Rozzie Land

Studio Friday- Playtime

Drat, I didn't make the time to participate in "Illustration Friday" this week but "studio Friday", yes. This weeks theme is "playtime". I thought I'd show you my stash of felt that is sitting there yelling impatiently, "PLAY WITH US!" . I haven't done any artwork this week. Naughty , naughty. But in my defense I began my picture book writing course and it has been all encompassing.
Have a great weekend everyone.

Building a portfolio

I've been asked quite a bit to talk about building a strong children's illustration portfolio. I noticed a couple of other blogs have touched on the subject so figured it would be a good time to discuss it as well. (Links to their blogs are at the end of this entry.)

If you've done your research , you don't need me to tell you what your portfolio should consist of. It would be easier to just tell you about my journey. After much studying I came up with 3 main points that I felt I needed to achieve :

*Create a signature style
I want the editor to know it's "me" when a sample lands on their desk so I worked on developing a consistent style that was recognizable.

*Create work that I truly enjoy (10-12 solid pieces)
After fighting with myself (spent a long time frustrated that I wasn't the next Norman Rockwell) I decided to embrace the whimsy that comes naturally to me. I'm allowing myself to create pieces that are naive and simple. It makes me happy. =o)
I've found my work appeals most to toddlers to 8 years old so I'm honing in on that.

*Project professionalism
Again this came down to doing my homework, going to scbwi meetings and spending money on promotion.  Initially hard for me to do because that meant that I had to believe in myself enough to validate the cost. But I found as soon as I started treating myself like an illustrator, work began to show up and editors started taking me seriously. As cliche as it sounds it's so true. You have to believe in yourself before anyone else will. You can rely on friends and family for that support only so far. Don't apologize for your work, EVER. Yet on the opposite end of the spectrum, overly boastful doesn't work either (heard this at a conference). I found simply owning who I am has worked the best, warts and all.

To be honest with you , I am so bored with the work I have in my portfolio right now and the pieces aren't that old! I'm sure it's because I've learned a lot this year and I'm moving to the "next level".
What am I learning?  Perspective and interaction.

At my last scbwi conference I had my first 'real' portfolio review. If you have an opportunity to do this, please go for it. It's scary and you feel vulnerable but it's so worth it. You may not agree with everything they say but try to absorb it with an open mind.  I've noticed the things that we become the most defensive about are actually the things we truly need to work on. The comment that affected me the most was that my work is too linear. My lines are too horizontal / vertical, not dynamic. Suggestion: Vary perspective.

Later on that same month, a well established illustration rep showed interest in my felt work. Her suggestions were similar. Work needs to be more dynamic, pieces are too presentational (where the characters are facing front too much). Many pieces show action but not as much interaction.

So I'm busily working on these two aspects, wish me luck!

Heather Powers of Humblearts just came back from a conference and shares her experience.  Go visit for a good read and some great insight!

Monica Lee is discussing the possibility of a group that can support eachother with building a strong portfolio(not just for the children's market). If this interests you, I'd recommend you post at her blog and let her know!

LAST WORD: Create several solid pieces that represent your heart and the work you want to be hired to do. But don't stop there. Our portfolios are never finished , It's ever evolving as we are so forget about trying to obtain that "happy ending" with your port. There's no such thing.

Happy illustrating!

studio friday- Chair

What a sweet Valentine to let me put her through this. She was rewarded with a piece of cheese so she was very happy afterwards.

This weeks "studio friday" is CHAIR. You can see my chair a little. It's just an office chair that can be raised high or low and I just love it.

I love it because my husband surprised me with it when I got back from a family reunion. It was so very thoughtful because I had been struggling with a diningroom chair that was way too low and killed my shoulders.

If you're interested in participating in Studio Friday just drop off your picture at tine sparkles. I love seeing others' workspace.

Illo Friday- Reinvent

"Children reinvent your world for you."~ Susan Sarandon

I'm way behind with this. It's a very rough idea sketch for my next felt piece which will be going along with a poem I've written. I Plan on submitting it to magazine publishers when it's finished. I'll show it to you when it's done.

School visit 2

Continuing on with the school visit, I wanted to show you the wonderful "thank you" letters that I received from some of the students this week. They warmed my heart so much!

If you have the opportunity to go speak to children or even go to the classroom to read stories, I would highly recommend it. Particularly if you are interested in illustrating or writing for children. It gave me a renewed vision of why I'm working so hard at my craft.   Plus, they are just such a hoot to be around!

King Frog

YAY! My copies of "King Frog" by Perfection Learning arrived in the mail today.
Really pleased with how it turned out.

Surprise Flowers

Wow, I received such a lovely surprise at my doorstep this weekend. These gorgeous flowers to your left were sent to me from my dear friend that lives in Maryland. (I'm in Texas)

Sheri and I have been good friends for several years. She is the reason that I started illustrating. We met one summer when we were both moving in to housing on  the same military base in Washington DC. We would often meet at our back fence to dish the dirt, talk gardening and eventually writing & illustrating. Sheri is a fabulous children's writer (She recently won caretaker of the year so that should give you an idea of how great she is with kids!)

Anyway, she knew that I liked to draw and encouraged me to illustrate one of her Pb's.  We were both pretty green and went the route so  many 'newbies' do ...that we would submit a dual submission to publishers. But let me tell you that experience showed me what I wanted to do with my life. Sheri is a real go getter and she helped me learn to use my first computer, found illustrator groups for me to join and dragged me along to my first scbwi meeting. I was hooked.  We would dream and dream big and here we posed , in my front yard, for our jacket photo that would go with our book.  teehee!

  Sheri and I chatted this week. We haven't lived near each other for about 3+ years and quite honestly ,we only reconnect about twice a year...you know how it is, life gets in the way sometimes. But whenever we start chatting time stands still. I have never felt such a connection with a friend like I have with her and I believe she feels the same.   She got word recently that she and her family are being reassigned to DC and of course we began reminiscing. Hence the flowers that came with the  message, " I miss my backyard buddy". I do to, Sheri, I do too.

Here's to friendships that never die no matter the distance. I love you, buddy.

The pic of us that she still keeps on display at her house.

Studio Friday~ Glass

Friday sneaked up on me this week. Where did the time go? The theme for Studio Friday this week is "glass". Here is a picture of the glass on my drafting table. It may be a little hard to see but the glass container holding all the buttons has handpainted dragonflies on it. I LOVE dragonflies and "stole" this from my son ,Jesse. It was a gift from one of his asst. teachers one year and I fell in love with it. I don't know if I'll ever use all these buttons it contains, but I'll give it my best shot!

School Visit

I feel like I climbed Mount Everest today and lived to tell about it.

It was my first official school visit as an illustrator. I was invited to speak to my daughters third grade class about what it's like to illustrate children's books.  I thought it would be a great way to get my feet wet but when Ms. Smith (emily's teacher) informed me last week that there would  be  90+ children attending , I thought I was going to faint. The presentation turned out to be for the entire third grade at school.  You have to understand that speaking in public is a massive hurdle that I have been trying to overcome these past few years so this was a very big deal for me,  I wasn't sure I could do it.
I felt like I was in a dream walking through the doors to the school today. "You can do this , roz, you can do this. Emily is so excited, you can't let her down." Do you know that hot, sweaty , fainty feeling? That's what I had.

Well all I can say is, WOW. If i had known what it was going to be like to speak to the kids , I would have been calling every day last week begging to come early!! I'm not kidding. They were the most receptive , sweet kids in the whole wide world and I had such a blast!  My Emily was such a tremendous help, she sat next to me and was my "assistant". The hardest part was getting started but after that it seemed to go well, at least the kids made me feel like it did, I can barely remember what I said. hahaha  This experience reminded me of why I illustrate. Their energy was infectious!

Snowbear, you were right, the kids made me feel like I was queen for a day.It was so cute, they asked for my autograph. My autograph! teehee.

My only regret is that I didn't think to bring a disposable camera. One of the kids could have been taking snaps (that probably would have caused a ruckus,though, kids love to take pictures) of the presentation and I could have posted it here. But it's something to remember for next time. NEXT TIME.  I can't believe those words just typed themselves on the keyboard.

Speaking of school visits,I have heard through the grapevine that the wonderful Anastasia Suen is starting an online workshop on school visits.  I may have to take it. But first I'm taking her picture-book writing workshop that starts on the 25th of this month. Looking forward to it!

Shawn Burgei Web design

Hi All,

I just wanted to write and recommend  my new web host, SAB GRAPHICS, which is run by Shawn Burgei.  If you are looking for someone to help you develop your website, logo or stationary design, I would highly recommend you go to this guy. He is sweet and so very helpful.  His banner is on my sidebar so just click on there to take a gander at his services.  ( I actually had the privilege of designing his logo)
Shawn , if you read this, thank you again for all of your help and patience with me!  You're awesome! ;o)   

HS/BQ

  I received my copies of "Hopscotch" and "Boysquest" this week. These are produced by the same company and are on newstands now.

Here are the pages I illustrated. I'm usually hired to illustrate one page poems. The one on the right is actually a reprint. I had initially been hired to do it for Hopscotch so the character in the back was a girl the first time around with pigtails. Since they published it for "Boysquest", they removed the hair to make the 'her' look like a 'him'. teehee

Illo Friday- Alone

"Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan "press on" has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race. " ~ Calvin Coolidge

Oh, I love this quote. I have relied heavily on persistence and determination to help me move forward in children's publishing. I have seen some very talented illustrators (and authors) give up way too soon and it saddens me. This is a tough business but it IS possible if we don't give up.
The illustration above is one that I did quite some years ago as an assignment for the Susan Hartung illustration course I took. One of my favorite activities as a child was spending time "alone" reading. Funny, we don't change very much as we age, do we?

Not Afraid Of Needles

I'm nearing the homestretch on a project that I have been working on for the last several weeks.  I've been assigned to illustrate a story about a child dealing with a blood disorder.  This book will be distributed in hospitals here in Texas with the hope that it will encourage other families that are going through a similar situation. 

Have any of you seen or read , " Because of Win Dixie" ?  The mc asks her father to give her 10 facts about her mom that she can memorize and never forget.   I loved that idea and requested something similar from the author to help me bring life to the main character of , "needles". 

So , with the editor and authors permission, here are the statements that were shared with me. I want to introduce you to Skyler, a beautiful little girl that is going to help many families in the future.  Way to go, Skyler!

*Skyler loves to play doctor, play Barbies, sing and dance (she makes up her on moves and her own songs).

*She loves cheese and yogurt. She just lost her first tooth yesterday and was so excited! She almost couldn't sleep in anticipation for the tooth fairy.

*She keeps her own pretend diaries and journals, sometimes with just scribbles and pictures that she has drawn.

*She hates it when her platelet count is down and she can't play outside at recess with her classmates. She has to sit on the sidewalk beside the teacher and watch. Also, when her count is very low, I won't let her stay the night with her best friend who is also her cousin, Chelsey.

*She loves to ride her bicycle (without training wheels) but she must wear her pink helmet in case of a fall and can only ride it if her count is in the safe zone.

*She enjoys playing barbie.com on the computer. She is unusually good at board games and charades (hardly ever cheats!).

*She loves to talk about Jesus and wants everyone to know how great He is.

*She feels very special because she gets so much attention. She is friends with everyone. She laughs a lot and really, under the circumstances, never complains.

Needlefelting

I am discovering so many neat things through blogging. http://www.wolenzo.nl/  has been posting about her experience with needle felting and all I know is that it looks way too cool and I must give it a try! So I've been searching the internet to find "how-to" books or kits and here is what I'm going to order as soon as I finish posting this entry.  I found this cute little ducky at http://www.livingfelt.com/ . I can't wait to give this a try!

studio friday- Flora

  It' studio friday again and the theme is "flora".

For illustration friday (bloom), a couple of weeks, ago,I showed you all the sketch for this lastest felt piece.  I finished it this week so I thought it tied in well with Tines studio theme.

This is for my postcard that I'm sending out to publishers that have me on file.

Illo Friday- Travel

Another image from "Luke & Duke" published by Perfection Learning.

Illustration Friday theme is "travel" this week.

Studio Friday- Green

I have been wanting to participate in Tine's "studio friday" for ages. This week's theme is "green". I've been working on the new felt illustration (felt-like spring) so this is what is in my studio right now. Where's the green? The leaves & caterpillar of course! =o)  And hopefully I'll see some green coming in from this promotional.

Continuing on with the theme , I'll also add that I'm learning dream weaver mx. (green with experience) hahha.