Points of Departure

How to get out of your head and onto the page

August 22-25, 2024

How can we use the act of drawing as a creative catalyst? Join author/illustrators Cecilia Ruiz and Doug Salati for a structured, yet playful and pressure-free environment where we produce a large amount of drawings in a short amount of time. We will expand upon and refine these initial impressions in order to work towards the start of a compelling visual narrative. 

This workshop prioritizes process over result. The goal will be to plant as many seeds as possible, nurture them and see what bears fruit. Over the course of the weekend participants will be encouraged to work from both imagination and observation and in varying formats.  No preparation of a narrative or story is required. All levels of drawing experience are welcome.

This workshop retreat accommodates 10 people and is open to published and pre-published illustrators in all children’s literature genres.

Prices include accommodations and all meals from Thursday afternoon to Sunday afternoon.
Single rooms are $1,800. Two bedrooms offer the possibility of double occupancy, at $1,450 per person.

Cecilia Ruiz is the author and illustrator of The Book of Memory Gaps, The Book of Extraordinary Deaths, A Gift from Abuela—a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection, and Mr. Fiorello's Head. Cecilia was born and raised in Mexico City and now lives in New York City, where she teaches illustration and graphic design at Queens College and the School of Visual Arts.

Doug Salati is the illustrator of In a Small Kingdom, by Tomie dePaola, and Lawrence in the Fall, by Matthew Farina, which received an Ezra Jack Keats Honor Award. Hot Dog, his debut picture book as both author and illustrator, was awarded the 2023 Randolph Caldecott Medal. He is a graduate of the Illustration as Visual Essay program at the School of Visual Arts and was a recipient of The Sendak Fellowship in 2015. Doug lives in New York City.