<![CDATA[NaShanta Fletcher

<![CDATA[NaShanta Fletcher - Blog]]>Sun, 04 Oct 2026 12:39:14 -0600Weebly<![CDATA[Doing Arts & Crafts on WGN!]]>Thu, 06 Jun 2019 06:00:00 GMThttps://www.nashanta.com/blog/doing-arts-crafts-on-wgn

Appearing live on WGN Morning News June 5, 2019

I've worked as a Graphic artist at WGN-TV for 10 years now. The past 4 years have been on the WGN Morning News. Yesterday I made my Morning News debut for an Arts & Crafts segment.

The original plan was for the anchors to do a summer craft project that parents could do with their kids. Producer Anne Marie Saviano bought a finger weaving bracelet kit and struggled with the instructions. When she sent the image of the craft kit to the News Graphic Artists, I replied to the email. I told Anne Marie about how I used to make those bracelets all the time!

When she asked about the confusing instructions, I offered to go down to the newsroom and show her in person. It's been 20 years since I made finger weave bracelets, but it was like riding a bike.

Anne Marie asked if I would mind showing the anchors how to make the bracelets for their segment the next day. I agreed. Then she mentioned that I would be showing them LIVE on-air, during the segment! To say I was nervous was an understatement.

I asked if I could take the kit home to practice, which she was fine with. Anne Marie also mentioned how I would essentially be carrying the entire segment. No pressure!

Of course, I told my family and friends so they could all tune in. Overall it was very entertaining. I was way more nervous than I appeared to be on-air. It was also fun getting pictures from friends who were watching me on TV! Check out the segment below, or watch on the wgntv.com

]]><![CDATA[SCBWI Conference Prep In 3 Days!]]>Sat, 25 May 2019 06:00:00 GMThttps://www.nashanta.com/blog/scbwi-conference-prep-in-3-days

This is the story about how I got ready for my first regional SCBWI (Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators) in just 3 Days.

Illustrators usually prepare for SCBWI Conferences months in advance. Creating new illustrations for your portfolio, making new post cards and/or business cards, and polishing up a book dummy all take a LOT of time.

When the Marvelous Midwest Conference came around in May, I had no plans on going. I didn’t have the fund to attend the conference. I applied for the KidLit Nation Diversity Scholarship for the conference, but I didn’t win.

The week of the conference rolled around, and I was at the dentist when my phone buzzed. I received an email from KidLit Nation stating that a local SCBWI member, Tamara Barker, couldn’t attend the Marvelous Midwest Conference, and she donated her ticket to the Diversity Scholarship! They offered me the scholarship and I was completely thrilled. This all happened on a Tuesday afternoon, and the 3-day conference started that Friday.

After talking to my husband to make sure he would be fine taking care of our son for the whole weekend without me, I started making plans for the conference! They were going to allow me to enter the Art Contest, and get a Portfolio critique. Since this was all last minute there was no way I would be able to attend on Friday because of work, and not having a babysitter for that day. This gave me roughly 3 days to get all my materials together for the conference by Saturday.

Mild freakout about portfolio prints.

I contacted my illustrator friend Michelle Schneider, who offered to share a hotel room with me back when I had the funds and was planning on going to the conference. To my luck, she still had space in her hotel room! I would be rooming with her and two other talented illustrators, Denise Holmes and Jane Smith! (Bless these women for letting me crash with them!)

After securing a place to sleep at the conference I immediately went to my computer for recent illustrations that I could print to add to my portfolio (and one I could enter in the art contest). I gathered several pieces and uploaded them to the Office Depot website to pick up prints the next day.

This was also going to be the first conference I would be attending since I signed with an agent, so I wanted to get new business cards printed with her contact information. I slapped something together in Photoshop, and uploaded my business card files to Overnight Prints!

Last minute business cards from Overnight Prints.

I still had a bunch of postcards left over from my last conference. So instead of trying to get all new ones printed, I printed my agent’s information on return address labels that I already had, and stuck them on the back of the postcards.

Since I wasn’t going to be attending the conference on Friday, I needed to give my Art Contest submission to someone who was attending. Luckily, I work near another SCBWI Illustrator Pav Kovacic. On my lunch break Thursday, I drove over to Pav’s job and handed him my artwork in a rainy parking lot. I totally felt like a spy handing him some top secret documents in a neutral location (because of the rain he hide the envelope in his jacket to keep it from getting wet, which only added to the top secret spy vibe!).

Adding agent info to my postcards.

By Friday, I had all my new portfolio pieces in place, my new business cards arrived, my updated postcards were ready to go, Pav submitted my piece to the illustration contest, and I had a hotel room to save me from driving back and forth. The next day I was driving to Naperville bright and early to attend the final 2 days of the conference.

I wouldn’t have been able to pull this off in 3 days without my husband being completely supportive and amazing, and incredibly generous and helpful fellow illustrators friends I’ve made during this kidlit journey! A huge thank you to KidLit Nation for the scholarship opportunity and Tamara Barker for her generous donation.

]]><![CDATA[That's so 90s!]]>Mon, 01 Apr 2019 15:30:00 GMThttps://www.nashanta.com/blog/thats-so-90s

Over the weekend my mom brought me a little piece of my childhood...an old Trapper Keeper full of comic books and drawings! Her timing couldn't have been more perfect. I was having a bit of art block, and seeing all these old comics reminded me of why I love visual storytelling so much!

I spent the weekend reading comics and drawing this webcomic. This was also my first time really using Clip Studio Paint. It's taking some time to adjust to the interface having used Photoshop primarily, but I love it so far!

]]><![CDATA[I have an agent!]]>Tue, 05 Mar 2019 15:30:00 GMThttps://www.nashanta.com/blog/i-have-an-agent

I'm so excited to announce that I've joined the awesome Andrea Brown Literary Agency family! I thought it would be great to share the story about how I found my agent.

On November 1, 2018, the SCBWI announced the winners of their monthly "Draw This!" art contest for the prompt "girl power." My illustration was chosen as one of the winners! This all happened just days after attending my first SCBWI conference.

At the time, I was preparing to submit my illustrations to agencies. I started creating a short list of agents that I would contact. Winning the Draw This! contest meant that my illustration would be featured on the SCBWI homepage for the entire month of November. I thought it would be a great opportunity to mention the contest in my submission emails.

Jennifer Bower is also represented by Andrea Brown Literary Agency! Small world! (scbwi.org)

After a lot of rejections and one message that seemed pretty hopeful, I received the best email right before Thanksgiving. Lara Perkins from Andrea Brown Literary Agency (ABLA) loved my work and wanted to schedule a phone call with me!

Real talk: ABLA was honestly at the top of my list of agencies I wanted to work with. They represent a couple of my favorite illustrators, including Eliza Wheeler and Renée Kurilla!

After re-reading that email several times, I replied and we arranged a phone call for the following week. During our conversation, I could immediately tell that Lara and I would work well together. She told me which pieces she felt were my strongest work, and she wanted me to create 3 or 4 more pieces in those styles.

These were Lara's favorite pieces of mine. Two were digital, and two were watercolor and ink.

I gave myself a 2-week deadline to try and get some new portfolio pieces done. I was so motivated; I was able to finish 3 new pieces in a week! I sent those new pieces to Lara, and she loved them. We scheduled another phone call where she officially offered me representation.

These are the 3 illustrations I finished in a week. I did two with the character that won the SCBWI contest, and finished a watercolor illustration I'd been working on.

We discussed our goals for my work, and how she could help me achieve them. Lara also went over all the details about how the agency works, how they help promote their illustrators and get their work seen by publishers. She answered all my questions, and sent me copies of their agreement and FAQ to help me make a well-informed decision.

Everything looked pretty standard and straight forward. After having my husband and a trusted colleague read over the documents as well, it was an easy decision to make.

I can’t wait to start creating books with Lara! Currently, I'm polishing up my portfolio, and working on some new pieces. The next step is for Lara to send my work out to publishers that might be interested in my illustration style! I’m so excited to see what this year has in store for me!

]]><![CDATA[SCBWI Prairie Writers & Illustrators Day 2018]]>Wed, 07 Nov 2018 06:00:00 GMThttps://www.nashanta.com/blog/scbwi-prairie-writers-illustrators-day-2018

Illustration by Kris Easler

Welcome to my illustration blog!

Last month I had the opportunity to attend my first SCBWI conference, Prairie Writers & Illustrators Day at Harper College in Palatine, IL. I had no idea what to expect, but the schedule was just full of lectures and panels from some really incredible speakers.

As an illustrator, I took advantage of the portfolio critique. It was a great opportunity to get some real constructive feedback on my art. I'm taking all the notes from my critique and working on new pieces to make my portfolio stronger. I need to continue using textures in my work (both traditional and digital), and work on featuring more dynamic angles in my compositions.

Personally I want to work on drawing more animal characters as well. There are a lot of human characters in my portfolio currently.

Kelly Light was the Keynote speaker and a definite highlight of my whole conference. I attended her breakout session as well, where she gave us a candid look at her publishing journey. She encouraged us to ask her any and all questions we had about her picture book process. She talked about work, revisions, contracts, advances, royalties, and anything we could think to ask.

I was thrilled to win a raffle at the end of the event, which included two of Kelly Light's books! I was able to catch her and get them autographed. While the ink was drying on the books Kelly just signed, she gave me some words of encouragement as a working mom trying to make it as an illustrator. It's going to be hard, but I just need to find those moments when I can sketch and come up with ideas.

I absolutely had a great time at Prairie Writers & Illustrators Day! I met so many talented writers and illustrators. I only wish there was more time to chat with everyone and see everyone's portfolios.

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