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Happy 2012! I began the new year working on a poster for Virago Theatre Company’s upcoming production, A Taste of Honey.

According to Virago Theatre: A sensation in the late fifties and early sixties with its bold racial and sexual themes, and boasting huge successes in London, Paris and on Broadway, Delaney’s script is considered a masterpiece of character driven black comedy. A Taste of Honey is directed by Virago Artistic Director Laura Lundy-Paine and performed in San Francisco’s intimate Thick House Theater.

About the artwork and design: A combination of brush pen illustration and digitally altered photographs–a stained paper bag and the face of woman on a 1950s advertisement–coupled with clean, modernistic design atop beautifully chaotic “grime.” In short: A mixed “mess.”

Got kids on your Christmas gift list who like, love or need books?

Allow me to hook you up with the 4:00 Book Hook, a fantabulous e-newsletter dedicated to children and YA literature. The latest edition features their annual holiday book gift guide and I’ve gotten the okay to post that section online :).

The holiday gift guide features author reviews and recommendations of some of their favorite children and young adult books on the market. With the wonderful variety of books for kids and teens, you’re sure to find something for your selective young reader.

For your convenience, I’ve uploaded the entire Holiday Gift Guide section of the 4:00 Book Hook–just click on the page links below:

4:00 Book Hook Page 2

4:00 Book Hook Page 3

4:00 Book Hook Page 4

BTW, my recommendations for three of my favorite recently-published picture books are on page 4.

Oh, and please don’t forget to buy your books from your local brick ‘n mortar bookstores or at independent bookstores online–not that nameless shameless one using books as loss leaders :(. This holiday season especially, let’s show support and love for true book-loving booksellers… just sayin’. :-)!

Happy gift giving and reading!

P.S. 4:00 Book Hook is a free e-newsletter for people who share books with kids: parents, home-schoolers, teachers, grandparents and librarians. Contact the 4:00 Book Hook at this email address for your free subscription: [email protected]

(The above image came from this article).

Well, it could go something like that.

Yesterday, I joined PiBoIdMo which stands for Picture Book Idea Month. The main idea is to come up with one picture book (PB) per day so that by the end of the month you have 30 PB’s that you work on the rest of the year. is the brainchild of author, Tara Lazar, who hosts the challenge on her blog. 2011 marks the third year.

It’s not too late to join. You have until November 3rd to sign up. Check out the official deets here.

When I first set out to blog, I fancied I’d be a happy, avid blogger. As an artist and writer, I love to share and exchange information. There were no how-to manuals six years ago (my early blogs were on Blogger under a different name), so I ended up “winging it” and posting topics on a whim when I launched Just Sketch. A lack of structure made blogging my lowest priorty and “life,” work, you-name-it, took precedence. I procrastinated and failed on “promises” as a blogger. Feeling embarrassed and annoyed with myself, I was not happy about blogging, nor was I avid blogger, after all.

Regardless of how busy I was, I didn’t want to stop blogging. According to a 2009 State of the Blogosphere report by Technorati, “70% of all respondents say that personal satisfaction is a way they measure the success of their blog.” I now realize that I like blogging for a whole host of reasons and personal satisfaction ranks high on my list.

Rather than give up, I decided to get serious. I attended a SoCal SCBWI “Cyber Promo Workshop” in Santa Barbara to learn from a powerhouse collective of  kid lit and online promo experts– Alexis O’Neill, Greg Pincus, Lisa Yee, Anastasia Suen and others. It was a wonderful event hosted and attended by kid lit authors and illustrators in Southern CA. (I think I was the only northerner there.) I learned so much! (And yes, I’ll post something about it in the future…!) I was enthusiastic about blogging again. (more…)

It’s been a while, folks. In February, I traveled abroad on family business and since returning I’ve been occupied with playing catch up. Life is gradually returning to “normal.” For starters, I am involved in a fun spring event—the annual childrens book illustrator show at MOCHA (Museum of Childrean’s Art) in Oakland, Once Upon A Time. Come to the Artist Reception tomorrow, March 27, 2010, 2-4 pm. For location and more info, visit the museum online.

The following image is a pencil draft of a page in my picture book, Can You Catch A Coqui Frog? written by Vera Arita and illustrated by yours truly. If you’d like to see the actual finished illustration, then do come to the show which runs until May 7.

Wilmer Murillo has updated his portfolio with some recent works that were recently displayed at his previous exhibition "El Canario y La Criatura". Take a look to his website for more info.

…we started a new year: Twenty Ten! Yay!

In honor of 20th day of the new year, here are twenty news bits and random observations. (Um, that four month gap since my last post was well worth the wait, right? ;-))

1. My geeky self is thrilled at the speed and beauty of Snow Leopard on my new Mac Mini.

2. Donated to Haiti which suffered a 7.0 quake that caused ten times more devastation than our 7.1 Loma Prieta quake.

3. Purging old stuff from my studio including books.  Making room for more.

4. Went to an amazing SCBWI Cyber Promotions retreat in Santa Barbara. (More to come~cross my heart…)

5. Started up Hula again.

6. Tackling my To Do list with some friendly help.

7. Shifting priorities with a smile.

8. Pleased that Project Runway is back in the Big Apple.

(more…)

Early August, I attended the Society of Childrens Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) Summer Conference in LA. All the fun and excitement took place at the Century Plaza Hyatt hotel. Below, and in the next few posts, I’ll share the highlights of my trip, a few observations and then some..:-)

I decided to modify a version of Botticelli’s Birth of Venus around the time I quit pursuing publishing. That was close to ten years ago. I spent several years prior with a very strong focus on picture books but that gradually gave way to frustration.

The industry was changing. While I was repped at the time, I had a hard time with the change. Externally, things looked all right. Internally, I was at odds with myself. I painted my heart out—pouring all my feelings onto canvas. I took three years off. When I returned, I was able to look at the painting with a “fresh” set of eyes.

Finding Your Path in Kid Lit

Sometimes I’m approached by people who want to write and/or illustrate children’s and YA books. I might sound like a broken record but I always utter the initials: S C B W I. It stands for the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.

One  thing I did upon returning to children’s books was join the SCBWI. It has been instrumental in helping me reach my goals. I do the work, stayed focused, yada, yada. However, the SCBWI provides a ton of resources and has helped me make important connections. I can’t speak highly enough of it.

Check out the SCBWI here.

Here’s a picture book written by Vera Arita and illustrated by yours truly. This 24-page PB features a fun romp with animals in the Hawaiian islands. It’s due for release in Fall ‘09.

My first Illustration Friday for 2009

Here’s how Illustration Friday works: Every Friday, IF members receive a word prompt to illustrate. The above brush-pen image is my interpretation of the word “Contained.”

I sketched this last Friday using a ball-point pen. Today, I re-drew it in brush-pen, scanned it and added shading in Photoshop.

Monday, 8 AM.

Yesterday, while walking along Lincoln Avenue, I came upon this worn-out wooden knob. There was no apparent use for it other than it occupying a space atop a post, between two small Victorians. Whatever fence was previously attached to it was now completely gone. Probably torn away decades ago. I find the ratty condition of the wood quite charming–its shape and linear patterns, along with all the knicks and scratches, leading my eye into a richly-textured background.

 This week I’m playing around with my fisheye cam as much as I can. Is it the holidays or is it me? I feel like gobbling up all the eye-candy around me. The images I see today will surely show up in my paintings in one form or other. Perhaps I’ll shoot and post something everyday for five straight days. Then again. Perhaps not.

I took an online quiz and found out that I’m a Nymph with some Siren and a touch of Elf. Since I know very little about them, I did a little research.

Here’s what I found:

There are nymphs of the Eastern Celestial variety as in the above image from the 1500 year-old frescoes of Sigiriya, Sri Lanka. Then there are the Western nymphs representing beauty and grace as in the image “Nymph with morning glory flowers” by Jules Joseph Lefebvre.

And, of course, there are nymphs of the animal world kind such as the Tettigoniidae which are known in American English as katydids and in British English as bush-crickets.

Now you know my mythical creature. What’s yours ?

At our house, the BareNakedLadies holiday album gets lots and lots of play. But putting one’s Christmas lights to the BNL jingle bells tune?! THAT’S pure genius! Enjoy!

I think fondly of life in Japan and Taiwan whenever I stumble across an artifact like the above. In the 7 or so months I lived and worked there, I was tickled by all the little treasures of Engrish (or Changlish, as it’s sometimes called) that I’d see on packages, t-shirts, ads and more. Cheap entertainment for a homesick gal.

“Drifting Skills” resembles the simple sentence structure of an Early Reader book but the advanced vocabulary along with awkward sentence structure is a real giveaway. I like the notion that the language is so bad, it’s really good (said with facetious tone).

Take this line, for example:

Call for help unhurriedly while the boat turns over.

(Yikes. They’re a goner.)

Notice the spelling is flawless. Someone had obviously used spell-check. But they are way off in grammar. Given the fact that English is a universal business language, I can’t blame non-English speakers for trying.

Their Engrish is way better than my Chinese (or Japanese)!

Hats off to iconic writing great, Ray Bradbury, and his generous assessment of writing:

He is also quoted as saying:

“My job is to help you fall in love.”
—Speech at Brown University, 1995

“I am the greatest lover of other writers, old or new, who ever lived. I have never been jealous of any writer, I only wanted to write and dream like them.”

I heart Ray Bradbury. His head could be as big as the state of Texas and noone would blink twice. He is, after all, a living legend. But Bradbury’s no Diva. He gets it: it’s all about the writing.

I won my first NaNoWriMo. Yipee-Yi-Yi-Yay!

The third time’s a charm, as the saying goes. In previous years, I’d reached 35k and 14k. But this go-round I wrote beyond 50k with a story I had swimming around in my head for a while. It’s a middle-grade tale and it’s far from complete. It’ll probably end at 70-80k. Then I’m onto rewriting and editing.

The above image is a composite of Norman Rockwell’s Thanksgiving dinner with a girl typing away at her laptop. That’s me (symbolically). I typed my NaNo novel like a maniac over Thanksgiving holiday: en route to Philly, Delaware, D.C. and back. (Thankfully, my family understood.)

Venturing into NaNo-land, especially this time of year, requires a steel gut and harded-headed determination. Was I made of the right stuff? Could I pull if off? Here’s what I did: After downing several helpings of turkey and all the trimmings and favorites like green bean salad, Tex-Mex salad, pumpkin pie and my mom-in-law’s special thumbprint cookies, I tickled my NaNo reflex and purged my story in all its glory, its nouns, pronouns, verbs and adjectives, spiked with typo’s, adverbs and run-on sentences into my trusty Macbook Pro. Yes, it was far from pretty. I slogged my laptop around, hunching over the shining LCD screen with a bum wrist from tennis elbow, wherever and whenever, I could. This got the job done. Whew.

So, what had I learned? I found that the same writing muscles for PB’s are the same as in noveling, with slight differences. Both require a love of language and story and an eagerness, perhaps an obsession, for taking a risk. I discovered that my inner novelist eye could be fine-tuned with a story that reached into distant memories, while my eye for picture books was bent on something more immediate, neatly wrapped with colorful ribbons.

Also, I learned that I enjoyed writing novels, as much as, PB’s and that the 50k goal was attainable with people cheering and prodding you on like family and NaNo buddies—notably, Laura, Kailani and the NaNoWriMo crew at Verla’s Blueboards.

Winning NaNo is only the beginning, so I’ll close the post with an inspirational tag that has followed me throughout the years a la my French college roommate, Eliane: Reagis bon sang! Loose translation: React. Do it now. Make today count.

I did it! I’m almost caught up on my words as I did a lot of NaNo writing today—chalking up over 6k words! Not an easy task for an AR *anal retentive* writer like me. Usually, I stop every thousand words or so and whittle down to the basic bones of the story.

Like I’ve said before… NaNo writing requires a large degree of commitment and risk-taking. You write a story dictated entirely by your muse. No questions asked. It’s like diving into a pool blindfolded with no idea of how deep it is or what lies at the bottom. Okay, maybe the blindfolds are off if you have a loose outline.

I’m very close to 20,000 words (yipee!), so I’m posting two things to help mark the occasion:

1. Just a fun pic of me (above) dressed as a RoboCat at a New Orleans Halloween event last month with halau Na Lei Hulu. I promised my costume maven friend, Sandra, that I’d post a pic so… voila! I’m posing with Lela, a character from Futurama, AKA Rose from halau. Yes, I’m like a B-movie RoboCat.

2. Here’s a paragraph from my NaNo middle-grade novel called Between Friends. Thanks to my NaNo buddy, Laura, who has posted sentences from her novel, I’m inspired to post an entire paragraph from mine. Disclaimer: This from my first draft. Just a first draft…

“I dunno. I’m just making up something,” she says. I know and I’m a bit wary about what she’s making. I inspect the floor to see if there’s anything from the kitchen. The last time Deanna made her concoctions, or whatever it is she calls them, she used real milk in some of those bottles. Then she stored them under her bed and forgot all about them. A week or so later there was a gross smell. Worse than that were these little maggots, horrible spindly white things, crawling out from under her bed. Deanna refused to sleep in her bed for weeks, long after the mess was cleaned up.

I aim to get to 30k words by mid-week. Stay tuned…!

Steady progress is easier said than done with NaNoWriMo. I started out writing every day, then I dropped down to every 2 or 3 days with wordless spurts in between. I found out that didn’t worked. I slipped further and further behind.

So, yesterday I went from 7.5k to 11k words. How was that possible? By turning off internet access and tying myself to a chair at the local Starbuck’s.

And thanks to my NaNo system of support–my Nano Buddies and fellow Nano BlueBoarders–seeing their progress inspires and motivates me.

I also heard from notable author, Katherine Paterson, who sent a goodwill email blast to those of us in NaNoland. Her message, laden with encouragement, melted away my feelings of despair:

I aim always to get to the end of the first draft even though all the time I’m telling myself that I’m writing nothing but garbage that no one on earth would ever want to read, especially me. But I tell myself that this poor little attempt, this garbage, deserves a chance.

Just as our beautiful dog Annie, who was the runt of her litter, grew into the most beautiful, loving dog anyone would want, so there may be hope, even for this pitiful mess of words I’m accumulating. So I say to myself: Don’t read back too far, don’t try to start rewriting, just get to the end.

Alas, my story is a runt. It is a middle grade novel and I call it Between Friends. I’m enjoying the process of writing it but sometimes it’s scary. I’m doing the whole thing as a rough draft and I can’t slow down to edit or even spell check. One might say it’s a homely little runt, at this point, but I’m committed to feeding and caring for it and I’ll watch that puppy grow! The half-way point of 25k is this weekend. I must speed up my typing like my story depends on it. (It does!) Wish me luck!

Feel free check out my Nano page and novel-in-progress here.

I came across this cartoon while browsing the net for updates of Obama’s historic win. I can’t remember the article or blog but in the comments section someone simply wrote: “This says it all” with a link to the cartoon. Perfect.

Loved it at first glance. Then I had an idea. So, I contacted the political cartoonist, Steve Sack, for permission to post his cartoon. He not only gave his blessings but he sent me the jpeg! (Thanks, Steve!)

Pinch me. I’ve not only posted the coolest election cartoon from the net but Senator Barack Obama will be sworn in as the 44th President of the USA! He will be the first African-American. first Hawai’i born citizen to hold the country’s highest office.

I’m still savoring Election Night. Anyone else?

I volunteered for a huge GOTV phone-banking campaign at the Convention Center/Marrott Hotel in Downtown Oakland. When they announced Obama’s victory, close to a thousand people danced, shouted, cried and hugged one another. I phoned my family and they, too, were celebrating.

Oakland Mayor, Ron Dellums, who is African-American, gave an impassioned speech saying, “As a young person, I could not have conceived of this moment… But it’s here; this is the human family. You’ve elected a man who sees the world as it is.”

The room buzzed with a rambunctious, gleeful vibe. However, everyone quieted when Obama showed up on two monster-sized TV screens. We squeezed in closer, eager to hear his words. Obama did not behave the “victor.”  Rather, he exuded a serious, mindful demeanor—an acceptance that his winning encompasses everything: the wonderful, the worrisome and the ugly—the challenges facing America today. He didn’t fail to delight, however, with news of a puppy for Malia and Sasha. (How about a cute little mutt?)

I walked out of the convention center to music blasting from a nearby restaurant. People spilled onto the sidewalks and streets, dancing and shouting in jubilation. I drove away as the honking began. It started as a faint beep in the distance and grew louder and louder, bouncing from car to car until it came to me. Of course, I joined in. We tooted car horns in a “call and response,” all the way to the Oakalnd Tube, past the cops blockading access to Jack London Square. Yes we did!

September came and went, but I’m baaack! Lots to share and pictures to post—next time!

Meanwhile, I discovered how to make a word cloud from my picture book, The Sleeping Giant: A Tale From Kaua’i. (The above image resembles a fish, doesn’t it? Thanks to the online program, Wordle, you too can create a special word cloud from your text of choice. All you have to do is copy it into an online form and the program will conjure up a unique word cloud that represents your text, based on frequency of word usage. You can edit the word cloud by typeface, color, layout, etc.

It’s easy and fun. Give it a try here!

Wonder how an old love letter or school report might look? Hm, could be interesting... but I’ll leave that up to others. If you decide to make a word cloud, I’d love to see it. Just leave a comment with a link.

Go here to create your own word cloud. Feel free to post it in a wordle gallery—like I just did! 

I did. Take a look!

Here’s the Front:

And the Back:

I made these hearts for an online contest to win an ARC (advanced reading copy) of David Macinnis Gill’s upcoming YA book, SOUL ENCHILADA. (Crossing my fingers for the ARC and mystery gift!)

If you want to join the contest, you have until July 31st.

Here are David’s instructions for entering:

———–

1. Create your own candy heart at http://www.cryptogram.com/hearts/. Your heart can say anything you’d like. You are not limited to phrases from the ARC (since you haven’t read it).

2. Copy and paste this entire post–as well as the image of your candy heart–on your blog, Facebook, MySpace, website, etc.

3. Once you’ve completed #3, email me at davidmacinnisgill AT gmail.com with the link to your post. Voila! You’re entered in the giveaway.

4. The contest will be judged by three teen readers based on the criteria of originality, design, and message. The contest closes July 31st.

5. The prize is a personalized, signed ARC and a special gift, TDB by the judges. The winner will be contacted via email. Her/his name and winning entry candy heart will be posted on my lj blog, as well as my home site DavidMacinnisGill.com

————

Fun contest… and clever promo!

June almost slipped by without mention. Yes, it’s been a crazy busy month, however… I. Must. Blog. Especially since San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival’s 30th Anniversary was so fabulous. Read all about it here…um, one month later!

Na Lei Hulu (the group I dance with) joined a stellar line-up of Bay Area dance companies on opening weekend. We performed a world premiere production co-created and choreographed by Kumu Patrick Makuakane called Maui Turning Back the Sky. Check out critical reviews of the festival here and here.

While reviews offer insight into the audience experience, backstage is where you’ll find the pulse of the festival. Witness a vibrant community of dancers standing in the wings, clustering around a monitor and watching each other perform. Every fifteen minutes or so, they’ll rise to their feet, shaking hands in the air, in the sign language gesture of applause, as performers who’ve just completed their stint onstage, glide past. The buzz of opening weekend is a palpable mixture of excitement and nerves set to music. All flavors will be heard–voice, drums, strings, foot stomping, toe-tapping and more.

Minutes before final bow we posed with members of Abinaya Dance Company, Raices De Mi Tierra and Charya Burt Cambodian Dance Company (above photo). After the show, Ong Dance Company musicians and dancers, along with other groups, drummed up some impromptu fun (photo below).

Happy spring! I have LOTS to share. Here’s some stuff (and it’s only Tuesday!):

Nowadays, I’m painting away in my studio for a picture book project. It’s a whimsical, Hawaiiana picture book written by another author. The above image is a reference photo of a black spiny sea urchin shown in the picture book. This cool looking creature lives in tide pools and coral reefs around the Hawaiian islands. Another illos project I’m working on calls for humorous line-art for a niche market book written by a doctor in NYC. More about these projects when they’re done :-)!

Spring cleaning. Whether or not you’re currently obsessing or soon-to-be obsessing with stuff from spring cleaning, watch this eye-opening film: The Story of Stuff. This animated film introduces a whole new paradigm shift on “stuff”–how we deal with it in our daily lives, locally and globally. Ever wonder where all the stuff we use comes from? Where does it go? Think you have a good idea? Watch the film. The story is told in a humorous, educational way. I highly recommend it. Check out a few teasers here and here.

While the film depicts some brute, and perhaps shocking, realities of modern living, it offers a message of hope (thankfully) by the end of the film. The Story of Stuff site suggests how we can make a difference, listing action steps, resources and organizations.

After May Day, then what? Asian Pacific Heritage Month that’s what! So…it’s only fitting that PBS is showing the award-winning film, Na Kamalei, The Men of Hula, directed by my hula sister, Lisette Marie Flannery, under her film production company, Lehua Films.

The film documents Halau Na Kamalei, under the direction of Kumu Hula, Robert Cazimero, as they practice and compete in the premiere hula competition, The Merrie Monarch. FWIW, Na Lei Hulu is hula cousins of sorts with Na Kamalei. My kumu studied hula under Kumu Robert for many years, competing and performing with the group at wide range of venues, including Merrie Monarch and Madison Square Gardens in NY.

Also check PBS for info about the filmmaker, the film and show times in your area. In the Bay Area, the film is running today, Tuesday, May 6 and Saturday, May 10 on KQED, channel 9.

Stay tuned for more stuff as the week unfolds. Thanks for visiting!

This major doodad consists of a bunch of little doodads. That’s about all I know of this so-called Victorian Strobe. I found it on a 2007 holiday gift blog. Go there and discover exactly how useless this doodad is or stay here, prop your feet up and peruse my happenings…

Group Show at MOCHA
Children’s Book Illustrators Then and Now at Museum of Children’s Art (MOCHA) will show from April 5 to May 31. View an original image from my book, THE SLEEPING GIANT, and a self-portrait I created when I was a teen.

Meet the Artists on Saturday, April 5, 2-4 PM. Come on down to Oaktown!

From the City of Oakland’s Calendar: Popular annual exhibit features the current work of children’s book illustrators alongside works created by the artists when they were children. See stories illuminated by some of today’s most innovative and exciting illustrators – and see what they were creating way back when!

Wicked Lovely Art Contest
Wicked Lovely author, Melissa Marr, held an art contest. The deadline for submissions was set for Winter Solstice when I submitted my illustration of characters, Sasha and Donia. I’m not sure of the status of winners but a selection of art from the contest can be viewed at Melissa’s site. Lots of teen talent there! Scroll down to peek at adult artwork, including mine.

I’ve Been Listed…
…by author, Kim Norman. on her new Visiting Authors by State site. Now, if you or your nearest school want an author/illustrator to visit with the students for the day (wink, wink), you can search from a list of CA authors. Thanks, Kim!

Soup’s On!
Last month, I was fortunate to be interviewed by children’s book author Jama Rattigan on her blog, Alphabet Soup. Jama asked a lot of good questions, posted a ton of pics and she even squeezed in my mom’s recipe for lumpia. Check out the fun here.