Are you interested in writing and / or illustrating books for young readers? Do you enjoy creeks, rural places, staying in a nice little cabin, and making friends? Then you’d love attending a Highlights Foundation in-person class, workshop, or retreat! You might be familiar with the Highlights for Children magazine… the foundation is dedicated to helping folks who create books for kids, whether in the beginning stages of their career, or further down their journey.

At the Summer Camp in Illustration, I made over a dozen new author-illustrator friends, and ran into some old pals from #kidlitartchat (a weekly online chat group.) Every day there were multiple demos that helped us explore new materials. My fave demo was drawing with fountain pens with Steve Light. Steve told us a story about an art teacher who insisted he try drawing without an eraser. This practice helped Steve learn to draw with ink in a more improvisational way.

Everyone at summer camp also got a mentor, and met with their mentor in small groups. My mentor was Sara Woolley (check out her comics here: http://www.sarawoolley.com/) Sara probably doesn’t know this, but she gave me a huge boost of confidence right when I needed it. Finishing my first graphic novel (The Real Riley Mayes) was a LOT of work. I dream of writing and drawing stories full time! But sometimes I just feel… well… tired. Sara helped make me feel like my hard work is worth it.

There are many things to love at a Highlights Foundation retreat: wonderful people, wonderful food, and bunnies! But my favorite things about my time at Highlights was this: everyone wants you to succeed at doing whatever it is YOU want to do. It felt like a place where everyone could have different goals– and, it’s even okay to not know what you’re goals are at this moment. I met folks who work in TV, on the stage, in classrooms, and for design firms. The thing we had in common? We were all trying to figure out was what moves us to make art, together.

Thank you Highlights Foundation!