This is a summary of my days interspersed with some images from my sketchbook. All real people look a lot better in person. I've left out a lot but tried to include the moments that were big for me.



On Friday I caught the Express train from Stamford Conn. to Grand Central. I was lulled to sleep in the clean and sleek car. (I had only slept for four hours the night before, never travel with a two year old and expect her to sleep through the night the first night). I felt metropolitan and cool with my portfolio and skirt and boots, I had my good luck elephant charm from Tricia and I was ready to take on the world.

I arrived at Grand Central Station and followed the crowd into the main area. For those of you who have never been there, it is incredible. It is a giant hall with a rotunda decorated with a cerulean blue ceiling with constellations illuminated by lights.

After walking in circles for a bit, I found the exit for taxis and spent fifteen minutes trying to hail a cab during pouring rain. I finally jumped into one as he was unloading a passenger. We chatted all the way to the hotel and he told me all about his trips to Punjab.

We pulled into the hotel $4.50 later and I walked through the rotating doors into a busy, lush lobby and was directed upstairs. I stood in line and met Mary who is an artist with a background in textiles. After registering I found coffee and muffins and was walking around a bit glazed when someone called my name. I looked up...up...up to see that the lovely Amy Morenohad found me. She escorted me into the conference room where I met Ruth and Dee, Michelle and Manuela. After many hugs and excited squeals, we took over a row and waited for the fun to begin.

(tomie)

After the welcome speech, Tomie dePaola held a "Newbie" Panel consisting of Rebecca Doughty, Sean Qualls and David Ezra Stein. Tomie is hilarious, comforting and honest with a great sense of humor and he wears awesome turquoise glasses. Each artist talked about how they got there start. Rebecca was a fine artist, Sean sent out massive mailings consisting of 1000 cards and David was discovered by his teacher, Pat Cummings. It was great to hear the discovery stories from people who made it.

Next up was the highly entertaining Pat Cummings. She is a professor at Pratt and has illustrated over 30 books. She shared with us her 9 major epiphany which, I'll sum up as: you can make money, trust yourself but don't be afraid to ask for help, write about your passions and there is no limit to your imagination.

(cecilia)

We then had assigned workshops. I signed up for Analyze Yourself with Cecilia Yung (Art Director and Vice President at Penguin Young Readers Group).
I first considered this a bit of a disappointment as it is very subjective to look at other people's work. But I learned a few things, 1. I need to show continuity of character 2. you pretty much either like my work or you think it sucks. 3. I might want to look in other fields, like older kids and editorial. (which makes complete sense since Quentin Blake's illustrations for Roald Dahl are some of my favorites.)

I was pretty much exhausted at this point but joined a few friends like from my online illustration group at the Comfort Diner and had a wonderful time. If you ever meet Ruth, ask her about her college roommate.

Saturday rolled around and about two stops outside of Stamford I realized I had left my table-top easel in our car. I tried not to freak out and this was to really, really hard but there was no way I was going to cry in Grand Central. Luckily for me, as soon as I got to the hotel I ran into Dee who is definitely a former girl scout and we fashioned an easel out of foam core. (This was after I found a piece of cardboard out of a trashcan, I tried to be discreet but was later called on it by the exuberant and hilarious Leeza. )

(david almond)
There was a wonderful speech by David Almond. He is an incredible inspiration and encouraged us all to imagine our books on the shelf and stay playful among many other things.

(joann)

I had two sessions with art directors. Elizabeth from Scholastic showed us how the art director improves a book and Joann from Clarion gave tips on having a killer portfolio. These included different perspectives, illuminating weak pieces (if you are not sure, take it out), drawing animals and people with proper emotions (the little things, ears laid back on a mad cat and how a kid stands when he waits.) Before one of the workshops I sat behind Michelle who Dee had introduced me too and the recognized the lady sitting next to her from the previous day. She had this beautiful British accent that most Americans lust after (including myself) and was very funny. She looked at my name tag and squealed, asking if I was Courtney Pippin-Mathur. I answered yes and she introduced herself as Lezzy. We have e-mailed back and forth a few times and it was so cool to be recognized by the art on my business cards.

After a few more speakers, it was time for the New York Showcase. The winners were chosen by the time we went in there and I was not one of them.

(alter ego pointing to stinky pile of poo. This is how I felt for a few minutes)


I allowed myself to feel bad for two minutes then I realized how fantastic the competition was and was blown away. I chatted with Heather Van Vleet, Dee, Leezy and Amy and had cheese, bread and wine. It was a swanky set-up and it was fantastic to see so much art. Let me tell you, there were people there who were ten times more talented than me that didn't get chosen.

The winners were incredible and unique and I was inspired to make my work that much better. The grand winner was Erin McGill.

The highlight of the next day was during a contract workshop given by Marc Brown. As we were listening to his great advice to read contracts however slowly it takes you to understand them, hire a lawyer to help you, to set up every contract as if will be your home run and put in escalation clauses. I noticed the name tag on the guy sitting next to me. It was John Rocco. I recognized his name as a previous Showcase winner and leaned over and told him I loved his work. At the end of the talk he asked to see my portfolio. I showed him and it turns out he was one of my peer reviewers from Cecila's workshop. He had said that I needed to find the right person (that my work was different and somone would love it) and to consider editorial and older children . He showed me his favorite piece and complemented my use of color. It was so cool! It was great to meet someone in person whose work you love and who had succeeded and he or she likes your work. After I got home and checked out his website, I learned that his wife was also at the showcase. She was another one of my favorites, her name is Aileen Leijten.

(starstruck)



The final speaker of the day was Nikki Giovanni who is a passionate speaker and poet who puts a fire in your belly. She went through every page of her award winning book, Rosa, and told us the backstory and why she chose to say certain things.. I took away from her speech not to sit on your laurels, never be a man of your time, create change any way you can and believe in what you do.

On the drive home, I was telling Saurabh about the highlights and I realized how many contacts I had made, how much exposure I had received, how much incredible artwork had seen and all of the great advice I received. Previous to that I felt overwhelmed and unsure of the things I had absorbed. I just needed time to process all of the information.

Now to put all of this to work.

Labels: SCBWI Conference