Tug of War!

I had this image in my head this morning and decided to have a little fun with it.

It's the annual tug-of-war battle in the zoo!!!  Today's contestants:  Baby Elephant VS Team Penguins.

It's not even a match.

Sketchbook Doodles – The Trio

The story is still taking forms and shapes in my head.  Not surprisingly, other than the dog and the fox, the chicken makes an appearance.  (For those who do not know –– my neighbor's chicken(s) LOVE wandering over to my lawn.  I understand.  The grass is greener on the other side.  This rule applies to chicken too.)

Unlike the first fox (which I named Mini-Fox Jr. a few blogposts earlier), the fox I drew here had a slight change in head shape –– I made it more triangular.  This is to contrast the head shape of the dog.

I'll update you as I continue to brainstorm this one.  :)

Sketchbook Doodles – The Dog

March and April were filled with projects and had kept me busy on design work.  I am grateful to have wonderful illustrator friends, who churned out so much beautiful work all the time, they push me to work hard.  (You gals work and read mega-fast.  Slow down a little so I don't have a heart attack...  You know who you are.)

I am currently revising a story with my wonderful agent, which I am very excited over.  In the mean time, I am also conceptualizing two stories, both involving a fox I doodled on my sketchbook last week.

The settings and characters for both stories have already taken shape in my head.  One of the stories had a slightly more complicated plot line, so I'll take it slow.  I started drawing another main character -- the dog.  Now that I see how this dog might look like, I have to go back to change the fox.  They look too similar.  But I already have an idea of how to solve this.  I'll make the changes and share with you on my blog next week.  :)

Happy Friday!

Sketchbook Doodles – Mini Fox Jr.

Feel like doodling animals this week.  Here is Mini Fox Jr.'s first encounter of a ladybug.

Congratulations, Eliza Wheeler!

Over the weekend, I attended a fabulous book launch party.

"Miss Maple's Seeds" is written and illustrated by talented good friend & fellow mentee Eliza Wheeler (winner of 2011 SCBWI Portfolio Showcase).  Here are some photos at the event.

Eliza reading "Miss Maple's Seeds".

Virtual Studio

This week's virtual studio, from left to right: Alice Tillotson Ratterree, Andrea Offermann, Erin O'Shea, Jen Betton Rogers, Lisa Anchin, Maple Lam

Part of being a freelance illustrator involves long, lonely hours in the studio.  There are times when we need private space to make things work, but there are also times when we felt abandoned by the world.  Being a recluse for an extended period of time can really hinder the creative juices from flowing.

I am lucky to have a group of talented close friends who share the same thoughts.  We all live in different parts of the world, but we would turn on the computer camera and have our virtual studio online.  It's like back in college, when we had studio hours to work on our own projects, and friends were around you, working and chatting.  We shared ideas; we shared thoughts; we shared process.  It was fun and inspiring.

I guess we are living the Jetsons age!

PS: Google Hangout, if you are reading this, you can consider us on your next commercial: Google+ & how it helps the children's book illustrators.

The Panda Adventure -- A Process Post

"I think I will embark upon an adventure today."

Today, I would like to share a little "behind-the-scene" –– my work process.

Representation by Joanna Volpe

I am extremely excited to announce: "I am officially represented by Joanna Stampfel-Volpe at New Leaf Literary & Media!" ♥

Since last summer, I have begun my agents-research.  The agents I was in contact with were all very knowledgeable and extremely nice.  I am truly grateful they took their valuable time looking over my work.  Thank you.  I continue to love the work of the talents you represented, and I wish you the very best.

A week after attending the New York SCBWI conference, I received an email from Joanna.  She saw my portfolio at the conference and was interested in seeing more of my work/dummy.  I thanked her for her interest and emailed her the materials.  She replied with great feedback.  We conversed over the phone, and it was wonderful talking to her.  Joanna had a magical ability to bring out my creative courage as a storyteller.  She asked to see if I have any other stories up my sleeves.  I emailed her a few more dummies.

The detailed notes I received from her were incredible.  Her grasp of how stories should work, could work, and would work, was a mind-opener's dream of a mind-opener!

Long story short, I am now happily (ecstatically!!!) part of the New Leaf family.  I look forward to working with Joanna and her great team at New Leaf!

To learn more about Joanna, you can check out the following interviews:

• Literary Rambles: Agent Spotlight
• Middle Grade Ninja: 7 Questions for Literary Agent Joanna Volpe
• Pub(lishing) Crawls: Introducing Joanna Volpe!

Photo from "New Leaf Literary & Media" webpage

Sketchbook Doodles – Minoan Brothers

I did this in a coffee shop in Novato, California.  (I kept referring to the place as Oakland –– because I flew into the Oakland airport.  Little did I know I wasn't really in Oakland the entire time.)

Maybe it was my recent visit of the MET in New York –– I could not shake off the idea to do a story about ancient culture.  And somehow I've always been drawn to the Minoan stories.  This sketch depicts two brothers at the Palace of Knossos. 

Story still brewing.  :)

Sketchbook Doodles – With Friends

Now that the trip to New York has come to an end, I want to give a big shout out to SCBWI (Society of Children's Books Writers and Illustrators).  I have made such incredible friends, including the talented and wonderful mentees and our marvelous mentors.

The illustration in my sketchbook depicted three of us mentees (Lisa Anchin, Jen Betton Rogers, me) and Lisa's fiancé over dinner.  It was a late night when we got back to Lisa's apartment.  Making dinner sounded like a headache. Thai take-out to the rescue!

The night was a complete delight.  Conversation topic ranged from artists to exhibits to picture books to YA to politics to history to NPR programs to travels.  My favorite was the "Who is the better superhero debate: Superman vs Batman".  (My vote's on Batman.  Sorry, Jen.)

Too bad I don't have a camera to capture the fun.  The good news is, as illustrators, we make illustrations in lieu of photographs. 

To be in such great company –– How lucky am I?

Sketchbook Doodles – I am SHORT!

My sketchbook doodle on my way back to LA.

 "I look so short in these photos!" I exclaimed, looking at our mentee group pictures.

"Mmmm... Sorry to break it you, but..." Lisa's fiancé Ezra muttered.

Alright.  I am not tall.  That I know.  But I never realized how VERY SHORT I am, until I started looking at all these photos.  I am that little dip in every composition.  Next to very tall friends like Jessica or Jen, I almost disappeared.

The next time I stand next to my fellow mentees, I need to wear 6" high heels.  Because with that, we'll be leveled.  ♥

New York! New York!

 
Two of my talented fellow mentees posted excellent recaps of the SCBWI New York winter conference.  They said it so well and precise!

Lisa Anchin
http://lisaanchin.blogspot.com/2013/02/scbwi-winter-conference-recap.html

Jessica Lanan
http://jessicalanan.com/new-york-scrapbook


My FAVORITE QUOTES from the conference:

•  "You have to pass through some bad stuff to get to the good stuff." ~David Ezra Stein

•  "Books are not immediate, unlike a tech object.  It goes from black-and-white to color to dimension, then it brings you to a special place." ~Meg Rosoff

•  "Don't be afraid, and stay interested." ~Shaun Tan

•  "Bestseller is only the cherry on a sundae.  Don't forget you audience – it's the children!  You touched their hearts." ~ Tomie dePaola

• "Are we lucky or what?" ~Julie Andrews

• "Just getting published is not a dream.  Have a better dream.  Dream to change the world for the better."  ~Mo Willems


SNAPSHOTS of the wonderful time~

Fellow mentees at Grand Central. (Andrea Offermann, Lisa Anchin, Maple Lam, Aarre Chung, Jen Betton Rogers, Jessica Lanan)  (Photo courtesy of Debbi Ohi.)

With Tomie dePaola!!!

Andrea Offermann won NY Portfolio Award!!!!

With Brook Boynton Hughes; Lisa Anchin; Elizabeth Rose Stanton; Jessixa Bagley (winner of Runner-Up Portfolio Award!)  My talented talented friends!!!  (Photo courtesy of Debbi Ohi.)

Post-conference.  We chilled and relaxed in Debbi's room.  (Photo courtesy of Debbi Ohi.)

Learning from dear mentor David Diaz. (Photo courtesy of Debbi Ohi.)

In front of Books of Wonder.  LOVE this bookstore!!! (Photo courtesy of David Diaz.)

Visiting Abrams.  (Photo courtesy of David Diaz.)

Animals in Costumes

Borrowed a book of ancient costumes from the library and thought it was really interesting to flip through.  I thought it would be fun to make them semi-animals just to see how it turns out.  :)

My KidLitArtists Interview

I am very honored to soon become a contributor to the KidLitArtists blog!  Thank you for having me!  :)

Founded by Class of 2010 winners of the SCBWI Illustration Mentorship Program, KidLitArtists provides great tips, news and resources in the children's book industry.  

Check out my interview at KidLitArtists~
http://kidlitartists.blogspot.com/2013/01/welcome-maple-lam.html

SCBWI Jan/Feb – Spot Illustration

Excited to see my work published in the SCBWI Bulletin~ :)

The spot illustration

This is in the issue where they featured an illustrated cover of one of my favorite illustrators: Mike Lowery.  I LOVE his work!

Dummy Weekend 2013

The cabin we stayed in was wonderful.

I just came back from a wonderful creative retreat in Big Bear, California.  Thanks, Erin O'Shea, for the invite!

Friday was all sunshine.  I had a moment of panic when the road turned extremely narrow up the mountain.  Cars continued to zoom pass mine, as if plummeting 5000ft down a mountain was no big deal.  Nevertheless, I arrived safe and sound.  Let the work began!  Let the fun began!  Let the work be more fun than fun!

That night, we shared in the living room our goals for the long weekend.  My personal goal is to complete a couple pieces for my dummy on a piglets story, and to wrap up my dummy on an elephant story.

I wanted to bring a couple pieces into finals for my piglets story.

We woke early (relatively) to make breakfast and dived straight into work.  As illustrators, we tend to be very lonely creatures, working like hermits locked inside our studio caves.  But this way of working was fantastic.  There was no computer to distract me, and because everyone was working, the peer pressure was ON!  I was very focused and was able to get things done very quickly.  High fives!

Everyone at work mode!

Piglets final piece 1

Piglets final piece 2

That was the dynamic of the weekend: Prepare for food, eat, BACK TO WORK.  Repeat for lunch and dinner.  Critiques at night.  Chill.  Smores.  Goodnight moon.

Did I mention snow started dumping Sunday night?  We had FUN in the snow!  Being kidults are the best!

(From left to right: Rodolfo Montalvo, Renée Montalvo, Julia Shahin Collard, Talia Wabnig, Maple Lam, Erin O'Shea).  Photo courtesy of Rodolfo Montalvo.

Came Monday morning and it was time to say goodbye.  None of the kidults brought snow chains, so the icy-road condition made us go "ugggghhhh.... help.... stuuuuccckkk...."  Lucky for us, the sun rose bright and shinny, and we were able to go down the mountain via the long route.

"Snow blanket on my car!!!" exclaimed the SoCal kidult.

And now I am back, refreshed and charged.  Thank you again, dear illustrators and storytellers whom I have met during Dummy Weekend.  You guys rock!

Illustrators at Dummy Weekend:
Erin O'Shea
Rodolfo Montalvo
Renée Montalvo
Jennifer Gray Olson
Julia Shahin Collard
Talia Wabnig
and me, Maple Lam~

A New Year to Look Forward To

I am very excited to embark upon a trip up the snowy mountain this coming weekend, along with a group of talented children's book illustrator friends.  It's a Book Dummy Weekend, in which we plan to do nothing but lock ourselves in a cabin and work super hard to finish our ongoing dummy(s).  I cannot wait to read my friends' stories!  Thanks, Erin O'Shea, for making this weekend happen!  (I will follow up on this event in another blogpost, for sure!)

Personally, I have several dummies in process, and I especially hope to finish up the one about elephants.  That particular story has been brewing for a while, and this weekend is THE weekend to wrap it up! 

Another event I look forward to is the New York SCBWI conference at the beginning of February!  I have never attended the New York conference and simply can't wait to meet up with old friends and make new ones!  Whoohoo New York!

Happy 2013, everyone!

Happy Holidays!

Wishing everyone a wonderful time upon this holiday season!  *Hugs*

Kite Tales Newsletter

A couple months ago, I was very honored to be asked to share my SCBWI Summer Conference experience with Kite Tales, a free online newsletter published by the LA chapter of SCBWI. Thank you, SCBWI, as always. :)

Good friends Mary Lundquist and Andrea Offermann are also featured in the newsletter (Pg.13), where they won the People's Choice portfolio award and the Judge's Choice portfolio award at the SCBWI-LA Illustrator's Day 2012!  Big congrats to both of you!!! 
 
Also check out super Debbie Ohi's lovely comic on Pg.20!

The newsletter can be downloaded here.  (Right click to save to your desktop.)
http://www.scbwi.org/Resources/Documents/KT_Winter12.pdf

Cathedral Building

"Your characters need to grow up if you want to do Junior Series or Middle-Grades."

This was one of the many advise I got from mentor Cecilia Yung, Art Director at Penguin Young Readers Group.

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.  I love to read Junior Series and Middle-Grades and would love too to illustrate for these books.  This is why I started reading and studying many of the illustrations of these genres, in addition to working on my picture books.