Shawna J.C. Tenney's Blog, page 8

Elevate Your Art, SCBWI Illustrator's Conference

Illustration by Manelle Oliphant
Save the date for the Annual Utah/Southern Idaho SCBWI Illustrator’s conference. This year we are excited to have Martha Rago the Executive Art Director of Harper Collins Children’s Books and Mark and Caralyn Buehner the writer and illustrator team of many picture books. Register by January 11, 2012 for early bird prices. 

Email Sherry Meidell  sherry@sherrymeidell.com  Illustrator Coordinator for Utah/Southern Idaho SCBWI for information on registration and any questions you may have.  A big thank you to Manelle Oliphant for this years poster.
Where: Sons of the Utah Pioneers Building, 3301 E. 2920 S., Salt Lake City, Utah
When: February 23, 2013
Questions: sherry@sherrymeidell.com
Registration will be limited to 65 so sign up early.
Early Bird Registration sign up before January 11, 2013:$60.00 for SCBWI members$65.00 for students$75.00 for non SCBWI members$5.00 for portfolio display$45.00 for Illustrator’s Intensive with Martha Rago (must attend conference to participate. Limited to first 25 attendees)
After January 12, 2012$70.00 for SCBWI members$75.00 for students$85.00 for non SCBWI members
Visit http://drawingsunshine.wordpress.com/ for more information. 

Book Signing This Saturday November 17

Illustration from When I Take the Sacrament, I Remember Jesus.
Copyright 2012 Covenant Communications.
I will be signing the book that I illustrated- When I Take the Sacrament, I Remember Jesus, this Saturday November 17 from 11:30 am- 1:30 pm at Deseret Book in American Fork, Utah. The store is located at The Meadows Shopping Center, 468 North, 990 West B2 in American Fork. If you are nearby, please stop in and say "hi!"

Also check out my calendar for future events!!

A Review of the Rest of My Art Week

Here's a sketch I did last Friday to paint at an Art and Basket auction for a private school in Springville Utah. The whole thing, preparations and painting at the auction was sort of a comedy of errors, but it was fun and I learned a lot. One of my mistakes was forgetting to take any pictures, both of me working at the auction, and of my finished painting. Oh well. I learned a lot, and I will be better prepared for next time I participate in an event like this.

Saturday I enjoyed attending Chris Oatley's Portfolio party. It was lots of fun and educational. He is now launching his new Painting Drama 1 Independent Study Class!! Check it out here! Taking Painting Drama 1 may have been one of the best things I've ever done for my art.

Overall, it was a great week for art. I finished reading Framed Ink by Marcos Mateu-Mestre, and now I'm moving on to Creative Illustration by Andrew Loomis. I really worked hard and made sure I took time for my art. I am learning so much every day and I hope I can apply all this knowledge to my artwork! Here's to another great art week!

Day 4- My Imaginary Friend!

Today I did a dragon character sketch in my sketch book. I quite like her. Now I'm going to work really hard on some sketches for a project I've been working on for a while. I am going to get stuff done!! I have really been loving this week!

Better Art Week Day 3

I failed to report yesterday because it was a pretty busy day. I went to a planning meeting for an awesome SCBWI illustrators conference we are going to have in the Salt Lake area in February. More details to come soon! I also finished a sketch for a project I have been working on for a while. Today I have already read a couple pages from Framed Ink and The Imagineering workout. I also did this very quick composition and color study- in pencil and watercolor- again from the beginning of the movie Enchanted. I love this dynamic overhead view over the garden. I failed to draw the two figures on the path which would have helped with the scale change in the composition. Oops! I also discovered with delight that they used a triad color scheme, my favorite- orange, purple an green. What a great learning experience I just had and in just a few minutes!

Better Art Week Day 1

In an art group I am part of, some of us are doing an experiment for one week. In the experiment, we are setting our own personal goals to make a really great art week. I am also setting goals to have a better schedule and well rounded life including taking care of my physical and spiritual well-being. I am really working on only checking my email at certain times of the day and getting in as much work time as I can fit in. Part of my art goals is to take a little time every day either to do a daily warm-up sketch, or to break down a piece of artwork structurally. Today I decided to break down a scene from a movie. This one is from the beginning of Enchanted. I am going to try to report ever day this week on how my progress is going.

A Review in the Deseret News on My Book!

Deseret News in Utah did a review on the religious book I illustrated, When I Take the Sacrament, I Remember Jesus. Click Here for the link!

Here is another review by Meridian Magazine.

Click Here for the link to buy the book!

Fulfilling Your Dreams- Being a Mom and an lllustrator

If you know me, you may know that one of my favorite silly movies is Nacho Libre. My husband and I always find a way to fit at least one quote from Nacho Libre into our day.

In the movie Nacho Libre, the main character Ignacio is a monk who lives at a monastery. He loves the orphans he watches over, but he has a strange desire to be a luchador- a wrestler. He finds himself a sidekick, and sets off to secretly pursue his dreams. He must do it in secret because he is told that wrestling is a sin. At one point he doesn't know who he is. He fails as a monk and he fails as a wrestler. But then he gets the courage to wrestle one last time so he can win the money to help the poor orphans at the monastery. And with the encouragement of his friends he is able to live his dream as a wrestler to beat Ramseys (the champion wrester) and as a monk to help the children he loves and provide them a better life.

So what does this have to do with being an illustrator and a mom? I will tell you. Many women that are going into illustration and want to be a stay-at home mom also, can see how impossible this seems. I know that is how I felt when I was in college. I had such a passion for art and such a desire to pursue that passion. I spent all day painting my homework and thought to myself, how can I possibly have a career in art and have enough time to be a mom. We all know being a mom is not a small job. Sometimes we feel like Ignacio, we want to be part of both worlds, but find it impossible to do both, or feel like we are failing at both, or feel judged if we pursue both.

Those of us who are artists have a spiritual desire born in us to create. It is part of our soul, part of the person we are. It is my belief that the God who created me, gave me the ability to create, and I have the responsibility to use it for good. Bringing my children to the earth to live is part of what I have given also, and it's my responsibility to raise them the best that I can. And that gives me joy too. But since I have this need to create art, it is part of what I need to do to be fulfilled and be happy.

So here it is. I release you (and myself) from feeling guilty. You no longer need to feel guilty that sometimes you are not the best mom because you have spent time drawing instead of cleaning your house. It is okay.

Now I do really feel it is important that your family comes first. But you also need to make sure that you have enough time for art. If this is your career, you need to make time for work. It is always a balancing act- working from home as a freelance illustrator and being a mom. But here are some things that help me.

1. Stick with a schedule. Get up early in the morning and get yourself ready for the day. If you get dressed for work, you will work better. Spend a half an hour in the morning doing house work that needs to be done, and then get to work right away (this is advice I'm giving to myself). If you have little kids make sure they have quiet time or nap time so you can have time to work. If you have school aged kids, make sure you are spending lots of your time working while they are at school.  Have meal times at a regularly scheduled time. Eat family meals together, and spend time reading with your kids and helping them with their homework. It's hard to work it all in when you are on a tight deadline, but if you stick with a schedule, it will be easier. Illustrating and being a parent are both big deals.  Keep asking how you can keep a balance. Make priorites.

2. Disconnect. Here is a great blog post by Noah Bradley about how to disconnect so you will have more time to be creative. Turn off the internet. A great tool that helps me is called Freedom for Mac. It helps you disconnect from the internet for any amount of time you choose. Another great program is Antisocial which helps you disconnect from email and other social media for the amount of time you choose. You also need to disconnect from the tv. I am out of the loop with my friends because I don't stay up with all the popular shows they watch. My hubby and I watch one or two shows a week together on Netflix or the internet, but it's not constantly on. We got rid of our dish. This is another thing that gives me more time.

3. Your house is not spotlessly clean. It is okay. Do what you need to do to keep your family running as well as possible. Take care of the things that are necessary. Don't have a disgusting house that you aren't able to function in. Clear your desk of clutter often and have an organized work area. But don't feel guilty if you don't have a perfectly clean spotless and disinfected house like your neighbors do. Don't feel guilty if you haven't done the dishes, or there is a pile of laundry a mile high that hasn't been folded. Just do your best. You are still a good mom, you are still a good person, and you are still a good artist.

4. Set goals for yourself and reward yourself when you meet those goals. If you are working on a freelance project and have a deadline, schedule out when you need to get parts of the job done. If you are working on a personal project, make yourself a due date and stick with it. When you meet your goals, celebrate your accomplishments.

5. Stay focused. When it's work time and the kids or at school or taking a nap, try listening to good music or an audio book to help you stay focused and on task. Again, avoid surfing the internet.

6. Homemade costumes may be out. You can't do everything. So you may not have a home filled with cute homemade crafts. You may not have time to do daily art projects with your kids. You may not have hours to read your favorite novel (this is why audiobooks rock). You may not make homemade bread. Your kids probably won't have homemade Halloween costumes. But it's okay. You have to make a choice. If illustrating is your passion and your career, then you will have to focus on that and let some other things go. Your worth as a mom is not measured by how many homemade things you make for your kids. You are using your creative skills in other ways.

7. Work things into the cracks. You can take your sketch book or current project to swimming lessons and doctor appointments.

8. Involve your kids in your art. If you are painting, get a set of watercolors out for your child. Read them one of the books you have illustrated. If you are at the zoo, bring paper so everyone can draw the animals together. Get involved in your child's school class to teach them about art. This can be fun for everyone!



Keep asking yourself how you can keep a balance. Things won't be perfect. In fact, you'll make a lot of mistakes. Just get up the next day and try again. Make priorites. Give yourself permission to pursue your artwork dreams. Be Persistent, and you can be both a mom and a freelance illustrator.

I am the gatekeeper to my own destiny, and I will have my glory day in the hot sun. -Nacho

Invisible Ink Book Recommendation

Have you ever wanted to be a better story writer? I have! I recently read this amazing book called Invisible Ink by Brian McDonald. I first heard about this book recommendation on this interview with the author, Brian McDonald on the Paperwings Podcast. Brian is a screenplay writer, not a children's book writer, but his book will help anyone who wants to write a good interesting story of any kind. What I love about this book is he uses examples from fairy tales, folk tales and movies and shows the reader how each technique of an invisible story element is used in each situation to tell a more interesting/dramatic story. This is a book I am definitely going to keep close by when writing my children's books. I know my stories will be better because of this book. Highly recommended for all writers, beginner or professional!

Happy Halloween Beatrice Paper Doll!!

Here are some paper dolls I made especially for you! Happy Halloween from me! If you would like to have a full resolution version, you can download these in PDF form from a link that can be found only on my facebook page! So come over and "like" my page, and get your free paper dolls. For personal and classroom use only, please.