Ken W. Min ~ Illustrator

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.

 

Kid's Reading Room

i have a piece in today's sunday comic section of the LA times accompanying a story called, "whirling dervish"

if you don't subscribe or pick up the newsprint edition of the paper (and why not? i myself love the feel of printer's ink on my fingers while perusing the paper. seriously. i'm old school :) you can find a link to the story and image here.

or, i suppose, you might have noticed the image up top. (man, i have to work on my skills to tease a story and tantalize the reader... *sigh*)

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 ~ WK 2

the 826LA charity art auction rolls on into week 2 and my piece goes up on the auction block. you know you want to support a good cause and pick it up. look at it, it's got a toad and a robot duking it out across a city skyline. it's got action. it's got adventure.

it's got romance. look in the window of the building on the left and go down the hall where you'll find a 70 year old man stuck in an elevator with a 68 year old woman. at this moment, they realize they were neighbors as kids until one moved away. but they never forgot one another and now, in a moment of serendipity, they meet for the first time in 61 years. buy this piece for their love story.

or look around at all the art that is up for sale. there's lots of good stuff here. check out that piece by bob boyle. it may be my favorite one here. or look at the works of erin kono or catia chien or scott magoon. lots of good stuff, people, from lots of talented folks.

so run, don't walk, to the ebay link here and support 826LA:

http://shop.ebay.com/dsantat75/m.html?_nkw&_armrs=1&_from&_ipg&_trksid=p3686

for more info about 826LA  and the auction website see here:

http://theeyewitnessreports.com/EYEWITNESS_REPORTS/JUNE_1,_2010.html

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!!

Let's All Go to the Zoo!

 

went to the zoo today to draw the animals. as beautiful a day as it was, it was probably a little too hot for the critters. most of them looking for shade or staying out of sight in back where they could just be away from the sun. ended up with very few animals to draw.
except for this turtle (picture 1) who says turtles are slow? in the time i drew this, he was sprinting out of his home across the compound, ate some vittles, read a stephen king book, talked to the park ranger and ran back home- all in the span of 5 minutes!
and those meerkats, what a bunch of hams! they were constantly posing like they were hollywood stars on the red carpet. i guess that's what happens when one of their own stars in a disney feature and the rest of them are looking for their own 3 picture deal with 10% of the back end.

Good: a gallery ~ First Show

well, that show i'm participating in, is almost here. it opens this friday in fact. i shipped the piece off to portland last week (see last post to see what it looks like)

wish i could be there for the opening. i haven't been to portland in ages. great town. but if anyone who reads or passes through this site, and happens to live near portland, oregon, i hope you'll be able to take the time to drop by.

or stop by the gallery's website: goodpdx.com

The Little Red Haired Girl

so i was asked to contribute a piece for a friend's gallery up in portland, oregon. the theme of the show is "warm fuzzies". i hadn't done a piece for a show before, so this was a rather interesting proposition. after all, the image and idea is up to you, one just has to loosely follow the directive. sometimes, that's too open ended of a concept for me. sometimes i need to be told exactly what's needed, like depicting a ninja cat stalking a grey elephant, but i eventually got by. and then the other issue, what does one charge for a picture he/she is opening up for sale? i haven't sold a piece before. i donated a piece for a charity auction once but not outright selling a picture. should i offer this image up in barter; in trade perhaps? or should i swap it for 2 goldfish or a friendly puppy? maybe a pie. (i love me some pie) or maybe a nice slice of pizza. that's the ticket....actually, i have no idea.

anyways, check out my friend's gallery website:

http://goodpdx.com/

if the title of the piece makes you think of charlie brown and "peanuts", well you aren't too far away from my inspiration.

(editor's note: this show goes up in december)

Book Fair Banners

so, a very long while ago, i had written postings on a book fair i was working on. I was responsible for the art and designs and the event is now almost upon us. it's coming up on february 15th (thru the 17th) and one can view the street banners of my images around los angeles. it's pretty wild to see them all on display like that. it's a bit of a kick. i've included some pictures i took today. yes, as you can see in the pictures, it's cloudy and grey here in l.a., but i won't complain. for a little while, i'll have artwork stretched out on 8 foot long banners. it's crazy. :)