Author/Illustrator & Nickelodeon Story Artist Ashlyn Anstee on Pitching an Agent & Leveling Up Your Illustrator Skills

Tags

agents, Ashlyn Anstee, authors, illustrators, picture books

 Ashlyn Anstee is a story artist at Nickelodeon on Harvey Beaks as well as the author/illustrator of Are We There, Yeti? and No, No, Gnome! (Simon & Schuster, 2015 & 2016), a comic artist, film maker, and devourer of cookies. She talks with us about finding her agent through SCBWI, how professional relationships are just like any other relationship, and how she keeps her skills sharp.

Sarah Parker-Lee: You’re an illustrator, author, and storyboard artist for animation. Which came first and how do you find time for both?!

Ashlyn Anstee: It helps that all of them are a little different, so it’s actually been fun to jump between them, thank goodness. I started out first as a reader–I was a voracious reader as a kid (and my mom’s a teacher-librarian). I didn’t really start to draw until my teens. I fell in love with animation, and it wasn’t until I graduated from college that I started to rediscover illustration and kids’ books. I find writing the hardest, so I’ve been focusing on that, lately!

SPL: For those unfamiliar, can you tell us a little about being a story artist? How does it compare to illustrating a book?

Advertisements

Marla Frazee: From Picture Book to Big Screen

Tags

Alec Baldwin, Boss Baby, Marla Frazee

The Boss Baby, a 32-page picture book written and illustrated by Marla Frazee was published in 2010 (S&S, Beach Lane). Since the book’s publication, more than 200,000 copies have been sold and, in 2016, Frazee followed up with a sequel, The Bossier Baby, introducing the Boss Baby’s infant sister. On March 31, 2017, the animated DreamWorks film was released with Alec Baldwin voicing the main character. Frazee’s book depicts the newborn as a tiny suit-wearing boss who dictates the household. Simon Spotlight released several movie tie-in editions—two board books, a junior novelization, and a leveled reader—and the original picture books have been labeled as the inspiration for the movie.

Christine Van Zandt: Has being part of SCBWI contributed to your career?

MARLA FRAZEE: I have a career because of SCBWI. I attended my first conference in the early 1980s; Jane Yolen was working the main desk and Trina Schart Hyman gave a keynote. I think there were 80 people in attendance. After that, I went to the national conference as often as I could afford to and I attended local Southern California conferences, too. I tried to introduce myself to the speakers, which was super hard because I felt so shy about doing it and I didn’t have much to say. But I forced myself. During those years I was also sending illustration samples to art directors and picture book projects to editors, so I would occasionally meet someone who I’d sent something to. A few of them recognized my name and told me they liked my work. Those exchanges truly kept me going. I met Linda Zuckerman, who at the time was an editor at HarperCollins, at a local conference, and she eventually became my first editor. And 25 years ago, after meeting at Illustrators Day, I became part of a critique group—which is still going strong.

Writers & Illustrators Day 2017: Lynn Becker, An Illustrator’s Perspective

Tags

Clelia Gore, Jon Klassen, Lisa Cron, Lynn Becker, Pam Gruber, This is Not My Hat, Writers & Illustrators Day

Author and SCBWI member Lynn Becker reports on this year’s Writers & Illustrator’s Day.

This year, the Los Angeles Writers & Illustrators Day at the Skirball Cultural Center added a strong illustrator component to the mix. Along with a double dose of illustrator challenges and paid portfolio reviews, there were two breakout sessions specifically geared toward illuminating the intersection of picture book art and text. These presentations offered a chance for writers and illustrators alike to think about picture books as intertwined parts of a medium.

Brian Won: Author/Illustrator Perspective, Writers & Illustrators Day Faculty

Tags

author, Brian Won, illustrator, illustrator tips, Illustrators Day, picture books

Author/illustrator Brian Won was one of SCBWI’s 2016 Crystal Kite Award recipients and faculty for this year’s Los Angeles Writers & Illustrators Day, where he was a judge for the illustration contests and critiqued illustrator portfolios. He wore many hats–busboy, shoe salesman, library shelver, art director, and designer before making the leap to children’s books. Brian graduated from California’s Art Center College of Design with an honorary ninth term before co-founding National Television, a design and animation company. Read on for his insights and advice to author/illustrators and thoughts on illustrating for others as well as news about his current and upcoming projects!

Eliza Wheeler: Author/Illustrator Perspective, 2017 Writers & Illustrators Day Faculty

Tags

CODY, Doll Bones, Eliza Wheeler, Jen Rofe, John Ronald's Dragons: The Story of J.R.R. Tolkien, Miss Maple's Seeds, Sendak Fellow, Tell Me A Tattoo Story, The Encyclopedia of Writing and, The Encyclopedia of Writing and Illustrating Children's Books, Wherever You Go, Writing with Pictures

Eliza Wheeler is the author and illustrator of Miss Maple’s Seeds, which debuted on the New York Times’ bestseller list. She also is the illustrator of several books, including Alison McGhee’s Tell Me A Tattoo Story, Pat Zietlow Miller’s Wherever You Go, and Holly Black’s Newbery Honor-winning Doll Bones.

Wheeler will be an illustration contest judge at SCBWI’s Writers & Illustrators Day on Feb. 25.

Erlina Vasconcellos: Congratulations on being named a 2017 Sendak Fellow! What will you work on during the retreat?

Eliza Wheeler: Thank you so much. I’ll be working solely on developing my own projects; a mixture of illustrating and writing. My second book will probably be my main focus, which is about my grandma’s childhood. But I’m also going to bring all the other littler story ideas I have on the shelf just in case inspiration strikes in a way that’s different than what I expect. I’m leaving it as open as I can.

Illustrator’s Perspective: Olivia Aserr

Tags

diversity, illustrator tips, illustrators, Olivia Aserr, picture books, writing tips

I mainly work in visual storytelling, which is a fancy way of saying I like to draw pictures that tell a story. Throughout the years, this has meant working in animation, editorial, and now, children’s books. Drawing and writing for kids is something I’ve always wanted to do, because when I was a kid, I loved stories and movies and books, but I wanted more of them to look like me (rather selfishly, I admit). This is a pretty common thread amongst a lot of creators and storytellers I meet. We become artists so we can add to the mix and enrich the narrative with our perspectives and experiences and dreams.

Interview with Booki Vivat, Author and Illustrator of Frazzled: Everyday Disasters and Impending Doom

Tags

authors, Booki Vivat, Graphic Novels, HarperCollins, illustrators, local, middle grade

Today we’re talking with SCBWI member and former Angelino, Booki Vivat. Her illustrated middle-grade novel, Frazzled: Everyday Disasters and Impending Doom (HarperCollins Children’s Books), became available on September 27, 2016.

CHRISTINE VAN ZANDT: Welcome! In this debut novel Abbie Wu, the middle child in her family, is about to enter middle school. What was your process as author-illustrator from idea to publication?

BOOKI VIVAT: Frazzled has a pretty unconventional origin story. It didn’t start with a traditional pitch or a query or a manuscript. It started with a doodle—or rather, a whole bunch of them. I kept a planner a few years ago to try and get my life in order, but it ended up becoming more of a creative outlet to channel all my feelings. Doodles literally took over the pages of my life!

Lori Nichols: Illustrator’s Perspective

Tags

illustrator tips, illustrators, Lori Nichols, picture books, tools

Lori Nichols is the author and illustrator of the award-winning picture book Maple and the Maple series. Her illustrated work can also be seen in the This Orq books by David Elliott, No, No, Kitten! by Shelley Moore Thomas, and Go Sleep In Your Own Bed by Candace Fleming (2017). In this “Illustrator’s Perspective,” Lori shares where she gets her ideas, how her process works, and ideas to keep your own ideas flowing.

 

I find my creative juices flow better when I have a fair amount of playtime. Right now, we are doing a kitchen renovation. Walls are being demolished and floors ripped up. My world has been turned upside down, so creative juices are not flowing– at least not until yesterday when I took a sharpie and started drawing on the exposed ceiling rafters and unfinished walls. That helped some.

Interview with Carl Angel, Illustrator of The Girl Who Saved Yesterday

Tags

Carl Angel, how-to, illustrator, illustrator tips, illustrators, Julius Lester, local, picture book, SCBWI members, The Girl Who Saved Yesterday

Our local Angelino and SCBWI member Carl Angel is the illustrator of the beautiful new picture book, The Girl Who Saved Yesterday. In this book, Angel takes on the daunting task of illustrating Julius Lester’s poetic lines in a book that straddles myth, magic realism, and folklore.

CHRISTINE VAN ZANDT: Welcome! Please tell us a little bit about how you illustrated trees that talk, lights that felt “as thin as a raindrop,” and stones of the ancestors which “glow a pink as gentle and soft as a first kiss.”

CARL ANGEL: The poetic nature of Julius’s words resonates on both an emotional and literal level, and in such a way where both are equally appealing as imagery. As an illustrator, I chose to address, primarily through color and composition, the aspect on which to best focus for the image. The text is rich enough that some of the words, I felt, were beyond illustrating and were best left in the reader’s imagination, which only added to the depth of the book. The way Julius connected those two dimensions so delicately with such great lyricism was so inspiring that I wanted to share that with the reader visually.

John Nez: Illustrator Perspective

Tags

agents, authors, illustrator tips, illustrators, John Nez, picture books, publishing, tools, writing tips

Prolific illustrator John Nez shares with us about the tools he uses, why life as a working illustrator really is work, how to be your own best advocate, and how to keep that “little mouse of creative happiness” alive and thriving through it all. Read on for some great insight, tips, and illustrative goodness!