August 19, 2008 — Our first meeting devoted to illustrators of the HCCWiG was a success. In attendance: Lisanne Bartram, Cathy Thole-Daniels, Jeanne Balsam, Diana Patton, Leeza Hernandez and special surprise guest children's book illustrator and Hunterdon resident Lena Shiffman.
The members spent the evening discussing the industry and business of illustrating books for young readers, then had an opportunity to share their portfolios and any works in progress.
Lena, known for her beautiful watercolor works in many Scholastic titles, offered advice and suggestions to each member to help improve their work.
And, despite the difficulty and competitive nature of the market for picture books, Lena encouraged us to keep at it and continue to strengthen our abilities to draw and perfect our portfolios.
Attending meetings, conferences, workshops and seminars are the best ways to get your foot in the door of publishers, she suggested and when sending samples or a dummy, make sure to send to editors (and meet editors) also — because ultimately, they are the ones who make and offer the contracts.
With our first meeting off to a great start, HCCWiG would like to continue illustrator meetings every four months with goals for each illustrator to track progress and stay motivated.
GOALS:
Jeanne: Finish her first draft dummy of her Étoile story.
Diana: Send out her three dummies for submission to multiple publishers.
Lisanne: Create four new pieces for her portfolio based on the speckled egg and bird pieces already in her portfolio.
Cathy: Complete her dummy for the Princess and the Frog story.
Leeza: Revise her draft dummy of her Milly Moppet story along with three color samples as finished art for Milly Moppet.
The next meeting is scheduled for: Monday, December 8, 2008. (Right before the holidays!)
Illustrators of HCCWiG are welcome, but please RSVP if you plan to attend. The number of people in attendance determine the nature of the meeting. Bring portfolios, sketches or any works in progress to brainstorm and discuss.
Hope to see you at the next meeting.
Until, then - happy art love and happy Labor day!
HCCWiG would like to extend a very warm and special thank you to Lena Shiffman for volunteering her time to come to our meeting and offering such invaluable advice.
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1 comment:
Thank you Leeza for putting together such an inspiring day! Sounds like much learning and goal setting was done.
And thanks to Lena for attending and makinig it extra special. So sorry I couldn't attend!
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