Susan Eaddy Shares Her Illustration Process with Once Upon A Sketch

Midsouth illustrator and Regional Illustration Coordinator shares her process of illustrating with clay in the first of a two part interview over on Once Upon A Sketch.com, a blog full of tips and info for children's market artists. Go check it out!

Three Steps To A Successful Portfolio featuring the Midsouth Illustrators

Midsouth illustrators Susan Eaddy and Mary Uhles created this video explaining how to put together a successful portfolio for the children's illustration market. It features the work of numerous talented artists in Tennessee and Kentucky and proves that while they can all illustrate a children's book, Picasso probably couldn't. 

Getting started putting your work together? Watch this video for some good advice.

Or watch it on Youtube.

@ Nashville Public Library: From Good Ideas to Finished Pieces

This month five Midsouth illustrator members were psyched to be included in a show at the Nashville Public Library's Main Branch displaying their illustration process from start to finish.

In the Nashville area? Here's a teaser of the display but it looks much cooler up close and personal in the beautiful downtown library.

Not in Nashville? Check out these talented artists' websites and blogs. After doing that you'll definitely want to make a special pilgrimage to Nashville just to visit the library before the end of May.

Susan Eaddy sets up her clay creations from Papa Fish's Lullaby:
See her website, www.susaneaddy.com, and blog and youtube channel.

Mary Uhles shows off her piece for the May/June issue of Ladybug Magazine. See her website, www.maryuhles.com and read more about her process here.

Cheryl Mendenhall really gives a behind-the-scenes look at her process by even displaying some of the tools she uses to create her illustrations. They're digital but you'd never guess without the Wacom tablet to give it away! See her agent's page here.

Doug Jones' great sense of humor is on display in this cute Easy Reader about a lost space alien, Once Upon A Planet. See his other cool cartoons at his website, www.dougjonesart.com and his blog.

Kris Sexton rounds out the pack with these awesome clay dinosaurs, models created for her picture book, Five Huge Dinosaurs. See more of her watercolor and Illustrator creations at her site, www.krissexton.com.

All five of us were incredibly grateful to SCBWI, Susan Eaddy, Kristin Tubb and the Nashville Public Library for letting us share a peek into what goes on in the life of an illustrator. 

Playing with Clay!

Here is an illustration in progress for the February issue of BabyBug Magazine.

I started off with a detailed sketch and I work back & forth with my client until I have the sketch exactly to their liking. We took out the shelf, added an oven, & scooped the pancakes off the floor!

Then I start to layer the clay with my millions of tools on my messy clay table

And here it is... almost done!  I can't show the whole thing until it is first published in the magazine. Can't wait to see how it looks in print!