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This is the blog home of #kidlitart, a live Twitter chat Thursdays at 9:00 pm Eastern, for children's book illustrators, picture book authors, author/illustrators and friends. Check back weekly to read transcripts, comment on previous chats and suggest topics for upcoming chats.


Friday, May 7, 2010

Transcript: 5/6/10; plus takeaways!

TOPIC: Do you participate in online challenges such as Illustration Friday or NaPiBoWriWee? Why or why not?

TAKEAWAYS
Ongoing challenges
Illustration Friday
(good for networking and building a portfolio)
Sugar Frosted Goodness (must be a member to participate)
They Draw and Cook
Bonus: links to @joystewy's entry and @kellylight's entry
MailMeArt
(closed for submissions--but fun browsing!)
Watercolor Wednesdays
(must apply and be accepted to participate)
Monday Artday
(must be a member to participate)

Other kick-starters
101 Projects for Artists and Illustrators at DaniDraws

personal challenges, such as @lyonmartin's Daily Doodle and @magelly's Utopia Moment

One-time or once-a year challenges
Zero 2 Illo's 12-week challenge
(going on now--focus on business model approach for illustrators; site includes a forum for participants)

Paula Yoo's second annual NaPiBoWriWee
(May 1-7, 2010: write a picture book a day for seven days; site includes a forum for participants)

Tara Lazar's PiBoIdMo
(November, 2009: month-long challenge to come up with a picture book idea every day; coincides with NaNoWriMo)

Consensus
Challenges are great for networking, exposure, practice, and jump-starting creativity. Downsides are that they can distract you from "real" work; the rush to post can result in quantity over quality; and there's an overall danger of spending too much time on the internet consuming rather than producing. Suggestions for counteracting negatives are to post sketches to meet challenge deadlines, follow through later if project warrants; download challenge prompts to do on your own later.

Buzz
We're apparently all in "web design hell" (except for @KatGirl_Studio, who offers this link to the template she used successfully to build her site; and @wardomatic, who favors iWeb)

Another site-building resource mentioned: tutorial at Escape from Illustration Island.

Chatters were reminded that ADs now search via iPhone and iPad--so to make sure formatting of site is compatible with those platforms (no Flash elements). Wordpress interface said to be easily adaptible.

Tweet of the night
@lyonmartin, voicing a common affliction among creative types:
"I need discipline . . . I have shiny thing syndrome."

Note
We'd like to post a more comprehensive list of online challenges. If you have others to add, please list them here in the comments, or DM us on Twitter (@BonnieAdamson or @lyonmartin). Thanks!

The full transcript is available in the Scrib'd reader below. As usual, all comments and suggestions are welcome!



#kidlitart 5-6-10

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