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Karen Yin’s Splendid & Spectacular Story, SO NOT GHOUL
Karen Yin is absolutely amazing. She is the founder of many fabulous writer resources. Karen has created Conscious Style Guide, Editors of Color, Diverse Picture Books, and AP vs. Chicago. Her debut picture book, “Whole Whale“ is a wonderful story about animals working together and making room in their world for something huge. “Whole Whale” is one of my favorite books on my bookshelf right now. I don’t want to miss out on Karen’s fabulous new book, SO NOT GHOUL Illustrated by the wonderful Bonnie Lui. I can’t wait to get this absolutely gorgeous book onto my bookshelf. (I will probably also read it to my kids.)
This absolutely gorgeous book will arrive on AUGUST 2, 2022!
About So Not Ghoul:
On her first day haunting a new school, all Mimi has to wear are old Chinese gowns from her great-great-great-great-great-ghost-grandmother. She wants to look horrifying and rattle chains with the cool American ghouls at school, but her ghost ancestors insist she dress and behave like a good Chinese ghost. Desperate to fit in and find a middle haunting ground between her cultures, she plans a ghastly new look. But she questions whether her haunt couture is a fabulous fright or a grave mistake when her family finds out, and another ghoul at school appropriates her Chinese fashion.
This ghoulishly playful ghost story offers a boo-tiful reminder that while sometimes school and family can make you feel invisible, bicultural pride never goes out of style.
PREORDER SO NOT GHOUL TODAY!
I just ordered my copy, now it’s time for you to preorder yours!
Preorder at any of the links below:
Preorder a signed copy of So Not Ghoul: https://www.vromansbookstore.com/book/9781645675570
It’s an absolutely amazing picture book that you’ll treasure for years to come!
Follow Karen & Bonnie:
Karen’s Website: https://karenyin.com/
Bonnie’s Website: bonnielui.com
Karen’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/KarenYin
Bonnie’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/superbonart
Karen’s Other Twitter accounts:
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Amazing Kidlit Graphic Novel Master Course
I want to introduce you to a wonderful new course from the Children’s Book Academy! This course is for anyone interested in writing and/or illustrating graphic novels. Classes start May 9th! I absolutely love Mira Reisberg and her classes. I will be taking this course, and I would love if you could join me! You can sign up for the course here: https://www.childrensbookacademy.com/2022graphicnovels.html There will be submission opportunities following the course they are called Golden Tickets, and just take a peak and see all the fantastic people waiting to see your work!
Also there will be a Clip Studio class that comes with the class. It will be available soon! I’m an instructor for the Clip Studio course and hope that it will help you with your graphic novels. If you don’t have Clip Studio yet — look it up. When it goes on sale it’s very inexpensive!
If you just want to learn more about graphic novels there will be an absolutely free Masterclass on April 24th at 4pm PT. Sign up is here: https://www.childrensbookacademy.com/free-graphic-novel-masterclass.html
Until April 10th there are scholarships available for this course! The Larissa Marantz Merit and Need Based Scholarships are for underrepresented writers and illustrators who want to take Mastering Graphic Novels. BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, Disabled, Low-Income and more can apply for these scholarships. Please apply, especially if you are a BIPOC because Mira wants to make sure that most (if not all) of these go to BIPOC! https://www.childrensbookacademy.com/larissa-marantz-merit–need-scholarship.html
If you have any questions about Mastering Graphic Novels or for the scholarships, please let me know!
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100 Black Mentorships with Larissa Marantz
I want to offer 100 scholarships to Black Art Students! When I had started this post a few days ago Larissa Marantz had a goal to mentor 100 Black students in honor of Black History Month. As I’m writing this now on the 6th, Larissa has already achieved her goal! It’s not really enough because that’s just one month’s worth of scholarships, so let’s try to to get more than just 100 scholarships for Larissa. These Open Studio Sessions are absolutely wonderful! You can donate here: https://larissamarantz.com/sponsor-a-student.html This is Larissa’s original tweet so you can be sure to follow her on social media: https://twitter.com/LarissaMarantz/status/1489032777584373760?s=20&t=0_mSL3ZotGwDv_vMp3Mm3Q
Maybe you’re saying well I’m Black, where do I sign up for these mentorships? Just go here: https://larissamarantz.com/scholarship-application.html It’s a quick and painless application and filling it out can change your life! Larissa mentors illustrators (I believe mostly kidlit illustrators), animators, comic/graphic novel people and those working on developing a portfolio! My fingers are crossed for you to get a scholarship!
Help Make Black History sponsor a Black art student.#blackhistorymonth These mentorships are absolutely priceless! You can see more about what Larissa offers here: https://larissamarantz.com/oc-art-studios.html I have learned so much by signing up for her classes. Larissa gives one on one feedback, and is very knowledgeable. These Open Studio Sessions are a safe space and I do not say that lightly. Larissa has this magical way of making people feel good about themselves, while gently pointing out the right direction for their art. I’m one of those people who can’t make it every week to her sessions, but I find if I can make it to one session out of the month it’s well worth the cost.
Please join me in donating to Larissa’s scholarships here: https://larissamarantz.com/sponsor-a-student.html
Join the Open Studio Sessions: https://larissamarantz.com/store/p43/OC_Art_Studios_Open_Studio_Session.html
Apply for a scholarship: https://larissamarantz.com/scholarship-application.html
Open Studio Sessions image. All images in this post are the work of Larissa Marantz. All of the images in this post were used with her permission.
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Upcoming Kidlit Events and Classes
I’ve been meaning for some time to update this blog with upcoming kidlit events. These events will mostly be focused on BIPOC, Disabled, LGBTQIA+ ect. resources. I will try to update this as much as possible, but only will post updates once or twice a month on the blog. I have added a resource tab on my website. You can also see the list of resources here: http://ngi.c96.myftpupload.com/kidlit-events-and-resources/
January
Author Mentor Match for MG- Adult novels: https://authormentormatch.com/ Jan 12-14
Windows and Mirrors Scholarship for New England SCBWI Annual Conference. Submission window Jan 1- 31st https://newengland.scbwi.org/new-england-scbwi-scholarships/nescbwi-windows-mirrors-scholarship/
DV Con – From the creators of #DVPit. This free conference is for self identifying marginalized book creators. Excellent conference! January 22 – 23 https://www.dvpit.com/register-2022
February
Annick Press Mentorship – The deadline for the first round of submissions is February 8, 2021
https://www.annickpress.com/Submission-Guidelines/Annick-Press-Mentorship-Program
May
Mastering Graphic Novels Live is happening in May 2022 for the Children’s Book Academy. There are scholarships for all of the big courses. Mira Reisberg rarely gets enough BIPOC applying. Sign up for the newsletter to be informed of scholarships and other events the CBA has to offer: https://www.childrensbookacademy.com/2022graphicnovels.html
Unannouced/Ongoing
The Queer Kidlit Chat Mentorship for LGBTQIA+ people will be happening again this year! There will be an announcement on #QueerKidlit chat when this happens.
A list of calls for submissions sorted by month: https://publishedtodeath.blogspot.com/p/calls-for-submissions.html
Year Round
Classes
OC Art Studios – Open Studio sessions where Larissa will critique illustration work (I highly recommend these). https://larissamarantz.com/oc-art-studios.html Larissa offers scholarships to her classes for Black and AAPI students.
Chats
Queer Kidlit Chat – On Twitter #Queerkidlit chat is Wednesday nights at 5:30pm PT/8:30pm ET. LGBTQIA+ people and allies welcome!
Kidlit Art Chat – On Twitter #KidlitArt chat is Thusday nights at 6:00pm PT/ 9:00pm ET. A fantastic chat for kidlit illustrators!
Other Websites:
The Brown Bookshelf – A website dedicated to create awareness for Black stories: https://thebrownbookshelf.com/
Editors of Color – A website to hire BIPOC editors. Search for an editor in a huge number of categories or post a job. BIPOC can join the database. https://editorsofcolor.com/
Diverse Picture Books – A list of picture books created by diverse authors/illustrators https://bookshop.org/shop/diversepicturebooks
Kidlit 411 – a website dedicated to kidlit. Events, classes and tons of resources: http://www.kidlit411.com/
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Christmas Kitten
I usually don’t do holiday things so early, so you’ll have to forgive me with this one. My toddler was watching a Christmas kitten video. One of those where kittens play and instrumental Christmas music runs in the background. If you want you can wait until December to watch the video. I don’t have a book review for this week so I thought this would be a fun replacement.
I’ll be finishing up this illustration as a Patreon exclusive! Go to https://www.patreon.com/SmartDummies to see more. I will be updating Patreon exclusive videos and images there. Before I did this video I had an image and the process didn’t get recorded. I will be posting that image as a Patreon exclusive as well!
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All About the Craft & Business of Illustrating Children’s Books
I’ve talked about the Craft & Business of Illustrating Children’s Books several times, but I always felt like I had more to say. It wasn’t until now that I figured out just what I wanted to other people to know about the course. (Video is embedded below or you can go here: https://youtu.be/TBcMlOHDsDk)
This video highlights areas like the Facebook group, critique groups, webinars, the course itself, private critiques and golden tickets. There is also a section at the end that talks about putting your best foot forward in this class. Much of the info in putting your best foot forward is going to be useful information for any class!
After doing the audio for this I filmed myself coloring a drawing. I may change this into a presentation later, but wanted to get this out before the scholarships applications closed! I am sick in this video, so I’m sorry if any of this comes through on the video.
You can get a diversity scholarship for this course. There isn’t much time left! November 20th is the new extended date. There were not enough people who applied, so please take advantage of these. There aren’t many people applying so here is your chance to take advantage of this great scholarship! https://childrensbookacademy.teachable.com/p/rlpcscholarships
Ready to just sign up for the course? Go here and make all your kidlit illustration dreams come true: https://childrensbookacademy.teachable.com/p/the-craft-business-of-illustrating-children-s-picture-books
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Art Process and Thumbnails
Before I show you some process posts I’m going to start with a poll I posted on social media. This was a question asked by Tara Santoro (@JerseyGirlDraws on twitter).
This is pretty reflective of the people I’ve spoken to. Most believe thumbnails are essential. There are a few that think they aren’t important.
Brian McLachlan (@McLachlanBrian on twitter) said as a response, “Once you’ve done enough layouts you don’t need to thumbnail everything.” Which makes sense!
There are some of you that hate thumbnails and think it’s silly to use them. I think not using them may be a harder path, but that path is up to you!
Initial thumbnails should take you no more than a few seconds on each one. It’s just to figure out proportion and where things go. More than a couple seconds makes it stressful. Too much detail in thumbnails can be stressful. Keep them simple, and if you want to do detailed thumbnails do that after!
Some Final Art Resources
Here are some resources you may want to look into before creating your final art! In fine art the idea is to make a beautiful piece that will last a long time. With kidlit your final art doesn’t necessarily have to last a long time (it does help, though). It does have to look good. Instead of giving you a bunch of resources for fine artists or illustrators, I’m going to show you some art projects that are mostly for kids that may inspire or inform your own art!
Want to find a process in your medium? Just go to Pinterest or YouTube and type in your art medium and then “projects”. You can add “for kids” if you want to find easier projects.
Watercolor Techniques: https://www.projectswithkids.com/watercolor-techniques-for-kids/
Blending Colored Pencils: https://www.mybluprint.com/article/blend-your-way-to-smooth-colored-pencils
Scraping Painting with Oil Pastels: http://krokotak.com/2019/06/scraping-painting-with-oil-pastel/
Acrylic Painting with a Fork: https://www.projectswithkids.com/palm-tree-fork-painting-for-kids/
Painted Collage Art: https://layers-of-learning.com/painted-collage-art/
Torn Collage Art: http://www.onecolorfulday.com/free-printable-night-sky-collage/
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Review of Sun by Alison Oliver
Sun by Alison Oliver
Sun by Alison Oliver is such a warm and whimsical book. I’d like to say that I came across it in a direct effort to find beautiful picture books for kids. Instead I did a random search for 2019 picture books at my library and this was one of the books I found! I feel so lucky to have found this book at my library.
Story
Sketch practice after Alison Oliver 
Sun loves soccer. He seems to eat, breathe and (of course) play soccer. He has an emptiness in his life and doesn’t know what to fill it with. Sun goes on a journey of self discovery and meets with Fox (who is actually a fox). Fox shows Sun a playfully magical world that he will never forget.
This story is so sweet and beautiful. The friendship between Sun and Fox is an interesting one. Fox brings out Sun’s creative side. Maybe Fox is supposed to be Sun’s creative side personified. Fox allows Sun to experience things that he missed in life while having a life totally devoted to soccer. It’s good not to get too focused on one thing, because there are so many wonderful things to experience in life!
Art
The images in this book are absolutely breathtaking. Inside the book it says “The illustrations for this book were executed in watercolor, brush pen, charcoal and collage and assembled digitally.” I love that it didn’t just say “mixed media”. I always love finding out what medium the artist used! In this case Alison used many!
I love the warmth of this book. It is like the colors were taken from the sun! The colors are vivid and feel like a great big hug. The brush strokes that Alison makes in this book are nothing less than gorgeous. It makes the images feel like so much movement is happening.
Buy the Book
My toddler was shocked with the beauty of this book Buy the Book: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781328781628
Alison Oliver’s Website: http://pure-sugar.com/
More about the book: https://pure-sugar.com/sun/
If you can’t afford to buy this book consider leaving a review or requesting your library buy this book!
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Simple Character Design
Are you ready for character design? Just grab some paper and a pencil (or have your computer program on standby and let’s get sketching! The video shows how I might do a page to figure out a character. There is lots of different techniques.
Full Video
Quick Video (no sound)
Images I drew for the Smart Dummies video see link above. -
Weekend Activities
Many of you may be on vacation this weekend and that’s great. Though Smart Dummies officially starts on September 1st there will be no official activities planned until September 3rd. Sunday I will have a schedule up for the week and we’ll officially start Tuesday from the beginning. If you want to work ahead, that’s fine! If you are gone this weekend, don’t worry. I’m going over everything again starting September 3rd.
This Weekend's Project
You can work on anything you’d like this weekend (or nothing at all). If you already have your character(s) figured out you can either work on Full Character Drawings (pages 10-11) or Thumbnails (pages 18-19). We will be going over all of this later so don’t worry about getting behind.
Full Character Drawings or Thumbnails?
I think it comes down to personal preference for order of creation at this point. I’ve heard both ways from professionals and in illustration classes!
Full Character Drawings/Turnarounds: The lines on this page are to make sure you keep everything in line. Make sure that all the facial features line up. Alternatively you can get some graph paper and use that to plan out your character drawings.
Thumbnails: If you are doing thumbnails only spend a minute or two drawing each one. They don’t even have to look like anything but scribbles. You can always make tighter thumbnails later.
Weekend Reading
Here is a great post from Rachel Armington about Trim Sizes:
https://rachelarmington.com/publishing/trim-sizes-for-picture-books/ If you have time this weekend take a look! It’s good to have your picture book size in mind when you start on your book. It’s also necessary to know your images should be set up before you start on your finals. I’ll be referencing this post several times throughout the event, because layout is so important throughout this whole Dummy making process.
It’s necessary to know your images should be set up before you start on your finals. I’ll be referencing this post several times throughout the event, because layout is important throughout this whole Dummy making process.
I had one project for a client where I didn’t know the sizes of the images. I was lead to believe the images were 8″x 8″ when they were 6″x 9″ which is a huge difference! I was able to fix the problem in time. If you are working on your project you decide the size. In general I’d suggest the images be 8″x10″ (and 10″x 8″ is also a possibility, but not as common) because that’s the industry standard and most likely how your book will be published. This is a standard for picture books and some graphic novels. I’ll get back to you on more page sizes for other books later!
If you haven’t already sign up for Smart Dummies here: http://ngi.c96.myftpupload.com/register-for-smart-dummies-2019/ This page has everything you need! Sign up, grab a booklet, sign up for emails and get the badge! Be sure to contact me if you have any problems!
