ANNOUNCING.....

2016 Return of the Picture Book Dummy Challenge!

FAQ:

You can participate in the #Kidlitart 2016 Picture Book Dummy Challenge here on the blog or on Twitter via the #PBDummy hashtag, or on Facebook via this group.

What is it?
A six month-long online group challenge to create and submit a picture book dummy.

Start date: January 14, 2016

End date: July 21, 2016

Who can join?Anyone! Though geared primarily toward author/illustrators, writers who are not artists can benefit from portions of the dummy exercise, and illustrators without an original manuscript can use the process to create a dummy portfolio piece.

Can I participate without attending kidlitart Twitter chats?
Yes, the challenge steps will be posted here on the blog--but we encourage you to take advantage of all avenues for joining in the discussion: leave comments here; drop by #kidlitart at 9 pm Eastern on Thursday nights; and check in with your Twitter colleagues any time via the challenge hashtag: #PBDummy. (Starting in January, you can also download the twibbon created by Diandra Mae to show your participation.)

Do I have to post my work online?
No! We will be discussing the steps in general terms. If you wish to receive feedback or critiques on specific ideas or artwork, you are free to exchange messages or post images with trusted partners in protected venues. DO NOT post original artwork in comments here: please be mindful of the nature of the internet and use caution when posting art ANYWHERE.

What if I don’t want to create a picture book dummy? Will I be left out of #kidlitart until July? Not at all! Most of the challenge activity will take place here on the blog or via the #PBDummy hashtag. We will schedule a progress chat to correspond with each of the nine steps, but the remainder of the chats will cover the entire range of topics of interest to picture book illustrators and friends of the genre.

Are there any rules for the challenge?
No rules at all for participating, except to register your participation on the blog by January 31st. The idea is to have a great time while accomplishing something useful. If you’ve ever taken part in a similar challenge, you know the value of community: checking in regularly, encouraging others, allowing yourself to be held accountable to a schedule—all this will help you get the most from the experience.

Part II: Brass Tacks
What is a picture book dummy, anyway?
A picture book dummy is a facsimile of a printed book: text and images laid out on paper cut into pages which are then gathered and “bound” to approximate an actual book. A dummy can be extremely simple or very elaborately produced—but the defining characteristic is the page turn.

A physical dummy allows you to simulate the experience of reading a book. For the author/illustrator, a dummy aids in establishing and editing the visual context into a series of isolated page spreads viewed the way a reader will experience them. It can also be an important tool for exposing flaws in the pace of a manuscript or help to establish natural dramatic breaks in the story line.

Who should create a picture book dummy, and why?
There are three reasons to create a picture book dummy:

a) As mentioned above, a dummy is an important tool for structuring a picture book, and is a recommended exercise for polishing any manuscript. A writer who is not an illustrator can benefit from creating a simple dummy, but should NOT include it as part of the submission.

b) An illustrator who is not an author might consider creating a picture book dummy of a fairy tale or some other familiar text in the public domain, as a portfolio piece. A successful dummy will demonstrate that the illustrator understands how to structure a story within the constraints of the standard picture book format.

c) An author/illustrator should consider including a picture book dummy as part of the submission package for any original manuscript he or she wishes to illustrate. This will give the editor, art director or agent reviewing your submission the clearest idea of the viability of the project. For the purposes of this challenge, we will assume that this is the goal. If you are producing a dummy for any other reason, you may find that some of the challenge steps don’t apply to your project—but we hope they will be enlightening, nevertheless. 

HOW WE BREAK THIS DOWN
Each step in the challenge will be introduced by a post here on the kidlitart blog.   You are invited to check in via the comments section or the Facebook group at any time to share your progress or ask questions and there will be a “How’s it going?” chat scheduled at the close of each step in the process, to keep us on course.

THE SCHEDULE

STEP 1: Pick your project (1 week) Jan 14-20

STEP 2: Draft the story (4 weeks) Jan 21-Feb 18 

(If you already have a story/are using a #writedummy story, take this chance to go over with a fresh eye. Maybe have it go through your critique group one more round. Create character interviews and answer any questions you may have in sketch form.)

STEP 3: Develop the character studies (2 weeks) Feb 19-Mar 3

STEP 4: Storyboard text and art (2 weeks) Mar 3-Mar 17

STEP 5: Render tight, full-size sketches (8 weeks) Mar 17-May 12

STEP 6: Produce final art of two spreads (4 weeks) May 12 - June 9

STEP 7: Assemble the dummy (2 weeks ) Jun 9-Jun 23

STEP 8: Research submissions; prepare dummy package (1 week) Jun 23-Jun 30 

STEP 9: Submissions (1 week) Jul 7-Jul 14 

STEP 10: Celebrate! #PBDC Wrap Party Jul 21 

There will be blog posts for most of the challenge's steps here and they will be posted on the Thursday the topic is discussed. Links will be shared during the #kidlitart chats. Keep an eye on the blog and get ready to work! 

Week 1-Getting Started

When we were talking about the return of the Picture Book Dummy Challenge, we were hopeful that because of the #writedummy challenge, and our growing community that participants, would have at the very least a solid idea that they would want to pursue and turn into a picture book dummy. 

Now is the time for everyone to take a good look at that idea notebook you have stashed away and follow through on one of those ideas.  We're going to make a picture book. 

If you are at a loss as to what to do: You didn't write a story for #writedummy, you have no idea notebook to pull from, you didn't even find out about #kidlitart or any of this until TODAY as a matter of fact- don't worry. You have plenty of time to figure out what you're going to do. In fact, why don't you head to Tara Lazar's blog and read up on all of the archives she has for her PiBoIdMo (picture book idea month)? 

If you find yourself stuck because you have so any ideas you're not sure where to turn, ask yourself this: which idea is one that only YOU can bring to life? Which idea makes you feel a little dizzy with the excitement of turning it into a book? Which idea makes you sick just thinking about it never being seen by anyone else or being shown in the light of day? Which idea are your fingers positively itching to wrap a pencil around? THAT'S the idea for you. 

That idea is one you are passionate about. And you're going to need passion. Creating a book is a long, sometimes slow, process. You're going to need passion to drive you and push you and help you endure the wait.  

Enough talking, it's time for some action. We have quite a journey ahead of us. 

Ready? 

Set.

.....GO!

#kidlitart Round-Up

There's quite a bit going on for #kidlitart right now. Hopefully those of you participating in the Postcard Boost have mailed your postcards out. April 3rd was our unofficial deadline. If you haven't yet, I hope our Mailing Lists chat helped you create your resource and you'll be mailing out soon.

We had a wonderful Show-N-Tell chat last week! I was so excited to see everyone's works-in-progress. We will definitely be doing it again. You can read the transcript for that chat here. 

And despite what some of you may be seeing out your front door, Spring is here and we'd like to celebrate by updating our blog banner. Our current lovely bit of illustration was created by the lovely Nancy Colle (Interview here) If you'd like to show your #kidlitart spirit and share a piece of your work, here are the requirements:
 1) Create an illustration/design that is kidlitart-centric.
2) The name 'kidlitart' has to be a central image.
3) The dimensions of the piece should be (no wider than) 1050px x 150px
4) Be sure you save the final image to 72-100 dpi. No need to have a hi-res image online.
5) Be sure your name/initials are somewhere (discreetly)on the image.
6) Email the header image to kidlitart@gmail.com. We'll sort through and when we choose a new header for the season, we'll contact you and send questions so we can feature you in a blog interview.
7) If you'd like to create a new header for the Twitter account for @KidLitArt, resize your submitted illo to fit the 1252 x 626 size requirement.


Also, our topic for this week's chat is a #PBDummy Check-In. A couple of weeks ago we entered into Step Five: Full-Size Sketches. Hopefully you've moved into this stage after working out any kinks in your storyboard. Let us know if you are facing obstacles or have questions about where to go from here Thursday night at 9pm EST. 

That's it for now. As always, if you have any questions, shoot Russ, Renee, and I a tweet, or fill out our new handy-dandy form over in the sidebar.

Thank you for being a part of the #kidlitart community. It's a thriving place because of you!

-Diandra

Consistency is the topic for Thursay April 28 chat.

We've reached the end of the full sized sketches phase. Now is the time to look at all your drawings and make sure the tiny details add up.

There is a good article about character consistency for comic artists here: http://www.helium.com/items/949706-drawing-your-comic-characters-with-consistency Many of the points the author discusses are also relevant for picture book illustration.

Find someplace to spread out all your art so you can see every spread all at the same time. I use the floor of my bedroom. Other artists use a huge cork board on a studio wall. No matter how strong an artist you are, this step CANNOT be skipped. Big things to check for are:

• Facial features - does you character look like the same character from page 1 to page 32?
• Proportions - is you character the same size throughout? How about compared to secondary characters?
• Clothing - if your character has a costume, are all the details in the same place?
• Environment - is your background and supporting imagery also consistent with character and story line? Has your setting undergone any changes? Should it have?
• This is also a good time to double check your page turn and story flow. Are the images working to move the story forward as you intended in your thumbnails?

There may be a spread (or even two) you decide isn't working and will want to revisit them. In one book I was working on, my main character's skirt and hair grew longer. Since the story time elapse was a single afternoon, this was not a natural occurrence and needed to be fixed before any color was added. Such details are not readily observed unless all the art is set side by side.

These are the full size pencils being approved at Puffin: http://thepuffinblog.typepad.com/.a/6a00e5501c1be888330115705ac655970c-pi