On Saturday I went to the annual fall SCBWI Conference in Austin, TX. I lived in Austin when I went to UT, met and married the hubby there and the Pud was born there. So, I have a special connection to the city and miss the odd quirkness of the capital of Texas that is like no other place in Texas. I was a member of SCBWI while in school there and made a few friends who I was able to see again.

One of these was Nancy Okunami, she was regional advisor when I joined and is a hilarious, encouraging person as well as talented writer. I arrived early, so I meandered around a bit until 8:30 when my conference buddy Dee, showed up. We sighted each other from far away and as always had a blast throughout the conference .


The first speakers were Bruce Coville and Tony Sansevero. They are the writer/illustrator team from "I was a Sixth Grade Alien" series. Bruce is an amazing speaker (as well as writer of 90 books for kids and young adults). He inspired me with his passion for his craft. Some of his tips were:

1. Write a book at the kids level but remember that they are smart.
2. Let them get lost in this world you've created.
3. Do your homework.

Next up was Tony. He has a studio set up in Austin where he works on numerous illustrating projects, from children's books to fine art. He showed photographs of his studio, his process (photographing models), his mail-outs (including snapshots from his school visits) and his beautiful dragons. He advised illustrators to:

1. Be involved in many different areas of Illustration
2. Live and breath your work
3. Be honest to yourself about the quality of your work. Dissect each piece, if anything is weak, toss it out of your portfolio.




Next up was Lynne Polvino, associate editor of Clarion Books, with tips on escaping the slush pile. Some of her tips were:

1. Research Guidelines
a. Find the names of people accepting submissions
b. Submit to Junior level staff
c. Submit work they accept.


She also had a great quote from Andy Warhol," While you're waiting for people to decide what they think of your work, create more. "



After that was Lunch and meeting up with Dee, Gene Brenek (former critique buddy) and Heather whose work I have always admired online and who is a super sweet person.

There was an Illustrator Track and a Writer Track after lunch which I think is an awesome idea, because sometimes I want to hear things geared just toward the artist.

Don Tate was the first speaker. I read Don's blog on a daily basis and it was super cool to hear the man in person. For his presentation he led us through his career from technical school (beautifully detailed line drawings) through educational work, different styles to trade books. I love hearing about an individuals journey to being published so this was a great talk. There were not very many of us (illustrators) there so it made for more of a discussion atmosphere.

After that, Suzanne Cruise, art licensing agent (also Don's agent) spoke. I've never really considered licensing before but she gave so many helpful tips and handouts plus her firsthand experiences that I wish my work was more suited to that kind of stuff.

So to wrap it up, a well planned conference for illustrators and writers with helpful tips and lots of encouragement with new connections. And that my friends are what conferences are all about.

Labels: SCBWI Conference