Ken W. Min ~ Illustrator

A Very Cool Week

this week i learned that the picture book i illustrated, "hot, hot roti for dada-ji" took home the honor title in the picture book category from the APALA (asian/pacific american librarians association) 

the 'honor' title is generally considered the runner up status or recognizing a work of merit. 

in fact, for the children's publishing industry, monday was their 'oscars' in that ALA (american librarians association) handed out a slew of awards to celebrate the works of many authors and illustrators in a number of categories.

so to be given this title is a very humbling and flattering thing.

but let's not think this award mine alone, it acknowledges both the literary as well as the artistic achievement. it very much is a team collaboration. and, of course, that starts with the lyrical words of author f. zia, who conceived this charming story to give to her grandchildren. my editor jennifer fox whose guiding hand brought this project together and a tip of the hat to art director scott myles. they were so terrific to work with and i especially enjoyed hanging out with scott talking about the book and going over the designs and layouts over lunch at bob's big boy restaurant here in LA. (get the chili spaghetti- thems good eatin')

also want to say thank you to lee & low books for taking a chance on a couple of newbies to the field. 

 i raise a glass and toast you all.

of book fairs and Q&As

over the weekend i went out to the LA times 'festival of books'. it's an annual book fair, which this year was held on the campus of USC. (go trojans! fight on!) it's a great show of author panels and tents full of book sellers. while wandering the many booths, i came across this little book in one of their bins.

yeah, baby! tuck in there next to madeline and some other books in japanese was hot, hot roti for dada-ji. dude, i was not expecting that. a nice surprise, indeed.

i also came across a booth selling t-shirts like this one.

if you know your classics, that shirt represents the great gatsby, my favorite book by my favorite author. the shirt is styled after a baseball jersey and when i saw it, i had to pick one up. 

the 'festival of books' is always a fun way to spend the afternoon- browsing through book stalls, meeting and listening to authors and this year, getting some free ben & jerry's ice cream.

perfect.

before i sign off, i thought i'd mention a couple of blog where i participated in some Q&A action. the first comes from the lee & low publisher site called 'book talk'. the author of hot, hot roti for dada-ji- f. zia and i- talk about our experiences working on the book and other interesting matters. read it here at this link.

i also did a little interview with my good friend, paula yoo (writer of good enough and shining star: the anna may wong story), who this week is putting on her annual NaPiBoWriWee (national picture book writing week) in conjunction with this event and our Q&A, we're also giving away a signed copy of hot, hot roti for dada-ji. so read our talk and leave a comment. you could win that book! :)

read it here.

 

Who is this Odd Person in Burbank, CA?

who is a bit of a hermit? who thinks 'salty snacks' is one of the major food groups? who can't seem to throw out his VCR? who thinks "calvin & hobbes" is the coolest thing since sliced cheese, and who has an inordinate number of books in his home library? (well, after lisa yee that is :)

recently i took part in an interview series/blog from jennifer bertman who likes to take a peek into the "creative spaces" of various authors and illustrators. i was flattered to be asked to participate cause i'm really kind of a boring guy...who works in a room...by himself...for hours on end. so an opportunity to open up and interact with someone (albeit across the interweb) was kind of a fun.

so if you want to take a look and see some of what makes me tick, read the post here.

i hope i didn't overshare or reveal too much of myself; like any sort of dark secrets. at least i didn't mention my penguin fetish...oops.

The Postman always rings...

went to the mail box today, minding my own business and i see there is key in the box. what this means is that there is a package in a separate utility box for oversized parcels. i had no idea what it could be because i wasn't expecting anything in the mail. well this is what i found inside.

an early, advance copy of the picture book i worked on last year. all bound with a shiny cover to boot. if i wasn't so stoic, i would say there was maybe a tear of joy in my eye or perhaps a smirk of happiness and contentment, but i'm pretty stoic so you'll just have to read between the lines. :)

it's certainly a handsome book to look at and made me quite proud to have this as my first, official picture book.

i hope you will look for it come May 2011.

Season's Greetings

happy holidays everyone!

The Day is Done (UPDATED)

yesterday illustrator's day (see previous post), an event i helped coordinate, came...and went.

it turned out to be a lot of fun and i was really happy with how everything played out. and if you know me, i'm my own harshest critic, so there's always something to bug me, even if it's some small detail that no one else would really pick up, but i can't say there was anything glaring yesterday...well, o.k. i wince every time i think about how i too quickly turned off the lights in the auditorium on brian floca's slide presentation. should have done it one light switch at a time, drop the lights gradually. sorry brian.

so i hope that everyone who attended came away with some good info, a touch of inspiration and a smile.

i also want to thank my tag team partner, milla, for co-conceiving the day with me and to my "volunteer army" for all their best efforts behind the scenes.

tho, i think the best part for me was getting to meet and know such bright, creative folks in the children's publishing world. my hat's off to brian floca, jen rofé, rich deas, abigail samoun and the irascible dan santat.

maybe we can all do it again sometime.

 

(* UPDATE- we've got pictures! if you would like to see some of the pictures from the day, you can visit the flickr site of friend rita who shot the pictures at this link:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rhcrayon/sets/72157625453108190/

 

 

SCBWI-LA Illustrator's Day 2010

i suppose i could have written about this sooner, considering it takes place this saturday, but well, ha ha.

illustrator's day is coming. this is an event that i co-organized and i think we have a pretty spiffy line-up. we have author/illustrator/ dan santat, tricycle press editor abigail samoun, sr. creative director at macmillan rich deas, author/illustrator brian floca and literary agent jennifer rofé (accent on the 'e')

my partner and i have been plotting, planning, moving huge boulders and making back room deals to get this event put together and, frankly, i can't wait to see it unfold. i think we've got a little something for everyone. interested in how a picture book is conceived? you'll find out here from brian floca. want a mix of craft and industry talk plus what an editor thinks when acquiring a book? abigail samoun will tell all. what goes into cover designing? listen to rich deas. you've got a book to promote? jennifer rofé will tell you how (and she'll clean your fridge. what do i mean by that? come to illustrator's day and i'll tell you. :)

i don't know what dan santat is planning. he keeps saying he'll get around to preparing his talk. one of these days. that's why i've developed an ulcer and a nervous tick.

i think the curiousity of what dan is presenting- that alone is worth the price of admission. 

plus we'll have raffle give-aways, books for sale, contest prizes, and a secret something that we won't spoil here.

find all the details below:

http://www.scbwisocal.org/events/la_illustrators_day.html

 

so come on out and see what all is going on. it will be a blast!

826LA Charity Art Auction

 

a friend is putting on a charity art auction to benefit a very worthy cause- 826LA. here is what they are about:

826LA is a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting students ages 6 to 18 with their creative and expository writing skills, and to helping teachers inspire their students to write. Our services are structured around our understanding that great leaps in learning can happen with one-on-one attention, and that strong writing skills are fundamental to future success.

when asked to pitch in, i was more than happy to contribute art for the auction. in fact, it was a blast to do my rendition of characters from the book OH NO! (OR HOW MY SCIENCE PROJECT DESTROYED THE WORLD)

that's the theme of the auction. 30 artists portray scenes from the book or moments inspired by the action. it's that simple and that fun.

the auction will be held in 2 parts beginning august 23- 27 and then august 30- september 3 across Ebay.

here are the details. just follow the links:

the auction website: http://theeyewitnessreports.com/EYEWITNESS_REPORTS/JUNE_1,_2010.html

the video trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5orTOKFxFyw

a gallery show will take place of all the pieces at gallery nucleus on august 14 so you can see them up close and personal:

http://www.gallerynucleus.com/gallery/exhibition/259

if you're in the LA area, i plan on being there and maybe, just maybe, i'll be wearing my fake mustache! that's worth the price of admission right there! :)

btw, here's my piece:

 so everybody, get the word out there. pass along these links or this blog post and lets support a worthwhile cause!!

The Bet that Paid Off! (UPDATED)

finished up the SCBWI summer conference over the weekend and i definitely had a blast. lots of good speakers. lots of great workshops and to me, the best thing of all, was hanging with a lot of wonderful people.

but the one thing i wanted to specifically follow up on was the bet i made with one tammi sauer. ms. sauer hails from oklahoma and i, of course, live in LA so we made a friendly basketball sports wager on the outcome of the LA lakers/OKC thunder match up. if the lakers lost, i would pony up original art. if the thunder lost, i get an advanced, signed copy of tammi's new book. but best of all, loser has to wear a t-shirt of the winning ball club during one day at the SCBWI summer children's book conference.

guess who won?

yup, tammi is sporting the purple and gold of the NBA champion lakers.

and here's my booty from the bet.

 

with it's rather curious dedication

tammi was an incredibly good sport and to show you all that i'm not the cad you might think i am for making possibly one-sided bets, i presented her with some art based on her most recent book "chicken dance" (illustrated by my buddy dan santat)

so, please, a round of applause for tammi sauer and go out there and read her books. they are terrific.

visit tammi's website at:

http://www.tammisauer.com/Home_Page.html

'mostly monsterly' comes out august 31st in fine book stores near you. get a copy!

(UPDATED) i would be remiss if i didn't mention the very cool, sweet swag that tammi brought out for me from OKC. i have to imagine i'm the only person in LA driving around with this particular car flag.

 

on another note, i noticed there was this rather curious mustachio'd gentleman wandering about the conference flirting with all the ladies. i think his name is something like enrique suave (accent on the 'e') and apparently he is something of a lothario at large. beware ladies, beware!

(and one rather disgruntled dan santat who was not amused. OH NO, not at all)

It's Summer Conference Time Again...

it's the middle of summer which means it's time for the SCBWI national conference. the conference takes place july 30th - august 2nd at the hyatt here in century city, ca. i always enjoy getting together with old friends and making new ones while rubbing elbows with...well, whoever will rub elbows with me.

they always have a nice roster of talent speaking and discussing the business of children's literature, but here's my list of things that i'm looking forward to this year:

-that "first day of school" feeling the morning the conference begins. i still get a touch of the butterflies in my stomach. but it's always nice to see how people are doing and what's new with everyone.

-wondering what the ratio of writers to illustrators will be this year, cause you know, we illustrators are the 'black sheep' of the group. *baaaaa*

-hazing the obvious newbies who are here for their first conference. like giving them the wrong directions, making them carry my pack, letting them push pennies across the lobby of the hotel with their nose and having them wear their clothes inside out and backwards for the first day of the conference. be forewarned 'scrubs', find a good place to hide!

-wondering what take-out food author lisa yee will forget about and leave under the seat of her car to fester and 'mutate' and ripen by the time of the conference; like an unwanted science experiment. last year she had a bevy of little creatures come alive to sprout, amuse and entertain her. that is until she took her vehicle to get it cleaned out. this year, i'm guessing the food of choice will be a nice half eaten burrito. and could you please leave your car parked out on the street under the hot sun to ensure maximum results?

-seeing writer tammi sauer model the latest in l.a. laker fashion wear. ms. sauer and i made a little sports wager back when my lakers were playing the oklahoma city thunder in a basketball playoff series. loser has to wear a shirt with the logo of the winning team. gee, i wonder who lost that fight? now it's just a matter of which day is best for her to wear that stunning, sparkly, shiny shirt i picked out for her...

-drinks in the lobby. if you know what i mean, just touch the side of your nose and nod your head once.

-the sugary snack we get on monday afternoon. some years it's ice cream. sometimes it's cookies. and some days it's cupcakes. at heart, we're all little kids looking for a treat at the end of a fun, busy and informative conference.

looking forward to a good time.

and i plan to be sporting a moustache!