SCBWI WINTER ILLUSTRATION CONFERENCE (part 1)

I am so glad I made it to this years SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators) Illustration conference! Last year, I was home sick with the flu! The illustration conference for the Utah/Idaho region of SCBWI is held yearly, usually in February, (but next year, I hear it's in March!) in Salt Lake City, UT. What a memorable experience this year's conference was for me! I have to put a shout out to Shawna Tenny, Manelle Oliphant, Sherry Meidell, and Jen Eichelberger. They did an amazing job organizing this year's conference! With bagels, cream cheese, milk and juice for breakfast and the home made soups, breads and cookies for lunch, along with the amazing guest speakers, it was a wonderful day to remember!

This year's conference focused on middle grade book covers. The first speaker was Nicki Carmack, Art Director, from Peachtree Publishing. It was such a pleasure listening to her English accent while she spoke! (Something about me: I listen to audio books when I'm working and there's just something wonderful about listening to a book read with an English accent! I think it's as simple as another "something" to draw me into the book's setting or world, as you will.) Nicki shared good insights on the design of book covers.

Her main points were:

• The 10 foot rule.  I hadn't heard of this before, but great advice! She says to stand back from the art about 10 feet and see if it can be seen and understood, clearly. She continues by saying most people read it off of phones and tablets, nowadays, so the image must be simple enough to be read at a small size.
• Don't give away secrets.  The book cover shouldn't show you the ending of the story or anything that should stay secret and found out only by the reader. A book cover hints at the story. It is the first thing a reader sees before beginning the story so it must be intriguing enough, without giving anything away, to pull the reader in.
• On trend.  The book cover should be creative and unique but still fit into the current trends of today's book market. Research is the key. Visit your local bookstore and see what's out there.

I sure appreciated her words of knowledge! I will be implementing her suggestions in my next painting!

CHARACTER CONSISTENCY

One of the many responsibilities of a children's book illustrator, is to keep the characters in your illustrations, consistent. This is also one of the most, if not the most, difficult to do! The shape of the head, body,... actually everything must stay the same throughout the whole book. Eye color? Hair color? Pudgy cheeks? YES! Even the style of the artwork, as well. Would it not be confusing to have the beginning of a book painted in a carefree, fun, watercolor wash and then have it end with realistic, tight, oil paintings?

I find I ask myself several questions along the character development stage. How old do I want this character to be? How tall? Skinny or not? Freckles? Once Ive decided on the basic character traits, many sketches are done for each pose and each page of the book. I find it very important to review the character throughout the book. Unless the character had a hair cut, hair dyed, lost or gained weight, got sunburned, etc., the character on the first page of the book, should look like the same person/character on the last page of the book.

Here's a few paintings I've done recently. I won't go into details about the story behind the illustrations because the book's not published yet, but, hopefully, you can see that this is the same child (and cat) in each illustration.

And here's how the final page will look.

GHOST STORIES

I finally got a decent reproduction of one of my latest pieces! After two photographers, trying to shoot it myself, and then taking my painting to a scanning company, I think I'm satisfied! Ugh! I'm sure it's the contrast between the light and dark that gave everyone so much trouble. I spent a lot of money getting this reproduced! I hope my new postcards are worth it! Whew! Glad it's done!

MY BUSY YEAR

WOW! You'd think, by viewing my blog, I fell off the earth! I assure you, I haven't! I guess I need to set a New Year's resolution to do better with letting you know about my comings and goings!

I will do my best to review the highlights of my past year, but I won't promise that it will be in chronological order!

•  SOCIETY OF ILLUSTRATORS- I submitted a piece into SI's yearly illustrators' competition and was accepted into their show/annual. My painting, The Need For Swimming Lessons, hung in their New York City building over the summer. If you visited SI this summer, you may have seen it!

• SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators)- This was amazing, as usual! I attend every year! I belong to the Utah/Southern Idaho region. Each year, they host an illustrators' conference where they have art directors, publishers, editors, writers, and, of course, illustrators that work in the children's book field come speak, teach, and share with us a little bit of their knowledge. Guy Francis, illustrator, (Clark the Shark) spoke to us, along with Kristine Brogno, design director, (Chronicle Books).

• WIFYR (Writing and Illustrating For Young Readers)- I've been trying to hone my skills in writing children's books so I've been attending WIFYR for a few years now. I took the picture book class with Kathi Appelt. It was a week long morning class that focused on the ins and outs of picture books. I am so glad that I had the opportunity to meet Kathi! What a wonderful lady! If I was to share everything I learned from her class, I think it would take days to read it! And the afternoon sessions, of course, did not let me down.

• UTAH STATE FAIR- I decided to submit an illustration of mine into the state fair. My husband and I attended the fair during the first few days of its opening. I was happy to see a blue, first place ribbon hanging from my piece. Then, my family and I made an unexpected trip back home, to Washington, to visit my step dad. This would be the last time I would see him before he would lose his battle with stomach cancer. It was a memorable trip- one filled with lots of joy but also sadness. While I was there, a friend called me to inform me I had not only won a first place ribbon at the fair, but also the People's Choice Award! I had been awarded it during the last few days of the fair. What an honor! I didn't know about this award. I guess the public could vote on their favorite piece throughout the whole art exhibit. The piece with the most votes won the People's Choice Award. Pretty cool, hu?!

• REFLECTIONS- I was asked to be a judge for the national Reflections competition for a local Elementary school in my area.  I was so impressed with the creativity and talent of of these children! The Reflections competition has six different categories (dance/choreography, music/composition, photography, 3D, writing/literature, film, visual art) in which a child can submit a work of art. Each child is judged by age and by school. The finalists progress to region and can go all the way to Nationals! I saw some of the pieces I previously judged in the Utah State Fair. Good job kids!

• WRITING A CHILDREN'S BOOK- I took an eleven week children's book writing course (one day a week) from Ken Baker, author. (Is my year looking full yet?) I told you I wanted to learn the ins and outs of children's book writing! I attended his class after WIFYR. It's interesting to see the things that were similar between the two classes but also the things that were different! Each class was a treasure of learning. And it's never a bad thing to have things repeated!

• AMERICAN ILLUSTRATION 34- I submitted a piece into the AI 34 Annual competition and was thrilled to get the email that I would be included in their annual! I just barely got the annual in the mail, the other day. Here's the piece on the printed page: 

 

• TOUCHSTONES JOURNAL- I submitted a piece into a local journal, as well. Actually it's the same one that was accepted into the AI 34 Annual (above). I won first place! 

•  WARP AND WEAVE- I submitted a piece into another local journal. My Zombie Babysitter, was accepted into the journal, Warp and Weave, for their spring publication. Later in the year, the editor contacted me and asked it they could use the image for posters, etc. for publicity for their fall publication. Of course, I said yes.

•  SCOTT GUSTAFSON- One of my all time illustration hero's! Can't say enough about this guy! I attended a lecture of his, asked tons of questions, and was pleasantly pleased to learn that we use a lot of the same techniques in our painting prep. I had him sign some books of his and had a wonderful chat with him. Amazing work! If you don't know who he is, you are missing out!

 I can't say for sure this is everything, but it's the parts I remember. It's been a wonderful and blessed year. I am truly thankful for the things I've learned and the growth I've made this past year and hope 2016 will be even better!

SOMETHING HARD FROM SOMETHING SOFT/ HUMAN CHARACTERISTICS

A few weeks ago, I asked the kids in my art class to make something soft into something hard. I gave them pictures of snowflakes, clouds, feathers, and flowers along with some rocks for reference. We discussed what makes something hard vs. soft. We talked about line- soft vs. hard and light vs. dark. I think it was harder than the kids thought it would be. I decided to draw along side them. This is what I came up with:

I also asked the kids to give something not human, human characteristics. We discussed the Disney movies, such as Cars, Airplanes, and Beauty and the Beast. I gave them pictures of trees and rocks but they could also pull from any of my other picture references. Again, I chose to draw along side them. Here's mine:

A few days later, I decided to add another character to the drawing. I used pen and ink on the girl. The tree is done with a nib. I'm sure you can see the difference.

I sure enjoy my little art class for kids. I like drawing right along side them. It helps me to remember all of the things I have been taught. I'm looking through books that I haven't looked through for some time now. It's great for me to review and to research the things I have learned over the years.

TRUNK OR TREAT

My church held a carnival and a trunk or treat for all the little kids who live in the neighborhoods that surround it. I was asked to come up with a game for the carnival part of the evening. I decided to do a revision of the famous game, "Pin The Tale On The Donkey". I didn't come up with a catchy name for it but, basically, the participant is to put the candy in the monster's bag.

I started with designing my monster. I drew it quite small (on a piece of 8.5"x11" paper). Once I was satisfied with it, I brought a digital file to Kinko's and had them blow it up to a little over 5 feet tall. It took me a day to paint it. I used basic tempura paints. When I was finished, I cut it out and brought it to a local copy shop to get laminated. I think it turned out pretty well. The kids had a great time! I gave each child a piece of candy (from suckers to bubble gum) with double sided tape applied to one side of each piece. The older kids were blindfolded and spun around. The littler ones just had fun putting the candy inside the bag. I thought it was a great success! I still need to come up with a catchy name. "Put The Candy In The Monster's Bag", just doesn't do it for me.

JUNGLE BOY

I'm so excited to paint this kid! He was such an amazing model! Great job Niko!

As you can guess, my next painting will be my version of Mowgli from the Jungle Book. Thumbnails have been done. Finally photos have been taken. I'm in the final drawing stages. So excited for this one!

3x3 MAGAZINE PICTURE BOOK SHOW

I have been honored by 3x3, The Magazine Of Contemporary Illustration once again! I have been accepted into their picture book show no. 11 which will be available this winter. I had TWO pieces accepted this time. I am so grateful for the great art direction I received by two wonderful men. Perry Stewart and Don Seegmiller have been friends, mentors and so much more to me, over the past few years. My love for them is more than I can express. I appreciate their critiques, suggestions and comments. This honor goes out to them.

Here are the two pieces I had accepted:

ADDING A POEM

Look at this cute poem my daughter-in-law wrote for one of my illustrations! She did such a great job! Wouldn't this make the cutest wall decoration for a little boys room? Well you can own one if you'd like! I've opened two new stores on etsy.com and soon will have my store open on my website. Check out this print along with several others in my store, Chickadoodle Art 4 Kids:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/chickadoodleArt4Kids?ref=search_shop_redirect

And you can check out prints of the children I paint in my other store, Innocence By C Waldron:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/InnocenceByCWaldron?ref=search_shop_redirect

And while your at it, you might as well check out my new website (no store yet, but it's still cool!):

www.cyndiwaldron.com

MY ILLUSTRATION PROCESS

I thought I'd show you the steps I took for my newest illustration.

Step 1: Coming up with an idea. First, I try to think of a story. My stories are influenced very much by what's going on around me. What season is it? What are kids doing during this time of year? The subject matter I chose for this painting is swimming. Once I think of a subject matter, I imagine different ages of children and the feelings and thoughts that may surround the subject matter pertaining to that certain age. I then, decide which age, feelings and thoughts I want to focus on. For this painting, Swimming Lessons, I chose a young girl, age of three. My thinking was that a child this age may be afraid of water (which was NOT true for my model. :) I don't think she had even an ounce!).  Of course, the story ends with her taking swimming lessons, learning to love the water and concludes with a joyful pool party with all her friends.

Step 2: I draw some thumbnail sketches. Thumbnail sketches are just that- sketches the size of a thumb. I draw them about 2.5" tall and I draw several. I drew her in different aspects of the story until I decided which part of the story I wanted to focus on. Here's some of my thumbs.

Step 3: After I've decided on which direction to go, I find my model and take TONS of pictures. Here's a couple I used for reference in my painting. I used a facial expression from one, the body pose from another, and the snorkel from another.

Step 4: Once I have my reference, I start on my final drawing. I work out values during this process.

Step 5: After I feel comfortable with my drawing, I paint a small color study. This color study is roughly 10 inches tall. I then, scan it into my computer and mess around with it a bit. I may experiment with different versions in Photoshop.

The first is the original color study. The other two are manipulations in Photoshop.

Step 6: Finally, I get to start the actual painting! Most of the brain work is now done! This is the part of the process I like best. The final painting, Swimming Lessons, is 18"x24" painted on an ABS panel. I adopted William Whitaker's painting substrate. He loves this kind of board. I don't think he paints on anything else, anymore.

Here's the final:

3x3 ILLUSTRATION ANNUAL

I finally received my 3x3 Illustration Annual the other day, and LOOK! I'm on page 407! It seems publication takes FOREVER! I submitted this illustration to them a year ago! Just recently, I entered some of my new illustrations into a couple different competition categories for next years publication. Wish me luck!

SCBWI CONFERENCE

I attended another wonderful SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators) Conference this past February. I was able to listen to the wonderful Nathan Hale talk about his illustration career and even got him to sign his Frankenstein book for me. I didn't know he had used a pseudonym for this book. I guess I should have realized that Ludworst Bemonster was just to perfect of a name for a book titled FRANKENSTEIN!

There was an illustration challenge for the conference. If an illustrator wanted to participate, he or she was to pick a scene from the Tortoise and the Hare or a scene from the first two chapters of Treasure Island and illustrate it any way he/she wanted. I chose the Tortoise and the Hare to illustrate. This is what I came up with:

Kristyn Crow joined us for the day. She taught us about writing children's books and shared her new book, Zombelina, with us. She is such a talented writer! This story is dang cute! It was a pleasure to have her there and I sure appreciate her giving up a day in her busy life to spend it with us. Thanks, Kristyn!

I went home feeling inspired and ready to face the world again! Thanks to everyone who put it all together!

INNOCENCE

It's been over a year since the horrible tragedy of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. I remember watching the news about this event and feeling shocked, appalled, and tremendously sick to my stomach. Tears rolled down my face. "How could a person do such a horrendous act?", I asked myself. Over the next several weeks, while reflecting on this abominable event, it came clear to me that childhood innocence is under attack. Such sorrow filled my heart and still weighs heavy on my soul. My childhood had its bumps and I received many bruises but nothing like what children face today. Terrorism, abuse, neglect, sickness, violence, poverty, and war are real and shatter the innocence that should be cherished and protected as far as is humanly possible.

Just a few months later, the bombing at the Boston Marathon rang throughout the world. This marathon was to be a healing event for the families of Sandy Hook Elementary. It was dedicated to these children and adults who had lost their lives during that awful occurrence. Family members of Sandy Hook were invited to attend. Special seating was given to these honored individuals. But instead of it being a moment for therapeutic relief it became a weapon for devastating pain and heartbreak which re-opened and aggravated their tender wounds. I cried again while watching this news.

I had already painted a few children before these ghastly incidents had occurred, but not really with a specific purpose or meaning. I have always enjoyed children's love and passion for life and I like seeing the light that shines from their inner spirit. I wanted to capture that light, so I painted some children. It was right before the bombing that I decided that I wanted to paint more children and this time for the specific purpose of capturing their innocence on canvas. I decided to support my paintings with a story. I would immerse myself within a childlike quality, such as determination, resilience, imagination, and curiosity, and then write a story that would support that trait. My painting would then emerge from a scene based off of that story.

 I have now completed nine paintings. I have four more in the works and plan on continuing to paint even more as stories continue to fill my mind. These paintings are dedicated to childhood innocence and honor those children who have lost their innocence through no fault of their own. My heart goes out to them, their families, and to the communities that are affected by such appalling acts.

Below you can view four of my recent works.

ODD COUPLE

This week, the theme was "Odd or Strange Couples". Here's my submission. He's a "10" in her eyes!

SCBWI CONFERENCE

The SCBWI Conference was held last Saturday in Salt Lake City. It was AMAZING!!! Martha Rago critiqued our final pieces from her intensive (photo below). She had a lot of good things to say and I learned A TON of things I didn't know before! It was so worth the time, energy, lack of sleep, etc. to participate in her intensive and if another is ever offered, I'd sign up in a heart beat!

Mark and Caralyn Buehner  spoke for about an hour at the conference, as well. What a talented couple. She writes and he illustrates. An amazing team! I was so impressed with Mark's illustration skills, that I went home and bought three of his books. Caralyn wrote one of them. These books are a nice addition to my little library of children's books.


Here's the three I bought:

MY NEXT PROJECTS:

I thought I'd share with you my next two painting projects. I'm excited to get working on them. I'll be working back and forth on both to save me some time. Since these will be painted in oils, I will always have something to work on while waiting for drying time on one or the other. The final pieces will be 18"x24".

I may do some minor tweaking with the sketch of the girl and cat. I'll probably add a necklace to the both of them. I think it just needs a little more.

Hope you like them!

ANOTHER AWARD!!!

When I received a runner up reward from Creative Quarterly for their issue 27 competition, I had mixed feelings- happy that my art had been acknowledged but disappointed that it was a runner up. You see, the runner up awards aren't published in their magazine. The only place to view these pieces is on their website (www.cqjournal.com). I truly appreciated receiving the award and felt quite honored actually, but I also wanted to see my artwork in their magazine. Feeling determined, I decided to enter their competition for issue 28.

I thought of all the illustrations I had completed over the last few months and decided to enter something quite different from my previous entry. This entry wouldn't be narrative (tells a story). It would be conceptual (based on an idea, thought or word)- a form of illustration which seems to be acknowledged in competitions more so than the narrative. Well, I guess I was wiser with my decision this time around because I actually received another award, and this time it wasn't a runner up! Yippee and Wahoo!!!

The Creative Quarterly Issue 28 will hit the stands in November and I will be in it!!! If you live near a Barnes and Noble, go pick one up or order one online!

Here's my winning piece. The title is "HOT":

ANOTHER COLORING PAGE FROM ME TO YOU

This was one of my very first illustrations I ever completed at UVU. It was an assignment for my Illustration 1 class. Wow! It seems so long ago! A professor from the English Department at UVU was creating online ESL readers for anyone who was interested in learning English. My teacher thought it would be great to help him out with some illustrations. Our class accepted the project and chose to illustrate two books. Each student illustrated one page out of one of the books. The book I was assigned was about kittens. I don't remember the story exactly I just remember that my page was, "Kittens get sick."

After looking back at some of my old works, I realized this would make a great coloring page, so I decided to ink it up. Here ya go!

I hope, that by posting my original illustration, I haven't swayed you to use the colors I personally chose. I would LOVE to see the creativity of your kids. Maybe in their version each cat would have polka dots or stripes. Maybe the kittens are sick with chicken pocks. Maybe they will be colored blue because they are sad. I don't think I could even come close to imagining what your kids can come up with but I would sure like to see their works when their done. Scan them in, when their finished, and email them my way. Maybe I'll post some up on my blog!

For those that are having a difficult time trying to figure out how to print these, here's some directions for you to follow.

SAVING AND PRINTING DIRECTIONS: (This is how I would go about printing from my IMac. It may be a little different on your computer, but I hope this, at least, helps some.)

1. On your computer, create a file, title it Coloring Pages, and save it on your desktop or somewhere convenient.
2. On my blog, click on a coloring page to enlarge and isolate it.
3. Right click on the image and choose "SAVE IMAGE AS"
4. Rename the page, if you would like, or just keep it as it is.
5. Choose to save it to the file on your computer which you had previously created.
6. Click "SAVE"
7. Now the coloring page is saved on your computer and in your file. Open your file and then click on the coloring page you would like to print to open it as well.
8. Go to the top of your monitor, scroll down under "FILE" to "PRINT". I've created my coloring pages so that they can each be printed at 100%. No need to reduce the size. They fit perfectly on an 8.5 x11 sheet of paper.
9. You may need to rotate the paper from portrait to landscape depending on the page you are printing. Click "PRINT"
10. You should now have a coloring page to enjoy with your children. Have FUN!!!

A WEEK AT WIFYR

As I arrived Monday morning at the Writing and Illustrating For Young Readers Conference (WIFYR), goosebumps suddenly ran up and down my arms. Not because I was cold (How could I be? It was 80+ degrees already and getting warmer by the minute), but because I felt quite anxious about what I was about to face. Was I going to walk into a classroom full of published writers with years of experience who knew everything there was to know about anything or was I going to walk into a classroom full of people like me- people who weren't published but had a tremendous desire and drive to learn? Oh, how I hoped the answer to that question was the latter. I felt quite inadequate about writing since I had, only recently, began writing down the stories that were circling around in my head. All my fears and concerns were quickly erased as I walked into Trudy Harris'  Picture Book class. She put me right at ease with her warm smile and sweet personality and the others in the class weren't as scary once I saw their faces. Now I could see that they were as eager as me.

 One of many books written by Trudy Harris. Great story!

Trudy, immediately, started us out critiquing each others' stories. She taught as we critiqued, taking every opportunity to enlighten and encourage us. I was amazed at the creativity that flowed on the pages which were laid out in front of me. I hoped others would feel the same about my stories. My critique didn't come that day. That was just fine. My inadequacy was still present.

After lunch, the breakout sessions began. First Alexandra Penfold, editor at Simon and Schuster Publishing, spoke to all who were present at the afternoon sessions of the conference. She shared her thoughts about how people, in general, relate to book characters. Her message was insightful and I took lots of notes. I was amazed at how young she is! Her knowledge seems to fit more within a person who is in his/her 50's or 60's and not in someone so young! I finished the day by attending Anne Bowen's breakout session and then another taught by Trudy Harris.

 I bought this book at the conference. Written by Anne Bowen. FUN BOOK!

Tuesday began with more critiquing and teaching in Trudy's class. My critique didn't happen this day, either. And again, that was just fine.

The breakout sessions began with an address by John Cusick, author and literary agent for Scott Treimel NY. He spoke of the importance of the first line. He shared examples of first lines in stories that, immediately, capture the attention of the reader and cause him/her to continue reading. I appreciated his words and continue to remind myself of something he said. "Every line is the first line to the rest of your story." LOVE it!!!

After John's address, I attended a panel discussion and then closed the day with Sherry Meidell's breakout session where she shared her thoughts about sketching. This is the second time in which I've had the pleasure to be in this great woman's presence and I have to say, I think she's amazing! She is such a friendly person and full of life! I can tell she loves her family, tremendously, and loves life just as much. Such a fun person. I feel warm fuzzies when I think of her. Truly!

 One of many books illustrated by Sherry Meidell

Well, Wednesday was the day for my critique. It was a little nerve wracking for me, but everyone, kindly, shared their thoughts and ideas about how to make my stories better. I was relieved that not only did the class share their thoughts verbally but also in writing (which was passed back to me after the critique). I was bombarded with so many different opinions and suggestions that I knew, unless these words were written down, I would, most likely, forget more than half of them by the time I returned home. Whew! It, actually, went better than what I had thought! In several incidences, my stories actually had the class cracking up! I'm glad they got my sense of humor!

Ruth Katcher, editor at Egmont Publishing, started the afternoon sessions for the day. She shared her thoughts about writing with an authentic voice- a voice we know well because it comes from within our head. Great thoughts. Again, took lots of notes. I finished my day with Julie Olson's breakout session. She shared some great insights into the creation of a dummy book and I learned some things I didn't know before! Oh, how I love it when I learn something new! Great class, Julie!

 I believe this is the first book Julie has written and illustrated. Not sure about that but the book's so cute!

I arrived at the conference, Thursday morning, to an already busy Amy Hackworth, our class assistant for the week. Before I could enter the classroom, she called my name and motioned me over to her side. She asked me, while holding a phone to her ear, if I had received her email the night before. I answered, no. She continued by telling me to hold on a moment while she left a message for the person on the other end of the line. Thoughts rushed through my head. Am I in trouble? Uh oh, what did I do now? Once Amy hung up her phone she pulled me over into a corner and told me Trudy liked one of my stories so much that she had referred me to Alexandra Penfold for a private consultation to review my manuscript for possible publication. Wow! Really?! She told me my appointment was at 11.00 am and not to share this with the rest of the class because not everyone would get this opportunity. She told me, when it was time for my appointment, to get up from my desk and leave quietly and to return the same way. All week, the classroom was a little chilly, but on Thursday, it seemed exceptionally cold. I bet it wasn't really any cooler that day. I bet my unsettled nerves played a part.

What an honor it was to meet with Ms. Penfold. She was straight forward and to the point. She didn't think my story was right for Simon and Schuster and she thought it would offend cat owner/lovers. I appreciated her frankness. Well, if you didn't know before, you know now. This story of mine is about cats. I respected her comments, although she did share with me that she is deathly allergic to cats and, for this reason, has never owned a cat and so could be a little biased. Oh well. But since I wasn't expecting any personal contact with the editors or agents during the conference, I wasn't too bothered by her rejection. I also know that just because one editor doesn't like a story doesn't mean that all editors won't like the story. I still look to this moment as the highlight of my week. My mentor/teacher liked my story so much that she referred me to an editor! That, alone, made my week!

I finished off the day listening to Trent Reedy, author, speak about his inspiration for his book. What a touching and inspirational story and man! I felt the tenderness in his voice as he shared his experiences with us.

Friday, was the end of the conference. More teaching by Trudy and book signing. I bought her book, Tally Cat Keeps Track, which she signed for me. Her son illustrated the book. We ended our class discussing cover letters and then spent some time on questions and answers.

Another book written by Trudy Harris. I love the many layers she incorporates into her stories.

The afternoon session was filled with learning. My first breakout session was with Kristyn Crow. She taught that each page of a book should be treated as a door which opens to the next page. Not only should the words flow smoothly, from page to page, but the illustrations as well. She shared lots of thought provoking ideas which I will ponder as I write and illustrate my books.

 I haven't read any of Kristyn's stories as of yet, but they look like so much fun!

I also attended a breakout session with Christopher Robbins. Just to clarify, NOT Christopher Robin! Not too long ago, he left his position as CEO at Gibbs Smith Publishing, and has recently started a company called Familius which he, because of its size, holds the position as CEO and editor. He shared his knowledge about the technology and digital age we are currently living in.

The last breakout session of the day and also the last of the conference, which I attended ,was taught by Allison Randall. She shared her thoughts about using true tales in our stories. We have many things that happen to us from day to day. We can look to those experiences as we write our stories. Some of the most bizarre things we read could have actually come from someone's reality. Interesting to think about.

Allison's first picture book. And an award winner to boot! Based on a true story.

I left the conference feeling more than simply satisfied with the information and knowledge I had gained. The teachers were wonderful and inspiring. Some traveled far and sacrificed their time with family, work, etc. to share their thoughts with us. I appreciate their willingness to teach me and the others at the conference. These people are the experts in the field of writing and illustrating. Could I have learned from anyone better? I don't think so.