My First School Visit, by Mike Ciccotello

A few years ago I was contacted by the principal of Mary Roberts Elementary. He was inquiring about a mural I did at a local kids hair salon, Hair for Kids. After some discussion, and decision making, and maybe some more discussion, I was hired to create a mural at his school. I finished the painting over a few days. On the last day I spent some time talking with the kids about art. 

This is the mural I created a few years ago.

Last year, the same principal reached out to me. He noticed new art I was posting on my social media feeds. He asked if I was working on picture books and was curious if I would come to the school to speak with the children. I said sure, but there's one problem, I don't have a published book. He didn't think that mattered. He believed I had a compelling story and the students would be interested to see how much work goes into writing and illustrating. WE HAD SO MUCH FUN!

I'm sketching a pig wearing a top hat.

As the children filtered in and took their seats, I did some devil stick juggling. I dropped the juggling stick a few times. Each time, I asked the students what I should do. They immediately responded, "PICK IT UP!" I showed them a few different ways to pick it up. You could use your hands, or the other sticks, or even your feet. They got a real kick out of it.

I'm trying to figure out how the pig's ears would look with the top hat.

Then we talked about illustration and how many mistakes I make. I make a lot of mistakes. Well, when you make a mistake, you need to try again – just like juggling. Nothing comes out perfect the first time you do it. You need to keep working at it every day. The example I gave was a drawing I worked on for over a month. I had a bunch of help form my artist (critique) friends. Through thoughtful critique, I was able to solve multiple problems and finish my illustration.

Talking about my book dummy

After the illustration talk, we read one of my picture book dummies. We spoke about the characters and the problem they had. We tried to find similarities in the children's experiences. They pointed out so many fun things. Then we spoke about submitting a book to a publisher and how much work goes into a story before it gets sent. They couldn't believe it.

It was such a wonderful day. I learned a lot about myself, and hopefully made an impression on some of those kiddos. I can't wait to do it all again.

Represented by Rachel Orr

For more info contact 

rko(a)prospectagency.com

Prospect Agency Portfolio

Facebook:  The Art of Mike Ciccotello 

Twitter: @ciccotello 

Instagram: @ciccotello 

In the Mud by Jason Kirschner

I haven't posted on this group blog in a while. I've been off in the "dayjob" world and my fellow bloggers have been kind enough to deal me out of the rotation for a bit. (I mixed metaphors. I know. I'm ok with it.) But it's my turn today, and since we all know that I consider this blog the closest I get to therapy, I thought I'd share what's on my mind.

I have recently been taking a break. Not only from this blog but from creating kidlit altogether. Since the end of the summer, I haven't really written or drawn anything that could potentially end up as a book of any sort.  I was tired and I felt I was spinning my wheels but getting nowhere. I started a new season of tv at "dayjob world" and told myself I just didn't have the time but I think I was making excuses. I think I was just a bit burnt out. I doodled a bit here and there and wrote down random story ideas or plot points but nothing really constructive.

And then October rolled in. I forced myself to try Inktober as a way to start drawing daily again. Now I would consider myself a pencil guy. I draw with pencil on cheap paper and mostly color my stuff digitally. Ink doesn't really enter into my process. Plus, I've tried Inktober before and never gone further than 8 or 9 days. But it seemed like an escape ladder out of the small muddy pit of not-drawing I'd dig for myself. I don't know why it was muddy-- that's a mystery to me too.

SO...Inktober day 1, I posted something I wasn't entirely happy with but I felt an ounce of satisfaction at having completed something. I made a decision to do no erasing or digital doctoring.
"Don't be fussy," I found myself saying as a mantra.  Day 2, I started to try to explore the different things I could do with the few ink pens I found in my bucket o' art supplies. Maybe a teensy bit more satisfying.

Day 3.

On day 3, the prompt reminded me of a character I had written a picturebook manuscript about. It was the project I was spinning my wheels on earlier this summer. Day 3 was the turning point for me. On day 3,  I decided to make my Inktober about the bunnies in the book I wanted to finish. I christened it "Bunntober."

It started to be fun to visit the characters each day. And the ink became fun too. I got a few more markers and pens at my local art store. Now I could do grey washes with Copic wide markers and really teeny details with Micron pens. I still did my layouts in my very comfortable Prismacolor pencil #943 and then inked over it. The prompts gave me aspects of the characters to explore that I hadn't yet and the ink somehow made the drawing fun again because I got semi-finished sketches that did, but also didn't, resemble the work I was familiar with.

And people were commenting and liking my stuff. I wasn't an Inktober star like fellow D2PB'r Mike Ciccotello but I got a bunch of new followers and some really lovely comments. I know that's not why we make the art but encouragement is always lovely.  Most importantly, I think I've dug my way out of the pit and I'm ready to start my dummy. I've actually already started roughing out some pages and I think I might be finishing the finals in ink!

Day 24.

Day 31.

Day 25.

Day 27.

I guess this is a super duper, barely coherent, long winded way to say...if you're stuck in the mud, try something new.  A new medium, a new color scheme, heck...sometimes just a new sketch pad or a sharpened pencil might be the answer. It just might help you climb back out of the mud. Geez --there's the mud again. I'm going to go wash my hands.

Day 9.

BTW, if you haven't checked out the amazing work people have posted as part of Inktober, you really should. Superstar Mike Ciccotello is on Instagram @ciccotello and if you want to see more of my #bunntober experiment, you can find me on IG at @jkirsch118.  Our other D2PBrs are posting art on social media too...check out the links in their profiles.

By day, Jason is an emmy nominated set designer for television, with credits that include Harry, The Meredith Vieira Show, Late Night with Conan O’Brien, and The Late Show with David Letterman. By night, Jason is an author and illustrator of children's books. You can find his debut picture book, Mr. Particular: The World's Choosiest Champion on shelves in bookstores everywhere. See Jason's work, both illustrations and set designs,  at www.jasonkirschner.com . Follow him on instagram @jkirsch118. 

Picture Book Dummy Process by Diana Ting Delosh

My picture book dummy Hard Copy process used to be very time-consuming and tedious. It involved lot's of rubber cement and took about 3 -5 hours, probably due to all that rubber cement. Than one day, I came across Meredith McKean Gimbals' blog post, Putting Together a Dummy the Smart Way. WOW! Mind blowing stuff. I just had to try her process on my next dummy. Best of all no smelly, gooey, mind altering, rubber cement was involved.

You will need Adobe InDesign and I used my local Fedex/Kinkos.  I'm using CS6 not sure what INDesign Meridith used but her instructions are different from mine. FYI: I already knew how to set up my  dummy in INDesign and make the Lo-res PDF But the hard copy dummy had me flummoxed.

1: Sketch. Paint create your dummy art per your usual way.  Scan and name your files. Example My files might be named, 1-BunnyWaves-SK.jpg or 16&17-BunnyDancing-COL.jpg, etc. Save files as 300 dpi, RGB, JPG.

2: Open up a New Document in Indesign - now the fun begins. Fill in the info. My dummy book has 32 pages. It starts on pg 1. The page size is 8 x 10".  Click on Facing pages.  Put in your margin guidelines. Input your bleed info .25". Note I only added the bleed on the top, bottom and outside. My Art spread size including bleed is 16.5 x 10.5" which centers nicely on 17 x 11 paper.

Click OK

3- PLACE your images on the pages in your INDesign Document. Go to File and select PLACE or use keyboard shortcut  Command D. Page 1 is your Dummy front cover and Page 32 is your back cover.

Note if your images look blurry, you may have to go to VIEW, go down to DISPLAY PERFORMANCE and click on High Quality Display.

Now that wasn't too bad. Right?

Open INDesign document will look like this -Only showing pages 1 -5 above.

4- Need a Lo-res PDF Dummy to E-submit to an editor or agent. In INDesign go to FILE. Select ADOBE PRESETS and select (Smallest File Size). Under PAGES select ALL and make sure you select SPREADS. Click Export. Voila! It's ready to send.

5- Sometimes only a Hard Copy Dummy will do.  Using the same INDesign document as before go to FILE select ADOBE PRESETS  select (High Quality Print). Under Pages select ALL but this time select Pages. Don't fear INDesign will cut your spreads precisely and they will come together when it's collated as a a booklet - magic.

If your document has bleeds, go on the left side and click on Marks and Bleeds

Select USE Document Bleed settings. If you don't your bleed areas will not appear in your PDF. 
I didn't, but you can even get fancy and click on Crop Marks. Now, Click Export.

6- Copy your High Quality PDF to a memory stick/flash drive and take it to your Fedex/Kinkos. Ask them to print it as a BOOKLET and to staple it. My Fedex rep asked if I wanted it to be stapled in the corner or in the middle. I wanted it stapled in the middle like a real soft cover book. They used 2 staples down the "spine". They are stapled far enough away from the edge so I can trim off my bleed.

You may also experiment with different weights of paper. For example if you're meeting with an editor you might want a heavier, pricier paper. But if you're snail mailing it and you know they will not return it, you may want to go with a lighter weight paper.

7- IF your dummy has bleeds like mine - take it home and trim off the bleed on 3 sides. Using some blue tape, a metal ruler and a razor.

You can barely see it, but I've marked where I'm cutting with a pencil. The dummy pages are blue taped together to prevent them from shifting. I use a metal ruler as my straight edge and with a razor, using multiple shallow cuts until I've cut all the way through. Repeat on the next 2 sides.  Lastly, I erase any pencil marks that weren't trimmed off, if any.  

I don't know If they have a cutter that could have trimmed off the bleed for me. When I asked about the placement of the staples because I needed to trim off my bleed. They didn't offer the additional service of cutting it. So, I assumed they didn't.

8- Need to attach your dummy to your portfolio? No  problem. I used a push pin to poke a hole about an inch from the bottom in the fold. Use a big eyed needle to attach embroidery thread/string/ribbon to your dummy.

Dummies are attached to my portfolio with ribbon.
FYI: my dummies are mainly made up of pencil sketches with 4 - 5 finished illustrations, including the cover.

Web: dianadelosh.com

Art Blog: dtdelosh.blogspot.com

Product Blog: arthareswares.blogspot.com

Twitter: dtdelosh

For your picture book creative process
Check out: 
The BIG ThumbNailer
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WIN A SKY PONY EDITOR CRITIQUE!

 Purchase a copy of LIZZIE and LOU SEAL 

and

email Sky Pony Press at wsparkles@skyhorsepublishing.com to let them know.

Now you are in the running for Sky Pony to see your picture book dummy or manuscript!

Looking Inside Sky Pony Press 

with Assistant Editor, Kylie Brien

“Good morning Sky Pony,” my editor says.

She reads at the coffee nook.

She reads at her desk,

In her thinking cap.

too cool                                                   too hot                                                    just right

My editor reads when she walks at lunch,

And with the people standing in line.

“Hmm, smells delicious!”

She reads with publicity

Ming Liu and Kylie Brien

and other editors.

“I like it a lot!”

Rachel Stark and Kylie Brien

She reads in the subway—

All the way home.

"Good night sweet writers and readers!"

Meet Sky Pony author/illustrator Patricia Keeler at Book Expo America 2017, Booth AM34, May 31 - June 2! She will sketch you as a picture book character!

 Facebook:  PatriciaKeelerBooks

Twitter: @patriciakeeler
Instagram: @patriciakeeler

represented by Liza Royce Agency www.lizaroyce.com