In Tomie's words "assignment or prompt" & some sketches

What Tomie wrote:

"The assignment or prompt, if you will.

 

This year’s assignment is to cast yourself, as a child, in a picture book. Show your autobiographical character in a scene and make sure to convey the emotion of your character. The viewer should be able to read the emotion of the character immediately and clearly. No words or captions are allowed in the image. The dimensions of the original image are up to you, but you must print it out on an 8.5 x 11 piece of paper. Submissions will be mailed to the SCBWI office, and we will send them to Tomie dePaola for judging."

 

How am I going make it work? What parts of my childhood am I going to share?

 Something fun like sledding?

 Or not a great student in school or...

 

 

 

Some of the early sketches trying to figuring out how much of myself 

am I willing to share, also does it read well?

 

The finished sketch

 

It does not happen overnight 2012-2017

 

My submissions to the

Tomie dePaola Award

 2012-2017

 

2012 Chicken Little

2013 A Sneeze is a Breeze

2014 part 1 sequential story telling

 was a Semi-Finalist that allowed me to participate in part 2 

Part 2 2015 Prompt was created by Tomie dePaola 

 

2016 Little Red Ridding Hood

 

2017 First Runner up

 

It does not happen overnight. 

Even though I have a illustration for ever year the time line is a little off because one year I believe it was 2014 I did not participate in that contest.
 I was working on "Tea with Queen"  

That year Tomie decided to have a 2 part contest.
It started right after the 2014 SCBWI Winter Conference and ended at the 2015 SCBWI Winter Confrence

Link to SCBWI Winners and Runners up

link to the Unofficial Gallery
 

This will be the final year of the Tomie dePaola Award. 

I am honored to have been apart of this award.

It has always pushed me to work harder.

Tomie's contest challenged me to work as a professional. Hit  deadlines follow the structure of the assignments and so on.

Thank You Tomie   

 

Unfortunately you did not win the Tomie dePaola award

Well That's not a nice thing to say. Wait! What?  

 The email I received:

 

 

Hi Stephen,

Unfortunately you did not win the Tomie dePaola award, but you did win First Runner-up! Congratulations! Your beautiful piece will be featured on the website when we make the announcement tomorrow. 

As you may remember from past years, Tomie likes to include his thoughts about the winning pieces on the website, so that everyone can learn from his award and his choices. Here are his notes about your piece:

Stephen Macquignon

What a very nice surprise when I turned over this illustration and recognized Stephen’s name. I remembered his work from previous assignments, and we’ve met at the New York Conference.

In his piece, he’s taken his sketchy line and colored wash to a new level especially in his self-portrait. The mood, the body language and the hidden face are very moving to the viewer. Again, I “want” to know more: What’s going on, can I help? I’m interested!

Again, a small critique. I wish more care was taken with the background and the left front of the image. I read “shirts – maybe” for the background, but still, “What is that on the bottom left?”

Great job, Stephen. Keep it up. You’re on to something. 

LINK to SCBWI winner and runners up

 

Congratulations to all!