Old Fashioned: Donut!

Francois, Monsieur Olivet's neighbor's son, enjoys a rare treat–
an Old Fashioned donut shipped in from the United States.
Ahhh..that crunchy glazed goodness!

~ note: yes, this is definitely a stretch..thanks for bearing with me! ~

And the random winners of the blog giveaway are...

1) Karen Whitaker
2) Nina Crittenden

3) Bella Sinclair

Wooohoo!! Thanks for swinging by and participating in the giveaway everyone. It is really a treat to hear all of your comments and to pass on words favorite pieces of advice from one another. Ladies, I'll be in touch via email.

Also, please say hello to my little vector buddy, Vincent, of "The Marshkateers™"...you'll see more of him and his friends soon...

Have a wonderful week ahead everyone!
Shirley

IllustrationFriday: Proverb - and Giveaway! (starts today, ends on 9/25)

"Love is Blind"

Every morning, as I drive my kids to school, we cross an overpass and we wish our fair city, a huge "good morning!!!". Sometimes we see the fog which has settled over on the coast (Santa Cruz area) which makes for a beautiful scene. I often say, "look at that, girls, look at the clouds, the sky, the sunrise..". We have many moments of reflection about the gifts that are all around us. This morning was especially wonderful. As I got my youngest out of the car, we stopped and heard loud honking. Not cars, but flocks (three huge flocks) of geese overhead..coming toward us and so we stopped and watched and listened. It...was...amazing! My little one loved it, too.
~
I wanted to thank all of my friends out here in blogland for your kindness through the year and a half that I've been blogging. I have grown from this experience and it has become such a joy to me. I plan to keep blogging for many years. To thank you for your kindness, I am having a "giveaway". The giveaway will be either an 8.5x11 print from my Etsy shop (smileshop.etsy.com) or 8.5x11 print of anything that you see on the blog to date. Some of the images have never been printed, so I will do my best to try to make a nice print of it. In honor of the upcoming 300th follower, I will give away 3 prints.

Here's what I'd love for you to do (in your comment):
1) let us know what the best piece of advice you've ever heard and take to heart to this day
2) be kind to someone today
3) notice something in nature that brings you peace today.

I'll use a random generator to pick the three recipients. I hope that you all feel you are winners when you scroll through the answers everyone shares.
Giveaway starts today (9/16 and ends on 9/25)

SCBWI 4th Annual Illustrator's Day at the Fort Mason, San Francisco

samples, samples, samples..it was awesome!

Warning: This is a loooooong post...so thanks for your visit and comments, I appreciate it!

It was a beautiful day in the city yesterday...time for reflection on 9/11 for me as I ventured up to San Francisco for a one day event at the Fort Mason Center. I parked at the harbor to witness a beautiful scene of the Golden Gate Bridge half visible and half in deep fog. It was a clear, blue morning and I was excited to begin the day with fellow illustrators and illustrator/writers. The events main speakers were Christy Ottaviano from Henry Holt MacMillan, and Barney Saltzberg, writer/illustrator/musician. Christy started the day by describing her imprint at HH and areas which she is most interested in. It was very informative to know that she preferred author/illustrator submissions in the following areas: illustrations geared FOR children, and not art-house picture books; milestones in a child's life; curriculum themese such as language and process books; biographies; and humor. If you click on the link above, you'll find her books. She has an impressive list of illustrators and writers. Some of the artists whom she admires: Gustaf Tenggren, Richard Scarry, J.P. Miller; Eloise Wilken, Margaret Bloy Graham, Jane Thayer, Gus Fleishman, Arnold Lobel, Bill Peet. It was a treat to view the images of favorite Golden Books she adored as a child, and it was wonderful to hear of her appreciation for the illustrators of the past. She encouraged us to all endeavor to discover artists of the past.

Barney Saltzberg was an enthusiastic speaker who (from his website) states: "my goal is to encourage everyone to find his or her own stories, songs, poetry and art!" His current book, "Beautiful Oops" celebrates mistakes and what beautiful things happen from mistakes, or accidents. If you have a chance, please visit his site to discover his books which include Animal Kisses, and Crazy Hair Day. He self-acknowledges that he does not illustrate well (he often declared how he would love to have his or her skills) but that did not stop him from telling his stories. {correction: he in fact illustrates well and has illustrated numerous picture books...please read Barney's comment below as he corrects what I unintentionally miswrote here, again my apologies to Barney.}. He showed sketches from his sketchbooks...thumbnails of ideas, and encouraged people to sketch, draw and do a lot of it. From one sketch, an emotion might present itself which could end up being a book! He described how his neighbor (real-life) would if a ball ended up on her lawn, would keep the ball. He illustrated that person as an animal and a little boy wondering what this person did with all of the balls she took. Did she make a soccer-ball witches brew? It was great to see how he developed the concepts for the illustrations, and how after many iterations, he'd come up with an image that didn't follow word-for-word what the text said, but added depth to the book.

After Christy and Barney, we discussed amongst the group (about 60 people) anything and everything about getting published; artist representatives; mailers; query letters; and showing your portfolio in New York. While we discussed, the faculty: John Clapp, Asst. Professor of Illustration at San Jose State University; Abigail Samoun, Editor of Tricycle; Dana Goldberg, Publisher for Children's Book Press; Renee Ting, Publisher for Shen's Books; Barney Saltzberg and Christy Ottaviano, viewed all of our portfolios (we were able to share our portfolios downstairs for viewing) and they each sticky-noted their "favorite" piece which we could think of as potential mailers. Great, huh?!

I met a few fellow bloggers who were super cool and friendly...it was wonderful to meet them in person!! - Tracy Bishop, Joy Steuerwald, Laura Zarrin, Sarah Ackerley, and I also met some more fellow artists whom I shall now follow through the internet: Woody Miller, Chiaki Darski, Tim Mitoma, Bethanie Murguia, Sungyeun (Sansu), Felicia Hoshino . It is wonderful to be able to connect via the net after something like this event. : ) PS: By the way, congratulations, Bethanie regarding your upcoming 1st book release!! Woot woot!

We then had a first-look panel review of illustrations that we sent in. We could choose one image and it was compiled into a Powerpoint presentation and we as the audience could not say a word about it, while the faculty gave their first impressions. Thought/criticisms, etc. ranged from severe (I would say!) to very generous. It was a relief to get somewhat positive reviews of the following. Immediate reactions were very positive but then the comments swayed to the question of "is the bunny on his tummy or back?"....so I will need to re-paint it seems, as this was an area of confusion. The panel did, however think it was a piece that "the artist has a strong "inner-voice" which comes out". I liked that! : ) Whew.

This was the "first-panel" image that was in the Powerpoint presentation

After the first panel look, we had the option for a $50 fee to have our portfolio reviewed by one of the faculty, and I was able to show my work to Renee Ting of Shen's Books. It was wonderful to get a candid review of my work, and Renee was very helpful in answering my questions about what editors typically would like to see when receiving mailers/inquiries and what she responds well to. Namely 8.5 x 11 sheets (double sided). Cool! Initially, she viewed my work as very cute. It progressed to the last piece which was of my very sad Asian girl, which she thought almost went toward "fine art" - which she thought I could work on pieces that would fit in-between my "cute" work to the fine art side. Interesting, huh?! Her comment that the work was very high on the "cute" meter and that it would be a little less marketable as a whole. She thought that it would be good to show a broader range of abilities. I must say, this gave me food for thought! What do you think, everyone?It was fascinating to hear of showing more than one "style" (I hate to use that word) in a mailer...have any of you done this? Thoughts?

This was my leave behind postcard. I was kinda happy with it though it printed a bit dark..from VistaPrint.

These are my new business cards.

I must say, feedback of this caliber (from the panel including Renee) is SO great...it makes me even more determined to venture farther into this field. I love the challenges that it brings, and the people that I've gotten to meet and get to know through the net, and now in person. It is truly a wonderful adventure and I'm loving it.

Thanks for reading this lonnnnng post! I hope you all have a great week ahead, and many thanks for your past visits...you are the best!

New note: please see the addition of faculty names above for the "first panel" look. And, please read my comments in the string below regarding Renee's review. Thanks everyone!

Illustration Friday: Dessert

Gotta love chocolate cake, right?!

Here's to dessert, everyone!

Thank you so much for your kind visits everyone, they mean a lot!

Book Plates for back-to-school! ~free!~ printable download...

Welcome September! School is in, the air is getting crisper, I'm lovin' it...this is my favorite time of the year.

~

To kick off this grand month, the fabulously talented and fun ladies over at our group blog, We Love to Illustrate...for Children!, have created a bounty of stickers, free to download for your own personal use. I know I had a blast creating these - it was a fun way for everyone to design, and illustrate their own personal pages, and so please pop on over to check it out...and, as usual, please feel join in on the creative fun! Have a wonderful September everyone!!

~download here! ~

and be sure to check out the wonderful art here, too.