Conference on Children and Literature

Sorry it's been so long since my last post. I've been dealing with my 3 year old's kidney problems, which thankfully are now all resolved after many tests, procedures and 2 surgeries.

After all that, I was able to take a break and attend a conference I was on the committee for. I hosted the guest illustrator, Brett Helquist (illustrator of the Series of Unfortunate Events books and many others). He taught some great breakout sessions on composition and character design. He suggested illustrators study "Picture This" by Molly Bang and internalize it. He also talked about Balance, Motion, Contrast in relation to composition. His theory on Balance was great...he called it the elevator scenario. If there are 3 people (say one larger person and 2 smaller) on the elevator and one gets off, the other two shift positions or there is tension (don't want to stand next to each other if there's room). See the illustrated example.

1 comment:

  1. Oh my word! Brett Helquist! I LOVE his work. How fortunate for you that your little one is okay and you were able to meet this wonderful illustrator .... I hope all is still good for your 3 year old.

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I'm a freelance illustrator working in the children's book industry. I love kids and raising my own 4 children. They are the inspiration and the passion behind all I do in art and in life. See my website at JulieOlsonbooks.com

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