Fasten your seat belts and prepare for take off! It’s finally here!
The First Ever Pretty–Much–World–Famous Illustration Contest!!!
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| the fact that this particular illustrator resembles a female is in no way meant to deter any male illustrators! 🙂 |
The Contest: Draw/Paint/Create a children’s picture book cover illustration (no text required – art only) for one of the following stories (which you will recognize as the top finishers in the March Madness Fractured Fairy Tale Writing Contest – a little extra surprise for those authors :)):
– The Three Wiggly Worms Bluff by Wendy Greenley
– Goldilockup by Mike Allegra
– Goldibawks And The Three Pairs by Dawn Young
– The Sweetie Witch by Pen Avey
– The Princess And The Stinky Cheese by Lauri Meyers
– Mongoose’s Holi Party by Darshana Khiani
– The “Princess” And The Pete by Jennifer Caritas
– The Jackrabbit Who Cried Gila Monster by Elliah Terry
Illustrations should be 8×10, horizontal or vertical, any medium, posted in jpg at least 72 px
All stories can be read on the March Madness Finalist Post HERE so you will know what to illustrate 🙂 Illustrators may enter more than one entry if they’re feeling ambitious enough to illustrate more than one book title 🙂
Post: Your entry should be posted on your blog between right now this very second and Monday April 28 at 9 PM EDT (contest deadline!), and your post-specific link should be added to the link list below. This post with the link list will remain up through Tuesday April 29 so that people can come visit and enjoy your gorgeous artwork! (For regular blog followers, there will be no PPBF on Friday April 25, no new post on Monday April 28, but there will be a brief interruption for WYRI on Wednesday April 30 because I forgot to leave it open for the contest :)). If you don’t have a blog but would like to enter, please copy and paste your entry into the comments below. (If anyone has trouble commenting, which unfortunately happens, you may email me and I’ll post your entry for you! Also, since this is the first time we’ve done an illustration contest, I’m not sure if you actually CAN paste your entry into the comments. If this turns out to be a problem, email them to me and I’ll add them directly to this post.)
Judging: entries will be judged by multi-talented, award-winning author/illustrators Iza Trapani, author and illustrator of over 20 gorgeous picture books, and Lisa Thiesing, author and illustrator of at least 16 beautiful and fun picture books and early readers! Judging criteria to include:
– is the picture readable to a young audience,
– how well does it show the character(s) and
– is the character(s) appealing (character development),
– does it make you want to read the story,
– originality
– skill.
They will narrow down the entrants to 6 finalists (or possibly a couple more or less depending on the number of entries :)) which will be posted here on Thursday May 1 for you to vote on for a winner. The vote will be closed at 5PM EST on Sunday May 4 and the winner will be announced on Monday May 5. (No PPBF on Friday May 2.)
The Prizes!: There will definitely be a 1st prize. Whether we give prizes for 1st only, 1st-3rd, or 1st-6th will depend on how many entries we get. We need at least 12 entries to place through 3rd, and at least 20 to place through 6th.
First Prize is absolutely amazing! A portfolio critique by celebrated author/illustrator Michael Garland, who has over 20 picture books to his credit!!!
First Prize is absolutely amazing! A portfolio critique by celebrated author/illustrator Michael Garland, who has over 20 picture books to his credit!!!
– Second Prize – a $50 gift certificate to Dick Blick Art Materials (which is online)
– Third, Fourth & Fifth Prize will be winner’s choice of one of the following books:
– Writing With Pictures by Uri Shulevitz
– A Caldecott Celebration – Seven Artists and Their Paths to the Caldecott Medal by Leonard Marcus
– Show & Tell – Exploring the Fine Art of Children’s Book Illustration by Dilys Evans
– 2014 Children’s Writer’s and Illustrator’s Market by Chuck Sambuchino
– Sixth Prize – a Canson sketch pad and a small set of Derwent or Faber Castell colored pencils
I’m so excited to see what everyone comes up with! As a person whose artistic ability is limited to stick figures, scribbling and relatively easy coloring books, I am in awe of anyone who can draw/paint/cause anything recognizable to appear on paper/canvas/computer screen 🙂 I hope we’ll get plenty of entries, and that there will be at least one attempt at every title!
Let the artistic fun begin!!! 🙂
Don’t miss Laura’s entry for The Three Wiggly Worms Bluff in the comment section! (click HERE and be a little patient :))
And here’s Katie’s entry for Goldibawks And The Three Pairs! (click HERE and be a little patient :))
And here’s Laura’s entry for The Sweetie Witch! (click HERE and be a little patient :))
And here’s Angela’s entry for The Three Wiggly Worms Bluff! (click HERE and be a little patient :))
and here’s Suzy’s entry for The Three Wiggly Worms Bluff! (click HERE and be a little patient :))
Entry from Hilary Swann for The “Princess” And The Pete
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| Hilary Swann – The “Princess” And The Pete |
Susanna Leonard Hill 
It's the best cupcake recipe! And it makes 24 so even though I share with my crit group, we still have plenty left to eat. Mmmm!
Good night! Get some rest!
Oh Susanna…I am so happy to see all of these wonderful illustrations! Looks like it is going to be a tough contest to judge. 😉
How lovely, Suzy! Great job…those worms look very determined…they are on a mission. 😉
Angela…what fun! Love their scarf/collar accessories…and is that the shadow of a worm-eating bird on the pavement? 🙂
Katie…bold vivid colors…go UCLUCK!
A cookie cobblestone path…that is perfect, Laura. 🙂
Okay, this has seriously been THE funnest thing EVER to see four unique illustrations from my picture book manuscript. They are all so wonderful in their own ways.
This is fun, love the shadow of the bird and the little worm looking down… 🙂
Beautiful, love the colour of the leaves and that little robin is cute… 🙂
And you thought this contest wasn't gonna be popular!
Cute! I like the two bickering birds in the background.
Worms with clothes, who would have thought? This is adorable!
This is a perfect illustration for the Goldibawks story! 🙂
Love the candy details! I think the candy cane shutters are my favorite.
I really wasn't sure, since it was the first one! But I'm thrilled with the turn out, and everyone's illustrations are so fantastic! Your story got a bunch of really good ones!
Isn't it amazing? And you got some seriously fantastic ones, I thought!
I'm so glad I don't have to judge it! I couldn't do it. I don't know enough about art techniques, and I like all the pictures 🙂
Very cute and such a clean style!
Very fresh style with lots of white space! Very nice!
So cute! Love the expressions and their “tube” shirts!
This is so cute! The lollipops in pots are just how I imagined them 🙂
One never knows, Teresa! ; ) Looks can be deceiving. Walk softly and carry a big beak! Thank you for your compliment.
You are too kind, Oh, Susanna. And I am delighted to be a part of The First Ever Pretty Much World Famous Illustrator Contest. Thank you for hosting.
Your compliments are appreciated, Joanne. Thank you.
Together, the three, as a team, should be able to avoid the wrath of the robin! Thank you for your kind words.
Catherine: Your thoughts warm my heart. Thank you for the kind words.
So many wonderful entries, Susanna. Wish I had the time. 😦
How lovely of you to share a few lovely lines, Loveable Lobo. Thank you for the compliment.
I wish you did too, Tracy! Maybe we'll do this again some time 🙂
Katie,
I love Goldi! She is darling and plucky! Thank you for choosing her:) Good luck!
I'm going to enjoy sitting back and admiring the talented illustrators in this contest, Susanna!
I know! Isn't it totally fun? 🙂