When the Writing (or Drawing) Gets Tough: How to Plow Through the Block

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authors, editing, illustrating, illustrator tips, illustrators, writing, writing tips

You may have heard about writer’s block, or have gotten stuck mid-way through a story or a sketch. Maybe you’ve redrawn the same scene multiple times only to have to throw away the paper after you’ve erased right through it. These times can be tough, and it’s hard to pick up that pencil and keep going. But that’s what you’ve got to do.

Illustrator’s Day 2022: Welcome Laura-Susan Thomas!

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digital illustration, digital tools, illustrator tips, illustrators, Laura-Susan Thomas, SCBWI events, SCBWI members

SCBWI-L.A. Illustrator’s Day is coming around the corner and we have a wonderful presenter lined up, ready to dive deep into the craft of digital art making with you!

Please welcome Laura-Susan Thomas, a digital artist extraordinaire with experience creating art on a grand scale as a Walt Disney Imagineer where she was able to embrace her inner 10-year-old every day, working on designs for Paris, Orlando, and Tokyo theme parks. She has had her work featured in the LA Times Kids’ Reading Room and Babybug Magazine. A professor of Fine Arts at the Allan Hancock College, she is also the Gallery Director at the Ann Foxworthy Gallery and the Illustrator Coordinator for the SCBWI-CenCal region.

For Illustrator Day, Thomas will share with us different strategies for working creatively with technology. The workshop will delve into two of the main applications artists use for creating on the computer and will have a little “sandbox” time for participants to begin experimenting in the medium as well. If you haven’t signed up yet, please visit the regional events page to register.

Interview with #KTIllustrates Contest Winner: Andrea Yomtob

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Andrea Yomtob, animation, illustrator tips, illustrators, inspiration, SCBWI members

A native to Southern California, Andrea Yomtob worked for twenty years as a Computer Animator/FX Artist at Nickelodeon and Film Roman, until she found her love for writing and illustrating picture books. She has created the winning piece for our 2nd Annual #KTIllustrates Contest, announced last month.

Andrea enjoys combining mediums like watercolor and collage with her digital animation skills. Today we find out more about her passion for illustrating for kids.

Interview with Author-Illustrator LeUyen Pham

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Graphic Novels, illustrator tips, illustrators, LeUyen Pham, picture books, Shannon Hale, writing tips

Southern California author-illustrator LeUyen (pronounced Lay-Win) Pham is the 2020 Caldecott Honor winner and a NYT, Indies, and USA Today best-seller. Her successful collaborations include illustrating Julianne Moore’s Freckleface Strawberry series and Shannon Hale’s The Princess in Black chapter book series. LeUyen was also co-collaborator on Hale’s popular Real Friends middle grade graphics series. And there’s much more—over a million books in print more!

CHRISTINE VAN ZANDT: Welcome to Kite Tales! You wrote and illustrated your latest picture book, Outside, Inside (Roaring Brook Press, 2021). The book beautifully addresses how weird it was when everyone suddenly had to be inside. Even though the pandemic isn’t mentioned until the back matter, the way we felt during that time is clearly communicated. Was it harder writing this book than some of your others?

#KTChat with Anne Bollman: From Awkward to Confident — Breaking Through Barriers in Illustration

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#KTChat, 100 Day Challenge, Anne Bollman, illustrator resources, illustrator tips, illustrators

by Anne Bollman

Editor’s Note: Author and illustrator Anne Bollman will be available to chat with you on Twitter on Wednesday, September 29, 2021, from 12 pm to 1pm (PDT) for a live #KTChat.

It was 2018 and I had a dream of becoming a children’s book author and illustrator. I had almost a decade of experience illustrating for products, from greeting cards to dinnerware and even obscure things like doggy-poo bags. I had written a book about a dog (my favorite thing to illustrate), created a dummy, completed rough sketches of the entire book and illustrated a few spreads. I met an agent at a trade show, showed her my pitch and within a month I had signed with a publisher. My dream was coming true! 

Inspiration on a Budget: 5 Activities to Spark Creativity Without Breaking the Bank

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Creative Life, creativity, illustrator tips, imagination, inspiration, writing tips

By Colleen McAllister

Stuck at home, staring at the same walls, unable to figure out how get inspired without getting in debt? Here are five things you can do to feed your creativity but don’t require you to open your wallet to do it.

Virtual Visits

#KTIllustrates Deadline Extended: Let’s Stir Up The Imagination!

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contest, illustration prompt, illustrator tips, kidlit

So much has been happening in the world in the last few months that it might feel like we haven’t yet caught a break. A day of rest might seem like a luxury of the past or we might be struggling to generate ideas with the constant stream of worries swirling around in our heads.

With this in mind, we’re going to give ourselves some time to rest and extend the deadline for our #KTIllustrates contest to February 5, 2021. 

Drawing Inspiration: The World Inside

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illustrating, Illustration, illustration prompt, illustrator tips, prompt

Setting is a powerful tool. When authors describe setting, they often use sensory descriptions and figurative language to bring out the story world. But when illustrators need to translate those descriptions, what do we do? We can’t draw how something smells or feels. Or can we?

Creating Magic with Juxtaposition

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Halloween, illustrating, Illustration, illustration prompt, illustrator, illustrator tips, illustrators, inspiration, Jessica Chrysler, tips

by Jessica Chrysler

Fall brings fond memories for me. Even though I grew up in sunny Southern California, there were a few special trees in the neighborhood that would change color and drop their leaves. I’d dreamt about how endless forests of these trees would look and had read fairytales about how spirits would change the colors of the leaves. I’d wonder how they’d lived with all the other creatures in the wood, and if they would all gather into little caves, sleeping together through the long, cold winters. For a kid that never experienced the seasons, this magic seemed so real, even if just beyond my reach. But I was able to capture some of that magic when it came time for Halloween.

Four Reasons Why Cons Are Not Cons

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authors, conferences, illustrator tips, illustrators, LA Comic Con, local, networking, PAL, published, publishing, SCBWI members, writing tips

by R. S. Mellette

As we prepare for the Los Angeles Comic Con on October 11-13, I’m hearing from some PAL members, “But I don’t write science fiction…”

So?

Last year for the first time, I organized the SCBWI PAL booth at the Los Angeles Comic Con. I had no idea what to expect. The adventure started with a mass of people RUNNING through the aisles. They were not going to see a film star. They were not going to be the first to watch a new Marvel movie trailer. They were going to buy clothes – Hot Topic was having a doorbuster sale. That’s when I realized, this weekend wasn’t going to be what I expected.