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Illustrator Drawoff: Chapter One
PBF PassNovember 4, 2023 @ 11:30 am - 12:15 pm
The Judy Black Box
Picture book and middle grade illustrators face off in a live drawing competition. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry with laughter, you’ll cheer as Breena Bard (Wildfire), Cátia Chien (On the Tip of a Wave), Charise Mericle Harper (I Cannot Draw a Bicycle), Pedro Martín (Mexikid), Nikkolas Smith (The Artivist), and Zachary Sterling (Mabuhay!) face off at the drawing easel. Host and emcee Jonathan Hill (Tales of a Seventh-grade Lizard Boy).
Portland Book Festival General Admission Passes are required for entry into all events. Passes are $15 in advance and $25 day of Festival. Youth 17 & under get in FREE. All full-priced General Admission Passes include a $5 book fair voucher and entry into Portland Art Museum. Passes admit attendees to the Festival; individual events are first-come, first-served. More info here.
Bios
Breena Bard
Breena Bard is an Oregon Book Award-winning author/illustrator of comics for kids and kids at heart. Her middle grade graphic novels include Wildfire (Little, Brown Ink 2023) and Trespassers (Scholastic/Graphix, 2020) and she has self-published a number of comics, including Hey Baby (2016) a comic memoir about the birth of her son, and Picket Line (2011) her Xeric-Award winning debut about environmental protests in the Redwoods. She lives in Portland, Oregon, with her husband and two kids. When she's not working on books, Breena enjoys eating pizza, watching movies, playing the drums, and exploring the outdoors with her family.
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Cátia Chien
Cátia Chien is a Brazilian Taiwanese artist. She's the illustrator of such titles as On the Tip of a Wave, with author Joanna Ho; The Bear and the Moon, which was a Society of Illustrators Gold Medal for Original Art winner and a Golden Kite Award for picture book illustration winner; and A Boy and a Jaguar, an ALA Notable Book and recipient of the Schneider Family Book Award. Her art has been shown in galleries worldwide, including the Beijing National Gallery and the Bologna Children's Book Fair exhibition. She is also the founder of A Thousand Worlds, a curated picture book directory celebrating BIPOC creators
.
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Charise Mericle Harper
Charise Mericle Harper is the award-winning author and illustrator of numerous children’s books and series, including the Just Grace series, the Fashion Kitty series, and the Next Best Junior Chef series. Harper’s signature wit, kid-friendly illustrations, and wholly original style have made her a familiar name with caregivers, educators, and librarians looking for books that encourage imagination and showcase art education. Charise lives with her family and furry pets in Portland, Oregon. Her new book is I Cannot Draw a Bicycle.
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Pedro Martín
Pedro Martín was a Hallmark artist for 27 years and is the creator of the “Asteroid Andy” cartoon shorts. His debut book is a graphic novel memoir about his childhood in the 1970s, in which he travels with his large family to Mexico to pick up his legendary grandfather (who may or may not have been a part of the Mexican Revolution). Martín’s debut, Mexikid, will be featured at the 2023 Portland Book Festival.
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Nikkolas Smith
Nikkolas Smith is an Artivist, picture book author, and Hollywood film illustrator. He is the author-illustrator of The Golden Girls of Rio and My Hair Is Poofy & That’s Okay. He also illustrated the picture books I Am Ruby Bridges, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever: The Courage to Dream, That Flag, and the New York Times bestselling The 1619 Project: Born on the Water. Many of Nikkolas’s viral and globally published sketches that have sparked important conversations and inspired meaningful change are included in his book Sunday Sketch: The Art of Nikkolas. He speaks on his Artivism at conferences, workplaces, and schools around the world, and he also leads workshops about digital painting. Born in Houston, Texas, Nikkolas lives in Los Angeles, California. His new book is The Artivist.
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Zachary Sterling
Zachary Sterling is a 33 year-old Filipino-American, New York Times Best-Selling illustrator, sequential artist and designer based in Portland, OR. He studied at The Pacific Northwest College of Art, Art Insitute of Portland and interned at Helioscope Studio (formerly Periscope Studio). He was formerly the artist on BOOM! Studio's Adventure Time graphic novels and prop designer on the Bee & Puppycat cartoon. His original graphic novel Mabuhay! was published on Scholastic's graphic novel imprint Graphix in 2023.
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Jonathan Hill
Jonathan Hill is an award-winning cartoonist, illustrator, and educator. His work has appeared in The Believer Magazine, Fantagraphics, Powell’s City of Books, and the Society of Illustrators. His graphic novel, Odessa, was a finalist for the 2021 PNBA Book Awards and won the 2021 Believer Book Award for Graphic Literature. His latest book, Tales of a Seventh Grade Lizard Boy, was included on the ALA's Best Graphic Novels for Children Reading List for 2022 and has been named an Oregon Spirit Award Honor Book. Jonathan also serves on the board of directors for Literary Arts.
