[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":11},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-post-the-night-we-ate-off-verns-face":3},{"_type":4,"body":5,"bodyHtml":6,"excerpt":5,"featuredImage":5,"publishedAt":7,"slug":8,"tags":9,"title":10},"blogPost",null,"This weekend a big group of illustrators and writers got together in Winchester to celebrate the launch of a whole bunch of our books and toast the tenth anniversary of the British branch of the \u003Ca href=\"http://britishscbwi.org/\">Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators\u003C/a>. Vern and Lettuce were lucky enough to be on the cake, wahey!\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/scbwi_nov10_1-e092d195ab.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nOne of the highlights of the conference was getting to see Oxford-based writer and illustrator \u003Ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mini_Grey\">Mini Grey\u003C/a> bring in a huge stack of original book artwork, dummy books, sketchbooks and tiny handmade books. I've been a fan of Mini's work for a long time; I love her textures, wonky perspectives, rough outlines and the clever way she manages to slip all sorts of comic-book design elements into picture books.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/scbwi_nov10_4-8750fdb340.jpg\">\\r\n\u003Ci>Mini Grey\u003C/i>\\r\n\\r\nIt was fabulous seeing the artwork all spread out, uncovered, so that we could examine in detail how she works. Illustrator Lynn Chapman and I were aghast at how much preparation time Mini must into her books, with multiple dummy books, full-colour detailed sketchbooks and more. She must create the book almost in full at least four times before the final version. Here's one of the dummy books for the cautionary tale \u003Ci>Jim\u003C/i> (\u003Ci>'Cautionary tales are just a good excuse for a bloodbath'\u003C/i>, says Mini) and a book from \u003Ci>Gulliver's Travels\u003C/i> that she made as an art student.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/scbwi_nov10_12-8f4825976e.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003C!--more LOADS more pics and write-up under the cut!-->\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/scbwi_nov10_2-fcc26f4227.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/scbwi_nov10_3-349536f503.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/scbwi_nov10_11-ed7246c909.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/scbwi_nov10_10-7031b3feb9.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nAnother excellent part of the weekend was going to a seminar with writer and illustrator \u003Ca href=\"http://www.timhopgood.com\">Tim Hopgood\u003C/a>. Tim started his career in magazines, first at \u003Ci>i-D\u003C/i> fashion magazine, then at \u003Ci>Vogue\u003C/i> (during the time Anna Wintour was over in Britain sorting it out). I'd admired some of his work before, but it was only when I saw it all together that I was really blown away by his terrific sense of design, typography and, well, just that we really like a lot of the same kinds of things. I got a real buzz from watching what he put on screen, then later when he brought out a bunch of books by other people from his collection and explained what he liked about them. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/scbwi_nov10_17-2107f2329d.jpg\">\\r\n\u003Ci>with Tim Hopgood\u003C/i>\\r\n\\r\nEven though they probably don't make a lot of sense to anyone other than me, you can still get a bit of a sense of Tim's talk from my notes:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/timhopgood1-5418eb12d2.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/timhopgood2-26204adce2.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/timhopgood3-ba06e79806.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nWriter and illustrator \u003Ca href=\"http://www.lynnechapman.co.uk\">Lynn Chapman\u003C/a> gave a great talk about her work and the nuts and bolts of working in the picture book business. I loved these endpapers for her book with Jamie Rix, \u003Ca href=\"http://www.lynnechapman.co.uk/detailed-view.php?category=Picture%20Books&title=Giddy%20Goat&id=11\">\u003Ci>Giddy Goat\u003C/i>\u003C/a>, about a mountain goat. That made me remember how, possibly ten years ago, I wrote a book (never published) about urban mountain goats who live in Seattle, and recalled how much fun they were to draw. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/scbwi_nov10_18-d1597bafbb.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nLynn was great fun, very energetic, with this spiky hair that I think makes her look so much like the actress Zoe Wanamaker playing Madame Hooch, the Quidditch coach in the \u003Ci>Harry Potter\u003C/i> films. Go have a look at some of the \u003Ca href=\"http://www.lynnechapman.co.uk/directory.php?directory-category=4&sub-directory=Europe&sub=49\">sketchbook drawings she's posted on her website\u003C/a>, good stuff. Lynn's also part of the \u003Ca href=\"http://www.urbansketchers.com/\">Urban Sketchers\u003C/a> online group, well worth joining if you like to sketch while you're out and about in town. Lynn's taken part in Sheffield Sketch Crawls; SCBWI coordinator John Shelley also plugged a \u003Cb>London Sketch Crawl\u003C/b> event on \u003Cb>Friday the 26th, meeting at 10am at the Natural History Museum\u003C/b>. Basically, for a Sketch Crawl, lots of people with sketchbooks meet up in one place, draw for an hour or so, move on a bit, draw for another hour, and carry on like this all day until finishing at the pub.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/lynnchapman-9822c59b02.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/scbwi_nov10_14-fcd7ba01f6.jpg\">\\r\n\u003Ci>Marcus Sedgwick\u003C/i>\\r\n\\r\nI was very intrigued how the writer \u003Ca href=\"http://www.marcussedgwick.com/Marcus_Sedgwick/Home.html\">Marcus Sedgwick\u003C/a>, during a summer trip to Sweden, took inspiration for his upcoming novel, \u003Ci>Midwinterblood\u003C/i> from a mural in Stockholm's National Museum by Swedish painter \u003Ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Larsson\">Carl Larsson\u003C/a>:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/midvinterblot-9e3f8af0db.jpg\">\\r\n\u003Ci>Carl Larsson's 'Midvinterblot'\u003C/i>\\r\n\\r\nGrowing up in Seattle, a lot of my parents' friends were middle-aged and elderly Swedish immigrants who always had a lot of Carl Larsson artwork around their houses, and I've always loved his paintings and other contributions to the Arts and Crafts Movement. But most of his paintings feature tranquil domestic scenes, whereas this mural shows the moment just before a Norse king is sacrificed for three years of crop failure. (\u003Ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midvinterblot\">Read more about \u003Ci>Midvinterblot\u003C/i> here.\u003C/a>)\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/marcussedgwick-2dedcd7d09.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nHere's another look at that fantastic cake at the book party:\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/scbwi_nov10_5-124835aa60.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nMy publisher \u003Cb>David Fickling\u003C/b> had all 17 of us who had just launched books line up while he enthused dramatically, in his fab David Fickling way. Congratulations, all of us!\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/scbwi_nov10_19-555161a677.jpg\">\\r\n\u003Ci>From left: David Fickling, \u003Ca href=\"http://www.leeweatherly.com\">Lee Weatherly\u003C/a>, \u003Ca href=\"http://www.candygourlay.com\">Candy Gourlay\u003C/a>, \u003Ca href=\"http://www.donnavann.com\">Donna Reid Vann\u003C/a>, \u003Ca href=\"http://www.lucycoats.com\">Lucy Coats\u003C/a>, \u003Ca href=\"http://www.jabberworks.co.uk\">Sarah McIntyre\u003C/a>, \u003Ca href=\"http://www.ellenrenner.com\">Ellen Renner\u003C/a> and \u003Ca href=\"http://www.sheenawilkinson.com\">Sheena Wilkinson\u003C/a>. (Photo nicked off \u003Ca href=\"http://teriterry.co.uk\">Teri Terry\u003C/a>'s Facebook page.)\u003C/i>\\r\n\\r\nThe last time I met writer \u003Ca href=\"http://www.marksworks.co.uk/\">Graham Marks\u003C/a> was in Birmingham at that Librarian Speed Dating thing (blogged half-way down \u003Ca href=\"http://jabberworks.livejournal.com/316583.html\">here\u003C/a>), so it was nice to meet him in a slightly less bizarre context. He's interviewing me in January for \u003Ca href=\"http://www.writeaway.org.uk\">Write Away\u003C/a>, which is a rather far-in-advance lunch date, but I'll look forward to it.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/scbwi_nov10_13-3f6c214fba.jpg\">\\r\n\u003Ci>Graham Marks\u003C/i>\\r\n\\r\nHere's lovely writer \u003Ca href=\"http://www.lucycoats.com\">Lucy Coats\u003C/a>. We spoke together on a panel, \u003Ci>How to Sell Your Book\u003C/i>, along with writer \u003Ca href=\"http://www.jonmayhew.co.uk\">Jon Mayhew\u003C/a> and Orion publicist \u003Ca href=\"http://twitter.com/#!/ninadouglas\">Nina Douglas\u003C/a>. Perhaps I was trying to follow Marcus's advice of 'don't be boring', but I think perhaps I slipped a bit too far into the controversial, and got quite a bit of feedback afterward. I think I was slightly weirded out, pretending to be this expert in selling books among all these writing veterans. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/scbwi_nov10_9-29c0411ea2.jpg\">\\r\n\u003Ci>Lucy Coats\u003C/i>\\r\n\\r\nThe other panel I shared with writers \u003Ca href=\"http://www.candygourlay.com/\">Candy Gourlay\u003C/a> and \u003Ca href=\"http://wheniwasjoe.blogspot.com/\">Keren David\u003C/a>, \u003Ci>Social Networking: a blessing or a curse?\u003C/i>. Candy and Keren talked much more about the marketing power of Facebook and Twitter, whereas I focused more on fun projects I'd been able to participate in via social networking sites, such as my \u003Ca href=\"http://www.jabberworks.co.uk/new/airship.html\">\u003Ci>Airship\u003C/i> comics jam\u003C/a> with David O'Connell, the SCBWI 2007 \u003Ca href=\"http://community.livejournal.com/scbwi/tag/lunch%20with%20hubert\">\u003Ci>Lunch with Hubert\u003C/i> comics jam\u003C/a> (which inspired some of the characters in \u003Ci>Vern and Lettuce\u003C/i>) and LiveJournal's amazing \u003Ca href=\"http://davario.livejournal.com/30861.html\">\u003Ci>Draw Yourself as a Teenager\u003C/i> meme\u003C/a>. \\r\n\\r\nAt the party I got to meet lovely illustrator \u003Ca href=\"http://www.jessmikhail.com\">Jess Mikhail\u003C/a>, who recently signed on with the same agency and who is also illustrating a book for the writer of \u003Ci>Morris the Mankiest Monster\u003C/i>, Giles Andreae. It was funny comparing our strikingly similar career paths.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/scbwi_nov10_8-3c7396ed9c.jpg\">\\r\n\u003Ci>Jess Mikhail\u003C/i>\\r\n\\r\nHere's \u003Ca href=\"http://www.davidficklingbooks.co.uk\">David Fickling\u003C/a> on a panel, just about to go volcanic, next to \u003Ca href=\"http://www.carouselguide.co.uk/\">\u003Ci>Carousel\u003C/i> magazine\u003C/a> reviewer \u003Cb>David Blanch\u003C/b>.\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/scbwi_nov10_15-3e85177497.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/scbwi_nov10_6-a3aaabd622.jpg\">\\r\n\u003Ci>Kayt Bochenski, senior picture book designer at Harper Collins and writers Candy Gourlay and Jon Mayhew\u003C/i>\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/scbwi_nov10_7-04709a7bec.jpg\">\\r\n\u003Ci>Writers \u003Ca href=\"http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/d/chris-dlacey/\">Chris d'Lacey\u003C/a> and \u003Ca href=\"http://www.julietclarebell.com\">Clare Bell\u003C/a>\u003C/i>\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cb>Candy Gourlay\u003C/b> (author of amazing novel \u003Ca href=\"http://www.candygourlay.com/\">\u003Ci>Tall Story\u003C/i>\u003C/a>... go read it now!) and I volunteered to room together, something which has happened several times since a very \u003Ca href=\"http://jabberworks.livejournal.com/83907.html\">fun trip\u003C/a> to the Bologna Book Fair a few years ago. Candy's one of my favourite people and we are both blogging geeks. Here's us attempting to blog in bed, except we couldn't because some rascal next door named Marcus was hogging all the hotel's bandwidth. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/scbwi_nov10_16-59eed73a01.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nThanks so much to the amazing team of people who made this conference so wonderful! And special thanks to writer \u003Cb>Margaret Carey\u003C/b>, who won this year's Outstanding Contribution Award for all the organisational work she's put in over the years. Great job, everyone!","2010-11-14T23:55:00.000Z","the-night-we-ate-off-verns-face",[],"the night we ate off vern's face",1776628719122]