SCBWI Winter Conference New York
Posted on 31 January 2012 | 2 responses
Wow.
Just…wow.
So I returned late last night with a mixed bag of emotions ranging from inspired, motivated, humbled, confident, happy, sad, and you get the idea. Here are some things I was not expecting vursus what I was expecting:
Was expecting New York City to be scary and impersonal. Was NOT expecting New York City to be the opposite. Was expecting to keep my head down and quietly take notes at the conference. Was NOT expecting to make 35+ new friends. Real friends. People I call true peers that I want to remain connected with.
Was expecting lots of inexperienced hopefuls with newbie questions and self-absorbed ideas about this industry. Was NOT expecting to be humbled by the sheer volume of talent and professionalism from the attendees. There are a lot of great talented people in SCBWI and I am really happy to have made friends this weekend. Was expecting to hear a lot of validation of ideas I already knew (which I did, as well), but was NOT expecting to completely rethink the approaches I have been taking.
Well, you get the idea. NY12SCBWI was full of surprises for me. I think 2012 will be a good year…unless the world ends on time.
Ryan Writes Guest Article on ‘Writing for Kids” Blog
Posted on 12 January 2012 | 2 responses
Read the article I wrote about “procrastination” here!
Ryan’s Art Featured in ‘REVUE Holiday Gift Guide’
Posted on 9 December 2011 | No responses
Happy holidays! I was lucky to be invited to illustrate the entire REVUE West Michigan Holiday Gift Guide. Featuring 25 “character types” that you may be doing shopping for this season, (the bookworm, the movie buff, the music junkie, etc…). Pick up a free copy in many local west Michigan shops, or view all the images here.
Ryan’s Art Featured in ‘Revue West MI’ – the “Beer Issue”
Posted on 28 September 2011 | No responses
Check out my artwork in this month’s issue of Revue West MI – It is my two year anniversary of only drinking local beer, so to celebrate this I was lucky enough to do some work for one of my favorite West MI publications, and excited that its in their all-local microbrewery issue – Hooray for Michigan!
You can download the issue here, and my “Michigan: Land of Beer” map is on page 33.
Disclaimer: You must be at least ‘this tall’ to enjoy Ryan’s artwork in the beer issue of Revue.
I Won 2nd place in the SCBWI-MI IllustrationNation Competition
Posted on 26 September 2011 | No responses
This weekend I was a presenter at the Society of Childrens Book Writers & Illustrators Fall conference on Mackinac Island. Not only did I present, but I was an attendee in the illustration boot-camp portion of the conference. So to my TOTAL astonishment, I won second place in the Illustration Nation competition, winning a one-hour mentorship with the amazing Matt Faulkner – I was up against some INCREDIBLE talent, and am COMPLETELY flattered. At the three day SCBWI conference, we were tasked within a one-day period to complete a single painting depicting one scene from a manuscript we were given that day. The story was about a boy that sees wild amazing things no one believes, and the scene I chose was him explaining to his parents that he caught his piano teacher levitating. And I discovered I won about 10 minutes after getting a standing ovation for the presentation on self-promotion I gave to the conference attendees, so you can imagine I was a bit emotional.
See the images on my Facebook page here.