Wednesday Links

Why Picture Books Are Important

Picture Book Month!

Calendar designed and illustrated by Elizabeth O. Dulemba  Logo by Joyce Wan

November is Picture Book Month! So head over and help celebrate. 
You'll find new posts each day from champions in the field 
reminding us of why picture books are important. Just follow this link.

Links, links, and more links!

Author and illustrator Megan Bair has put together a wonderful blog, full of monthly interviews, reviews, illustration "Greats", reading lists, tutorials, but best of all, she features an Illustrator of the Day. Every day! How's that for inspiration! Follow her passion at Children’s Illustrator’s on Fire. Megan Bair, your blog is on fire! Follow here Facebook page here.

Four very talented gals got together to host Mini-Interviews 2013 on their blogs each week for the month of November: Juana Martinez-Neal on Tuesdays, Molly Idle on Wednesdays, Mikela Prevost on Thursdays and Laura Jacobsen on Fridays. And it didn't just start this year. Head back in time and check out the interviews from 2012 and 2011.

Over at Design Mom, writer, librarian, and designer Carter Higgins takes on the Author Interview Series. Yup! Click on that link. There are tons of great interviews. You'll find plenty of illustration there too! Plus, her blog Design of the Picture Book is loaded with just that. Wonderfully designed picture books. 

Heck, follow all the links listed in this post. You're in for a real treat!

PiBoIdMo- Paticipant

Halfway Point Progress

I figure most of you have heard of this project, and many of you I'm sure are participating too. But just in case you don't know, PiBoIdMo stands for Picture Book Idea Month. It's the brain child of children's book author Tara Lazar. It's a simple idea. A challenge to create 30 picture book ideas in 30 days. Here is where I'm at on day 15.

• Five picture book titles

• Five settings

• Five characters or plot ideas 

   

  Be sure to read her blog. Tara has daily inspirational posts by picture book authors, illustrators, editors, and more. (Really great stuff!) Here's the run down for the month.
  
  
  
  
  

Ramblings About the Project and the Process

I'm not sure yet, if thinking of so many ideas at once is a distraction or a catalyst in creating picture books. It's one of those things where we'll have to wait and see. Many times if an idea isn't written down it is forgotten. From that standpoint, PiBoIdMo is a great tool. Plus, it's a lot like a brainstorming session. No idea is a bad idea. And one idea leads to another. I'm sure many of the ideas are throw-a-ways, but if just one is a light-bulb moment, then great! You've got a new project to work on. But staying focused enough to develop that "cocktail napkin idea" into a complete project is something else. It needs time to develop. That's hard when you're moving on to a new idea first. So I plan on checking back in, in 6 months time to see what's developed. Stayed tuned...

 

Friday Studio Links - Featuring...

The Studio of Holli Conger!

Wait until you step through this door! 

You are about to enter a space all about style.

 

 

I'm not talking about "this space could be featured in a decorating magazine" kind of style. (Although it could!) I'm talking about personal, functional, "this is my art" and "this is where I make it" kind of style. This space is all about personality!

Welcome to the studio of Holli Conger. A girl who creates. And create she does! Her eclectic, whimsical style can be found in magazines, on greeting cards, CD covers, and packaging. Holli not only illustrates children's books- 11 of them so far this year, she is also a successful licensing artist, does killer typography, and has become a huge inspiration to others by documenting her creative journey on Becoming An Illustrator.

 

Holli has a style that shines though no matter what is is working on. This goes for he studio too. Check out the process of how her studio was built here. And be sure to follow Holli's Blog and visit her Website.

Check back on the first Friday of each month for a new Studio Tour. 

Follow this link to see previous Studio Tours.