Catching up with Eliza Wheeler

For those new to our blog, Eliza Wheeler is one of our contributors and was a recipient of the SCBWI Mentorship Award at the 2010 Summer Conference. We’d like to catch up with Eliza and ask her a few questions about the mentorship experience and about what she is up to these days.

Kidlit Artists: Did the feedback you receive during the mentorship critiques either change or confirm the direction of your illustration? Are there any specific examples you can share?

Eliza: The criticism and advice I received was extremely defining for me. My portfolio was separated into mostly two styles – darker, moodier work (the stuff I love), and then brighter, commercial work, drawn more simply (but less unique). My assumption was that it was going to be the commercial stuff that publishers wanted. Yet the mentorship program showed me the opposite was true. And ever since then I’ve still found that most people respond to my darker work the most. This isn’t to say that being dark is particularly in fashion, but at the heart of that work is a strong sense of emotion. It's applicable to any style, people just want to feel something when they see it.

Kidlit Artists: Have you seen a shift in your work since you were mentored?

Eliza:  Definitely. The mentors gave me the confidence to re-work my portfolio into one that included dark and light work that can be displayed together and still feel consistent. The year following the mentorship program, I brought my revised portfolio back to the SCBWI Summer conference, and it won the grand prize! It was a really affirming moment for me.

In this blog post, I share my portfolio transformation, so you can see what it looked like the year I was mentored, and the year after: Wheelerstudio.com, Portfolio Comparison

I’m still keeping a constant critical eye on my work, hoping to find ways to grow and make it better. I doubt that will ever change!

Kidlit Artists: What kinds of projects are you working on now?

Eliza: I just finished illustrations for my first picture-book story to be published with Nancy Paulsen/Penguin books in May 2013. It’s about a miniature woman who gathers orphaned seeds, cares for and teaches them about the world before sending them back out into it.

I’m also working on a very exciting project, illustrations for Holly Black’s new Middle Grade novel Doll Bones, through Simon and Schuster. This is my first Middle Grade project, and I’m finding that I’m totally loving this format.

The past 6 months have been really dominated with illustration work (an awesome thing!), but I’m bringing writing back into my daily schedule with the hopes of presenting a new picture book story to my editor, Nancy Paulsen, in the next few months.  

Kidlit Artists: Is there any type of illustration (or other work) that you’re hoping for in the near future?

Eliza:  I’d like to continue illustrating for Middle Grade stories, and I’ve got a few ideas I’m toying around with possibly in the graphic novel format.

I’m also really excited to get a side project going, a series of illustrations that’s aimed towards adults – which is all I’ll say until it’s more of a reality! I hope these illustrations could perhaps begin to build an editorial portfolio, something I’ve been interested in to supplement my children’s illustration work.

Kidlit Artists: Last, please tell us where we can find you online.

Eliza: My work and blog are both at www.wheelerstudio.com, and I'm @wheelerstudio on twitter.

Thanks!

Welcome Jessica Lanan!

Jessica Lanan was the recipient of the SCBWI Mentorship Award at the 2011 Summer Conference. The 2010 founders of Kidlit Artists would like to officially welcome Jessica to the blog, and ask her a few questions about the Mentorship experience and about what she is up to these days.

Kidlit Artists: Did the feedback you receive during the mentorship critiques either change or confirm the direction of your illustration? Are there any specific examples you can share? 

Jessica: The mentorship critique feedback guided my progress over the last year and provided me with new ideas to explore and a fresh perspective on my work. Some comments really confirmed things I had a feeling about but couldn't quite put into words. I remember David Diaz pointing out that so many of my figures were looking off into the distance or had their backs to the viewer, and he said that it was because I couldn't resolve how realistically I wanted to render their faces. I was avoiding the issue. That was totally an "aha" moment, and something I've been working to overcome this past year. On the confirming side, E.B. Lewis mostly had advice regarding actual watercolor technique. Here was this great watercolor painter giving me really helpful feedback and I thought "he's right--I can paint better than this." It was really motivating.

 

Kidlit Artists: Getting such specific and direct feedback on your work, did you find the experience enlightening? Affirming? Confusing? Conflicting? _______ (fill in the blank)? Why?

Jessica: It was a little bit of everything! There was some conflicting information, but I actually found it useful--it made me stop and really think about the direction I wanted to go in. I realized that at the end of the day I have to trust myself and choose my own path. Hearing positive feedback in addition to the constructive critique was also very helpful, since I sometimes focus too much on my weaknesses and keep myself from putting my work out there as much as I should. ("I can't send this dummy book... it's not PERFECT yet!") It was great to have these industry pros who I look up to saying "hey, you wouldn't be here if we didn't believe in you." If there are other kidlit illustrators in my town, I haven't found any of them, so having that community support and feedback meant a lot to me.

 

Kidlit Artists: Have you seen a shift in your work since you were mentored?

Jessica: I've been tackling some new challenges, particularly working on developing richer characters and emotional impact. My work tends toward the more realist side, and I've realized over the past year that if I'm going in this direction I have to really buckle down and do the work that realism requires, so for me that's meant a lot of hours working on technical stuff. I don't have any formal illustration or watercolor training so I'm going back to the books (and figure-drawing classes) to try to improve my craft from the bottom up. Basically, I'm leaving less to chance. It takes more time, but I think it's worth the extra effort.

 

Kidlit Artists: What kinds of projects are you working on now?

Jessica: I have a new dummy book that is coming to life--I'm three pages away from finishing it. It's something really close to my heart and is full of so much of my childhood experience. It's been exciting to watch it grow from this vague idea into a visual story. Now I just have to hope someone else loves it as much as I do and wants to publish it! I'm also working on expanding my portfolio in new directions, which is just incredibly fun. There's nothing so exciting as having a picture in my mind and making it come to life on paper so I can share it with everyone. 

 

Kidlit Artists: Is there any type of illustration (or other work) that you’re hoping for in the near future?

Jessica: I'd love to do another book, especially one as a writer/illustrator. Since childhood I've always thought of the crafting of children's books as one of the most impressive things a human being can do. (Step aside, Nobel Prizewinners and Olympic Medalists...) Maybe that sounds strange to some, but taking a beautiful idea and turning it into this rich visual and emotional experience and sharing it with as many young people as possible? What's better than that?

 

Kidlit Artists: Last, please tell us where we can find you online. 

Jessica: I have a blog and online portfolio at http://jessicalanan.com
You can also follow me on my sometimes-neglected Twitter feed: (@jalanan)

Thanks for joining, Jessica!

Catching up with Debbie Ridpath Ohi

For those new to our blog, Debbie Ohi is one of our contributors and was a recipient of the SCBWI Mentorship Award at the 2010 Summer Conference. We’d like to catch up with Debbie and ask her a few questions about the Mentorship experience and about what she is up to these days.

KidLitArtists: Did the feedback you receive during the mentorship critiques either change or confirm the direction of your illustration? Are there any specific examples you can share?

Debbie: Yes! I found the feedback from my mentorship critique immensely useful and illuminating. Some of the advice which had an immediate impact on my work or which I've been trying to put into practice as much as possible, including:

Advice #1: "Your business card needs a revamp."

Actually, Cecilia Yung (Art Director at Penguin) hated (yes, HATED) my biz card. She said later that she disliked my card so much that she had to go back and look at my portfolio again at end of the judging session because she wanted to remind herself about why she had picked me for the Mentorship Program.

Heh.

My biz card the Mentors hated was WAY too cluttered. So I had a graphic designer friend of mine revamp it to include a lot more white space. The writer half of my brain rebelled ("what?!? but but but you have to include more info!!") but I pushed her down.

Advice #2: "You need to show a story sequence."

The Mentors all liked the story elements implied in my single drawings, but I had no story sequences in my portfolio. They were all just one-offs, like greeting card images. So for my next portfolio showcase, I made sure to include sequences of images that told a story.

Example: Here's the robot image I had in my original portfolio:

For my revamped portfolio, I turned this into a sequence instead:

Advice #3: "Don't try to be too polished."

I should point out that this piece of advice is specific to my style of artwork. Or styles, that is. I have multiple styles, but the one that seems to attract the most attention is my very rough and sketchy style.

And I am once again grateful to my friend Beckett Gladney for helping me put together that portfolio. She chose images I would never have chosen myself -- I would have opted for what I considered my more polished pieces.

One of my Mentors (Cecilia Yung) even advised me against taking art courses or getting critiques at this point, since I might lose the "pizazz" that was so appealing in my current work.

Justin Chanda felt similarly about my work during the I'M BORED creation process. My early sketches were too tight and he encouraged me to loosen up, to recapture the spontaneous look in my portfolio drawings.

The challenge, I found, was to keep my drawing style spontaneous-looking even if I had to redraw the same image many times.

KidLitArtists: Getting such specific and direct feedback on your work, did you find the experience enlightening? Affirming? Confusing? Conflicting? _______ (fill in the blank)? Why?

Debbie: During the Mentor critique sessions, I did notice that some of the advice contradicted, but this was mainly about particular aspects of specific pieces.

Most of the overall critique comments overlapped, however, and that was advice to which I paid the most attention.

KidLitArtists: Have you seen a shift in your work since you were mentored?

Debbie: Yes, definitely. Another influencing factor: I was offered a book contract around the same time that I participated in the Mentorship critique sessions, so I was also learning a great deal from working on I'M BORED with art director Laurent Linn and editor/publisher Justin Chanda at Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers.

Other changes in my work that I haven't already mentioned above:

I've been drawing a LOT more, not just for work but also for the fun of it. I try to post a Daily Doodle on DebbieOhi.com every day as well as do more drawing just for myself.

The Illustrators' Intensives at the SCBWI Summer Conference in 2011 inspired me to do much more life sketching and experimentation with different techniques and styles.

KidLitArtists: What kinds of projects are you working on now?

Debbie: I'm writing AND illustrating a picture book for Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers! Very excited about this!!! Plus I also have a contract to illustrate another book for them; the particular project is still to be determined.

For those interested, I'm going to be blogging about the whole process in Inkygirl.

KidLitArtists: Is there anything, looking ahead, that you’re excited to be working on?

Debbie: See above. :-)

Recent work I'm excited about:

Cover of I'M BORED

Illustrating I'M BORED, a new picture book from comedian/actor/writer Michael Ian Black, coming out from Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers in Sept/2012. I'm posting about the process (with photos, sketches, interviews, comics, etc.) in my I'M BORED Scrapbook at http://debbieohi.com/boredbook .

Also, my illustrated YA short story KODAMA was included in teen fiction anthology TOMO: Friendship Through Fiction (Stonebridge Press, Mar/2012).

KidLitArtists:  Is there any type of illustration (or other work) that you’re hoping for in the near future?

Debbie: In addition to picture book illustration work, I'd love to do illustrations for chapter books and novels.

Meanwhile, I'm also working on my middle grade and young adult novels.

KidLitArtists: Last, please tell us where we can find you online.

Debbie: Jumping-off point for all my projects as well as sample art: http://DebbieOhi.com

On Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr and Facebook.

My blog for children's/YA writers and illustrators:

http://inkygirl.com

MiG Writers (middle grade and YA author group)

Pixel Shavings (children's book illustrator/writer group)

Thank you for sharing with us Debbie!

Welcome Christina Forshay!

Christina Forshay was the recipient of the SCBWI Mentorship Award at the 2011 Summer Conference. The 2010 founders of Kidlit Artists would like to officially welcome Christina to the blog, and ask her a few questions about the Mentorship experience and about what she is up to these days.

Kidlit Artists: Did the feedback you receive during the mentorship critiques either change or confirm the direction of your illustration? Are there any specific examples you can share?

Christina: The feedback I received definitely confirmed a lot of the ideas (positive and negative) that had been swirling around in my head for a while. The art that instinctively comes out of me is colorful and bold, but I had been feeling that I wanted to infuse more quiet emotion/drama into my overall portfolio. A few of the mentors touched on this issue as if they were reading my mind --this confirmed that I definitely needed to do what my gut had been telling me. I got some great suggestions from the mentors and am constantly thinking about how to infuse them into my work.  For example, E.B. Lewis suggested I look into my history to find a great story to tell. He reminded me that personal history will infuse that intangible emotional connection into the work, which should translate to the viewer. I'm definitely always keeping that idea in mind as I paint.

Kidlit Artists: Have you seen a shift in your work since you were mentored?

Christina: Lately, I've been doing a lot of educational work which is very tightly art-directed, so there's not much room for adding personal flavor.  But, in my down time, I've been sketching and doing mini paintings on my iPad which helps to keep things more free. I need to add more spontaneity into my work and painting on the iPad has been just the ticket. I'm hoping to infuse some of that spontaneity into my personal work when I have the chance.

Kidlit Artists: What kinds of projects are you working on now?

Christina: I recently finished a bunch of educational work/early readers and I just started working on a picture book about baseball for Stone Arch Books. After that, I have a few ideas for books that I would like to create dummies for. My goal is to have at least one dummy ready for this summer's big SCBWI conference.

Kidlit Artists: Is there any type of illustration (or other work) that you’re hoping for in the near future?

Christina: Of course I would love to write and illustrate my own stories. I'd also love to do some black and white work, perhaps for chapter book interiors. For some reason black and white illustration has really intrigued me lately. Album covers is something from left field that's been nagging at me recently too. And of course, can't forget my childhood dream of working for Disney! Hey, gotta put that out in the universe, right???

Kidlit Artists: Yes!!!

  
Kidlit Artists: Please tell us where we can find you online.

You can find my website and blog at www.christinaforshay.com. I'm also on twitter (@chrstinaforshay) and Facebook. See you there!

Thanks for joining us Christina!

Welcome Erin O'Shea!

Erin O'Shea was a recipient of the SCBWI Mentorship Award at the 2009 Summer Conference. The 2010 founders of Kidlit Artists would like to officially welcome Erin to the blog, and ask her a few questions about the Mentorship experience and about what she is up to these days.

Kidlit Artists: Did the feedback you receive during the mentorship critiques either change or confirm the direction of your illustration? Are there any specific examples you can share?

Erin: I was very honored to be selected for the mentorship award and thrilled to hear the feedback that the mentors had for my work. The most influential feedback that I received was that I was using similar perspectives and limited expression in most of my imagery. Often times as illustrators we think we know what our areas of weakness are and sometimes critiques confirm that, but then it’s great to get critiques that surprise you! I knew the full body of my work but I wasn’t REALLY aware that it wasn’t being reflected in my portfolio.  I hadn’t realized that the work I was most proud of was all in a similar perspective!  So I really focused on creating imagery that I was proud of, that had a range of perspectives and expressions. 

Kidlit Artists: Have you seen a shift in your work since you were mentored?

Erin: Yes, I’ve become much more aware of what is needed in my portfolio to reflect my abilities. That doesn’t mean I’ve necessarily been able to DO it!  It’s fascinating how I know consciously what needs to be done, yet there’s the intuitive/creative part me that wants to have a say as well!  But that’s what I love about the challenge of illustration!  The only solution is to keep drawing!

Kidlit Artists:  What kinds of projects are you working on now? 

Erin: I’m working on multiple personal projects that I’m writing and illustrating.  One is a heavily illustrated YA memoir/novel and the other is a picture book.  I’m working on a picture book for a small publishing company and submitted a cover for a YA novel.

Kidlit Artists:  Is there anything, looking ahead, that you’re excited to be working on?  

Erin: I really enjoy doing book covers and hope to do more in the future.  I also am very interested in the emerging ebook and app markets so I’m working digitally on a few projects to see how my work translates.   

Kidlit Artists: Is there any type of illustration (or other work) that you’re hoping for in the near future? 

Erin: I’m looking into the scrapbooking market for extra illustration work and am open to doing more educational work as well.  My main goal is to get an agent and have some representation out there beyond my marketing efforts.  I also teach part time and have applied for full time positions at local colleges and hope to be having steady income through that as well!

Kidlit Artists: Last, please tell us where we can find you online.  

Erin:  www.erinoshea.com

Thanks for joining Erin!

Catching up with Kimberly Gee

For those new to our blog, Kimberly Gee is one of our contributors and was a recipient of the SCBWI Mentorship award at the 2010 Summer Conference. We’d like to catch up with Kimberly and ask her a few questions about the mentorship experience and about what she is up to these days.

Kidlit Artists: Did the feedback you receive during the mentorship critiques either change or confirm the direction of your illustration?
Kimberly: Both. The mentors commented on my unique look/style which helped me stand out. They like my humor and color sense and ability to relate to children. Some critiques were discussions on technique ... how to translate the looseness of my sketches to my final drawings, without losing the style that makes me... me.



Kidlit Artists: Getting such specific and direct feedback on your work, did you find the experience enlightening? Affirming? Confusing? Conflicting? _______ (fill in the blank)? Why?
Kimberly: Again, it was both. Of course, to be chosen was affirming (I was totally unprepared for that). But it was difficult to sort out "how to improve" from a "need to change". I think I have it though. I'm just working the way I always have but with their comments in mind, and I have seen a difference for the better in my work.



Kidlit Artists: What kinds of projects are you working on now?
Kimberly: I've recently submitted my new dummy book, Mad, Mad Bear to Diane Muldrow at Golden Books. While I'm waiting to hear from her, I'm working on polishing up my portfolio, and inviting new ideas into my brain.

Kidlit Artists: Is there anything, looking ahead, that you’re excited to be working on?
Kimberly: Last year, I was inspired by David Small's demonstration at the summer conference (SCBWI Summmer Conference, Illustrators Intensive) and took a life drawing class at Art Center. I LOVED IT! It reminded me of how much I love to draw. I'm looking forward to a plein-air watercolor class in the future. I don't know how all this will translate to my digital work, but I know I'm a better person for it. I come at my work refreshed, excited.



Kidlit Artists:  Please tell us where we can find you online. 

Kimberly: I'm at kimberlygee.com
Thanks Kimberly!

Illustrating I'M BORED: A Scrapbook Blog About The Process

As some of you already know, I recently finished illustrating I'M BORED, a new picture book written by Michael Ian Black and coming out from Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers in Sept/2012.

I've launched an I'M BORED Scrapbook blog about the process...not just about illustrating but also about the writing, publishing and marketing process. I've been interviewing Michael Ian Black (author), Justin Chanda (editor) and Laurent Linn (art director) and have already posted some of their comments.

I'll be including sketches (including early character sketches I sent to Justin and his comments) and comics about the I'M BORED process as well as photos from my visits to Simon & Schuster in NYC and Canada.

If you're interested in finding out more about the nuts-and-bolts of illustrating a picture book for Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers, do bookmark my I'M BORED Process Blog. Thanks!

-- Debbie Ridpath Ohi

    DebbieOhi.com