Long time no see!
Actually… I’ve been busy working on a new Halloween book that will be released in 2015.
But Sometimes you just have to stop and say hello to old friends.
Like Fairy Mary here. She’s one that has gone through several designs.
Hello Mary!
Where liberty dwells, there is my country. ~Benjamin Franklin
Happy 4th of July!
The Swamp Where Gator Hides written by Marianne Berkes and illustrated by me, Roberta Baird is now an app!! Click here to download it at 20% off! Dawn Publications Book App
Preview it now!
Saturday, April 27 I attended the Houston SCBWI annual conference.
I started out early
. Houston is a pretty big city and it takes a while to get across town.
Our keynote speaker was Gary D. Schmidt, the author of the Newberry Award winning book, The Wednesday Wars, and many other wonderful books. His talk was brilliant and his depth of feeling was so inspiring. “Our stories are complicated ones…they are never one dimensional.” His bio reads, ” He lives with his family on a 150-year-old farm in Alto, Michigan, where he splits wood, plants gardens, writes, and feeds the wild cats that drop by.” I know… pretty cool all around guy, right!
Next….”Qualities of a writer: humility, good humor, grace, patience and gratitude” says Stephen Fraser, literary agent with the Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency. That’s good advice you can apply to all aspects of life!
He’s been voted the top agent for both picture books and Middle grade fiction. …and he rocked an awesome bow tie!
Other speakers included Kendra Levin, Senior Editor at Viking Books, “Don’t save anything for the next book, you may get hit by a bus tomorrow” Lol!
Julie Ham, spoke about The Elements of Award Winning Non-fiction.
Jim Hoover, Associate Art Director at Viking books, walked us through the process of making picture books and how the direction of a book can change. Then he lead a very informative illustrator break out session about what makes a good promotional postcard. The following morning he presented a story boarding workshop.
What a fun guy, great personality, and he dances too!
These are some of the postcards I picked up at the conference.
But the best part about the conference…and something I didn’t see coming at all … I was the 2014 Grand Prize winner of the illustrator showcase!! So thank you Jim Hoover, I’m so grateful! And thank you to the SCBWI conference staff, it was one of the best!
Who’s ready to paint the town red?
See you there!
Process: Sketch, ink, digital paint
For in the true nature of things, if we rightly consider, every green tree is far more glorious than if it were made of gold and silver. ~Martin Luther