Leuyen Pham: Picture Book Panel

LeUyen Pham is a best-selling author/illustrator and the creator of over ninety books for children. Over her career, she has illustrated books with such notable personalities as Academy Award winner Julianne Moore, Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu, and actress Marlo Thomas. Her many books include the best-selling series The Princess in Black written by Shannon and Dean Hale, New York Times Best-selling Grace for President by Kelly DiPuccio, the Alvin Ho series by Lenore Look, and Vampirina Ballerina by Anne Marie Pace, soon to be a Disney channel series. She has also illustrated a number of graphic novels, including The Prince of Persia and Templar by Jordan Mechner, co-illustrated by her husband Alexandre Puvilland, and the soon-to-be-released Real Friends, by Shannon Hale. Her own books include best-selling Big Sister, Little Sister, A Piece of Cake, and her latest The Bear Who Wasn’t There. www.leuyenpham.com

LeUyen shares slides of her process and talks about what she loves about picture books, saying they are

"…the closest you can come to whispering in a child's ear."

She loves to design characters, and her picture book creating process starts with this. And for each character, she figures out the backstory, and tries to include that visually.

LeUyen speaks of the challenge of cover design, and also shares that she listens to the radio or music to not over-think and free her painting.

Some more highlights of what LeUyen shared…

"It's like every book is a reinvention of myself."

"In-between books I look at what other artists are doing."

Drawing in her sketchbook, knowing it's something no one else will see, helps get her started.

LeUyen Pham: One Artist, Different Styles

LeUyen Pham has illustrated SO MANY AMAZING THINGS, and she is as fun and energetic in person as she is in her work.

LeUyen loves classic, detailed, realistic art, and that's what she studied and worked in first. But when trying to develop a new, flat style for certain stories, she had a conundrum, which you may have run into: HOW?

Developing a new style means coming up with new rules to follow the way you followed rules in art classes. You have to change the rules for yourself and scramble your brain a little.

LeUyen found that for a flat style she couldn't use detail and shading like in realistic art, but had to rely on silhouettes and straight lines juxtaposed with curves.

LeUyen's rule for her learning how to use her flat style was she could ONLY draw shapes for the book's characters/props first before any bit of detail.

And while doing flat style work, she was still submitting for more classic/realistic work. But she also tried to improve on her existing classic style, so she applied a new rule here, too, to never work from a photo, only life sketches. Her realistic illustrations are based on figure study after figure study after figure study, and she challenges the illustrator audience to do things like draw our subjects upside down or from the foot up to help with that brain scrambling she mentioned earlier.

For any of her art styles, she never gives up on this mantra: THE LINE IS FINE. She shares some of her sketchbook drawings and admonishes us to always have a sketchbook, you do NOT need to show it to anybody, but you should always be filling it up as much as you can and working on your drawing skills.

And the faster you can draw? The fresher the art looks, the quicker you'll get to the heart of the image. LeUyen's advice? Sit on/in the most uncomfortable place to get better at drawing faster!

Dear lord. LeUyen only gets about four hours of sleep a night, she's really Dan Santatting things! She does five books a year (90 so far!) and describes her typical day to us which starts around 6 am and ends at 2 am.

She figures she's done those 90 books in about 4 or 5 different styles, and that she surely could have stuck to one and perhaps have had more commercial success and recognition, but she doesn't feel comfortable being comfortable in her art. That feels like death to her. So she is constantly trying new things/styles and ways of creating.

Find many of LeUyen's books here on Indiebound!

#LA17SCBWI Illustrator Events

There are many events at #LA17SCBWI designed specifically for illustrators. Come out of your shell, and don't miss these social opportunities:


Illustrators Social
Friday, July 7, 7:30 – 8:30pm (after the member booksale)
JW Marriott Live, Room: Diamond 4

Portfolio Showcase and Reception
Saturday, July 8, 5:00 – 7:00pm (right before the Gala)
JW Marriott Live, Room: Plaza I-III

Golden Kite Luncheon & Awards Presentation
Sunday, July 9, 12:00 - 2:30pm
Room: Platinum Ballroom

Illustrators' Intensive -- Conference ADD ON
Monday, July 10, 8:00am - 5:00pm
Schedule details: https://www.scbwi.org/event-46th-annual-summer-conference-in-los-angeles-la17/illustrator-intensive/


And, here's a key of the workshops specifically designed for illustrators at #LA17SCBWI:

Friday, July 7, 2017

9:00 - 9:45am

Keynote: Vanessa Brantley Newton
Room: Platinum Ballroom

11:30am - 12:30pm

Leuyen Pham: One Artist, Different Styles
Room: Platinum Ballroom

Raúl Colón: The Dream of Visual Storytelling: Tools and Procedures
Room: Diamond 6


4:15pm - 5:15pm

Sean Qualls: Texture Technique Demonstration
Room: Diamond 8

Vanessa Brantley Newton: Creating Joyful Characters
Room: Platinum Ballroom


Saturday, July 8, 2017

11:30am - 12:30pm

Lucy Ruth Cummins: Stealing Best Practices of Working Illustrators (That I Steal, Too)
Room: Platinum Ballroom

Rubin Pfeffer: Smart Dummies: From Picture Book Concept to Manuscrupt to Dummy
Room: Diamond 3

3:15 - 4:15 PM

Javaka Steptoe: Anatomy of a Caldecott-Winning Book
Room: Diamond 6

Alexandra Penfold: Picture Book Writing Skills for Illustrators
Room: Diamond 4


Sunday, July 9, 2017

9:00 - 10:15am

Keynote: Picture Book Panel
Room: Platinum Ballroom

11:00am - 12:00pm

Vanessa Brantley Newton: Digital Art, Best Practices
Room: Diamond 5

Lucy Ruth Cummins: Self Promotion: Selling Yourself to Art Directors Easily and Cheaply
Room: Diamond 4

2:45 - 3:45pm

Raúl Colón: How To Make a Living as a Professional Illustrator
Room: Diamond 10

Stacy Innerst: School Visits as an Illustrator
Room: Diamond 1

Leuyen Pham: Creating Middle Grade Art
Room: Diamond 5


There's plenty for illustrators to learn at other workshops as well, but these are illustrator-focused events. Don't forget, you can only attend one session per time block, so choose carefully, take notes, and have fun! For the full conference schedule, visit: https://www.scbwi.org/event-46th-annual-summer-conference-in-los-angeles-la17/schedule/


If you're reading from home, don't forget to participate in the monthly Draw This! challenge. This month, the theme is "Celebrate" with submissions due July 20th.