Meet our mentors from our
Mentorship Program 2018-2019
Here’s what Picture Book Text
and Illustration Mentors, Kevan Atteberry
and Laura McGee Kvasnosky, have to say.
Tell
us a little bit about what you are working on now and your current projects.
Kevan:
I am a writer and illustrator of over a
dozen books for children. Some of them award-winners. After several books I’d
illustrated for other writers under my belt, my first book I both penned and
illustrated, BUNNIES!!!, came out. I am currently working on a book that comes
out next year. It is completely different than anything I’ve ever done before
and it has been challenging for me. But I’m thrilled with how it is turning
out.
Laura: My sister Kate McGee
and I are finishing the illustrations for SQUEAK, so my studio is papered with
photos of animals and the landscape of Yellowstone. The story follows a
cause-and-effect alarm clock that wakens the animals early early before the sun
is up. I am drawing realistic mice, chipmunks, trout, elk, eagles, bears,
wolves, big horned sheep, bison and 12 other animals. This is a big challenge
since I have illustrated most of my books in a fanciful way (i.e. foxes in
clothes). Thank God for google image search. SQUEAK is scheduled to come out
from Philomel in Spring 2019. Kate and I first collaborated on LITTLE WOLF’S
FIRST HOWLING, Spring 2017. I love making books with her.
How
does being a mentor influence and inform your work and why do you do it?
Kevan:
Being
a mentor allows me to step back a little in my career. It is easy to get jaded
and assume all knowledge is known and forget about how getting to every
milestone is a journey. The ability to share with someone working the same or
similar path as me is motivating and a little exciting.
Laura: I started toward my
dream of creating children’s books when I turned 40 – that was 27 years
ago. Ten years into it, I was a founding
teacher in the UW Extension certificate in Writing for Children program. A year
after that I taught the first of what were 10 winter semesters in Vermont
College’s Writing for Children and Young Adults MFA program. I signed on to be
a SCBWI mentor because I miss the freshening that mentoring brings too my own
work; the way it helps me meet what I know in a new way and make new
discoveries. I love to see new stories and talent and help nurture it along.
Also, I have received so much from SCBWI and want to give back.
What
are some challenges you have encountered in your writing/illustration journey?
How did you manage to survive through them and achieve success?
Kevan:
The biggest challenges for my writing
and illustrating career has been, predictably, financial. Very few folks in
this industry make a living solely creating books. But fortunately, there are
other venues. I’ve been just lucky and successful enough not to need a “day
job.” And I can supplement my publishing income with school visits and
conference opportunities.
Laura:
Challenges: believing in my work, hanging
in there, riding the ups and downs of the industry and life. My critique group
and a supportive husband and family as well as wonderful mentors and fellow
writers have helped keep me on course.
What
advice would you give to your beginner self who is just starting out to make a
creative career?
Kevan:
Do what you want to do—writing and/or
illustrating—a lot. I mean a whole lot. Do it when you don’t have something in
particular to work towards. I tell illustrators to always have a sketch book and
pencil with them, and SKETCH. At a restaurant, in a waiting room, at the DMV,
while watching TV, for crying out loud! This is something I’ve had to relearn
myself and remind myself to do as, over the years, I became more and more of a
digital artist. Writing is similar. Write. And then write some more—with or
without something to actually write about. Even writing about nothing and
without intention is going to help you. Pick up a favorite picture book and
type (or write) out the whole story. See how it looks on paper, where the highs
and lows are, how the arc flows. And finally, read. Read the kind of books you
want to make. Lots of ‘em.
Laura:
Go for it! Sing your own song. Remember
how you love the process. They say it takes 10,000 hours to master anything. Be
patient and put in the hours. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Listen to your
inner self. Listen to the work itself. Join SCBWI. Take classes. Get a critique
group.
For more details of the mentorship program
check here.
Kevan Atteberry is a writer and illustrator of award-winning children’s
books. Before breaking into picture books —a lifetime goal of his—he
spent decades running a graphic design studio, owning a greeting card company,
and toying with fine art. . His books include, Bunnies!!!, Puddles!!!, and the recently released I Love You More than the Smell of Swamp Gas. Among
books he has illustrated for others are Halloween Hustle by
Charlotte Gunnufson, Tickle Monster by
Josie Bissett, and Frankie Stein by
Lola Schaefer.
But Kevan’s biggest claim to fame may be
creating Clippy the Paperclip, the Microsoft Word helper. At one point it was
annoying hundreds of millions of people a day. He finds an odd kind of pride in
this…
Laura McGee Kvasnosky is an award-winning author/illustrator of 18 picture
books, best known for her series about fox sisters Zelda and Ivy. The eponymous
original won dual SCBWI Golden Kite honors and Zelda and
Ivy the Runaways won the ALA’s Theodor Seuss Geisel Award.
Laura’s newest book, Little Wolf’s First Howling, illustrated
with Kate McGee, debuted to three starred reviews, followed by numerous “best
books of 2017” listings and the Margaret Wise Brown Honor. Laura was a
founding instructor of the UW’s certificate in children’s writing program and taught
nine semesters at Vermont College of Fine Arts. She co-founded the SCBWI’s
“Inside Story” salon for new books.
