Lost Weekend 2013 – New Orleans

New Orleans – Lost Weekend 2013!
(From left: Jen Betton, Maple Lam, Brooke Boynton Hughes,
Lisa Anchin, Sylvia Liu, David Diaz.)
(Photo courtesy of David Diaz)

Last year, I attended the wonderful Lost Weekend in San Diego.  Time surely flew by, and before I knew it, it's LOST WEEKEND 2013!!!

Has it been a year already?
(Photo courtesy of David Diaz)

Mars Exploration

East Coast in September, Part II

After 3.5 days in New York, I took a train to DC, which was very exciting!!!

East Coast in September, Part I

A few months ago, I received an invitation for a surprise bridal shower in New York for talented illustrator friend Lisa Anchin.  Originally planning an October trip to DC, I advanced it to September to attend the shower and took a train to DC instead, all of which turned out to be a blast.

Sketchbook Doodles – Minoan Brothers

I did this in a coffee shop in Novato, California.  (I kept referring to the place as Oakland –– because I flew into the Oakland airport.  Little did I know I wasn't really in Oakland the entire time.)

New York! New York!

 
Two of my talented fellow mentees posted excellent recaps of the SCBWI New York winter conference.  They said it so well and precise!

Lisa Anchin
http://lisaanchin.blogspot.com/2013/02/scbwi-winter-conference-recap.html

Jessica Lanan
http://jessicalanan.com/new-york-scrapbook


My FAVORITE QUOTES from the conference:

•  "You have to pass through some bad stuff to get to the good stuff." ~David Ezra Stein

•  "Books are not immediate, unlike a tech object.  It goes from black-and-white to color to dimension, then it brings you to a special place." ~Meg Rosoff

•  "Don't be afraid, and stay interested." ~Shaun Tan

•  "Bestseller is only the cherry on a sundae.  Don't forget you audience – it's the children!  You touched their hearts." ~ Tomie dePaola

• "Are we lucky or what?" ~Julie Andrews

• "Just getting published is not a dream.  Have a better dream.  Dream to change the world for the better."  ~Mo Willems


SNAPSHOTS of the wonderful time~

Fellow mentees at Grand Central. (Andrea Offermann, Lisa Anchin, Maple Lam, Aarre Chung, Jen Betton Rogers, Jessica Lanan)  (Photo courtesy of Debbi Ohi.)

With Tomie dePaola!!!

Andrea Offermann won NY Portfolio Award!!!!

With Brook Boynton Hughes; Lisa Anchin; Elizabeth Rose Stanton; Jessixa Bagley (winner of Runner-Up Portfolio Award!)  My talented talented friends!!!  (Photo courtesy of Debbi Ohi.)

Post-conference.  We chilled and relaxed in Debbi's room.  (Photo courtesy of Debbi Ohi.)

Learning from dear mentor David Diaz. (Photo courtesy of Debbi Ohi.)

In front of Books of Wonder.  LOVE this bookstore!!! (Photo courtesy of David Diaz.)

Visiting Abrams.  (Photo courtesy of David Diaz.)

Dummy Weekend 2013

The cabin we stayed in was wonderful.

I just came back from a wonderful creative retreat in Big Bear, California.  Thanks, Erin O'Shea, for the invite!

Friday was all sunshine.  I had a moment of panic when the road turned extremely narrow up the mountain.  Cars continued to zoom pass mine, as if plummeting 5000ft down a mountain was no big deal.  Nevertheless, I arrived safe and sound.  Let the work began!  Let the fun began!  Let the work be more fun than fun!

That night, we shared in the living room our goals for the long weekend.  My personal goal is to complete a couple pieces for my dummy on a piglets story, and to wrap up my dummy on an elephant story.

I wanted to bring a couple pieces into finals for my piglets story.

We woke early (relatively) to make breakfast and dived straight into work.  As illustrators, we tend to be very lonely creatures, working like hermits locked inside our studio caves.  But this way of working was fantastic.  There was no computer to distract me, and because everyone was working, the peer pressure was ON!  I was very focused and was able to get things done very quickly.  High fives!

Everyone at work mode!

Piglets final piece 1

Piglets final piece 2

That was the dynamic of the weekend: Prepare for food, eat, BACK TO WORK.  Repeat for lunch and dinner.  Critiques at night.  Chill.  Smores.  Goodnight moon.

Did I mention snow started dumping Sunday night?  We had FUN in the snow!  Being kidults are the best!

(From left to right: Rodolfo Montalvo, Renée Montalvo, Julia Shahin Collard, Talia Wabnig, Maple Lam, Erin O'Shea).  Photo courtesy of Rodolfo Montalvo.

Came Monday morning and it was time to say goodbye.  None of the kidults brought snow chains, so the icy-road condition made us go "ugggghhhh.... help.... stuuuuccckkk...."  Lucky for us, the sun rose bright and shinny, and we were able to go down the mountain via the long route.

"Snow blanket on my car!!!" exclaimed the SoCal kidult.

And now I am back, refreshed and charged.  Thank you again, dear illustrators and storytellers whom I have met during Dummy Weekend.  You guys rock!

Illustrators at Dummy Weekend:
Erin O'Shea
Rodolfo Montalvo
Renée Montalvo
Jennifer Gray Olson
Julia Shahin Collard
Talia Wabnig
and me, Maple Lam~

A New Year to Look Forward To

I am very excited to embark upon a trip up the snowy mountain this coming weekend, along with a group of talented children's book illustrator friends.  It's a Book Dummy Weekend, in which we plan to do nothing but lock ourselves in a cabin and work super hard to finish our ongoing dummy(s).  I cannot wait to read my friends' stories!  Thanks, Erin O'Shea, for making this weekend happen!  (I will follow up on this event in another blogpost, for sure!)

Personally, I have several dummies in process, and I especially hope to finish up the one about elephants.  That particular story has been brewing for a while, and this weekend is THE weekend to wrap it up! 

Another event I look forward to is the New York SCBWI conference at the beginning of February!  I have never attended the New York conference and simply can't wait to meet up with old friends and make new ones!  Whoohoo New York!

Happy 2013, everyone!

Lost Weekend 2012

Thank you, David!  You are the best!
(Here's Super David with Super-dog Lily.)

Last weekend, one of our SCBWI mentor David Diaz invited the Mentorship Award winners and guests over to his house for a four-day weekend in San Diego (aka Lost Weekend).  Four fabulous days with all these amazing artists?  If this were a dream, don't wake me up!

One Month Break in Hong Kong

For the entire month of October, I went back to Hong Kong, my lovely lovely birthplace.

Aside from all the wonderful gatherings with friends and family, I spent most of my time –– as usual –– at the local library and bookstores.

Travel Journal - Stockholm, Sweden

A few years ago, I traveled to a few places in Europe. Here is part of my illustration journal of my trip from London to Stockholm. While names in my journal are usually altered, the encountering and experience are real~ Good old days!

On the Road

Narration Study

Wanting to work on something new this year, like short comics. Wanting to incorporate my love of less-is-more aesthetics. Wanting to explore story-telling.

That's a lof of "wants" alright... Girls want want want want want...

Fly Away

The Park

Paper Airplane