Blog Interview with Kathy Temean

Last Saturday, I was featured on Kathy Temean's blog as a part of her Illustrator Saturday Series. I appreciate all the hard work she puts into this post. Thanks, Kathy. Again, go to: http://kathytemean.wordpress.com/2013/05/04/illustrator-saturday-alicia-schwab/ for that interview.

Cyclesaurus

I've been doing a lot of dinosaur research lately. I discovered a new species of bike riders. Ok, maybe not, but I think if the Ceratosaurus had had some wheels (back in the day), they would have been as pleased as punch.

Collaboration is Crucial

I am the Illustrator Coordinator for the Minnesota chapter of SCBWI. A position that I am growing into and have really enjoyed because it gives me many opportunities to get out and meet with our chapter members that I might not take if I were less involved. It is so easy when working-from-home to stay in the cocoon of your familiar surroundings. Whether that be the walls that you live within or the part of town you are from.

I recently left town to attend the 2013 NY SCBWI Conference. It was my first national conference and very inspiring to hear all of the speakers, meet colleagues from around the country. And meet many of the volunteers from the others SCBWI regional chapters. We had dinner and conversed on what topics and workshops we found to work well in our own regions, share ideas and recommendations. I am so thankful to be involved in such a great organization.

Today our Minnesota SCBWI chapter hosted a monthly group meeting called “A Mixer”. Although it sounds like something involving cocktails, the reference is really to, 'mixing ideas'. We had a great turnout, the topic of our discussion was, What Do You Recommend On Craft? We asked people to bring book titles that they were reading on the craft of writing and/or illustrating for children's books, which I will list in a bit.

It is such a great experience to get out of the studio and meet with other people in the industry to “talk shop”, as it were. I usually come home so energized that I can't go to sleep after a meet-up in the evening. Likewise, today my brain is ruminating with all sort of ideas from the exchange and interaction with my peers. I am alive with inspiration of what avenues to explore with my own works. While in my studio, I will come across books or references and think to myself, “Be sure to tell 'so-n-so' about this the next time I see them because it would be right up their alley”.

Recently, there has been a lot of discussion about the benefits and drawbacks to “working from home”. In lieu of the recent decision by Yahoo to ban its employees from working-from-home. Another drawback noted in the discussions, was the lack of collaboration due to the inability to “meet at the water cooler” as perhaps people do while working in the office environment. Does this lack of conversing in person affect innovation? I can only support the notion that getting out and meeting with peers does enhance innovation.

I have also been an advocate of volunteering and being involved in local organizations for years do to the many benefits that you can receive from the exchange of ideas with like-minds - not to mention, the opportunity to give back to the community. One such group that I belong to was founded solely on the premise that it is vital for self-employed people to leave their office/studio and interact with peers in the same room. This group also meets once a month “in person” as well as exchange ideas through an online listserve.

Discussions with colleagues via social media has been an interesting development for me as well. I like the availability to ideas from other cultures or influences that I may not normally happen upon. The more I learn, the more I realize that there is so much more to learn. And I the quest for knowledge is never ending. I love it!

Today's collaboration was no exception. We had a lot of energy in the room because all of us are excited and passionate about this industry. A plethora of knowledge was shared in a couple of hours. So much so, I had to go for a long dog walk when I came home (to burn off some energy) and then sit down and write about it. So, in case I cannot remember these titles the next time I see you, here they are:

Writing Craft (in no particular order):

Crafting Stories for Children, by Nancy Lamb

Get Known Before the Book Deal, by Christina Katz (about self-promotion via social media).

A Kick In the Head, by Paul B. Janeczko (poetry forms).

Characters & Viewpoint, by Orson Scott Card

What's Your Story: A Young Person's Guide to Writing Fiction, Marion Dane Bauer

Writing it Right, by Sandy Asher

Writing Picture Books, by Ann Whitford Paul

Illustration Craft (in no particular order):

Film Directing – Shot By Shot, by Stephen D. Katz

Prepare to Board! Creating Story and Characters for Animated Features and Shorts, by Nancy Beiman

Drawn to Life, by Walt Stanchfield

Cartoon Animation, by Preston Blair

Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, by Betty Edwards

The Art of Animal Character Design, by David Colman

Comic and Sequential Art, by Will Eisner

Expressive Anatomy for Comics & Narrative, by Will Eisner

Illustrating Children's Books, by Martin Salisbury

Children's Picturebooks—The art of visual storytelling, by M. Salisbury and M. Styles

Picture Book Primer, by Denise I. Matulka

Picture This!, by Molly Bang

Good Reads (I've added more of my own):

My Brother's Book, by Maurice Sendak

The Story of Mrs. Lovewright and Purrless Her Cat, by Lore Segal, illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky

The Arrival, by Shaun Tan

The One and Only Ivan, by Katherine Applegate

Chicken Cheeks, by Michael Ian Black, illustrated by Kevin Hawkes

Creepy Carrots, by Aaron Reynolds, illustrated by Peter Brow

YOU WILL BE MY FRIEND!, written and illustrated by Peter Brown

The Word Collector, by Sonja Wimmer

Sleep Like a Tiger, by Mary Logue, illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski

I Want My Hat Back, by Jon Klassen

That Is Not My Hat, by Jon Klassen

Lapin plays possum : trickster tales from the Louisiana Bayou, adapted by Sharon Arms Doucet

The Adventures of Molly Whuppie and Other Appalachian Folktales, adapted by Anne Shelby

You give me the butterflies...

Valentines Day is coming soon!

I'm all ears...

 Some time ago, I created this piece which is in the post below "Mail Call". I took it to the 2012 MN SCBWI Fall Conference and got a review on it. The agent had some advice and here is what I did with it. I completely changed the background and created a narrative for why they are going to the mailbox in the first place.

The group is bringing letters to a Gnome. The Gnome is getting his letters in the 2nd image while the others peek out at him from behind the trees.

I made the two pieces of art into the front and back of my latest postcard.

Tom Sawyer

     This is my entry for the Tomie de Paola Award contest for SCBWI. This year's exciting challenge was to create an image for one of three stories in black and white. I chose The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, by Mark Twain.

     It was difficult to pick just one passage from the whole book. There are so many exciting scenes to draw ideas from. I based my illustration from the text where he and his friends run away to become pirates.

     "Tom knew of the perfect hideout–a small, uninhabited island out in the Mississippi River called Jackson's Island. He and Joe sought out Huck Finn and invited him to join them on this wild adventure. . . .  Each would bring fishing hooks and lines and as much food and provisions as he could steal.
     It was a starry and very still night as Tom made his way out of the village. The mighty river lay like an ocean at rest. . . .
     The boys loaded their provisions onto a small raft tied up on the bank, and they pushed silently away from shore."

     Huck Finn on the far left is the "town innocent". He is uneducated, scrappy, awkward and homeless. I gave him a stooped posture to emulate his low ranking and a look of awe at what Tom is telling him. He turns out however, to be an asset on the adventure because of his skills at roughing it. Which the other two are not accustomed to.

     Tom Sawyer, being a smart Alec, comes up with the idea for the adventure. He knows the way to this mysterious island and leads the other two to it. I set an vignette of Jackson's Island on the adjacent page for them to go to.

     Little Joe Harper, is stooped down and busy fishing because his role in the scene is not as active as the interaction between the other two rascals. He is the first to get homesick in the following pages, even though they have had lots of fun fishing, eating fried catfish, swimming and doing whatever they please.

Mail Call

     Not only getting mail is exciting when you are small but also putting a letter in the mailbox is fun too.
     In Minneapolis, there are beautiful city parks that line the shores of our many lakes.
     If you happen to take a walk on the path on Lake Harriet, you will see lots of interesting people, pets (of all kinds) and some wild critters too.
     The lake shore is full of beautiful, mature trees that tower overhead shading you from the elements. Down on the south shore stands a tree between the walking-path and the bike-path. At the base of the tree is a a hole shaped like a half-circle. But instead of just a hole there is a door. A tiny little door that opens and closes just right for little hands to operate. Inside the door are notes that these little hands have written to the small gnome who resides there. And guess what? If you so happen to write to the gnome, the gnome kindly writes you back. Albeit it is not as fast as email. But it works. And that is magic to those who receive those lovely little notes.