Illustrator Mentorship with Maria T. Middleton, Senior Art Director, Candlewick Press
Sep 26, 2026 - Apr 27, 2027
Online event
Offers SCBWI Premium Member illustrators the opportunity to work directly with Maria T. Middleton. Registration opens on Saturday, September 26th at 4 p.m. (PT) for SCBWI Premium Members.
San Diego SCBWI is excited to offer 17 Author Mentorships with Maria T. Middleton. The Illustrator Mentorship is open to Unpublished SCBWI premium member illustrators. The mentorship is appropriate for those interested in illustrating picture books, book covers, or art for chapter and middle-grade books. Participants submit a dummy, portfolio, or book cover for a first-round review. Maria will return an SCBWI Critique Form with comments, offer one-on-one fifteen-minute Zoom critiques, and give an hour-long talk after the first round (anonymously) about common things that were well done or needed improvement in the work.
For the mentorship, Maria will accept: PB, rhyming PB, CB, biography, graphic novels (text+art), dummies, portfolios.
Round 1: Mentees will submit a portfolio, OR dummy, OR 2-3 book covers, OR character design. For graphic novels, Maria will accept a one page synopsis and ten pages of just script (Word doc) plus 3-5 pages of spreads or just single page illustrations (PDF or jpeg), though not all need to be polished.
Maria will return an SCBWI Critique Form with comments, offer one-on-one fifteen-minute Zoom critiques, and give an hour-long talk about common things that were well done or needed improvement in the work.
Round 2: Based on the feedback received, mentees will submit a revised dummy, portfolio, or book cover. Then they will receive a second Gold Form and a final fifteen-minute Zoom critique.
The mentorships will conclude with a one-hour live Zoom Q&A session.
We expect this Mentorship opportunity to fill up quickly, so mark your calendars! Please only sign up for one mentorship with one faculty member as spaces are limited and we want to give everyone a chance.
Maria T. Middleton
Maria T. Middleton makes books for kids. She is an art director, designer, and visual storyteller with over twenty years experience in children's publishing. Maria began her career at HarperCollins and has designed and art directed award-winning books for Abrams, Random House, and Candlewick Press, where she is currently a Senior Art Director. When she's not kerning type or contemplating page turns, Maria is digging in her garden, enjoying all the wild and wonderful things that bloom. She lives with her family in Richmond, VA.
Mentorship Timeline
September 26 at 4 p.m.: Registration opens.
Round 1:
October 10 (Saturday), by 10 p.m.: Mentees receive a link to their Google Folders. (Save your Google Folder link until the end of the Mentorship. You will use it to upload your work and to see comments for each critique round.)
October 16 (Friday): Mentees upload their submissions to their Google Folders by this date
November 20 (Friday): Critique forms and notes on the submission are returned by faculty to Google Folders.
December 1-2 (Tuesday-Wednesday), from 2-4 p.m. (PT) and December 5 (Saturday), from 9 a.m. - noon (PT): 1st Round of Critiques. These virtual critiques are 15 minutes each.
Round 2:
March 9 (Tuesday), 2027, by noon: Mentees upload revised or new pages to the Google Folder.
April 9 (Friday): Critique forms and notes on the submission are returned to Google Folders.
April 13-14 (Tuesday-Wednesday), from 2-4 p.m. (PT) and April 17 (Saturday), from 9 - 11 a.m. (PT): 2nd Round of Critiques.
Q&A: April 17 from 11 a.m. - noon
Prices are as follows:
Mentorship without SD SCBWI Season Ticket is $190
SD SCBWI Season Ticket holders will receive a coupon code for $20 off
You MUST have a GMAIL account to submit to the folders. No other email will be accepted. You can easily sign up for a free gmail account here: https://support.google.com/mail/answer/56256?hl=en