Roots

As most artists (after they have moved past the finger painting age), I began making pictures with a pencil. When I began pursuing art as an adult, I found drawing, particularly in black and white, to be so very mesmerizing.

Having spent the past several years immersed in color, I have recently felt the need to find my black and white "roots" again. So, after a couple of weeks playing with papers and boards, charcoal and ink, I have rediscovered the method and materials I originally fell in love with: Cretacolor Nero pencils on a really soft creamy white Fabriano. It's such an enjoyable way to spend time - almost enough to make me think about giving up color altogether!

Inspiration

I discovered the art of Bernie Wrightson a few months ago and was immediately awestruck by his amazing illustrations (one of which is above) for the recently re-released Frankenstein. What a treat it was to have an opportunity to hear him speak for several hours today at Fullerton College. He shared many of his images, his process, and which artists have inspired him (Frank Frazetta, J.C. Cole, Charles Dana Gibson, Franklin Booth, Gustave Dore', Heinrich Kley). While his inking technique is quite remarkable, it is his preliminary approaches to a drawing I found most interesting and useful. After creating compositionally strong thumbnails of large shapes and values (and virtually no detail), he resolves all issues (including laying in most if not all of the line work in pencil) before he does the final inking. He lays in his darkest (solid black) areas first, and follows with the line work. Clearly his methodical approach works. I know I will be using it from now on.

Surprises

Making art is always full of wonderful (and sometimes not so wonderful) surprises. In my dual roles of student (in the MFA program at CSUF) and teacher (of Beginning Drawing, also at CSUF) I find that the surprises are very different.

I really, really love to look at the solutions my students come up with when given an assignment. Despite the fact that it is called a beginning class, they bring incredibly sophisticated, fresh, innovative, and exciting ideas to the page. I am always inspired and get excited all over again about the limitless possibilities and emotional connections with drawing.

And then there is my other perspective: student (me!) learning to master a new skill. This time it was to create a pop-up (my attempt above). Surprise: simple name, deceivingly complex construct. Challenging hardly describes the learning process for this project. Hats off to pros Robert Sabuda, Matthew Reinhart, and David Carter. I will continue to drool over your creations but no longer feel I have to try it myself!

Tootin' my horn

I spent the weekend in fabulous Manhattan, NY, at SCBWI's annual winter conference. Friday was the Illustrators' Intensive. It WAS pretty intensive, and very thought provoking. Leo and Diane Dillon presented as well as signed books. I was in heaven. I am a huge fan of their work and to have an opportunity to hear and meet them was quite the dream come true. Illustrator William Low's tutorial on Photoshop was very much hands on. Elise Primavera's exercise in idea generation (a group process that resulted in some pretty zany stories) was definitely an I-can-take-this-home-and-use-it pearl. Ending the day was an invaluable critique of portfolio pieces by art directors Giuseppe Castellano, Scott Piehl, and Carla Weise, moderated by Cecilia Yung.

Saturday brought inspiring presentations by author/illustrator Jarrett Krosoczka, YA author Jay Asher, and editor Richard Jackson. The breakout sessions with editors and art directors was very informative with an important lesson: each really has his/her own way of doing things. Similar questions were answered very differently.

Sunday we heard the entertaining MG author Bruce Hale (he sang!); more great take-it-home advice from agents Michael Bourret, Alyssa Henking, Edward Necarsulmer, and Michael Stearns; author Jack Gantos; and the announcement of portfolio awards. And here's the horn tootin' part: I received one of two honor awards. Yay! (The piece above is part of a dummy included in my portfolio.) Kudos to weekend buddy Leeza Hernandez on her Tomie dePaola award and congrats to David Ercolini on his grand prize win.

Overall, it was a great conference. Very different from the summer L.A. conference but in good ways. But both leave me overflowing with inspiration and motivation. So, time to go. I gotta get back to work on my children's books!

A matter of time

Today was Chemers Gallery's annual Children's Book Illustrators' Show. As always, the artwork was amazing, as were the illustrators. The books illustrated by these artists are really beautiful. But to see the original pieces is even more wonderful. The printed art always pales in comparison.

In chatting with the artists, the topic invariably turns to "how long does it take you to...." fill in the blank: do the preliminary sketch, produce the final piece, do a whole book. Illustrator Zachary Pullen shared that it takes him many months to design and finish all the pieces for a book. And then he talked about a recent editorial piece he did for a major national newspaper - he was given exactly 24 hours to get the final work into their hands. Of course, being the professional that he is, it was accomplished.

So I guess I am not the only one whose rate of production is exactly equal to the amount of time available. While I tend to work slower when given a long deadline, I know I can speed things up when I have to. This piece, which I'm pretty happy with, was done in about an hour.

Today's inspired resolution: work fast!

Words

I have been working on a couple of children's stories. It has been a very interesting process as I am usually wrapped up in pictures rather than words. Words are an entirely different animal.

While I can get a handle on the story and plot, and I begin to understand the characters (here are a couple of new ones), putting it into words requires a whole new skill set.

To a certain degree, though, I find that tapping into the emotional center of a child's world feels the same whether I'm looking for just the right word or making just the right image. It seems both sides of my brain recognize authentic when I am lucky enough to stumble across it.

Unfortunately, luck comes in small, infrequent doses. So I write and rewrite and share with critique buddies and rewrite again. I have to believe that practice will help make . . . better.

Always in style

This new piece was great fun to do. It was submitted to SCBWI's recent contest "Lab Mayhem." (Yay! It got an honorable mention!) I often get ideas for color palettes from unlikely publications. Thank you, Vogue, for inspiring a purple chimp!