Illustrator Gallery: Ellen Jin Over, PhotoShop, & Art Directing for Animation

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animation, Ellen Jin Over, illustrator tips, illustrators, PhotoShop, SCBWI members

Ellen Jin Over is an art director, visual development artist, and illustrator. She’s also our featured artist in this quarter’s Illustrator Gallery! Her work has appeared on televisions all over the world for the last 20 years. Spirit Riding Free, now on Netflix, is her latest project. Before that, she was art director on Disney’s Tinkerbell movies for nine years.

She didn’t always know what she wanted to do with her life until her senior year in high school pushed her to figure it out. “I got lucky that my long-forgotten childhood obsession of drawing and making paper dolls suddenly came back to my mind one day and I decided to major in art. After studying illustration at Otis, I stumbled upon a job interview for a position in an animation company.” The rest is history! Her program of choice is Adobe PhotoShop, something we tend to think of for editing photos, not creating illustrations, but Ellen does beautiful things with it! She tells us more in the interview below.

Sarah Parker-Lee: How did you choose to use Photoshop over other programs?

Ellen Jin Over: Photoshop has been around for 30 years. When I was going to school in the early 90’s, that was the only computer software that was available for students at Otis School of Art and Design. It was mostly for graphic designers. It just happened that illustrators like me found it useful to create images too…Photoshop started to be used more in some animation studios for digital paintings [in the] late 90’s.

There are many painting software today such as Painter, Coral Painter, Illustrator, etc–some for professionals and some for “regular Joe” doodling. I just have not found any other software that is comparable to Photoshop. It’s fast and easy.

SPL: Do you only work digitally or do you do any hand drawing? What do you think are the benefits of each?

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Great News!

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authors, illustrators, SCBWI members

SCBWI loves celebrating our members’ successes and noteworthy news, and there are many! Read on to find out who’s got something to shout about. Digital high-fives welcome in the comments!

 

 

Snowed by Maria Alexander has been nominated for the 2017 Anthony Award for Best Children’s YA Novel. The World Mystery Convention, aka Bouchercon, has bestowed Anthony Awards on iconic mystery writers since 1980. Snowed also recently won the 2016 Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a Young Adult Novel. The book was published November 2, 2016 by Raw Dog Screaming Press. (Snowed.jpg, used previously)

Toot Your Horn!

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authors, illustrators, published, publishing, SCBWI members

SCBWI members’ publishing news is something to celebrate here at Kite Tales. Check out whose book is coming to a platform near you! Leave a digital high-five in the comments!

Sleepy Toes, by Kelli McNeil, illustrated by Cori Doerrfeld, Scholastic, ages 0-5, Board Book, ISBN: 978-133-803-07-23, released 3/1/17.

 

 

 

A Squirrel in Trouble, by Farida Mirza, Oxford University Press, ages 4-6, Picture Book, ISBN: 978-0-19-940485-8, released 5/1/2017.

Author & SCBWI Volunteer Marilyn Cram Donahue on Community, Publishing, & Giving Back

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Marilyn Cram Donahue, SCBWI community, SCBWI members

By Marilyn Cram Donahue, Schmooze Coordinator for the Inland Empire

Once a month, I lead a group called The Saturday Morning Schmoozers in Redlands, for the SCBWI SoCal Region. Members share their manuscripts and we offer opinions and encouragement. I also volunteer as a career advisor for Pomona College, which connects me with aspiring young writers. And I work with a community group interested in memoir writing. A highlight of volunteering for SBWI was hosting a workshop on screenwriting techniques with Michael Mahin. I love this busy schedule! Writing can be a solitary job, and these volunteer activities keep me in touch with people who love pen and paper as much as I do.

When people ask me how I started writing,

SCBWI Central Coast Regional News, Third Quarter 2017

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Alexis O'Neill, Robin LaFevers, SCBWI events, SCBWI members, Writers Day

By Ann Rousseau Smith, SCBWI CenCal News Liaison

Rediscovering Your TRUE Voice with Robin LaFevers, by Andrea Custer

Equal parts group therapy and expansion of craft, the Voice Workshop with Robin LaFevers, held on April 29, explored the concept of voice in all its forms: writer, character and story.

The main objective of the day was to help us identify our unique writer’s voice by connecting with our core selves. To accomplish this, Robin led attendees through a series of writing exercises that revealed our emotional truths.

The LitMingle Minute: West San Gabriel Valley

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pitching, SCBWI community, SCBWI events, SCBWI members

Written by Heather Banis and Ronna Mandel

Hot dogs! Peanuts!

The 2016-2017 WSGV Mingle World Series, led by Ronna Mandel and Heather Banis, is coming to a close in July with the annual, celebratory, planning picnic in the park. It may not be Dodger Stadium, but the plays we’ve seen all year have kept our fans coming back month after month. Starting in September with “The First Pitch,” minglers pitched new story ideas to one another in a workshop format. Racing ahead to “1^st Base” in October, our focus was on the creation of a big-screen-worthy team of characters. As so often happens in the world of sports, unavoidable date and venue changes kept our minglers on their toes. In November, our plotting workshop moved us collectively forward to “2^nd Base” and minglers with plotting problems were coached on ways to best remedy plot issues.

Judges Award Sue Alexander Grant, SCBWI-L.A.’s Top Writing Prize

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Andrea Custer, Debbie Friedman, Julia Edwards, SCBWI events, SCBWI members, Sue Alexander, Sue Alexander Grant

By Marcelle Greene, SCBWI-L.A. Contest Coordinator

Our anonymous judges were unanimous in their opinion that awarding this year’s Sue Alexander Grant was one tough decision. But after three rounds of whittling more than one hundred entries, there emerged this clear winner:

I do my best thinking in my underwear. Mamma always understood that about me.

 “We Rockfort women are at our best when we’re wearing the least,” she’d say. But Lord in Heaven, I don’t think she had in mind that I’d be wearing a man’s jockey shorts, standard Army issue, second-hand no less. And I’ll say it plain, as much time as men have spent getting into my drawers, I can’t quite get right with walking around in theirs.

Author Catherine Linka on Community for Introverts, Critique Tips, What Sells, & Balancing Romance with Wonder Woman

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A Girl Called Fearless, A Girl Undone, Author Tips, Catherine Linka, community, romance, SCBWI community, SCBWI events, SCBWI members, Wonder Woman, writing tips, YA

Catherine Linka, author of the A Girl Called Fearless series, joins this year’s LA SCBWI Working Writer’s Retreat faculty. She is a world traveler, former buyer for an independent book store, and was almost thrown out of boarding school for being “too verbal.” She spoke with me about her work, your work, Wonder Woman, and the kid lit community’s place in the world.

Linka first became involved in SCBWI “forever ago.” It was the first time she’d found people interested in the same kid lit things as her. Later, she added her Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA community and then the debut author community. “Everyone was so generous and warm and inclusive.” That’s why she believes it’s so important to give back. “It costs me nothing but time to help someone else out, really, so why not?”

True to that ideal, Linka is a huge supporter of SCBWI and an active SCBWI mentor and member. She knows every writer needs a supportive community. “It can take years to develop your craft, and you need people to cheer you on, point out opportunities, open doors, celebrate successes and mourn defeats. We really can’t do this alone, and it is so much more fun and satisfying to do it together.”

Linka acknowledges that writers who are often introverted, herself included, may feel overwhelmed in social situations, even when taking advantage of SCBWI’s group activities and professional development opportunities. This can also make it harder when we eventually have to do our own marketing. Her biggest advice:

The Power of Pen-Ultimate: 4 Critique Group Tips

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critique groups, critiques, illustrators, SCBWI members, writers

By Cheryl Bommarito Klein and Kara B. Wilson

Kara & Cheryl, 3rd from the left

Editor’s Note: Cheryl and Kara, who are in the same critique group, both won manuscript awards at this year’s Los Angeles Writers & Illustrators Day. I asked them to share their critique-group-secrets with us because they are definitely doing it right!

We all want the kind of support that keeps us motivated to create and improve our craft. For us, a well-organized critique group was exactly what we needed! Here are four tips we have learned over the last year that will help you to enhance or build the kind of group that fits you as illustrators/authors.

Volunteer Spotlight: Gwen Dandridge

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CenCal, Central CA, Gwen Dandridge, listserv, SCBWI members

By Gwen Dandridge

I’m the manager of the listserv in the CenCal region.

For those of you unfamiliar with a listserv, let me explain: a listserv is a program that automatically redistributes e-mail to names on a mailing list. This allows the quick flow of information to like-minded people. On an SCBWI listserv you get information about local children’s writers’/illustrators’ events, achievements, sorrows, and joys.