanks them for shifting and adapting during the Pandemic to bring our beloved community together online.

Marla tells us about hearing Trina Schart Hyman's SCBWI keynote many years ago where she complained unapologetically about the publishing industry (Trina was known for being brutally honest). Marla admired Trina's frankness and badassery and began a correspondence with her that lasted many years. Marla, as a struggling newbie, wrote to Trina complaining about work/life balance. Trina wrote back: You're right, the center doesn't hold and most things are falling apart.

Trina and Marla's correspondence went on, Trina posing these sorts of questions to Marla when Marla shared her worries about having enough time and money to continue making books:

Do you want to be an artist? Or do you want to fuck around?

Who are you doing this for? And is it worth it? 

At the time, Trina's answer to that last question was that she didn't know anymore. After a few years of back-to-back family tragedies and big life/relational changes Trina had stopped wanting to make pictures even though, after 37 years of a very successful illustration career, she was still at the top of her game. At the time Marla couldn't understand how Trina could lose her creative spark so fully, but the Pandemic changed that.

The baddest of all asses, Trina Schart Hyman

Marla talks about all the sorts of loss that happened during the Pandemic for all of us—time, purpose, routine, relationships, and cognitive space for creativity among those less tangible things than a negative Covid test or toilet paper were gone, not for weeks, but for years. Though Marla still felt creative she couldn't get to 'funny' during 2020, so she gave up working on the humorous picture book she'd been trying to make and instead turned to a book she'd been working on since 1998 based on the lines of a Jewish baby-naming blessing. 

The question of balancing our life with our work will never be resolved, says Marla. When she looks back at her first six books, all made while she had young children, they were all made in small pockets of time and the art for them bubbled up from her life experiences at the time. This is how the art finally bubbled up for In Every Life during the Pandemic. Kirkus calls it a "lyrical blessing of a picture book [that] belongs on every shelf". In Every Life will help you answer Trina's questions above as well as provide you some life and art inspiration so order your copy today. 

 

If you want to watch Jennifer Garner read In Every Life to Marla's adorable grandbaby:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Marla Frazee (@marlafrazee)

One Hour Art School: Daria Peoples

Daria Peoples is an author and illustrator. Her first job was at nine years old in the children’s section of her hometown library in Paso Robles, California. She worked a little, but she mostly read picture books. is the author and illustrator of the picture books This Is It and I Got Next, and the illustrator of Gloria Takes a Stand, by Jessica M. Rinker. She lives with her family in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The main takeaway from this session: Don't let the lack of an art school degree prevent you from reaching your dreams of illustrating children's books. Peoples did not attend an art school, she earned a degree in English and education. For the longest time, she let the lack of an official art school degree hold her back. Good thing for children—because her art is absolutely beautiful—she figured things out. Here are a few lessons she learned along the way: 

Find your artistic voice. Voice is in us from the very beginning, and it expands throughout life's journey. Discovering that voice takes a lot of practice, though, so draw at every opportunity. After college, Peoples worked as a photographer—so she grew from what she knew. As a photographer, she knew composition, value, space. So, she crated art through the lens of a photographer.  Photography informed her artistic voice. While you may not have attended an art school, what is it that you know that you can use to inform your art?

Play—a lot! And don't be afraid to share your experiments along the way. Without an art degree, Peoples didn't know the art rules, so she created like a child, unafraid play. Not worried about getting messy. Sharing her work at conference is how she got feedback and learned to use that feedback to better her art. Sharing, and therefore critique, is how to honestly measure where you are as an artist.  

Seek out mentors. Peoples has been mentored by some of the best, including the late great Floyd Cooper and Marla Frazee.

Pay attention to the world around you in order to create the stories you want to write. For example, People's story THIS IS IT was inspired by her own daughter's desire to become a dancer.

Best Practices.

1. Immerse yourself in art: Mentor texts don't have to be picture books. Watch a lot of movies. Read a lot of books. Listen to a lot of music. Visit museums. 

2. Figure out how the story can function before you put into picture book form--which means boiling down a story to it's visual essence. Make sure the pictures can be read even without words—not worrying abut page count at first. Then figure out how to fit the essence of a story into 32 pages.

3. Practice creating thumbnails—over and over again. Experiment with creating the story's emotional arc by using post-its notes that can be sketched on and moved around. Audition your characters.

4. Ideas. The best stories come from heart check-ups. Peoples' heart: forgiveness, racism/social justice, friendship. Where is your heart?

Stu

Keynote: Jessixa Bagley

JESSIXA BAGLEY is a children's book author-illustrator with a background in fine arts and comics. She has written and illustrated many award-winning picture books including: Boats for Papa, Laundry Day, and Daisy. Jessixa also teaches and speaks about writing and illustration. 

11 Things I've Learned in 11 Years

It has been 11 years since Jessixa's first SCBWI conference. She shares 11 things she wished someone had told her. 

1. Nobody's path to publishing is the same. 
2. If you're not published yet, you're not ready. (read the additional note below)
3. Never stop reading picture books.
4. Making books is collaborative. 
5. Making books takes more time than you would think. 
6. Allow yourself to evolve no matter how scary it feels. 
7. Put yourself into your work.
8. You'll always be hustling.
9. It isn't always about just making books. 
10. You'll always be able to find somebody to discourage you.
11. If you love it, pursue it regardless of the outcome. 

A cover reveal of Jessixa's next book! 

Regarding #2: In the Q&A Jessixa wanted to make it clear that she didn't mean that if you're not published your not ready, but that you have to put your work in front of the right people. She noted that you can't put the cart before the horse and submit when your work isn't there yet. The note here is not to rush. Give your story the time it needs. 

Cecilia Yung: Art Directors Panel #scbwiWinter22

Cecilia Yung is executive art director and vice president at Penguin Books for Young Readers, where she oversees illustration and design for two imprints, G.P. Putnam's Sons and Nancy Paulsen Books. 

The majority of Cecelia's work is on picture books, so that's where she'll focus. Picture books are a very particular art form. A picture books is usually 32 to 40 pages long, typically for 4 to 7 year olds--readers who are also learning about life. Books can hep us make sense of ourselves and our world. Pictures become mirrors. We can recognize ourselves and the characters and their situations. Pictures become windows when they portray new characters and new situations and are authentic and believable. And books can introduce new ideas. 

Ceclia shares, "You have to see the story and feel the story." And she takes us through the beauty of the following books. 

WONDER WALKERS by Micha Archer 

IN A JAR by Deborah Marcero

THE CAT MAN OF ALEPPO by Irene Latham and Karim Shamsi-basha, illustrated by Yuko Shimizu

NINA by Traci N. Todd, illustrated by Christian Robinson

"Powerful picture book illustration help the reader SEE the idea behind the story FEEL its mind-altering world-changing possibilities."