Boom, Snot, Twitty

This week Renata received an advanced copy of Boom, Snot, Twitty! It is written by Doreen Cronin and is being published in May by Viking.

And Renata is already working on the sequel...

SCBWI Western Washington's Master Class April 12-13

Don’t miss out on an opportunity to learn from one of children’s books most acclaimed illustrators. Renata will be teaching a master class at SCBWI Western Washington’s Annual Conference, April 12–13, and there a still a few spots open in this limited-seating event.

How do you do good picture book illustrations? Well for Renata it was pretty straight forward actually - she practiced really hard! Drawing every day and painting every night, or vice versa, until she got good at making picture book illustrations. Which was nice for her, but actually it wasn’t quite enough to get that first opportunity to illustrate a picture book. She needed something more, she needed to learn to do great picture books! And that is what her master class is about, how to bring your work up that extra step. The good news is it’s not a big step, but it is a subtle and tricky one. Happily the best way to learn it is by doing! 

Renata's master class will be a fun hands on exploration of her creative book making process based on some of the proven entertaining and educational stuff we do at our studio randmcollective.com

Go here for more info:
http://chinookupdate.blogspot.ca/2014/03/conference-spots-still-available-for.html

Interview with Renata

See and hear Renata talk about her illustration for Goodnight Songs. I am pretty happy about this interview, Renata did an excellent job!

 

Goodnight Songs CD

One of Renata's drawings is on the packaging for the 12 song CD that comes with the book (attached to the inside cover). We haven't listened to it yet but I believe it is original music inspired by the poems (I think).

Goodnight Songs

Illustration by Isabel Roxas

Almost exactly this time last year we were in Greenpoint Brooklyn drawing at a favorite cafe, Milk and Roses, when Renata received an email to do an illustration for a group book project. This was quite a coincident as the illustration was for a poem by Margaret Wise Brown - who was born in Greenpoint. By the end of coffee Renata had pretty much completed the illustration, and now the book is coming out. It features a whole bunch of great illustrators including Chris Silas Neal, whom is a favorite artist of Renata's, and a new favorite Isabel Roxas who drew the amazing cover and is a super, super nice person we were happy to meet in person last fall. Goodnight Songs is out March 4.

Here is a review:
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/margaret-wise-brown/goodnight-songs/

And here is a trailer with short snippets from the artists in the book:


Goodnight Songs, by Margaret Wise Brown, book trailer from Sterling Publishing on Vimeo.

Getting up to date

It's been a busy time of late but I have a few moments to update what Renata has been up to. As you hopefully know Once Upon a Memory was released in December, it was an Amazon book of the month and it has gotten a great response so far. As Renata's body of work is building it is interesting to see that each book has it's own personality. I feel like Once Upon a Memory is some of her most reflective picture making and most detailed drawings. It also continues her tradition of building the narrative of a book through her pictures, a perfect method for illustrating poetic content like in Once Upon a Memory.

Of course the actual work for the book was done over a year ago, so she's been working on several exciting new projects in the last few months. I will be doing a second post in a few days about them, but the authors she's been lucky enough to illustrate include Doreen Cronin, Karma Wilson, and Margaret Wise Brown.

A big event for Renata last fall was being chosen as a judge for The Society of Illustrators 56. She had a blast being a judge and is very thankful to Jillian Tamaki and the other members of the Society who gave her for the opportunity. The show just opened last week and is on until March 1st - and Once Upon a Memory was also selected for the show!

Renata stayed in Brooklyn for 3 weeks, and while most often visitors focus on seeing the sights in NYC, Renata focused on meeting some of it's artists - which she was super successful at doing. During her time there she was able to meet several dozen illustrators, editors, designers, and other creative types.  It was an exciting and inspirational time, and she is thankful for everyone that she was lucky enough to share a few words.

Going back to Once Upon a Memory an event that bookended her visit was The Original Art, an exhibition celebrating the art of children's book illustration that she had previously won a gold medal for her work in The Quiet Book and which featured Once Upon a Memory this year. More recently Renata was notified last week that the book will also be included in this year's Communication Arts Illustration Annual.

I thought I would end this post with a list of some of the blogs that have been so kind in posting about her most recent book. Working with Nina Laden on the book has been a great joy, and Renata feels that she has made a new friend in Nina and it has brought her together with a kindred creative spirit.

http://thestylinglibrarian.com/2014/02/01/styling-librarian-review/

http://blaine.org/sevenimpossiblethings/?p=3284

http://nerdybookclub.wordpress.com/2014/01/08/once-upon-a-memory-written-by-nina-laden-illustrated-by-renata-liwska-reviewed-by-bonny-becker/

http://www.goodreadswithronna.com/2014/01/31/once-upon-a-memory-by-nina-laden/

http://mackinbooksinbloom.com/2014/01/09/book-review-once-upon-a-memory/

http://32pages.ca/2014/01/15/didnt-make-best-2013-list/

http://salsfictionaddiction.blogspot.ca/2013/12/once-upon-memory-written-by-nina-laden.html

http://www.5minutesformom.com/85690/once-upon-a-memory/

http://deeperwritingrobinholland.blogspot.ca/2013/12/once-upon-memory.html

http://www.teaandsavories.com/2014/01/once-upon-memory-by-nina-laden.html

http://readertotz.blogspot.ca/2013/12/more-more-more-once-upon-memory-by-nina.html

http://www.craigdailypress.com/news/2013/dec/31/prathers-pick-two-charming-picture-books/

http://www.quillandquire.com/reviews/review.cfm?review_id=8245

https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/nina-laden/once-upon-a-memory/

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17269360-once-upon-a-memory?from_search=true