The 2nd Annual Pretty Much World Famous Illustration Contest For Children’s Illustrators!!!

WOO HOO! The day has finally arrived! It’s time for . . .

The 2nd Annual Pretty Much World Famous

Illustration Contest for Children’s Illustrators!

The Contest: Draw/Paint/Create a children’s picture book illustration (no text required – art only) the topic for which shall be

discovery

Above all things, these illustrations are meant to evoke story, so it is crucial that they present at least one character, a setting, and ideally hint at/suggest some kind of plot or conflict idea.

Illustrations should be 8×10, horizontal or vertical, any medium, posted in jpg at least 72 px. Illustrators may enter more than one entry if they’re feeling ambitious 🙂

Post: Your entry should be posted on your blog between right now this very second and Friday June 26 at 9 PM EDT (contest deadline!) Please add your post-specific link to the link list below which will remain up all week so that people will be able to come visit and enjoy your amazing artwork. If you don’t have a blog but would like to enter, you will be able to 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!)

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 40 beautiful and fun picture books and early readers! Judging criteria to include:

– does the illustration evoke a sense of story,

– is the picture readable to a young audience,

– how well does it show the character(s) and

– is/are the character(s) appealing (character development),

– 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 Monday June 29 for you to vote on for a winner. The vote will be closed at 5PM EST on Thursday July 2 and the winner will be announced on Friday July 3… along with something for the writers in our audience, so stay tuned! 🙂

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.

We’ve got some great prizes lined up including a chance to take Mark Mitchell’s fantastic Make Your Marks And Splashes Online Children’s Book Illustration Class (a $249 value, but really priceless!) This class is packed with video lessons on the topics of drawing, painting, and children’s book illustration and video interviews with children’s illustrators. It also includes three months of online group critique sessions (2 sessions per month, at this point) with Mark and guest instructors, so the winner could also get the equivalent of a portfolio critique if she/he participated in all six of the sessions. You can read all about it here: http://howtobeachildrensbookillustrator.com/NewCoursehome2/

http://howtobeachildrensbookillustrator.com/NewCoursehome2/

Additional prizes will include:

– a Wacon Intuos Pen and Touch Small Tablet (see details HERE)

– a $50 gift certificate to Dick Blick Art Materials (which is online)

– choices 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

– 2015 Children’s Writer’s and Illustrator’s Market by Chuck Sambuchino

– a Canson sketch pad and a small set of Derwent or Faber Castell colored pencils

and of course the bragging rights to having won or placed in a Pretty Much World Famous Contest! 🙂

So ready, set, GO! artists! We can’t wait to see what you’ve created! We’re ready to be inspired! 🙂

Remember, add your post-specific blog link to the link list below or email your illustration to me for posting here!

Below are 9 entires (so far) in the post, and the link list is down below them.

Entry from Tina Marantette: