I have not been updating/loading talks and articles I wrote/presented the last few years - but at last I did - go to http://marjorie-van-heerden-articles.blogspot.com/ to read the five articles/talks I posted - or just click on the link in the sidebar - enjoy!

We won the 2012 M.E.R. Award!

 













A highlight for me last year was in June, when author Alex D’Angelo and I won the M.E.R. Award (one of the Media24 Books Literary Awards) for the best illustrated children’s book published in South African during the previous year (2011) – we won the award for Goblin Diaries: Apprenticed to the Red Witch, published by Tafelberg Publishers (SA). This was the second time I have had the honour to be awarded this prestigious award, the first time was in 2008 when it went to Wendy Hartmann (as author) and me (as illustrator) for Nina and Little Duck, published in 2007 by Human & Rousseau (SA).

I was completely shocked and, of course, speechless.  As a result, my thank you speech was: "Thank you!"

So here is the speech I should have made that night, the people I should have said that "thank you" to:

To my husband, Johann: Thank you for your love and encouragement. And your help. Without you I would not have had the guts to become a writer and an illustrator. And to continue creating book after book  for more than three decades.

To Alida Potgieter, the editor who gave me my very first illustrating job, and who also became my friend: Thank you for believing in me and launching me on such a wonderful journey. 

To Alex d'Angelo, for writing this exciting, imaginative story. I really enjoyed illustrating it.

To Michelle Cooper, for asking me to illustrate Alex's manuscript. Thank you.

To the Media24 Literary Awards committee and the judges: Thank you so much for your appreciation and for honouring me (a second time!) with this award - It is really a very special honour. I am passionate about my work. But we writers and illustrators mostly work in isolation. And while working long, solitary hours to try and create something magical for the children, one becomes so involved and so focused that, eventually, you have a problem really judging your own work. So, to receive an award such as this, to publicly receive such recognition from specialists such as yourselves, means a lot. It really does. Thank you so much.

Goblin Diaries - shortlisted for the 2012 MER award

Goblin Diaries by Alex D’Angelo, and illustrated by me, Marjorie van Heerden published by Tafelberg in 2011 has been shortlisted for the 2012 MER award Media24 Books Literary for best illustrated children’s book & Youth Books. These  prizes are awarded annually for works published in the previous year and aim to acknowledge and applaud excellence in local literature (South Africa).

Goblin Diaries: Apprenticed to the Red Witch
Author:Alex D’Angelo
Illustrator: Marjorie Van Heerden
Tafelberg (Pty) Ltd
ISBN: 9780624052890
Price (incl. VAT): R 105.00
Format: Soft cover, 128pp, colour cover and b/w illustrations inside

My New Books have been published and will be launched in Singapore at the AFCC Festival.

The books I illustrated for Kathleen Ahrens (SCBWI International RA Chairperson) and Chu-Ren Huang have been published - in time for the AFCC conference in Singapore.  There will be a book launch on Monday 28 May organised by the  Bookaburra Bookstore in Singapore - at 1.15pm to 1.45pm

I have been invited to do two talks/presentations and Illustration Master Classes at the AFCC Conference - so I'm off to Singapore the end of this month.See the programmes of the 3rd Asian Festival of Children's Content (AFCC)

VERY EXCITED!!!

 

 

Ears Hear 耳朵 聽見 (In English & Chinese)
Written by Kathleen Ahrens and Chu-Ren Huang
Illustrated by Marjorie van Heerden
Sun Ya Publishers (Hong Kong)
 published in 2012

 

 

 

Numbers Do  數數

Written by Kathleen Ahrens and Chu-Ren Huang (In English & Chinese)
Illustrated by Marjorie van Heerden
Sun Ya Publishers (Hong Kong)
published in 2012

Two picture books - Numbers Do & Ears Hear

I finished and delivered all the illustrations for the two picture books I illustrated...
Numbers Do and Ears Hear, written by Chu-Ren Huang & Kathleen Ahrens (International SCBWI Regional Advisor Chairperson) , to be published in 2012 by Sun Ya publishers, Hong Kong
Below are a selection of illustrations from Ears Hear and earlier I posted some illustrations from Numbers Do

Illustrations for SAM, a chapter book.

In January 2912 I delivered the artwork for the book

SAM
’n Ware verhaal van ’n dogtertjie en haar olifant(a true story of a little girl and her elephant) written by Ingrid Vander Veken, translated from Dutch into Afrikaans by Antjie Krog and illustrated by myself.
Publised in 2012 by LAPA Publishers (South Africa)

Here is the cover illustration and below is a selection of the pencil drawings for inside the book.

answer to another question

To answer the question from an illustrator working mostly for the educational market - How do I break into the trade market?
This could be a discussion that could take days and many cups of earl grey tea - there is so many essential bits and pieces – then there is also the magical - being in the right place at the right time.
Basically It has to do with a mind change, illustrating happens in your mind not on the paper.
You need to take your illustrations into the next level. Away from stereotyping, away from minimulising because of a time restrain.
So… Spend the time and really look at the trade books – try and find out what gives some picture books that magical feel. Why they stand out from other books?

Join children’s book organisations like SCBWI (Society of children’s book writers and illustrators ) http://www.scbwi.org/
Attend conferences -http://springevent2011-scbwi-sa.blogspot.com/
Attend SCBWI SA events and get-togethers - get onto the mailing list so that you can get the circulars about upcoming events http://www.scbwi.za.org/
Attend Illustration workshops and courses -
I’m giving a children’s book illustration course for the 2011 CCIBA Creative Workshops to be held from 5 – 9 September 2011 at the Stellenbosch University Department of Visual Arts - http://www.cciba.sun.ac.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=16&Itemid=20

Perhaps at one of the SCBWI SA events we can talk more about… how do I break into the trade market?

Websites that are really useful

Here are a number of websites with info on writing & illustrating and submitting work to publishers - good luck
http://www.gropenassoc.com/art​icles/TrustPublishers.htm
http://underdown.org/
http://www.underdown.org/basic​s.htm
http://cbiclubhouse.com/

Answering a question

In answer to a question I was asked on Facebook on my media and method I use when illustrating picture books.

To share a few notes on the technique and materials I currently enjoy using when I illustrate a children’s picture book: After completing a full set of rough pencil drawings and sorting out the design and layout of the book, I like to choose a specific paper that would suit the atmosphere of the story best. Generally I find that a fast-paced story wants a rougher paper, whereas an intimate, quiet story benefits from a smoother, fine paper on which I can do much more detailed work. I then redraw the illustration onto the selected paper, often using a light box. Next I paint a wash onto the illustration area of the page and finish the detailed drawing with crayons over the wash.

I use Caran d’Ache ‘Neocolor II Aquarelle’ oil pastels. Three makes of paper that work well for me are Canson Mi-teintes 160g/m2, Fabriano 4 Liscio 220g/m2 and Bainbridge Coquille Bristol #2. I like the last one best...

To add to that - I do not stretch my paper but using a big brush, I brush the paper lightly with a thin layer of water before starting to work with the wash of paint then let it dry completely before starting to work with the crayons. The crayons I use is water-soluble so from time to time I would smooth an area done with crayon with a wet brush

A tip - use very good quality paper - the cheaper paper disintegrate and bugle very quickly

And there is also an article I wrote on
http://marjorie-van-heerden-articles.blogspot.com/
on illustrating the picture book - Nina and Little Duck
The article is called THE MIND OF AN ILLUSTRATOR (August 2008)
Hope you will go and read it!

Final illustrations for Numbers Do

Some final illustrations I did for the picture book Numbers Do written by Chu-Ren Huang & Kathleen Ahrens , to be published by Sun Ya publishers, Hong Kong
See Ears Hera's illustrations too - click here to get to the top of the blog