Kristi Valiant

Illustration Friday - Popularity

2012-02-10T14:35:00.003-06:00

Willa Bean is instantly more popular because of her rare, polka-dotted, knotted arrow.

This is another illustration from a series of chapter books called Little Wings that I'm illustrating. Super-dee-duper cute books!

Little Wings Series

2012-02-04T14:32:00.007-06:00

What is Harper whispering to Willa Bean? Oooo... the suspense! You'll have to read the book to find out!

I just received my illustrator copies of a new series of chapter books I'm illustrating for Random House called Little Wings. They just came out and are super adorable. Check them out!

Last week I visited NYC to meet my editors and art directors at Random House, to meet a few more publishers and my agent, to visit my brother, and to go to the big SCBWI Winter Conference with over 1100 attendees. What an amazing week! Random House even invited me to draw on their illustrator wall alongside some incredible illustrators - I totally geeked out.
"Really? Really? I can draw on your wall? Are you sure? These are all massively famous illustrators!"
I drew my dancing penguins from my upcoming picture book, PENGUIN CHA-CHA. Here I am with my editor for PENGUIN CHA-CHA and my dancing penguins on the wall next to Babymouse and Duck & Goose:

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-21T13:06:00.003-06:00

Wow, Christmas is in 4 days! Last year was my first daughter's first Christmas. This year is my second daughter's first Christmas. It's so eye-opening to see Christmas through a child's eyes. One of the traditions we started last year was to make a birthday cake for Jesus for Christmas day and sing Happy Birthday to him. I'm looking forward to that again!

Illustration Friday - sink

2011-12-17T23:21:00.003-06:00

From a picture book I illustrated called Cora Cooks Pancit.

PiBoIdMo

2011-10-24T14:33:00.000-05:00

Have you heard of PiBoIdMo? It stands for Picture Book Idea Month, and it's a challenge you can sign up for to pledge to create 30 new picture book ideas in 30 days. It's quite tough to come up with one unique picture book idea that could make it in this market, much less 30 of them! But hey, let's give it a try. Want to join in?

Sweet blessing

2011-10-05T11:17:00.002-05:00

Been a bit busy lately:

Meet Jovie!

App Giveaway of Cora Cooks Pancit

2011-08-30T21:30:00.003-05:00

One of the picture books I illustrated has been turned into an app for iPhone/iPad and Android. The publisher is hosting a giveaway with 15 winners. Fun!

From a manuscript I'm writing

2011-08-12T10:50:00.001-05:00

Little Wings Series, Conferences, Baby

2011-07-25T09:31:00.008-05:00

So sorry for neglecting my blog for months! Anyone still out there?

It's been a busy time around here. I'm illustrating a series for Random House called Little Wings by Cecilia Galante and these books are oh so adorably cute. They're now listed on Random House's website.

Back in April/May, I hosted my first conference as Regional Advisor of Indiana SCBWI. I added a whole lot of stuff to the conference that we hadn't had before, the biggest being tacking on a day of intensives. The writing intensive sold out in 24 hours and the illustrating intensive sold out in 48 hours, and the entire conference and all individual critiques ending up selling out too - yay! It was wonderful to see so many writers and illustrators working on their craft and crawling out of their writing spaces and studios to get to know each other and be inspired. These conferences always give me such a boost. Here I am with one of our conference speakers, Lisa Yoskowitz from Disney/Hyperion, and one of my critique group members, Christi Atherton:

Soon I'm taking off for the big Summer SCBWI Conference in Los Angeles. I'm organizing my portfolio for the Portfolio Showcase and just about every piece is from this year. Even some super brand new ones from this week. I'm praying all goes well with traveling because I'll be 33 weeks pregnant! Lovin' the 3D ultrasounds of our little sweetheart:

Any name ideas for her? Her big sister's name is Ciana.

Agent & Book Announcement!

2011-04-25T14:21:00.002-05:00

I have double great news: I'm now represented by an amazing literary agent, Linda Pratt of Wernick & Pratt Agency! And Random House is acquiring my picture book currently titled PENGUIN CHA-CHA!

PENGUIN CHA-CHA is about sneaky, dancing penguins (what could be more fun than sneaky, dancing penguins?) and will be the first picture book that I've both written and illustrated. Yay!

Hope you had a lovely Easter yesterday celebrating Jesus' return to life - the ultimate comeback after being dead 3 days!

There are a lot of exclamation points in this post. It's all so exciting!

Bookfair

2011-03-07T15:11:00.003-06:00

The SCBWI Brunch & Bookfair on Saturday was loads of fun!

Here I am with three very talented authors, Rebecca Kai Dotlich (our upcoming conference speaker), Peggy Archer (my Assistant Regional Advisor), and Janna Matthies (the author of the book I illustrated, The Goodbye Cancer Garden):
Signing Dancing Dreams for an outgoing reader:
14 of our signing authors and illustrators (1 had to duck out early). Laurie Gray, Janna Matthies, me, Nathan Clement, Ron Mazellan, Peggy Archer, Lynn Rowe Reed, Keiko Kasza, Christine Johnson, Julia Karr, Saundra Mitchell, Margaret McMullan, Rebecca Kai Dotlich, and Tracy Richardson:

The Bookfair is still going on online, so if you're planning on buying any books soon from Barnes & Noble, go to bn.com/bookfairs to support Indiana SCBWI online before 03/10/11 by entering Bookfair ID 10417145 at checkout.

Bookfair March 5th

2011-03-03T12:55:00.002-06:00

This Saturday, I'll be one of 15 children's book writers and illustrators signing books and giving presentations at Barnes & Noble in Carmel, Indiana on the north side of Indianapolis from noon to 2pm. Please come!

12:00 to 12:25—Middle Grade and YA authors panel:
Saundra Mitchell
Marlis Day
Laurie Gray
Julia Karr
12:30 to 12:55—Middle Grade and YA authors panel:
Christine Johnson
Margaret McMullan
Tracy Richardson
1:00—song by Janna Mathies
1:05 to 1:25—Picture book authors panel:
Peggy Archer
Rebecca Kai Dotlich
Janna Mathies
1:30—Illustration demonstration by Lynn Rowe Reed
1:40 to 1:55—Picture book author/illustrators panel:
Kristi Valiant
Nathan Clement
Keiko Kasza
Ron Mazellan
Lynn Rowe Reed

Starred Review and my monkey-lovin' baby

2011-02-22T09:16:00.009-06:00

Janna Matthies and I received a STARRED REVIEW from School Library Journal for our picture book, THE GOODBYE CANCER GARDEN!

"Smoothly told in a reassuringly matter-of-fact and understated way, this is less a story about cancer than about one family’s response to it... Realistic emotions like her general sadness or Janie’s brother’s dismay at his mom’s baldness are included, but are downplayed. The sketchy illustrations are tender and sweet. After the first “breaking the news” scene, every page depicts grateful smiles and loving camaraderie. Outdoor scenes provide a feeling of fresh air and the healing of nature. An uplifting, hopeful story, well told and beautifully illustrated." - STARRED REVIEW School Library Journal

"A family uses creativity and humor to cope with a mother's breast cancer treatment in this heartening and informed story... wispy illustrations are characterized by frenetic sketchy outlines that initially heighten the children's nervousness, but later feel suggestive of the family's energy and hopefulness, which should reassure children facing similar ordeals." - Publishers Weekly

"An unexpectedly upbeat text and delicate illustrations distinguish this story based on the true experiences of a family’s journey through breast cancer treatment and recovery....it is a rare youth title about cancer that focuses on recovery rather than dealing only with loss." - Booklist

In more personal news, I can't believe my baby girl is 1 already!

And boy, does she love her Curious George.

Illustration Friday - Dusty

2011-01-21T08:28:00.003-06:00

Heidi sure got dusty on her trek up the mountain. The goats didn't mind.

I entered this piece in the SCBWI Tomie dePaola Award Competition. The assignment was to illustrate the opening couple paragraphs from the novel, Heidi. You can see the winning entries on SCBWI's website.

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-20T17:20:00.001-06:00

Merry Christmas to you and your family!

Dummy is ready to submit (I think)

2010-12-10T09:38:00.004-06:00

The phenomenon of the dancing penguins would only happen when Julia wasn't in sight. When she wasn't there, the penguins moved and grooved, whirled and twirled, hip-hopped and boogie-bopped. But every time Julia stepped into the penguin cove, the penguins stared blankly at her.

These are from my picture book dummy that I just finished sketching last night. I've been revising this story over and over for a couple years now in between my published books. I've gone through a number of complete rewrites where the plot changed entirely, but the dancing penguins remained dancing through it all. I love this version and feel ready to submit (I think).

The picture book market is tough, but hopefully these penguins will dance their way into some agent's and editor's hearts to find a home!

I'm now Regional Advisor for Indiana SCBWI

2010-10-23T11:13:00.002-05:00

I'm the new Regional Advisor for Indiana SCBWI!

I've learned so much from the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI). Getting my portfolio critiqued at conferences by children's book art directors and following their advice has been so beneficial to my career. It helped me to learn the difference between the look of educational illustration, mass market illustration, and trade book illustration, and how to better portray emotion, narration, interaction, characters, and color. I've also learned a lot about what makes a great picture book manuscript (and no, not everyone can write a publishable picture book!). I want to give back to SCBWI and other children's book writers and illustrators as a volunteer Regional Advisor. It's a time-consuming job, but I'm looking forward to meeting more professionals in the ever-changing children's book industry.

Children's book people are so genuinely nice!

Photo: Trish Batey (our former Regional Advisor), Peggy Archer (Assistant Regional Advisor), and me

The Goodbye Cancer Garden

2010-10-01T10:01:00.006-05:00

Janie spots a couple pumpkins hiding beneath elephant-ear leaves.

I'm excited to announce a picture book that I illustrated, The Goodbye Cancer Garden, is now available for pre-order from Amazon. It's written by Janna Matthies and published by Albert Whitman & Company.

In this story, Mom has cancer. When the doctor says that Mom will probably feel better by pumpkin time, the whole family decides to plant a garden. As the healthy veggies grow, Mom grows healthier too. Janna has written a beautiful story, and I pray that this book will bring hope to many families.

Midsouth SCBWI Conference 2010

2010-09-27T12:01:00.003-05:00

Over 120 children's book writers and illustrators plus editors, agents, an art director, contests, an art display, hot fudge... what a fabulous Midsouth SCBWI conference this weekend!

My dancing penguins in their old-fashioned attire above won Honorable Mention in the illustration contest, and my manuscript won Honorable Mention in the picture book contest. Yay!

Some of my favorite notes from the conference:

As an example of using voice in manuscripts, Ruta Rimas (Balzer & Bray) rewrote Mo Willem's DON'T LET THE PIGEON DRIVE THE BUS without voice. Basically something like, "Once there was a pigeon with big googly eyes. A mean man wouldn't let him drive a bus but the pigeon really wanted to..." Then Ruta read the actual text of the book with the pigeon pleading and yelling at us. Wow. So much more effective and playful.

"Put every word on trial for its life," from the book READING LIKE A WRITER by Francine Prose.

Is your picture book manuscript strong enough to carry an $18 price tag? - Diane Muldrow (Random House).

From the first pages session by Agents Kelly Sonnack and Linda Pratt:
Text and illustrations are a comic duo - the text is the setup man for the illustrations.
Books don't need to teach imagination to kids. They already have it!
Too much description in an action scene slows down the pacing. Keep the action building with forward momentum.
Make your reader feel smart. They shouldn't have to reread to get it.

From an art session by Patti Ann Harris (Senior Art Director, Little, Brown) and Diane Muldrow (Editorial Director, Random House):
Your character needs to be strong, winning, and loveable but not necessarily likeable.
Patti Ann will go to illustrators' websites, pull some jpgs, and print them on a sheet with the illustrator's name for her files, so you need a portfolio website.
Be yourself on your website. Don't overdo it with Flash and things that take awhile to load and are distracting.
Emotional resonance is key in illustrations.
It's all about the character. Everyone can draw a car, but not everyone can draw a character with strong personality/humor/emotion.
Mailers need to have focus, kind of like a book cover. It should grab you from across the room, and shouldn't be too busy.
Study online PDFs of catalogs from different publishers to understand the "look" of each publisher.

The only sad part of the weekend was my continued cupcake tragedy. The conference is held across the street from Gigi's Cupcakes. Last year I was pregnant and I waited until after dinner to try to satisfy my huge cupcake craving. It was too late - the cupcake shop was closed! This year I vowed to get my hands on those cupcakes before dinner, but the shop closed even earlier this year and so I didn't get them again! Next year, you cupcakes will be MINE!

Illustration Friday - Acrobat

2010-09-17T11:17:00.003-05:00

I just had these 8.5" x 5.5" postcards made that I'll be sending as art samples to art directors and editors at publishing houses that I want to work with on picture books.

These illustrations are from my WIP picture book dummy. I've been working on this dummy on and off for a couple years. It's been off since last fall; I've illustrated 4 picture books and had a baby in the meantime! Now I finally have some time to start working on it again. I've completely rewritten the story but kept most of the same characters. The new story has a much stronger plot structure, but it still needs some revising. I've given the manuscript to my critique group and also have some other writers critiquing it at the Midsouth conference next weekend. Can't wait!

My new books!

2010-09-17T09:49:00.005-05:00

I received my first copies of Dancing Dreams and Oliver's First Christmas from Accord Publishing. I turned in the final illustrations for Dancing Dreams days before I had my baby in January, and the finals for Oliver's First Christmas were due in April. Both of these will be released within the next month.

They both use AniMotion(tm) technology, which is a fancy way of saying that there are action windows which look like animations as you turn the page. You can see the woman in the red dress is in two different poses above. Super fun!

Shiny sticker on my book!

2010-09-02T14:08:00.002-05:00

The award banquet for APALA was great. I loved getting to meet the author of Cora Cooks Pancit. Most of the time as an illustrator I don't have any contact with my authors; the publishers like to keep us separate so we can work more creatively in telling our own half of the picture book story. Dorina is a wonderful woman and it was an honor to share this award with her. Congrats to Renee at Shen's Books as well.

Now our book has a shiny award sticker!

Illustration Friday - Star gazing

2010-08-13T12:43:00.003-05:00

An illustration from my picture book, DANCING DREAMS, to be released next month by Accord/Andrews McMeel.

WriteOnCon

2010-08-12T12:48:00.002-05:00

There's a free online writer's conference focused on picture books, middle grade, and YA going on right now at http://writeoncon.com.

You can see videos, read about editor and agent preferences, etc. Here are just some of the topics:

Questions to Ask Yourself Before a Revision by editor Kendra Levin
Illustrating Children's Books by author/illustrator J.H. Everett and Studio 5
Plot and Pacing Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3, by author/literary agent Weronika Janczuk
Myths and Misconceptions by literary agent Holly Root, and editors Molly O'Neill and Martha Mihalick
Do's and Don't's of Querying by literary agent Kate Testerman

Enjoy!

Illustration Friday - Paisley

2010-06-18T09:35:00.002-05:00

Cora in her paisley dress from my award-winning picture book, Cora Cooks Pancit. In a week I'll receive the APALA picture book award for this book at the ALA conference in Washington DC!

Illustration Friday - Slither

2010-05-28T09:18:00.002-05:00

Another illustration from my picture book, DANCING DREAMS, to be published by Accord Publishing in Sept 2010.

Illustration Friday - Early

2010-05-21T11:05:00.003-05:00

This is an early peek at a picture book I have coming out in Sept 2010. The title is DANCING DREAMS, to be published by Accord Publishing. In this story, Gracie dreams of dancing everything from ballet to hula to flamenco to country.

Illustration Friday - Fearless

2010-05-07T10:59:00.003-05:00

Oliver the puppy isn't afraid to join in and sing out loud. He obviously agrees with Buddy the Elf who taught us, "The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear."

I illustrated these for the picture book Oliver's First Christmas, to be released in October, 2010, by Accord Publishing.

Illustration Friday - Ahead

2010-04-23T12:32:00.005-05:00

I just finished this cover illustration for a picture book I have coming out this fall called Oliver's First Christmas, to be published by Accord Publishing. The snowflakes in the snow globe will actually be animated with an animotion window.

What's ahead for this little puppy? Lots of mischief!

3 months old

2010-04-14T15:46:00.002-05:00

My squeaker is 3 months old today, and she's been a dream baby - sleeping 11 hours at night, playing so nicely next to me as I work, giving me lots of her adorable smiles, and just being a joyful blessing!

Happy Easter

2010-04-05T10:44:00.006-05:00

"He died not for men, but for each man. If each man had been the only man made, He would have done no less." — C.S. Lewis

We had a beautiful Easter day celebrating Jesus' gift to us. Hope your Easter was just as lovely.

Illustration Friday - Rescue

2010-03-26T11:50:00.003-05:00

From the picture book, CORA COOKS PANCIT.

Picture Book Winner of the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature

2010-03-05T14:59:00.003-06:00

More great news: CORA COOKS PANCIT was the Picture Book Winner of the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature! Last year, the winner was WABI SABI, which is an incredible picture book, so I'm thrilled to be in such amazing company!

The award ceremony is during the ALA Annual Conference in Washington, D.C. in June.

Go CORA!

2010-02-24T16:24:00.005-06:00

CORA COOKS PANCIT is in the annual best-of-the-year list of the Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC), called CCBC Choices 2010. Yay! The complete CCBC Choices 2010 publication featuring books published in 2009 will include annotations and recommended ages for all of the books included, as well as an author/title/subject index, and a commentary on the publishing year. It'll be available in March.

More great news: CORA COOKS PANCIT was reviewed in the November, 2009 issue of School Library Journal!

LAZO GILMORE, Dorina K. Cora Cooks Pancit. illus. by Kristi Valiant. unpaged. glossary. CIP. Shen's. 2009. Tr $17.95. ISBN 978-1-885008-35-0. LC 2008045836.

PreS-Gr 3--When Cora's Filipino family cooks together, she's always stuck doing the "kid jobs." Then one day when her older siblings are out and about, Cora gets her chance to bond with Mama in the kitchen. She even gets to choose her favorite dish, so the two of them make a large bowl of noodles, chicken, and vegetables called pancit. Clear expository prose explains how to perform kitchen tasks. For example, Mama tells Cora, "Open the package of rice noodles and put them in this bowl of water." Then she engages her daughter by asking her, "Do you know why we soak them?" These scenes effectively model how adults can introduce children to cooking. The simple, direct style also makes the book equally well suited as a read-aloud and for newly independent readers. The artwork nicely complements the text, as Valiant's warm hues of gold, red, and orange highlight the family's loving relationship. They also capture Cora's feelings through facial expressions. Wide eyes and smiles show the child's joy at cooking with her mother, while a downcast mouth and arched eyebrows illustrate her anxiety that her family won't like her pancit. Although this dish is unique to Cora's culture, children of all backgrounds will share her feelings at being allowed to help cook a meal for the first time. A solid choice for schools and public libraries, especially where family-based programming is popular.--Mary Landrum, Lexington Public Library, KY

Baby Ciana

2010-01-31T11:46:00.002-06:00

Ok, I have to show off my biggest little blessing, born a couple weeks ago with a full head of hair!

I'm taking some time off work to play and cuddle this sweetheart all day long, and then I have a couple picture books lined up to illustrate. Ciana is so animated and can go through 50 expressions just waking up; I'm sure my hours of staring adoringly at her will help me to illustrate kids more expressively too.

Newest Picture Book

2010-01-09T12:39:00.004-06:00

I recently finished illustrating a picture book called DANCING DREAMS for Accord Publishing that will have Animotion panels making it look like a confined part of the illustration is animated (the older ballerina on stage in this spread). Accord did the same thing with the picture book, BEE & ME, which became a New York Times Best-Seller!

DANCING DREAMS incorporated a lot of styles of dance and was soooo much fun to illustrate. I love dancing. I used to be part of a performance and competition swing dance group. We also did latin and ballroom dancing. I miss all that fun exercise.

Accord offered me another contract for a second picture book with Animotion panels. I've been working on cover sketches, and this one is going to be stinkin' cute! Check back for updates on that.

Guess who's coming soon?

2010-01-06T17:53:00.002-06:00

We don't know her name yet. Suggestions?

Peter Rabbit

2009-12-04T14:37:00.003-06:00

Oh, those crunchy carrots were so tempting!

This illustration is for Theatreworks USA's production of PETER RABBIT Y SUS AMIGOS, an English/Spanish musical theater production.

Highlights Nov Issue

2009-11-02T14:06:00.002-06:00

Skinny? You won't be after you eat a full Thanksgiving meal! I have this illustration accompanying Donna Earnhardt's lovely poem in the November issue of Highlights magazine.

Pumpkin Carving

2009-10-31T23:10:00.003-05:00

Took a break tonight to carve a pumpkin. I like how this smily monster turned out.

Illustration Friday - Fast

2009-10-23T09:11:00.005-05:00

These are some fast sketches I did of people around me while standing in line for hours a couple days ago.

Highlights Illustrators' Party

2009-10-22T12:31:00.006-05:00

Highlights throws an Illustrators' Party Weekend every year. They invited us out to their beautiful headquarters in eastern Pennsylvania and wined and dined us (well, I didn't have any wine because of the baby). There were activities all weekend long including a costume party, bbq, square dance, lamb roast, hayride, pumpkin painting, portfolio time, and so on. I loved meeting so many illustrators and especially my fabulous art director from Highlights Magazine, Cindy Smith. Incredible weekend!

The theme of the costume party was to dress up as our favorite day of the year. I chose World Tourism Day and piled on stuff from all over the world. Casey chose National Kick Butt Day and wore his tae kwon do uniform with a butt-shaped sign pinned to his butt that said, "Kick here!" Only one guy attempted to kick him. I took a few people out with my huge sombrero though.

Near Highlights and Boyds Mills offices. We took the lovely back roads thanks to our handy iPhones.

This is the lake next to our cabin. Gorgeous! We took a paddle boat out for a bit and got our butts wet due to a broken rudder.

Casey and I made the Highlights weekend into a 30-hour weeklong roadtrip and visited friends along the way. It was a beautiful time for driving and being 6 months pregnant was fine for a roadtrip. Baby Valiant did great!

Illustration Contest Win!

2009-09-29T11:36:00.002-05:00

This past weekend was the Midsouth SCBWI conference in Nashville for children's book writers and illustrators. I won the illustration contest there - whoo hoo! The Art Director from Henry Holt, Patrick Collins, gave the illustrators text from a couple picture book manuscripts, and we painted a spread from one of the books for the contest. The text on my illustration above is from the picture book, Don't Lick the Dog, written by Wendy Wahman.

The conference was fabulous and I intend to blog some of my notes next week. Right now I'm heading out on a roadtrip to the Highlights for Children Illustrator's Weekend and to visit friends on the way. Highlights magazine hosts an Illustrator's Weekend every year where they invite their illustrators to eastern Pennsylvania to relax, view portfolios, square dance, and get dressed up in crazy costumes. I'm excited!

Book Dummy - take 2

2009-08-21T08:12:00.003-05:00

I posted a different color version of this a couple weeks ago, but since then I decided to experiment with the background color to make the penguins stand out more and also added the white sketchy background.

Chicken Nugget Lemon Tooty & Illustration Friday

2009-08-15T00:24:00.003-05:00

Chicken Nugget Lemon Tooty is a super fun blog where children's book illustrator Aaron Zenz posts artwork by his talented kids. For the blog's three year anniversary, Aaron wanted to do something special for the kids, so he invited anyone to recreate one of the kids' drawings in their own style. I thought Isaac's drawing of a hippo hanging in a bat cave was simply genius, so that's the one I chose to wrap in my own style and paint tonight.

by Isaac, age 10

Color Spread

2009-08-11T13:33:00.003-05:00

Click on the image to see it larger.

Here's the color version of a spread from my picture book dummy that I promised you in my last post. When I submit my sketch dummy of my own picture book manuscript to publishers, I'll also send along a couple full-color spreads so that they can see what the finished art would look like. Actually, I'll be submitting to agents first who handle picture book author/illustrators. I've never submitted my work to agents before, so I'm starting to gather info for a dream agent list.

My Picture Book Dummy

2009-08-07T10:44:00.004-05:00

(Click image to see it larger)

The penguins were too impatient to wait for food - they found their own.

I'm working on my picture book dummy right now, and it's so much fun! I plan on painting this sketch soon, so check back for the color version. If you write a picture book manuscript, you submit just the manuscript without illustrations to publishers to see if they will acquire it. But since I want to do both the writing and illustrating, I draw sketches for my whole picture book manuscript that I've written and submit those sketches along with the text as a small mock-up of my picture book called a dummy or sketch dummy.

Book Signing Fun

2009-07-29T12:24:00.005-05:00

My Cora Cooks Pancit book signing was a smashing hit! Barnes & Noble sold out of the books they ordered for the signing, and then they sold 12 of my own copies that I brought in as backup. How fun is that!

The most fun part of it for me was seeing lots of friends from church, neighbors, in-laws, SCBWI friends, and friends of my mother-in-law (she sent the announcement to everyone she's ever known). It was quite the party! I brought a big pot of pancit and my husband handed out samples the whole time while I signed and chatted and hugged and "Wow - I haven't seen you in 2 months!" There was a lot of that, because I've been in bed for 2 months with severe morning sickness and dizziness. Being in the second trimester now rocks!

Blog Interview

2009-07-23T08:33:00.002-05:00

Elizabeth O. Dulemba (aka "e") interviewed me about CORA COOKS PANCIT on her fun blog. Check it out here: dulemba.com

July 25 Book Signing in Evansville, Indiana

2009-07-08T11:06:00.003-05:00

I have my first ever book signing at a store coming up for a book I illustrated. I've done book signings at schools and conferences before, but at a store is scarier because attendance is more nebulous. I'll be bringing a pot of pancit to hand out samples. Pancit is a Filipino noodle dish with chicken and veggies - the recipe is in the book and it's delicious! I'll also be wearing my red apron just like Cora does in the book. I hope to see you there!

Saturday, July 25, 2009
Barnes & Noble, Evansville, Indiana
2 pm
The book: Cora Cooks Pancit (multicultural hardcover picture book)
Written by Dorina Lazo Gilmore, Illustrated by Kristi Valiant

HOPE CARD for the kids of the Australian fires

2009-07-03T13:19:00.004-05:00

Early this year, Australia was shook up with devastating fires and flooding. Many SCBWI (Society of Children's Writers and Illustrators) regions sent donations to help replace books for schools and libraries and HOPE cards. Each HOPE card has an illustration or two and messages from children's book writers and illustrators to the kids in Australia. I was asked to create an illustration for our Indiana SCBWI region's HOPE card and here it is. We pray that everyone affected by the Australian fires and flooding finds hope in the midst of this shaky time.

Fun Cora News

2009-05-25T13:52:00.003-05:00

Whoo-hoo! There's a lot to report. First, I received my Cora books a couple weeks ago, and they turned out beautiful!

Second, I set up a book signing at Barnes & Noble for July 25 here in Evansville, IN. I hope you can come! I'll be bringing a big pot of pancit to give out samples. It's delicious and the recipe is in the book.

Third, REVIEWS!

Terry Hong of the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Program Blog, BookDragon, posted a wonderful review of Cora Cooks Pancit. Hong wrote, "Gilmore, who grew up in a Filipino Italian kitchen, tells a heartwarming tale that illustrator Valiant captures with the perfect combination of whimsy and action. You can actually feel Cora’s longing as she watches her siblings in the kitchen, her wonder as she listens to Mama’s stories about Lolo, her worry that her pancit might disappoint, and her beaming pride when the whole family enjoys the meal she so lovingly helped to create. This is one treasure of a family book. Delicious, too!"

Jama Rattigan reviewed Cora Cooks Pancit on her Alphabet Soup blog and said, "Kristi Valiant's illustrations are the warm stuff of golds, browns, and rich jewel tones. Cora's expressions are convincingly hopeful, joyous, pensive, and tentative, as she anxiously tries her hand at new tasks. Kids will especially love the added storyline of the family dog, who follows Cora around with a toy in his mouth, wanting her to play. The true joys of cooking -- from the initial anticipation, through every step of preparation, and finally, the sharing and tasting, is palpable with every page turn. By the time you come to the final double page spread of the whole family at the table, you'll wish you were right there, feasting on the adobo chicken, lumpia, and Cora's first pancit."

Also, Stephanie Ruble interviewed me on her blog, sruble's world.

NaPiBoWriWee - Results

2009-05-08T16:47:00.003-05:00

I made it! Just barely, but I made it. At 11:35 pm on Day 7 I finished my 7th picture book manuscript in 7 days! Whoo-hoo!!!

PB 1: Funny fiction, main character is an elephant.
PB 2: Funny fiction, main character is a hamster.
PB 3: Rhyming (Why did I do that to myself? I've never written in rhyme! But at least I have a poet in my critique group).
PB 4: Sweet fiction (Again, a stretch for me because I don't like sweet'n'sappy).
PB 5: Funny fiction, main character is a flamingo.
PB 6: Funny & adventurous fiction, main character is a grasshopper.
PB 7: Kinda weird and scary, main character is a monster (It was definitely time for this challenge to be over!)

I really like some of my picture books that I wrote this week, and I would even go so far as to say they all have potential as first drafts. I'm going to put them away for a number of days before reading them again to see which I'll start revising. Did you participate? How did it go?

MOCHA Art Exhibit

2009-05-04T16:19:00.002-05:00

I have a couple pieces of art in an upcoming show at the Museum of Children's Art (MOCHA) in Oakland, CA - how fun is that! And you're invited! Here's the info from MOCHA:

You are invited to the Museum of Children's Art (MOCHA)'s Annual exhibit, Once Upon a Time: Children's Book Illustrators, Then and Now, May 8-June 2. This year we are featuring work by Don Freeman, author/illustrator of Corduroy and Norman the Doorman, and 27 other artists.

Sarah Ackerley
Eve Aldridge
Bob Barner
Lisa Brown
Nancy Carroll
John Clapp
Claire B. Cotts
Angelo Dominguez
Julie Downing
Soma Han Stickler
Sara Kahn
Elisa Kleven
Angelo Lopez
Lea Lyon
Jenny Matheson
Jeff Miracola
Kathryn Otoshi
Todd Parr
Jeff Peterson
Joni Stringfield
Paul Tong
Dona Turner
Kristi Valiant (me!)
Lisa Victoria
David Weitzman
Ashley Wolf

The reception/book signing is May 9, 2-4pm. I won't be able to be at the reception, but some of the other artists will be there. If you go, send me a photo!

(I created the links above by googling the illustrators. If I have yours wrong, please let me know.)

NaPiBoWriWee - Day 1

2009-05-01T16:04:00.002-05:00

It really helped me get into the picture book mood by reading and analyzing over 60 picture books this week. I forgot to mention both Mary Uhles and Diandra Mae joined me in the Picture Book Reading Challenge that we finished yesterday. Be sure to check out their results too.

NaPiBoWriWee is National Picture Book Writing Week, the brainchild of Paula Yoo. Paula said about 75 writers have signed up to write 7 picture books in 7 days starting today. Whoo hoo! Are you in?

To start the ideas rolling, I took a nap. Ok, the nap itself wasn't the goal, but when I'm sleepy and drifting off or drifting back is when I usually get my picture book ideas. And it worked! I'm off to write about a fidgety lil' elephant...

Picture Book Reading Challenge Results

2009-04-30T15:31:00.003-05:00

61 - that's how many picture books I read the last couple days for the Picture Book Reading Challenge. I decided to divide the picture books I read into 4 piles this time because I was having a hard time with just 3 piles on these.

Pile 1 = Amazing Books I Love & Want to Buy: 9 books.
Duck and Goose (Tad Hills) - I bought this yesterday.
Best Buds (Maxwell Eaton III)
Superheroes (Maxwell Eaton III)
The Odd Egg (Emily Gravett)
Wolves (Emily Gravett)
Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed (Mo Willems)
Duck at the Door (Jackie Urbanovic)
Little Oink (Amy Krouse Rosenthal/Jen Corace)
Duck! Rabbit! (Amy Krouse Rosenthal/Tom Lichtenheld)

Pile 2 = Very Good Books That I Would Read Again: 12 books.
Rhyming Dust Bunnies (Jan Thomas)
How to Win Friends and Influence Creatures for Kids (Deborah Zemke)
Llama, Llama, Red Pajama (Anna Dewdney)
Duck and Cover (Jackie Urbanovic)
Mouse Was Mad (Linda Urban/Henry Cole)
All God's Critters (Bill Staines/Kadir Nelson)
Cock-a-doodle hooooooo! (Mick Manning/Brita Granstrom)
Ginger Bear (Mini Grey)
The Cow That Laid an Egg (Andy Cutbill/Russell Ayto)
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom (Bill Martin Jr/John Archambault)
Bats at the Library (Brian Lies)
Freckleface Strawberry (Julianne Moore/LeUyen Pham)

Pile 3 = OK Books That I'm Not Excited Read Again: 29 books, but I don't want anyone to feel bad if I list their book.

Pile 4 = Don't-Ever-Make-Me-Read-It-Again Books: 11 books.

I combined a few reading lists and also read books that were prominently displayed at Barnes & Noble and Borders.

My analysis of my favorite books: They all made me laugh out loud, and I wanted to make my husband read them (since we don't have kids yet to force books upon). Most of these books have sparse text and simple storylines, with a twist or surprise to the ending. Wolves has a surprise ending in which someone gets eaten (gulp!) and then a revised extra ending for sensitive readers - hilarious. I love the way the text plays with the illustrations in these books. Duck! Rabbit! is the ultimate play between words and illustrations. You really have to get this book to see what I mean. And the two books by Maxwell Eaton III use speech bubbles to give quirky personalities to the characters. The fact that a polar bear's butt reminds Max that Pinky likes marshmallows in Best Buds is quirkiness at its best. Each of the nine books in my Amazing pile has a unique spin about it; not your typical, "MC doesn't want to go to bed...," "MC loses a tooth...," "MC has bully problems...," or any of the other topics that editors say saturate their piles. I guess Duck and Goose is about sharing when it comes down to it, but the lesson isn't pointed out, and you can't help but love their funny squabbling about how to take care of the "egg" they found and the surprise that it's not an egg. So if we write about a common theme, it really needs to stand out somehow.

My analysis of the books I didn't like: Most had far too many words, and I found myself wanting to edit them down to be more efficient and funnier. Some of them also had a lesson that was far too preachy (one certain recycling book had me groaning the whole way because it was soooo didactic). A couple of the books I didn't like tried too hard to be funny and ended up lame and annoying to me. And a couple didn't have a satisfying ending.

I sent in my picture book dummy that I wrote and sketched to be critiqued and will get that back at an SCBWI event next weekend. I'm putting that story out of my head until then, so that it'll be fresh when I get it back, and then I'll decide which of these piles I would put it in as a reader. Now it's time for me to start writing other picture books using the lessons I learned from reading all these picture books - it's time for NaPiBoWriWee!!!! I'll be writing 7 picture books in 7 days! Go to Paula Yoo's blog for details and to sign up.

Picture Book Reading Challenge for April 30

2009-04-27T16:18:00.002-05:00

In the comments section of my post on creating a Picture Book Reading Challenge, a few us decided that we would take the Reading Challenge and post our results on April 30. Do you want to join us?

Read a couple posts back for the full description of the challenge. Here's a summary:

1. Find a list of great picture books or combine lists to create a reading list at least 50 books long. Here are a some suggestions:
Fuse#8 countdown,
New York Public Library's 100 best list,
Amazon's Best Books of 2008,
Great Read Alouds,
Picture Books That Will Make You Laugh,
Classroom Read Aloud Picture Books

2. Find these books in your library or hang out at a bookstore to read them. Preferably read all the books on your list in one day.

3. After reading a book assign it to a category: Not-My-Taste Books, OK Books, or Amazingly-Great Books

4. Figure out what made the Amazingly-Great books amazingly great and why the others weren't.

5. Read your own manuscript and assign it a pile. Oooooooo!

6. Post whatever part of your results you want.

Illustration Friday - Impossibility

2009-04-17T09:36:00.004-05:00

This is a quick color study for my own picture book dummy that I'm working on. If you both write and illustrate picture books, you can create sketches for your whole manuscript and submit those along with your story to publishers - it's called a dummy.

Picture Book Reading Challenge

2009-04-13T13:27:00.002-05:00

I'm mainly an illustrator, but I'm working on writing picture books too.

Lin Oliver quoted Richard Peck as saying, "For every one book you write, read 1000." I know I've read loads of picture books these past couple years, but I don't know if I've hit 1000 - possibly. I always have a huge stack of picture books checked out from the library. A couple months ago I gave myself a Picture Book Reading Challenge. I checked out over 60 picture books from a great-read-out-loud list and read them all that one night! I felt like an editor reading slush (except these were published books, so probably a whole lot better than most slush).

I divided them into three piles: 1) books I loved and wanted to read again, 2) books I thought were ok but didn't want to read again, and 3) books I thought were boring or not to my liking. I ended up with only 6 books in the "books I loved and wanted to read again" pile.

Then I read my picture book manuscripts I'm writing. Here's the real meaty question: Which pile do my work-in-progress manuscripts belong? All of them went in the middle "ok" pile.

How do I get my manuscripts into the best pile so that they'll actually be acquired? I studied in-depth each of the books I put in the best pile to see what kind of books I love and what I loved about them. I found out that I love picture books that are hilarious, clever, fast reads, and that the illustrations tell at least half the story, sometimes even contradicting the words to be funny. I decided to rewrite one of my manuscripts completely with the intent of it landing in my "books I loved and wanted to read again" pile. After rewriting it (and drawing as I wrote), I feel it's much stronger, and now I'm sketching it into a dummy to submit to publishers. (If you're an illustrator as well as author, you can submit a sketch dummy instead of just the manuscript to publishers.)

So if any of you picture book writers or illustrators want to check out loads of picture books, read them all in one sitting, divide them into piles based on your tastes, and study the ones in the best pile, I hope it'll help you too! That's my challenge for you. And I may join you and do it again with another big stack of books.

Illustration Friday - Poise

2009-03-27T08:26:00.004-05:00

I've been working on this piece for a show entitled "Beginnings." Here, Adam and Eve are poised on the brink of causing death to enter the world by disobeying the only command that God gave them - not to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Picture Book Proofs

2009-02-27T12:15:00.004-06:00

Editorial Anonymous recently defined some technical book industry terms. She states, "proofs are an example of the book, printed on the big professional printing presses (but not bound), and this is our chance to make sure the alignment of the printing, the page trimming, and the color is correct."

Illustrators don't always get to see proofs. For digital illustrators like myself, we don't have traditional paintings that the publisher can compare to the proofs to make sure the colors match, so we love it if we get to see the proofs for color purposes. The picture book that I illustrated, Cora Cooks Pancit, is coming out in April, and the publisher was so gracious as to let me see the proofs this week. I love the way the colors printed - exactly how I hoped! Here are the individual pages and the jacket.

Illustration Friday "Flawed"

2009-01-30T08:36:00.004-06:00

Since Cora was unsure how to check the noodles to see if they were done soaking, she tried to smell them. Oops!

I illustrated these for the picture book, Cora Cooks Pancit.

Cora Cooks Pancit

2009-01-23T11:57:00.004-06:00

What have I been working on? Mainly this book: Cora Cooks Pancit for Shen's Books.

Cora loves the kitchen, but her older brother and sisters always get to help with the real cooking while she gets stuck with kid jobs like licking the spoon. When her older siblings head out for the day, Cora finally gets the chance to be Mama's assistant chef. She chooses to make her Grandpa's pancit recipe, a Filipino noodle dish.

The pancit recipe is included in the book, and it's delicious! My husband and I made a big pot of pancit a few weeks ago, and we've already bought ingredients to make it again. Mmmm...

Amazon says the book will be out in April, so look for it in April or May in your bookstore!

Illustration Friday "Contained"

2009-01-11T21:59:00.001-06:00

It's fun to watch the lil' wiggly kids in taekwondo learn to contain their wiggliness.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year... a bit late

2009-01-03T16:29:00.005-06:00

Well, this a bit late, but I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas with your family and friends, and had time to reflect on the true meaning of CHRISTmas!

My husband and I took a friend of ours, who is an international college student from Korea, up to Wisconsin to visit my family for Christmas. There's a crazy amount of snow in Wisconsin this year - close to 30" when we got there! Our friend had never seen so much snow, so we had fun with snowball fights and giddily playing around in the snow. It reminded me of winters when I was young. We would dig snow tunnels through our backyard (like in the photo above). Our small city in Wisconsin would flood the football fields at the elementary schools to make them into ice skating rinks, and we would ice skate for recess! These kind of moments that transport me back to being a kid are incredible bits of momentum for writing and illustrating picture books. May your new year be filled with childhood memory momentum too.

My husband and I spent New Year's in romantic New Harmony, IN.

Terroist attack

2008-11-29T14:44:00.003-06:00

Children's book author & illustrator Linda Ragsdale was shot in the back in the terroist attacks in India and underwent surgery. After the attacks, her husband flew to India on an emergency visa to be with her. Linda's such an energetic and fun woman; the first time I met her she bought me dinner and we laughed all night. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers for a quick and full recovery.

Highlights Magazine

2008-11-26T11:34:00.003-06:00

I'm so honored to have illustrated a wonderful Christmas poem by Eileen Spinelli in this month's issue of Highlights Magazine. Highlights - "the world's best-loved magazine" - how sweet is that!

The only thing I didn't realize was how dark and dull my illustration would print on magazine newsprint. The top is what it looks like in the magazine, and the bottom is how it's supposed to look. Hmmm... I'm hoping for more assignments from Highlights, and I'll be sure to up my brightness and colors next time around.

Illustration Friday "Pretend"

2008-11-14T14:02:00.002-06:00

This is one of the card designs I did for Christian Collection's Christmas 2009 catalog. I know it's a whole year away before you'll be able to buy the cards, but that's how timing works for when they need the final art!

Trade Book Sketches

2008-10-30T09:00:00.003-05:00

What am I currently working on? A sweet, trade picture book for Shen's Books. Here's a lil' sneak peek at the main character. I'm still in the sketch phase. It's so much fun to create a personality, a tiny life that exists in this book.

Operation Christmas Child

2008-10-20T09:48:00.002-05:00

The thing I love most about this time of year is a program called Operation Christmas Child. You take an ordinary shoebox, fill it with toys, school supplies, hygiene items, and a note, take it to a local church who will send it to Samaritan's Purse, who will carry your box around the world and give it to a needy child. It may be the first present that child has ever received. What a tangible way to show little children that God loves them, and they are precious in His sight! If you're interested in filling a shoebox, you can go to the Samaritan's Purse website to see where in your city you can drop off your box: http://www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/OCC They collect boxes until Nov 24, so that they still have time to ship them around the world before Christmas. Here's a video about the program:

I love this ministry, and try to do as many boxes as I can each year! Please join me.

Illustration Friday "Strings"

2008-10-10T12:14:00.005-05:00

When I saw the Illustration Friday topic of "strings," I thought of a tightrope. And since I have penguins on the mind, I decided to draw a performance poster for Mr. Popper's Penguins.

I won SCBWI Midsouth Conference Poster Contest!

2008-09-25T08:54:00.006-05:00

I packed my bags and headed to the Midsouth SCBWI Conference last weekend. I had a wonderful time.

A new part of the conference this year was a poster contest for children's book art. The conference faculty chose the one that they felt looked most like the cover of a children's book and mine won. How exciting is that!

There were a lot of beautiful illustrations at this conference. Those of us who had attended last year's conference and had met with the Art Director, Laurent Linn, have greatly improved our portfolios based on his articulate suggestions. It's so encouraging to learn at these conferences what makes strong illustrations for the picture book industry and to see other artists grow. I can't wait to see next year's artwork after meeting with Victoria Jamieson this year.

SCBWI Midsouth Conference

2008-09-23T09:08:00.003-05:00

This past weekend I attended the Midsouth SCBWI Conference in Nashville, TN. This region seriously puts on amazing conferences! Here are some of my notes:

Bruce Coville (author of more than 90 books)
I've loved Bruce's books that I've read and listened to. He's such a super dynamic and animated speaker. If you ever get a chance to hear him, go, go, go!
HA! WA! YIKES! If you can get all three of these reactions in your reader, you've written a great book.
HA! Kids love humor. How do you get a laugh? Use one of the following words: fart, booger, butt, naked, etc. But the best laugh is one that comes from the story itself. For example, a bully gets puts into his place.
WA! An honest tear. Easy tear - kill the dog. But the best tear comes from the story itself. For example, tears of joy when something so wonderful happens.
YIKES! Kids love scary books. The best scary is when a character you love is in trouble, emotional peril.
Use sensory details to sweep you into a scene. In any important scene, use 3 of the 5 senses.
Make a good story a great story by making your character face a tough moral choice. The question kids have is not, "Do I want to be good?" but rather, "Who do I want to be like?" Provide role models.
"Sometimes I write a fairytale because it's the best way to tell the truth." - C.S. Lewis

Victoria Jamieson (designs picture books, middle grade, and YA for Greenwillow)
Victoria has a website with her own illustration work, and she has a fun picture book coming out next summer, Bea Rocks the Flock!
She prefers illustrators to send in postcard samples of their artwork, not envelopes that she has to open.
Have a web portfolio where she can find more of your work, and she can print it out.
If you like a particular subject or type of book, do at least 3 illustrations like that for your portfolio.
Victoria showed us some picture book dummies which I found very helpful since I would like to write and illustrate my own picture books.
She talked about Darcy Pattison's Narrative Arc Formula:
This is a story about ______________________________
Who more than anything else wants __________________
(Alternate: Who more than anything else fears_________________)
But can’t get it because of these complications:
(Alternate: But has to face it because of these complications:)
UNTIL (climax/resolution).

Amalia Ellison (Assistant Editor at Abrams)
Why have an agent: Agents protect you in ways you don't realize until it's too late.
If you don't want an agent: query the assistant and associate editors and editorial assistants if they have aquiring ability. They are the ones who will be passionate about your books and will work on building a relationship with you because your success means success for them.
Amalia prefers email submissions with manuscripts as attachments (go green). If she feels your writing is great, but it's not what she's interested in, she'll pass it around the office. Amalia loves mysteries, math mysteries, and humorous adventure books - so do I! She was quite funny and a good storyteller.

I had a portfolio critique with Victoria Jamieson at this conference. Last fall, I had portfolio critiques with Laurent Linn from Henry Holt and Elizabeth Parisi from Scholastic, and I've been putting into practice all that they said about art for trade book publishing. I feel like my artwork has really grown over the past year, but I know I still have a lot of growing to do. I was excited to see what the comments would be at my critique this year, because most of the illustrations in my portfolio are new. There was one piece in my portfolio that an Art Director had said was my strongest piece two years ago. That was one of the only two illustrations that Victoria told me this weekend to take out of my portfolio now. How encouraging! What had been my strongest piece two years ago is now my weakest piece! Most of my new pieces are stronger, so that verified my growth as an artist. Yay!
These two illustrations Victoria pointed out as being some of my strongest:

Harold Underdown and Alexis O'Neill also spoke at the conference. If you're interested in writing or illustrating for children, I highly suggest digesting all of Harold's website and checking out his book, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Children's Book Publishing. Also, join SCBWI and go to some of these amazingly helpful conferences!

Illustration Friday "Island"

2008-09-12T08:16:00.000-05:00

This is a color comp I'm working on for one of my own picture book manuscripts, and it fits the Illustration Friday theme since little brother discovers big sister's island of vegetation in her bedroom.

This, of course, is just a messy color comp, not the finished painting, but I've been getting frustrated over it trying to get the colors and composition to work together. I was hoping to have the painting finished before the SCBWI conference I'm going to next week, but I doubt that's going to happen with all my other illustration work right now and with my main computer in the shop. But perhaps this illustration will end up falling into place... I do like some areas of color in this.

Check back after next weekend for my notes from the conference.

New leveled reader series

2008-08-25T15:14:00.006-05:00

This series of 6 leveled readers that I illustrated for Seedling Publications has just been released! The colors printed exactly how I expected thanks to my new monitor.

These are all copyrighted 2008 Seedling Publications. Do not post these images anywhere. Thanks.

5.5" x 8.5" Postcard Mailer

2008-08-18T13:52:00.004-05:00

Click on the image to see it larger.

I'm getting ready to do a mailing to art directors and editors at publishing houses I'd like to work for, and I've created a few different options for the front of my 5.5" x 8.5" postcard. The back of the card shows a couple characters in multiple poses that are sample interior black & white illustrations for a middle grade novel. Front 3 shows a sample middle grade cover using the same characters that I used on the back. I'll send Front 3 to those who don't work on picture books, but stictly publish chapter books/middle grade/YA.

My dilemma is what to send to those who publish both picture books and middle grade. Front 1 and Front 2 show my Peter Pan illustration and an illustration that will be in Highlights in the December issue. The Highlights illustration would work fine for picture book editors, and the back of the card shows middle grade illustrations, so both picture books and middle grade would be covered in one card. The other option is to send Front 3 to everyone who works on middle regardless of whether or not they do picture books too and just target middle grade right now. What do you think? Show both picture book and middle grade samples on one card or just focus on middle grade for this mailer?

Illustration Friday - "Sail"

2008-08-08T08:16:00.005-05:00

It was smooth sailing for this year's Christmas pageant.

This is the front of a Christmas card design I'm working on that will be licensed for Christmas 2009 to Christian Collection. Typically they have me design about 1.5 years ahead of the holiday for cards. You can find of more of my cards on their website for this Christmas: www.christiancollection.com

Peter Pan

2008-07-29T16:09:00.006-05:00

A bit of fairy dust, a good thought, and POOF! You could fly too!

Last week I read Peter Pan as part of Jacqui Robbin's Remedial English Lit Summer Project. Here's my cocky, young Peter.

Happy Fourth of July!

2008-07-09T11:07:00.005-05:00

So, this is a bit belated, but I hope you enjoyed your holiday weekend (if you live in the US). My husband and I spent the weekend helping some friends move down to Texas where we used to live. It was fun to visit old friends, but it was quite a drive - 15 hours of driving each way! Whew! It's a good thing we love being in a car together and listening to books on CD. We listened to Tears of the Giraffe, which was wonderful, and we listened to Whiskers of Evil, which had an interesting plot, but the writing went off into needless tangents and should have been cut in many boring places. It also used Bible verses completely out of context, which annoys me. So I don't recommend the second book, but the first book is a great read.

Moby Dick

2008-06-24T10:49:00.006-05:00

I just finished reading Moby Dick as part of Jacqui Robbin's Remedial English Lit Summer Project, and man, if that book was published today, I'm sure most every editor would have cut it down to at least a quarter of it's size! Chapters upon chapters upon chapters of whale anatomy and characteristics - oy!

One of my favorite characters was the little ship-keeper boy, Pip, so I did the character sketch of him above. Here's a section of a scene from Moby Dick about Pip:

"Ha, Pip? come to help; eh, Pip?”
“Pip? whom call ye Pip? Pip jumped from the whaleboat. Pip’s missing. Let’s see now if ye haven’t fished him up here, fisherman. It drags hard; I guess he’s holding on. Jerk him, Tahiti! Jerk him off we haul in no cowards here. Ho! there’s his arm just breaking water. A hatchet! a hatchet! cut it off—we haul in no cowards here. Captain Ahab! sir, sir! here’s Pip, trying to get on board again.”
“Peace, thou crazy loon,” cried the Manxman, seizing him by the arm. “Away from the quarter-deck!”
“The greater idiot ever scolds the lesser,” muttered Ahab, advancing. “Hands off from that holiness! Where sayest thou Pip was, boy?
“Astern there, sir, astern! Lo! lo!”
“And who art thou, boy? I see not my reflection in the vacant pupils of thy eyes. Oh God! that man should be a thing for immortal souls to sieve through! Who art thou, boy?”
“Bell-boy, sir; ship’s-crier; ding, dong, ding! Pip! Pip! Pip! One hundred pounds of clay reward for Pip; five feet high—looks cowardly— quickest known by that! Ding, dong, ding! Who’s seen Pip the coward?”

Stuff about me

2008-06-12T19:05:00.003-05:00

The Picture Bookies interviewed me here: http://www.picture-bookies.com/KristiInterview.html

Borderlines

2008-06-10T10:02:00.002-05:00

I have an illustration in Borderlines, the quarterly newsletter of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, Midsouth Region. You can view the pdf newsletter here. This issue has some great illustrations along with advice about writing for magazines, writing middle grade novels, snagging an agent, and more. If you're interested in writing or illustrating for kids, you can find more SCBWI regional newsletters from all over the world here. Enjoy!

Illustration Friday - "Forgotten"

2008-06-10T09:20:00.003-05:00

I had forgotten to add a title to this sample cover illustration I had created a few weeks ago. I had originally created it for the Illustration Friday topic, "wide," and asked for your ideas for a title name. I went with Woody's suggestion of The Last Divide. Thanks Woody! I also played a bit more with the illustration.

Baby Mowgli

2008-06-03T11:34:00.005-05:00

Ok, right now I'm supposed to be sketching a Highlights illustration (my first Highlights assignment - yay!) and I'm supposed to be working on paintings for two different leveled readers, but since I just finished The Jungle Book as part of Jacqui Robbin's Remedial English Lit Summer Project, I took a quick break to sketch a fearless, baby Mowgli who won the heart of a wolf family. So here's an adorable, jungle baby. Now back to my fun paying illustrations...

Illustration Friday - "Baby"

2008-06-03T10:24:00.004-05:00

Picture Bookies!

2008-06-02T13:48:00.002-05:00

The Picture Bookies is a group of 8 professional illustrators and writers dedicated to their craft and to inspiring kids to love and read books. They invited me to join, and I'm so excited! I received such a warm welcome already.

Here's the Picture Bookies website: http://www.picture-bookies.com/
And the Picture Bookies blog: http://www.picture-bookies.blogspot.com/

The Picture Bookies have another blog where they showcase the work of almost 50 illustrators who have been invited to join the showcase blog: http://www.picture-bookiesshowcase.blogspot.com/

Illustration Friday - "Worry"

2008-05-23T10:52:00.003-05:00

These top four sketches are from my sketchbook this week. I'd like to add a "Sketches" section to my website portfolio. Which ones do you think I should use? I have lots more sketches to choose from too; these were just the ones that I felt went with the Illustration Friday topic, "Worry."

I sketched these two, cute brothers in the subway station in New York. The smaller one kept trying to pull his older brother away from the yellow line that he's not supposed to touch while waiting for the subway. He was sooo worried that his brother would fall in. I think I captured the older brother's attitude pretty well here.

Illustration Friday - "Wide"

2008-05-16T12:37:00.006-05:00

A wide chasm to leap across!

I created this piece this morning for my chapter book/middle grade novel portfolio. I'd like to make this into a cover illustration sample by adding a made-up title. Any good ideas for a title?

Illustration Friday - "Electricity"

2008-05-09T08:49:00.008-05:00

"The front of the black rock glowed as Bryce picked it up. Odd."

This is another sample illustration with a made-up caption for my chapter book/middle grade portfolio. It goes with the b&w illustrations a few posts ago. I'd love to illustrate some adventure books for trade publishers.

I just finished reading Alcatraz versus the Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson. That would have been a fun book to illustrate (hint: Scholastic, if you'd like b&w illustrations in the next printing, please hire me).

Orphan Works Bill

2008-05-07T16:02:00.002-05:00

Have you heard about the Orphan Works Bill that has been proposed? It could devastate artists' careers by allowing anyone to use our artwork and claim that they can't find the copyright holder of that piece of art. Our paintings or photographs can easily be labeled "orphan" and are then open to anyone to use. If we find someone using our work, we need to take them to court, prove that we own the copyright to the image, and then we'll only be compensated a "reasonable" amount for use of that piece of artwork because the infringer did nothing wrong if they claim they couldn't find the copyright owner. It puts the burden on the artist instead of on the infringer. The infringer will have no reason to try to find a copyright holder. It's just wrong.

Illustrators Partnership has set up a website where you can email your Senators and Representatives about this bill with just one click: http://capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/home

If you're a visual artist, please become educated on this issue and take action.

Greeting Cards

2008-04-29T09:04:00.006-05:00

The Picture Bookies Showcase theme for the week is "Greetings" so I thought I'd post some of the greeting cards I license. I usually license between 4-6 greeting card designs a year. This image is a small sample my previously licensed cards. Click the image to see the cards large enough to read.

I've just removed my whole greeting card section from my portfolio website, because I want my portfolio to focus more on illustrating children's books, specifically trade books. For trade, I'm gearing my portfolio both toward picture books and toward chapter books, although I haven't yet done any jacket art samples. I guess that should be next on my portfolio sample list.

I also do a fair amount of educational illustrations, so I included a black and white line art section on my website. That kind of work is fun, quick, and pays well. I love creating lots of new characters in black and white line, especially kids of diverse ethnicities, and to create personality in a character with the stroke of a pen (digital pen that is).

My two current goals are to find more clients who need line art and to break into trade publishing. I've just sent out lots of postcards (see my last post) and I'm already getting the next postcard sample ready to send out.

This morning I read a great post on what to include and not include in your portfolio by Cheryl Klein, an editor for Arthur A. Levine Books (Scholastic). I'm looking through my online portfolio a bit closer. Do you see anything I should remove on www.kristivaliant.com? Some of the pieces that I feel are weaker, others have commented on and said they love. It's hard to know what the art directors will think. I'm constantly changing out the pieces in my printed portfolio. What do you think is my strongest piece? Weakest piece? Anyone?

Promotional Postcard

2008-04-14T11:49:00.004-05:00

A few days ago, I sent over 300 of these postcards to publishers, editors, and art directors. This is a 5"x7" postcard and I placed a label with the publisher's address in the center of the blue tablecloth. I usually get my postcards printed at www.vistaprint.com, but since Vistaprint doesn't do 5"x7" postcards, I had this one printed at www.printplace.com.

Right now, I'm working on illustrating a series of 6 easy reader books. They'll be published this summer, so it'll be a little bit before I can show you a peek at the artwork. It's a really fun series with a theme I really enjoy! I'm also working on some black and white line drawings for educational purposes for another publisher, and I'm trying to find time to work on my picture book dummy for one of the manuscripts I've written. Lots of work at the moment - yay!

Illustration Friday - "Save"

2008-04-04T12:55:00.006-05:00

How do you save a crate filled with top secret stuff from the bad guys? Hop on it and slide...

I created this illustration this morning based on the Illustration Friday theme of "Save". It's another sample piece for my middle grade book portfolio.

I just finished reading Max and Maddy and the Chocolate Money Mystery by Alexander McCall Smith. This illustration is sort of inspired by a scene from that novel. In the story, there are dogs who are running alongside the children and helping the children. I thought it would add more drama to have creatures chasing them along with the bad guys so I drew it that way.

Illustration Friday - "Leap"

2008-02-29T14:54:00.005-06:00

I created this illustration today for a new portfolio piece based on Illustration Friday's prompt of "Leap." I'm adding black & white pieces to my portfolio that would work for chapter books and middle grade novels. I like adventure stories, so I'm using these two characters in a number of additional pieces. What do you think?

SCBWI Winter Conference Trip - Sunday

2008-02-15T15:37:00.005-06:00

Sunday started off with the Portfolio Exhibition awards. Tomie dePaola had a short list of illustrators he liked: Sandre Griffin, Larry Day, Jim Carroll, Andrew Mitchell, and Sarah Stern
And the winner of the Tomie dePaola Award of $1000 art supply gift certificate was Heather Powers.
The winners of the juried exhibition were:
Honorable Mention - John Rocco and John Deininger
3rd place - Alan Witschonke
2nd place - P.A. Lewis
Winner of a full-page in picture book and a trip to NY to visit art directors - Jim Carroll

Susan Patron, winner of the 2007 Newbery Medal for The Higher Power of Lucky, gave us a hilarious list of how she went about winning the Newbery and what she's been doing this whole past year as the Newbery winner. One tip from her list, "Words for body parts may be used where needed if they are of service to the story." In case you haven't heard what was all over the media this past year, Susan used the word "scrotum" in numerous places in her book and many people wanted to ban the book because of it. Ridiculous. It was referring to a snake biting a dog's scrotum and the main character asks an adult what the word means. The adult gives a nice, scientific answer. I think that shows kids that it's ok to ask adults about words that you hear and don't know what they mean. Now that the 2008 Newbery winner has been picked, Susan's husband calls her an Oldbery.

Next was a panel on the path of the picture book. It included Arthur Levine (the publisher/editor), Jonah Winter (the author), John Mason (sales at Scholastic), Tracey Van Straaten (publicity at Scholastic), and Bob Brown (bookseller). But sadly, no illustrator was on the panel. Jonah talked about how he got his idea for the picture book, Dizzy and how Arthur signed it up. The editor helps to focus a book. Sum up the manuscript in one sentence and parts that distract from the main point needs to be cut for picture books. Eliminate extraneous material. After the art layouts were created by Sean Qualls, Arthur showed them to Jonah. Jonah thought the art looked too somber for such an exuberant story, so some changes were suggested to the illustrator and it made the book much stronger. John Mason talked about how wonderful Jonah's reading of the text was, so marketing decided to make a recording of Jonah reading the book and sent that out to reviewers and librarians. Tracy used the starred reviews to market the book further through magazines, newspapers, and the media. Black History Month provided more marketing opportunities. Bob talked about why he bought this picture book for his store and how excited he was about it.

The last speaker was Richard Peck, a novelist. "Our readers are looking for themselves in our books." "Fiction is not real life with the names changed." "If you can't find yourself in the pages of a book early in life, you'll go looking in all the wrong places."

After the conference was over, we all said our good-byes. Here's a pic of my roommate Susan and me:

I stayed for four more days after the conference to sight-see in New York with my husband and to drop off portfolios at various publishers. It was a fun week!

SCBWI Winter Conference Trip - Saturday

2008-02-15T13:21:00.007-06:00

"Fire in the chute!" That was Lin Oliver merrily shouting in response to the alarm system going off for probably an hour on Saturday morning in the Hilton and delaying the conference a bit. She said she's always wanted to yell that, even though "it's a boy thing to say." Apparently there was a small fire on one floor of the HIlton.

Lin greeted 1064 conference attendees from 45 states and 10 countries. Yep, it's a big conference.

The first keynote speaker of the day was Nikki Grimes who spoke on the power of poetry. "Poetry is the place where words and music meet." "Poetry at its heart is about painting a picture with words."

Next was my favorite speaker of the whole conference, David Wiesner. I just love his books! Here he is talking about his young days of drawing disconnected arms (you can see his artwork on the screen):

David said that early in his career he became known as the cute lil' animal guy, illustrating books like Owly. He wanted to do more in the line of folktales and fairytales, so he redid his portfolio to show the kind of work he'd like to get. In 1983 he started working on his own wordless picture book, Free Fall, filled with all kinds of imagery he had been working on for his own personal pieces. That book was published in 1988 and won a Caldecott Honor. He's won 3 Caldecott Medals (Flotsam, The Three Pigs, and Tuesday) and 2 Caldecott Honors (Sector 7 and Free Fall). For references, David likes to build models of the characters or buildings in his artwork in order to experiment with lighting, shadows, and perspective. He showed us slides of model frogs, pigs, and buildings. Here are some photos of his process (click them to see them bigger):

The choices for the breakout sessions were all editors, no art directors. I was disappointed in this because the editors seemed to speak only on writing and just skimmed over the illustrators, basically giving the publisher's guidelines for submitting illustrations which we could get online.

For the morning breakout session, I saw Anamika Bhatnagar, a Senior Editor from Scholastic. She's looking for books with unique writing and a strong narrative voice. Picture books need to make her laugh out loud. She likes short, simple, alliteration, rhyming, fun sounds, satisfying, strong verbs and actions. Some picture books she likes: A Birthday for Cow, I'm the Biggest Thing in the Ocean, and Jane Yolen's dinosaur books. She wants chapter books starring characters she wants to be friends with. She loves school books, grounded in reality for either gender, humorous and satisfying. For illustrations, she likes everything, paintings to cartoons, graphic novels, very realistic to simple, black and white illustrations in books like Clementine. Anamika seems like she would be a fun person to work with.

At lunch I sat next to an illustrator, Carrie Harman, and an agent who spends her time between England and the U.S. The luncheon keynote speaker was Carolyn Mackler, a teen novelist. She was funny, but since I don't have any desire to ever do teen novels, I didn't get anything out of her speech.

For the afternoon breakout session, I saw David Gale from Simon & Schuster. He said he's best known for teen novels (wish I knew that ahead of time!) The few picture books that he does, he wants to be as short as possible, just one line per spread, and he despises rhyme. He wants kid-friendly books with a beginning, middle, and end. His list is full with previous authors and big sellers, so if he takes on a new book from one of us, he would have to take off one book from his list. He said to send manuscripts to the general submissions pile, so that junior editors can pick them up. For illustrators, he basically just read the guidelines from the website. No insight for us.

Last on the agenda for the day was an agent panel. Again, nothing really helpful for illustrators. The agents pretty much addressed the writers. For picture books, we heard character-driven picture books with clever plots that are short, simple, and easy to read, get great reactions from kids.

So overall, this day was for writers. David Wiesner was the only super helpful speaker of the day for illustrators.

SCBWI Winter Conference Trip - Friday

2008-02-15T11:05:00.014-06:00

Friday I attended the Illustrator’s Intensive, an optional part of the conference that we paid extra to attend. It was a day fully focused on illustrating.

Jerry Pinkney spoke first. He has illustrated over 100 children’s books and won all kinds of awards, so you’d think he would be super confident. But it was a relief to hear that even he has doubts at times about his artwork. In his early artwork, he received one critique saying that his people were stiff compared to his animals. He said it was true, he used models as reference for his people but for his animals, he looked at photos, then used his imagination to pose them. I was recently told the same thing about my artwork and that makes so much sense. Using my imagination to pose my figures instead of relying on true photographic poses, offers so much more energy and kid-appeal.

An agent, Holly McGhee, spoke on stepping out of your comfort zone in order challenge yourself and make leaps in your writing or illustrating. She seemed to give a lot more examples of writing instead of illustrating to this group of illustrators. Oh well.

Tracy van Straaten & John Mason, both from Scholastic, acted out meetings on publicity and promotion of various kinds of children’s books. We heard about some of the ways that the publisher will promote, publicize, and market our books. Before our book is published, we can ask our publisher what we can do to help. Speak to the Author Appearance Coordinator at your publisher to let them know that you’d like to do school visits and such and detail what you do in your presentations. Timing is especially important in promotion.

Next was a panel with Arthur Levine (his own imprint at Scholastic), Bob Brown (bookseller), Kate McClelland (librarian), & Cecilia Yung (Penguin):
What is overdone in picture books: pirates, series based on a formula and gimmicks, sugary sweet books
What is selling: very simple art style with limited text, also beautiful books
What you want to see in picture books: books that build character in the reader (Bob), new baby joining family (Bob), folklore and fairytales (Kate), hard issues and special needs (Kate), minority and diverse characters in contemporary culture that kids can relate to (Arthur and Cecilia)

Terri Goldich presented handouts and spoke on archiving everything from sketches to finals. The Thomas J. Dodd center has an amazing collection and it was fun to see her slides of sketches, notes, dummies, and paintings from various artists. She also addressed how important it is to save digital files correctly and have backups. I work pretty much all digital now so the handout on that was interesting to me.

Robin Galender spoke on copyright for artists. The copyright owner has exclusive right to derivative works. You can't take someone's art and change it "enough" to call it your own. Even in collages, you technically need to have the right to use any small piece in your collage. Wow. She stunned the audience with that one. She told us what things aren't able to be copyrighted (ideas, historical & biographical facts, names of characters, US Government works, etc). She listed what items are in public domain (anything before 1923, and some things published 1923-1964 if the copyright wasn't extended). She gave us examples of the Fair Use Exemption. The copyright office is working on their website to allow us to register online soon. Very informative talk.

Next we had a surprise speaker - Tomie dePaola! He was filling in because one of the speakers was delayed in arriving. Tomie had just come from viewing our portfolios and he gave us his first thoughts on them - both positive and negative. He said a fair number of the portfolios looked "the same." He didn't like the art that looked too much like Bratz characters. He was looking for art that stood out from the crowd. Here are some questions he said to ask ourselves:
Is there too much in my portfolio?
Is it consistent quality?
Have I included any student work? Take it out.
Is it different than everyone else's?
Don't put your strongest or weakest piece first. If you put your strongest first, it's all downhill from there. If you put your weakest first, the reviewer loses interest already.
Tomie said some of the attendees didn't follow directions and brought large portfolios for the exhibition. I was surprised they were still allowed in the show. It created a problem because the space was already too limited for 200 portfolios.

Harry Bliss arrived from snowy Vermont. His showed slides of his cartoons, his New Yorker covers, and his picture book work. He was funny and very real, telling things how they are, but he seemed burned out and a little down too. He said he puts his all into everything he does and now he's going to take time off indefinitely from illustrating picture books because it's taking too much out of him.

Last up was a panel on marketing and publishing. Here are a couple tidbits from that:
Publishers set up author tours, but if you publish at a bunch of houses, one publisher may not want to send you to promote books from other houses. So it seems better to build a relationship with one house instead of being too spread out.
Your book may win an award, but the publisher has a short list of which award stickers they're going to spend money putting on book covers.

Friday night was the private portfolio exhibition for Publishers, Art Directors, Editors, and Agents. I'm glad that they didn't allow all of us illustrators to be there to distract the publishers from seeing the actual portfolios. Hopefully, my work was noticed, but who knows?

After we picked up our portfolios from the exhibition, a group of us illustrators met up at the Marketplace restaurant in the Hilton to see each other's work and chat. It was: me, my roommate Susan Eaddy, Adrian Tan, Jeff James, Priscilla Jo Neilson, Mary Uhles, and Amy Cerny. I think there were one or two more, but those were the cards that I got.

SCBWI winter Conference Trip - Thursday

2008-02-10T19:02:00.002-06:00

I had in-person portfolio reviews with two different publishers on Thursday: Henry Holt and Farrar, Straus, and Giroux. Both went well. As always, the Michelle sketches I've done were popular and it was suggested I do more black and white drawings that could work for trade middle grade books and chapter books.

I also had great reactions to my animal illustrations, especially the dancing penguins that I revised quite a bit last week. Here they are:

This is the Flatiron Building where those two publishers are located. What a cool building!

I dropped off a portfolio at Viking and did a bit of shopping for cute shoes. I also bought a sketchbook at A.I. Friedman (great art store) and visited a children's book store called Book of Wonder. Books of Wonder had signed originals and prints on exhibition in the back of the store by some mighty illustrators including Hilary Knight, Graeme Base, Mo Willems, David McPhail, and Uri Shulevitz. Thursday night, my roommate at the conference, Susan Eaddy and I, had dinner and a fun girly night with Linda Ragsdale, Kristin Tubb (who has a new book coming out soon called AUTUMN WINIFRED OLIVER DOES THINGS DIFFERENT, and another illustrator named Marie. What a fun day.

Winter SCBWI conference

2008-01-31T07:46:00.000-06:00

The big Winter SCBWI Conference in New York City is coming up in just over a week!

Illustrators who are going - Since there's no scheduled time to be able to see each other's portfolios, I'm getting together a group of illustrators at 9pm Friday night in the NY Marketplace restaurant on the lobby floor of the Hilton to peruse each other's portfolios after the private portfolio exhibition. Hope to see you there!

New series in the works!

2008-01-19T10:54:00.000-06:00

I'm working on the first book in a series of six early readers for a publisher I've illustrated 24 books for already. This will be my first series of six books for them. Yay! It's a fun series and I can't wait to show some of the art. The first book will be published next month, so I have extremely tight deadlines - only four weeks per book. Yikes! Better get painting...

Another note: I'm attending the SCBWI Winter Conference in New York in a few weeks. My portfolio will be in a private exhibition for art directors, editors, and agents, but since it's private I'm not allowed to be there to see the reactions to my artwork. I can leave postcards featuring my artwork in front of my portfolio and could possibly gauge how much interest there is in my work by how many postcards are taken. We'll see... exciting.