• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Stone Soup

Stories, Poems, and Art by Young Creatives

  • Subscribe
    • For Individuals
    • For Schools
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Issue Archive
  • Store
  • Blogs
    • Blogs by Young Writers
    • Book Reviews by Young Writers
  • For Teachers
    • Teachers and Librarians, Welcome to Stone Soup!
    • Contests
    • Stone Soup in Educational Texts
  • Submit
    • Current Contests
  • About
    • About Stone Soup
    • Frequently Asked Questions
    • Customer Service FAQ
    • Partnerships
    • The Stone Soup Team
  • Donate
    • The Refugee Project – Summer/Fall 2019
    • Reaching Marginalized Communities – Spring 2019
  • Log In
  • Cart

Where are they now? We hear from Rachel Stanley, Stone Soup contributor in the early 2000s

July 18, 2017
By William Rubel

We are often asked–and we often wonder–what careers our young authors and illustrators went on to as they grew up, so we were thrilled to hear from Rachel Stanley, one of our published illustrators and authors from the early 2000s. She gave us permission to share her letter to us with you. If you’d like to see what work she is doing now, you can visit her website. And, to hear about what publication in Stone Soup meant to hear, read on…


Diver girl diving
She rose on her tiptoes and let herself fall forward

Fourteen years ago, my childhood dream of being an artist officially came true when my illustrations were published in Stone Soup magazine. To this day, I owe so much to the magazine for the way it helped launch my artistic career.

Submitting to Stone Soup was one of the best decisions I made as a young person. At the time I was just excited about getting my name and work in print, but I never could have foreseen the long-term benefits it would bring me. The magazine made me a better artist and a better writer, because each rejection forced me to work harder towards being published. It was one of the many factors that drove me to be an illustration major in college, and to this day remains a source of inspiration for me. I’ve kept every printed copy of Stone Soup I ever received, and to this day I love perusing the wide variety of styles and skills that are showcased in the magazine.

 

the flying angel girl riding a horse
He was running for me, and no one could ever stop us

The first check I ever received was for my illustrations of “The Flying Angel” in 2003, and to my 11-year-old self, it was really a big deal. I was even more thrilled to have my story “Diver” and its accompanying illustrations published in the magazine in 2004. But to my surprise, Stone Soup has continued to net me benefits long after I passed the submission age limit. I’ve been able to maintain connections to the art community through following the magazine online. In the world of art-and especially illustration-connections and networking are everything, and I’ve been excited to reconnect with Stone Soup online and through social media in more recent years. Making a living as an artist isn’t easy, as I’ve found out, but Stone Soup is one of the things that encourages me not to give up on my dreams. I have even found some of my fellow Stone Soup illustrators enjoying exciting and successful art careers as a result of what was begun years ago with their publication in the magazine. So thank you, Stone Soup, for what you have done for me and for so many others. I hope that many more generations of aspiring authors and artists will be launched to success through their connections with you!

~Rachel

www.rachelalana.com

Filed Under: Former Contributors, Homeschooling, Teacher Resources Tagged With: art

Previous Post: « Saturday Newsletter: July 15, 2017
Next Post: Saturday Newsletter: July 22, 2017 »

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Current Issue

December 2019

Stone Soup December 2019 cover image

Buy single issues, books, sketchpads, prints and more at the Stone Soup online store

Subscribe to Stone Soup!

Do you want to become a published Stone Soup author, artist, blogger, or book reviewer? Submit your work to get started!

Submit your work

Free weekly newsletter!

Footer

Stone Soup
We hope you’ve been enjoying Stone Soup, the website and magazine by and for creative kids around the world. There are lots of ways you can get involved and make a difference.

 

Donate

The Children’s Art Foundation (parent company of Stone Soup) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose purpose is to promote children’s creativity. Your donation will help Stone Soup continue to inspire creative kids round the world.

Contact Us

Subscription inquiries
To subscribe, click the Subscribe button above. Questions? Email us at subscriptions@stonesoup.com

General inquiries
All other questions and comments should be emailed to stonesoup@stonesoup.com

Follow us on Social Media

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter, and see images from our archive and more on our Instagram and Pinterest pages.

  • Twitter logo
  • Facebook logo
  • Instagram Logo
  • Pinterest logo

Copyright © 2019 · Stone Soup on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in