SCBWI Success Story - Apsara Baldovino
We love sharing good news stories, especially ones that start with a SCBWI event. Here’s a great story from author Apsara Baldovino.
Apsara Baldovino’s picture book will be published next year after she took part in manuscript critques organised by SCBWI.
When I read about the retreat SCWBI was holding in NSW last October in the SCWBI ANZ newsletter, I was beyond excited. This would be an incredible weekend dedicated to writing, learning from publishing professionals and surrounded by aspiring and established writers and illustrators who would be there to perfect their craft. Unfortunately, as all good stories go - there was a plot twist. Another wave of Covid19 swept through NSW and the retreat was postponed and my little heart broke into millions of pieces. However, all was not lost when the SCWBI team informed me that the critiques would go ahead over Zoom rather than in person and I had opportunity to meet two incredibly respected women in the industry.
I booked a manuscript assessment with Davina Bell (Allen&Unwin) and Eve Tonelli (HarperCollins) and shared with them both the same story I had written on maternity leave entitled The Lucky Shack - a Children's picture book about gratitude, loss, love, and hope written from the unique perspective of the shack. It's a layered story that interweaves the seasons, the circle of life and the beauty and power of nature.
I had manuscript assessments before so had a feel for what these types of sessions entailed, but nothing prepared me for the feedback I received from both Davina and Eve, who found it challenging to critique the manuscript, as they both loved the story. Meeting Davina was a dream - as I am a fan girl of her beautiful stories, so the fact that she loved the story, made me feel beyond giddy. However, the very next day, I met Eve and her feedback was beyond what I could imagine. For a publisher so esteemed at one of the largest publishing houses in the world - I had to continually pinch myself that this was real. I took the minor suggestions both Davina and Eve provided, and started tweaking the manuscript to send back to them directly for official submission, but before I had a chance I received an email from Eve.
She said that she loved the story so much she shared it with the rest of the children's publishing team at HarperCollins who also loved it - the team wanted to take the story to acquisitions! I cried tears of elation and couldn't sleep for days - it was a moment of pure joy during the heaviness of the lockdowns. From the email to acquisitions - it took about a month or so, and the wait to hear back was definitely excruciating as all the self-doubts came creeping in. Then, a couple weeks prior to Christmas, Eve Tonelli emailed me with the most wonderful news - HarperCollins wanted to publish The Lucky Shack! It was the best Christmas gift I have ever received. My husband and I have celebrated every step of the process. I feel so lucky to work with Eve - she is so supportive, generous with her insight and wisdom and is so passionate about the genre.
I owe my sincere gratitude to SCWBI and the entire team for hosting those wonderful sessions. Just like the shack in my story, I am a lucky girl. The Lucky Shack will be released by HarperCollins in July 2023.
Author Apsara Baldovino with SCBWI Regional Advisor Susanne Gervay and Emma Quay. Children’s authors and illustrators love getting together and sharing good news stories!
Creating Winning Picture Books… one brushstroke at a time
Celebrating the SCBWI Australian Picture Book Illustrator Awards
by Emma Quay
An afternoon dedicated entirely to illustration is always a winner in my book!
It was a privilege to share a stage with the other recipients of this brand-new prize for Australian picture book illustrators, in a celebratory get-together via Zoom. This job involves spending a huge amount of time alone, and yet it’s also very much about collaboration, communication and, therefore, other people. As illustrators, we make work with and for others, though not often in front of anyone — so it was fun to extend an invitation to join me in my little loft studio and share a glimpse into the processes I use when I’m creating the characters in my books.
The illustrations for my current picture book project are in brush and ink, and a week earlier this little girl had come out of my brush, while I was doing some morning warm-ups in my sketchbook.
I rather liked her, so I decided to improvise around the theme, not worrying what my pictures looked like, and with the sole aim of filling up a piece of paper. I filmed the process — speeding up the action to squash the thirteen minutes it took me down to just three — and I was surprised to discover I forgot I was being filmed at some points.
I did fill up the piece of paper… plus a little of another one, and during my presentation I talked through each drawing in turn, critiquing them and deciding out loud whether I’d choose the first character I painted, as she’s quiet, still and lost in the moment, or one whose brushstrokes are a little livelier… or fewer… or another, for the slight tilt of her head (the position we often adopt when we draw)… or one which feels nicely pared back, although possibly a little too introverted and in her own world.
I’d already decided which girl I’d have chosen, and — as is often the case — she’d emerged somewhere in the middle of the painting session, when I’d loosened up and become less self conscious, but hadn’t yet gone off the boil.
She has fewer brushstrokes than some of the other characters, and I like the way she’s leaning in the direction she’s about to paint, suggesting the moment to come. She has that loose, easy quality I’m looking for: not overworked. There’s a lot I could fix up, with Photoshop, should I choose to, whilst also making sure I keep the quirkiness and hand-drawn qualities of the brushwork.
This replicates the process I go through when I illustrate a character. I draw, draw, draw, until I feel I can’t draw any more. And then I do draw some more. Somewhere in there will be the one… hopefully! Or, with the magic of Photoshop, I could even create a composite from my favourite parts of several characters.
Obviously, I don’t usually have the luxury of the crowd of children’s book people in my studio with me, so I thought I’d make the most of it on this afternoon. I was really interested to hear which girl the audience would have chosen to go in the imaginary book, so I shared the drawings on my Instagram account, inviting people to vote for their favourite.
And the result was certainly food for thought!
Due to the fact that my process is about making lots of options, and then choosing from amongst them, I have perhaps essentially illustrated all of my books several times over… yet, interestingly, the winner of the audience vote in this instance was girl number one — the very first one I’d painted!
So now when you see a character on the page in one of my books, you’ll know there are plenty more who haven’t made the cut, and are still in the studio with me… one of which might be the one you’d have chosen! Perhaps I should invite input more often — I’ll certainly consider it.
It was lovely to collaborate with my folk musician friend Ian Barker whose acoustic guitar playing so perfectly complements the hand-made qualities of brush and ink work. Again — it’s so much about people, this seemingly solo game. Congratulations to the other showcased, shortlisted, Honour receiving and winning illustrators, to Sue Whiting for her brilliant insights from the perspective of a writer and publisher, to Susanne Gervay for being the most enthusiastic champion of every single one of us, and many thanks to the SCBWI committee, the Copyright Agency and the judges of the award, for this honour and chance to share.
You’ll find the Instagram post with all the girls I painted, here
Me adding colour to the audience’s no.1 girl, here
And more about my picture books at www.emmaquay.com, with insights into process on the ILLUSTRATING page