Sketchbook Joy with Lala Watkins

Sketchbook Joy

with Lala Watkins

Lala is a JOY and here at SCBWI for the first time, she came to help us find some Sketchbook JOY! "I'm a Florida girl — Cold is not for her!" But she is excited to see snow and to talk about how to have fun and be playful in your sketchbook!

"Hi My name is Lala, rhymes with Holla! I love laughing till my stomach hurts, ice cream and doing what makes my heart emote the heart-eyed emoji."

"My work is like a summer pool party and everyone is invited!"

Lala's style, voice and career has branched over many different types of art making: from falling in love with lettering in school to finding competitions to put herself out there, she has worked in figurines, stationary, home decor, etc. 

Starting in motion design in school, she transferred into graphic design after a year. "I just wasn't into it." She would make notes for her friends, with little treats and gifts and on their recommendations ("Lala, you should do graphic design") she decided to try it. She had thought it was for "serious things," but soon discovered her own path.

Interning at Cartoon Network sparked her joy to do things for children. That exploration nurtured the seed of imagination and fun. Going on to work for Hello Kitty, it all helped her develop her style and voice. 

Sketchbook Joy: 

Cultivating Confidence through Sketchbook play

Anxiety.  

Anxiety. Anxiety. Anxiety. A lot of her sketchbooking is to prove to her anxiety that she can do it! "I want to make my anxiety a liar." Remind yourself that it's not what you think. You have a job, and you have to build being okay with moving through the discomfort. "Have a cry" and dive in.

The Drawing PEP TALK:
Lala uses her lettering to write out what she is going through. It's her "comfort spot" and helps her loosen up. "Make it messy, and have freedom without judgement." Write notes to yourself in your sketchbook. Make it a safe space. 

Experimentation:
Mess with materials that you've never used. Gouache, markers, color pencils, paper etc. Sketch on Post-Its. They are small, quick, and not precious. She loves working on her experimentation through portraiture. Experiment and see what comes from it. It helped in the development of one of her books, where she used textures she discovered in play and scanned them in to use for her bookmaking.

With a Q&A, and a sharing of her materials and sketchbooks, we got to meet the other attendees and mingle.  What a joy! 

Can't make it to the In-Person Winter Conference in New York City, join us online at the Virtual

Winter Conference featuring inspirational talks, industry panels and deep-dive Creative Labs,

taking place in February of 2026. Videos of all sessions are available to watch for

approximately 30 days after the event.

Lala Watkins (Author, Illustrator) is an author-illustrator extraordinaire whose work is like a summer pool party, and everyone's invited! She makes playful illustrations and lovely stories that make her heart (and yours) emote the heart-eyed emoji. She graduated with a BFA in Graphic Design and Interactive Communications from Ringling College of Art & Design. She has worked as a product designer, product developer, illustrator, and graphic designer at Sanrio, Paper Culture, Cartoon Network and more. Let's be friends! Fun fact: She's in a long-term relationship with the sun so she lives in sunny Florida. Her favorite treat is ice cream and she is a charming hand lettering artist.

www.acaseoflala.com/