From On-Line to HANDS-ON: Let’s Draw Stories!

Exercise your art chops!

Summer Solstice! What could be better after a full day’s work (or sunning & surfing — hey, we’re in San Diego!), or sight-seeing around San Diego, than hunkering down, and drawing pictures with other passionate story-tellers?

We’ll do hands-on drawing-and-sharing, in class, in person, at the beautiful UCSD Extension campus in La Jolla, CA. Examine the latest picture books, plus a few timeless classics. And address aspects of the current children’s book market.

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Join us!

Class:        Children’s Book Illustration – ART-40011
Instructor:  Joy Chu
Dates:       June 26 – August 21  (9 meetings)
Day:           Wednesdays
Time:         6:30pm – 9:30pm
Location:  Extension, Room 128

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Required books: 

Writing with Pictures: How to Write and Illustrate Children’s Books (paperback) :: Uri Shulevitz   ISBN: 9780823059355

Ed Emberley’s Drawing Book of Animals (paperback)
:: Ed Emberley   ISBN: 9780316789790

Don’t delay, sign up today!
Purchase textbooks @ UCSD Bookstore,
or at amazon.com
extension.ucsd.edu.  Register now.
Ask about ART 40011
Fee:  $250 / $275 after 6/10/13

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When you write, and someone else draws…

It’s a unique opportunity when an illustrator can also write stories that other artists can render. This happened to Don Tate when he wrote It Jes’ Happened, illustrated by R. Gregory Christie.

Check out this excellent discussion between Anne Rockwell and Don Tate, at Anne’s site.

“…While I could have illustrated the story, my illustration styles weren’t the perfect match for the text. My editor wanted the art to be edgy, gritty. I wanted to go with an illustrator who had broader name recognition than myself. Greg Christie became one of our top choices.”—Don Tate

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Original art by Bill Traylor

Remember this if you encounter a book editor who loves your story, but suggests that another illustrator provide the art. Don’t insist on all (doing both story and pictures) or nothing.

If a publisher is seriously interested in acquiring one component, make sure to ask why. Decisions like these are made for the good of the project.

From “It Jes’ Happened” by Greg Christie right-click to enlarge

Editors want your book to sell as many copies as possible. One practical consideration is name recognition. Newcomers tend to forget that buyers invariably prefer to request a familiar name or brand, even in bookstores or libraries. Or just the books with the medals on their jackets. Publishers also need to see how your name fares out there initially, in the mutual interest of nurturing a new career for the long term.

Hot Tip

Use Post-Its for your thumbnail storyboards

Check out Christian Robinson‘s method, and get a behind-the-scenes peek into his upcoming book Rain, written by Linda Ashman here.

The Next Big Thing

. . . comes in threes !

[1]  Blog hop* time!

It’s been awhile since my last post.  I’ve been deeply immersed in the world of online learning & teaching, at UCSD Extension. What an adrenaline rush!

I will share highlights (my students were awesome) next week. Alumni & friends will be invited to comment. In the meantime…

[2] I was tagged …

by the a•maze•ing Roxie Munro , who shares links on creating apps for books at my public Got Story? Facebook page.  Her books are a maze of dazzling fact-filled wonders. Besides creating e-books, she takes you inside and outside of cities, events, and creatures (eggs, bugs, and snakes, oh my), and much more. Do check out Roxie’s blog-hop responses here.

* What is a blog-hop? An author is tagged to answer a set of questions at their own blog. They then tag two other authors with blogs, to keep the blog-hop going.

I think I’m the first blogger/art director/book designer/teacher who’s ever blog-hopped this event! Here goes:
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1. What is the title of your work-in-progress? The Gallaudet American Sign Language Dictionary for Children  [as art director/designer, and production artist, that is].

2. Where did the idea come from?  *Gallaudet University Press editor Ivey Wallace.

[* Note: Based in Washington DC, Gallaudet University is the only institution of higher learning whose programs and services are customized to accommodate deaf and hearing-impaired students. Thomas Gallaudet (1787–1851) was a pioneering figure in the advancement of deaf education.]
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[ASL sign for TV, by Debbie Tilley (l) and Peggy Lott (r)]

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Debbie Tilley was selected because her witty illustrations communicate well to children and adults. Debbie’s agent Richard Salzman recommended my services as a free-lance designer who’s fluent working with artists and editors; and in the prep of layouts and electronic files for print and other media.

ASL entry for twins

3. What genre does your book come under? Children’s illustrated /Ages 3-11 / reference / American Sign Language / parenting / instructional / school / general trade

4. Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie?  A wide spectrum of fluent multicultural ASL signing children, ages 4 through 11, will be in the accompanying DVD. A joyous group!

5. One sentence synopsis for your book? A kid-friendly definitive children’s American Sign Language dictionary with companion DVD, of over 1,000 entries, humorously illustrated by Debbie (Hey Little Ant!) Tilley alongside easy-to-follow signing diagrams by an unparalleled team of ASL experts.

6. Is your book self-published, published by an independent publisher, or represented by an agency?
Due out Fall 2014, from Gallaudet University Press.

7. How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript? Debbie, the signing illustration team, and I were supplied with the final word list in December 2010. We’ve all been collaborating steadily since then. That’s over 1,000 illustrations from Debbie; and 1,000+ diagrams from the signing team. Sketches, approval process, revisions, final art, organizing, scanning, etc. Sentences are composed as layouts are formed.

8. What other books would you compare this story to within your genre? There’s none like it. Anywhere.

9. Who or what inspired you to write this book? The Gallaudet University Board of Directors made this project part of their mandate. The jewel of the crown.

10.What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest? In addition to instructors, students, and users, parents will want to teach ASL to their babies, who are often able to sign before they can talk! Imagine that. Real-life ASL, and it’s from Gallaudet, the go-to source!

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And now, I’m blog-tagging three friends. Visit their blogs for…

[3] Tag 1, 2, 3…

My colleague Andrea Zimmerman [1] teaches the writing aspect of picture book creation at UCSD Extension  [Writing Children’s Picture Books (WCWP-40261)] with Sara Tomp. Check out her fabulous blog, Picture Book Party here. She is both an author and author/illustrator. Among her many titles are Train Man (with David Clemesha); Eliza’s Cherry Trees; and Trashy Town (illustrated by Dan Yaccarino).

Julian Hector [2] draws and writes stories in his inimitable way. Visit his blog here. Check out C.R. Curmudgeon (written by Leslie Muir); Monday is One Day (written by Arthur Levine); The Little Matador; and The Gentleman Bug. Here’s the trailer for his 10 Scary Animals: A Field Guide.

Kathleen Krull [3] roots out the most interesting aspects of a person’s life, and distills it into snappy delightful prose. Let’s peek at her über-awesome output:

I knew her back in the days of Harcourt, San Diego (she was Senior Editor, I was Art Director), where she edited luminaries like Tomie dePaola, Eve Bunting, Patricia Hermes, Anne Lindbergh, Jane Yolen, and Amy Schwartz, before she left to launch her own writing career.

She also collaborates with husband Paul Brewer on projects — including The Beatles Were Fab (and They Were Funny), and Lincoln Tells a Joke: How Laughter Saved the President (and the Country). In 2011, she won the Children’s Book Guild Nonfiction Award for her body of work.

NOTE: Since Kathy uses her Facebook page in lieu of a blog as of this writing, her Q & As (and tagging) will happen here at the Got Story Countdown. Watch for announcements, and spread the word. . . 

One Artist’s Dummy Exercises

Illustrator Denise Hilton Campbell was among the participants at my UCSD Extension class, “Illustrating Books for Children” last Spring.

She has an extensive portfolio of published works for advertising and print.

While she and I had worked together (I as art director/designer at Harcourt; she as illustrator) on several book jackets, she had never tackled the children’s picture book genre.

While Denise’s preferred medium is watercolor . . .

. . . she also possesses superb drawing skills.

On her illustration blog, she chronicles her explorations into book dummying. Some highlights:

“… I didn’t give much thought about the fact that there was a process involved in writing and illustrating a good picture book. I thought you just drew 32 pretty illustrations and threw in some words! That all changed with the class and now I’m hooked. . . this is an example from [the] simple 8-page dummy. . .” — Denise Campbell

“. . . [on to] a 16-page dummy. . .”— DC

“. . . You get the idea…[the 8-page and 16-page dummies] were both wordless stories. An exercise in telling a story without using words as crutches. Finally we tackled the 32-page dummy (above). . . “— DC

You can follow Denise’s own picture story on her process in creating her class assignment sketches, here.

And check out the many finished pieces she produced post-class here. A sampling of her progressive experiments with one double-page spread from the above mentioned 32-page dummy follows, below . . .

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Holiday Tip:  Gift your favorite creative person with an Art Class!

Course title:  Illustrating Books for Children (ART 40011)
Instructor:  Joy Chu
Dates: January 7th – March 9th, 2013 (nine weeks)
Fees: $275  [early bird special: $250 if enrolled by 10 Dec 2012]
To register: 858-964-1051; ucsd.extension.edu

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More about my upcoming UCSD Extension Class!

Since I’ve been receiving numerous emails with questions about my upcoming online class at UCSD Extension (January 7-March 9, 2013), I thought it would be good to combine them here.

Q:  Can you give a little more info on how the class is structured?

Our goal will be to zero in on the book dummy itself, in terms of telling a story with utmost clarity.

We will explore the most effective ways of communicating story through images.

I must stress that this will not be a drawing class per se — in the sense that there will be no time to apply any drawing details, nor tight rendering.

In my experience, students (and many pros) have a tendency to focus lovingly on completing details and minutiae prematurely (before fully plotting the entire story), creating exquisite but static compositions at the expense of the whole. The story itself becomes incomplete.

By keeping our drawings simple, we will avoid becoming a stuck car tire, spinning mud.

From “Dies Kind Und Der Katze” by Bachér & Berner

Nailing key points like character creation; pacing, creating drama; graphic shapes and their importance; rhythm; making judicious use of white space. These are just some of the issues we will address.

Early study for Lydia, the protagonist in Matthew Cordell’s “hello! hello!”

We will be identifying art media (so many possibilities) used in today’s picture books, both traditional and digital. See a style you like? Ask about it!

And there will be plenty of sketching!

From “Bow-Wow Bugs a Bug” by Newgarden & Cash

The book dummy is the most important stage in the creation of picture books. Analogous to drawing architectural floor plans before building the house itself, this is the stage where all creative decisions on the picture book are made.

With your completed floor plan (the book dummy), you can move on to experimenting with the art media of your choice upon completion of this class.

This is why all drawings for our class must be done simply. We will complete three book dummies in nine weeks. In other words, stick figures are totally smart & OK!

All students are required to have an active library card. Everyone must borrow, read and share picture book selections, based upon a given theme for that week. Nowadays, any library book can be reserved online for later pick-up.

“Dancing figure” (above) © Christophe Niemann
“Librarian” (below) © Debbie Tilley

In addition, everyone will be required to have a  photo-sharing account, like Flickr , Picasa, or Photobucket to store images. This is where rough sketches would be uploaded. Students link images to display direct onto the class blog or discussion boards. This is to insure we do not over-tax UCSD Extension’s servers, as images take up far more memory than text.

All class participants will have access to:

(1) A Discussion Board, where everyone shares thoughts about the weekly theme, as well as technical tips (Example. Best ways to create low-resolution scans and PDFs; recommended links).

(2) A Group Blog, provided for this class only via UCSD’s Blackboard software. Students will be divided into critique groups. Each group will have its own Group Blog, to ensure ongoing feedback and support on works-in-progress.

(3) Class availability, 24/7. You can work on assignments anytime. Just remember that new lessons will be posted every  Monday morning!

Q:  Can you give a little more info on how the class is structured?

Every Monday, there will be a new Announcement summarizing the lesson plan plus assignments for the week. Assignments must be completed and uploaded every Sunday @ 11:59 pm. Each new class week begins on a Monday.

Q:  Will we get to share our work with other students?

Definitely! In fact, this is a must, and a major feature of this class! There will be critiques, discussions, and opportunities for feedback  throughout the course. Rules and guidelines for procedure and protocol will be distributed.

Q: Will you be giving feedback?

Yes!  I will be reading everyone’s comments —- with an eye towards encouraging everyone’s mutual support. And I will jump in as appropriate.

I will also list specific times when I will be online live to address immediate concerns.

Most importantly, students must have high speed internet to participate. To test your equipment, go here. To preview and sample our class’s online tools free, go here.

Questions? Post them below (‘Leave a reply’)! I look forward to meeting you, and building our Creative Online Community. Feel the buzz? Register here.

Think you can’t express anything with stick figures? You’d be wrong! Click here and enjoy!

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Course title:  Illustrating Books for Children (ART 40011)
Dates: January 7th – March 9th, 2013 (nine weeks)
Fees: $275  (early bird special: $250 if enrolled by 10 Dec 2012)
To register: 858-964-1051; ucsd.extension.edu

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Seeking An International Community of Online Kid-lit Doodlers!

Hear ye, hear ye! If you draw or paint like this. . . .

[click to enlarge]

. . . you’ll fit right into my UCSD Extension / Winter 2013, 100% online class, Illustrating Books for Children.

If you have access to a high-speed internet connection, are willing to meet more folks who adore picture books of all kinds, join us!

There will be drawing warm-ups.  Story sequencing. And book dummies, oh my!

You’ll be able to take this class on your schedule, within a 9-week format, from anywhere in the world!

I’m seeking an international community of doodlers!

It’s a fully accredited course (3 units). You can also elect to take it as a noncredit self-enrichment class.

Space is filling quickly, so sign up soon as you can!

And in the meantime enjoy this video, and remember that November is Picture Book Month…

 

2012 Best Illustrated Books, from the N.Y. Times

There’s always surprises and delights galore when perusing Best Books Lists. Here’s this year’s N.Y. Times picks, via Pamela Paul and the 2012 committee: Chris Raschka, @henryfingjames and Cathryn Mercier. Congratulations to the winners!

“Red Knit Cap Girl,” written and illustrated by Naoko Stoop (Megan Tingley/Little, Brown & Company)

Check out Naoko Stoop’s art blog here. She also has an Etsy shop featuring her works here.

“Bear Despair,” written and illustrated by Gaëtan Dorémus (Enchanted Lion)

Visit Gaëtan Dorémus’ website here. His previous books were published in France. A bio appears here.

“One Times Square: A Century of Change at the Crossroads of the World,” by Joe McKendry (David R. Godine)

Here is Joe McKendry’s website. A bio appears here. And here is a glimpse into his Times Square timeline:

“Stephen and the Beetle,” written by Jorge Luján and illustrated by Chiara Carrer (Groundwood Books)

Check out Chara Carrer’s website here.

“House Held Up by Trees,” written by Ted Kooser and illustrated by Jon Klassen (Candlewick Press)

Check out selected spreads from Jon Klassen’s artwork here.

“Infinity and Me,” written by Kate Hosford and illustrated by Gabi Swiatkowska (Carolrhoda Books)

Check out author Kate Hosford’s behind-the-scenes story on working with the illustrator here.

“The Beetle Book,” written and illustrated by Steve Jenkins (Houghton Mifflin)

“Unspoken: A Story from the Underground Railroad,” written and illustrated by Henry Cole (Scholastic Press)

“The Hueys in the New Sweater,” written and illustrated by Oliver Jeffers (Philomel Books/Penguin)

Going Through Your Process: a, b, c…

Christian Robinson sent a delightful thank-you-note for sharing his work here at the Countdown last month on Harlem’s Little Blackbird (text by Renée Watson), along with answers to my nosy questions about his process. Hooray! — JC

Poster from Christian Robinson‘s Etsy page (right-click to enlarge)

Christian Robinson:  Oh my word! What a wonderful thing it was to wake up reading your lovely and very flattering post!
I’m really beside myself.  Thank you so much for the unbelievably kind words, and for shining a little more light on my work!

This whole children’s book illustrating world is still very new to me, so to think that someone might reference my art is still so unreal… it’s still so amazing to me to have folks interested in what I do.

Joy Chu:  The more I gazed at your art, the more involved [my examination] became.

Couple that with in-coming phone calls asking for portfolio consultations [for the upcoming SCBWI Conference].  Then it suddenly hit me:  I must share why your samples are so irresistible to my art director eyes!

Did you use cut paper for Harlem’s Little Blackbird? Or a combination of collage, ink drawing,  and scanning?

CR:  I used collage and acrylic paint for the original art;  then I would scan, and edit (color, lighting effects, composition) if needed.

JC:  Did you provide your own scans to the publisher?

CR:  Yes! I like being able to go in and correct colors myself — control freak here!

JC: Do you have any examples of your preliminary sketches, or thumbnails, or character studies of Florence Mills [the subject of Harlem's Little Blackbird)?

CR: Here are images that shows the process I used:

(a)

Thumbnail sketches on post-its (a);

(b)

. . . color and shape exploration in Photoshop (b);

(c)

. . . then final art using collage plus acrylics (c).

More process examples:

(a)

(b)

(c)

JC: Did you draw many rough dummies?

CR:  Yes, I went through a lot of post-its  :O)

I had to make several edits so that the editor (Suzy Capozzi) and art director (Ellice Lee) felt confident with how the layouts were flowing and communicating. Read an interview about their collaboration here.

(a) sketch on post-its

(b) Photoshop rendering

(c) final art, using collage plus acrylic

Christian’s studio

JC:  And did you apply pure pen-and-ink for your b/w illustrations?

CR:  You are referring to the Illustrations I did for the LGBT teen guide, Queer.  Those were digital rendering, drawn on my Wacom tablet into Photoshop.

JC:  Cheers, and many thanks again for sharing the fruits of your labor!

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Check out editor Suzy Capozzi‘s commentary on the book’s genesis, plus an interview between art director Ellice Lee and Christian Robinson on their collaboration at the R.H. blog,  Random Acts of Reading

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Read a starred review from Booklist

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Christian Robinson’s blog

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Christian Robinson’s portfolio

My Snake Blake

Another Neal Porter/Roaring Press book that charmed me on the ALA Exhibit Floor a few weeks ago was My Snake Blake by Randy Siegel, illustrated by Serge Bloch.

You’ll also want to check out illustrator Serge Bloch‘s blog too!