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It's just about time we get this blog going again!

This weekend, I was very blessed to be able to go to an SCBWI conference. This was the first conference I have been to where they actually invited an art designer from a publishing company- Victoria Jameison from Greenwillow books. There was also a writing agent there, Ted Malawer from Firebrand Literary, and an editor, Jill Dembowski from Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.



Here are a few of my notes (things that people said- with a few of my own personal thoughts added):

Know the publishing house you are sending your work to. Know what kind of work they do. Do your research, but don't stalk the editors or art directors.

If you want to get noticed, have a good web presence- blogging, online communities, and networking. Have a good online portfolio. Editors/Art Directors look at these things.

If you want to be published, write well (or should we say draw well), don't be pushy, don't be a jerk, and be professional.

After you get revisions from an editor or art director, let it sink in for a while. Really think about it for a day or so and give yourself time to calm down. (I know from personal experience that this is very good advice).

Always remember to say "thanks" to your editor. Don't be afraid to ask questions.

Art Directors appreciate it when you do your art work on paper because it's easier and more cost effective to scan with a drum scanner.

The best ways to get noticed by an art director are one on one meetings, and sending postcards and mailers. When you send a postcard, it's important to have a website where the art director can go to find more of your work.

Illustrating a cover for a middle grade novel is a good way to get your foot in the door in the publishing world.

If you want to illustrate a picture book, send samples of work that looks like it could go into a picture book. Avoid art that looks to commercial or cartoon-networky (this varies from publisher to publisher). Subjects need to be appropriate for children's books, not for a business meeting (for example, a man in a suit). Your artwork should tell a story without words.

Things that are good for mailers include, children and animals in current settings, history or fairy tales illustrated in a funny way with a twist, and funny animals with personalities. When illustrating children and animals, showtender moments, emotions, relationships, and motion. It is also a good idea to draw things from a child's view point (draw things while kneeling down). It is also eye catching to illustrate scenes using interesting lighting and moods.

It's also a good idea to network with other artists and send postcards that show all your work together and give links to your websites.

Just so you are aware, the article entitled Calling for help from ALL ARTISTS!!, has been changed from the original post. In my panic to pass the word on about The Orphaned Works Bill as quickly as possible, I passed on a few incorrect things. Hopefully all you illustrators are doing your best to be informed and updated. If you haven't yet, please join the email list for the Illustrator Partnership by emailing [email protected], and asking to be part of the email list. You will get additional information from theses emails on how you will be able to fight against this bill.

The orphaned Works bill 2008 has now come out. Both House and Senate versions of the Orphan Works Act of 2008 can be downloaded from the IPA homepage:
http://illustratorspartnership.org. For additional background on Orphan Works, go to the IPA Orphan Works Resource Page for Artists.

I have been asked a lot of questions from other illustrators about having an Art Rep (my art rep is Janet at Story Book Arts). The first question I am usually asked is, "How did you find your agent?" Here in Part one about Art Reps, I will answer some questions about finding your art rep. Stay tuned, in part two I'll talk about working with an art rep including the advantages and disadvantages.


Finding an Art Rep

1• Research: Look at the different Agent’s websites and ads in Picture Book. You can find these agencies with the help of search engines and the book Children’s Writer’s and Illustrator’s Market (see below). Find Art Reps who represent artists with similar styles to your own.

2• Sending out your work: Send your work in packages of post cards, or flyers. Make sure and advertise your personal website. Keep sending and sending, unfortunately sometimes it takes a while, so don't give up.

3• Finding a match: You may get a few different agents who are interested in your work. Like I said, it may take a while, so be patient. Many times agents will say they like your style but they would like to see more of a certain kind of work in your portfolio (i.e. more children, etc.). If you really like the agency, it is a good idea to work up some new samples and send them as soon as you can. It may take a while to find an agent that is a match for you- finding an agent is kind of like choosing a mate. You have to both be happy with each other because you are going to work together a lot. . .for a long time if all goes well. So it is good to find someone that you can have a good professional relationship with.

Some things to look out for when looking for an agent. Never pay for services from an agent in advance. A good art agent will take a 25% cut from your paycheck. Good literary agents take 15%. People who ask you for money in advance or a larger percentage are probably trying to take advantage of you. The sad reality is that there are predators out there who will prey on the vulnerability of new illustrators who are not familiar with how the game is played. Many end up paying too much and not getting anything in return.

A good agent will probably give you some advertising options such as Picture Book, Directory of Illustration or maybe a portfolio website in which you will have a choice as to whether you want to participate or not. The agent will help in the cost of advertising, and the other artists in your group will of course help pay also. Good agents are always sending out samples and making appointments with publishers to try and get work for you.

Some thoughts on the Matter.

Style is a combination of how an artists makes a mark (with whatever medium) and how he thinks. It is comparable to it to a writer's handwriting and how he uses words. I don't think we, as artists, can create style. It is a part of who we are. We can, however, become more effective at communicating regardless of style.


In the end it doesn't matter what your style is as long as your picture says what you need to say.

Milton Glaser said: "Picasso's always been my model for the idea that style was irrelevant and you just worked what ever way you wanted to work to express an idea, what ever idea that was. When the idea changed the style could change. I always disliked that loyalty to the idea of style so very much...it is absurd to be loyal to a style. It does not deserve you loyality."

For any of you illustrators out there, like me, that hope to write and illustrate your own book, here is some good advice about writing for children from Alexandra Penfold, a children's book editor at Simon & Schuster.

1. Who is the readership, or to whom is your book going to be marketed?

2. Does the story surprise me, take me to a place I didn't expect?



3. Is the main character a character I care about?

4. Am I personally moved by the story or situation?

5. Is the theme of the story something a lot of kids will relate to?

6. Has this been done a million times before?

7. Will I want to read this manuscript over and over, and over, and over?

8. Is the voice of the character authentic and real? Does is sound like a child speaking?

9. Will the story be visually interesting for 32 pages?

10. Does the action of the story move at a good pace and keep my interest?

Shawna recently wrote a post about professionalism in our art, titled, My Art is Not a Hobby. This post will help us understand a little more about professionalism and business as an artist.

Business is about creating value. If a business is successful at creating value then it will be successful at making money. Businesses that stay in business are constantly creating value for their customers. Art is a business, so it is extremely important we know and understand this concept.


We pay money for stuff we value. For example, I value being able to see more than I value the $8.00-10.00 is cost to buy contact solution, so I repeatedly exchange my dollars for that product. But the big question is where do I spend my dollars on that product? It is the place that can give me the most value for my money, so it could be the store that is cheaper, or closer, or sent me a cupon, or has the best product. Every time we spend money the product we buy is more valuable to us then our money. Children's Book Publishers are the same way, they are going to spend money on artists over and over but where are they going to spend the money?

As an artist our goal is to create value for our customers so that they will buy from us in the first place, and come back for more. There are many areas where we can create value for our customers. If we want to make a profit in the art world then we must be competitive in these areas. (oddly enough, these areas are pretty much the same for all business)
Some of the areas are:

Product- You must be able to create great art to make it in any art industry. Can you draw? Do you have a style that says something unique? Do your pictures communicate what they need to? Your art is your product. Is it good enough to create value in the art world?

Second, Marketing- How are people going to learn about your product? Are you marketing it to the right places? If you enjoy drawing dragons, and your portfolio is full of them, do you market to Tor Books, or Readers Digest? To be successful at marketing you must market to people who will find the most value in your product.

Third, Costumer Service- All of us know what good customer service can do. I am sure we all have had many examples of good and bad customer service. As an artist customer service can include: delivering the product we say we will, meeting our deadlines, working well with our art directors and editors, and returning e-mails and phone calls.

Keep in mind that while you are in your little drawing studio you are competing against other artists all over the world in their little drawing studios. Be professional, provide the best value possible, and you can't go wrong.

If you are interested in finding out more about business, art, or the business of art here is some stuff to check out.
Rich Dad, Poor Dad- The only book to really teach you how money works. It explains clearly and easily (with visuals for us artists and non-math folks) how money works. It is easy to read, and it's amazing!

The Free Capitalist Radio Show- I have learned more about business by listening to this talk radio show than almost anywhere else. Check it out at freecapitalist.com.

Freelance Switch- A blog with great ideas for freelancers in the art industry.

Seth Godin's Blog- A blog with short and exciting thoughts about business and other random stuff.

What is SCBWI? I'll tell you. It is The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, and a pretty darn amazing organization. They are all about helping people learn more about publishing in the children's book world. Here are a couple of things I love about SCBWI.

1. Conferences: Conferences are the coolest. They have SCBWI conferences all over the place plus two huge ones every year. One in New York and on in LA. I went to the NY conf. once. It was great fun.
I have attended the annual SCBWI conference here in Utah for the last 4 years. It is coming up again in March. I am so excited. At conferences you can meet your heroes. I have personally met Richard Peck, Shannon Hale, Brett Helquist, Mark Brown, Jenifer Holm, and so many more. They always have cool stuff to say and they sign your books too. At conferences you also get to Talk to other people in your field of work, in your area. Meet editors and agents. Ask all kinds of questions about publishing, and so much more.

2. The SCBWI newsletter. It comes every other month and has all kinds of good information in it from illustrator tips, to legal advice for the publishing world.

3. Discussion boards. If you are wondering about anything related to children's book publishing, (if you can't find it on CBBFI) just ask the other discussers on the SCBWI discussion boards.

4. Other resources such as agent contact info and publisher lists and submission guidelines.

5. And one thing I find really valuable is the local chapter. In our local chapter We have a small SCBWI meeting once a month. It is a fun place to make fiends and learn about the industry. We also receive a newsletter with all the local news about events and local authors and illustrators. It's great.
So check it out!

If you are an illustrator like me, one of your ultimate goals is to write your own story to illustrate. Being trained in illustration and not children's writing, I love getting any helpful hints I can get. Here is a great one I learned from a writer at a critique group.

Start by folding a regular 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper in half.

Fold it in half again.

And again.

And one more time.

Now unfold your piece of paper. You now have 16 squares.
Number each square 1-16 as seen above.

As you probably may know, most trade picture books have 32 pages, or 16 spreads. So this will be a visual way (for us visual people) to figure out what will happen in the story. As you have probably guessed, each square represents a spread (two pages). The following guidelines are what many good children's books go by. Write these things in the boxes as follows:

In box #1 write: character and setting. This is where the characters and setting are introduced to us. This is also developed in box 2 and 3.

In box #4 write: Problem shows up. This is where we start to see our conflict.

In box #5 write: Action- characters make 2 attempts to solve problem and fail. This part of the story is developed from spread 5-11.

In box #12 write: Crisis happens and everything falls apart.

In box #13 write: Feelings and reaction to crisis.

In box #14-15 write: Third attempt to solve problem.

And then finally in box #16 write: character's reaction to success.

I have also been told that in almost all children's picture books, there is a happy ending, or at least a hope for things to go better. So keep that in mind.

Hopefully this is a good help to you visual learners out there who would like to write your own stories.

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I often find myself designing characters for my books or illustrations. Being able to create a character and draw him again and again has been a fun skill to develop. Lately I have enjoyed learning a ton about the process of character design from different sources such as DVD,s, and books. But one of my favorite places to go for inspiration and education about character design is the Character Design Blog.

It is a place where character designers are interviewed and their work is showcased. The designers featured on the site tell about their process, recent work, favorite jobs and all kinds of things.
So if you are ever in need of some character design inspiration check it out. It features awesome artists and has tons of great drawings.

When I have attended conferences in the past I have often heard questions regarding the classification of children's books, such as, "What is the difference between Middle Grade and YA?" Knowing the different classifications that the publishing industry uses can help us as illustrators as we market our stuff to find work, as we work with the publishers, and as we try to publish books that we have written and illustrated.


Here is how I commonly see children's books classified.
Preschool- Age Three and younger. These are the books we see with bright colors and pictures. They have no or very little plot development. Board books fit in this category.

Picture Books- For ages three to five. This are the books we most often imagine when we think if children's books. They are usually meant to read aloud to children that don't know how to read yet. Often, but not always, the protagonists are young children. Where the Wild Things Are is a good picture book example.

Beginning Reader- These books are aimed at about ages six to nine. They are written for children learning to read on their own, and are usually illustrated chapter books. These books have fast moving plots and fun characters. The Junie B. Jones, series is a good example of books in this category.

Middle Grade- Ages nine to 12. These books often have fun engaging plots and great characters. The biggest difference between these books and YA is the age of the protagonist. Usually the main character in middle grade novels is at or a little older than the age of the child reading the book. The Spiderwick series and The Black Cauldron are some examples of middle grade novels.

Young Adult- For ages 12 and Up. Often the only difference between these books and books for adults is the age of the protagonist. If the main character is younger than 18 (not quite old enough to be out on their own) it usually qualifies as a YA novel. Many YA novels are a lot edgier than books meant for younger children. Content such as drugs, sex, and violence, does not often play a part in deciding whether or not the book is marketed for teens or adults.

But the lines between categories are not totally precise.
I have often heard Pat Castelli the Orem City Library's children's librarian talk about how difficult it is to decide exactly where books get categorized in her library. For example she says The first couple Harry Potter books qualify as middle grade, but as Harry gets older and has different experiences they fall in the young adult classification. So she has to split them up, but where do you draw the middle grade YA line? Its a mystery.

I thought for my post today I would give some advice to some of us who haven't gotten the art supplies out for a while but wished they had.

One of the best pieces of advice I have ever read is "Do something permanent every day." As a mom, I have found that I feel down when all I do is clean, cook and taking care of the kids all day (especially during the cold winter). This is not to say that this work is not important. Your children and family should be the most important thing in your life. But house work, although necessary, is something that can be undone in just a few minutes. I believe it is also important to find time every day to do something permanent. And that is not to say you should find so many things to occupy your self that you totally ignore your kids or housework. Balance is important.

But let's get back to the topic at hand. Doing something permanent could include keeping a journal. . .but for us artsy people, why not a sketch journal (boy, I need to follow my own advice). If you are planning to start an illustration career a little later in life, and are either taking time off to spend it with your kids or to have a steady paying job for a while, it's important to not just put your art away. Find some quiet time to do some little sketch after the kids have gone to bed or on your lunch break. It doesn't need to be a masterpiece. Just anything to keep your mind going and your skills up. If you just have to watch that certain tv show, you can get the sketch book out and doodle during the comercials.

And speaking to you moms with young children and you women who plan to become moms: an illustration career is possible for you. Naptime and bedtime are the keys. At times work may go slower when things come up with the kids (sicknesses, new babies, screaming kids etc). And the illustration field is almost always a challenge to break into. But doing something you love can be very rewarding and fulfilling. So whatever you do, don't give up. Take that leap of faith, and do what you love to do. And always remember to do something permanent. Draw every day-- make time for it.

Have you see the Adobe Illustrator CS2 WOW Book ? I borrowed it from the library today, and it looks "wow" enough to invest it. A CD comes with it.