December 2nd - Bridget Strevens Marzo

#W8PAdvent

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Ten-Minute Blog Break - 4th November

I'm in a post-conference state of over-stimulated tiredness (if such a thing is possible), but have valiantly dragged myself to my Blog Break chair to summarise another week's worth of great blog posts. Please wake me up if I... zzzzzzzz.

What?! I was just resting my eyes, OK? Look, why don't you go and visit Sarah Broadley (who I met in real life for the first time at the weekend), because she's been super-efficient at blogging her thoughts about the SCBWI Conference.

Catherine Friess (who I somehow failed to meet at the conference) has a really useful post all about book-related advent calendars. If you're fed up with chocolate or Lego for the kids this year, why not try one of her ideas?

Ukip supporters should probably click with caution on Jane McLoughlin's latest blog post. Emboldened by a controversy in the comedy world, Jane examines the subject of diversity in society and her hopes for reflecting that in children's fiction.

November brings PiBoIdMo (Picture Book Idea Month) and NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), but we mustn't forget Inktober, the far more sensibly-named drawing challenge that spanned October. Claire O'Brien inked her way to a picture every day last month, and shares the results and her thoughts on the experience.

Bridget Strevens-Marzo hasn't blogged since March, but that's clearly because she's been busy obsessively repainting the cover for her next book! A perfectionist through and through, Bridget shares some artwork from Tiz and Ott's Big Draw and brings us up to speed on everything she's been doing. She certainly seems to have a lot of wall space and drawing pins to display all those roughs!

Nick.

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A SCBWI member since 2009, Nick Cross is an Undiscovered Voices winner who currently writes children's short fiction for Stew Magazine.

Stew Magazine is looking for your help as it enters its second year - join the Kickstarter campaign.

Meet Our Conference Volunteers!

The annual SCBWI British Isles conference is fast approaching, with yet again many amazing keynote speakers, workshops, and opportunities to get your work noticed. But while most of us are worrying about what outfit to wear for the Saturday night party, and polishing our portfolios until they shine, behind the scenes, a group of extremely hard-working and dedicated volunteers are beavering away so that we can all enjoy the huge benefits that attending a conference has to offer.

We asked a few of those fabulous conference committee volunteers about why they volunteer and what SCBWI means to them.

Marnie Riches

Marnie Riches - Conference Chair

During my two decades as a fundraising and marketing professional, I organised many events, single-handedly and as part of a team...from the Duke of Edinburgh’s 80th birthday celebrations at the Royal Albert Hall, to fundraising dinners in premium London venues, to writing masterclasses at Manchester Children’s Book Festival, given by stars of the literary landscape. There is something intensely satisfying about booking speakers/entertainment, deciding on a venue, a theme, producing the printed material and shaping a PR campaign that will ultimately sell tickets to a highly enjoyable event. 

But events-management is not for the faint-hearted. You have to be super-organised, energetic and importantly, have the ability to bring a project to fruition, from vision to end product. 

By 2009, I had started to write seriously for children. A literary agent advised me to check out the Manchester writing scene. I discovered my local chapter of SCBWI. Attending my local crit group galvanised me into pursuing writing seriously as my new career – a vocation that will almost certainly fulfil me and sustain my passion and interest for the rest of my life. When my Time-Hunters deal came along, therefore, (I penned the first six books of the series for HarperCollins Children’s under the pseudonym, Chris Blake) I decided I’d had enough of Lottery and Arts Council funding applications. The day-job bit the dust. Ace! Or was it? Being self-employed and working from home is wonderful. I have always liked being the boss. But what you forget is that working from home can be terribly socially isolating. 

Over time, I found myself turning into that stereotype of the anti-social author; silent, chained to a laptop and motionless, but for typing and scratching myself through week-old pyjamas. So in early 2014, when Natascha Biebow approached me and asked if I’d like to volunteer for SCBWI, I agreed to chair the SCBWI Annual Conference. I knew I could help to put on a fantastic programme, offering something for everyone. I couldn’t wait to meet my committee. And I was not disappointed. They’re a great bunch of fun-loving, talented and committed people. I have no doubt that the conference in November in Winchester will reflect our collective energy and skill. Most of all, I am proud to be putting my name to an event, which promises such quality and variety.

Candy Gourlay

Candy Gourlay -- Volunteer Extraordinaire!

I love seeing an idea turn into a reality -- and this year I had the delicious challenge of curating the Pulse programme for our burgeoning numbers of published members!"   

George Kirk

George Kirk

I always thought that writing was a lonely occupation and then I bumped into SCBWI. A nicer, more well-mannered organisation you will not meet. It’s always opening doors, making introductions and pointing people in the right direction. So when the opportunity came along to lend a hand, well it seemed rude not to. A chance to give back a little, not to mention the fact I love to be fully involved, especially when there is a social.

Sean Noonan

Sean Noonan

I wanted to learn the craft of story writing for children and was recommended SCBWIs. Since my first event, a social in London in 2012, I have been inspired by the enthusiasm and knowledge of the members. 

Attending three conferences in two years I realised these amazing events were put together by volunteers who gave their time and efforts willingly. I knew it was time to step up, make my own contribution.   

Sally Poyton

Sally Poyton

As much as I LOVE writing, it is solitary; spending all day in my own imaginary world talking to characters from my own mind isn't that great for my sanity. This is why I volunteer; to meet and work with other like-minded lovely people and to preserve what's left of my sanity! It’s also a way of paying back for all the opportunities that SCBWI has opened up for me, plus further my knowledge of the industry.

Addy Farmer

Pals, inspiration and boundless possibilities for a creative life. Everyone should join the SCBWI - it's good for you. 

Alice Thorp

Alice Thorp

I attended my first conference in 2011, after winning the Margaret Carey Scholarship. It was such a valuable experience that I promised myself I would volunteer for SCBWI when my children were older. Three years later, I find myself on the Conference Committee! I am particularly enjoying coordinating this year’s Outstanding Contribution Award. Reading about the dedication of each nominee is moving and inspiring. 

Bridget Strevens-Marzo

Bridget Strevens-Marzo

Well over a decade ago (yikes!), I was a reluctant volunteer, having to divise illustrator content for the first non-US based SCBWI conference. I had never 'done the rounds' myself or sent work out as I was too self-critical. Volunteering did wonders for my self-confidence. I’ve met many publishing professionals I had admired from far, and realized there is no 'them and us' divide - and a common interest in creating the best we can for kids. 

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If you're interested in becoming a volunteer for our fabulous organisation, check out the current list of volunteer vacancies and how to apply here. 

Children’s Magazines and the Working Illustrator

One page of an 11 spread story,
Doudou du Loup,
for Belles Histoires Oct 2012
© Bridget Strevens-Marzo

Illustration is not only for books! With broad experience of working internationally in a wide range of published media, Bridget Strevens-Marzo looks at opportunities to work for children's magazines in this country and overseas.


Have you ever considered working for US or French children’s monthly magazines as a worthwhile sideline to your career as a children’s book illustrator?   If you are starting out, seeing your work in print for the first time will give you some hope.  If you are published, perhaps there is a gap  to fill between the last book advance and the next.  That’s how I first started, filling in gaps to keep my bank account in the black.

Why not UK children’s magazines?  Well I’d be curious to know if anyone is getting decent pay from original illustration work here.  Please say if you are!   What happened,  for example, to the lavishly illustrated Look and Learn and their stories, features and games? Aside from increased production costs, I suspect it was all about hard competition with good children’s TV not to mention the licensed TV character take-over of UK kids magazines. From the 1980s most of those titles offered far less, if any, space for original illustration. The good news now is that some new and exciting print magazines are now seeing the light, including Okido (for 3-8s) Anorak (for 6-12) and the bi-monthly Stew.  Fingers crossed that they’ll prove as successful as the US and French magazines.  That way they will be able pay illustrators properly and let’s hope they can then call upon an increasing variety of talent.

American and French children’s magazines which are mostly monthlies, have survived ups and downs and pay illustrators fairly, thanks to  a large and loyal family of subscribers, good distribution and arguably less competition from quality TV.  Highlights magazine is the oldest established magazine -  for 6-12 year olds – of a range published by Highlights Corporation has been going for over 50 years.  Like many of the French magazines it is a veritable institution.

Small selection of Highlights High Five Mags

“The Highlights staff are a lovely bunch of people to work for" writes UK author-illustrator and active SCBWI member, Mike Brownlow.

“(Highlights High Five) gives me roughly two covers a year plus the occasional double page spread illustrating a story or a poem. They’re always polite and complimentary with lots of positive feedback, and they always pay on time. They’ve been a repeat client of mine for about 3 or 4 years now. I never did find out how they came across me, but I know they have links with SCBWI. They decided to award me ‘Best Cover of the Year’ for 2012, so I’ll always be fond of them.”  You can find out more about High Five here.

Here’s Mike’s Highlights High Five prize-winning cover

Like Mike, I’ve been illustrating a couple of stories a year in an occasional series for High Five.  For 4-5 illustrations on two spreads I get around $1800- 2000.  Some illustrators may perhaps balk at the work-for-hire terms – they buy both copyright and authorship.  I see it as all about quick turnover and a window onto another market – a refreshing counterbalance to the slow book publishing world  - and it keeps you busy!

Even more plentiful are French children’s magazines. I took this snap of a small area of the children’s magazine section in a French railway station this summer and you might think they all look pretty similar.  In the summer many come with freebies which sadly means you can’t flick through and marvel at the variety of features, stories and illustrations they contain. And inside they do look different, though full of variety. Each magazine is aimed at a distinct age group and market. Milan’s Toboggan for example, has a very different feel to it from Bayard’s counterpart for the same 3-7 age group, Pomme d’Api.

You don’t have to be French to work for French children’s magazines.  I know of Spanish and Japanese as well as several English illustrators who work for one or more of Bayard’s range of 27 magazines for children from 0- 16. One famous name long associated with Bayard is Helen Oxenbury who created a long term series Leo et Popi (Tom and Pippo in the US)  which gave its name to Bayard’s youngest magazine for 0-3 year olds Popi. Helen Stephens (guest illustrator at the SCBWI Picture Book retreat) has also worked for them more than once as you can see from this English language version of a story she illustrated for Belles Histoires.  She writes “I first met Bayard when they came to London to meet some British illustrators in about 2003 (ish) I think. They seemed to like my folio, but didn't get in touch. So the next time I was in Paris I went to see them, and a lovely relationship ensued!” 

The first page of Bayard’s English language Storybox magazine
with Helen Stephen’s illustrations to a story for Bayard’s Belles Histoires.

My own contact with Bayard started when I met David McKee of Elmer fame in Bologna in the late 1990s. I was then in publishing limbo and David suggested I show my work to an art director at Bayard Presse. He said he did the odd commission for Bayard and it was good for expanding your repertoire. It certainly did mine!

Around 15 years ago I started by illustrating countless graphic games for Bayard’s general magazine for 3-6 year olds in Bayard’s Pomme d’Api  which has been famous for its games features since the 1960s. I’d never have tackled  this kind of work in the UK and it taught me to be bolder and work with limited colour palettes. Some of these illustrations were the springboard for two big doodle books published by Bayard Editions co-edited with Tate Publishing UK in 2006 -7. The first, Les Petites Mains Dessinent has just been reprinted in paperback.

Bayards’s Popi, for babies and toddlers has very short stories and sometimes, like this spread I illustrated, a novelty element. In this instance, a baby rabbit you can punch out, and slot into bed.

Bayard’s Tralalire magazine for 2-5 year olds, also has the odd novelty element as well as great regular features by well-known names including Herve Tullet, UK illustrator Tor Freeman and Jennifer Darymple.

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In recent years I have been lucky to have had several commissions for the main story in Bayard’s Belles Histoires. At 11 spreads, this story is virtually a picture book though the magazine contains other features, including at least one comic and a science-based article.

You’ll find more information about the full range of Bayard’s 27 magazines here but to appreciate just how wide the range of types of illustrators they and other magazine publishers use for kids of all ages, it might even be worth going to the illustrator heaven of the French national kids book and press fair in Montreuil, Paris this year from November 28 - December 1 or at the very least spending some time in a newsagents in France.

If you want to work for magazines, you’ll have to be able to work to clear specifications and layouts – and be supple enough to adjust the content to the feedback they’ll give you on your roughs. As for payment – there are fixed prices. For an 11 spread story I am currently illustrating I will get €4000.  You’ll get a contract for a limited term of usage, which ensures you will get additional payment for any reprints in other children’s magazines across the world (and there are plenty from Spain to China) and the promise of a separate contract if ever your work becomes a book.

Talking of foreign reprints, here are some covers of Storybox
alongside a couple of Belles Histoires covers I did

Storybox is the youngest of the three monthly Bayard Box magazines for English speaking children. Like its older siblings, Adventure Box and Discovery Box (ages 9-12 ) it offers an excitingly varied compilation of features translated from several of the French magazines using the illustrations that went with them.  So there is no point submitting your work directly to the Box Magazines. There is every point in looking at them and considering a subscription for any English-speaking kids, school or library you know. You can see more about the kind of content they cover from the editor here.

Interested in getting in touch? Here are some links.

Marianne Vilcoq, my Bayard art director at Belles Histories and Tralalire, has kindly agreed to me sharing her name, if you’d like to send a PDF of samples to this address which she can pass on to another Bayard magazine if relevant. Like most French publishers, she’s happy to work in English with foreign illustrators.

Milan Presse, another reliable publisher, publish 17 children's monthlies as well as books. It is based in Toulouse, and in the past held an open day or ‘portes ouvertes’ for illustrators to meet with their ADs online or in person. There is talk of this happening again in June so follow this and practise your French.

Oh and don't forget that SCBWI has a Magazine Merit award! Deadline for submissions is Dec 15 in the year of publication.

Now I'd better get back to work on the next 11 spread story for Belles Histoires. 

Here’s a rough with a layout and  art director comments in yellow.
The final colour spreads for the January 2015 number are  due on September 20th
and I have not begun them yet – help!

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Bridget Strevens-Marzo is a former SCBWI board member and International Illustrator Coordinator. Based for many years in France, she now lives in London and is a key member of the illustrator's committee. www.bridgetstrevens.com

Ten-Minute Blog Break - 18th March

Believe it or not, the Blog Break will be a year old next week. Sometimes (usually Monday lunchtime with an empty blog post in front of me) that year seems to have lasted an age, and other times it seems to have passed in a heartbeat. Either way, it's been quite a ride!

I encourage a leisurely approach to reading the Blog Break, complete with hot drink and optional biscuits. But it seems that Paula Rawsthorne wants us to get moving. Over at The Edge, Paula's asking if we're Fit to Write, because we have a profession that requires such a lot of bum-on-seat-time to achieve success. Paula has tips on how to squeeze exercise into your writing schedule and examples of what other authors do to stay fit.

There may have been a lot less cases of flu than expected this winter, but it does seem that there's a rather infectious blog chain doing the rounds instead. Candy Gourlay, Sally Poyton and Michelle Newell have all succumbed this week, discussing their latest works-in-progress and the processes they're using to write them. Find out why Candy keeps going down rabbit holes, how Sally risks lead poisoning for her art and why Michelle describes her writing process as "slow and erratic."

They (whoever "they" are) say write what you know, and Bridget Strevens Marzo is doing just that. I loved the idea that her own childhood experience of being culturally adrift in a French school has lead to Bridget's Book of English, a picture book of first English words for French children.

Heaven help us, but Mark Jones is at it again. This week, he's provided a "helpful" list of book ideas he's recently had rejected. Worse even than the thought of a pop-up picture book about psychotic kittens, is the fact that this post is the fifth in a thoroughly demented series. It's probably worth making sure you have The Samaritans on speed-dial before you tackle entries one, two, three and four.

Nick.

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Nick Cross is a children's writer, blogger and all-round techno-ninja. In 2010 he was a winner of Undiscovered Voices with his zombie comedy Back from the Dead.

Nick is currently writing short fiction for Stew Magazine, issue 2 of which is out now!

25th December - Bridget Strevens Marzo

#W8PAdvent

to all our readers & contributors from

Bridget Strevens Marzo

 and the

Words & Pictures Team

Thank you to all the wonderful illustrators and writers who have contributed to our

Words & Pictures Advent Calendar

You can see the whole calendar here
and all the Advent posts with a wonderful collection of seasonal micro fiction here


We're taking a short break over the holidays
and will be back on

Friday 3rd January 2014

with a brand new banner and featured illustrator!
Have you New Year Resolutions ready!

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Jan Carr is the editor of Words & Pictures. Her fiction is older middle grade, she blogs occasionally and loves to write in magenta. You can contact her at editor@britishscbwi.org.

2014 Illustrator Showcase launch at the Winchester Conference

Bridget Strevens Marzo

Detail of Alex Wilson's submission

The Illustrator Showcase this year at our SCBWI BI Winchester Conference was the most successful yet in drawing attention to the incredible illustrator talent
in the British Isles. For the first time ever, prints of the works displayed were for sale at a fixed £25 per print, all profits going to the Philippines Typhoon Appeal, grouping all major charities in the Disaster Emergency Fund. 


The prospect of becoming art buyers drew more conference faculty and attendees than ever to our SCBWI Illustrator Showcase
to look....

and look again
and make their orders.

We even re-hung the show at the Mass Book Launch on Saturday night... 

and the unusual pink lighting did not put pundits off purchasing a few more prints.
By the end of one full day we had made over £800 for the Philippines fund.

A big thank you to the 15 illustrators participating in the donation!
Their side of the bargain is to make archival prints, sign them and post them as instructed to their buyers.
And congratulation to Heather Kilgour whose print here:

was the first to sell out to five happy buyers.By the way, ALL works for sale for the fund were marked with a gold star sticker, not just Heather's..
You can view all the Showcase exhibits here.

And talking of stickers...
 

These hearts were stuck onto pages of each portfolio submission in the Portfolio Showcase by art directors Strawberrie Donnelly, Ngheim Ta and Lily Trotter and Advocate Art agent Ed Burns to highlight pages in individual portfolios where the judges wanted to say 1. illustration is great, 2. going in the right direction and 3. Do more stuff like this! So if you are an illustrator who submitted a portfolio  and you received a sticker, or even better, several stickers in your portfolio when you picked it up, well done! 

There were several really strong contenders among the portfolios submitted this year so double congratulations the winner of the Best Portfolio Award, Alex Wilson, a new member, recently back in the UK after a spell in the US seen here at the centre of attention at the evening Launch party.  

 More congratulations go to Anna Violet for winning the Self-Promotion Mailer Award...

with her stunning never-ending 'fold' mailer which you can also see in full detail here.

Alex Wilson and Anna Violet both win a slot as a Featured Illustrator in Words and Pictures (time to be confirmed) and a free place at one of the Illustrator Masterclass Series in 2014.
If you're an illustrator wanting to improve your portfolio presentation skills, you can learn more from John Shelley's SCBWI illustrator masterclass, Secrets of Building a Better Portfolio on March 8 2014 and get more direct feedback from agents and art directors at the SCBWI masterclass Portfolio Intensive on April 26, 2014.

And we have plans to provide even more for illustrators (not to mention art buyers and worthy causes!)  at the conference in November 2014!

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In addition to her own many projects and commissions, Bridget is Words & Pictures' Art Director and a contributing editor for the AOI's magazine Varoom. She lives in London.

Illustrators' Masterclass

By Clare Tovey

In September, the SCBWI British Isles Illustrator Master Class series continued with a picture book dummy make over session run by Bridget Strevens-Merzo and Sue Porter.

The aim of the afternoon was to sharpen up our own “critique-ability” so that we become our own dummy doctor and we were all invited to bring along our own dummy book to work on.


This master class was structured into two parts: first, Sue and Bridget gave a presentation using a slide show and looking at real life books to get an overview of picture book structure, what works and does not work, plus practical tips. Bridget and Sue reminded us that for real life books the picture book framework is ruled by the mechanics of physical printing.

Bridget Strevens Marzo and Sue Porter

Some of my other notes include:

• For a picture book, show rather than tell the story

• Make the experience of reading a pdf dummy book as book-like as possible without it being so polished that publishers may think there is no scope for their input.

• Characters must be compelling – it’s possible to be commissioned just from wonderful characters

• Only need to do a few spreads for a dummy

• If I find a book I really love do a dissect of it in my sketchbook and figure out what it is that I love, and also help to see the rhythm of the book

Then after a break for tea and biscuits, the class divided into small groups to practice objectively assessing each dummy book against criteria on an assessment sheet devised by Bridget and Sue.

Assessing the dummy books was fun: enjoying the wide variety of stories, styles of illustration, characters, etc, along with judging the current stage of progress with preparing the book for publication.

We then tallied the total scores for each criterion, and the overall score for the dummy on every assessment sheet to give to the illustrator with their dummy book.

It was interesting to note how consistent the scoring was for each book without any conferring having taken place!

Finally, everyone thanked Bridget and Sue for their hard work in making a most helpful and interesting master class.

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An illustrator member of SCBWI since 2010, Clare has drawn since she was big enough to hold a pencil. She lives in London with an eccentric cat, and surrounded by piles of sketchbooks, books and crafting materials.

The Picture Book Retreat

In July, SCBWI British Isles held its first Picture Book Retreat. It was an amazing weekend for the writers and illustrators who came along to Holland House in Worcester.

The Retreat’s organisers, Bridget Strevens-Marzo and Anne-Marie Perks had set one main criterion – a place to encourage creative exploration in the inspiring company of other writers and illustrators. Other criteria were a beautiful venue with plenty of space and great food. Holland House fulfilled them all.

Helen Stephens and Gerry Turley inspired with their stories, and by talking through the work process. They emphasised drawing from life and the need to nurture your creativity. Sarah Frost, commissioning editor from Hodder books, and Alice Bartosinski, commissioning editor from Egmont, shared not only their understanding of our industry but helpful insights into it.

As pictures say so much more than words, we’ve included a selection here.

It all started here, at Holland House in Worcestershire. 

When illustrating a Michael Murpurgo book, Jo-Jo and the Melon Donkey, Helen had to go to Florence!

An example of the beautiful sketches done while there.

Helen Stephens, author illustrator, talking about drawing from life and how it inspires stories.

These are sketches of the dog that inspired, Fleabag.

Storyboard from Helen’s book, Fleabag.

All of us in the lovely conference room at Holland House.

Large windows opened up to a large sloping lawn and flower borders.

Gerry Turley shared his large sketchbooks on a book he is working on, about a bear for Schwartz and Wade publishers. He also shared his prints and sketchbook on his first book, Woooo, with David Fickling.

Alice Bartosinski had us make a list from the picture books she set out as to which ones we thought sold the best. Here we are happily doing our best to figure that out. The results were very interesting! 

We filled every room available at Holland House and had a great time, learning, sharing and supporting each other in the craft we all love. The most frequent comments were 'Thank you!' and 'When are we doing this again!'

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Since a child, Anne-Marie has loved to draw, paint and ‘make stuff’. She now works as an illustrator, artist, animator and designer. She is a very active member of the SCBWI family. You can also find her on the Words & Pictures team page.

Ten-Minute Blog Break - 18th June

Before I start the blog round-up, I'd like to thank everyone who's commented on or retweeted these posts over the last few months. Not only is it great to know that the Blog Break is being read, but also that you're reading the posts by our featured SCBWI bloggers.


To kick things off this week, Bridget Strevens-Marzo has a hugely inspiring blog post about the ShoutSouth! festival run by CWISL (Children's Writers and Illustrators in South London). SCBWI members including Bridget, Mo O'Hara, Sarah Mussi, Anne-Marie Perks, Sam Hepburn and Sara Grant took part in three days of writing and illustrating workshops with over ninety 8-13 year olds. You can see the variety and quality of the results over at Bridget's blog and it's an immense credit to the organisers that everyone donated their time for free.

Jane Heinrichs has written a terrific post about unleashing your inner creativity, something that sounds easy but can often be very, very hard. As someone who frequently finds themselves in front of an empty Word document, gripped by irrational fear, I found this list of simple tips very approachable and encouraging.

Cathy Brett's article for The Guardian on illustrated fiction for teenagers kicked off a fantastic debate on the SCBWI British Isles Facebook group. Why don't grown-up books have pictures in them? Are publishers the problem, or do book illustrations seem childish to older readers?

Meanwhile, over in the silly corner, Lorraine Gregory has a highly unscientific test to help you determine whether you're cut out to be a children's writer, and one of the comments on Mark Jones's latest blog post reads "Well, that was a waste of time". Depending on your mood, you may consider that a criticism or a recommendation!

Nick.

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Nick Cross is a children's writer, blogger and all-round digital guru. In 2010 he was a winner of Undiscovered Voices with his zombie comedy Back from the Dead.
Read Nick's latest blog post, in which he considers the seemingly endless state of being an "Almost There" writer and yet finds optimism in Waiting and Learning.