New Children's Book Portfolio

In preparation for NY15SCBWI, I've built a new website for all my children's book projects. If you see me this weekend, please say hi and grab one of my origami pirate bookmarks. :)

Art Challenge Day 2 - Rainbows

It's Day 2 of the 5-day Art Challenge! I was nominated by Gary Fabbri to start this challenge, where each participant shares 3 drawings/paintings each day for 5 days and also nominates a fellow artist each day to do the same. Yesterday I invited Jason Hart to share his awesome work. Today I'll nominate Stephen Macquignon, who's delightful watercolours won over Tomie dePaola himself. 


Day 2 - Last year I taught some classes at a wonderful non-profit organization called Story Planet and Intergalactic Travel Authority. They run workshops that encourage young people to create and tell their stories. One of my programs involved a dozen 10 year olds and 5 weeks to create 1 picture book! Here are some spreads in that book...

Art Challenge Day 1 - My Heroes

It's the 5-day Art Challenge! Yesterday, Gary Fabbri nominated me to start this challenge, where each participant shares 3 drawings/paintings each day for 5 days and also nominates a fellow artist each day to do the same. I met Gary at the New York SCBWI Winter Conference last year and his infectious optimism and talents won me over. We were inseparable all weekend, even after my country beat his country for GOLD in Mens Olympic Hockey.

Today, I would like to invite our good friend and talented artist Jason Hart to share his work. Jason's illustrations are thoughtful, meticulous, and full of humour, just like him.

Day 1:

Seems apropos to share 3 portraits of people that inspired me to become a picture book artist: Maurice Sendak, Mark Twain, and My Parents.

I love Sendak's Max and Twain's Tom Sawyer characters, because at that age I too was quite the troublemaker. I wasn't as sneaky per se, but let's just say trouble always found me.

Just like Max, I was always sent to my bedroom where I'd spend hours staring at the faux wood closet doors and drifting away on imaginary adventures.

Tom Sawyer's adventures are inspiring and I can envision Mark Twain's delight as he penned this iconic fence-painting scene. Hopefully you can envision this too (hint: look at the tree branches).

Last but not least, I owe everything to my parents. They worked really hard at multiple jobs to support my brothers and I. As a result, we didn't really see them until the end of the day. This made bedtime the best time of the day. Because bedtime meant story time and story time meant listening to my parents read us wonderful books. They shared so many fantastic western fairy tales and ancient Chinese fables. It warms my heart just thinking about this - those were truly special times.

:: NY14SCBWI ::

I'm off to my very first SCBWI Winter Conference!

Dear future SCBWI BFFs, please find me this weekend for your very own origami pirate bookmark. I'll happily walk you through this origami pirate girl model. Or if you're courageous, you can try to figure it all out on your own. For those that need a hint, there's a handy video tutorial below.

Just can't wait to meet you all. :)

cheers,
Hilary

2013 SCBWI Canada East Conference

I'm off to Montreal for the Annual SCBWI Canada East Conference! It's been a pretty hectic month with completing my pre-conference project, organizing and printing my portfolio, and preparing for an out of town trip while just getting all my regular work done.

Anyways I punched a pile of shiny new buttons to share with my new picture book friends. I've been chatting online with illustrators group, but it'll be nice to finally meet everyone in person and finally put some faces to names.

This is my first time attending a SCBWI Conference... wish me luck!

Tomie dePaola Award + Mark Twain Secret

Many of my favourite picture books while growing up were written and illustrated by Tomie dePaola. His delightful stories and wonderful art were staples during my childhood story-time. So you can just imagine my excitement when I discovered The Tomie dePaola Illustrator Award!

Wow, The Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators has provided me an opportunity to show my artwork to The Legendary Tomie dePaola! #HappinessOverload!

This year's theme is "black and white", and the subject is a passage from one of these classics:

“Little Women” by Louisa May Alcott

“The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” by Mark Twain

“The Yearling” by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings

Super tough choice , as all three are such great stories. But I have a connection with Tom Sawyer, because at his age I too was quite the troublemaker. I wasn't as sneaky per se, but let's just say trouble always found me.

For me, the passage that best embodies Tom's character is the iconic fence painting scene. The scene is so perfect. I can envision Mark Twain's delight as he penned the precise moment that Tom turned the situation around so that Ben actually wanted to do Tom's chore for him. Hopefully you can envision this too (hint: tree branches!).

Originally I wanted to create a paper-cut design, but after exploring several different compositions, textures, and styles, I went with a mix of traditional watercolour and digital painting.

I hope you enjoy this piece as much as I did creating it!