Phew!!

Last Tuesday I made it home, safe and sound and utterly exhausted, from the SCBWI Summer Conference in L.A. I'm finally caught up on sleep now, and have had a few days to process my thoughts and digest what I took in. Here are a few pages of the drawings... I mean, er... notes... that I took....































And here are a few of my favorite conference moments...

1.Portfolio critique with Marla Frazee

During the three years that I lived in New York City I saw lots of celebrities. I'd see someone famous and think, "oh look, there's Moby, pushing a baby stroller. huh." or "oh look, there goes Minnie Driver, eating some frozen yogurt. anywho..." But when it came time to sit down with illustrator Marla Frazee I found myself a bit nervous and twitchy and befuddled. And when, during the last few minutes of the critique, she looked at me with raised eyebrows and a smile and asked if I had any questions, I found myself staring back at her, mouth open, stupefied. Of course I had questions! I had the ear of Marla Frazee!! But alas, I only sat there and stared and mumbled something about how many images I should have in my portfolio (a question that I already knew the answer to). sigh. Oh well, despite my awkwardness and lack of question asking, Ms. Frazee was thoughtful and encouraging and left me with lots of things to think about and clear ideas about the direction in which I should head.

2. Mac McCool's Master Class on creating graphic novels for kids.

This was a wonderful class in which I met many wonderful new friends. Mr. McCool was so enthusiastic and explained things with such clarity, specificity, and humor! I can't wait to go check out all of the great graphic novels that I learned about!

3. Loren Long

I loved all of the presentations that illustrator Loren Long gave, especially the session in which he explained his process of working. And he signed a book for me!! :)




















4. The Portfolio showcase

I loved looking through all of the portfolios in the portfolio showcase! Now my bulletin board is covered with postcards from all of the illustrators I met or whose portfolios I admired.
















Phew! So, there's what I did at the conference in a nutshell. I should also mention the wonderful keynote speakers, including Carolyn Mackler, Marion Dane Bauer, and Ashley Bryan... all of them were delightful and inspiring. And here's my new and improved website. I'll be making some more changes in the next few weeks, but you'll get the idea. :)