BOOK ILLUSTRATOR

Get to know your instructor, get the lay of the land, and get excited. Let’s walk through what’s ahead: assignments, outcomes, and how it all connects to your future in book illustration.

• Instructor intro
• Course overview 

Kick off with a behind-the-scenes look at the industry: how the art gets made, sold, and shelved. Explore styles, formats, and what publishers really want, plus why finding your visual voice matters more than finding an author. Spoiler: the children’s book market is booming, but you’ll need more than cute characters to stand out.

• Publishing industry overview: Illustrated book lifecycle & publisher briefs 
• Book types, audiences, market trends & glimpse into the future
• Formats: Characteristics, specifications, audience requirements, etc.
• Overview: Pacing in different genres
• Case Study: Comparing works by the same illustrator in different formats
• Capstone project overview 

Learn how to make your illustrations talk. This class dives into composition, symbolism, and the dance between text and image, so your visuals don’t just look good, they tell a story. Then, roll up your sleeves for a workshop where you’ll turn a real brief into thumbnail gold.

• Composition: Focal point, directional lines, negative space, colour 
• Visual language: Symbolism, pattern, balance, movement
• Text & image interplay
• Illustration briefs, prompts, text break down 
• Interpreting a script: Transferring a story into thumbnails
• Workshop: Approaches to illustrating a brief

Assignment #1:
Picture Book Track: Choose 1 of 5 texts for your capstone and sketch 3 key moment thumbnails (e.g. intro, climax, resolution).
Adult Genre Track: Select a text, identify key themes and your unique angle, then sketch thumbnails for the title page and chapter vignettes.

Explore the tools of the trade, both classic and digital, and figure out which medium fits your story best. From graphite to Procreate, you'll test-drive materials, see how each one shapes mood and tone, and start sketching with purpose. Spoiler: the same drawing can feel wildly different depending on what’s in your hand.

• Materials overview: Watercolour, pencil, charcoal, pastels, Photoshop, Procreate
• Advantages & disadvantages
• Choosing the appropriate materials for your tone & mood
• Workshop & Demo: Same drawing using different materials

Assignment #2:
Create 3 alternate thumbnail compositions for each key moment: explore different visual approaches and reimagine your scenes.

Learn how to design characters that make the audience feel something: whether they charm, terrify, or tug at your heart. From expressive sketch studies to Pixar-inspired storytelling, you’ll explore how shape, balance, and emotion come together to build someone unforgettable. Bonus: we’ll even teach you how to bend a flour sack.

• The importance of character development 
• Designing expressive characters & how it relates to composition
• Character growth & change across the story
• Expressing emotion through sketch studies & visual exploration
• Animals characters: “Animating” their anatomy
• Case Study: Memorable character design (e.g. Tintin, Goth Girl, Eloise, Pixar characters) 

Time to bring your characters to life. In this hands-on workshop, you’ll sketch your way through text prompts, exploring shape, proportion, and personality to build a board of bold, stylised characters. Let’s see who (or what) shows up on the page.

• Workshop: Character design practice 

Assignment #3:
Design your main character through expressive sketches. Fill a 9x12 page with varied poses and emotions.

Get your story flowing frame by frame. Break down your book into bold visual moments, play with pacing, tension, and layout tricks (like bleeding off the page), and map out a storyboard that makes your story leap from sketch to scene. Think anchor points, mood shapes, and movement that moves your reader.

• Storyboarding & pacing 
• Identifying “anchor points” in the storyline 
• “Gutter” & composition
• “Bleeding off the page” concept
• Dynamic lines & movement
• Story as a whole: Themes, exciting moments, characters 

Assignment #4:
Build your full storyboard and story pacing using your selected text, character, and earlier thumbnails.

Colour isn’t decoration, it’s storytelling. In this session, you’ll experiment with palettes, emotions, and colour combos to give your characters depth, mood, and presence. It’s all about colour theory with a creative twist.

• Colours interaction & emotion
• Basics on colour theory
• Experimenting with different colour palettes
• Workshop: Exploring 3-5 colour combinations with characters

Time to practice with colour. In this hands-on workshop, you'll refine your sketch into a full-page spread, make smart colour choices that boost mood and legibility, and hear how a guest speaker does it for real books on real shelves.

• Workshop: Fine-tuning the drawing with effective colour palette

Assignment #5:
Add colour to 3–5 character sketches. Bonus: place your character in a simple vignette scene. 

Get your hands (digitally) dirty with a hands-on software demo. We’ll explore how tablets like Wacom can elevate your workflow, how to clean up and enhance your sketches, and how to prep your files. Brushes, file types, colour tweaks: this is where traditional meets digital, and things start to click.

• Drawing functionality in Photoshop 
• Wacom tablet overview 
• Uploading sketches & adjusting values
• Changing file type & file size
• Downloading & using specific brushes

Assignment #06: 
Digitally prep a sketch for sharing: upload, clean, format, resize. If inspired, try adding digital colour.

Get the real-world lowdown on how the publishing world works: advances, royalties, deadlines, and all. Let’s break down the major players, what clients expect, and how to avoid rookie mistakes that could haunt your rep. You'll leave knowing when to say yes, when to say no, and how to navigate deals without losing your cool or your paycheck.

• Publishing landscape: Big-5 vs. small, imprints, specialisations, guidelines 
• Publishing primer: Art departments, samples, royalties
• Working with clients
• Timelines, compromise, when to say no
• Maintaining professional relationships 

Assignment #7 (Optional):
Research your favorite illustrated books: find the publisher, editor, and rep (if available). Start polishing your character, storyboard, vignette, and prep one drawing for final colouring.

Find your visual voice and make it unmistakable. Learn how to sharpen your signature style, polish your portfolio, and protect your work while making it shine online. When clients come looking, you want them to know it’s you from the first glance.

• Developing a unique style
• Case Study: Instantly recognisable styles (e.g. Quentin Blake, Mary Grand Pre, Axel Scheffler)
• Website, portfolio, website building templates 
• Copyright & intellectual property: Protecting your work

Assignment #8: 
Add final colour to your single or double-page spread.

Put your work where the world can see it. Learn how to build visibility through social media, contests, and book fairs. Get the scoop on networking tricks (like the Bologna Book Fair showcase) that can land your work in front of editors and agents. It’s not marketing, it’s matchmaking your art with opportunity.

• Social media: Platforms, posting schedule, types of content 
• Successful illustrator accounts examples 
• Competitions: What is available & how to enter
• Networking: Book fairs, publishing events, social media

It’s time to shift from creating to curating. You’ll learn how to fine-tune your portfolio, figure out what makes your work click with publishers, and get honest feedback to shape your next moves. Bonus: hear straight from a guest industry pro about what really catches their eye.

• Presentation & critique 
• Tailoring your portfolio to the job
• Guest Speaker: Publisher/Agent