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Yesterday the Annecy International Animated Film Festival came to a close. For everyone who was unable to make the annual jaunt to Haute-Savoie to bask in the excellence of the graphical beaux arts, the festival has its own way of simultaneously enticing you and making you feel bad about your creative self. By this, we mean the signal films.

There were five signal films in total, conceived, designed and as usual, beautifully realized by the students at Gobelins.

The Retake created by Maxime Delalande, Nadya Mira, Semiramis Mamata, Laurent Moing and Rayane Raji

Sawa created by Camile André, Janis Aussel, Clément Doranlo, Maud Girard and Jong-Hyun Jung-Boix

Copernicus created by Elssa Boyer, Anne Courtin, Myriam Fourati, Sarah Simon and Pedro Vergani

The Fancy Family created by Debora Cruchon, Eve Ceccarelli, Marie-Pierre Demessant, Batiste Perron and Simon Masse

See Saw created by Marlène Beaube, Marion Bulot, Thibaud Gayral, Guitty Mojabi and Raphaëlle Stolz

This Father’s Day card was sent in by Tracy Campbell to help wish all you Dad’s and single Mom’s a Happy Father’s Day. Tracy was featured on Illustrator Saturday on May 18th.

I missed getting Tara Lazar’s debut book THE MONSTORE at the conference last weekend. I took too much time, before I tried to buy her and all the books were gone, but Amazon has plenty in stock. I am sure I will see Tara soon at another event to have her sign it for me. Looks like a great picture book.

Tara Lazar is a children’s book author, foodie, mother and boogeyman assassin (currently booked at 3:00 a.m. nightly).  She writes quirky, humorous picture books featuring magical places that adults never find. Her debut THE MONSTORE releases in June 2013, with I THOUGHT THIS WAS A BEAR BOOK and LITTLE RED GLIDING HOOD to follow in 2014. She’ll also debunk the rule “Grow Up, Be Serious” in BREAK THESE RULES, a YA anthology due in September 2013. Tara lives in New Jersey with her husband and two daughters. Discover original stories, book reviews, giveaways and boogeyman extermination advice at www.TaraLazar.com.

The Monstore is a one-stop shop for all your monsterly needs in this enormously funny story that’s full of friendly, kooky creatures.

At the back of Frankensweet’s Candy Shoppe, under the last box of sour gumballs, there’s a trapdoor.

Knock five times fast, hand over the bag of squirmy worms, and you can crawl inside The Monstore.

The Monstore is the place to go for all of your monsterly needs. Which is perfect, since Zack definitely has a monsterly need. The problem? His pesky little sister, Gracie, who never pays attention to that “Keep Out” sign on Zack’s door—the one he has made especially for her.

But when Zack’s monsters don’t exactly work as planned, he soon finds out that the Monstore has a few rules: No Refunds. No exchanges. No exceptions.

Publishers Weekly

Debut author Lazar takes readers to an underground emporium, the Monstore, which trades in “the most useful monsters, just right for doing tricky things around the house.” Tricky things like handling “pesky little sisters.” However, the monsters that Zach purchases aren’t working as advertised. Instead of scaring Gracie, the enormous, three-eyed, orange-furred Manfred teams up with her to frighten Zach. And because the Monstore’s return policies are none too friendly, Zach purchases more monsters (“Add another,” suggests the wild-eyed shopkeeper. “A monster threesome is more gruesome than a twosome”), all of which wind up tormenting Zach. Readers shouldn’t be surprised that Gracie is delighted, not frightened, by the blobby, tentacled additions to the household—Burks’s (Beep and Bah) colorful creatures are firmly in the scary-cute vein of Monsters, Inc. (in one scene, they use a purple snake monster to jump rope with Gracie). Zach gets a chance to prove himself as a capable older brother, but this story really belongs to Gracie.

Ages 4–7. Author’s agent: Ammi-Joan Paquette, Erin Murphy Literary Agency. Illustrator’s agent: Kelly Sonnack, Andrea Brown Literary Agency. (June)

ISBN-13: 9781442420175
Publisher: Aladdin
Publication date: 6/4/2013

Tara Lazar wished there was a Monstore when she was a kid so she could’ve spooked her pesky little brother. Her mischievous imagination led her to write picture books, and she founded PiBoIdMo (Picture Book Idea Month). She lives in New Jersey with her husband and her two daughters. Visit http://www.TaraLazar.com for stories, giveaways, and contests for kids of all ages (like Tara!).

James Burks started drawing as a little kid and hasn’t stopped since. Along the way he’s written and illustrated some books of his own, including Gabby and Gator, Beep and Bah, and Bird and Squirrel on the Run. James lives in southern California with his two little monsters.

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy

There are three main file types currently associated with eBooks:

• EPUB (.epub) – Short for “electronic publication,” this is the most popular open standard format for eBooks that allows DRM (digital rights management). It is also the format used with all the major retailers EXCEPT Amazon/Kindle. With EPUB, reflowable content ensures that text is displayed in the optimal manner for each eReader or smartphone device.

• Mobipocket (.mobi) – An eBook format that allows users to add a blank page at any point in the text for notes, bookmarks, corrections, and drawings.

• Kindle (.azw) – Amazon’s proprietary format is based on mobipocket, but it comes with its own DRM protections.

1) Once your book has been converted to ePub format, it’s too late to fix a typo! So proof your files for spelling, grammar, and syntax. Remember you are now your own editor! It is up to you to make sure the document you convert to an eBook is meticulously proofread. Even if you pay a company to do the converting for you, you still have to have it perfectly edited, so you might want to consider paying someone to edit your book prior to conversion.

2) Don’t use tabs or the space bar to format paragraphs and individual lines. While it may look the way you want it in a Word or text file, tabs and spaces wreak havoc when converted to eBook format. Use the “Format/Paragraph” menu or alignment buttons in the toolbar of your text-editing program if you want indents.

3) Use standard fonts such as Times New Roman or Courier New. Not all fonts are supported by the eBook format and eReaders. The standard text size is 12 point size font for body text and 14-18 point for chapter titles. Another reason to use Times New Roman: Any special symbols may not convert properly to ePub when using other fonts.

4) The publisher’s name and address, date of publication, copyright info, ISBN number, and other credits should be included on the first two pages of the document.

5) Don’t resize your images in Word or a text editor. All images must be in .png, .jpg, or .tif format, 72 dpi, and in RGB color mode. Do all image resizing outside of the document with image editing software, then reinsert them in your document.

6) If you pay a company to format your manuscript to an ebook, check to make sure of their specs. In general, you will need to resize large images to 300 pixels high if you would like them to display in-line with text. Cover and full-page images should 800-1,000 pixels high by 550-700 pixels wide. Logos or simple images should be 75-100 pixels high.

7) All images (except full-page images) should be set in-line with text. Do not wrap text around images.

8) Tables, sidebars, and inserts will not display properly in ePub format, so extract this type of content and list as ordinary text. Of course, you can always included them as images.

9) Do not include any elements that refer to page numbers other than your formatted Table of Contents. Pages in your document will not coincide with the “pages” on any given eReader.

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy

I’m partial to video games that look and feel like animated short films, which is why this E3 trailer for Hohokum is so enticing. The game is being developed by Honeyslug and artist Richard Hogg, and animated by Kwok Fung Lam, for Playstation 4, Playstation 3 and Playstation Vita systems. There’s an interview with the creators at GameInformer.com.

The game has been in development for a while. The gameplay video below is from three years ago, and shows how you maneuver your sperm-ish creature, euphemistically called the Long Mover, through a neo-Yellow Submarine universe:

(Thanks, David Calvo)

I want to step back for a second and clarify my own personal definitions of plot versus structure. As mentioned in my previous post on plot definitions there are many views of what plot it! Additionally, I fear that as I walked us through arch plot and classic design last week, I may have reinforced the misconceptions that plot and structure are same thing.

Plot and structure are not the same thing!

I did a previous series on plot (To Plot or Not to Plot) where I explored the differences between narrative, story, plot, and structure. I’ve since re-evaluated some of the things I said in those posts and the following are my current definitions:

PLOT: Plot is often defined as a “sequence of actions” (Fletcher) or “the actions of the characters” (Bechard). However, plot is also the connective tissue that links events or actions with meaning. It’s not just what happens, but the causal connections of why it happens. Janet Burroway defines plot as a “series of events deliberately arranged so as to reveal their dramatic, thematic, and emotional significance … Plot’s concern is ‘what, how, and why,’ with scenes ordered to highlight cause-and-effect.”

In simple terms, plot is a series of actions with a cause and effect relationship. In my explanation of arch plot, the hero’s journey is the plot.

Whereas…

STRUCTURE: Structure is the triangle or mountain shape in the diagram I used. Structure has two parts. The first is arrangement. For example, you tell scene one, then scene two, then scene three. Or you tell scene 3, then scene 1, then scene 27, etc. This is about order and organization. The second part is about patterns, rhythm, and energy. It’s about the movement and feeling your particular arrangement creates. The triangle (often called the Aristotelian story shape) is a visual metaphor for the escalating energy that is meant to come as a result of a classic design arrangement.

With structure we are looking at the arrangement and rhythm of the whole. Author, Susan Fletcher defines structure as “the organization, or overall design, or form of a particular literary work … [It is the] larger rhythm of the story.” Additionally, Chea says that “in examining story structure, we look for patterns, for the shape that the story as a whole possesses. Plot directs us to the story in motion, structure to the story at rest.”

In the coming posts, I’m going to list alternative plots and alternative structures. I wanted to clarify the difference between these terms so you would better understand how I’ve organized these lists. One is by the nature of the action (plot) while the other is about the organization and rhythm of the action (structure).

Works Cited:

Bechard, Margaret. “How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Plot.” Faculty Lecture. Vermont College of Fine Arts, Montpelier, VT. Jan 2008.

Burroway, Janet. Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narative Craft. 8th Edition. New York: Longman, 2011.

Chea, Stephenson. “What’s the Difference Between Plot and Structure.” Associated Content.  16 Feb. 2010. Web. 7 May 2011.

Fletcher, Susan. “Structure as Genesis.” Faculty Lecture. Vermont College of Fine Arts, Montpelier, VT. July 2012.

In this video I answer a question from David - a Southwest Airlines employee who has 3 days off/week and loves to draw comics during his down time. He asked me what steps he should take next to getting his work published. I thought that other artists might be in his situation and might benefit from my answers. Listen to it while you work and if you have anything to add I love hearing your thoughts.

There’s been a lot of buzz online this past week about a newly discovered Mickey Mouse short, but it’s not anyhting made by the Disney studio. It’s the resurfacing of the rare 1968 short Mickey Mouse in Vietnam produced by painter W. Lee Savage and graphic designer Milton Glaser.

The one-minute short isn’t technically accomplished, but manages to make a powerful and subversive statement through the manipulation of the famed graphic icon. Within seconds of arriving in Vietnam, Mickey Mouse—that all-American symbol of goodness and positivity—is destroyed, and along with it, the myth of American moral superiority.

(via DangerousMinds.net)

Andrea Offermann was born in Cologne, Germany, and grew up in the countryside close to the city, in an old horse stable converted to a house, surrounded by a wild garden. During a visit to the US she fell in love with Art Center College of Design and eventually moved to California to study at the school. She graduated in 2005 with a BFA in Illustration, and stayed for another year to work as an illustrator and fine artist.

At Art Center, she had the chance to take several print making classes and fell in love with the different techniques, especially the intaglio technique of drawing with needles and then etching the line into the surface. Later she took further intaglio classes at a printmaking school in Italy, and the love of line work has influenced my style very much since.

In spring 2006 Andrea moved back to Germany and is now living in Hamburg and exploring different areas of illustration such as children’s books, graphic novels and editorial work, while maintaining a close connection to fine art. Her work has appeared in numerous publications such as Society of Illustrators, American Illustration, 3×3, Illustration Now!. Her illustrations were chosen for the Bologna children’s book fair exhibition and in spring of 2013 my portfolio received the Grand Prize at the showcase of the SCBWI winter conference in New York.

Andrea’s work space. Here is Andrea and her process:

Inspiration:

In this case the inspiration for the art was more literal than usual. I had seen a beautiful exhibition with art work by Dürer and fell in love with his wedding portraits. I wanted to do wedding portraits of a frog and a hare.

Thumbnail:

My thumbnails are always tiny and really just convey the idea of what I would like to do, with very very rough direction and composition.

Sketch:

I then scan the thumbnail in and print it out enlarged, then take it to my light box to trace the rough composition and then build the more refined sketch on top of it.

Line:

I scan the final sketch in and print it out, then use charcoal paper to transfer the drawing onto stretched watercolor paper. The charcoal line from the transfer paper is usually very dark, so I erase most of it away until I have a faint line left. Then, using copic multiliner pens or pen and ink, I draw the final image.

Painting:

When the drawing is finished I paint with watercolors on top of it. I paint in thin layers and build the color up slowly, adding texture and details bit by bit.

Final Image

How long have you been illustrating?

For about 8 years.

Did you go to school for art?

Yes, I went to Art Center College of Design.

What types of classes did you take?

I went through the regular illustration curriculum, focusing on editorial and book illustration. I was also particularly drawn to classes in printmaking techniques and took classes in intaglio both at Art Center and at Il Bisonte printmaking school in Italy.

Do you think the classes you took in college influenced your style?

Yes, I think especially the printmaking classes influenced my style, also several classes where we experimented with techniques such as glazing and rendering with different media.

Have you seen your style change since when you first started?

Yes definitely. My work was pretty much all over the place when I started, I was trying different things to see what would work best for a given assignment. Now I think a style has evolved, and I hope it will keep evolving, I keep trying new things and am hoping to be able to continue experimenting.

What is your favorite medium to use?

I love to work with pen and ink and then color with different media. Lately I have also started using paper silhouette.

Did any of the contacts you made in college help you get your first job or any contract?

Yes fellow illustrators at school brought me in contact with editors they had met with and eventually I got my first book contract in the US through one of those contacts. Also I was introduced to the gallery where I first showed my art at through illustrator friends.

The school itself had also set up some meetings with publishers and companies before graduation, and one of my first jobs also came through those meetings.

What was the first piece of art that you sold?

It was a series of intaglio prints titled “Magellan”.

Has your artwork won any awards?

Yes, most recently my portfolio won the showcase at the SCBWI winter conference in New York. My artwork was also chosen for the Bologna childrens book fair exhibit, has appeared in the books of Society of Illustrators, American Illustration, 3×3, Illustration Now!, won 1^st place of the AltPick awards, and was on the shortlist of the competition to illustrate “Life of Pi”.

What book was your first? When was that?

The first book I illustrated was a picture book for German publisher “Carlsen” entitled “Keine Angst vor Schafen”, written by Will Gmehling. The book was published in 2008.

How did the contract come about?

I had met with an editor of Carlsen publishing at the Frankfrut book fair in 2006. Many European publishers make appointments with illustrators at the Frankfurt book fair, there are even open portfolio reviews where you can stand in line and show your work. After the fair the editor contacted me to ask if I would be interested in illustrating a picture book for Carlsen.

How did you get chosen to do the cover  for the middle grade novel, The Boneshaker?

A designer I had met with had kept my postcard of “Pink Elephants” from an earlier meeting and when Clarion was looking for an artist to illustrate the cover of “The Boneshaker” she gave the card to the editor of the book.

Did you do any interior art for the book?

Yes, I did 13 black and white interior illustrations for the book.

Do you think you will branch out to doing illustrations for picture books?

Yes, definitely, I love illustrating books for all ages and actually just finished illustrating a picture book for an Austrian publisher (Nilpferd in Residenz), “Der Eisdrache (The Frost Flyer)” written by Troon Harrison, which I already mentioned earlier. This story was a great pleasure to illustrate, after illustrating several books for older children it was fun to work for this kind of book again, I hope I will always be able to maintain a balance between working on different books for different age ranges.

Do you think you will ever write and illustrate your own book?

I have been writing for a little while now and am hoping that I will be able to present my own story ideas sometime in the future.

How did you get the contract to illustrate The Midnight Zoo with Candlewick?

I was contacted by the art buying department who had seen “The Boneshaker” and my illustrations for the competition to illustrate “Life of Pi”. They thought that the sensibility of the illustrations would work well for Sonya Hartnett’s story.

How did Little, Brown, & Company find you for Ghost Knight?

I met with an art director at Little, Brown who saw my portfolio and immediately mentioned that they were looking for an illustrator for Ghost Knight. The author Cornelia Funke had specifically asked for an illustrator that could depict architecture, so I did a sample piece first to show how I would illustrate the cathedral, and both Little, Brown and the author liked the piece.

The same question for The Poisons of Caux: The Shepherd of Weeds with Knopf?

Similar story: I had met with the art director ad showed my portfolio. A year later she contacted me to inquire if I would be available to illustrate the book.

I have heard illustrators complain about how fussy publishers are with the covers of their books. Did you find doing a book cover more challenging?

Publishers definitely take great care when it comes to putting together the cover, since it’s the first thing that the audience will see, and it will be surrounded by other book covers geared towards the same audience, it needs to stand out but work for the audience at the same time. Also, many different departments have a say in what the cover should look like, so the decision making process can take longer then with interior art. It has happened to me that a cover was completely finished and then rejected by the sales department because they decided to go a completely different route, target a slightly older audience, not use illustration at all etc.

Is it harder to get published in the US when you live in Europe?

I think it’s more difficult to introduce your work to the publishers, but once the connection is established I don’t think there are great difficulties, the communication takes place mostly via email, artwork can be sent digitally or via FedEx.

What is the children’s book market like where you live?

The German speaking market is much smaller, publishers are maybe a bit more hesitant, they plan with much smaller print runs, so the advances are smaller too.

Have many languages do you speak?

German and English and tiny bits of French and Italian.

Have you ever visited the USA?

Yes, I studied in California and try to travel to the US about once a year to meet with publishers, go to conferences or show openings.

Have you published any of your illustrations in magazines?

Yes I do editorial illustration every once in a while.

Do you use Photoshop with your illustrations?

I use Photoshop for retouching or making small changes. Also, for magazine illustration and for the two “graphic novel” stories I wrote and illustrated I decided to use mostly digital coloring.

Do you own a graphic tablet?

YES! I love my graphic tablet.

Did you set up a studio in your house?

Up until now I was working from a studio in my apartment, but I will be moving into a shared work space in July.

Do you try to stick to a schedule to get your illustrations done?

Yes definitely. Especially when projects overlap I find it necessary to have a schedule I am working with. It happens often that deadlines are moved around, so it is very important for me to know how much time I will need for certain projects to be able to confirm new dates.

How many books have you published?

10 so far, in September the 11^th book, “Der Eisdrache” written by Troon Harrison, will be published.

Have you gone to any of the big conferences for Children’s Illustrators and Writers?

Yes I have attended the summer conference in LA twice and the winter conference in New York twice as well.

What are your career goals?

I would like to keep illustrating stories that are meaningful and that reach audiences all over the world and of all age levels. It would be wonderful to one day be able to write and illustrate my own books. Most of all I want to keep learning and experimenting and growing, and make art and stories that touch audiences.

What are you working on now?

As I said I just finished a picture book for an Austrian publisher. Right now I am finishing up a book cover for a YA novel for a US publisher that I am very excited about, we tried a few interesting things with this cover, I am very much looking forward to seeing it in print. Next I will be illustrating a graphic novel, I am very happy about this new challenge.

Are there any painting tips (materials,paper, etc.) you can share that work well for you? Technique tips?

Hmmm… unfortunately my technique is not very unique, as far as materials go I love using lanaquarelle hot pressed paper and copic multiliners for the line work, for watercolor I use mostly Windsor Newton.

Any words of wisdom you can share with the illustrators who are trying to develop their career?

Stay motivated and patient, keep educating yourself, stay in touch with colleagues and share information. When I started out I had a great critique group of illustrator friends, and it helped me so much to be in touch with them and get critique and motivation, help and ideas through these meetings and talks. Now I feel very lucky to be part of the SCBWI mentorship program and have the opportunity to meet and be in touch with all these fantastic illustrators. Unfortunately travelling to the US is far for me, so I can’t see everybody as much as I would like to. I can only encourage you to look for a crtique group around you and if there is one join it, its such a gift to be able to share your thoughts on your work and learn from each other.

Thank you Andrea for sharing your artwork, journey, and process. I have a lot of people write me to let me know how much they love Illustrator Saturday, exactly because of talented illustrators like you. Please let us know when you have an another book or another success story to share. I will be happy to show if off to let everyone know.

If you would like to visit Andrea, here is her website: http://www.andreaoffermann.com If you like Illustrator Saturday and Andreas work, please take a moment to leave Andrea a comment about her post. It is really appreciated.

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy

The above quote is by Natalie Goldberg from Writing Down the Bones. 

I want to step back for a second and clarify my own personal definitions of plot versus structure. As mentioned in my previous post on plot definitions there are many views of what plot it! Additionally, I fear that as I walked us through arch plot and classic design last week, I may have reinforced the misconceptions that plot and structure are same thing.

Plot and structure are not the same thing!

I did a previous series on plot (To Plot or Not to Plot) where I explored the differences between narrative, story, plot, and structure. I’ve since re-evaluated some of the things I said in those posts and the following are my current definitions:

PLOT: Plot is often defined as a “sequence of actions” (Fletcher) or “the actions of the characters” (Bechard). However, plot is also the connective tissue that links events or actions with meaning. It’s not just what happens, but the causal connections of why it happens. Janet Burroway defines plot as a “series of events deliberately arranged so as to reveal their dramatic, thematic, and emotional significance … Plot’s concern is ‘what, how, and why,’ with scenes ordered to highlight cause-and-effect.”

In simple terms, plot is a series of actions with a cause and effect relationship. In my explanation of arch plot, the hero’s journey is the plot.

Whereas…

STRUCTURE: Structure is the triangle or mountain shape in the diagram I used. Structure has two parts. The first is arrangement. For example, you tell scene one, then scene two, then scene three. Or you tell scene 3, then scene 1, then scene 27, etc. This is about order and organization. The second part is about patterns, rhythm, and energy. It’s about the movement and feeling your particular arrangement creates. The triangle (often called the Aristotelian story shape) is a visual metaphor for the escalating energy that is meant to come as a result of a classic design arrangement.

With structure we are looking at the arrangement and rhythm of the whole. Author, Susan Fletcher defines structure as “the organization, or overall design, or form of a particular literary work … [It is the] larger rhythm of the story.” Additionally, Chea says that “in examining story structure, we look for patterns, for the shape that the story as a whole possesses. Plot directs us to the story in motion, structure to the story at rest.”

In the coming posts, I’m going to list alternative plots and alternative structures. I wanted to clarify the difference between these terms so you would better understand how I’ve organized these lists. One is by the nature of the action (plot) while the other is about the organization and rhythm of the action (structure).

Works Cited:

Bechard, Margaret. “How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Plot.” Faculty Lecture. Vermont College of Fine Arts, Montpelier, VT. Jan 2008.

Burroway, Janet. Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narative Craft. 8th Edition. New York: Longman, 2011.

Chea, Stephenson. “What’s the Difference Between Plot and Structure.” Associated Content.  16 Feb. 2010. Web. 7 May 2011.

Fletcher, Susan. “Structure as Genesis.” Faculty Lecture. Vermont College of Fine Arts, Montpelier, VT. July 2012.

The above quote is by Natalie Goldberg from Writing Down the Bones. 

It was a very busy few weeks getting ready for the two trade shows. Licensing expo begins on Tuesday. Bailee Blue is going for the first time in my agents iPad. He is really excited to meet new people and hoping to find some interest. Me, I’m going to take just a few days to clean up the aftermath in my studio. I have not cleaned the studio in a while. There are many papers to toss. It will be good to lighten my load.

I’ve also been reading an ebook on creativity. It’s been inspiring. I love to be inspired! Summer is a good time to revamp life!!! All things new! I love that thought! What are YOU working on?