Working as a Children’s Book Illustrator - Artist Shirley Ng-Benitez

This week we are celebrating over 210,000 page views and 4 years of fun, memorable art, and lovely friendships!!

On March 13 we will announce 3 winners of a special giveaway that is being organized (United States only).

I will post photos of the unforgettable prizes starting March 1st on our FB Page, Instagram, G+ and Twitter. If you haven't yet, you will only need to sign up for one of the above social media and leave a comment to qualify for our random selection!

In the meantime, here is a fun interview with the very talented Shirley Ng-Benitez. Her enthusiasm about her creations and life is contagious!

WHO YOU ARE, WHERE YOU ARE FROM AND WHAT YOU DO: I was born and raised in the Bay Area, CA, and after living in Ohio and Arizona I came home to my favorite state and am a happily married mom of two awesome daughters. I've been in the graphic design industry for over 20 years and am now fulfilling my dream of illustrating and writing children's picture books.

YOUR FAVORITE DESIGN/ART STYLE: This is a tough question as I have too many favorites! I've always admired Cezanne's brushstrokes, Cassandre's and Saul Bass' designwork, and am such an admirer of so many artists including Mary Blair, Theodor Geissel, Beatrix Potter, Lisbeth Zwerger, Holly Hobbie, Jan Ormerod, Freya Blackwood, Arnold Lobel, R.W. Alley, Ernest H. Shepard, the list goes on…

THE MAIN INSPIRATION BEHIND YOUR WORK: My main inspiration comes from the love for my children and fond memories of my own childhood. After my mom passed away nearly four years ago, being able to connect with moments that bring me joy and peace with a little bit of silliness thrown in is where most of my work comes from. I now see how quickly one's life can fly by, so it's incredibly important for me to celebrate each day and be inspired by the people I love, the surroundings I live in, and appreciate the ability I have to create things. I am also very inspired by music, nature, creators, makers, artists, teachers, and our elders.

WHAT YOU REALLY LOVE, I.E. YOUR PASSION: I really love to draw. I have found that it not only gives me peace, especially with such a busy schedule these days, but it gives me strength. Drawing has always been a place of refuge for me as a shy kid. I was the kid in school who would hide in the crook of my elbow as I scribbled and doodled while not really paying attention to the teacher. I have found that I really really love to sketch every day and especially at night which helps me to create the pictures I see in my head. I haven't drawn this much ever in my whole life and I think it truly is what my passion is.

WHAT YOU DON'T REALLY LIKE: I don't really like the never-ending cycle of laundry that seems to creep up on me every week...but I am grateful for my washer and dryer, so no complaints! Truthfully, what I really don't like is a lot of what has been in the news these days concerning the health of our planet, the health of the people on our planet, and the very tragic horrors across the world we are now so quick to view and read upon on the internet. It's incredibly upsetting to think about what the state of the world will be like for my children in the next 5, 10, 15 years. I am hopeful for a better world for them.

A FAVORITE SOMETHING: A little sticky note on my monitor from my youngest when she was 7…it states: "With your good thing, do it good."

A MEMORABLE EVENT IN YOUR LIFE: In my Beginning Illustration course in college, my professor assigned us a project to illustrate the Gilroy Garlic Festival Poster. This was the first watercolor painting I had ever entered into anything and it won first place for that year (1988). The best thing about winning was not the $500 cash prize but the fact that they gave me 20 printed posters and that it would be printed for many years to come. It was my first professionally printed piece and I was over the moon with that!

A FUN MEMORY: Probably on the top five memories in my life was spending a vacation just with my mom on a "Watercolor painting trip in France" - we visited the South of France: Nice, Antibes, St. Paul de Vence, Aix-en-Provence, and then ventured up to Paris and finally Monet's home in Giverny. At one fun dinner with the tour group, after finishing our main course, the waiter brought us large spoons and placed them at the top of our plates. These spoons were enormous! As large as cooking spoons one might use for stirring pasta sauce. As we waited for our desserts, I leaned over and whispered to mom, "My spoon is too small." I will never ever forget my mom's laughter that night...it was priceless!

YOUR CONTRIBUTION TO THE WORLD AS AN ARTIST: Wow, I thank you for asking this..it now makes me feel as though I need to work on this part! For now, beyond donating some prints of my work to charitable foundations, I feel that my work can be taken as a "warm and gentle place that harkens back to the good ol' times." I hope for a bit of that feeling when people view my work. In this complex and fast paced busy-ness of life, I hope that when people view my work it brings them a smile, or maybe even a good memory of a less complicated time.

THE NEXT CHAPTER IN YOUR PROFESSIONAL LIFE: Recently I signed with my fabulous agent, Nicole Tugeau of Tugeau2.com and I am thrilled to say that my next chapter is to primarily work as a children's book illustrator! I'm currently working on 4 books with a potential of two more (keeping fingers crossed!). I am so very grateful and feel very blessed to be working on such wonderful projects with such great people. I am also working on my writing skills and have a growing collection of books on writing, as that is another chapter I am working on in my professional life.

A HELPFUL TIP TO OTHER ARTISTS - I have three tips:

1. Build exercise into your job; it's something I have neglected for many years, but have re-committed to recently and it just has so many benefits! My daily walks make for great ideas for illustrations, too…a sweet bonus!

2. Play! I recently completed an online course that basically helped me discover the importance of "play." For me, I have always felt that the picture I see in my mind is what the goal is; and that there is one direct line to that end. But there are so many other avenues to get to the end result, and by "playing" with different tools and approaches, the end piece becomes something "richer" in my opinion. My process had been quite linear and so discovering this has now allowed me to consider new possibilities I'd not ever thought of before. Going back to that creative place we all had as a child where it didn't matter what the end piece was gonna look like has been invaluable in my creative journey and I think if you're more of a linear kind of artist, this is something you might want to try.

3. Observe nature in its tiniest details, from sunrise to sunset; there is an unlimited amount of images you can draw from. Even in the coldest of winters there is so much beauty! A twig, a seed pod, a frozen birdbath. Really examining the small details can give you patterns or images that are right there ready to be made in your own personal way.

A Family Design Story: Cathy Heck Studio

Surtex is now is less than a month away. I fell in love with it last year when I walked the floor for the first time so I decided to exhibit in 2012. I recently signed up with Montage Licensing for representation and couldn’t be more happy - I'm very excited about my debut, but most of all I am thrilled to be working and sharing ideas with such a creative and ever-growing community of inspiring artists and professional manufacturers from around the world!

And speaking of professional artists, I am happy to introduce the first of many upcoming inspiring posts with Surtex exhibitors. I briefly met Cathy and Ellen Heck last year at Surtext - a fantastic mother-daughter design duo based in Austin, Texas. Although, they enjoy creating artwork for all product categories, they are most known for their successful juvenile collections. In fact, over two million babies own a Cathy Heck baby book. Now, Cathy works alongside her own child, Ellen, a graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a talented artist, who has literally grown up in the business of Cathy Heck Studio.

TMFMA:  Please introduce yourself with a short bio. We are Cathy and Ellen Heck. We work from our two studios: Cathy in Austin, Texas and Ellen near Berkeley, California. We create our work with pencil, pen, brush and mouse. We are connected seamlessly by the big computer in the sky.

CATHY: Although Ellen officially started working with me several years ago, she has actually always been by my side, working from her own little drawing table in the studio.

ELLEN: It was great to grow up in a house in which the art supply drawer was right next to the silverware drawer.  We were making art all the time.

TMFMA: How did you find your way to design licensing? CATHY: I was lucky to begin my career as an art director at Young & Rubicam, a large advertising agency in New York City. As an art director, I hired illustrators through their agents to create illustrations from my layouts. One of those agents, Jane Lander, asked if I would like to try my hand as a free-lance illustrator. So I began ... learning each new medium on the job ... a little scary, but it worked. I created illustrations for a wide variety of clients from Woman's Day to Jell-O. At that time, design licensing was a very new way of commissioning work, but Lynda Sylvester, who worked with Jane, took my portfolio to a gift company and my first licensed collection was born: Share-A-Hug, a group of characters that centered around a big polar bear named Bahama Bear and a reindeer, named J.Randolph Reindeer, V.P. of Marketing of S. Claus, Inc. (our characters have shorter names these days - for example, meet Baby Bot and Gif.)

ELLEN: I first squeezed my way into licensing when I was 13. Cathy had been creating hundreds of stickers which she licensed to Frances Meyer Inc. during the early scrapbooking "sticker boom." I asked if I could present some ideas for stickers too, and as the very encouraging mom that she has always been, Cathy said that I could present a group of ideas for the next presentation. I sent 6 ideas and, happily, they chose two: puppies and kitties. I still remember seeing my very own puppies in Michael's for the first time. It was a thrill!

TMFMA:  What's exciting about your creative work? CATHY:  Starting a new project, trying a new medium, receiving an email from a new mom who loves one of our collections. With art licensing, I get to know people all over the world.

ELLEN: I love holding the real thing in my hands. After first working on the computer files and then being separated from the project while in production, it is always a fun surprise to receive a box of samples.

© Cathy Heck Studio from the Little Pond collection

TMFMA:  Who/what has inspired you in your art? CATHY: I adore children's books, almost to the point of needing some intervention. Two of my favorite contemporary illustrators are Lisbeth Zwerger and Helen Oxenbury. I have also been inspired by the strong conceptual work of Milton Glaser and the wise instruction from my college professor, Dr. Leonard Ruben. I am energized by daily life with my funny family. I am even moved to draw by our rescue dog, Neville, whose lineage is definitely unclear, but whose personality is kind and good. (Plus, he's a blog hog). Whether the characters in my illustrations are from a tropical rainforest or a quiet little pond, they carry traits and expressions that are found in the children I have known and loved.

ELLEN: Cathy's children's book fanaticism - as you might imagine - has resulted in the creation of the best children's book library I know. We were so lucky to grow up surrounded by such a well-curated collection of inspirational pieces. Also, always the art-director, Cathy encouraged my sisters and me from a very early age to try to approach school and art projects (and Christmas cards, and everything really...) from different angles. Thinking outside the box and striving for clever concept implementation became goals very early in our lives. Cathy's encouragement, expertise, and generous teaching have been, without a doubt, my greatest inspiration.

CATHY:  Oh gosh.

© Cathy Heck Studio from the Zoophabet® collection

TMFMA:  What's your favorite medium or tool/s you create with? CATHY: A pencil, Sennelier watercolors, jars of Prismacolor pencils, a fresh new Rapidograph, a fat Staedtler eraser, Winsor & Newton Series 7 brushes, Photoshop, and my Epson printer (love that guy).

ELLEN: Photoshop is magic, I love the smell of watercolors, and there is nothing more beautiful than a full-size etching press.

TMFMA:  Can you share a favorite technique you routinely use in your artwork? CATHY and ELLEN: Our new favorite technique is called mother-daughter-collaboration surprise. This technique was discovered under a string of tight deadlines, during which we discovered that we could literally work on the same art and the collaborative result was even more interesting than the original idea. One of us will draw a sketch with pencil. One will tidy the sketch with ink. One will color the art with paint. One will put the art into a repeat pattern with Illustrator. One will blend the pattern with other patterns in Photoshop. One will mock up a product. One will call the other one and say, "That's not what I had planned ... it's so much better!"  The other one will say, "I agree. We are amazing." You can read Ellen's post about the birth of a pattern here.

© Cathy Heck Studio from the Emma collection

TMFMA:  Please give us your analysis of the market based on your own experience and contacts. CATHY: Because I have been in the licensing business for over 25 years, I'm going to answer this one. We have seen up and down cycles throughout our experience. Following the last downturn, however, we have seen a different kind of recovery in the way this business works. I believe it is not solely because of the recent drop in economy, but rather the combination of that economic decline with the rise in computer-based design and social media all at the same time. Although the economy is becoming stronger (cautiously), I believe that a designer has to examine new methods of creating and selling work, as well as marketing via social networking in order to decide which methods work best for his or her styles and product categories. The way people buy is changing every day, and since our art adorns those things that people buy, we must adjust to those new buying styles.

TMFMA: What advice would you give other artists who are considering the art licensing field and that maybe want to exhibit in a show like Surtex? CATHY: Visit Surtex. Walk the aisles. See the booths (have a nice dinner; you are in New York, after all!). Go back to your studio, and make lots of art. Take an inspiration break to see new trends. Go back to your studio and make more art. If you have children, watch their soccer games. It's good for you, and good for them. After you have made a lot of art, exhibit at Surtex.  You will then know if this is the business for you. Surtex will help you discover the best way for you to make art and make enough money to keep making art.

ELLEN: Hug your boss (if she's your mom). Or, hug your mom, even if she's not your boss.

CATHY:  :-)  

And if you haven't read it yet, don't forget to check out Cathy and Ellen's fun and informative Surtex After Hours Guest blog post!  

Cathy Heck Studio

https://www.cathyhecknurseryart.com/home.html

A Christmas Licensing Special - Artist Wendy Edelson

© 2011 - Alex Colombo

Christmas is around the corner and brings with it a message of peace and hope for a prosperous new year ahead. To help me fully illustrate the spirit of this holidays season I invited a special guest, artist Wendy Edelson, to share her story with us.

I asked Wendy what kind of projects she is working on and she said: "Somehow, all my projects are about Christmas, the Holidays and snow! Sometimes I feel like the Christmas Illustrator...I never really thought about going in that direction...it seems to have chosen me."

Artist Wendy Edelson

She also added: "Right now I'm working on the illustrations for two children's books and I have two licensing projects on my drawing board, as well. One book is about 'The Christmas Truce,' the incredible spontaneous cease-fire that occurred along the Western Front on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in 1914, during WW1.

This project required an amazing research into a subject I knew virtually nothing about and is really different from so much of what I have been doing recently. It's been really challenging and interesting drawing German and British soldiers, trenches...all the details of 1914 accurately! A lot harder than painting bunnies!"

© Wendy Edelson - Skater

"The other project is illustrating a picture book version of Over The River and Through the Woods." Wendy is just about finished with the drawings for the spreads and this project has been exactly in "my comfort zone," she says, "a dappled horse and sleigh, patterned clothing, animals, country scenes and SNOW!"

But she isn't done...Wendy has more in the works. She says: "As far as licensing, I'm currently working on a request for art from a possible new client, so this involves snowmen and I'm working on ideas for Holiday 2013 for my fabric line."

She continues telling me: "In the next day or two I will finally begin painting again! I have spent over a month drawing, drawing, drawing all these projects and, for me, the drawing is definitely the WORK!

© Wendy Edelson - GingerMan Puzzle

I wish elves could do the drawing while I sleep. All my work is traditionally created and the painting is the fun part...for me, painting is a blast...by the time I sit down to paint, all the decisions and details have been decided, the anatomy and pattern and design figured out and the painting, the playing with color is what all that work was for!"

Wendy's adventure in the art world all began innocently enough when she was two, drawing way across the unfolding landscape of America in the back of the family station wagon, moving from Manhattan to Los Angeles. "I arrived at our new home surrounded by orange and eucalyptus trees, forevermore in love with drawing, having made the decision to Be An Artist during my first road trip.

Fast forward a couple more years to me and my Mom at an ubiquitous shopping center. See me transfixed in front of the window of a small stationary and art supply store. I was mesmerized, gazing rapt, in awe of what had become a Shrine. There, front and center, was a complete set of Prismacolor Colored Pencils. Until this moment all I'd every drawn with was crayons and I'd painted with drippy poster paints...but these pencils were calling to my Soul.

© Wendy Edelson - Snowman Border

My Mom who had walked ahead of me, came back to where I stood and looked, in a hushed and reverent voice I whispered to her,'those are what REAL ARTISTS use!!!' How I knew about Prismacolors or knew that "Real Artists" used them, I have no idea. In a moment of Pure Parental Perfection my Mom grabbed my hand and bought them for me. My path was chosen and I set out upon it."

© Wendy Edelson - Greenery Pattern

"In the Velveteen Rabbit, a child's love forever transformed a stuffed toy into a Real Rabbit, likewise an early moment of pure faith and love opened wide a little girl's vision. Everyday my Dream and Desire is to create work that somehow allows me to go to bed at night feeling like a 'Real Artist'," Wendy added.

Wendy is a self taught artist; her plans for going to college were put aside when she decided to try working instead and left for New York with a big black portfolio at the age of 17. Wendy says: "My life has been almost all about the work, drawing and painting. Over the years I've moved several times, back and forth from New York and Vermont to the Pacific Northwest and back again; currently I'm living in the Pacific Northwest, planning another move back to the Northeast again, this time to stay. I've married, had a son, fallen in love with dogs and gardening, learned how to cook and speak Italian. In the rare times away from my drawing board I've traveled through Asia, Indonesia and Europe and lived in Mexico for 3 years."

What brought Wendy to create art in the first place? It had to be "that cross country trip in the station wagon," she says. "It just sort of poured out of me and I simply couldn't stop; it truly was more of a calling than a conscious decision."

© Wendy Edelson - CookieJar Print

What excites her is a challenge, an unfamiliar subject, an unfamiliar medium, a scary deadline, a new relationship with a new client, the unknown, flying without a net and color – "color always excites me" - she adds.

Watercolors are her favorite paint; she loves the transparency - "Lately I've begun to use acrylics, the Golden fluids, I love using them as a sort of base to layer watercolors over. If I paint an underpainting with them, say the patterned bark of trees, I can glaze layers of color over that and not worry about the pattern below dissolving at all. Glazing and layering coats of paint so that they seem to glow, that's what I love best but it can be very time consuming," she says.

© Wendy Edelson - Expect

Her inspiration? When she was a child her father gave her books illustrated by Howard Pyle, pen and ink, black and white, which she says "inspired me enormously and definitely implanted a love of pattern and detail. My father was a sculptor, he carved wood and would carve horses, tired work horses and people from the trunks of trees. His studio was filled with those books of photographs of people and animals in motion and anatomy books. I wanted to be with my father so I would draw while he sculpted, and he wouldn't let me stop until he'd decided my drawing was correct. He'd say, 'the foreshortening in that foot is wrong, draw it again!' Sometimes I'd have to draw something twenty times; hard but great training. That still happens but now I have to be my father's voice."

Wendy is also an accomplished licensed artist and so I asked her about it. She has been formally licensing her art for about 7 years. Before that, as a commercial illustrator, she had images of hers re-used so that when she heard about "licensing” it sounded perfect and made a lot of sense to her.

© Wendy Edelson - Tossed Animals

She says: "One of the things I like about licensing is that it's a kind of vacation from the character driven illustration of children's books. In my books I have to create the characters consistently in various poses and moods. With my licensed art I can paint plants, flowers, objects, or animals and take a rest from the people. The two paths, licensing and children's books happily satisfy two different sides of what I love to do. Whenever I do a lot of one, I long to get back to the other."

Wendy is represented by an illustration agent and also a licensing agent. She also has quite a few "house accounts," clients she works with on her own. "I write lots of letters to publishers and clients that I would like to work with, and then, if we connect, continue either on my own or have them contact the proper agent. I'm pretty informal in my approach so I'm happy to have the expertise of agents in the business world." Wendy spends 7 days a week painting, she says.

"I guess what has already been said so many times, by so many other people that one should have as many collections as possible ready to go, and definitely a look, a recognizable style, a theme, something that sets them apart from everyone else", she suggests to newbies.

© Wendy Edelson - Snowman Bunny Border

She also adds: "My work is very personal, it's how I see. I see the world close up and I see in detail, rather than in graphic flat color and bold shapes. The recent trends seem to have been diametrically opposed to my style but I believe that one has to be true to one's own self, that if one's style is really different than what is currently popular one has a choice to make, to try to interpret the trend in one's particular hand or simply keep doing what feels true to one's self and hope that the pendulum swings back a bit. I think that there is a bit more movement towards traditional work and detail, I feel that change. I find that I am known for a very detailed illustration style and clients seek me out for that. Things have been quite tight in the market but they seem to be easing up a bit."

© Wendy Edelson - So many Bunnies Fabric

A couple of other tips she gives to us newbies are these: "One needs to be always looking, whenever one is in a store, anywhere and one sees something that resonates with them, their style; look to see who makes it, write it down and look them up on the Internet.

Just the other day, I saw really cute bowls with a snowman design filled with candy placed on the counters of my bank. My teller dumped all the candy out for me so I could write down the name of the manufacturer that was on the bottom of the bowl. Ideas and possible connections are everywhere! And, above all, be patient and willing to create MOUNTAINS of work for no immediate financial reward. One can easily work a year in advance so, especially in the beginning or during lean times, it can be a bit insecure financially. This makes it even more important that you love what you are doing, and that you have a recognizable look/style of your own."

© Wendy Edelson - Gabriel's Rhino

Wendy's take on trends is also very helpful. She says: "I think art licensing is always evolving, always changing, trends are, just that, trends, as soon as you notice a trend everywhere, it's probably too late to jump on the bandwagon. I find the best thing for me has been to create art that I love creating for myself, and hopefully that people who enjoy my work would enjoy this year, two years from now...indefinitely.

I illustrate books and create art for licensing, and I really only have one style. It's recognizable and the images for books are similar to the art I create for my fabric lines, for cards, for puzzles. I am working on tabletop and various decorative pieces for home and garden now and it is a fascinating process learning how to interpret my style for all these different items. I find I'm working 7 days a week at this point, but it's all fine. I feel truly fortunate and blessed to be able to have a foot in both the children's book and the art licensing worlds."

© Wendy Edelson - Scarf Stripe

www.wendyedelson.com

www.elevenlemons.blogspot.com 

I wish you all happy holidays!