Lunch at Home with a Hippo

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A Huge Honor...

Well I went to "Shine 2," a state wide portfolio review and competition for children's book illustrators.  (Writer's attended too, but they had their own conference).  The conference was ran by SCBWI, or the Society of Children's Book Writer's and Illustrators and held in Lansing, Michigan.  A panelist of judges, successfully published illustrators, Cyd Moore, Wendy Anderson Halperin and Aaron Zenz reviewed each portfolio.  There was a ton of talent and the feedback was wonderful.  I took LOTS of notes!

At the end they announced the winner of the illustration competition "Illustration Idol."  The winner was Bradley Cooper who received a one year mentorship with Wendy Anderson Halperin.   I received 1st runner up!  I will be getting a one hour session with Wendy to discuss my work and the future of my career!  I'm so honored to receive this award and very excited to work with Wendy.  I will be in the studio all this week working on applying all of the feedback I received at the conference.

Wendy Anderson Halperin, Amy Hofacker & Ryan Hipp

I'm Ready! Children's Book Illustration

I am all ready for a conference I am headed to in Lansing, Michigan tomorrow for children's book illustration.  I have three printed copies of my new portfolio.  I sewed the sheets of paper down the middle to make the book. 

 

I took some left over postcards from my last gallery showing "Don't Think, Don't Blink" and sewed fabric and new information to the backs of them.  Now they are repurposed into what we call "leave behinds"--something to give to someone for networking or a potential client.  I got a fresh set of business cards printed too as I was really low.  

 

I just received my official membership card in the mail for the Society of Children's Book Writer's & Illustrators. 

 

Mini Booklet

 

So I have been working on my Children's Book Illustration Portfolio and I needed to get my work printed professionally so that it is presented nicely to potential clients and the like.  I have 8 pieces to show in this collection, all laid out in a book.  The finished product will consist of three copies of what you see in the photos, but on a much larger scale.  To make sure that it is done right, I printed a mini version of the pages and pieced it together.  The result was a cute little booklet not much bigger than an inch square.  I thought it was deserving of a photo shoot. 

Ants :D

Just finished an illustration that I have been working on all day.  It is a double page spread for my portfolio for children's book illustration. (click the picture to see it larger).  I chose to illustrate part of a story I wrote a while back.  It is about ants trying to survive when the rain comes.  The work is still very fresh so there might be a lot of adjustments to it yet...we'll see.

Children's Book Illustration...a new adventure

So I really want to be a children's book illustrator.  Last week I met a really awesome artist, and a supporter, Ryan Hipp who has been giving me a lot of pointers.  I joined the Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators and am headed to a conference in Lansing, MI in a few weeks.  I am working on building my portfolio and there are a few things that I really need to improve on.  I need to make my work more narrative, and this adventure has been really fun.  I also need to show that I can paint children, and people.  These paintings are what I have been working on in the studio to improve these things.

This is part of a full spread illustration.