Most of what I took away from the conference this year was confidence in myself for finally reaching out and introducing myself to Art Directors. This is something I have always been too afraid to do and I always walk away kicking myself for not doing it. Everyone else does, so why not me? Well this time I just stuck out my hand and did it...and it was fine! Nothing to be afraid of! I think I'll even do it again next time.
I also had a portfolio critique, and like last year, it was very eye-opening and helpful. Last year was my first time doing the critique and I was so scared I hardly said a word and when it was over I left so quickly that I didn't even leave my card or anything. Horrible! This time I was lucky enough to receive Art Director, Laurent Linn, as my critiquer and he was so friendly and positive that I couldn't help but feel comfortable! No nerves at all and I even got to ask some clarifying questions as he talked. I gave him a firm hand-shake and gave him my card before I left. Hurray!
As for the actual critique there were some things that I did leave a bit confused about, only in as far as what my next steps should be. There were many positive things that were mentioned, but some of the main criticisms was that many of my characters are too generic. As soon as it was said I coudl see what he meant and agreed, so that is certainly something to work on. Along with that I will be exploring my character style to make them more unique, interesting, and full of life. I was also encouraged to work on drawing more kids. Now, as many of you might notice, I don't really do many kids....ever. One reason is that I enjoy animal characters over humans. It's just a preference. Another reason is that I have always struggled with knowing how I want to draw kids. I haven't spent the time to figure out how I would draw kids in my own style. I see it as this scale from super realistic, to super cartoon-y and there is this huge in-between area and I don't know where on that scale I want to be. I have made some attempts at kids and I've seen a trend of the more I draw the child, the more detail I put in and the more realistic it becomes. I may not know what I want yet, but I do know I don't want super realistic, so I will need to make sure I stop myself from doing that.
A new thing this year is that I went to a writing break-out session with Deborah Halverson on writing with rhythm, but not rhyme. This is definitely something I want to work on because these types of books led to great read-aloud stories that are fun for the child and the parent to read. As I continue my writing journey and figure out the types of stories I want to write, I certainly want to keep this in mind and try to include it often.
Finally, I heard David Wiesner and Jarrett Krosoczka speak. Two wonderful and inspiring author/illustrators. Both of them talked about their process of writing and illustrating a book. Both said they start with an idea, however small it is. Maybe it's just a character, maybe it's a book title, maybe it's something that inspires you from real life. Whatever it is, put it in your sketchbook and let it live and grow in there for awhile. Draw and redraw your character, and then draw him again. develop and explore that character and see what he is like, what he likes to do, what he doesn't like to do. Anything. Sometimes characters can live in your sketchbook for years without a story to go with it, and that's ok. When the story idea starts to come, thumbnail it, even if it's not a full story idea. Work out how the pacing might be, see how much space you have to work with (within the 32-page limit). Then rewrite and rewrite the story until you have something great, even if it takes years!
So that was my big weekend that I have been working towards all summer. Now that my mind is just starting to settle again it's time to get working! I have a lot to work on and some new seeds that I want to plant in my sketchbook and see how they grow, however slow it might be. It's never too late to start thinking about next years conference and what I want to accomplish by that time. Lots of things! Big things!! So let's not waste any more time.
To get started I already spent some time sketching some kids in my sketch book. Nothing special, really, but it's a start. I would like to do this every day...
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