SCBWI Austin Conference 2013

Austin Conference

ME, Lupe Flores, and Carolyn Flores

My Crazy fluffy purse, Me and Nikki Loftin

I focused on the illustrator E.B. Lewis. Not only because he was amazing, but because I lost all my notes on the other speakers for the Austin Conference. 

 Award Winning Illustrator E.B. LEWIS

The conference got off to a great start with a Presentation from a very talented illustrator, E.B. Lewis. I had met him last year at the 2012 Winter Conference in NY. At that time he was promoting his gallery show. I saw him again at this years winter conference and again in Austin. I really admire him because he comes from a fine art background and really appreciates great art.

In his presentation he mentioned how we must all master the visual language. How just as we learn how to speak another language we must learn how to master illustrating and writing. By learning everything about the publishing world we are essentially learning how to communicate through our craft of writing and illustrating.

E.B. does extensive research on his projects. He even goes as far as traveling outside of the country if he feels that it will strengthen his understanding of the story he is illustrating. He truly catches the emotions of the story through his watercolor illustrations.

When he did school visits for the first time he spoke only about himself and how he came to be. But as he went on he realized that it would be more interesting for the kids if he got them involved. He asked them if they liked themselves and an interesting thing happened. As he went up in grades the hands that were raised when asked the question became less and less. His assumption: Childhood is a difficult time. It is a time of discovering the world and where you fit into it. He spoke that as children we loved to play in our sandbox. But there was always an adult that would remove us from the sandbox if we wanted them to or not. You must relate to your stories and your art emotionally.  You must be in your sandbox.

Me and E.B.