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This is my first post on the blog. I thought I'd share some of my experiences at the ICON5 conference held at the Roosevelt Hotel. First, it was great to meet-up with a couple of other PBAAers: Anni Matsick and Barry Gott! The photo shows me on the left, Barry in the middle and Anni on the right.

I arrived via Lucky Bus service (a bargain $15.50 trip from Boston to NYC!) just barely in time for the Graphic Novels Workshop with James Sturm. He does more cartoony work than what I would envision doing but it was interesting to hear his process: (1) Loose sketching (2) Tighter sketches (3) Google search for reference images (4) Trace over images from search (5) Ink (rapidiograph) (6) Scan (threshold adjustments in PS) (7) Colorize in PS (8) Put individual cells in page grid (9) More illustrative style for end papers. He doesn't have to worry about the number of pages when telling his story but there is so much more art to make in order to tell the story. He handed out his "A Brief Introduction How to Draw Comics" book which he created for The Center of Cartoon Studios.

Next I took a hands-on session "Digital Coloring Workshop" with James Jean. This was so awesome. He handed each of us a CDROM which had a couple of his illustrations with all the layers and layer effects he used to create the images. He creates a very tight line art sketch which he scans on a EPson 10000 XL scanner and brings into PS. He uses the Adobe RGB 1998 color setting. On a separate layer, he creates random color fills to differentiate separate color areas using the polygon shape tool. This process he calls "Laying down flats." He duplicates the flat layer and starts building the general dark-to-light gradation for the picture. Then he tweaks the random color which was differentiated with the flat color layer. He also uses a lot of the layer effects available in PS CS3 software. Very cool technique!

Stanley Hainsworth, who has worked for Starbucks and Nike was the keynote speaker. He approaches his marketing efforts by focusing on "What Story are You Telling?". Having a story give the product power.

It was fun to hear Mitch Nash from Blue Q speech called "Dirty Girls and Cat's Butts." This group really thinks out of the box. Product include: Flat Cat, Instant Infant, Pimpin Presidents, Rinse Away Your Sins Body Wash, Dirty Girl soap products, cats butts magnet sets, mullet magnets, etc.

Mark Gallagher from Black Coffee (who started out as an illustrator) gave a "Revisioning/Rebranding Illustrators" session. He says calling yourself an illustrator gives a negative connotation. It's like you are waiting for someone to tell you what to do...instead of coming up with ideas on your own. You need to present yourself to the world as the total value package you provide.

The Moving Imagination: Concept Design in the Film and Gaming Industries was totally awesome. Works shown included Greg Spalenka, Barry Jackson, Stefon ?, Greg Scott. Things that are important: very quick turnaround, draw well, storyboards, visual development, 3d modeling, surface texture, lighting and 3d layout (camera view).

There was a lot more but it taking a while to write all this up... 'Hope this information was helpful. Here's one of my sketches from the closing lecturer, Kevin O'Callaghan who challenges his students at the NY School of Visual Arts to take things like YUGO cars and old typewriters to turn them into something else that is useful. The sketch I've attached is of the large sculptures the students created for a star carousel.

My mother, Alice Herold, served on the Non Fiction (Middle Grade/Young Adult) judging panel for the Cybils. She also reviews books for this site and The Edge of the Forest. Today, for Non Fiction Monday, I bring you her capsule reviews of four of the Cybils shortlisted titles. I'll post the other three next week.

Reviews by Alice Herold

The Periodic Table: Elements with Style
by Adrian Dingle, illustrated by Simon Basher

The Periodic Table: Elements with Style [Editorial interruption: That's one cool title!] is a completely original book about the 111 known elements. Dingle and Basher bring the elements to life, presenting them as cartoon characters and giving them a first-person voice. Radium looks like a newborn--a smiling baby boy encased in an oval shape, sound asleep. Helium is a pink balloon with a zen-like expression who says, "I am a noble gas with no color, taste, and smell. My main uses are in weather balloons and airships which need lighter than air properties." Dingle and Basher also include detailed information about each element--symbol, color, weight, density, standard state, classification, melting point, etc. The Periodic Table: Elements of Style also includes a helpful glossary and a colorful poster.


Tracking Trash: Flotsam, Jetsam, and Science of Ocean Motion
by Loree Griffin Burns

Did you know there is a floating garbage dump between Hawaii and California as big as Alaska? It lies in a convergence zone where currents come together and force the surface waters to sink. Did you know that 100,000 marine mammals in the Pacific Ocean die each year due to plastic ingestion? There is an underlying Save the Oceans theme in Tracking Trash, but Burns presents it in a way that leads the reader to think about the causes of pollution, rather than the effects. A glossary, a booklist, and a website resource list are included in the appendices. (I also learned that OSCURS--Ocean Surface Current Simulator--can tell you where and when lost cargo will wash ashore if you input a date and specific ocean location [longitude and latitude] where the cargo was lost.)

Smart-Opedia: The Amazing Book About Everything
by Eve Drobot, ed.

Smart-Opedia: The Amazing Book About Everything is my solution to increasing my Jeopardy! score. Ten writers and eighteen authors are behind this ambitious book that covers a range of information about, well, everything. The authors have included additional features as well for each topic, including "Career Opportunities," "Timelines," "Spotlight," "Kids' Questions," "Answers," and "Number Crunch" among others. One of my favorite features is "Tune-In" which offers a more in-depth look at a certain subject. This informational and fun-to-read "encyclopedia" makes a wonderful gift for a child eight years and older.

Who Was First?: Discovering the Americas
by Russell Freedman

Who Was First?: Discovering the Americas reads like a mystery. First Freedman debunks the assumption--Columbus discovered America in 1492--and then moves on to other, more compelling evidence: 1) Archaeologists in the 1970s discovered tools and the remains of ancient fire pits near Pittsburgh dating back 18, 000 years; 2) A 13, 500-year-old spearhead was found in 1933 next to a skeleton of a woolly mammoth in New Mexico; 3) Leif Erikson and crew established the first European settlement on North America around 1, 000 A.D. on the Northern tip of Newfoundland; and 4) There is a tower in Newport, Rhode Island that may date back to 1405-1433 when a mighty Chinese Armada set sail with 250 ships and perhaps 28, 000 crew members. Who Was First? is a fascinating and well-researched journey.

Up next week: Mom's reviews of Marie Curie, by Kathleen Krull, The Wall, by Peter Sis, and a longer review of the winning Non Fiction (MG/YA) title, Tasting the Sky, by Ibtisam Barakat.