Shawna J.C. Tenney's Blog, page 7

Illustrator's Intensive Process and Finished Illustration

I had a great a great opportunity this year to help plan and attend a great SCBWI Illustrator's Conference in Salt Lake City. We invited Martha Rago, executive Art Director of Harper Collins Children's Publishing to be our special guest speaker. She did an illustrator's intensive workshop where she gave the illustrators a special assigment ahead of time. We sent in preliminary sketches, she sent back comments, and then at the conference she gave us all great critiques. Here is my project and some of the process that went into it.






Martha gave us the manuscript for a book called B.Bear and Lolly. We were to design the characters and show them in a number of poses. Then we were to figure out the pacing of the book, and then to map out the entire book in thumbnails. Above is what I came up with for the first stage.


Then we were to send in the sketches with a finished color sample. Here's what I came up with for the colored sample.


Martha gave me great feedbacck on my character sketches. On the little girl character, Lolly, she said to make sure her anatomy was consistent and proportioned the same throughout all the character sketches. On the bear character, B.Bear, she said he looked way to old- he was supposed to be 5 years old in the book. She also said they both looked way to old in the color study- which is very true! Her comments were very helpful! Above is what I came up with for the second character sketches. 

On the next part of the assignment, I was to choose a spread with an interesting composition, and take it to a final illustration for the conference critique. I liked the composition with B.Bear and Lolly walking over the river because of the way the log could be used to make a fun dynamic composition. I drew several more thumbnails of compositions thinking of different angles and which way would be the best for telling what the story was really about.


I ended up making two tight sketches because I liked two of the angles from the thumbnails. I ended up using the second composition, because I felt it focused better on the main characters and what was happening in the main story.

Here is my quick color study. I wanted there to be an early morning feel with the lighting.

And here is the final piece. I am pleased with how it turned out. Martha gave me some great constructive critiques at the conference. Some great things she mentioned were to work on the gesture of the bear and changing some of the expressions of the animals in the background, which I thought were both very good suggestions. I really enjoyed doing this project, and I got some great insight from hearing Martha critique everyone's projects. It was a great experience, and I'm grateful I got to be a part of it!
You can see a larger version of this illustration on my Behance portfolio!

You can buy a print of this illustration at my Print Shop!

Getting Started As A Children's Book Illustrator

I've had a lot of artists email me over the years and ask me how to get started as a children's book illustrator. Today I answered an email to someone who said she had graduated from school quite a while ago, but started a family and didn't ever get started in the industry. Now her kids are a little older, and she is interested in starting a career in children's book illustrating. She wondered where to get started, and also asked about how to get some training on craft etc. Another reader asked me about pricing. So I'm going to copy my answers here. It's a lot of information, but hopefully it can answer some questions for those of you who might be wondering some of the same things.


If you are wanting to get into the children's illustrator scene, I would highly recommend joining the SCBWI. IT is a world-wide organization. When you are a member, you can apply for grants and scholarships which can help you start your career. There are also really great resources such as a yearly publication they put out with a list of all the children's publishers and agents etc. As a member, you also get a bi-monthly magazine full of great tips about the industry. If you are near a local chapter, they also offer activities in which you can learn more about craft, the industry, and network. In the U.S. there are two annual conferences a year- one in NY and one in LA. And there are International conferences as well. As an illustrator, you also get to display your work on an online portfolio in the SCBWI website.
To get started,the best thing to do first, is to establish a good portfolio. Make sure it is consistent and has illustration that could easily fit into a children's book. Look at lots of children's books, and then go make your own images that could fit into the genre. Make sure you portfolio includes illustrations of children.
Then you will need to get an online portfolio. You can start out with a blog- Blogger or Wordpress. In blogger, you can make static pages in your blog to make it sort of like a website. Some other great places to display your portfolio for free are Behance or Coroflot. I like behance the best, and from your portfolio, you can also build your own website on their Prosite. You can also build your own free website with not too much difficulty on Wix.
Then, start sending postcards to publishers. You can find the publishers from SCBWI's The Book, yearly publication that you will get when you join. Another good resource is The Children's Writers and Illustrators Market book. Some publishers prefer receiving post cards, and others prefer emails. These books will tell you how to send your artwork. If you send a post card, a great place to get them printed is Got Print. They have great prices and the quality is very good. Whether you send an email, or a post card make sure to include both your contact info and website. You can also send out your artwork to agents (info on agents also can be found in those books). But it is easier to get an agent after you have published something, so I would recommend trying publishers first. Then it is important keep sending your artwork to the publishers on a regular basis. Some artists send every month, some send quarterly. Just as long as you are consistent. Sometimes it takes a long time to get noticed, but don't give up.
If you are interested in writing and illustrating your own books, I would recommend reading Writing with Pictures: How to Write and Illustrated Children's Books by Uri Shulevitz. Some helpful websites for writing children's books are The Purple Crayon, and author Rick Walton's site.
Pricing is a harder issue. This market is so subjective. There is The Graphic Artist's Guild Handbook of Pricing and Ethical Guildlines. I would also recommend reading this blog post by Will Terry. 
If you are looking to improve your craft, I would recommend taking an online class. There are some really great ones being offered for illustrators. Schoolism offers a lot of classes on craft. Chris Oatley-through his Oatley Academy is offering awesome classes on composition, and soon some on character design etc. He also offers some great tutorials in his site. You can buy some great instructional videos from The Gnomon Workshop and Folio Academy. Going to conferences about children's book writing and illustrating is also a very important part of improving your craft.
I hope that you find these resources useful. I know it is a lot of information, but the main thing to start out is to get a good portfolio, and then get it in front of people. Besides getting a website and sending out postcards, it is important to blog and get on twitter and connect with other illustrators and art directors so your work can be seen. Social networking is very important in this industry, and a great resource to learn more about social networking in the children's industry is Katie Davis' blog and podcast. It is a process that will take some time, but if you keep working and working and improving your art and letting it be seen, you will start getting work as an illustrator. Key to success as a professional illustrator- keep drawing and don't give up!

Plot Line of a Picture Book

I'm revitalizing an old post I did for a group blog a few years back, partially for my reference. A bit of useful information for any of you out there wanting to write a picture book.

If you are an illustrator like me, one of your ultimate goals is to write your own story to illustrate. Being trained in illustration and not children's writing, I love getting any helpful hints I can get. Here is a great one I learned from a writer.

Get a blank piece of paper and fold it in half.Fold it in half again.And again.And one more time.Now unfold your piece of paper. You now have 16 squares.Number each square 1-16.


As you probably may know, most trade picture books have 32 pages, or 16 spreads- so each square will represent a spread of your book. As you have probably guessed, each square represents a spread (two pages). The following guidelines are what many good children's books go by. Remember they are just guidelines- this formula is not always used and it can be very flexible, but it's a good starting ground. Write these things in the boxes as follows:

In box #1 write: character and setting. This is where the characters and setting are introduced to us. This is also developed in box 2 and 3.

In box #4 write: Problem shows up. This is where we start to see our conflict.

In box #5 write: Action- characters make 2 attempts to solve problem and fail. This part of the story is developed from spread 5-11.

In box #12 write: Crisis happens and everything falls apart.

In box #13 write: Feelings and reaction to crisis.

In box #14-15 write: Third attempt to solve problem and final resolution.

And then finally in box #16 write: character's reaction to success. (Sometimes here you can also add a small surprise or often times you can have the conflict starting all over again in a humorous way.)

Also remember that in almost all children's picture books, there is a happy ending, or at least a hope for things to go better. So keep that in mind.

Hopefully this is a good help to you visual learners out there who would like to write your own stories.

Joining the Unofficial Dummy Book Challenge

Look! It's official because I have a badge!  I have decided to join the 2013 Unofficial Picture Book Dummy Challenge which is hosted by Lisa Thompson. I have been keeping my eyes open for a good picture book writing challenge. For the past I-don't-know-how-many years, I have been wanting to start writing and illustrating my own books. I have written a few stories here and there and even done a couple dummy books. But nothing has ever gotten very far, and a dream is just a dream unless you do something about it.  It seems like my other illustrations jobs always get in the way of this thing that I really want to do. So this year I am doing something about it. A challenge will be really good for me because I can keep on track with the deadlines and be held accountable in front of other author/illustrators who are doing the same thing. I am announcing it here, and I will hold myself accountable for each step here on this blog. So here we go! This week the first step is to Pick a Project.

If you would like to read more about this challenge, you can click on this hyperlink which will take you to the details on Lisa's blog. I'm excited for this challenge. Bring it on!!

A few juicy details- UT SCBWI Illustrators Conference

With the early registration coming up for the Utah/Southern Idaho Conference (Jan 11th deadline for the early registration price), I'd thought I'd announce a few JUICY details! These details will be updated on the Drawing Sunshine blog which you can view here.

First, the portfolio display. You can display a 10-15 page portfolio book up to 11 x 14 large on the portfolio table for $5. You can also include one stack of postcards or business cards. Martha Rago, our keynote speaker and Executive Art Director at Harper Collins Children's will look at all the portfolios!

Second, the Illustrator's Intensive. This is only open to 25 people, so register soon! Martha will be sending each participant a packet with an assignment. You will have the opportunity work with Martha on this assignment, and she will be doing a critique session at the conference! There is no way you can turn down this chance to work with an art director from a big New York publisher!

Those are only a couple things that will happen at this very awesome conference. For all the details, visit the Drawing Sunshine Blog (link above).

So spread the work quickly to all your illustrator friends- professional or student. You can save $10 if you register before January 11th. Follow this link to register on the SCBWI website. This is going to be awesome! I hope to see you there!

Early Registration Reminder for Utah Illustrators Conference

Illustration by Manelle OliphantJust a reminder for all you illustrators who live in or around Utah, the Utah/Southern Idaho Illustrators Conference, Elevate Your Art is on February 23, 2013. The last day for Early Registration is January 11 so register soon if you want to save $10. You can read all about the conference here. You can now register on the SCBWI website here. Sign up soon if you would like to participate in the Illustrator's Intensive with Martha Rago (Art Director at Harper Collins Children's Books)- there are only 25 spaces available! Mark and Caralyn Buehner will also be speaking about writing and illustrating. There are only 65 spaces in the conference all together, so spread the word to your illustrator friends, and sign up soon! This conference will be awesome!

We Wish You a Swingin' Holiday!

Merry Christmas! This is a watercolor illustration I did for a Twitter art gift exchange. It's called "We Wish You a Swinging Holiday." 

My Tomie dePaola Entry

Well, I finished my entry for the SCBWI Tomie DePaola contest this morning. I am feeling a bit frustrated, because when I was painting this, the values were more distinct and separated. I could see the outlines of all the bats, but when I turned it into a jpg, and things got really black. Argh! Oh well. I had lots of fun doing this project. I first did this sheet of thumbnails and ended up going with the idea from C1.

Book Signing Tomorrow!

Illustration from When I Take the Sacrament, I Remember Jesus.
Illustrations ©2012 Shawna JC Tenney.
I will be signing the book I illustrated- When I Take the Sacrament, I Remember Jesus, again tomorrow, Friday December 7 from 7:00 pm- 9:00 pm at The Deseret Book located at 3751 Center Park Drive Suite 110 In the Jordan Landing Shopping Center in West Jordan Utah. Click here to see the event on the Deseret Book website. You can also view my events calendar by clicking here. I hope to see you there!

New finished painting and the process!

©2012 Shawna JC Tenney
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Today I want to share my new illustration and the process I went through to get to the final. I did this illustration as part of Chris Oatley's Painting Drama 1 class. His new painting drama independent study course is now open for enrollment here. Chris teaches tools that will help you have beautiful dynamic compositions and will help you understand what needs to be fixed. You learn from the masters of art history- which is awesome! The process which you see here was guided by Chris, but is individual to me. He doesn't teach you how to draw like him, but rather gives you the tools to make your compositions strong in your own style. I've never learned composition in the way he teaches, and I am so glad I took his class! I highly recommend this course if you want to learn how to successfully tackle any project you are working on with a fabulous dramatic outcome.