First Look: Your Single Best Piece Critiqued

Registration opens this morning for a fun panel I'm moderating at the upcoming NESCBWI Regional Conference:

First Look: Your Single Best Piece Critiqued
Date: Saturday, May 4, 2013
Time: 2:00 p.m. - 2:55 p.m.
Place: Sheraton Springfield Monarch Place, Springfield, MA
Fee: Included with Saturday's Conference registration

Ever wonder what that art director thinks when your promotional postcard crosses their desk? Watch as an experienced panel of industry professionals share their first impressions of artwork submitted by conference attendees. All submissions are kept anonymous, so you can secretly take in compliments, constructive criticism, and see how your single best piece stacks up against your peers' in a theatre-style critique setting. Panel moderated by Christina Rodriguez.

Participants will walk away from the event with:

• A beneficial peek at the work of other illustrators, including their artistic triumphs and mistakes.
• Insight from a panel of professionals in the industry as they quickly critique a range of styles and illustrations.

Only attendees who register for the workshop can submit an image for consideration. Once you have confirmation of your Conference registration, e-mail 1 (one) image to mail (at) christinarodriguez (dot) com:

• Image format: JPG
• Resolution: 150dpi
• Maximum image size: 1 MB
• Artist's name is to appear NOWHERE on the artwork.
• Deadline for all images: April 17, 2013

The images will be compiled into a randomized slideshow to be displayed in front of the panel and audience. Each image will get between 1-3 minutes of critique by the panel (as time & number of entries permit), and I will be auditing for time and guiding discussion as needed.

Please contact me with questions and be sure to register for this workshop at the Conference. Good luck!

Providence Kidlit Salon Recap

Thanks to everyone who made it out to last week's first-ever Providence Kidlit Salon! A sizable group of 16 people convened in the lovely upstairs lounge of The Dorrance to chat about books and the children's publishing industry. Attendees included authors, illustrators, and graphic designers from a variety of backgrounds, all coming together for a rare networking opportunity.

Discussion varied over the two-hour roundtable, but several topics were raised, including:

• Kickstarter as a publishing platform
• Self-publishing pitfalls and recommendations
• Celebrity Books, yay or nay?
• Book design woes
• Wacom Inkling and other digital art tools
• Critique groups: what works and why
• The influence of animation in children's books

The casual, free-form style of discussion, combined with the relaxing atmosphere of The Dorrance, made for a great January get-together. New England illustrators are set to convene again in February for the second-annual Live Animal Study sketching event at RISD's Nature Lab. The workshop filled up in just over a day, but if you'd like to be added to the waitlist please do so here.

I hope to continue coordinating events for area authors and illustrators this year! If you would like to notified of future workshops, field trips, and networking events, please send me an e-mail or message me on Facebook and I'll add you to the mailing list.

Currently Coveting: The Where, the Why, and the How

ALSO, a design studio run by fellow RISD grads, recently debuted this beautifully designed book, The Where, the Why, and the How, answering 75 scientific questions like: Why do people blush? Do rogue waves exist? Can evolution outpace climate change?

The results are sometimes whimsical, frequently realistic, and often funny - and are always a feast of visual communication for the accompanying scientific essays. I want to run my fingers through the pages of this book and absorb the awesome through osmosis!

You can check out the book trailer here: