2/26/13

Fox Theatre Sketch-Book Event

Go beyond the internet for your artistic research, escape creative isolation and explore new environments to keep fresh. Regardless if you’re an SCBWI writer or illustrator, you’re invited to visit the world of Ali Baba and Aladdin at the historic Fox Theatre for the next Southern Breeze Sketch-Book Event. 



The theme book for this outing is The Arabian Nights. Inside the opulent Atlanta theatre, Scheherazade’s tales of fearsome Jinni, ravenous Ghouls, flying carpets and magic wishes challenge your creativity.

And if that wasn’t enough, we’ve planned several optional challenges designed to have participants approach their sketches and stories from a new perspective. We’ve also developed imagination prompts to help fuel your creativity.

So don’t wait to see and hear about how others were inspired by this rare opportunity. Join us for the next Sketch-Book Event at the Fox Theater in Atlanta on Saturday, March 9 at 10:00am. There are a limited number of slots available, so make sure you RSVP to michael@austinillustration.com. Note that there is a $5 guide fee for this event.

Afterwards, we plan to go for lunch at Baraonda.

Illustrators' Day Wrap-up!


This was our first year to combine our SCBWI Southern Breeze Illustrators' Day with our annual Springmingle conference and I have to admit, it was a complete success! The Century Marriott is lovely, a definite notch up on the woosie scale. Our speakers were fantastic: Chad Beckerman, Abrams Creative Director; Dianne Hess, Scholastic Executive Editor; Mark Braught, Illustrator Mentor; and Will Terry, who wowed everybody's socks off with his insightful presentation!

     Chad definitely sold me on Instagram. Apparently he finds artists there sometimes. How's that for a new and innovative way to search for talent?

     Will gave us a quick history of how the business has changed over the last decade or so, and where he believes it's going. Truly - he is an entertaining and great speaker. I wish I could fly to Utah and take his class. His talk was one of the best I've ever heard.
     Dianne went over illustration advertising postcards and websites, giving us a peek into what jumps out to a publisher - invaluable! As was the portfolio reviews session.
     At only 2 minutes per portfolio, it goes quickly, but everybody's work gets seen, and the commentary is a learning experience for everybody.

     The results of Mark's mentoring project were also outstanding! The 12 folks who signed up early enough to work with Mark definitely ended up with some new portfolio pieces! (Click the photo to see it larger.)
     I have to say, the quality level of the portfolios shown during Illustrators' Day gets better and better every year. Along with our Scholarship Winner, Denise Plauché, we had Lori Nichols who has won two runner-ups at the SCBWI National conference portfolio shows, and Heather Lund, the SCAD student who provided our wonderful signage (above).
     The Cocktail Party (sign by Brian Prince) was a hit as well. As I expected, the visitor list was small for our first year, but I have a feeling word is going to spread about this one. (I kept getting emails from folks saying "I want to come!") It was such a great opportunity to mingle and talk shop. All while admiring attendee portfolios and the example portfolios Stuart Shapiro brought from Binders Art Supply to show attendees the sort of options they have.
     Thanks again to Binders for generously hosting the Cocktail Party. I think it was definitely worth their time, as well as ours. I look forward to this becoming an Atlanta industry event! (CLICK HERE to put yourself on the invite list for next year!)
     Be looking for announcements about next year's Illustrators' Day in November or December of this year. This has become an event you don't want to miss!

PS - If you took some great photos of Illustrators' Day, please email them to me at elizabeth at dulemba dot com and I'll include them in this post!

2/25/13

Volunteer to write the wrap-up???

Hi Illustrators, We need a volunteer to write a 250-word wrap up of this year's Illustrators' Day and Cocktail Party! Is that YOU???? Just shoot me an email at elizabeth at dulemba dot com. Thanks! e

2/23/13

Springmingle 2013


As I mentioned yesterday, this weekend is our SCBWI - Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators Southern Breeze region (Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi) Spring conference.
     Along with our speakers for Illustrators' Day, we also have Nikki Grimes (poet), Jill Corcoran (agent), Katherine Jacobs (editor), Carmen Deedy (author), and Beck McDowell (author). Wowsa!
     And here is yet another wonderful poster for the event created by Heather Lund, SCAD Atlanta student.

2013 Illustrators' Day


Today we're off to the Century Marriott Hotel to host our 2013 SCBWI Southern Breeze Illustrators' Day! This is the first year we will be coinciding with Springmingle, our weekend-long regional conference. So, needless to say, it's going to be a crazy, but FUN, weekend!
     We have an exciting line-up: Chad Beckerman, Creative Director at Abrams Books for Young Readers and Amulet; Dianne Hess, Executive Editor at Scholastic and Blue Sky Press; Will Terry, illustrator and innovator; and Mark Braught, illustrator and mentor. CLICK HERE to see the entire line-up and schedule.
     Even better - this year we're hosting an ILlustrators' Day Cocktail Party to take place at the end of our sessions - hosted by Binders Art Supply! Local Art Directors are welcome to stop by to view our attendee portfolios. (If you'd like an invite, just email elizabeth at dulemba dot com.) We're still building our invite list, so it will be small this year, but we hope this will catch on quickly.
     We also got some help this year from students at SCAD Atlanta who did our awesome signage. How sweet are these?
     Be looking for a wrap-up of the event soon!

2/11/13

Southern Breeze Studio Tour #5 with Sarah Campbell

Hi all! Welcome to our next installment of the Southern Breeze Illustrators' Video Tours. Today, we are getting a peek inside (and outside!) the working studio of the wonderful award winning author/illustrator Sarah Campbell.

Here's her website for more information about Sarah and her books . . . AND she has some great news about another book on the horizon.

Enjoy!!!


Sarah's Studio from richard campbell on Vimeo.

Scroll down and check out our other Southern Breeze tours!