How to use this Page

This past weekend I had the privilege of being on the faculty for the Mid Atlantic SCBWI Fall conference and Intensive. What a wonderful time of teaching, sharing and as always, learning.  A most creative time for all.  And boy did they treat us well!  Wonderful time.

My Friday afternoon title was DOWN AND DIRTY: The basics and beyond.  Hopefully we hit on lots of the topics artists, new and older in this industry, wonder about.  I shared words from the buyers mouths… many fortunately are very good about sharing.  Over all I’d say buyers (AD, editors, designers who assign) want PROFESSIONALS (ask questions, honest, team players, meet deadlines), consistent style, great characters, samples sent on big POST cards so they can KEEP them on walls and attach to ms as they think about ways to go with the art etc.  (some hints for all!)

Then I did a fast “first look” for all those participating artists who dared!  It’s a great tool to see and understand how a buyer might VIEW your art given the “10 second rule.” Truly, those of us who see SO much art for the industry can determine if we can use your style in generally 10 seconds.  We’ll want to see more or move on.  I tried to share some of the intuitive thoughts that go through our head when we view art…instantaneously.  I was kind, but honest.  OH course you can tell given this ‘rule’ that you need to show ONLY your very very best art, and a sample that shows a lot of what you are capable of for THIS industry’s needs.

Sat. was the more general conference and other than some portfolio reviews, I was on a AGENTS PANEL with three other reps, all more Lit Agents. (Brooks Sherman from FinePrint, John Cusick, Greenhouse Lit, and Susan Hawk from Bent Agency ) We have different hooks but look for very much the same sort of unique talent and ‘voice’… this and talking during the weekend was my learning point.  Love that.  Frances Gilbert from Doubleday/Random was a speaker and on the Editors Panel too.  Loved seeing her as we hope to be working on a two book project very soon together. (with one of our CAT artists obviously…more on that) . We might look a little fuzzy…that happens at these conferences! lol

I got to chat a bit with Annie Stone from Harlequin Teen, Emillia Zamani from Scholastic, and Melissa Miller from Katherine Tegan (HC) Books as well.  I also enjoyed the author speakers, Keynote Cynthia Lord and Mary Quattlebaum… and other talents attending.

here I am with Joan Waites, Mary and Cynthia  quite the two day adventure! Thank you Mid Atlantic…lovely time and region!!!

By husband had driven me to Sterling for this and then nicely ‘low profiled’ it so I could work and visit. He rode the bike trail both days along the Potomac River from DC to Alexandria and south to Mt. Vernon…in wind and cool temps!  On our way home we visited both George Washington’s birth place at Pope’s Creek (his mothers maiden name) and then Robert E. Lee’s family estate just down river… the Big House and Gris Mill and more.  Both are on the Potomac and so very peaceful and special to just walk around. Do visit if you are in area (Northern Neck of VA south of DC)  Enjoy some peace…..

this is one garden and view of Washington’s home…he lived there only till 3 or so, but lovely place. these barns and horses and oxen (back) were part of the extended grounds there too.

this first is the BIG HOUSE at the Lee estate…3 generations of outstanding VA family…and the Gris Mill down closer to the beach area.   ALL in all quite the weekend of adventures…both educational and teaching moments…both I love and cherish.

Very proud to launch (Oct 1 officially) from Peachtree books, and illustrated by our STACEY SCHUETT, Marching With Aunt Susan.   Wonderful story about Susan B Anthony, the fight or women’s suffrage and a young Bessie who only wants to be able to do what her brothers can do!  Girls today need to know how other women (their grandma’s and great grandmas) fought for the rights they can’t imaine not having today. 

Fred Willingham, a CAT ARTIST and the illustrator of LITTLE MAN…written by David Wooley, and Dionne Warwick (who reads the video below) … is VERY pleased to brag about the book’s LAUNCH this week from Charlesbridge.  Fred’s sensitively realistic pastel paintings are gems!  The story, based on Dave Wooley’s youth,  is motivating and full of ideas for kids to find good ways to get what they want…and how to find themselves while doing that! 

Last night I had the privilege of presenting, at a Norfolk VA library,to a group of FINE ARTISTS from the Chesapeake area,  I spoke about my business (children’s book publishing and repping illustrators to that industry) and a bit about ART in general, and the Business of art in particular.  I totally enjoyed myself and hope I gave the group some  helpful information, motivation and entertainment as well. 

What I couldn’t help notice and feel while speaking to the group was how fun it was to be speaking to FINE art again.  I am a fine artist myself.  I would have been in that field now had I not gotten so sick with asthma 25 years ago (from the oils and turp.) Today I do paint when I can and always enjoy it…watercolor mostly now.  But my days are full of illustration and illustrators…many of whom ARE fine artists of course as well.

We are SO blessed.  Art, whether painting, writing, music, dancing, acting, is a  part of the you that is YOU.  It can not help but to well up… bubble to the surface almost in spite of us sometimes.  Creativity refuses NOT to be, doesn’t it?  Being creative is a personal gift…but isn’t it wonderful how it seems to want to be shared! We need to give it out…give it away.  Sometimes thankfully for compensation, but we feel the deep drive to be brave and give it to others to enjoy – to think about.  It hit me again last night what a true gift it is to have that bubble in us!  Let’s just let it come to the surface….. as much as possible!   The world can use it……

COULD NOT  resist sharing this delightful review of MINE illustrated by our Patrice Barton for Random/Knopf…….  Do go experience the book!

Knowing, as do all little kids, that possession is nine-tenths of the law, the older child is quick to stake out the territory, grabbing up the toys one at a time and firmly identifying each of them as “Mine” to the cheerfully unimpressed baby. Possession proves transitory, however, as one emphatic gesture sends the collection flying in all directions. The toddler’s dreams of cornering the toy market are further shattered when the playful pup grabs a dropped ball on the bounce and the baby first snags a soft bunny-like item and then gleefully lobs it into the air over the toddler’s head. When the bunny lands with a splash in the dog’s dish, the delighted kids seize on a jolly new game of “drop-everything-in-the-water,” resulting in a drippy romp for kids and pooch. The dog then tries his paw at toy-guarding (with a “Woof” rather than a “Mine” and a play-bow that indicates this is all in fun). Finally, the baby puts the seal on the youngsters’ new bonding and takes a leap into the concept of possession by unsteadily wobbling on his/her own two feet towards the toddler and smacking the older child to the ground in a joyous embrace, hollering “Mine!”

That’s all appropriately toddler-level adventure, with plenty of pleasing slapstick (toddlers celebrate gravity like nobody else) and mess. Yet the story isn’t just an excuse for enjoyable chaos, it’s also smoothly and neatly crafted, with some real conceptual exploration of the perils and shades of possession: no, you can’t have it all, it’s more fun when you don’t, and people are more enjoyable than things anyway. Given that there’s virtually no text (the only word other than “Mine” is “Woof”), it’s up to the art to do the heavy lifting here, and Barton’s art not only rises to the occasion but soars beyond it. The book describes the medium as “pencil sketches created digitally,” but that’s not a description that fully evokes the nuclear intensity of the illustrations’ appeal. Smudgy pastel-like textures, soft, organically uneven patterning, and friendly sketchy lines combine in figures that suggest American cousins to Shirley Hughes’ kids. Barton has more than simple cuteness in her armory, however; she’s a dab hand at apt details, such as the way the baby laughs with feet and hands wiggling in the air and the bulging of the toddler’s diaper-covering pants, and her compositions, occasionally highlighted by dotted lines showing the path of various kid-flung and dog-carried objects, balance the ebullient chaos with space and compositional order.

While the adorable munchkins have definite adult appeal, their interactions will ring true to young audiences as well. Lapsitters will delight in following along with the proceedings without much grownup assistance, engaging in shared explanation of the kids’ actions, and flinging whatever they can get their hands on in literary celebration. –Deborah Stevenson, Editor

0 Comments on The joy of MINE! as of 1/1/1900

thanks Priscilla Burris for the memorable moment below…

And that reminded me of my day at BEA last week…Book Expo 2011 at Javits.   I was there on Tues…with my lovely, bright and enthusiastic daughter-in-law Nicole who runs TUGEAU2 agency. Her husband Jeremy is my second child and son…and one of my artists.   Always good to share these experiences… bounce thing off one another.  Makes it a bit easier to keep ones mind as the day goes on too!  Perhaps that is why it was so MEMORABLE.  (a stretch?) Like these two little kids above who are having so much creative fun… they get more out of it when they have a friend.  Maybe they are making their own little MEMORABLE book about MEMORIAL DAY. One they can hold and feel and smell and read together.         

BEA Tues started with the Children’s Book Breakfast…always a fun group and inspiring! then off we went to SEE everything and everyone.  Well, we saw a lot of wonderful new books, and I passed out many copies of a flyer with our agency BEA books on it.   We talked to many editors and sales people, and held books both of our artists groups had done this past six months …always a thrill.  We literally bumped into many people in the alleys we hadn’t anticipated seeing, and missed others we had.  ALWAYS the way as one wanders.  It seemed a happy place, full of positive book people.  It felt better maybe than two years ago when we were last there.  I’m sticking to that. 

I think what made the day and event so memorable was that these huge rooms at Javits Center were FILLED with all sorts of books and the people who make them and sell them so others can read them.  What can be better than that!?  Memorable….

TWO IN ONE!!!!

FLIP BOARD BOOKS ARE FUN….and this one illustrated by my artist Melissa Iwai, and written by Denise Dowling-Mortensen, has already proved itself to Clarion who published it, and to so many kids who LOVE cars and trucks and bikes and trains etc. etc. 

The original two picture books, Good Night Engines, and Good Morning Engines, were THE favorite of my first 4 grandsons….and one granddaughter!  The oldest (twins now 12) made me read Good Night Engines EACH AND EVERY TIME they spent the night…at least once!  Had to be the LAST goodnight book read too!  So grandson number 5 will have them both together now in a FLIP BOOK he can fall in love with EARLIER! 

Hope you and yours will enjoy them all just as much……………….and just as long……

I keep ‘noticing’ things…. reading various articles, see something new in stores, hear it on TV etc.  Thought I’d start sharing some of these ‘mullings’ as they come to MY NOTICE.  (share yours too!)And I’m happy to start with a recent article in PW (Publishers Weekly) about Picture books. (sorry I forgot to note WHICH week of PW~!)

The basic topic was triggered again by that Times article about Picture books being ‘dead’.  LOL!!  In fact it seems, PictureBooks are selling about how they were (market share) in 2005.  Several publishers were involved in this article.  Middle sized publishers Charlesbridge and Candlewick both agree that the market ‘is far from bleak!”  Large publisher Random’s Chip Gibson says PictureBook market has GROWN and remains one of their most profitable areas.  Penguin PB sales are up, but publishing fewer titles…more of a refocusing than an economic change. HarperCollins Susan Katz did admit that the ‘mid-list’ (where most of you are, 10,000 to 15,000 sold potentially) is the hardest hit.  That makes it understandable that publishers are so VERY careful still about buying new ideas for PictureBooks too.  But that truly isn’t bad! Hopefully those being published are BETTER for our kids and for our market! 

Leonard Marcus notes that when there is a BABY BOOM there is also one with PictureBooks.  A good thing, and there has been a bit of one it seems lately in spite of the ‘depression.’  He also chatted some about tendancies…like the ‘celebrity’ authors.  That seems NOT to have helped the market much, nor has the remaking of classics all that much either, though if it brings them to a new generation, I’m for it!  Also pushing old un/under published books by ‘passed brand authors,’ hasn’t worked out.  Loved his comment that there was probably a REASON they didn’t sell while the author/artist was alive!! (duh!) These are all examples perhaps of MARKETING taking over the upper hand at publishers instead of the editors and people who KNOW BOOKS. 

Getting back to the KIDS who are being pushed away from PictureBooks (Times again)… Susan Katz (HC) said that parents doing that are ‘taking the training wheels off too soon.” Parents should ask themselves “WHY?”  PictureBook concepts are quite often sophisticated and timeless…a fun education about ‘life’ needed at the appropriate time in the appropriate fun way, it would seem to me.  Libraries have always had a huge interest in PictureBooks because so many do a great job of marrying the writing with the informational helping illustrations.  (they are loving Graphic Novels for the same reason!)  In libraries, as in bookstores, PBs are harder to display well…takes more shelf space… they are large and with thin spines.  Placing them ‘out’ takes a LOT of shelf.  BUT Barnes and Noble stated that they are ordering just as many as ever, but ‘reducing inventory depth for softer sales.’   However, perhaps there isn’t such a soft market after all.  Hard cover sales are a bit down…soft up. 

Ebooks and Apps are not yet ‘cannibalizing’ PictureBooks (Sabia of Charlesbridge) but are another tool toward becoming literate in our age.  Kids need and want both.  In both they can learn to ‘fill in holes and make predictions as the story moves.’  One of the real pleasures of reading at any age.  

I hope you are a bit uplifted by some GOOD noticed news today.  Some hints though were also thrown out in this article.  There is generally LESS TEXT in books these days. ALSO we in USA are very BIG CHARACTER motivated…possible brand potential.  Editors seem to relish the author/illustrator offerings the most! Publishers seem to want BIG SALES right away…but this isn’t all that new to be honest in my ex

I just had to write my thoughts today on something I’ve been unhappily noticing more lately.  I think we are all getting a bit TOO DISCOURAGED, and letting it show.  I HOPE I haven’t…I work hard to keep the ‘beat up’ and moving.  NOT that it’s easy mind you!  Times ARE hard.  Work assignments ARE slow and few.  Trade book sales ARE down.  etc etc etc.   BUT we must NOT give up or let it stop our artists from producing some of the BEST ART OUT THERE!

I am preparing a mailing presently, one of a couple I do each year…THE MARCH MAILING.  I used to require that each artist in ‘the CAT ARTISTS’ agency have a sheet or piece in this mailing.  I haven’t required it the past few years…it’s optional.  But this year it was like pulling teeth!  and I AM surprised and disappointed enough to write artists everywhere! You need to continue to take advantage of EVERY opportunity to SHOW YOUR WORK!  You can NOT get hired if they do not SEE your work!  That will never change.  You have to get OUT there and show off.  If you are offered an opportunity to do this, grab it.  It is not enough to JUST have a website (a must) or a blog, or send out postcards, or count on an agent to do everything!  Not any more….

Granted, I send out single artist ‘sell sheets’ 8 1/2  x 11 for this… so there is expense to the artist to get the required number of sheets printed (cheap ways to do that!) and get them to me. I compile the package and pay for the envelopes, labels and stamps.  And I follow up with calls and emails to see how clients have enjoyed the mailing.  Not bad.  We also include the reprints from PictureBook and Directory of Ill. spreads and/or pages which include multiple artists.  It’s a nice informative mailing.  Some times I divide it into two mailings…more work for me, but helpful to not overwhelm the publishing clients with too much at once.  Not a problem this year probably. 

SO my message really is simple: to continue to think and move HARD…DO NOT COAST! get an oar in the water and PULL!…. get the tire on the road and PUSH! Don’t let those creative juices slow to an ebb tide.  Reflective ‘breathers’ are good … but don’t stop! Find YOUR Way Tugeau.

As an artist agent I get asked OFTEN about what styles are ‘they’ looking for…what will sell…what subject matter is ‘best’ to do in samples etc.  While I can make recommendations, and do (see ‘Articles’ on my site) , I more often will tell the would-be-repped artists to go study the books in bookstores (current) and figure out themselves what THEY ‘should’ be doing.  It’s a process that is truly individual…and personal.

This reminds me of a chance comment I made a few years ago while having lunch in NYC with two editors.  They were admiring one of my artists and I said that she seemed to create from ‘the inside out.’ As if her artistic inside self was brought into the outside world for us to enjoy!  It was this quality that made her work stand out…feel ‘real’ and comfortable and especially ‘right.’  One of the editors immediately looked excited about those words I’d used.  She hadn’t known how to express the quality she’d seen in some special artists works that appealed to her.  This ‘from the inside out’ comment of mine seemed to make so much sense to her.  We went on about other artists who intuitively went deep inside themselves to find their characters, their color palettes, their unique sense of the world and it’s stories.  Some times we will see this in sketches, or sketch books…a repeated character or series of things that just jump out at us.  Something that obviously speaks to the artist.  These are the things an artist ‘should’ be doing because they are from a place others do not have access to.

So I want to suggest to all artists in our industry (or any artists anywhere!) that you need to study books, and draw a lot from life, and think in ‘story’ with your characters and scenes.  Do samples that show character development in several scenes of the same characters.  Show interaction between characters.  Do various aged and ethnic characters.  Do adults and animals, interiors and exteriors, different perspectives of scenes. Play with color and art materials and digital as well. But more importantly you need to feel and look and create from your ‘inside out.’ Discover and own that ability to find your personal world view and your work will improve on its own.  I and buyers will see that you have the confidence and comfort of YOUR LOOK, and they too will have the confidence to remember and to hire you.