Building Your Picture Book Community

As the saying goes, it takes a village. The same can be said when it comes to crafting the perfect picture book. Thus, it’s worth taking the time and care to build and nurture a personal picture book community.

A picture book community can be any shape or size. It can be an intimate gathering of close friends or an online forum of writers/illustrators from around the world. It can be a place where you gain feedback on your personal projects or a place where people discuss industry trends. 

Whatever the form, a community of like-minded picture books lovers will inspire, encourage, and push you towards artistic success!

Here are a few tips on how to start and nurture your own picture book community:

Networking

Many have asked, “How do I form a critique group or get more involved in my picture book community?” Try attending your regional SCBWI events. They have many intimate gatherings where you can connect with like-minded authors/illustrators. Your local college or bookstore may also offer writing or illustration classes, where you can collaborate with picture book lovers, too. If you want to branch out even further, try attending one of the larger children’s book conferences in your area. At first, the number of attendees may be intimidating, but it’s a good way to quickly broaden your connections!

Taking Initiative

When you attend events, be prepared! Bring plenty of business cards and exchange contact information with people you meet. After each event, take the time to follow up with your contacts and build your network from there! Once you have built a list of contacts, take initiative. Organize a casual gathering at your local bookstore or coffee shop. There, you can chat and learn about each other’s personal picture book goals. Are you starting out and learning about the picture book industry? Are you a seasoned author/illustrator who wants to hone your craft with career professionals? Do you want to self-publish or work on submitting your work to agents/publishers? If you find that your goals are similarly aligned, then perhaps you’ve just found members for your own picture book community!

Scheduling

The best way to build momentum is to stay consistent. Set up a consistent time and place where your group will meet. Perhaps it’s the first Saturday of every month at your local library. Perhaps it’s once a week at a group member’s house. By establishing a routine, your group can plan and make time for each meeting. It also helps foster commitment to your group and your craft.

Receiving Feedback

When asking for feedback from your group, be specific. Depending on where you are in your process, too much feedback may become confusing or intimidating. Let your group know what you’re working on and what kind of feedback you’d like. Are you stuck on a plot point and asking for a no holds barred brainstorm? Are you fine tuning your manuscript and asking them to recommend minor tweaks? The more you inform your group, the better they will be at providing the feedback that you need.

Giving Feedback

The sandwich method (positive -> constructive -> positive) is a great structure to use when giving feedback to your fellow group members. It will encourage and help them grow at the same time. Once again, be specific. If you don’t like a passage or design, explain why. It will inform how they revise and improve their work. Above all, be kind. Sharing your work is a very personal and intimate process. Think about how you would like to receive feedback, and provide feedback to others in a similar manner.

Field Trips

Sometimes, it’s inspiring and fun to go on field trips with your picture book community! Grab your notebooks/sketchbooks and visit a local museum. Check out the zoo, a hiking trail, or a play. Contact local publishers and ask for a tour. By going on field trips, your group will begin to share experiences and form stronger connections. You’ll start referring to your shared experiences when giving feedback to each other.  Furthermore, these experiences will bring inspiration and energy to your picture book process.

Establishing Goals

It’s important to establish goals and milestones with your critique group or community. Share your progress with them and identify what you hope to accomplish each week or month. Stay connected via a Facebook group or forum, where people can ask specific questions about their work or share informative articles. By sharing these goals and milestones, you become more accountable and thus, are more likely to achieve them!

As you can see, there are many strategies and methods you can use to help build and nurture a personal picture book community. It takes commitment and care, but the benefits are boundless!

If you're in the SF Bay Area and want to expand your personal picture book community, check out Picture Book Surgery. I host these events with my friend Diana Toledano. They're fun and a great way to meet fellow picture book lovers. Hope to see you there!

Note: All images were acquired from Pixabay, a great Public Domain resource!

Siblings and Sandcastles

Perhaps it's not always the best idea to build sandcastles with your siblings! I made this illustration for a workshop in Oakland and I had a lot of fun creating the story line.

For the workshop, I also created a model sheet of the two characters to figure out their anatomy:

You might recognize the girl from my "Sisters" series. I've really enjoyed exploring the many facets of her personality and have honed the look of her features over time :).

If you want to try your hand at adding some color to this sad sandcastle scene, here's a free coloring page as well!

Results: Arbor Day Coloring Contest

Hi all,

Sorry for the long hiatus. I've been writing and illustrating up a storm :) I thought I'd share the results of the Arbor Day Coloring Contest:

First Place: Mahdy Muratov, 2nd Grade

2nd Place: Megan Tian, 2nd Grade

3rd Place: Memphis Gray, 3rd Place

I love how everyone took a unique approach to coloring the scene. I also enjoyed the creative details (sunglasses, stars, shading). As promised, I sent each winner some goodies:

The first place winner got an original drawing:

Congratulations again to all the winners and I hope everyone had a great Arbor Day :) Once again, if you'd like to try your hand at coloring your own version, here's a blank version of the coloring page:

GIVEAWAY + Lake Oswego Arbor Day Coloring Contest

Lake Oswego is celebrating their 25th year as a Tree City USA. In celebration of Arbor Day, they commissioned me to design a coloring page for their annual art contest.

I'd also like to leave this contest open to my readers. Print out the coloring page above, color it any way you'd like, and share your work of art in the comments below. At the end of April, I'll select a winner and send an envelope full of goodies to you :).

For inspiration, here were last year's winners:

Aren't they amazing? Here's a close up of some their wonderful coloring skills:

So get to it! Celebrate Arbor Day with some coloring and we'll see who gets the prize at the end of the month!

Silly McGilly Visits Schools!

Silly McGilly has been very busy indeed as St. Patrick's Day approaches.

He visited several schools in Bayonne, New Jersey and it's safe to say that the students and faculty embraced Silly with open arms :)

Coloring pages from the Silly McGilly website were put to good use!

Kids created their own renditions of Silly :)

This wall was jazzed up with a giant pot of gold and some very handsome construction paper dolls.

Miss DeSimone, a teacher for 40 years, received a special t-shirt from Silly at Midtown Community School.

In her class, Silly McGilly got to meet the Cat in the Hat. I'm so jealous!

These images are the main reason why I love-love-love creating picture books. You get to see your characters come to life in the hearts of little ones. You get to see them practice and embrace creative storytelling. It makes all the hard work worth it in my book :).

This is great stuff and I have to give a shout out to the publishers for spreading Silly's cheer! You can see what else Silly's been up to on his Facebook FanPage.

Remember, if you join in the Silly fun, just email me your purchase order and I will mail you a personalized sketch. Here's an example:

Also, if you have any Silly McGilly art to share, please let me know and I'll make sure to write a post. You can find worksheets and activities at www.sillymcgilly.com for inspiration.

Until next post, Happy St. Patrick's Day!

FREE Giveaway + More Silly News!

Hi all,

Just checking in with more Silly McGilly news.

First of all, you have a chance to win your own Silly McGilly doll and book from the fabulous blogger Miss Kindergarten's giveaway contest:

There's one day left in the giveaway, so be sure to enter soon :).

Secondly, Real Simple Online has featured Silly McGilly on their website too!

I love seeing Silly's adorable spirit being shared by so many people. The publishers deserve a big shout-out for wonderful PR power!

I hope you can join me in celebrating this Patrick's Day tradition with your loved ones as well. Remember, if you email me your purchase order for a Silly McGilly book, I will mail you a personalized sketch.

Until next post, luck and laughter to all of you!

Silly McGilly: My Illustration Process

Hi all,

I thought I'd share a bit of my process in creating the illustrations for Silly McGilly.

Here is a spread where Silly celebrates St. Patrick's Day at a Leprechaun Hooley. As you can see, it takes a lot of passes to create a finished illustration. Let's start at the beginning!

First, I received the manuscript from the authors, which was basically the text of the story with suggested page breaks.

I printed out the manuscript and read it several times. The whimsical text of this story gave me a lot of inspiration, so as I read, I began doodling possible image and composition ideas for each page. Once I had at least a few ideas for each spread, I started storyboarding the book with rough sketches:

As you can see, the sketches were mostly undefined. I was mainly trying to figure out how the text and images would interact with each other. Once these sketches were approved by the publisher, I moved onto a more detailed pencil work of the Hooley scene:

The final pencil lines became a pretty accurate blueprint for the next stages of illustration work. In Photoshop, I added red lines to accommodate for cropping, bleeds, and the page gutter. When I liked where everything was placed, I moved onto hand-inking the lines.

Finally, I scanned in the inked lines and added color in Photoshop, with a pastel-like brush:

Then voila: a rousing, musical, and fun-filled Leprechaun Hooley scene!

I hope this brought some insight into how Silly McGilly was created :). St. Patrick's Day is coming soon, so click on the link to get a Silly McGilly of your very own! Remember, if you message me with your order of a book, I will send you a free Silly sketch as a thank you gift.

Silly McGilly

Hi all! I apologize for the long absence, but I promise it was for a good reason :) I was illustrating a new picture book called Silly McGilly. It's a book that introduces a leprechaun who comes to play tricks at home and in the classroom on St. Patrick's Day. Here are a few images from the book:

The book is now available for purchase here. Each purchase comes with a Silly doll that you can use to play tricks on your students or little ones! But wait . . there's more! If you message me with a copy of your order, I will also mail you a personalized sketch. 

Lastly, the website has fun coloring pages and will soon feature Silly-themed activities (including directions) that you can use at home or in your classroom. Here's a sneak peek at a Silly Scrapbook page that will be available for download soon:

The publishers were a joy to work with and I really had fun contributing towards the creation of an actual doll (a first for me). 

I hope to continue my Picture Book Process series soon when things settle down a bit. Until then, I'll see if I can post a few process pics from my Silly McGilly work.

Thanks for visiting!

The Beginnings of a Picture Book

Welcome to my series about the Picture Book Process!
Note: To start at the beginning of the series, please visit this post: Why Picture Books?

Today, I want to talk about beginnings.

You dived into sources of inspiration and you came up with an idea and a direction for your picture book.

Now what?

Beginning a picture book is often difficult. You stare at a blank page, not sure what to draw or write. What's the voice going to be like? What colors should I use? Should the writing be minimal and poetic? Should it be lyrical and loquacious? Should it be in first or third person? Should, should should. . ahhh!

One of my critique group members, Angela, once gave me some sage advice that she read in the book Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott:

It was: Write that sh**ty first draft!
You're going to be writing many drafts afterward, so don't worry about mistakes, grammar or punctuation. Don't worry about perfect anatomy and a defined style. Just create. . and embrace the fact that your first draft is not going to be your best work. That will come in the 10th, 14th, 20th draft.

For me, I learned a trick from Kathryn Otoshi. It's called POST-ITS!

This is the entire book of Good Day/Bad Day on five pages of normal printer paper. I've found many advantages to laying out my story using Post-Its: 

• Post-Its force you to work small, so you don't labor over details.
• If a line/image isn't to your liking, you can easily replace the post-it with a new one, without disrupting the page order.
• You can rearrange pages to help with the pacing of your book.
• You can see the flow and rhythm of your picture book at a glance. Are you devoting too little time to the climax? Are you spending too much time introducing your character? These are all questions that can be answered when you look at your story from a bird's eye view.

If you don't draw, no worries. Just lay out the text. The Post-Its force you to make room for the illustrations. If your entire post-it is full of text, it probably means you've written too much. 

For instance, this page:

 Eventually became this:

For that first spread, I wanted to give the faces space and size so the different emotions made an impact. Too much text would have lessened the effect.

By the way, if you need extra help organizing your thoughts on post-its, my friend Rachelle's Storyboard Sticky Jots leaves space for text, images, and labels. How handy is that?

So there you go.
Use post-its, scribble in your sketchbook, type away. Just write that sh**ty first draft.
You may realize that a picture book may not be the best form for your story but hey, you'll never know until you begin.

For my next post, I'll be talking about Feedback and Critique Groups. Until then, happy writing/drawing!

Inspiration

Welcome to my series about the Picture Book Process!
Note: To start at the beginning of the series, please visit this post: Why Picture Books?

Today I want to talk about Inspiration.

Inspiration - in most cases- does not come from thin air.

Inspiration usually comes from many sources. 
These sources are often little moments or emotions that you catch during the day. Maybe it's a piece of artwork, a film, a poem, a song that you experience. Maybe it's a person you meet who you respect and/or loath. Maybe it's watching a kid battling with the elements to finish that gosh darn sand castle.

These snippets of sources simmer. . and simmer. . and simmer. Until they slowly meld into an idea. . .
an idea for a picture book.

That's inspiration.

I'm currently working on a book called Good Day/Bad Day. 

The inspiration for this story came from many sources. Here are a few:

Morose Molly Rose

This is an image I drew many years ago. . .it expresses the "I don't care" feeling that often takes over many of us in life. As an example, think of Maurice Sendak's Pierre:

Yup, that's the feeling.

Morose Molly Rose became a poem, which then became a picture book that never quite hit the mark for me. So I put her story away. . but her character stayed with me as I wrote and created other books.

Troubled Kids

I've worked in elementary education for about 10 years: as an educator, learning designer, consultant, and writer. I have come across many the troubled kid and on more than one occasion, these kids would just say straight out: 

"Ms. Charlotte, I'm having a bad day."

They were always correct in their observations. 

The worst was seeing these kids turn a not so good day into a horrible one. They'd start off in a sullen mood, and then, through actions and decisions of their very own, end the day completely frustrated, angry, and sad. By then, emotions were out of control, people were hurt, and the pain of helping them repair the havoc they created was always hard to bear. I wanted to write a story to help kids take charge of their bad days. . .and turn them into something more positive.

So those are just two sample sources of inspiration for my book Good Day/Bad Day 

How do you get inspired? Is it working with kids? Is it immersing yourself in different forms of art (film, paintings, books, performance)? Is it getting your hands dirty with clay or just taking a long shower to relax those creative muscles?

Harvest from your resources and let them simmer simmer simmer. Before you know it, inspiration will hit and you'll have a picture book idea. A direction!  

Next up: The Beginnings of a Picture Book (i.e., how I turn inspiration into words and pictures)

Why Picture Books?

Sorry I've been remiss about updating. As always, along with a few projects, I've been busy illustrating, writing, reading, discussing, and celebrating picture books. . .weeee!

For awhile now, I've been wanting to use this blog to talk more thoroughly about how much I've learned, experienced, and grown during my adventures in the picture book world. Thus, this will not be a normal blog post. I want to take you on a journey and like many good journeys, this one begins with a pretty big (and long!) step.

So here's that first step: Why Picture Books?

Mac Barnett , a well known picture book author, has said that picture books are a form, not a genre. The sky's the limit when it comes to what you can express within the pages of a picture book. However, he stresses that picture books are a marriage of images and words. In a good picture book, the words cannot tell the entire story and neither can the images. It is a combination of the two that creates the magic of visual storytelling.

So Why Picture Books? My critique group, the Picturesques, recently discussed this. . why do we choose this form to share our stories? Why do we keep writing/drawing/creating, despite all the hurdles one must surpass to get published in the picture book world?

The answer is different for everyone, but this is mine: the form of picture books allows me to share those universal and emotional truths that can be understood by anyone, at any age. Great picture books grow with you. . .their meanings change as you solidify into the person you're meant to be. Here are a few books that, to this day, affect me greatly and deeply:


The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
Oh my, how this book moves me with its simple black and white drawings. As a child, I remember thinking that the tree was "very nice." Now, as an adult, I see this book as the ultimate example of true unconditional love. My fellow Picturesques member, Ben Peterson, is equally moved by this book, but in a different way . . .the one-sided relationship bothers him greatly and the unappreciative boy/man irks him to no end. Over 50 years later, and this book still makes children and adults react in so many different ways. Bravo, Silverstein. Bravo.

 

One by Kathryn Otoshi
I have heard Kathryn Otoshi speak at the Book Passage Children's Writers/Illustrators Conference for many years. She is always so generous in sharing her craft. . and fine craftmanship is what it took to create her internationally acclaimed, "One." No faces or names are needed for anyone to connect with the characters in this book. The issues of bullying, acceptance, and validation are all folded into a beautifully illustrated, minimalist story. Each word counts. Each color counts. Every person counts. See what she did there? ;)

The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds
I've had this book on my shelf for over a decade and it still helps me through tough creative blocks. This character-driven story centers on Vashti, who doesn't believe she can draw. . .until a teacher shows her that even dots can become beautiful works of art. In the end, Vashti returns the favor and encourages another kid to become an artist too. The universal truth here is that art, in essence, is self expression. Everyone has a voice that can and should be heard. Art helps amplify and distill that voice. Whenever I feel like my writing/drawing is not good enough. .I return to The Dot. The book reminds me to just throw judgement out the window and focus on CREATING!

I want to create picture books like these.
The ones that still move you, when you're well past childhood. The ones that make you think, feel, and learn. One day, I'll get it just right. . until then, I keep dreaming and I keep honing my craft!

In conclusion, if you're thinking of writing/illustrating a picture book for the very first time, really ask yourself the question:

Why Picture Books? 
What moves you and what do you want to share with this form? What will keep you going when you run into bumps along the path to publishing a picture book? (trust me, there will be bumps).

Take your time.
Think it through. 
Study the picture books you love. 
It's well worth the journey. 

Once you have your answers, I promise, you'll be able to tackle picture books with renewed focus and intent.

Phew. That was one long-winded entry. My next entry, about inspirations, will be shorter. . I promise :)

sweet

This little boy from my first illustrated picture book looks in the refrigerator and finds something very sweet and cold on a hot summer day!

Speaking of which, A Moment in Time won the Reader Views Literary Awards for Best Children's Book. Part of the award was our very own video trailer for the book which you can see below:


Sorry I haven't posted recently. I've been busy working on a few projects, such as writing curriculum for Disney English and illustrating another picture book (which will hopefully be out by the end of the year).

Until next time, I want to recommend checking out the Sendak exhibit at the Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco.

The museum has a beautiful view of the Golden Gate Bridge, a delicious cafe, and very inspiring artwork. My critique group, the Picturesques, attended a panel there called "Stealing from Sendak" and the illustrators on the panel were so generous with their insights and experiences! They made me realize how much Sendak revolutionized the concept of a picture book for entire generations: from nudity to honestly frightening characters. I was proud to wear my Night Kitchen shirt that day :).

wild + jungle

Only wild men can tackle wild animals. . crikey, that jaguar's close!

In case you want to place this battle in a different setting, here's a free coloring page:

In other news, I made a little coloring page for the Lake Oswego Arbor Day art contest, so if you're in the Portland area, your kids could be famous!  Click on the image below for the entry form.

Lastly, I made a little illustration for my friend Melissa's wedding last year.  It was such a personal and touching ceremony.  She was featured in Style Me Pretty.  Click on the image below to learn about her story!