Gina's Top 5: SCBWI Workshop Presenters

For the past seven of the ten years I have attended, I have blogged a recap of the NESCBWI conference. As I was gathering notes on this year's event, I decided to browse through my old posts and thought to do a 'Top 5' list.

In no particular order:

1. Melissa Sweet, author/illustrator. Due to proximity and providence, I have seen Melissa speak and have attended a few of her small workshops. Her career is awe-inspiring, her talent abounds, and she is gifted at not only sharing her enthusiasm, but techniques for writing and illustrating: how to generate and extract ideas, words, and images, etc.

2. Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen, author. Prepare to get an education when you sit for a workshop with Sudipta. She tosses extremely useful basics and guidelines to writing picture books alongside gritty/witty personal stories. No snoozing in her classes.

3. Frank Dormer, author/illustrator. As an illustrator, we can't forget that without ideas and concepts, our pretty pictures fall flat. Frank delivered a fabulous working workshop for illustrators a few years back that stuck with me. It forced me to put a problem-solving cap on and work fast (don't all good workshops blaze by?).

4. Mark Peter Hughes, author. The first time I ventured into taking a writer workshop, I was lucky enough to land in a class with Mark Peter Hughes. He got us to write down, speak up, and think in broad, useful terms about character development.

5.Dan Yaccarino, author/illustrator. Well, certainly Dan's reputation as a rock-star of picture books precedes him. He shared so many gems about storytelling, bookmaking and the hard work involved in this business - I dare you to walk away without a big, shiny lightbulb hovering on your noggin.

What I'm Working On

Continuing on my black & white experiments, I'm putting this little image on the back of a new postcard. I can't get enough of this little girl - and I'm so excited to share her story at the upcoming NESCBWI Spring Conference.

What I'm Working On

I thought I'd share the finished illustration from my last 'What I'm Working On' post back in July. I've been a busy bee: updating my website, physical portfolio, and twitter page; mailing off a special little promotional; getting ready for the Illustrator's Symposium at NHIA this weekend.

It's always such a treat to spend time with fellow illustrator friends (in real life!) and be re-inspired to keep me moving forward. It's also a treat that I'm not putting any last minute work together AND I have new business cards to share - woot!

P.S.: I was feeling too much like that big blue guy yesterday. Today I'm channeling the orange guy, leaping over toys to get to my desk while little ones oblige.

What I'm Working On

My portfolio is currently disassembled and chaotic. Pages are getting yanked. Art is getting printed. After doing this process for many years, it gets easier to pull art out. Less is more when you know first-hand how fast pages get flipped.
I went bonkers yesterday looking for those black pages to slip in with the new art - I ordered some online, but found a decent (albeit not 'archival') substitute at Staples in their 'stationary' section for just $2.95. I'd rather use those than wait any longer to get this book ready.
I'm waiting for art to be photographed. My postcards are lined up. My website is getting a quick freshening-up. My wardrobe got a nice boost from a mad-dash shopping trip this morning.
I'm feeling a little frazzled about the NESCBWI conference next week - can you tell?
Not the least of which is due to leaving my children behind for 2 days and nights. I've never physically gone this far from them, and never left my 11 month old daughter overnight at all. They are in good hands with Daddy. But it's a lot to absorb. I wish everyone who is attending luck in getting their last minute projects assembled, homework finished, and households in order. I hope to see you there. And hope to be less frazzled once it all gets underway.

NESCBWI Conference: Jennifer E. Morris

This past weekend I attended the annual regional conference for the New England Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (aka, NESCBWI). I contribute to 3 blogs, and since I took just 3 workshops I thought I'd share one on each.

Artwork © Jennifer E. Morris

My first workshop was run by Jennifer Morris, entitled "10 Photoshop Techniques for Illustrators". I've met Jen a few times and really like her work so even though I'm a veteran photoshop user I wanted to check it out. She did a fantastic job of presenting useful information clearly. The room was a mix of pros, intermediates, and true beginners and I admired how she handled the range of questions a group like that can pose. Best of all, I picked up a few new Photoshop tricks! I love watching other artists at work too. I know I can see videos all over the internet, but I rarely check them out. Live is so much better.

I highly recommend checking out Jennifer's blog and this page on her website for links to painting demos on her blog. She is very generous to share so much of her process. You'll find both a painterly technique and her scratchboard/chunky technique.