It takes several sketches to get a drawing ready for the finished painting. This is a sketch for a watercolor I am now working on, “Old Glory”. I am also getting ready to present a mini-workshop at the “Writing & Illustrating for Young Readers Conference on June 17th. I am going to teach “Stepping into Your Picture”. That is something that we have to do as illustrators. We have to use our imagination to enter the picture we are working on and make it believable to those who view the picture. I am taking notes and pictures as I work through my current picture book project.
The WIFYR Conference has been a place where I have met and been taught by many great illustrators and writers. I took a workshop from the great writer Eve Bunting and the illustrator Eric Rohmann who did the Caldecott winning book “My Friend Rabbit”. It has been a place where you can be taught by some of the greatest in the country and not have to pay for a plane ticket and a hotel. This year I’m teaching the illustrating mini-workshop. So to live up to the great illustrators from the past I will be getting ready to make it the best experience I can for the illustrators that attend. When they leave, I want them to feel like they have learned and worked and received information that will change their illustrations. They are using my illustrations on the web site. For more information on the workshops that are available, check out www.wifyr.com
