What Makes Your Characters “Tick”?
Let’s look at the beginning of a picture book story.
The initial step is introducing your main character. Can you tell us what he/she is thinking?
What is their prime directive? What motivates them? What problem are they confronting in your story?
I love sharing this series of spreads created by graphic design pioneer Bruno Munari — an Italian Paul Rand — who loved children’s picture books. This is from his book The Elephant’s Wish.
Here’s Elephant, who wishes he could be as carefree as a bird…
Bird wishes he could swim. Can you guess why?
Snake wishes he could graze majestically like a bull . . .
Bull wishes he could be like the elephant. Why? Then he could swish away those pesky flies! We come full circle by the end of the book.
Artist Laurent Moreau contemplates himself!
By Laurent Moreau. A girl dreams of being by the sea
Here’s the cover, which hints at the animals’ thoughts, while intriguing us with an unusual graphic.
Check out how Laurent Moreau lets us in on his characters’ thoughts:
The cover from “What Are You Thinking?” by Laurent Moreau
Ah, a play on line textures and far away thoughts by Laurent Moreau…
This woman is full of jealous thoughts. By Laurent Moreau
What a little girl in costume imagines, by Laurent Moreau
What an absorbing story! Could she be lost into it? By Laurent Moreau
Subconscious memories from a famous
folk tale, by Laurent Moreau
What a boy thinks
by Laurent Moreau
What one young woman
pines for, by Laurent Moreau
It’s all math to some people!
What a beautiful mind!
A nature lover!
Try it yourself! This one is by Marcia Sorini,
an elementary school teacher (see part 2, below)
Check out what other students have created here!
Drawing a story? Do this exercise with each of your characters first.
Check out more results here!
* NOTE: The above is from an interview that was featured in UCSD Extension's Blog last fall, just before I began teaching the on-line version of my class, "Illustrating Books for Children"/Winter 2013 Quarter. — JC
Exercise your art chops!
Summer Solstice! What could be better after a full day’s work (or surfing), or sight-seeing around San Diego, than hunkering down, and drawing pictures with other passionate story-tellers?
We’ll work on hand-on drawing-and-sharing, in class, in person. Examine the latest picture books, plus a few timeless classics. And address aspects of the current children’s book market.
Join us!
Class: Children’s Book Illustration – ART-40011
Dates: June 26 – August 21 (9 meetings)
Day: Wednesdays
Time: 6:30pm – 9:30pm
Location: Extension, Room 128
Required books:
Don’t delay, sign up today!
You may purchase textbooks via the UCSD Bookstore.
extension.ucsd.edu. Register now. Ask about ART 40011
Fee: $250 / $275 after 6/10/13
The Irma Black award, designed by Maurice Sendak
The kids have spoken!
The Irma Black Award, given by The Bank Street School, is unusual in that children are the final judges of the winning book. This year’s award went to Big Mean Mike, written by Michelle Knudsen and illustrated by Scott Magoon. More than 7,500 first and second graders around the world voted Big Mean Mike as their clear favorite.
There were three other Irma Black honor books, also chosen by kids themselves:
The Cook Prize medal, designed by Brian Floca
Children also choose The Cook Prize winners, sponsored by The Bank Street School: The best science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) picture books published for children aged eight to ten. This year’s winner is:
The honor winners are:
Congratulations to all the winners!
A working knowledge of anatomy will give any illustrator a solid foundation upon which to hone one’s drawing skills. The possibilities are infinite, as along as you begin with the basic skills first.
Case-in-point: Check out this interview with multi-talented artist Edel Rodriguez here. Then check out his portfolios and blog here.
Note the variety of moves he applies to his character, Sergio, a penguin who loves soccer!
It’s a unique opportunity when an illustrator can also write stories that other artists can render. This happened to Don Tate when he wrote It Jes’ Happened, illustrated by R. Gregory Christie.
Check out this excellent discussion between Anne Rockwell and Don Tate, at Anne’s site.
“…While I could have illustrated the story, my illustration styles weren’t the perfect match for the text. My editor wanted the art to be edgy, gritty. I wanted to go with an illustrator who had broader name recognition than myself. Greg Christie became one of our top choices.”—Don Tate
Remember this if you encounter a book editor who loves your story, but suggests that another illustrator provide the art. Don’t insist on all (doing both story and pictures) or nothing.
If a publisher is seriously interested in acquiring one component, make sure to ask why. Decisions like these are made for the good of the project.
Art from “It Jes’ Happened” by Greg Christie click to enlarge
Editors want your book to sell as many copies as possible. One practical consideration is name recognition. Newcomers tend to forget that buyers invariably prefer to request a familiar name or brand, when they shop, even in bookstores or libraries. Publishers also need to see how your name fares out there initially, in the mutual interest of nurturing a new career for the long term.
Use Post-Its for your thumbnail storyboards
Check out Christian Robinson‘s method, and get a behind-the-scenes peek into his upcoming book Rain, written by Linda Ashman here.
Nice article! I wish I had had the opportunity to take your class way back when.
What a lovely thing to say, Anna! You are the perfect example of an author/artist who continues to absorb, learn, and apply new skills beautifully. You have so much to teach the rest of us, and yet you proceed as the eternal student. Look at how accomplished you are!