SCBWI Montana Chapter Newsletter

Note from the Editor

News and Announcements

Be a Guest Contributor

We know there are a lot of resident experts out there across our great state of Montana, and we'd love to hear from you. Have you discovered some tips that would help your fellow kid-lit creators? Have you read a great craft book or discovered some other resource you want to tell us about? Would you like to share the behind the scenes of how you created your last book? We would love to include guest articles from our members in upcoming newsletters.

We ask that the articles be no more than 800 words and be written with the goal of helping or inspiring our writers and/or illustrators. Guest contributors will receive space for a short bio and a link to their website or social media. If you have something you'd like to share, please email the article (or a proposal) to mtscbwisocial@gmail.com.

Note: Submissions are not guaranteed publication.

Awards and Grants

There are some awards currently open for submission on the SCBWI website including:

• A. Orr Fantasy Grant—Awarded to middle grade and young adult writers working in the fantasy or science fiction genre.
• Ann Whitford Paul Writer's Digest Manuscript Award—annual award given to the manuscript of a Most Promising Picture Book manuscript.
• Karen Cushman Late Bloomer Award—An award for a work-in-progress from an unpublished author over age 50.

Virtual Hobnobs

Plans are underway to get our statewide virtual hobnobs up and running. The results from the recent poll showed most members would be willing to meet on a weekday around 7 p.m.

We plan to meet on the first Thursday of each month. Our first virtual hobnob will be held via Zoom on April 4th.

The first hour of the meeting will either be a Member Spotlight session or a Tip Potluck (where each member brings a craft tip to share with the group). The second hour of our time together will be more informal with time for Q&A and socializing. Depending on the number of attendees, we may break into separate chat rooms. We think these virtual hobnobs will be a great way to overcome the geographic barriers of our region and allow us to get to know (and be inspired by) each other as we strive to create a more cohesive community.

If you would like to be interviewed during the event or present a lecture on the craft of creating for kid-lit, please email Ellen Crosby, our Virtual Hobnob Coordinator at paul.ellen.crosby@gmail.com.

Banner Contest

Illustrators—Don't forget we're looking for a new banner image for our website.

If you'd like a chance to win a free year of SCBWI membership, email your banner to Jeanne Bowman at montana-ic@scbwi.org no later than March 31st. Winners will be announced in mid-April.

Follow this link to see all the guidelines and image requirements.

SCBWI Winter Conference Recap

By Jodi Hausen

Montana Regional Advisor

My first experience at an in-person SCBWI conference was exhilarating, overwhelming, entertaining, inspiring, and educational. It was also a little discouraging—I’ll get to that in a minute. Suffice it to say, I’m still digesting (and recovering from) the event that was several weeks ago.

So, what can I tell you?

If you’ve been to one of these events, you know how much is packed into essentially two days and it can seem overwhelming. Truthfully, it is. But the SCBWI conference organizers are committed to offering attendees a lot of value. And they definitely deliver, so I hope they never tone it down despite how exhausting it can be. I, for one, am so grateful for all the work they do behind the scenes.

For those who have never attended but plan to in the future, I have some advice. Do not miss the first-time orientation meeting. Writing coach and presenter Jolie Stekly gave a wonderful presentation including a few tips on how to get the most out of the weekend. Bottom line: set your intentions—no more than three things you hope to achieve while you are there. Ideally, choose just one.

The keynote speakers were inspiring and engaging. They included poet Joseph Coelho and author/illustrator James Ransome. SCBWI Executive Director Sarah Baker interviewed Cece Bell, author/illustrator of “El Deafo,” about her upcoming book Animal Albums from A to Z and her foray into music producing.

Joseph had the audience write a poem prompting us to give him suggestions for metaphor, onomatopoeia, rhyme, alliteration, and more. He was a laugh riot with an interesting backstory. I found him just charming.

If you had the opportunity to watch James Ransome’s studio visit as one of SCBWI’s digital workshops, you know how lovely and fascinating he is. He didn’t disappoint.

Sarah Baker said interviewing Cece Bell was a professional bucket list item for her and I could see why. Cece was as funny as you’d imagine if you know her work (and you should). I am beyond excited for her new projects—the book drops on March 26.

SCBWI Executive Director Sarah Baker (right) interviewing a delightful Cece Bell.

I enrolled in two optional workshops, one each day. Both workshops included short exercises and small-group peer discussions which helped us put our learning into practice.

Claudia Rueda taught us what sorts of things to consider in writing children’s picture books. Unfortunately (or fortunately), I wasn’t able to stay for her entire presentation because I was one of a few people who snagged a one-on-one session with Cátia Chien, whose workshop I took the following day.

I'd had my doubts about how much I could get out of fifteen minutes with a picture book illustrator, but I was delighted with Cátia’s feedback. She looked at my dummy and pointed out where it needed work, and we chatted about my projects. She was kind and generous—this was not something that was advertised as part of her workshop. I walked out of our meeting feeling motivated. I also felt dismayed in the realization of how much work I still have to do (hence the discouragement I spoke of earlier).

Cátia’s workshop was brilliant. Titled “Sailing Through the Sea of Colors,” she spoke to us about the psychology of color and different ways to use color to indicate emotional arcs, worlds, time periods, and theme.

Some of the lovely friends I made at the conference.

But wait, there’s more!

There were gatherings and parties—oh the parties! I met so many terrific people throughout the weekend.

One of my favorite events was the genre-specific social I attended. I had registered for the picture book social but opted instead to go to the diversity, equity and inclusion gathering, and I’m so thrilled I did. It was moderated by Federico Erebia who was very welcoming. The sense of kindness and caring in that room was irrefutable. This was true throughout the conference, but it was particularly powerful there.

I also had the opportunity to chat with Paul Zelinsky, who some of you might remember from his visit to Bozeman for the Children’s Festival of the Book. He says, "Hi!" I also met SCBWI's new Global U.S. Illustrator Coordinator Jerry Bennett, who is beyond hilarious, not to mention, talented. And there were so many others including our friend Rachel Hamby, Regional Advisor from SCBWI Inland Northwest who collaborated with us on last year’s pitch contest.

Overall, I can’t say enough about the power of this community. I’ve been an SCBWI member since about 2009 and am always so impressed by how much I get from it. Going to the conference provided additional proof that this is a community of creative people who support each other and find joy in each other's work.

Finding Your Art Compass

Jeanne Bowman

Montana Illustrator Coordinator

If you are like me, you have a brain that likes to throw temper tantrums. When I show my brain a blank page and ask it to come up with a new idea to draw, it throws itself down on the ground, kicking and screaming, “BUT I JUST GAVE YOU AN IDEA! YOU WANT ANOTHER ONE!?”

Then I am forced to plead with it to just come up with something, anything—please! Hours are spent staring at the wall, staring out the window, staring at Pinterest, staring at my bookshelf, staring into the abyss until finally, petulantly, my brain spits out an idea. I seize on it, afraid that my sponge of a brain will never come up with anything ever again.

As a professional illustrator, this is a cycle that I must endure over and over and over. It really shakes my confidence in my abilities every time this cycle happens. So, I run to my bookshelf to find solace that there are other creators that find this as difficult as I do.

Recently, while lying on the floor staring at my bookshelf, I noticed a book that I hadn’t cracked open in a while. Drawing Is Magic: Discovering Yourself In a Sketchbook by John Hendrix is a practical, work along-side style of book that explains the importance of using a sketchbook and demystifies the artistic process. As I flipped through the pages, I stumbled upon the answer to my riddle.

Drawing is Magic by John Hendrix

In a bold hand-lettered font the book shouted,

“MAKE A LIST OF 100 THINGS YOU LOVE TO DRAW.”

Naturally, this reminded me of the wise words of legendary illustrator Marshall Arisman (the inspiration for this book). Marshall Arisman was an illustrator, fine artist, and art instructor at the School of Visual Arts in New York. When he graduated from Pratt Institute, he sat down to figure out what he should draw. He decided to make a list of things that he knew a lot about. This is his list:

1. Cows (brought up in dairy country)

2. Deer (we hunted, killed, and ate them)

3. Guns (everyone had a shotgun rack in their pickup truck and a handgun in the glove compartment)

4. Psychic phenomena (my grandmother was a noted medium)

He believed that when you know what you like to draw, then you will find your visual voice and your art compass. This is the thing that will guide you through your career as an illustrator when you don’t know if you should take on a certain job, or when you are trying to generate your own portfolio pieces.

Chad Beckerman is an agent at The Cat Agency who ran with this idea. When he joined the agency, he asked his illustrators to create a list of their 100 favorite things to draw. Then, almost all of the illustrators within the agency adopted this practice. Here are a few examples.

The Cat Agency

If you are continuously stuck at the idea phase, stop what you are doing and think about everything you are drawn to. What imagery do you keep returning to? What movies and artworks inspire you? What subject matter keeps turning up in your doodles and sketchbooks? What can you draw day in and day out and not get tired of re-inventing? These are the things that go on your list.

Then, when you are asked to create something, you already have a cheat sheet to find an idea or to inject something of yourself into the background of an illustration (for instance, when you have to draw a child’s messy bedroom). Your interests define your style and voice as an artist.

So, as a fun exercise, I decided to sit down and make my own list.

Jeanne Bowman's favorite things to draw and paint. Click here to see the image in more detail.

The other great part of this exercise is that this list then becomes a way to advertise to art directors what jobs you would be perfect for. Your portfolio needs to be a trim twelve or so pieces of your best art. But a twelve piece portfolio doesn’t even begin to show everything that you are capable of. This list will help the art director decide if they want to try you out on some of the subjects you have listed, even if you don’t have a particular subject in your portfolio yet.

To make your list, be as specific as you can, and then use your creativity to arrange your list in an interesting image that displays your personal aesthetic. I love curiosity cabinets and collections of things, so I designed my image to look like one. Your image can be as simple or as complicated as you would like—just have fun!

Celebration Corner

We're excited to share book news for three of our Montana members.

If you are a current member of the Montana region of SCBWI and have news to share about your book, we'd love to celebrate with you. Email us at mtscbwisocial@gmail.com with publication/award info. Please include an image or two of the book. We can't wait to see your book babies!