Another month gone...I can't believe it. A quick update on my September:
The biggest news of the month is the outcome of my search for an agent. Within a week or two of mailing out five submission packages (plus two e-queries), one of the agents got in touch with an offer of representation. Wow. That offer set in motion a whirlwind of activity that occupied a good deal of my mind (and a substantial chunk of my time). I had to email all of the other potential agents to let them know I had an offer and give them a chance to respond. I had to schedule phone calls with the offering agent, and then with two of his current clients, who were acting as references. Then, after indicating that I wanted to accept the offer of representation, I was emailed an author-agent agreement to sign. Then I freaked out a little (OK, not really...legal contracts just make me nervous), so I called the client references a second time. I called my favorite lawyers (Aunt Emily and Uncle Robert). And I emailed / called the agent to ask for clarification about certain clauses. I spent hours online trolling blogs, message boards, and writing websites in order to know what I should look for in an author-agent agreement. Educating myself about agency contracts was daunting but ultimately doable, and I found this Writer Beware Blog and this website (linked from Writer Beware) to be helpful. I also (finally) joined Verla Kay's famous blue boards, and thus far have found the online community to be very supportive and generous in sharing information and advice.
The end result? I am now represented by Steven Chudney of The Chudney Agency! We had our first official client-agent conversation today, and we laid out a game plan for polishing up Scrumptious Yum-o-licious Pie and getting it out to editors. Steven also had an interesting idea about Horace & Amelia, which I will say more about next month....
In terms of illustration, I've taken a bit of a break this month from children's stuff. I mentioned in my last post that I wanted to spend some time experimenting with style, and I have made some progress in that area, though as usual, everything moves more slowly than I'd like. I've mainly been tooling around with editorial illustrations and trying my hand at digital work; here's one I did that could accompany an article on the gay community in India. 
Did I actually have such an article to work from? No. I just made a drawing of a tiger face and then another tiger face and wondered what I could do with them. Maybe the tigers represent India? Yes, good. Maybe they're outsourced customer service reps. OK, how can I make them more interesting? Oh, they're gay. Eccoci qua. Add some trendy glasses, a cotton tunic, and a cigarette, and there you have it: Gay India. My approach to this illustration was a bit different for me, as I did a significant amount of the work in Photoshop. I had hoped that going digital would shorten the amount of time it took to complete the illustration. But no luck. Photoshop just opens an infinite number of design doors for you rather than narrowing your choices. It's kind of like falling down a rabbit hole, and then another, and then another and another. Fun, but it can get out of control if you let it.
In other news, my workspace in our little loft is undergoing a massive cleanup and reorganization (a tedious but necessary endeavor). It always feels so satisfying to get things in order, even if it means slogging though piles of sketches and trace paper and paint tubes and nasty lumps of old kneaded eraser and other flotsam to get there.
As for my September goal of putting my art in front of one potential client each week? It's been a partial success. I have packages mailed to Cricket and Highlights magazines. I requested templates for cover submissions to New Moon. And I contacted the L.A. Times about editorial illustration. I need to send samples to them, and so far I've only got a few (see my gay Indian tigers, e.g.). It'll take a little more time to beef up my "adult" portfolio enough to send them a mailing. My goal for October will be to follow though with New Moon and submit some cover ideas to them. And I'd like to do at least one more editorial illustration. Don't want to promise too much more than that, as I'm sure MY AGENT (!) will have plenty of work to keep me busy!
Hi Carlynn--Congratulations on your agent contract. Whoo-hoo! I came across your blog while adding links to all the l.a. and o.c. illustrators on my blog. Congratulations again and see you soon at one of the schmoozes!
Posted by: Christina Forshay | October 28, 2007 at 10:55 PM