Another rattie

My agent posted a photo of her at a nice restaurant near her new house and I decided to draw the scene. Well, I put a rat into the painting instead of my agent.
(I know what some of you are thinking. She did *not* take offense)

Bon appetit, Erin!

Not throwing away my shot!

I am a very dedicated Hamilton fan.
Very dedicated.

Can't wait to see the PBS Hamilton special later this month!

Travel Travails

Three weeks ago my dear friend Kirsten Cappy came to Michigan to interview Badge Velasquez and a few other guys from Bikers For Books, a charity promoting literacy for the youth in my area.

Charlie and I saw her at the Bikers For Books Rally on Sept. 10, and then again the next day at the Kerrytown BookFest in Ann Arbor.

Thank you to Bookbound for selling my books at the Kerrytown BookFest!

Charlie and I had dinner that second day with Kirsten Cappy, Matt Faulkner, Kris Remenar, Nancy Shaw, Pamela Patterson, Denise Fleming and husband David Powers and daughter Indigo Powers,

Also at the BookFest: Kelly DiPucchio, Shanda Trent, Heidi Woodward Sheffield, Nick and Ashley Adkins, Isabel O'Hagin, and wonderful SCBWI-Michigan webmaster and brilliant Austin-to-Ann Arbor transplant Debbie Gonzales,
I'm probably forgetting a few writers and illustrators. If that sounds like a lot of name-dropping, it is because they're smart creatives and I feel lucky to know them all.

At the end of the BookFest we walked Kirsten back to her car. 

She was on time to get to the airport, but she reported that her photographer friend Fred had not telescoped the camera tripod for air travel before he left, and she couldn't get that last leg to fold down on her own. 

She went through TSA with that very suspicious-looking tripod, but first endured extra searches and pat-downs and scrutiny. 

Now late for her flight, she ran through the airport with her unfolded tripod, to the obvious shock and dismay of many of the travelers.

As she related the story to me the next day I couldn't help but laugh... and draw it up for her.

Support your local bookstore!

My favorite local bookstore* is Schuler Books & Music.**
It's just a 20-minute drive from my house.

My critique group (The World's Greatest Critique Group -- that's its name but it's also true) has met at Schulers for the 10 years since I joined them.

Before the Eastwood Towne Center store was built, and before the Okemos store moved into Meridian Mall, Schulers had a lovely store next to Meijer, and I visited often.

Over the years we've gotten to know the staff at the various branches.
I put one staff member, book buyer Rhoda, in the art for my Leopold the Lion book.

If you know real-life Rhoda, you know that this doesn't quite look like her.
Real Rhoda has glasses but the publisher wanted no glasses on Mom and no facial hair on Dad.
Real Rhoda is blonde, and I wanted darker-skinned, darker-haired characters for this book.
Otherwise that is definitely Rhoda.
And it's her on the page where she's fixing a bike, too -- Real Rhoda is tough and she plays sports.

If you want to buy any of my books, Schuler Books is likely to have them in stock.
They always do.
Thank you, Schulers!

To buy online -- only $1 per book for shipping! -- go to
http://www.schulerbooks.com/search/site/barshaw

To buy one of my books at the store, just walk in and find it on the shelf.
If you want, Rhoda will probably autograph it for you.

*actually two bookstores -- one Schuler Books & Music is 20 minutes away and the other is about 25 minutes away.
**I love Schuler Books. I love a lot of other fine bookstores, too. Schulers is closest.

Hug a dumpling today

Sketch -----------------

To Finish ---------------------------------------------------

Monday, September 26 is National Dumpling Day. Go hug your lil' dumpling. :) 

Finders, keepers?

I found this little toy fox in my studio.
I don't know how it got here.
It's less than an inch tall.

If one of the little kids who visits my studio regularly claims it on the next visit, I'll hand it over.
But I hope they forget about it for a little while because I love it.

Time to post some art

I never know where to post the little art pieces I draw and paint while trying to figure out bigger paintings and stories. Usually I post them on Facebook and forget about them.
But it seems to make sense to post them here.

I drew this giraffe as a sketch in my Story Ideas notebook. Then I redrew him as a black and white dry brush sketch. Then I decided to paint him and add to his story.
Here he is.

And this is a detail of his little baby, picking up good reading habits from Papa.

This is pen and ink and watercolor plus a smidgen of colored pencil.

I think this little guy needs a name. (Or is she a girl?)

Drawing 100 lions (or maybe more)

When I ran a little advertising/design shop on campus a few decades ago I drew up a poster that said,
Before you decide on one, draw 50.
Under that headline was some line art: 50 thumbnail illustrations (and they were actually decorated thumbnails). The poster was to remind me not to settle on an idea too early in the brainstorming or drawing process. My best work doesn't usually come on the third try.

I'm illustrating a book about a lion.
The first task is to get to know that character inside and out: what's he like?
For a method actor the question would be, what's his motivation?
My best way to figure it out is to draw, draw, draw.
I don't just aim for 50, anymore.
Usually I aim for 100.

Eventually I figured out the lion. (After drawing 137.)

Now, on to the rest of the characters...

(And if I need to draw dozens more lions because I ultimately don't like the one I chose -- or the art director doesn't -- I won't be surprised. Whatever it takes to get my best work.)

New art!

As my brother said upon seeing these, it doesn't always have to be a doll or a stuffed animal...

MRA Poster by Matt Faulkner and me

Michigan Reading Association held its 2014 conference this past weekend, and I got to do some presentations at it. At the huge general session on Sunday they unveiled the poster for next year's conference and -- ta-daaa! -- I helped create it.

Fellow Michigan author-illustrator and dear friend Matt Faulkner drew the MRA lettering scene and that gorgeous, intricate calligraphy of the words Honesty, Diversity, Unity, and Equality.

I did the Michigan readers pen/watercolor art and the layout.

These posters were distributed to teachers and librarians and will hang in schools around the state.
I've already seen a few in schools, actually.
This is a busy season for author visits-- I'll watch for more in my travels to schools around the state.
Pretty heady stuff!

SCBWINY14

Just returned from the big international SCBWI conference in New York (or, as I keep telling people it's supposed to be pronounced, "nyork"). 

I'm motivated and inspired and excited. I have a full sketchbook of 150 sketches of the journey -- both to, from, and in New York, and also my personal, emotional journey to new and renewed literary friendships and improved work.

Three great things I heard at the VIP party -- all from editors:

- You can DRAW! I love your card! 

- I know Ellie McDoodle -- YOU do that series??

- I am THRILLED to meet you!

That last one is my awesome editorial team at Bloomsbury! I have a new editor and she introduced me to some of the great people there. Really, seriously, fantastically great people -- it was a thrill for me to meet them, too.

(I wrote these things down verbatim in my sketchbook because I want to remember them forever.)

I'm sharing two spreads of sketchbook pages here.

This page is one of the most exciting moments of the conference, on the left. It started small and turned into a life-changing opportunity. More on this in a future blog.

And on the right it's one of my favorite little bits of the national conference, where Lin Oliver talks about the funny contest entries and Tomie dePaola talks about the Tomie contest entries (YAY for Michigan writer-illustrator Nina Goebel who placed and who also came to this conference) and the air is buzzing because of all the great stuff that's already been shared in the previous days, and Sunday's our last big day at the conference.

This is a little part of the return trip to Michigan

I pushed myself at the conference. 

I acted like an extrovert even when I didn't quite feel like one.

I walked miles around the city every day even though I'm still nursing a Hapkido knee injury from a year ago.

I worked -- volunteered -- as SCBWI-Michigan's Illustrator Coordinator, even taking on extra jobs at the conference, and pushing myself to become more familiar with the people who (expertly, beautifully, sacrificingly, exhaustingly, fantastically) run the show.

I made up a great postcard before coming and handed it out everywhere, with this image on the front and an Ellie McDoodle image on the back (and of course all my contact info) --

After 9 years of concentrating on 

highly-illustrated middle grade novels,

I'm getting into picture books now.

I introduced myself to everyone around me again and again and again (not the same people three times!).

All that pushing paid off.

I'm so thrilled to have gone to NYC and this conference and I got SO MUCH out of it that I have vowed I am ***definitely*** going to the next international SCBWI conference in Los Angeles, this summer.

First order of business: Sell a book. I have 5 great picture book ideas percolating. Some of them my agent loves. I have a plan. :)

It'll be tricky working on books while I'm doing school visits -- we're at a new school 4 times per week and sometimes on the weekends. But I am motivated!!

Gifts of art, gifts from the heart

I'm an artist and author. My books haven't cracked the NYTimes best sellers list yet. My husband worked retail for 25 years. We've lived well and we've lived tight. Right now we're in a modest income bracket. I'm also on deadline for the next Ellie McDoodle book.
That's typical this time of year.
And so, most years I make as many of my Christmas gifts as I can, at the last minute.
Most years my aspirations are much higher than my actual reach.
That's why it's been about a decade (or two) since I mailed out a Christmas card.
(I feel terrible about this.)
One of these years I'll have the perfect confluence of time and means. Watch out!
In the meantime, homemade gifts.
This was for my mom and her siblings, and any cousins who wanted them.

This is my dear Grandma Ruth and Grandpa George Codd, getting married:

 They loved to travel.

 This is the swimsuit fashion of the late 20s and early 30s, when I like to think they packed up and played at the beach of Saugatuck or Grand Haven:

 They took the entire family (their 10 kids and all their families) to Bob-Lo Island Amusement Park every year on Labor Day. Some of my best childhood memories are Grandma Ruth and Grandpa's parties.

Grandma Ruth was a golfer. 

I did not inherit that love. 

I've never tried golf and I'm terrible at miniature golf.

My grandson's favorite part of Grandparent University at

Michigan State University was the miniature golfing.

Grandpa and Grandma had a big Irish Catholic 

(part French and Swiss too) family.

That little one with the teddy bear is my mom.

I know Aunt Marj's arm is too long. This is just the

rough art scanned into Photoshop.

Are weddings predestined? 

Is it prearranged by the lovers before they are born?

Destiny or not, I am lucky to have been born into the Codd family.
My Grandpa Codd became my best friend in the years before he died; after he'd lost Grandma Ruth to dementia my cartoony notes to him became more important to him and also to me. I've started a blog elsewhere about them. I'll share it widely eventually.
I miss my grandparents.
My love for them makes me try harder to be a good grandma to my own grandkids.