MENTOR MONDAY!

A *big* Mentor Monday welcome to the multi-talented Liz Goulet Dubois! She an author/illustrator, a master blogger, and toy designer. She writes plays, directs them, and does incredible stage sets for them. She is also into product licensing and takes part in writing a group blog entitled The Licensing Nook (and website) about the ins and outs of the business, as well as some just really cool stuff! If that weren’t enough, have you ever seen those hilarious FRED products? Liz designs a number of their over-the-top fun stuff! She does it ALL, I tell you! And she does it all well!

Liz's writing and art work focus mostly on younger children. She is an award winning illustrator from Highlights Magazine and has iillustrated several pre-school books. She has written some as well and does the paper engineering for her pop-up books. Her Fred Products seem to turn up in Rachel Ray's magazine (as well as others) a lot! Liz seems to have creative toes in all kinds of ponds. (But she would never write as weird of a sentence as that last one!)

I first met Liz at the annual SCBWI Whispering Pines Writers’ Retreat in Rhode Island. I took to her immediately, and we have since become great friends. I have a ton of respect for her. She is the real deal—professionally and in ways that matter even more. I could say that Liz has been a mentor to me in learning the ways of the business of children’s lit; once I got serious about publication, I listened carefully to her nuggets of wisdom—the dos and don’ts of navigating the pubbing world. This very website/blog is here because she...uh...suggested...I put it up. She is honest and forthright but always thoughtful and kind. And, let me tell you, she is just chock full of wisdom. Finally, Liz is a good friend—the best! I feel blessed to know her! Truly, I do.

Okay. Enough gushing from me! Without further ado, here is Liz Goulet Dubois’s Mentor Monday submission:

Mentor Submission

By Liz Goulet Dubois

Without question, my first and best mentor was my mom. I don't remember a time when I wasn't encouraged to try anything artistic. I always had ideas on things to make, sew, paint, build, etc. and she always gave me the supplies and pointed me in the right direction for getting started. Just as important, I think, was her ability to step back and let me figure things out for myself. That's a very subtle quality- the ability to NOT help too much!

In junior high and high school, my art teacher was Brother Marty. I was able to sail through most of the usual required lessons, and he was the one who let me go to the next level by devising different kinds of art for me to do.

By senior year, I was already painting on canvas and writing and illustrating my own books, and it was these extra things that likely got me into RISD, the one place I really wanted to go. In college, I had two teachers who were very supportive and also allowed me to pursue my own vision in art. David Niles, one of my illustration teachers, and Amy Kravitz, my animation teacher, were both instrumental in allowing me to develop my own style of art. They were instructors that could tell intuitively when to help, but also allowed the space to allow for blooming.

Thanks SO much Liz! It was a pleasure to have you here at Mentor Mondays!