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| Sophie at the Gates Foundation with her artwork for the Measles and Rubella Initiative because she's so effing amazing. http://measlesrubellainitiative.org/sophie-blackall/ |
While there is nothing like hearing
Sophie Blackall speak in person — and seeing the treasure trove of images that make up her slideshows — you can get a bit of a taste of this morning's speech by reading her Caldecott acceptance speech so kindly available online at
The Horn Book.
Sophie also shares some photos of the installation of her collections she put together for Brooklyn Public Library, an installation that is as wild and fascinating as anything you'd find at the Natural Museum of History (both Sophie's installation and the American Museum of Natural History have penguins, but
Sophie's wears a top hat).
REALLY, if you're not here today to hear Sophie, the best thing you can do is go buy all of Sophie's thirty or so books, immediately.And also read her excellent blog, which tells in depth the making-of stories behind many of her books, including
Finding Winnie as well as posts about her time in places like
Rwanda or the DRC, where she was lucky enough to meet amazing kids and families.
Sophie ends with an Annie Dillard quote:
One of the things I know about writing is this: spend it all, shoot it, play it, lose it, all, right away, every time. Do not hoard what seems good for a later place in the book or for another book; give it, give it all, give it now. The impulse to save something good for a better place later is the signal to spend it now. Something more will arise for later, something better. These things fill from behind, from beneath, like well water. Similarly, the impulse to keep to yourself what you have learned is not only shameful, it is destructive. Anything you do not give freely and abundantly becomes lost to you. You open your safe and find ashes.
Canadian Treasure Jon Klassen, author/illustrator of award-winning picture books as well as the illustrator of many great chapter books, is here! He is quick to clarify he's not going to talk about how to find your style:
How you work on something isn't the same thing as your 'style':
"Style is mysterious and shouldn't be opened, at least not by you...
Don't think about it.
Take care of the machine that makes it, so you can get better at making your work..."
Don't Think About Yourself At All
Jon recommends treating the project as something outside yourself.
Some of his favorite artists subscribe to this particular work ethic:
Agnes Martin, who says "The worst thing you can think about when you're working is yourself."
David Bowie, when asked by a reporter how cool it was to be a rockstar with a crazy successful album, said it's not David Bowie who's successful, it's the character Ziggy Stardust! Jon says Bowie needed a character first to get into his work, which let him not have to ask what would "I" do, but what would Ziggy or the Thin White Duke do.
Artist/weaver Anni Albers has this quote Jon loves:
Another great idea from Jon:
Treat your brain the way Pixar treated computer technology, do your best work with the resources you have at that time.
When first starting out, Pixar had hundreds of ideas for stories, but computer animation made everything look stilted and plastic and non-human. Instead of fighting their technology, Pixar embraced the limitations by animating things that were naturally plastic-y and clunky:
Similarly, Sendak's dummy for WHERE THE WILD HORSES ARE had tons of horse drawings in it, but Maurice hated drawing horses! So his legendary editor Ursula Nordstrom asked him what he
would enjoy drawing and Maurice said he didn't know, but he liked drawing THINGS...
Jon describes how he went from being a grumpy animator who only wanted to draw rocks and chairs, to a picture book author/illustrator who enjoys creating characters outside of himself who can 'write' their own lines. Jon mentions he felt like his voice as a narrator is similar to that of a drunk P.D. Eastman, but when he thinks about the characters acting in a play—spouting their own lines, not his—he's able to take himself out of the equation and make something good.
You are not in control of almost any part of this process, Jon says, except for keeping out what you don't want in a project, chipping all that away. A book is like a child, you can shepherd it along, but it may wander off without you somewhere amazing, and that's a great thing.
Saho Fujii shares some details about the picture book making process for illustrators. Here are some highlights:
DEADLINES:
Wild fact: She has two books coming out this fall that have been in production for five and ten years! She says these are exceptions, most books take a year or two.
At Little Brown, there are two book seasons, and each have pretty standard deadlines for art.
Spring books: Sketches are due: 4/1 and final art is due 8/1
Spring books: Sketches are due: 10/1 and final art due 2/1 of following year...
These are standard schedule dates in the LB contract an illustrator receives!
I might have to lie down.
Changes to the schedule can be made, but an illustrator must tell their editor/art director production team as soon as possible if they need more time.
TRIM/PAPER/PAGES:
Trim size is chosen, as are paper types (dependent on book age range and category) and pagination lengths.
CONSISTENCY:
Saho is looking for character and setting consistency at the sketch stage to be sure those are consistent in the final art.
COLOR:
Even at the sketch stage when there may be no color, Saho is aware of potential issues, for example, when working on Jerry Pinkney’s TORTOISE AND THE HARE, Jerry had mentioned he wanted the story set in the dessert. But the art team expressed concern the pages would be monochromatic, and that the main characters would blend into the background too much. So Jerry added colorful props and accessories to the tortoise and hare, as well as colorful, extra cast members to help vary the palette more.
In a breakout session with author and illustrator, Dan Santat, illustrators did a lot of laughing. And squinting. Yes, squinting. We'll get to that later.
For illustrators seeking to perfect their style, Santat offered this advice: "Don't try to find a style. To be a better illustrator, you have to be a better designer."
Sure, easy for Santat to say, huh, but he broke it down a bit more by explaining how an illustrator's interpretation of design equals their style. "Good communication is understanding the symbology of things."
Santat also spoke about "the curse of photo reference." For many illustrators, photo reference is a crutch—and a rickety one at that, because photos can cause rigidity, which "sucks the life out of a drawing." If drawing a train, he explained, use a photo to understand it's components, and then "draw the train that is in your mind." Don't copy a photo, use it as reference.
Now, about "The Power of Squinting." Santat explained that squinting at a painting creates contrast that allows an illustrator to see the blocks of shapes that come forward or receed, something that he learned from studying the artwork of Bill Joyce. Contrast creates depth of field and seperation of forms.
It was a great session, one that covered more than style but color theroy and composition and limiting your color palette, which will "make amazing colors that harmonize with each other."
His art school training came through
Was both artistically academic. Took us back basics of art school.
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