tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36569936833143560772024-03-13T21:30:01.743-07:00LinillustrationsIllustrations for ChildrenLinda Norman-Lymanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03734254706723288080noreply@blogger.comBlogger38125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656993683314356077.post-22988467592228819132017-04-20T10:13:00.000-07:002017-04-20T10:18:38.333-07:00NESCBWI Conference this weekend!This weekend is the annual NESCBWI conference held once again in Springfield, Massachusetts. I always look forward to conference weekend because of all the wonderful workshops and valuable things I learn each year. But most of all I look forward to the weekend because I am excited to be around so many talented, warm and supportive people, all passionate about the world of children's literature. <br />
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This weekend I am looking forward to taking workshops from the talented writer/illustrators Kelly Light and Brian Lies and art director Giuseppe Castellano. I'm also taking a couple of writing workshops from Jess Keating and Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen. I know I'll learn a lot for all of them.<br />
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For the Illustrator's Intensive workshop, Giuseppe Castellano gave us some homework. First we needed to submit sketches re-imagining a Beatrix Potter character. He reviewed the sketches and gave us feedback. Then we submitted finished illustrations and he will be giving us feedback during the day-long workshop on Sunday. Several things changed between the sketch and the illustration. <br />
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Badger Sketch finished illustration</div>
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<br />Linda Norman-Lymanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03734254706723288080noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656993683314356077.post-65870335888225738472017-03-05T19:20:00.001-08:002017-03-05T19:20:32.158-08:00Goal SettingGoals are something I set frequently. I set goals for what I want to get done today, what I want to get done this week, next week, this month and so on. I usually set impossible goals and berate myself when I fall short of my goals. Having said that, I have to admit that there are a couple goals that I have not achieved and have been carrying forward for a while. One of those goals is posting to this blog on a consistent basis. I am going to change that.<br />
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Although I have not been blogging, that doesn't mean that I haven't been working hard. I have six new picture book manuscripts in various stages and have written several poems. Some are in first draft stage. Others have been revised multiple times. One manuscript will be critiqued during the NESCBWI conference in April. One of my goals is to have a book dummy completed for that manuscript in time for the conference and also to revise an existing book dummy. <br />
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I am working on the illustration intensive piece for the Sunday workshop taught by Giuseppe Castellano. I submitted my final sketch last week and after getting some feedback and will work on the finished illustration.<br />
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The prompt for the illustrator's challenge at the conference is "Can I keep it?" I am busy finalizing my sketch for the challenge and will soon start the finished illustration. <br />
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My website has just been revised. Prior to conference I will need to update it again to include new illustrations.<br />
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Now back to work completing those goals!<br />
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Linda Norman-Lymanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03734254706723288080noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656993683314356077.post-29587380691309284992015-11-09T08:02:00.000-08:002015-11-09T08:02:26.653-08:00November inspirations!<a href="https://taralazar.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/piboidmo2015participant.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://taralazar.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/piboidmo2015participant.png" width="320" /></a>It has been too long since I've blogged about my journey as a writer/illustrator, or anything for that matter. I signed up to participate in Picture Book Idea Month this year and also National Novel Writing Month this year! Reading the posts on the website and talking with people who are on the same journey as I is a source of inspiration! Linda Norman-Lymanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03734254706723288080noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656993683314356077.post-64226859259829465572013-10-01T13:25:00.000-07:002013-10-01T13:25:32.582-07:00PiBoIdMo is only a month awayThere are a few things that I look forward to every autumn. The sweltering heat of summer has been replaced with brisk mornings and comfortable afternoons. Trees are putting on their yearly celebration of color. Fresh, crisp apples and cider are available everywhere lending their comforting perfume to the air. Sculpting pumpkins for our Halloween porch display is a favorite October endeavor. By the end of October I'm excited for the November start of PiBoIdMo (Picture Book Idea Month) and NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), which makes November a very busy month indeed! Thanks to my friend, Melanie Linden Chan, posting about PiBoIdMo on her blog and Facebook, I'm already feeling the anticipation! If you are interested in joining the PiBoIdMo fun, you can find out more about it at http://taralazar.files.wordpress.com.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656993683314356077.post-33843182977126219562012-12-14T07:50:00.000-08:002012-12-14T07:50:51.839-08:00Tomie dePaola ContestOnce again I entered SCBWI's Tomie dePaola Contest. This year there were several changes from previous years. Because of the success of <i>The Invention of Hugo Cabret</i> by Brian Selznick, and other black and white illustrated books, Tomie set the criteria that the illustrations must be in black and white instead of color, and the text must be included on one side of the spread. Also, instead of giving us a specific text to illustrate, Tomie let us choose the text from one of three books, <i>Little Women </i>by Louisa May Alcott<i>; The Yearling</i> by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings; or <i>The Adventures of Tom Sawyer</i> by Mark Twain. I chose to illustrate a scene from <i>Tom Sawyer. </i> The text is part of a scene where Tom and Becky are exploring a cave and got separated from the rest of the group. Tom realizes that they are in serious trouble and must conserve their candles. When Tom blows out the candle, Becky loses hope.<br />
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Don't miss seeing the other entries on the <a href="http://scbwicontest.blogspot.com/">Unofficial Gallery of the Tomie dePaola Award</a> page! You'll be amazed at all of the talented illustrators!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656993683314356077.post-31528416379043916232012-12-03T12:53:00.001-08:002012-12-03T12:53:39.282-08:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Picture Book Idea Month (<span style="color: red;">PiBoIdMo</span>) is now over. Some days felt like I was in the middle of a desert with ideas as hard to come by as water. Other days felt like the heavens opened up and ideas rained down on me. The month of cycling between the drought and flood of ideas evened out and I ended up with 32 ideas, which successfully completed the challenge! Thirty-two ideas to work on until next November when I'll take the challenge again. I haven't gone through my list yet to see which ones have enough merit to work on but I have a year to work through the list along with any other ideas that come my way.<div>
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Congratulations to everyone who took the challenge whether you were able to come up with 30 ideas or not. To those who couldn't come up with the 30 ideas in the month, don't worry, there is always next year. The point is to open yourself up to the creative process. To put yourself in the position and develop habits to assist you in the process. Try again next year and it certainly will be easier!</div>
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Now down to my next challenge, completing the Tomie dePaola Contest illustration. Only 11 days left to finish the illustration. I'm almost there!<br /><br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656993683314356077.post-22996986912441213002012-10-24T09:23:00.000-07:002012-10-24T09:23:45.755-07:00Every November comes with many challenges. The best ones are the challenges that help us learn, grow and exercise our grey matter. Some of my very favorite challenges for this time of year are the PiBoIdMo and the NaNoWriMo challenges along with the SCBWI Tomie dePaola contest.<br />
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PiBoIdMo is the Picture Book Idea Month that is hosted by Tara Lazar on her blog, <a href="http://taralazar.com/"> Writing for Children (While Raising Them)</a>. Registration ends November 4th. The month is a lot of fun and a great way for picture book writers to gather (online), talk and generate ideas for future picture books! The discussions are fun and you can almost feel the creative energy flowing through the computers!<br />
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NaNoWriMo is the National Novel Writing Month: November 1st - 30th - Thirty Days and Nights of Literary Abandon! The challenge is to write 50,000 words in 30 days. That breaks down to an average of 1,666.66 words per day! Writing that many words in 30 days might not sound very hard to some people, but for me it is quite a challenge! To paraphrase author Jane Yolen, it requires us to sit in our chairs and write! That does not mean sit in our chairs and check our emails, or go on facebook, or do any of the other time wasters that are calling us through our computer screens. It requires us to focus and write! So I'll grab my large coffee mug filled to the brim with strong, dark coffee, put on music appropriate for what I want to write to get me in the mood and get down to work.<br />
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This year, the Tomie dePaola contest has a twist. Instead of Tomie choosing a particular text or story to illustrate, the participants will choose their own text from a choice of three books, The Yearling, Little Women, and The Adventures of Tom Saywer. Last year it was great seeing the variety of entries that were posted by Diandra Mae on the Unofficial Gallery of the Tomie dePaola Award. This years entries can be seen at <a href="http://scbwicontest.blogspot.com/">2013 SCBWI Tomie dePaola contest gallery</a>. I can't wait to see what has been submitted! Fortunately, I have already been working on this one and hopefully will have it done before the end of October!<br />
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It may seem like these three challenges are conflicting and work against each other. It does feel at times like I have so many balls in the air that I risk being knocked unconscious as balls threaten to drop and clunk me on the head! It is hard to keep them all airborne and moving. After all these three challenges do not include the rest of what is going on in life. But the point of a challenge is to try. Challenges move us forward, spurring us towards a goal. Who knows, I just may succeed!<br />
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Wish me luck!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656993683314356077.post-86906906292143910422012-07-02T11:36:00.000-07:002012-07-02T11:36:03.962-07:00Illustration Friday: Refresh<div>What could be more refreshing than a day at the beach sipping an ice cold lemonade? </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdrnIvjT4_6ExxJzRspmIT6y-kVjgzUOBuhQTFNzTys8RQ35HfWkVUokAjc30FijN-UzD_ntfAp3GkzV2HkxZImh5qIy8nOv5HlVvKjxvf0nL4_C1724MoRs-4ZxbM70kybnCRO_H98hk/s1600/Shade.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="303" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdrnIvjT4_6ExxJzRspmIT6y-kVjgzUOBuhQTFNzTys8RQ35HfWkVUokAjc30FijN-UzD_ntfAp3GkzV2HkxZImh5qIy8nOv5HlVvKjxvf0nL4_C1724MoRs-4ZxbM70kybnCRO_H98hk/s400/Shade.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656993683314356077.post-63765323406059730042012-04-25T04:46:00.000-07:002012-04-25T04:46:18.771-07:00<span style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Three days after the conference and I am still "decompressing" after what for me was the best of the three NESCBWI conferences I have attended. That is saying a lot since last year I won second place "People's Choice" in the poster conference, and this year I didn't win anything. Last year I had taken to heart Jane Yolen's keynote about getting and understanding rejection letters in which she mentioned that even though she has over 300 books published she still gets rejection letters. To hear her talk about that was important to me since I arrived home to find my first rejection letter. This year Jane gave the ending keynote, most of which I missed for reasons I will talk about later.</span><br style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">At the Carle "Mix and Mingle" which kicked off the conference, Cindy, Brook, Marcella and I were standing talking to each other and up walks </span><span style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: blue; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b>Jane Yolen,</b></span><span style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"> who started talking to us. I just realized that we talked for about five minutes and I didn't think to take the camera out of my purse and get a photo of all of us with her. She was very generous with her advise, wisdom and encouragement. It was magic!</span><br style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Since I was a volunteer, I missed the first part of</span><span style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: blue; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b> Sara Zarr</b></span><span style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"> keynote as I was wrapping up my volunteer duties for that morning. As Jeanette, I think, already posted she read from Frog and Toad and then relate it to our journey as Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. As in Frog and Toad in the Garden, we all want our careers as writers and illustrators to grow</span><b style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">RIGHT NOW</b><span style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"> and not give the stories or our abilities time to develop, nurture and grow. We are impatient. There were many other lessons from her keynote that makes me want to keep a copy of Frog and Toad next to my work area.</span><br style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">What made this year better for me personally is that things started falling into place, barriers falling. I was very happy with my crit on the YA novel that I am writing, in which many positive things were said, but just as many, if not more suggestions for improvement were given. One needs to hear what one is doing wrong, or not quite right to make the changes needed for success. I came into the critique with that mindset. The man who was my critiquer said that I had done some of the very hardest things very successfully and that I needed to tap into the "bad" place and use that emotion to create more dialog. He also gave me a typed page of strengths and areas to improve. After the crit I ran into Tina, one of my RISD friends, who knows me well enough to see that there was something behind my eyes that wasn't quite right and asked me if I was OK. I had no idea what she was talking about and surprising myself, I burst into tears. The crit was so perfect, made me so happy and yet there I was crying. Finally I realized that I was already tapping into the "bad" place thinking about the process that lay ahead. I had the emotions ready for the work that lay ahead of me.</span><br style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">I attended workshops both for writers and illustrators that were perfect for for the work ahead of me. One was for creating authentic, believable dialog. One was writing for picture books and one was on illustrating picture books. The person who gave the workshop on illustrating picture books was very generous with her time. She started the workshop an hour early, for those who wanted to come early, missing the morning panel discussion. She worked through lunch, through the autograph signing hour, and finally through the second session of the day ending just after the start of </span><b style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: blue;">Jane Yolen's</span></b><span style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"> ending keynote. I learned so much from listening to her critiques of everyone's portfolios and the book dummies that they brought to the workshop. She told everyone at the start that she was not their mother so she was going to be brutally honest with her critiques. She said that if she wasn't that she would be doing us a disservice and wasting our time and money. Her critique of my portfolio told me exactly what I needed to change. She told me that I should send my postcards out to educational publications and that my digital work is perfect for that right now. She loved how I could create emotions and interaction between characters. She told me that even if I continue to work digitally, that I need to get back to hand work, sketching, painting and sculpting. Her favorite pieces in my portfolio were the clay sculptures. She made some suggestions as to how to get my digital work up to the next level to be ready for "trade publications". All in all a great session. Throughout the day, since my portfolio was the second one she looked at, whenever she said something that might be upsetting to the person getting the critique, she would say, "Just ask Lin", or "remember what I said to Lin about her portfolio." It was tough, but what I needed to hear.</span><br style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Spending time with all of my RISD friends that attended is part of the magic of the conference as is meeting new people and networking. We were all excited for </span><b style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: blue;">Marcella and Milanka</span></b><span style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"> for their success at the conference! What makes the group so special is that everyone is genuinely excited for the success of anyone from the group, or the people that they have met. Jealousy does not the rule in this group! As I heard in some of my workshops in other groups it does. We are blessed!</span><br style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Finally, here is my "post-apocalyptic" New World poster I made for the poster contest. I imagined who would be the next to rule the world after people had gone the way of the dinosaurs.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjg04oI3IgWtJo7t8tT7pvz2XoGLGWBEjBUDqbiMGm6Sc9Xxo9j8F5ztKhwX2d6qybzhMxRoM_fxv-SVFawy79dLe7xOyWZ26qjltc-jjvLD1UZg_kZQiWxfqMBXSR8ILsh5NvxTA9t-I/s1600/norman-lymanl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjg04oI3IgWtJo7t8tT7pvz2XoGLGWBEjBUDqbiMGm6Sc9Xxo9j8F5ztKhwX2d6qybzhMxRoM_fxv-SVFawy79dLe7xOyWZ26qjltc-jjvLD1UZg_kZQiWxfqMBXSR8ILsh5NvxTA9t-I/s320/norman-lymanl.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656993683314356077.post-12018484770539418372012-04-10T05:32:00.000-07:002012-04-10T05:32:43.456-07:00Illustration Friday - "Vocal"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizUAcvA9D5vbszgwOSQGzV_b9MgU-rFpIhFa-6PNzBlK5Xj_nQeL1pINeTUFnFtq_mAyMABD5FKoeOxYslLTSBsxzPIxRGJ9wSFlQfgD9ekH9lAzt317AQQkbBDkDfw0JHHX9FplF5VD4/s1600/Vocal_for_web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizUAcvA9D5vbszgwOSQGzV_b9MgU-rFpIhFa-6PNzBlK5Xj_nQeL1pINeTUFnFtq_mAyMABD5FKoeOxYslLTSBsxzPIxRGJ9wSFlQfgD9ekH9lAzt317AQQkbBDkDfw0JHHX9FplF5VD4/s320/Vocal_for_web.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>I decided to illustrate this week's topic of "Vocal" as two friends arguing about perceived slights, with other friends in the background being horrified at what they were saying to each other. It was inspired by a recent news report of girls fighting in a local school.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656993683314356077.post-27118932223437834202012-01-04T13:50:00.000-08:002012-01-04T13:50:10.106-08:002012 Tomie dePaola entry<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Here is my entry in SCBWI's Tomie dePaola contest. Winner will be announced on January 9, 2012. The text selected by Tomie this year is from the Chicken Licken story. I've included the text below so people can see the part of the text that was illustrated.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Q8tFjWSRELw/TwTIpEFGamI/AAAAAAAAATk/NLVYnsvlmcM/s1600/lindanorman-lyman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="203" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Q8tFjWSRELw/TwTIpEFGamI/AAAAAAAAATk/NLVYnsvlmcM/s320/lindanorman-lyman.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><h4 style="background-color: white; color: #132447; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, Georgia; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">So they went along and went along until they met Turkey Lurkey<br />
“Good morning, Goosey Loosey, Ducky Daddles, Cocky Locky, Henny Penny,<br />
and Chicken Licken,” said Turkey Lurkey, “where are you going?”<br />
“Oh, Turkey Lurkey, the sky is falling and we are going to tell the King!”<br />
“How do you know the sky is falling?” asked Turkey Lurkey.<br />
“Ducky Daddles told me,” said Goosey Loosey.<br />
“Cocky Locky told me,” said Ducky Daddles.<br />
“Henny Penny told me,” said Cocky Locky.<br />
“Chicken Licken told me,” said Henny Penny <br />
“I saw it with my own eyes, I heard it with my own ears,<br />
and a piece of it fell on my tail!” said Chicken Licken.<br />
“Then I will go with you,” said Turkey Lurkey, “and we will tell the King!”</span></span></i></h4>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656993683314356077.post-74944217618423773692011-11-19T13:31:00.000-08:002011-11-19T13:31:57.827-08:00Update on NaNoWriMo and PiBoIdMoI find that November always seems to be one of my busiest times of the year. In the past I've done the NaNoWriMo and although I didn't quite make it to the 50,000 words, I did fairly well. This year I added the Picture Book Idea Month which challenges participants to come up with one idea per day for a picture book. As of today, my totals are:<br />
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NaNoWriMo - 10,000 words - very far behind where I need to be!<br />
PiBoIdMo - 19 ideas - right on track!<br />
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If nothing else the picture book ideas will give me stories to write and illustrate all year long. The novel writing month will give me a good start on the next novel to complete.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656993683314356077.post-59756990601799890132011-11-01T09:20:00.000-07:002011-11-01T09:36:12.123-07:00I'm taking the NaNoWriMo and the PiBoIdMo challenge!There are two challenges this month for people who write. One is the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), which challenges writers to write a 50,000 word story during the month on November. This challenge is looking at quantity of words, <b>NOT </b>the quality of words. It is a perfect way for a writer to get a first draft down, or most of a first draft down without worrying about the things that come with revisions. It is all about spontaneity and ideas.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://taralazar.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/piboidmo-participation-badge.jpg?w=220&h=130" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://taralazar.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/piboidmo-participation-badge.jpg?w=220&h=130" /></a></div> The second challenge is the Picture Book Idea Month (PiBoIdMo). In this challenge, the writer is to come up with 30 ideas for picture books in 30 days. Since I love writing and illustrating picture books, I decided to take this challenge too! If you are interested in this challenge, go to <span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #545454; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;">taralazar.wordpress.com to sign up.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #545454; font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;">I'll try and post updates as to word and idea counts to let you know how it is going. This is day 1. Time to start!</span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656993683314356077.post-73831437741551529882011-09-30T13:02:00.000-07:002011-09-30T13:02:47.465-07:00Illustrating next storyI am currently illustrating my next story, which is currently in the storyboard phase. The manuscript has gone through numerous revisions and is finally tight. There is always the chance that as I progress through the storyboard phase I will discover some pacing issues that would require some additional refining, but at least for now it is done.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656993683314356077.post-31261827553610952052011-08-30T15:23:00.000-07:002011-08-30T15:23:26.460-07:00Flash AnimationsI've posted two flash animations on the animation page of my website and currently am in the process of developing some more short animations.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656993683314356077.post-54280913644461054892011-07-24T10:56:00.000-07:002011-07-24T10:56:26.543-07:00Please visit my website!I finally have my website up and running. On the animation page, I need to make some changes that will allow iphones, ipods and ipads to view the simple animations I created. At the present time, any devise that does not support flash can not see them. I am excited to have learned the html and css necessary to launch my website without templates. I think in the future this will give me a lot of flexibility to create a creative online environment. To check out my website, please go to www.lindanorman-lyman.com<br />
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Thanks!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656993683314356077.post-36250988265516820762011-07-17T10:03:00.000-07:002011-07-17T10:03:55.728-07:00Website and flash animationsFor the past month or so, I've been working on creating my website. I have my domain name and a webhost set up. Learning to code the content rather than using the templates that come with the sites has been fun and challenging. Hopefully, it gives me a lot more flexibility in design so that things end up looking the way I want them to look. Hopefully I'll have it up and running next week sometime, once I make the final changes to the coding.<br />
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I will post once I have it up and running!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656993683314356077.post-69672538881276429542011-06-15T15:28:00.000-07:002011-06-15T15:28:56.043-07:00Flash illustrations coming soon!I have been working on flash illustrations of some of my work. Hopefully I will be able to post it soon! I've been enjoying the process, although not the compatibility issues that I have encountered moving between versions and computers.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656993683314356077.post-63509849815831415732011-05-20T08:08:00.000-07:002011-05-20T08:08:42.242-07:00NESCBWI 11 ConferenceReturned on Sunday night from a very busy weekend in Fitchburg, MA where NESCBWI held their 2011 regional conference. So many great keynote speakers, Jane Yolen, Tomie dePaola, Lin Oliver, Steven Mooser and Harold Underdown to inspire and motivate. So many great workshops that gave me tools to bring my written work and online presence to the next level. I had a very helpful portfolio review with Art Director, Ann Bobco, who gave me some ideas on how to move my work forward.<br />
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I enjoyed watching "The Library of the Mind" once again. It didn't lose any impact in its second viewing. The best part of the conference was the networking with new people and spending time with my RISD friends, who did a great job representing the RISD program by winning all sorts of awards at the poster contest.<br />
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I'm looking forward to attending Encore in the fall and the conference next spring in Springfield!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656993683314356077.post-33891954030243910922011-05-16T07:55:00.000-07:002011-05-16T07:57:31.314-07:00My NESCBWI Poster contest Entry<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAO0bkQn3HxalbaIGoJAAshGNIF_zktHsSUHNo1-GEwT8rfchvuOCiGaiNKZV22bTIDZfs3IOyJ5hGBahjJkJLk6CVA7uPFRhzeKCHvedW62tcwxcXKM_UVOhKuvwAkPgTy3AxXJmqQAg/s1600/l_norman-lyman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAO0bkQn3HxalbaIGoJAAshGNIF_zktHsSUHNo1-GEwT8rfchvuOCiGaiNKZV22bTIDZfs3IOyJ5hGBahjJkJLk6CVA7uPFRhzeKCHvedW62tcwxcXKM_UVOhKuvwAkPgTy3AxXJmqQAg/s320/l_norman-lyman.jpg" width="221" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This is my entry in the NESCBWI poster contest that took<span style="color: red;"> <strong>Second Place in the People's Choice</strong></span> catagory. Pippi's head, hair and hands are made out of sculpty as is one tree in the background. She has a soft body and I made her clothes out of fabric. Her socks are made from old socks that I altered and her shoes are made of foam. The background is made from watercolor paper with different watercolor washes. The lower "foreground" papers have been gradually raised from the background on pieces of foam core board. The grass is made from silk plants that I cut up. I overlay the title and author's name on the computer.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656993683314356077.post-76393663322935199592011-02-02T10:47:00.000-08:002011-02-02T10:47:33.549-08:00SCBWI NY11 Winter Conference<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Conference was an exciting, emotional and inspirational weekend meeting other artists and illustrators from all over the world. The keynote addresses were often very funny, but contained a lot of great information that will be remembered as I work toward my goal of being a published author/illustrator. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">As usual, just getting to and from the conference left me with a wealth of material that I have been telling and re-telling since arriving safely home, and saving for future use.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656993683314356077.post-60694290498791522692010-10-19T09:50:00.000-07:002010-10-19T09:53:50.909-07:00Book dummy nears completion!At the beginning of October I posted that my goal for the book dummy class was to finish one book dummy and start on a second one. I am on track to make that happen. I have finished all of my rough layouts and have three finished illustrations. We'll see what the reaction is in class tonight. It always helps getting a crit to have things pointed out that perhaps haven't been noticed before. It is a great way to improve, improve, improve!<br />
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I am now refining the manuscript for the next dummy and re-working the rough storyboard. I have two rough illustrations that I worked on when I started refining the manuscript in the spring that will probably be my finished illustrations for the dummy. <br />
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I have several other manuscripts waiting in the wings! There is never a dull moment!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656993683314356077.post-30428760604339200532010-10-19T09:42:00.000-07:002010-10-19T09:55:34.249-07:00Picture Book Writer SeminarLast weekend I took an excellent picture book writer's seminar taught by Marlo Garnsworthy. The seminar helped to refine my thinking and gave me some tools to make my writing more effective. I spent yesterday applying what I learned to my manuscripts and even wrote the start of two more, although I have to figure out the ending in one and how to bridge from the start to the end in the other. But that solution is for another day!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656993683314356077.post-9089379931118331732010-10-01T06:53:00.000-07:002010-10-01T06:53:06.152-07:00New Book Dummies in ProgressI am on course for finishing my second book dummy and having a good start on my third before the end of the year. My goal is to actually have the third done, but when it gets closer to the holidays, all bets are off. <br />
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Currently I have finished the storyboard for the second book, and have almost all of the pages blocked out. Some of the pages also have the start of some detail work completed. The target age for this book is 3 - 6 years, and consists of 180 words. I have one place in the manuscript that needs some very minor tweaking and then the manuscript will be perfect. Any manuscript changes at this point will not change the illustrations or page layouts. Of course, after I submit it to a publisher, <u>and</u> if they accept it, there will always be changes and I'm OK with that! That is part of the partnership that goes into producing a great book!<br />
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At this point, I need to finish the second dummy before I do any more work on the third. The third dummy started its life a couple of years ago as what I thought would be an illustrated early reader. Then, after studying at RISD, I discovered that my 5,500 word manuscript was too long for that format, and too short for a chapter book so it got shelved. I brought it back out last spring to try and solve the word count problem. In the end, I cut almost 5,000 words. I started the process by seeing how many words I could cut by illustrating them instead. Finally, after an ahah moment, everything became clear and the excess words melted away. OK, they didn't actually melt. Highlighting the words and pressing the delete key did the actual job, but they were gone none the less!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3656993683314356077.post-62155339257385559732010-08-02T13:16:00.000-07:002010-08-02T13:16:55.220-07:00I'm working on moving my studio to another room in the house that our youngest daughter is vacating. She is taking over the room we reserved for our oldest when she comes to visit us from her own place in Vermont. I am excited that I will have enough room to spread out and work and still have room to store all of the necessary supplies. Even though I am working on the move, I am trying to spend at least a couple of hours each day on new illustrations and manuscript revisions for my next books. Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0