This is the blog home of #kidlitart, a live Twitter chat Thursdays at 9:00 pm Eastern, for children's book illustrators, picture book authors, author/illustrators and friends. Check back weekly to read transcripts, comment on previous chats and suggest topics for upcoming chats.
We're very excited to welcome animator, director and children's book illustrator Ward Jenkins (@wardomatic) to #kidlitart tonight.
Ward's most recent book, Chicks Run Wild, by Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen, hit the shelves just last month. His credits also include illustrations for How to Train with a T.Rex and Win 8 Gold Medals (co-written by Michael Phelps), extensive editorial illustration for magazines, as well as character design and film direction for national advertising accounts.
Ward's blog The Ward-O-Matic is an excellent resource for all things art and animation-related. He also contributes to the mega-popular, often-bookmarked blog, Drawn!
Check out some of Ward's recent work in character development HERE--and get your questions ready!
We'll see you tonight (Thursday, February 17) at 9 pm Eastern.
Now that you have a good solid draft to work from, there are several ways to go. We've chosen to focus on character sketches as the next step in creating your picture book dummy.
Character is at the heart of all good picture books. The child reading or being read to must always be able to identify with the main character: groundhog, starfish, brave little toaster, ditzy housemaid or "real" child, the main character is the focus of the action and of the reader's concern. In other words, it's important to get it right.
Sketch, sketch, sketch, until you know each character thoroughly. Your goal is to be able to place him/her/it in any conceivable situation, expressing any conceivable emotion. (Remember, there will be changes once you've sold your story!)
Cartoonists are masters of character design and development--here are a few books/links with great tips, no matter what your style:
1) Nonfiction Biography, how-to, clever investigations of topical or offbeat subjects—parents, teachers and librarians are always looking for fresh ways to deliver information. These books often expand the traditional picture-book age range and may be used in classrooms well into the middle grades.
4) Wordless picture books These contain true stories, told without text.
Examples:Chalk, by Bill Thomson; Flotsam, by David Wiesner
Here’s a fun exercise: take the story you’ve been working on and imagine how you might expand your idea into a different picture book treatment: did you do research about vintage tractors to get the details right about your barnyard setting? That could be the basis for a nonfiction book about farm equipment, or the invention of the tractor. Maybe you could use some of your secondary characters for a counting book—how many chicks hatched today? Or you could focus on the cozy sounds of the animals settling in for the night. If you had no words at all, how would you structure each scene to clearly show your original plot?
Join us on Thursday, February 3, to discuss how exploring different picture book treatments may help you discover that unique perspective only you can deliver to your dummy project.
Time: 9 pm Eastern
Topic: Who needs a plot? From “One, Two, Three” to “Goodnight, Moon”
TOPIC: What are your favorite recent picture books, and why?
Here are the books mentioned during the chat (not all "recent," not all traditional picture books, but all deserving of notice)--in (pretty much) the order mentioned:
Calvin Can't Fly: The Story of a Bookworm Birdie, by Jennifer Berne, illustrated by Keith Bendis
A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever, by Marla Frazee
The Boss Baby, by Marla Frazee
[or "anything by Marla Frazee"]
The Chicken Thief, by Beatrice Rodriguez
Tales from Outer Suburbia, by Shaun Tan
[or "anything by Shaun Tan"]
Art and Max, by David Wiesner
Bink and Gollie, by Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGhee, illustrated by Tony Fucile
Dotty, by Erica S. Perl, illustrated by Julia Denos
Chicken Bedtime is Really Early, by Erica S. Perl, illustrated by George Bates
Big Red Lollipop, by Rukhsana Khan, illustrated by Sophie Blackall
Granny Gomez & Jigsaw, by Deborah Underwood, illustrated by Scott Magoon
Lost and Found, by Oliver Jeffers
[or "anything by Oliver Jeffers"]
[anything by Lane Smith]
[anything by Alison Jay]
Tiny Little Fly, by Michael Rosen, illustrated by Kevin Waldron
Little Owl Lost, by Chris Haughton
Ish, by Peter Reynolds
The Dot, by Peter Reynolds
[or "anything by Peter Reynolds"]
Birdie's Big-Girl Shoes, by Sujean Rim
Jim, Who Ran Away from His Nurse, and Was Eaten by a Lion, by Mini Grey, illustrated by Hilaire Belloc
The Adventures of the Dish and the Spoon, by Mini Grey
Bats at the Library, by Brian Lies
Interrupting Chicken, by David Ezra Stein
Leaves, by David Ezra Stein
Pouch, by David Ezra Stein
Goodnight Moon, by Margaret Wise Brown, illustrated by Clement Hurd
Children Make Terrible Pets, by Peter Brown
Millions of Cats, by Wanda Gag
The Quiet Book, by Deborah Underwood, illustrated by Renata Liwska
Farmer Brown Goes Round and Round, by Teri Sloat, illustrated by Nadine Bernard Westcott
The Velveteen Rabbit, by Margery Williams, original edition illustrated by William Nicholson
Chicks Run Wild, by Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen, illustrated by Ward Jenkins
Harold and the Purple Crayon, by Crockett Johnson
Oscar and the Mooncats, by Lynda Gene Rymond, illustrated by Nicoletta Ceccoli
Frog and Toad Are Friends, et al., by Arnold Lobel
Owl at Home, by Arnold Lobel
Brownie Groundhog and the February Fox, by Susan Blackaby, illustrated by Carmen Segovia
Chicken Soup with Rice: A Book of Months, by Maurice Sendak
[and the entire Nutshell Library collection]
In the Night Kitchen, by Maurice Sendak
Where the Wild Things Are, by Maurice Sendak
Splat the Cat, by Rob Scotton
Love, Splat, by Rob Scotton
Russell the Sheep, by Rob Scotton
Ocean's Child, by Christine Ford and Trish Holland, illustrated by David Diaz
Moo Baa La La La, by Sandra Boynton
But Not the Hippopotamus, by Sandra Boynton
Blue Hat, Green Hat, by Sandra Boynton
Belly Button Book, by Sandra Boynton
[or "anything by Sandra Boynton"]
[anything illustrated by Christopher Denise]
[anything by Dr. Seuss]
Toot & Puddle, et al., by Holly Hobbie
The Monster at the End of This Book, by Jon Stone, illustrated by Michael Smollin
[anything by Shel Silverstein]
Little Red: A Fizzingly Good Yarn, by Lynn Roberts, illustrated by David Roberts
The Very Hungry Caterpillar, by Eric Carle
CDB, by William Steig
Pete's a Pizza, by William Steig
Sylvester and the Magic Pebble, by William Steig
Bad Kitty, by Nick Bruel
Mostly Monsterly, by Tammi Sauer, illustrated by Scott Magoon
Mr. Duck Means Business, by Tammi Sauer, illustrated by Jeff Mack
Jeremy Draws a Monster, by Peter Mccarty
Hondo and Fabian, by Peter McCarty
[or "anything by Peter McCarty"]
Morgan Morning, by Stephen Cosgrove, illustrated by Robin James
[anything by Richard Scarry]
[anything by Mercer Mayer]
Otto Grows Down, by Michael Sussman, illustrated by Scott Magoon
Spoon, by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, illustrated by Scott Magoon
The Story of Ferdinand, by Munro Leaf, illustrated by Robert Lawson
Tony Baloney, by Pam Munoz Ryan, illustrated by Edwin Fotheringham
Mermaid Queen: The Spectacular True Story of Annette Kellerman, Who Swam Her Way to Fame, Fortune & Swimsuit History!, by Shana Corey, illustrated by Edwin Fotheringham
Granfa' Grig Had a Pig and Other Rhymes Without Reason, ed. by Wallace Tripp
A House in the Night, by Susan Marie Swanson, illustrated by Beth Krommes
The Halloween Kid, by Rhode Montijo
Reference books mentioned:
The Comic Worlds of Peter Arno, William Steig, Charles Addams, and Saul Steinberg, by Iain Topliss
A Caldecott Celebration: Seven Artists and Their Paths to the Caldecott Medal, by Leonard S. Marcus
To paraphrase a comment from #kidlitchat this week, one of the biggest mistakes writers make is thinking there's a magic formula for what will sell. A visit to your library or local bookstore will demonstrate the huge variety of picture books on the market. The best advice for writers and illustrators has always been to create what you love.
What makes you fall in love with a project? Once you have satisfied the marketing checklist for appropriate story structure and format, what is the intangible quality that sells a story?
That's our topic for the week--what are your favorite picture books, and why? Our scheduled topic question was whether character-driven or plot-driven books are most effective. That's certainly part of the equation--it's important to examine all the variables: humor, emotion, wordplay, visual quality . . . so many things contribute to the success of a picture book.
For more thoughts on the subject visit Wendy's blog on recent award-winning picture books, then join us Thursday at 9 pm Eastern to discuss your personal favorites.
