November 1st is finally here with SO many great personal challenges and ways to spark your creativity. I feel like a little kid at Christmas! It is also National Picture Book Month! This is my first year participating in PiBoIdMo & 2nd year for SkADaMo. (A lot of portfolio pieces were born during SkADaMo last year...)
There are several other personal challenges to look for throughout the year as well. Some have even continued for several months in a row like Doodle Day May & Illustration Friday.
Here is the breakdown & links for anyone interested:
• PiBoIdMo (Picture Book Idea Month, by Tara Lazar)
• SkADaMo (Sketch a Day Month by Linda Silvestri)
• Sweet Squares (Experimenting in a square, by Diandra Mae)
• Doodle Day May (Daily Doodle Prompts, by Alison Hertz)
• #Inktober (sketch a day in INK during October, by Jake Parker)
• Illustration Friday (word prompt each friday & links to many great Illustration Blogs!)
* * If you are participating in PiBoIdMo & SkADaMo at the same time Jenn Bower whipped up this fabulous WORKSHEET to help keep everything organized! * *
There are wonderful online classes out there all year long:
Chris Oatley Academy:
Chris Oatley generously offers a ton of great tips, and for $18 for 18 months, you can learn about great ways to paint digitally!
School of Visual Story Telling:
Many classes offered throughout the year by Jake Parker & Will Terry
How to become a Children's Book Illustrator:
Mark Mitchell offers a wonderful class to help you get started in the industry
And another fun class I stumbled upon recently...
Koosje Koene:
There are 2 classes offered- Just Draw it & Character Design
You can find more online classes at Folio Academy, Schoolism, Skillshare, & Nicole Classes.
There are SO many helpful resources out there, but here are just a few:
SCBWI has been such a blessing with workshops and conferences all over the US. They just updated their website too!
The Highlights Foundation has played a large role in my journey. There are workshops for Writers & Illustrators and also plenty of educational workshops for teachers as well! Worth the cost & a beautiful trip out to the Poconos.
Harold Underdown is a man of all resources! I refer to his website often to keep up with the kidlit world and changes in the industry.
Joanna Marple offers a wealth of knowledge each week & Debbie Ohi always keeps things cheerful while sharing her experiences! I also frequent the blogs of Kathy Temean, Julie Danielson at Seven Impossible Things, & Elizabeth Bird at Fuse 8.
My all-time favorite blog was created by the fabulous ladies over at Simply Messing About! I often refer to this page every time I need a refresher or to learn something new. They are all so talented and VERY generous in sharing their Illustration techniques and finds!
Monica Lee over at Smart Creative women is so cheerful & resourceful too. I love to listen to her inspiring interviews while I work sometimes...
Sorry this was so long winded, just wanted to share as many links as possible since there are so many resources out there. You may have already heard of all of these, but if not, I hope this helps.
* * If you know of any other great resources please comment below! * *
I leave you with this fun video created by the folks over at Book People Unite... their message is that One book can make a difference... So during November & all year long for that matter, never give up on reading books with your children, sketching a character that comes to your mind in the middle of the grocery store or typing up that manuscript even when you second guess yourself. These Monthly challenges are a great way to help plant seeds. These seeds may take years to grow, but with love, nurturing and a little wine... I mean water, they can become great things and hopefully impact the lives of many children for years to come!
Dream Big & Follow Through,
Kelli
Showing posts with label Inspiration. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Inspiration. Show all posts
Friday, November 1, 2013
Thursday, May 2, 2013
Catching up...
It has been a while. Have been busy working, consulting with the wonderful Holli Conger and working on some old and new pieces. Here is an old one that I finished working thanks to learning a great technique from Renée Kurilla. She posted a helpful video about how she took an illustration from her sketchbook and colored it in photoshop. Make sure you check out the long version too, if you have time. You can find both videos on her Group Blog. I learned a few new tricks!
Thursday, October 4, 2012
New Challenge in 101 days... inspired by Dani Jones
Dream Big & Follow Through...
Still working on Sweet Squares from the lovely Challenge that Diandra Mae started back on September 3rd, 2012. It really has opened my eyes to new techniques, and really pushed me to learn more and improve in all areas.
There have been a few people who have really inspired me lately and in the past who have shared their knowledge and experiences to help out another fellow Illustrator stay straight on the path towards Children's Book Illustration. I read a good quote once (which I'll try to find later). It basically said, when you have something, use it, appreciate it and then pass it along to someone else who needs it. In a competitive market, these wonderful people have shared their knowledge and given advice to a person that they have never even met before. If you get a chance please check out their amazing talents: Aja Wells, Vanessa Newton, Rachelle Anne Miller, Renèe Kurilla, and all of the lovely people I met at the Advanced Illustrator Workshop at the Highlights Foundation in Aug/Sept. (Some of those people are listed among the links on the sidebar)
So back to my point of this Challenge, I was watching one of the videos from the talented and generous Will Terry, and learned so much in a short time that I kept researching and kept coming across the very talented Dani Jones. She has so many wonderful tutorials also & shares a ton of helpful information. I stumbled across a post this evening called: 101 Projects for Artists & Illustrators. As I read through some of the items on the list I felt a little better knowing that I had already accomplished some of these things along the way. It really inspired me to take on the challenge of the rest of these great ideas on this list. (Just so happens there are 101+ days until January 16th...)
Since the Advanced Illustrator Workshop I made a promise to myself (and my husband) that by January 2013 I will have postcards & business cards ready to mail out to publishers, magazines and art directors to see what happens. I have a few pieces to use in the promotional material, and although I have a couple of areas to continue working on, I've made great strides in a short amount of time. I am not expecting to break right into this business, but am open to spot art projects, commercial Illustrations, editorial work and maybe a children's book if my style fits with the right text. You can learn more about my background by visiting my website in progress: http://sageandgracedesigns.weebly.com/about.html
It seems like all of the puzzle pieces are suddenly falling into place, and I would be a fool to just sit on it. My motto has always been DREAM BIG & FOLLOW THROUGH... After 15 years in advertising, a life time of illustrating and over 5 years of attending SCBWI conferences (entering contests, building a portfolio and absorbing more information than a new sponge...) I am ready to push even further and see if I can check off everything on this list BY JANUARY 16th, 2013... here we go!
Still working on Sweet Squares from the lovely Challenge that Diandra Mae started back on September 3rd, 2012. It really has opened my eyes to new techniques, and really pushed me to learn more and improve in all areas.
There have been a few people who have really inspired me lately and in the past who have shared their knowledge and experiences to help out another fellow Illustrator stay straight on the path towards Children's Book Illustration. I read a good quote once (which I'll try to find later). It basically said, when you have something, use it, appreciate it and then pass it along to someone else who needs it. In a competitive market, these wonderful people have shared their knowledge and given advice to a person that they have never even met before. If you get a chance please check out their amazing talents: Aja Wells, Vanessa Newton, Rachelle Anne Miller, Renèe Kurilla, and all of the lovely people I met at the Advanced Illustrator Workshop at the Highlights Foundation in Aug/Sept. (Some of those people are listed among the links on the sidebar)
So back to my point of this Challenge, I was watching one of the videos from the talented and generous Will Terry, and learned so much in a short time that I kept researching and kept coming across the very talented Dani Jones. She has so many wonderful tutorials also & shares a ton of helpful information. I stumbled across a post this evening called: 101 Projects for Artists & Illustrators. As I read through some of the items on the list I felt a little better knowing that I had already accomplished some of these things along the way. It really inspired me to take on the challenge of the rest of these great ideas on this list. (Just so happens there are 101+ days until January 16th...)
Since the Advanced Illustrator Workshop I made a promise to myself (and my husband) that by January 2013 I will have postcards & business cards ready to mail out to publishers, magazines and art directors to see what happens. I have a few pieces to use in the promotional material, and although I have a couple of areas to continue working on, I've made great strides in a short amount of time. I am not expecting to break right into this business, but am open to spot art projects, commercial Illustrations, editorial work and maybe a children's book if my style fits with the right text. You can learn more about my background by visiting my website in progress: http://sageandgracedesigns.weebly.com/about.html
It seems like all of the puzzle pieces are suddenly falling into place, and I would be a fool to just sit on it. My motto has always been DREAM BIG & FOLLOW THROUGH... After 15 years in advertising, a life time of illustrating and over 5 years of attending SCBWI conferences (entering contests, building a portfolio and absorbing more information than a new sponge...) I am ready to push even further and see if I can check off everything on this list BY JANUARY 16th, 2013... here we go!
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
25+ days of Sweet Squares...
I have not finished all 30 days yet, but here is a compilation of 25 of my squares so far... started a little behind so I have a few more to go. Honesty I don't think I'll stop at 30 either.
It has been a joy doing a new drawing or trying a new technique each night and I feel that I have improved in a couple of small areas. I have many sketches and things that I've Illustrated in the past few weeks that have not made it on to the blog, but I hope to turn them from sketches to compositions soon.
Thanks Diandra Mae, for sparking more creativity in this fun challenge, and thank you Aja Wells, for your great insight & inspiration over the past couple of weeks! You have been so kind!
It has been a joy doing a new drawing or trying a new technique each night and I feel that I have improved in a couple of small areas. I have many sketches and things that I've Illustrated in the past few weeks that have not made it on to the blog, but I hope to turn them from sketches to compositions soon.
Thanks Diandra Mae, for sparking more creativity in this fun challenge, and thank you Aja Wells, for your great insight & inspiration over the past couple of weeks! You have been so kind!
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