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!

:: Picture Book Idea Month ::

Ever since I was young, I was always pretty comfortable drawing. It came natural. It's easy to be good at something when you have confidence.

Unfortunately I lacked the same conviction with my writing. As hard as I try, I have great difficulties honing and crafting my written ideas. My problem stems from my obsession over details. I need to communicate all ideas clearly, concisely, and perfectly. That is a lot of self-imposed pressure.

Confession - tweeting is actually quite laborious for me. I write and rewrite all my tweets many times before hitting send.

I fully understand and recognize the magic, power and beauty of well placed words. Great writing can communicate complex ideas with brevity and style. Great writing can paint fantastic worlds without a paint brush. Most importantly great writing can inspire. And that is what I want to do, oh so very badly.

Well, something changed exactly one week ago...

I signed up for PiBoIdMo. "Picture Book Idea Month" is a 30-day challenge for picture book writers. The concept is to create 30 picture book ideas in 30 days. There are over 700 participants world wide!

This fun month-long exercise has allowed me to write freely without all the pressure. The result has been absolutely amazing! I have written down and sketched out a dozen solid picture book ideas. I have also completed three written manuscripts and most importantly I am really happy with my writing!

So thank you Tara Lazar. Thank you for curing my writer's block and providing me confidence to write. You are a star!

:: Bring Your Disc to Work Day ::

Bring Your Disc to Work Day is an annual ultimate awareness day where ultimate players are encouraged to promote our sport simply by bringing a disc to work!

Bring Your Disc to Work Day 2012 will take place on Thursday, September 27th! Bring your disc to work, school or wherever and help promote the sport of Ultimate!

Ultimate Canada needs your help in promoting the sport of Ultimate. There are over 30,000 registered players in the country, but lots of people still don't know much about the sport (is that played with dogs?) or realize how popular it is. If you like Ultimate and own a disc, then bring your disc to work on Thursday, September 27th as part of our national Bring Your Disc to Work Day initiative to promote Ultimate in Canada.

Since I work from my home studio, I thought I could contribute by creating this "Spirit of the Game" print! In 2007, Toronto Ultimate Club had a new intiative to help raise awareness of Spirit Of The Game (SOTG). SOTG means respecting your teammates, opponents, the rules, the community, and the game.

This rotating ambigram design was hot-stamped on discs and distributed to all TUC members. The discs have found their way all over the world, including this orphange in Kenya.

Available now on my Society6 page!

:: Society6 store ::

Hey Friends! I've set up an online store for the Chinese Zodiac designs. They are all printed on American Apparel Organic Fine Jersey T-shirts. All designs are available in 13 different colours. For the super-fan there other assorted goodies too!

The link below includes a FREE SHIPPING promotion (expires Sept.16)

:: http://society6.com/HilaryLeung ::

Enjoy!

:: two clever threadless subs ::

"Your challenge is to create a clever design.

Create a design that will make friends, enemies, and strangers smile. Keep in mind that we're now printing Threadless + Gap designs on tees for men, women, kids, toddlers, and babies. So your design can be whimsical, funny, or beautiful."

It's not Brain Surgery and The Devil is in the Details are my two submissions to the Threadless loves Clever challenge sponsored by GAP.

Please feel free to vote on the designs that you like.

1000strangers @Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition

I'm really excited to announce that after a decade of attending the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition, I'm finally exhibiting this year with my 1000strangers work.

But that's not all! I will also be sitting next to super talented and good friend Peter Schacht. Just like the good old days at Sheridan College!

While Peter will be showing off his latest beautiful paintings (acrylic & oil on carved wood), I will be exhibiting original 1000strangers sketches and Limited Edition (10) Archival Giclee Prints. I had a lot of fun composing my thoughts on each individual piece, so please be sure to click through them, like this sketch.

Show Details:

July 6, 7 & 8, 2012
Nathan Phillips Square

Booth: ORANGE #30 (along Queen Street)

Free Admission

Friday 10:30am-7:30pm
Saturday 10:30am-7:30pm
Sunday 10:30am-6:30pm

Please drop by this weekend and say hi!

Maurice Sendak Tribute

"Where the Wild Things Are" was my favourite picture book while growing up. Being a young trouble maker myself (that was regularly sent to my room), I could relate to Max. Many years later while working in the picture book industry, I've appreciated Mr. Sendak's contributions even more. He was bold. He was honest. He was a trailblazer that paved the way for all children book authors past, present and future. Maurice Sendak was an inspiration to us all.

Rest In Peace Mr. Sendak, you will be missed.