My Experience at the Monday Intensive for Illustrators

L-R Kadir, hidden David, Paul, Richard, Marla and Jerry. Denise was looking for her acorn. The black and blue goody bags are not full of booze, I asked.

It's not hyperbole, Monday was the best day of my illustrating life. I didn't spend four years, or even one, in a traditional art school, so I don't know if this is standard procedure, but Monday was unlike anything I've every experienced.

The seven artists tapped to do this first-ever live demo format, I am beyond thankful they so freely shared their talents and thoughts with us. I am bowing down to our SCBWI Illustrator Committee and SCBWI headquarters for making this happen. Compared to other conferences and conventions, SCBWI internationals are cheap. And I happily admit I'd pay a bazillion more dollars to see another live demo day. Don't hesitate to fork over big bills to attend the next live-demo illustrator intensive. And if any of these people are teaching a class near you, be sure you sign up.

Other attendees are going to blog the crap out of today, I'm sure, but I can't do it justice. My brief notes are below:

Each artist answered technical and philosophical questions while they worked for about an hour on an art piece.

Paul showed us how he does a monochromatic/grisaille underpainting in watercolor before adding oil glazes on top.

Marla showed us how she gets her amazing dark lines, she also started one of her fifty color washes, and talked to us about problem solving in final art.

Richard made a mess. But then he made a beautiful painting out of it full of energy and color and a bit of egg tempera.

Kadir did a portrait of Dan Santat while we got up in his business. Lots of talk about the importance of making personal art and loving life.

Denise forgot her acorn. This is not a euphemism. She painted with paper pulp and did a teensy bit of swearing, but we were all completely mesmerized by her process and loved her and her final piece.

David sketched art director/Penguin Putnam VP Cecilia Yung before doing a sketch of himself and showing us how he retains life in his lines when moving from the exuberant pencil sketch to the finished ink drawing.

And Jerry sketched and painted me! No. It was a wild bird. Wait, that could still be me... Anyway.

He showed us how he uses photo reference to make his amazing animals and we watched his light watercolors build up to brilliant gorgeousness.

Jerry's painting in progress. I thought it was me he was painting— that bird and I use the same eyeshadow.

 The day ended with a brief group Q&A. It was a bonhomie love fest.

One way we can say thank you to the seven artists who gave so much to us is to go out and buy a buttload of their books.

Paul's books on Indiebound

Richard's books on Indiebound

Marla's books on Indiebound

Jerry's books on Indiebound

Denise's books on Indiebound

Kadir's books on Indiebound

David's books on Indiebound

THANKS FOR THE BEST SUMMER CONFERENCE EVER!

Kadir Nelson - Words and Pictures; Pictures and Words

Kadir Nelson with conference attendee Marc Akins

Providing the packed room with a gorgeous slide show, Kadir ran through a list of important elements to make your picture book art transcendent, a few of which are:

• lighting
• color
• perspective

He used examples from his books, especially MOSES and THUNDER ROSE to highlight these elements.

When speaking of THUNDER ROSE, Kadir said one of his favorite artists is Norman Rockwell because of Rockwell's fantastic facial expressions. When illustrating THUNDER ROSE, Kadir thought of Rockwell's humor, though over the top, and imbued THUNDER ROSE with similarly expressive but subtly humorous expressions. Kadir likes Bill Murray's style of subtle humor, just so you know.

POSTED BY JAIME TEMAIRIK

EVE BUNTING Highlights from "Creating an Extraordinary Picture Book" panel

EVE BUNTING: "Creating An Extraordinary Picture Book" with Eve Bunting, Melinda Long, Kadir Nelxon, Arthur Levine

Good morning! Welcome to Day 2 of the conference!

Arthur Levine of Scholastic is moderating an insightful panel with picture book authors Eve Bunting, Melinda Long and author/illustrator Kadir Nelson about what makes an "extraordinary" picture book.

To remind myself, I broke down the word "extraordinary" to these words: EXTRA ... ORDINARY. So to me, an "extraordinary" picture book goes BEYOND the "ordinary" and has something "extra" to it that makes it not only beyond ordinary but has that "extra" factor that makes it a future classic... and timeless.

The Extraordinary Eve Bunting spoke from her heart when asked what makes a picture book "extraordinary." She said "the heart" is what makes a picture book extraordinary. "I always ask myself when I finish writing a book - is it worth saying?" she told the audience. She stressed that if there is true "emotion" in your writing, that's what elevates your book beyond the ordinary.

When asked by Levine, "What makes YOUR book 'SMOKY NIGHT' (illustrated by David Diaz) extraordinary?", Eve gave this eloquent and moving answer:

"SMOKY NIGHT, illustrated by David Diaz, is 'extraordinary' because it won the Caldecott. The art was what won the Caldecott, but I also think the story was strong. It came from my emotions. I was in Los Angeles when the riots happened (in 1992). From our house, we could smell the smoke. I immediately thought of a child seeing the looting and hatred going on in Los Angeles, and if something jolts me in a way that it makes me ashamed or sorry or sad or happy, that's a book I want to do. So when I personally smelled that smoke and heard the noise and read about what was happening, I felt so much sadness and shame that people, as one famous person said, 'can't get along.' People should be able to get along no matter what their color or ethnicity. Unfortunately we will have more nights like the smoky night I was describing, so I believe this book was worth saying."

She added: "I need to have that jolt o emotion, that gets me going. I can't put it out of my mind, I think about it and it's a catharsis for me to put it down."

She also said that winning awards is not always the criteria for making an extraordinary book. "'Terrible Things' was published in 1980 but it's still published and still getting letters from kids who read it. I feel it's not always necessary that books win awards to be closest to your heart."

The panelists continued to discuss the craft of writing and illustrating their books and their own process to creating books. Keep reading for more blogs from our SCBWI TEAM BLOG to find out what the others had to say!

When asked if the authors had a special place to write, one author talked about longing for a "clean, well lighted space." Eve Bunting said: "I have a clean, well-lighted space now, but when I first started writing, I had an attic bedroom that no one used. It was dusty and dirty but it had a door and it was away from the children. I told them unless it was a fire or if they were hemorrhaging to leave me alone." (The audience laughed.) "I had a sign from a hotel that said 'Privacy Please' that I hung on the doorknob. But it didn't work. The kids would come to the bottom of the stairs, waving a sneaker and crying, 'I lost a shoe!' But now that they've flown the coop, now I have a clean, well-lighted space that's now my own."

Another fantastic panel at the SCBWI National Conference, and this blog was to provide with you with a taste of some of the jewels of wisdom offered by Eve Bunting. Again, I highly recommend joining SCBWI and attending the conference (full-time or part-time) because what we are blogging about only covers the tip of the iceberg. Imagine what else you will discover when you come to our next conference!

Posted by Paula Yoo

Creating An Extraordinary Picture Book Panel: Kadir Nelson

It helps to have a good editor, says Kadir, especially when he's not writing the text of a picture book. It's good to have support as he works in solitude. He likes the fresh eye of an editor to look at his sketches or his manuscript.

He's telling us about sending a manuscript to his agent, something that he'd been working on for months. He asked his agent (Steven Malk), "does this stink?" Steve, he said, didn't tell him is was bad, but, in his tactful way, told him he needed to keep working on it, and that there were gems in his work. He like to have the encouragement to help him get from B+ work to A+ work.

POSTED BY ALICE POPE

The "What Makes An Extraordinary Picture Book" Panel in Progress

1000 people listen raptly to Arthur A. Levine, Eve Bunting, Kadir Nelson, and Melinda Long!

posted by Lee Wind

Creating An Extraordinary Picture Book Panel: Kadir Nelson

With any book that I do, the most important thing for me is to be relaxed, says Kadir. "I spend a lot of time stalling."

POSTED BY ALICE POPE

Creating An Extraordinary Picture Book Panel: Kadir Nelson

Arthur asks the panel to talk about their own books: which ones are extraordinary?

Kadir Nelson on Moses: He related to and connected to Harriet Tubman by thinking of his grandmother. She inspired him to do extraordinary work.


POSTED BY ALICE POPE

Creating An Extraordinary Picture Book Panel: Kadir Nelson

Arthur Levine is hosting this panel and asks: What makes a picture book extraordinary?

Kadir Nelson: "The art has to be excellent, the story has to be excellent, and work well together. The art and pictures have to speak to a personal truth and a universal truth."


POSTED BY ALICE POPE