Last February, I attended my FIRST in-person SCBWI conference in NYC. If you’ve had a serious interest in children’s literature, you’ll quickly learn that the SCBWI is the place to be.

My entire January was dedicated to preparing for this event. And I can hardly believe it’s over!

Leading up to the conference, I didn’t feel like there was a lot of information on the internet to help me set my expectations appropriately. SO I wanted to write this post to help any other artists plan for the event!

Let’s dig in.

Conference timeline

First of all, here’s my actual calendar for the conference so you can get a sense of how PACKED the weekend was from hour-to-hour.

Note: I won’t cover every single detail of every day. That’s just far too much. This article is already SO long. 🙈 Instead, I’ll focus on my personal highlights of each day.

Portfolio drop off

After I checked into my hostel in Chelsea, I took the subway to the Hilton in Midtown to drop off my portfolio and postcards.

Then I had SEVEN HOURS to just hang around and wait until the portfolio showcase.

I know, right? So much time to burn.

Why so long? That time’s reserved for judges and invite-only industry professionals to review all the portfolios before the showcase opens to the public.

Since you have a lot of time to kill, I recommend planning time to sneak in a nap and scheduling a dinner meetup with other attendees.

Portfolio showcase

From 8-9pm, the portfolio showcase opened to the public! It was inspiring (and also very intimidating) to see everyone’s best work laid out for viewing.

I heard from MANY folks that they wished there was more time set aside to review the showcase. An hour for you to look at HUNDREDS of portfolios? And maybe a hundred other artists trying to see them at the same time??

Simply not enough time.

Additionally, most writers didn’t get to see the showcase at all because they arrived on Saturday morning. Kind of a bummer.

Seeing all the portfolios really inspired me. Yet at the same time, I felt like my gaps were much more obvious. When you’re running on very little sleep and high adrenaline, this can quickly feel overwhelming.

After wrapping up, I went back to my hostel and then had the WORST sleep ever, HAH. My brain wouldn’t shut off because I couldn’t stop thinking about the next day!!

Breakout sessions

This year, each attendee chose a track dedicated to a particular topic. I decided to take the “Art of Business” track.

Each breakout session had veterans of the kidlit industry presenting SO much valuable information. I’ve distilled my favorite moments and key takeaways below:

Portfolio reviews

Before attending the conference, artists sent in their portfolios for a workshop critique opportunity. Christy Ewers (CAT agency) and Cecilia Young (Penguin Books for Young Readers) selected six portfolios and broke down their strengths and areas which had room for improvement.

I found it SO helpful to see what industry folks look for when browsing portfolios. Definitely one of the most valuable moments of the workshops.

Book campaigns

While this doesn’t necessarily apply to my current career stage, I learned a TON about creating a book campaign. The speakers covered everything from school visits to pre-order giveaways.

“Your creative work comes first”

BIG reminder for myself. I often get pretty distracted with all of the business-y things (because I actually like it!). But sometimes, that means I neglect my creative work, so I need to remind myself of this statement often.

Where art directors find artists

During my portfolio critique, I asked what platforms art directors use when searching for talent.

Unsurprisingly, Instagram was on the list. But she also mentioned Pinterest, Behance, Women Who Draw, and Etsy. Definitely made me consider other places I want to put my work!

Portfolio critique

When you sign up for the SCBWI conference, you can also elect to pay for a one-on-one portfolio critique with an art director or agent. A few weeks before the conference, you receive your time slot for the critique.

This was absolutely the best investment I made in the conference. I met with Katie Fitch (Scholastic) who gave me some great pointers.

• The portfolio has strong characters, and she’d like to see more of them. — Excited to hear that the characters resonate. I’m more than happy to explore them further!

• Include more spot illustrations — “Spots” are illustrations of characters without a background. More spots would also force me to practice drawing different poses and angles.
• Explore illustrating board books — I had never considered board books (hard-paged books for ages 0-3), but I’m definitely reconsidering this now.

The “Piranha Pit”

Right after lunch on Saturday, the auditorium opened for folks to watch the Piranha Pit presentations. In a MUCH friendlier version of Shark Tank, authors presented marketing plans for their books in order to win a cash prize.

I almost skipped out on this because I was so tired, but I’m glad I stopped to watch. The presentations gave me so many ideas.

My favorite two presentations were for Strong (Rob Kearney, Eric Rosswood, and Nishiki Chanani) and Avocado Mustache (Kira Barrett).

Strong’s presentation pitched big dreams with a multi-level campaign including strongman events, a fire truck pull, and stand-ins! Each element showcased a ton of creativity. This presentation went on to win the prize—well-deserved!!

Avocado Mustache showed how a self-published book can get creative with their marketing. The author described reaching out to children’s boutiques campaigns to drum up sales. SO smart!

Networking happy hour

I wish someone told me food was being served at the networking happy hour before I had purchased dinner. 😂  At this point in the day, you definitely need to refuel.

Personally, I think this was one of my favorite networking opportunities. Each room had tables for the regional groups to meet together. I met some wonderful folks from my area and neighboring regions.

Definitely some of my favorite connections happened here!

Make sure you snag food before sitting down to chat! I was surprised how quickly they cleared out the buffets haha.

Other highlights

Of course, there were other highlights outside of the scheduled events. A few of mine here!

Hanging out with Jordan

All I can say is get yourself some good art friends!!

Jordan and I met through Steph Fizer Coleman’s Children’s Book Jumpstart course, and they’ve been SO invaluable to my creative community. Plus, they’re an incredible kidlit nature illustrator—you must check out their work!!

Jordan lives in NYC, so it was so great to hang out in person and talk careers and life.

Going through the conference with a friend is always helpful! It’s nice to know in all of the overwhelm, you can support one another.

Connecting with other artists

Obviously, you’ll also connect with several other picture book artists. It’s so great to learn from one another and find folks who can relate to your journey.

Collecting postcards

During the conference, you essentially gather your own gorgeous, mini print collection! I have so many stunning postcards from so many artists.

What surprised me

Of course, you can’t perfectly prepare for a fresh experience. That said, a few things surprised me!

There are a LOT more people than you’d think. I knew this was a big event, but it was still wild to see hundreds of people who were all excited about kidlit!

Networking in a group setting is difficult. In general, I love meeting up with new folks one-on-one and learning more about them. But group settings can be tough for me. Imposter syndrome can set in, and I can get quite shy. Something to keep in mind of next year!

What I want to do differently next year

I spent 90% of my conference prep working on my portfolio. While I think this was the right decision, next conference, I’d like to prepare slightly differently.

This would include:

• Researching speakers beforehand
• Preparing a mental list of networking questions
• Getting bolder about handing out my postcard
• Budgeting to buy kids books—seems obvious, but I somehow forgot!
• Making a game plan to get more sleep!

While I walked away from this conference with great connections, I know I can improve next year!

Is it worth the investment?

Hey, let’s be real. This is expensive.

For me, the total cost of the conference, hotels, food, and transportation came out to around $1700. So if you’re thinking of going, start budgeting now!! I’ve set up a category in my budgeting app to help me set aside funds for next year.

Even given the price point, if you’re serious about picture books, this is a very beneficial conference.

Yes, of course, you can find SO much information on the internet about picture books. I can testify firsthand to the invaluable classes I’ve taken online.

That said, giving yourself an in-person opportunity to interact with industry leaders, receive insight into the publishing market, and connect with other artists in person is invaluable.

Still have questions? Let me know! I’d love to clarify any folks who are on the fence about attending in the future!

Hello friend!! I wanted to talk about all of the labor and love that went into the invitation for my 2022 art show, Menagerie! This piece was a small milestone for me, and I loved all of the ups and downs that went into it’s creation. Hope you enjoy reviewing what was such a fun (and stressful!) project for me. 🙂

Purpose

Frankly, I wanted to mail invitations for my open house art show, Menagerie. I hoped old-school, analog invitation would provide a special touchpoint to any invitees. While I had also invited folks online, I noticed that receiving a professional invitation in the mail carries a bit more weight.

The invitation also had to establish the mood and vibe of the event. It needed to reflect the playfulness of the collection without being silly or childish.

Step 1: Inspiration

Before jumping into the process, I need to confess that the concept did not come easily. I had struggled to come up with a concept for months, and my personal deadline for ordering invitations had long passed.

After lots of failed illustrations and desperately wringing my hands, I turned to Pinterest for inspiration. While browsing, I fell in love with a gallery illustrations of people looking at art!

Once I had settled on a concept, I decided to use some of my own characters and work for the details. Digging through my archive, I found this fox character from my co-creation series.

Doesn’t he look like he’d be right at home in a gallery??

I also wanted the characters to be looking at a personal piece of art that guests would be able to spot in the show.

While this didn’t quite end up happening (I couldn’t quite finalize the painting in time), I referenced this piece from my sketchbook!

Step 2: Sketch

My original sketchbook concepts only show the fox character. But quickly, I determined he needed a friend.

After all, many people would be at this show, and most would bring someone with them as well! I wanted this piece–and the event–to feel more communal than personal.

After another round of sketching, I added the rabbit character. The bunny was subtly inspired by another painting in the show, and I referenced my own wardrobe for their wardrobe, hah!

Step 3: Painting

Once I felt content with the sketch, I jumped right into the painting because needed to order an mail the invites ASAP!

I scanned my favorite sketch and digitally made a few small modifications for composition. From there, I transferred the sketch to hot press paper and got to work!

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A post shared by Watercolor Illustration 🧚 Reagan (@reaganlehman)

Most of my watercolor paintings use the same strategy. I start with a light wash of base colors (usually a warm yellow or beige) in an attempt to create some color unity.

Slowly, I add more saturated colors and then eventually switch to colored pencil. I tend to add detail in no specific order. In this instance, I added line art much sooner than I would recommend. Thankfully, it worked out!

You can also see I avoid any saturated blacks as a personal preference. Instead, I use analogous and secondary colors for the line marks.

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A post shared by Watercolor Illustration 🧚 Reagan (@reaganlehman)

My favorite risky detail was the dry-brushed background. I love the texture and energy you can find in those loose brushstrokes. I plan to incorporate this technique into more of my work!

I also decided to add some hand-lettering to the final piece. While it looked fine, I wanted to tweak it for the final invitation. So I wrote a bunch of different versions of “Menagerie,” scanned it, and cobbling the final type together in photoshop.

I also spent some time designing some elements for the back of the invitation! The filigree and bunny portrait went on the backside of the invitation as well as on the RSVP page for the show.

After scanning all of the pieces, I cleaned up the illustrations in Photoshop. For the final layout, I used InDesign.

Step 4: Final

After many rounds of review, I ordered my invitations through MOO. Definitely pricier than an alternative printer, but you can’t beat the quality.

Believe me, you could hear my audible sigh of relief when the invitations arrived, and the print job was PERFECT.

And that’s it! After my order came in, I shipped them out to my invitation list.

I also decided to frame and feature inspiration, sketchbook, and final pieces over the drink bar at the show. After so much work went into them, it felt like they deserved a small shrine, haha.

Materials List

I purchase most of my art supplies from my local art store, Curio! If you have a local art supply shop close by, make sure you shop there first! Sometimes they can also special order art supplies for you.

• Legion Stonehenge Aqua Watercolor Pad (Hot Press) — Typically, I use cold press paper, but lately, I’ve really enjoyed the marks I can make on hot press.
  
• Kuretake Gansai Tambi Watercolors — These are somewhere between western watercolors and gouache. I love how I can apply them as a wash or apply them thick for a saturated look.
  
• Arteza Watercolor Pencils — These were a gift from a friend! Most of my favorite colors are worn down to nibs. I really like this set if you want to test add these to your own process.
  
• MOO Medium Postcards – I ordered medium (5×7) postcards with their Super (18pt) paper. I think ordering the higher quality was definitely the right call! If you use my referral link, you can get 25% off your first purchase. (and I get $20 in credit. Yay!)

If you have any more questions about the process, please leave a comment! I would love to hear what you found interested and what you’d like to read more about.