SketchLook from Luna Park, Sydney

SketchLook is an ongoing feature of the SCBWI Blog. It is a glimpse into the working process of artists, how we experiment, think through our ideas, stretch our imagination and observe the world. This is a glimpse at current work in progress, free doodles, rough drawings, and sketches from life. CLICK HERE to participate in SketchLook.
 

 

This month we take a look at the sketchbooks of some our members who sketched and scribbled their way around Luna Park, Sydney. 

Rob Feld

"And wasn't that just the BEST DAY yesterday. I very much enjoyed the delightful company , the views, the stories, the ambience and the je ne sais quoit!" — Rob Feld

Rob showed us his marker sketches with the fluid line work he achieves with a fabric marker! His sketches were inspired by the history of Luna Park and the creative prompts supplied by our guide Katrina McKelvey.

Liz Anelli

Satoru Aoe

Gwynne Jones

A call-out for the next selection will be sent out in good time but members of SCBWI Australia East & New Zealand are invited to submit images at any time. Work should be scans or snapshots of sketchbook pages featuring sketches, drawings from life or working drawings. Up to five images, Jpeg format, 72 dpi, 750px width maximum. Kindly avoid overlaying text on images and other digital manipulation. CLICK HERE to submit images for SketchLook.

HEARTQUAKE LAUNCH - the online compendium

It’s with a considerable beating of my own heart, that we announce HEARTQUAKE to the world.

It’s an online compendium that was begun out of the ruins of the awful earthquake that beset Nepal in April 25th, 2015 leaving behind heartache for so many.  But the human spirit is strong. In coming to terms with the terrifying circumstances, Bec Ordish the founder of the Mitrataa Foundation, as well as her rescue work she and her students undertook, asked me to help with some writing, particularly poetry writing. This was planned to help traumatized young people express their experiences and feelings. What is amazing is that so many expressed hope for the future in their personal accounts, their reflections, their artwork, their poetry – a testament to the spirit of these young Nepalis.  A year on HEARTQUAKE was celebrated in Kathmandu, and two years on with this online offering and the desire to make links to the world.

Both the Nepali Ambassador in Canberra, Rudra K Nepal, and the Australian Ambassador Glenn White in Kathmandu, wrote of their pride in these same young people. Their letters are included in the Foreword of HEARTQUAKE. Some Newcastle students responded with their own poems about family members who experienced an earthquake there.

Bec and I have great pride in presenting HEARTQUAKE www.heartquake.org and hope for response to the heartfelt work these students created.

Libby Hathorn

SCBWI Success Story - Dee White

At the 2016 SCBWI Conference, I was fortunate/very scared to be chosen from a number of entries to pitch my work-in-progress, Beyond Belief to a panel of publishers.

I had barely written anything of the manuscript, but the full concept was in my head, and I was applying for a VicArts grant to go to Paris to research my book. Beyond Belief is about Algerian Muslims who saved Jewish children during WW2 is set predominantly at the Grande Mosquée de Paris and surrounds, so I wanted to go to Paris to immerse myself in the history and setting of my story.

I pitched at the SCBWI Conference hoping that a publisher might ask to read the manuscript, and this would be something positive I could put on my grant application.

Pitching to a panel of publishers was probably one of the most nerve-wracking things I've ever done, but the SCBWI people who ran the session, Katrina Germain and Tracey Hawkins were so positive and encouraging.

I was surprised and excited when nearly every publisher on the panel said they would like to read my manuscript. Not only that, delegates at the conference approached me afterwards and said they would also love to read my book.

One of my wonderful illustrator friends at the conference (who I met through SCBWI) suggested that seeing there was so much interest in the story I should submit to her US agent ... and less than a week later, I was offered representation by the fabulous Jill Corcoran. (I had been looking for a US agent for about 4 years).

I recently received word that there are also New York publishers interested in reading my story, and I'm pleased to say that I was successful with my grant application and head to Paris for a month on 31st March.

I've been a member of SCBWI for over 10 years and it has brought me so many amazing opportunities and friendships, both in Australia and overseas. My 2009 YA, Letters to Leonardo was published as the result of an assessment by Margaret Hamilton at the 2008 Conference. I travelled to Nevada USA twice after being awarded a SCBWI mentorship to work with New York Times bestselling YA novellist, Ellen Hopkins.

The SCBWI Conference offers amazing networking opportunities with fellow creators, and the chance to meet publishers face-to-face and learn about the craft of writing and illustrating. If you're serious about your work, I recommend that you start saving now for the next SCBWI Conference in 2018.

Dee White is the author of 16 books for children and teens, and a number of plays, articles and poems. She has two new books for children due out this year. K9 Heroes will be published in August by Scholastic, and Dee's first picture book, Reena's Rainbow (Illustrated by fabulous Tracie Grimwood) will be released in September with EK Books. Dee blogs at http://deescribewriting.wordpress.com and you can find out more about her at her website http://www.deescribe.com.au