I painted all the pictures on the computer - that might sound weird, but I use a program called Corel Painter that really works a lot like paint, and I have a special digital tablet and pen that works a bit like a canvas and paintbrush. 

Sometimes people seem to think that computers can just sort of magic up a picture for you, but it's actually as much work as painting with real paints - just less messy, and if I make a mistake there's always the CTRL-Z button! Wish I had one of those in real life... 

Want to see one of the pictures in progress? Here's a little animation I made of the different stages that Kanani's face went through for the cover of the first book. You can tell that painting on the computer isn't much different to painting in the real world - it still starts off UGLY! Then I gradually add layers till it doesn't look so shabby:

And here's the final painting: 

 I learned a lot about painting realistically, about composing complicated scenes with lots of characters, and about how to use lighting for dramatic effect. It was quite a challenge, as you can see from these pictures - there's a lot going on in them, huh?!

If you'd like to see more, Kanani has her own page on the American Girl website, with lots of games and activities...

The Kanani books were ghostwritten by the lovely Lisa Yee,

but the real genius behind them was her small yellow accomplice Peepy.

 That's one of my paintings of Kanani up there in the shop window, larger than life-size Lisa... and Peepy is showing you the Kanani dolls and outfits that filled American Girl stores last year.  

 Here are some of the displays in the American Girl stores - all photos courtesy of Lisa, who sent them to me and said I could blog them. (Thanks, Lisa!)

Nikau, Zoe and Chris at our first cafe stopover.Our trip is funded by the Country Area Program, which provides opportunities for isolated schools. Together we'll journey almost 3000 kilometres, and speak at 12 schools! It's a wonderful chance to see the lie of the land, explore NSW, and drop in on schools that are so far flung that they don't often have visitors. Look how much ground we're covering! If you stretched that blue line out straight, I think it would almost reach New Zealand...

View CAP author/illustrator tour in a larger map

Then I went to a workshop run by Paul O. Zelinsky, whose work I've admired for a long time. In fact, when I did my first book I was researching the technique of grisaille underpainting, and I found a great online explanation he'd posted of the technique (which unfortunately seems to have disappeared or I'd link to it.) In his workshop he gave us a wonderful insight into his working methods for his more traditional paintings, and I was especially impressed with his dedication to finding the right models for his work... he not only hired dancers from a national ballet company, but even got up the nerve to approach a stranger when he found the perfect model for his Miller's Daughter in Rumplestiltskin. But most impressively, in order to find out what the herb Rapunzel looked like, he actually ordered seed from a heirloom catalogue and grew the plants in his studio. Now that's devotion! And because he wanted his witch's house in Hansel and Gretel to be tiled with pancakes, he cooked up a batch and drew from real pancake models. 

The page I was doodling on in my sketchbook while listening to Paul Zelinsky. Sorry it's not a more flattering sketch! I'll do better next time.

At the end of the day we had the PAL book sale and signing - Chris and I dragged along 40 copies of Sounds Spooky, which will be released in September, putting me dangerously over my luggage limit, but luckily I didn't have to lug them all home again, because they all sold out on the first day! Here's Chris looking all authorial and me with three chins and stupid hair at the book signing, but don't look at me - Look at the book! The BOOK! Isn't it shiny?

I also went to the illustrator's social, which was so social I forgot to take any pictures... but I did get to chat with illustrator  E.B. Lewis and Cecilia Yung, art director at Penguin, and meet up with some lovely friends.

There's a wonderful article in Publisher's Weekly that sums up the conference brilliantly, but I'm going to give you the Sarahscope Panoramic View in Glorious Technicolour (TM). Actually, it will be filtered through a slight haze due to the fact that it's almost impossible to get a decent cup of tea in America, so I was suffering from severe tea withdrawal. 

The next morning the conference opened with a welcome from Lin Oliver and Steven Mooser, the people who started it all 40 years ago. They claim  that when they began SCBWI, it had about 10 members, and all of them had the last name Oliver or Mooser. This year, though, the conference sold out, with around 1300 attendees from 20 countries, and a cast of luminaries on the faculty which included some of the biggest names in children's literature. In fact, Lin Oliver joked that if there was an earthquake during the conference, there would be no children's book industry left in the USA. So they've come a long way! 

The grand ballroom at the Hyatt, packed with authors, illustrators, editors, publishers and agents. Lin Oliver welcomes everyone to SCBWI's 40th birthday bash.

All the keynote speakers proved themselves to be talented orators as well as writers and illustrators, and each speaker was moving, hilarious, and thought-provoking - often simultaeneously! There were many standing ovations. I can't really do their talks justice in the space of a blog entry, especially since part of their impact was due to their charisma, but I can at least share the moments that  shone out for me. 

The first keynote speaker was Bruce Coville, and his talk really struck a chord with me. I have some friends that do important things - they work for Oxfam, lecture in ethics, practice medicine, save the world. And I draw pictures. Sometimes I feel like what I do is rather frivolous. But Mr. Coville's talk was entitled "Ripples in the Pond: Why what we do matters... and matters... and continues to matter."    At its centre was the concept that everything we do is like a pebble thrown in a pond, and that the slightest action can have unforeseen and important consequences. He read from a letter that had been sent to him by someone who as a child read the fourth book in his "My Teacher is an Alien" series ( "a book that didn't make any ripples, that received no critical acclaim and wasn't noticed by many"). But this child was so captivated by one of the scenes in the book where the characters travel around the planet helping people that, as an adult, they joined the Peace Corp. So, by drawing, by writing, and by sharing our ideas with children "we can reach a special, lasting place in a kid's soul". His talk was summed up beautifully in this quote from a Steven Sondheim song:

"Only move just a finger,
Say the slightest word,
Somethings bound to linger...
Be heard."

While I was listening, I was sketching - I listen best when I'm doodling, which is why I was always getting into trouble at school for having messy books covered in scribbles. So, here's Bruce Coville... the words around his head were his words of advice to aspiring writers (all fabulous tips, but my favourite was "Marry Rich"!) I've blurred them because I don't want to plaster his material all over the web without his say-so. And look! He signed it for me!

This was the idea that the publishers decided to go with in the end:

And here (drumroll please....) is the finished thing.