Drawing Children for Picture Book Illustration
Picks up where Art School left off...
Discover how these outstanding illustrators
bring their child characters to life
They're the subject
In a series of workshops that occurred over six months in 2018, four top children's book artists, a drawing teacher and a children's book agent delved into the topic with demos, talks small assignments and critiques of student work.
Learn from Some of Children's Publishing's Best Talents in These Recorded Classes...
How to draw a child animal character...
Prior to illustrating children's books Shirley Ng Benitez worked as illustrator and graphic designer for American Greetings, Inc. and other professional clients in the technology, medical, toy and publishing industries. Her most recent title is the picture book, Mindful Day by Deborah Hopkinson (Sounds True. Inc.)
Draw several children in action in a scene
Tracy Bishop is the illustrator of the Pipsie, Nature Detective series of books by Rick DeDonato (Two Lions Press), and two chapter book series, the Dance Divas by Sheryl Berk and Butterfly Wishes by Jennifer Castle, both series produced by Bloomsbury Press.
Use gesture to tell
the story
Patrice Barton has illustrated picture books for HarperCollins, Roaring Brook Press, Dial Books, Alfred A. Knopf, G.P. Putnam's Sons, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Her most recent title is Remarkably You by Pat Zietlow Miller (HarperCollins.)
Who is your child character?
Juana Martinez-Neal received the 2019 Caldecott Honor for her picture book Alma (Candlewick Press), which she wrote as well as illustrated, the 2020 Sibert Medal for Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story written by Kevin Noble Maillard (Roaring Brook Press) and the 2018 Pura Belpre Medal for Illustration for La Pincesa and the Pea, an indigenous Peruvian retelling of the European folktale written by Susan M. Elya (Putnam/Penguin.)
Here Are Just A Few Of The Powerful Features...
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How to draw 'believably cute'...
Cindy Wider is one of the internet’s most experienced instructors of fine-art drawing and the co-founder of DrawPj.com. The Complete Drawing Course, based on Cindy's unique method of teaching, is presented worldwide by Cindy and her team of international instructors.
Your child-friendly
book cover
Agent Christy Ewers shares how artists she's represented have sold books to publishing houses based on cover sketches alone. Watch her lead a group critique of work that resulted from her chapter book cover design prompt.
Christy works closely with the entire “family” of artists represented by The CAT Agency, spearheading the promotion and deals for illustrators and working alongside author-illustrators to help craft their stories.
No Previous Experience Is Required, The
Instant Results Are Amazing...
Crafting appealing child characters (human or animal) is a ground-level skill for most children's book artists.
But regular art school classes don't necessarily teach this.
You don't find child models in life drawing classes. Hardly any instructional books exist on drawing child figures and faces. Body proportions keep changing as a child grows so there are no easy templates or fixed formulas. Even if there were, would they help you convey the spirit of your character and her story from scene to scene?
Fine art portraiture and figurative pieces depict people differently than picture book and middle grade book illustration. Narrative art for kids demands knowledge additional to the other visual arts. So even with ideal studio fine-arts training, illustrators must learn on the job and from each other – sometimes over several years.
We want to create child characters who jump out of our dummies or online portfolios and pull us into their story worlds, whom readers love and editors can't say no to.
But what if a set of videos could give you a jump start? Drawing Children for Children's Book Illustration was a series of workshops that occurred over six months in 2018, all online. Four top children's book artists explored the topic in depth with discussions, demos, small assignments and critiques of student work.
Now you can enjoy these wonderful sessions at your own pace on this exclusive video website.
Seize A Rare Opportunity To Learn From These Talented Artist-Instructors...
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"Play with teeny little pencil marks, play in terms of spacing and placement and size and see what happens."
Shirley Ng Benitez, children's book illustrator
"I draw who I know, my relatives. I keep in mind their quirks. You're thinking of the whole person..."
Juana Martinez-Neal, children's book author-illustrator
"The solutions come from doing the work, getting to know your child characters through gesture drawing."
Patrice Barton, children's book illustrator
"I love the construction drawing method because it frees us to be able to create completely unique original art."
Cindy Wider, fine artist, drawing instructor, DrawPJ.com
"I don't go into detail until I'm happy with the movement and the pose. How much further can I go with the pose...?"
Tracy Nishimura Bishop, children's book illustrator
"If you've a kid or kids at home, sketch them. If they're really young, sketch them crawling and cooing."
Christy Tugeau Ewers, children's book agent, owner, the CAT Agency
14 hours of video workshops
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