Mac McCool - Children's Book Illustrations and Graphic Novels

Saturday, February 23, 2008

Illustrator Christina Forshay Updates Her Website and Blog

I love the cute poetry of the images of my friend illustrator, Christina Forshay. She's just updated her website and given her blog a new coat of pixel-paint!

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

SPLAT 08: An Impressive GN Symposium

A new graphic novels symposium, SPLAT 08, will take place next March 15 in NYC. The list of presenters is simply amazing! It includes Dave Saylor (Graphix), Mark Siegel (First Second), Scott McCloud, Calvin Reid (PW), Terry Nantier (NBM/Papercutz), Dave Roman (Nickelodeon), Raina Telgemeier (Baby Sitters Club), Kate Farrell (Henry Holt), Janna Morishima (Diamond), and many more creators, publishers, agents, and librarians. Anyone serious about breaking into this business and who can hop to NYC for a day shouldn't miss it!

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Leezy's Amazing 2008 NYC SCBWI Conference Reports

My sprightly illustrator friend, Leeza Hernandez, is sharing an amazingly list of posts on the 2008 Winter Conference of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators that just wrapped up in New York! Excellent info! Thanks, Leeza!!!

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Tuesday Tip: Enroll Your Reader's Imagination or The Abominable Yeti is a Duck with Funny Feet

Recently, the rains turned dusty hill trails into a doughy mud that recorded the invisible: the furtive goings and comings of wild animals. Among the many footprints, hoof prints, and paw prints, I was startled by a set of paw prints, the size of large fists. I shuddered, “What kind of wilder beast hikes on these trails?!” Like all good storytellers, Nature had given my imagination just enough to let it finish painting a vivid and powerful vision. Maybe those prints only belonged to a baby squirrel who wears size 15 paws, but the illusion in my mind of a beast stomping about kept me on edge.

What a great lesson! Just like the Yeti! Its only signs? Foot prints, blurry silhouettes through blizzards, distant groans, but never an honest-to-God, real sighting. Yet, these hints have fueled our imagination into believing in a gigantic, abominable creature. In reality, the Yeti may just be a duck with funny feet! That's enough for a small meal. Not a legend!

Monday, February 11, 2008

Pushing Pencils While Friends Party in NYC

The SCBWI Winter Conference in New York just wrapped up, and I'm now ready for the post-conference blog-posts harvest time! I'm eager to catch up on everyone's impressions, anecdotes, and what all of us who didn't go missed. Meanwhile, I've been writing the early drafts of a graphic novel series for young readers (with the helpful feedback of my writer's critique group--hi ya!), and developing another super-secret graphic novel proposal! So that's what's been happening, and a lot more, called "life!"