Part 3: Getting Started as a Concept Artist & Illustrator
A layout development sketch I did for Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. Technically not a thumbnail. I did this at 16″ X 12″, very fast, in charcoal, then reduced it.
Oh patient ones, did you nearly give up waiting for Part 3? Well, it’s been a wild year.
Don’t ask.
Anyway, I recently spoke to a group of animation students and the majority of the class wanted to be Concept Artists. That’s a switch. “But — how do I get there?” they wanted to know. The studios seem reluctant to hire someone as a concept artist right out of school.
It makes sense. A good Concept Artist will need lots of tools in the tool belt: architecture, illustration, fine art, figure drawing, draftsmanship, film design, lighting, color theory, cinematography — I could go on dancing all night.
So I wasn’t sure what to tell these bright-eyed teenagers. As a freelancer, I have to wear many hats. I don’t do much 2-D layout designing anymore (there’s not as much 2-D animation going on), but I’ve had to do Visual Development for CG animation, color design, lighting design, book illustration, background and matte painting — even some Final Cut Pro video editing in the last year.
Sure, my route was through Layout and Background Painting, but there are as many roads to Rome as there are, well, Romans. Yours could be through storyboarding, illustrating books, painting fine art for galleries. You’ll find — or create — your own path.
My grandaddy gave me the best advice, (quoting Lincoln, I believe): “Be prepared so that when the opportunity appears, you can grab it. Be alert for opportunities, I’d say. And keep your eye on what you’d like to be doing, even as you’re giving your current task everything you’ve got.
I never planned on specializing in Layout. In fact, when we were finishing up Beauty and the Beast at Disney, they were initiating a new training program for Story and Visual Development. It was a competition. I thought I was being so clever, moving from Layout to Development, and grabbing the chance to learn from the best. I was thrilled when I won one of the slots for Development.
Don’t get me wrong — layout was (and is) fun and challenging, but I wanted to be in on the ground floor of a production, helping to determine its look from the very start. And I knew you could specialize yourself into a corner. I don’t know how I knew that, exactly. I was only thirty. Maybe I had read it somewhere, or Grandaddy said it, or President Lincoln. But I’ve seen it play out for myself and others. It’s way too easy to get really good at something and then get stuck doing that thing way past its expiration date in your heart.
My clever plan didn’t play out that way, though. By the time “Beauty” was complete, the studio had decided to change the set-up. No more Development department. Each production would now have its own development team.
Rats. . .
Sure, I was disappointed. Crushed, to be honest. I don’t think I cried, but knowing me, I might have. I had gotten a taste of Visual Development on a couple of shots in Beauty, thanks to Layout Supervisor Ed Ghertner and Art Director Brian McEntee, who gave me the chance. (Maybe there was a tight deadline that week, I don’t know. I was grateful for the opportunity, at any rate, and for their generous spirits.)
Here are those sketches, along with the finished shot for the movie:
My original thumbnail sketch.
I got to draw this layout, too.
Someone in the background department did a beautiful job painting this finished background.
Another thumbnail by yours truly.
Got to draft the final layout, too.
The finished painting. The effects department animated sparkles in the water below the bridge — a nice touch.
Oh, and there’s a happy ending. Over the years, I’ve had the chance to do a lot of Concept Art for Calabash Animation. And what is illustrating picture books but thirty-two pages of Concept Art for a movie that will never be made. (Wait a minute — that could be 95% of the movies in Hollywood!)
I’ve highlighted some of the illustrations on the blog before, and on the website. But here are my concept paintings for a recent Lucky Charms commercial.
(A disclaimer here: The artists at Calabash usually send me sketches, so I’m not claiming credit for the drawings. Technically, a concept artist would also be responsible for the sketches, too.)
Concept painting, done in Photoshop from a Calabash artist’s original sketch.
Click to see the finished 30 second spot, Lucky Charms “Lucky Stars.”
One thing I know for sure (as Oprah would say): Everything eventually comes full circle. Life does tend to wrap back around on itself. As the Native Americans say, life’s journey is a spiral, not a straight line.
There’s some comfort in that, don’t you think?
Author Mike Allegra Talks Turkey, Rejection, and Harmful Side Effects
Mike mulching a new idea
A while back, you submitted your questions. Now, I’m thrilled to present my new buddy, Mike Allegra, author of Sarah Gives Thanks, to answer for himself.
(In case you haven’t heard, Sarah is the sweet new picture book from Albert Whitman & Company that I had the privilege of illustrating!)
Thanks, Mike, and thanks to you all for your probing questions. (By the way, these are all wonderful sites. I follow them — hope you’ll check them out!)
Now — grill away!
Stacy S. Jensen, stacysjensen.blogspot.com: As a writer, I always wonder what sparked this idea.
Mike: In this case, the spark came out of desperation.
A children’s book editor who liked my writing told me that she was on the lookout for Thanksgiving stories. “Do you have a Thanksgiving story?” she asked me.
As any working writer knows, the answer to a question like that is always “Yes!”
So I had to scramble to turn my little lie into a belated truth.
I stumbled across Sarah Hale in my research and was just awestruck. 
Sarah’s story was incredible and I very much wanted to tell it. I didn’t have much time to do proper research, however (remember, this story was supposed to be already written), so I banged out a quick draft, sent it to the editor, and hoped for the best.
Fortunately, the editor liked it enough to ask for a rewrite. So, with time now on my side, I learned everything I could about Sarah Hale before providing the editor with a new, improved, well-researched draft.
Chris Eboch, chriseboch.blogspot.com: Here’s a follow-up to “What sparked the idea?” – Did you have any trouble getting a publisher to understand the appeal?
Mike: Nope. The publisher was pretty gung-ho about the book right from the start, which, I’m told, is rather unusual.
Anne Woodman, annewoodman.wordpress.com: What is a children’s book idea that you’ve pitched that bombed?
Mike: I don’t know if “bombed” is the right word. I do have a number of picture book manuscripts that have been rejected a lot, but I wouldn’t call them bombs. Let’s just say the stories were written before their time. Or after their time. Or perhaps better appreciated in an alternative universe.
That said, my picture book manuscript, Momma No-Nose, is not exactly feelin’ the love these days. I consider it to be one of the best picture books I have ever written – but the book is also pretty weird. In other words, the rejections aren’t exactly a shock.
Jessica Ivins, jessicaivinswrites.blogspot.com: How many drafts [of Sarah Gives Thanks] did you do before you were a little satisfied?
Mike: I’m not sure how many. I do know that I was in the groove pretty early with Sarah. I knew where I wanted to take this story. It was just a matter of time before I finally got there.
This one’s from me, I’ll confess, flyingdogstudio.com: Sarah J. Hale was an editor – or “editress.” As a writer, what do you think Mrs. Hale would be like to work with?
Mike: She was proper, opinionated, tireless, and a perfectionist. I’d respect her a great deal.
I’m not sure she’d like me.
Lauri Meyers, laurimeyers.com: Are you planning to follow this success with another biography?
Mike: Why, yes I am! Here’s hoping my publisher, Albert Whitman & Co., doesn’t mess with my plans. By the way, feel free to write the publisher a letter telling them not to mess with my plans. Sarah Hale wrote lots of letters and it worked for her. People did what Sarah asked just to end the constant harassment – so don’t forget to be persistent!
Cathy Ballou Mealey, bildebok.wordpress.com: If the main character in your next book is named Fexofenadine, would she/he be a force for good or evil and why?
Mike: Fexofenadine sounds like something that may cause harmful side effects like nausea, dizziness, or thoughts of suicide. But who knows? It might also cure someone of his restless leg syndrome. Before passing judgment, let me first test the stuff on a few prisoners.
Mike draws, too — see more at his blog!
Pam Wight, roughwighting.wordpress.com: How has blogging (and reading the blog post of others) helped your writing?
Mike: I’m fairly new to blogging, but I love it. My posts keep my mind more focused on children’s books and force me to write something brand new for public consumption every week.
And man, have I read some wonderful things on other people’s blogs! Powerful, emotional, and hilarious stuff.
I am also amazed by just how generous and supportive the blogging community is. Everyone is rooting for everyone else. It’s quite wonderful, really.
The one downside of blogging is that it’s a time sucker. You can kill and entire day bouncing from one blog to another if you let yourself. It sometimes takes a whole lot of willpower to log off.
Wendy Lawrence, www.thefamilythatreadstogether.com: Any fun activity ideas that parents could do with their kids to help them get more out of the book? Or just help them have fun with their kids in a book-related manner?
Mike: Funny you should mention that. The manager of one bookstore asked me to come up with a Thanksgiving craft to accompany my upcoming reading/signing. I don’t know what I’m going to do yet, so in the meantime, trace your hand and draw a beak on the thumb. Look! A turkey!
Vanessa Chapman, vanessachapman.wordpress.com: Which three famous people (dead or alive) would you have at your dream dinner party, and what food would you serve?
Mike: This type of questions always stumps me. There are a lot of people who I am in awe of but wouldn’t really want to meet. Sarah Hale falls into this category. (Nothing personal, Sarah! It’s just never a good idea to meet your heroes.)
Because it’s a dinner party scenario, I’d also need to think of three people who have interesting stories to tell. And those three people would need to get along. I don’t want any drama.
And, well, I think I’d also want to be in the company of other writers. After much consideration, I’d like to send invitations to Laura Hillenbrand, Bill Bryson, and David Sedaris.
In honor of the great Sarah Hale, I would serve turkey.
Maurice Sendak and the Art of Emotion
Since his death in May of this year, I’ve been returning to the artwork of the great Maurice Sendak. When I came across an early reader he did in 1960, Little Bear’s Friend, written by Else Holmelund and published by Harper Collins, I was struck by his ability to stir up emotion. In a workshop I attended here in New Mexico last spring, Laurent Linn, kind and generous Simon & Schuster Art Director, talked about the things he looks for in an illustration. Emotion topped the list. Sendak was a genius at depicting the emotion of the characters, and at eliciting an emotional reaction in us, the readers.
Here are two illustrations from Little Bear’s Friend that stopped me short last night. They demonstrate how Sendak extended the text in two ways: 1) showing and eliciting emotion, and 2) depicting personality, or character. He’s not just showing us what the words are telling us; he’s giving us more, adding to our experience of the sweet, simple text.
#1 (above) evokes what words cannot. It’s in Little Bear’s pose, not an action, but his body language, that we see an irresistable facet of his personality. How can you help but fall in love with this guy? Arms above his head, chest out — can’t you just feel how he’s bursting with happy feelings about his friend? Sendak captures Little Bear’s feelings for his new friend Emily in a perfect kid’s pose.
#2 (above): The text, which is so lovely in its simplicity, tells us in the previous spread that Little Bear was sad when Emily leaves him at the end of the summer. “Two big tears ran down his face.” A less sensitive illustrator (or one under a too-tight deadline) might show us a close-up of Little Bear’s face, those “two big tears.” But Sendak keeps his distance, his characters onstage (or in wide master shot, if this were film). Even at a distance, he manages to distill the moment, heightening it, into a tableau of love between mother and child so tender it nearly breaks your heart. He imagined — and executed — an image that lifts Little Bear’s sadness and his mother’s love into something universal, placing the story in the broader context of Family. It’s an image a child can immediately relate to. Adults can easily connect with it, too.
As in life, it all boils down to connection. In picture books, and in novels, movies, music and paintings — in any art — we, as artists, do whatever we can to make that connection with the reader, listener, or viewer. Emotion is the key.
Illustrations can carry emotion like the soundtrack in a movie. Music heightens and highlights the emotion in a scene. Pictures, like music, reach down deep, tapping a primal place inside us that exists before words. Pictures can depict not just the action in the text, but the feeling, the beating heart of the story.
Try this: Read the text in either of these pages without the images. Feel something missing?
A good picture book needs the pictures to complete it. But Mr. Sendak shows us that illustrations can do so much than complete a story. They can make it soar.
Dog Days, and The Winner Is. . .
Time for our drawing! Guinevere generously offered her doggie bowl. (Thanks to Cathy Ballou Mealey for this idea!)
Even in the dog days of summer, we had a wild response to our contest. Thanks to you all for such probing questions. Mike will answer every single one in September, so please stay tuned!
Now —
drumroll. . . .
Our winner is —
Congratulations, Pam Wight! Please email your snail mail address to david@flyingdogstudio.com, and your signed copy of Sarah Gives Thanks will be on its way soon!
And, since this blog is about more than promotion, I want to share a thoughtful quote. It’s from Susan Cain’s insightful, eye-, mind- and heart-opening book, Quiet. As someone who leans to the introvert side of the scale, this is a good one to remember:
“Our culture made a virtue of living only as extroverts. We discouraged the inner journey, the quest for a center. So we lost our center and have to find it again.” – Anais Nin
Just like Oprah on Super Soul Sunday, I invite you to take a moment and breathe that in, and contemplate these sun-tipped sunflowers, fresh from our Santa Fe garden. How do you find your center?
Ahhhhh. . . .
They Like Us, They Really Like Us — so WIN A FREE BOOK!
Great news: another fab review, this one a starred review (!) from Kirkus Reviews. Here’s an excerpt:
“Amusing and perfectly chosen anecdotes highlight the qualities that made Hale such a success — curiosity, thirst for knowledge and determination… Readers will look forward to more from this talented author, who has penned a perfectly paced, rousing biography. Gardner nicely combines vignettes and double-page spreads, his colors reflecting mood, while lots of period (and humorous) details will bring readers back for another perusal.”
You can read the entire review here, as well as the School Library Review (another good one, but I won’t give anything away.)
For some mysterious reason, a lot of us creative types share a great resistance to marketing. (C’mon, raise your hands.) But I’m overcoming that — I love this book and I want as many people to know Mrs. Hale’s story as possible. She was a great woman, and her story is such an inspiring one.
Mike Allegra did a wonderful job telling Sarah Hale’s tale, and he also just ran a contest that was so cool, and successful, that I’m going to shamelessly rip him off. (It’s ok, I got his permission, and he’s my new friend.)
Here goes:
I’m going to interview Mike on this blog after the book comes out, in September. I want some probing questions for Mike, serious or silly, just to see what he’ll do under pressure, but I need your help. My questions so far are dry. Boring. And I’ll bribe you. Yep — a contest!
Just ask any question you’d like Mike to answer (below, in the Comments section). I’ll pick the best ten questions, and give you credit for it, and a link back to your own blog if you’ve got one. (Ping!)
I’m giving y’all one week, so the deadline for entries is next Friday, August 10.
If more than 20 folks suggest questions, they’ll all be entered in a random drawing to win a free, signed hardcover copy of Sarah Gives Thanks!
Ready — Aim — Ask your question! And while you’re at it, why not sweet talk your family and friends to ask one, too. Trust me. You’ll be glad you did.
Confessions of a Golden Book nerd
Okay, I’m a bit of a Golden Books nerd. They remind me of a sweeter time, curled up in my momma’s lap, following the pictures with my fingers and pretending I could read.
Sweet thing is, the classics are still available. Lately I’ve been exploring approaches to illustrations for Reader I’m writing and illustrating. I ordered three Golden Books, three of my favorites from toddlerhood, all Disney titles: 3 Little Pigs, Alice in Wonderland, and Peter Pan. In the illustration credits, the same name kept popping up: Al Dempster.
That’s Mr. Dempster on the right, pre-Starbucks.
One of the greatest background painters at the Studio during the Golden Years! Turns out he illustrated lots of storybooks: Santa’s Toy Shop, Walt Disney’s Mother Goose, and Walt Disney’s Uncle Remus Stories, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and Pinocchio.
Ken Shue, vice president Art & Design, Disney Publishing Worldwide, comments: “Walt insisted that some of the studio artists get involved in these book illustrations and he particularly enjoyed seeing the various interpretive approaches that these artists would take.
“In the spirit of every new assignment that Walt gave, he told them to approach storybook illustration in a way that only The Walt Disney Studios would approach it. In other words, given that they were already the world’s greatest storytellers on screen, what would they bring to books that would be innovative, defining, but especially quality in terms of artwork and storytelling?
Check out how he painted the light falling over Peter and Wendy’s shoulders — they pop right off that deep blue forest. Pretty luscious, huh?
“His painting for the cover of the Alice in Wonderland Little Golden Book is considered by many to be the Mona Lisa of Disney storybook illustration,” Shue says. “Al loved illustrating books, and that these were done at a time when the studio atmosphere was much like a school, where invention and new ways of tackling any visual storytelling format was exciting and fun. And, boy, it sure shows in the work!”
Here’s that Alice cover.
I’ll let you in on a secret: When I saw the title page (below), 47 years later, I felt a shiver. 
This tree — I swear — is what inspired me to become an illustrator. I couldn’t have been more than five years old, running my fingers over the nubby page, and I’d whisper to myself, “Someday, I wanna make a tree like this!”
Am I alone in this? Ever had that experience, Past Self and Future Self meeting for a sublime flash?
Tip of the week: Speaking of Time Travel. . . . If you want a great summer book ride, check out The Map of Time by Felix Palma — time machines, H.G.Wells, Jack the Ripper, romance and adventure and steampunk!
Día is coming!
In the early 1800’s, girls didn’t attend college, so Sarah Josepha Hale taught herself. She loved reading and learning, and gave herself the equivalent of a college education by reading her brother’s books from Darmouth!
Sarah had what my friend Pat Mora calls “bookjoy.” I love that word, and I love what Pat has been up to, in addition to writing many wonderful books for children. For 16 years now, she’s been busy connecting children to books, languages and cultures through Children’s Day/Book Day, El día de los niños/El día de los libros — Día for short.
In her inspiring book Zing! Seven Creativity Practices for Educators and Students, Pat tells of her journey to start Día. I’ll paraphrase: Día is based on the Mexican, April 30th celebration of El dia del nino, the day of the child. Her inspiration was to combine an annual Kid’s Day with a celebration of books. So the family literacy initiative, El día de los niños/El día de los libros, Children’s Day/Book Day, was born. It’s often known as Día, which means “day” in Spanish. Visit her website to find out more about Día.
I’m thrilled to be an Ambassador for Día. Reading brings so much pleasure — and power, as Pat reminds us. My mom read to my sisters and me all the time from the time we could sit up and focus our beady little eyes. Dr. Suess’ Hop on Pop was my first book.
Remember this one?
What was your first book?
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