Lisa Fields Captures Life's Glints of Joy, Surprise, Humor and Kindness

At this year's Illustrator Show at the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrator conference in New York, I fell in love with this painting by Lisa Fields. Beyond its vivid colors and a paint application that shines, the emotional authenticity in her characters is what stole my heart. The rich storytelling in this illustration and in others on her website brought to mind the acute observation and sophisticated story-threading that Norman Rockwell designed so convincingly.

Mac's New Website W-I-P

It's about time I consolidate my work into a swanky little website! That task currently dominates my scroll of "things-to-do"! Here's a sneak preview at the header.

More Children's Book Publishers Are Publishing Graphic Novels

Not all children's book publishers have separate imprints for their graphic novel ventures, but more and more are jumping on the band wagon, knowing it's going places, but not sure how! Here's a list, in no particular order, of some of the publishers I found who are joining this great adventure of creating graphic novel for children!

- Graphix (Scholastic imprint)
- Graphic Universe (Lerner Publishing imprint)
- Stone Arch Books
- Harry N. Abrams
- Tokyopop
- First Second Books
- Image Comics
- Papercutz (NBM imprint)

Discussing with industry professionals confirmed that Simon & Schuster and Random House also had graphic novel plans, but without a clear public direction at this stage. This will surely change soon, since 2007 looks already like such an important year for U.S. children's graphic novel publishing.

If you know more, please share that info with the rest of us (add a comment?). Thanks!

A Fun-Packed New York SCBWI Conference

Two and a half days of meeting old friends, making new ones, listening to profound, inspiring speeches, attending presentations, and giving some of my own! Seeing Tomie dePaola bid "adieu" to his role in the SCBWI moved many of us after all the incredible championing he did for illustrators over the years.

Thanks to all of you who have come to my presentations and thanks to the organizers who ran the show with precision and grace. I enjoyed meeting so many new faces, and discovering such beautiful art! The future looks very promising for graphic novels for children, and we can all make it even more beautiful by giving it our very best!

Next stop: the Los Angeles SCBWI conference? ;-D

The Promise of a Great Graphic Novel by Eduardo Villacis

Illustrator and friend, Eduardo Villacis, is exhibiting his amazing illustrations and hand-made artifacts created as part of his preliminary work on his upcoming graphic novel, The Smoking Mirror. In the 16th century, Aztecs take hold of Christopher Columbus and use his navigational and weaponry knowledge to go conquer... Europe! It's funny, often over the top, and most of all beautiful art! The L.A. Times praised the show, "The Art of The Smoking Mirror. The exhibit runs in the Bert Green Fine Art gallery through March 24, 2007.