Monday, February 20, 2012

Open House Weekend

Last weekend was a busy one for all majors thanks to the Open House on campus. The Illustration Department opened up CJ's 5 and 6 as well as our gallery that's currently hosting the Comic Book exhibit coordinated by James Simmons. Faculty invited students to come in and set up and work on projects so that prospective students and their accompanying families could get a sense of what to expect should they attend Ringling.

I PROUDLY showed the work that got into this year's Society of Illustrators Student Scholarship Competition and then opened it up to questions. Faculty members Mike Hodges, Steven Taft, and Regan Dunnick were there as well, fielding questions and contributing information about the work that was shown and anything else that came up. Across Old Bradenton Road, Robin Cody, Cheryl Cooper and Carl Johnson and some students were set up and working in the Bayou studios and meeting with attendees as well.

David Jackson coordinated the morning and things went incredibly smoothly. As one conversation wrapped up, David brought in the next group and really kept things moving. Much appreciated.
I believe there'll be another "Accepted Student Day" open house in April sometime.

Next Steps Roundtable weekend

The Next Steps Roundtable conversations were a good time. I was fortunate to share a room with Tim the Toy Man, Tim Kelly whose insights into the creative process of developing ideas for a variety of toys was of interest to all.

Regarding children's books...I shared what I felt was good and pertinent information from the SCBWI Conference the weekend before.  I scrambled to pull together a presentation and direct people to some appropriate links that helped to define and clarify some of the anticipated trends in that particular industry. We talked about traditional children's books, as well as eBooks and eEnhanced Books and various Apps that are beginning to garner attention.

Most of the questions from the Q&A pertained to what kind of portfolio should one put together (i.e. how many images; more than one style?, etc.)

Bottom line... I had a great time. Thanks to all of you that came to listen and did a great job of keeping a stimulating conversation going.

Casmer

Friday, February 3, 2012

Ringling College's "Next Step" Roundtables this weekend

Now that I'm back from the SCBWI conference I'll have an opportunity this weekend to share some of the information I picked up while there. I'll be participating in a series of roundtable discussions about children's books and will be sharing some of the new insights and information discussed at the conference about various technologies that are beginning impact children's books like eBooks, Enhanced eBooks, and Apps, all of which will be interesting additions to the format we all know and love.