The prompt was to tell a story in 4-6 panels with no words. I had already been playing around with this idea while working on a picture book with a sheep wearing a sweater. I had a couple of people express concern that a sheep would wear wool (one of it's own kind!) So with this story, I wanted to illustrate that sheep are not harmed (just maybe a little embarrassed) in the process of getting their wool. *No sheep were harmed in the process of making this story!
After getting Tomie's feedback on this piece after the contest, I made a few changes with the color and the girl's nose. We will receive our next prompt in the near future.
The final winner gets a trip to the SCBWI Conference in NYC and lunch with Tomie dePaola! Whether I win or not, this has been a great learning process. Anytime you work on something (whether it's successful or not) and stretch yourself to try new techniques, your skills improve and you have that knowledge to take to your next project. I also have two fantastic SCBWI critique groups who aren't afraid to "tell me like it is," and make me push myself a little more.
You can see the finalists here: http://www.scbwi.org/2014-tomie-depaola-semi-finalists/
