Member Spotlight

A dash of Kentucky, a splash of Montana, and a whole box of crayons. Jensen Collins is a children’s book illustrator whose work features bright colors and bold line work for illustrations that captivate a young audience. Jensen’s passion lies in creating whimsical characters that bring out the giggles. Jensen has illustrated more than 10 books for independent authors and has a wealth of knowledge.

I write middle grade novels. I was first published in “Jack and Jill” magazine with a story called “The Great Guinea Pig Roundup.” That was back the 1980s. I didn’t have clue what I was doing and had no contacts in the publishing world to help me get to the next step. I finally met another writer, Barb Heinlen, who now writes as BJ Daniels for Harlequin Intrigue. Long story short, after a few decades of writing and sporadically trying to get published, I answered a call for manuscripts from Chicken Scratch Books with a book I had given up on ever having published.

I am an artist on a journey of becoming an author/illustrator for children’s picture books. Seems like my journey’s path has been by guess and by gosh but creativity has always been in my blood. Sketching was a constant pastime throughout my childhood. Inspired by high school art classes, I declared Art as my original major in college.

You have to be your own advocate. It doesn’t matter if you’re traditionally or independently published, you have to get your name out there, otherwise your art will languish as you wonder why it’s not selling.

Kelly Anne Dalton is a brilliant illustrator who has worked with Penguin Random House; Quarto; The Washington Post; Little, Brown and Company and many more. Some of her projects include the immensely popular Tarot for Baby by Abigail Samoun, Aesops Fables translated by Auzou, and she has created the cover art for several novels by Karen Schwabach for Penguin Random House. Kelly Anne kindly allowed us to interview her about art making. We hope you enjoy the interview!

I call myself a children’s book author, but in truth--- I’m a Storyteller. (Yes, I intentionally capitalized that last word because it deserves a higher rank!) All of us—writers and illustrators, alike—are storytellers, right? We tell our stories through the written word and our art. Well, I don’t “create art,” – not literally, I mean—but I do paint my stories using lyrical language, alliteration and assonance, onomatopoeia, and active verbs and vivid word-painting language. So, that counts as “art,” right?

The most important thing I’ve learned in my creative practice is that I have to be open to vulnerability. It’s clear when I’m trying to hide behind pretty words or dance around something at arm’s length because the work feels superficial, like it has nothing solid on which to grow.