Chelsa Schoonover is an illustration student at Nossi College of Art. She was offered an opportunity to illustrate the book cover for the Carnegie Writer’s Group’s new book, The importance of Brainstorming for the Development of Ideas in Writing. This book is for sale on Amazon and the Carnegie Writer’s Group held a writing event to showcase the book and Chelsa’s cover art. Read more from Chelsa’s experience below:
I was very honored to be a part of the Carneige Writer’s event hosted by their president, Kemi Elufiede. They also had several guest speakers including Tina Murray, Dr. Stellasue Lee, Johann Wilkerson, Passion Echols and Susan Perry. The Carneige Writer’s Group is dedicated to Nashville’s creative writing community. It gives members and volunteers a creative oasis for writing and editing works they have created as well as giving input on how to better them. I personally connected with the group when they needed a cover illustrated for their recent book. The book is titled The Importance of Brainstorming for the Development of Ideas in Writing. By working diligently with Ms. Elufiede, we were able to go from preliminary sketches to the final product in a matter of weeks!
Not long after, she invited me to give a speech on my creative process at the publication-writing event. I was thrilled to speak, and when the time came I was very well received by both the audience and fellow members. They seemed genuinely intrigued about how I chose to illustrate the concepts of creativity and brainstorming that Ms. Elufiede had asked me to create. One of the best aspects of the book is that all the proceeds go to March of Dimes of Nashville. I encourage anyone with creative mindset who enjoys writing to check this book out. It was a wonderful experience, and I look forward to being a part of something like this again in the future!
-Chelsa Schoonover
Pictured above: Kemi Elufiede and Chelsa Schoonover holding the book The importance of Brainstorming for the Development of Ideas in Writing, illustrated by Chelsa Schoonover, an illustration student at Nossi College of Art