Steven Malk, who opened the west coast branch of Writer's House in 1998, seems to be not only a great agent, but a person who truly has a passion for illustration. I'd trust his advise simply because SCBWI has him come to the national conferences, but if I needed more reason than that I could glance through the illustrators he reps on the Writers House website and I'd be sold. (Nikki McClure! Kadir Nelson! Adam Rex! Gilbert Ford! Carson Ellis! among many other great artists)
Malk took us through a slide show of his Do's and Don'ts (with beautifully hand-drawn titles) of Building an Illustration Career. The whole list is both realistic and positive at the same time, and truly helpful and well thought out. Here are a few highlights:
DO: your homework—about other illustrators on the market, and about those illustrator greats that came before you.
DON'T: look for a shortcut (it might be a trapdoor). Malk has no magic fairy dust to sprinkle on your career! It takes hard work, and it can take a long time.
DO: attend as many SCBWI conferences as possible. It really puts you at an advantage.
DON'T: give up!
I recently had a discussion about whether or not artists are responsible for what they put into the world. I was arguing that no, artists are simply responsible for making art, be it music, literature, images, etc, and what the world does with it is out of the artists' hands. But after E.B. Lewis's session today, I've changed my opinion. A main topic of the session was our responsibility as artists to put work into the world that really benefits children, especially considering the way many schools and the whole school system is currently failing to truly engage them.
Among many gems I scribbled down during the session, here are a few quotes from Lewis:
- A kid does not care what you know, until they know that you care.
- Knowledge that doesn't come from the heart is dangerous.
- We have a great priveledge to make a mark, but you have to work to earn the right to leave a mark.
Lewis also showed us a dvd by photographer and public speaker Dewitt Jones called Everyday Creativity. If you can, try to watch it—but a warning if you want to buy it, it's expensive! Jones compares using the right lense in order to get the right photo to finding the right perspective in a situation. He talked about the need to change up our perspective to keep searching for the way to be your most creative and create your best art.
Even if Jones's photography style isn't your fave, the advice about ways in which to view the world to be your most creative makes the dvd worthwhile.
It's refreshing and a great reality check to hear E.B. Lewis talk about the importance of making art and books that give children what they deserve—to be engaged with the world, to explore, to be creative.
To begin with, Priscilla Burris gave a shout out to Kelly Light's website, ripplesketches.blogspot.com. Artists donate pieces to the site, and people can buy the art and all of the proceeds go funding for cleaning up the Gulf Coast. Dan Santat donated a piece that will be up for sale tonight, so check it out!
Priscilla mentioned that it's important for us illustrators to attend sessions for writers, too, while we're here at the conference. When she asked the group how many of us consider ourselves writer/illustrators, most of the group raised their hands.
Priscilla gave a bit of her background, which included going to fashion design school, and mentioned that one of her passions is drawing facial expressions. She handed out worksheets which prompted the group to practice drawing facial expressions on faces in different angles, different ages, and even characters showing strong expressions, shown only from the back.
David Diaz talked about his art background, and he's tried many different mediums over the years--everything from pastel, to digital, and at this point he does a lot of painting, typically on masonite.
David did a great demo to show us his current process, which went from a masonite panel with a house paint background, to a face made with charcoal, sprayed with fixative, painted with acrylic paint, covered in clear gesso, dried with a hair dryer, lined with rapidograph ink and a brush, and then back to some drawing with charcoal.
Two very different artists with great tips for the group!
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