I am a member of the Austin chapter of Society Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. It is a vibrant group, filled with lots of talented--and also very nice--writers and illustrators. It's a great resource for learning about the industry as well as a place to gain inspiration. (If you are a kid's lit writer or illustrator, do yourself a favor and get hooked up with your local chapter.)
The annual conference is one of my favorite events of my year. Editors, agents, art directors, professional writers and illustrators teach sessions, review portfolios, and hob knob with us. This year had dedicated tracks for illustrators and writers (which was awesome). One of the sessions in the illustrators' track was to choose a spread from a manuscript and draw it. Laurent Linn (), an art director from Simon and Schuster, led the session. He gave exceptional feedback and insight as he critiqued our pieces. (A shout-out to the uber-talented illustrator and great all around person,
Kelly Murphy who also taught our sessions.)
All that said, here's mine. (With some process drawings. Can you spot the differences between the pencils and the final art?)
(Click on images to see them large.)
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The final illustration |
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| Pencils, before clean up and color added |
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| A chicken head (drawing a I really liked, but ended up not using). |
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| My original composition had two scenes, one in the kitchen, one with kids waiting for the bus at 3AM. But, you know, time. |
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| Cow and kids sketches. |
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| A cow in a Hawaiian shirt. (Whatever it takes to the get the gears going.) |
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| The main character of the manuscript was a rooster. (I would have used the bottom one.) |
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| Working out cow shapes. |
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| Sketches, an owl. |
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