Illustrating children's books : creating pictures for publication

The successful book illustrator starts by understanding his author's flight of fancy, then rendering the ideas and actions imaginatively in pictorial terms. This unusual and inspiring book was written for art students and ambitious beginners. It instructs on methods of developing both imaginative powers and the technical artistic skills to produce high quality illustrations that will please authors and children's book editors. Separate chapters focus on: Media, materials, and techniques Developing different drawing styles to fit specific storytelling methods Instilling visual personality traits in story characters Creating effective sequential images for storyboards and picture book outlines Design, typography, and preparation for print Illustrating story books for older children Illustrating nonfiction and educational books Breaking into the children's book publishing business Here is solid, practical instruction for students of book illustration, enhanced with more than 250 how-to illustrations in color and black-and-white.

• Chapter 1 A Brief History
• Introduction p. 8
• The 19th Century and the Golden Age p. 10
• The 20th Century p. 14
• Children's Book Illustration Now p. 16
• Chapter 2 Drawing
• Introduction p. 20
• The Life Studio p. 22
• Drawing Children p. 24
• Drawing Animals p. 28
• On Location p. 30
• Case Study: A Sense of Place p. 32
• From Observation into Imagination p. 34
• Case Study: Nature Feeds Imagination p. 38
• Chapter 3 Media, Materials, and Techniques
• Introduction p. 40
• Watercolor p. 42
• Acrylic Paint p. 46
• Oil Paints and Pastels p. 48
• Black-and-White Work p. 50
• Case Study: From Oil to Acrylic p. 52
• Print-based Media p. 54
• Collage and Mixed Media p. 56
• Computers p. 58
• Case Study: Going Digital p. 60
• Chapter 4 Character Development
• Introduction p. 62
• Getting to Know Your Characters p. 64
• Animals as Characters p. 68
• Case Study: Kitamura's Creatures p. 70
• Animating the Inanimate p. 72
• Chapter 5 The Picture Book
• Introduction p. 74
• Concepts and Ideas p. 76
• Form p. 78
• The Sequential Image p. 80
• Words and Pictures p. 84
• Novelties and Pop-ups p. 86
• Making Dummy Books p. 88
• Case Study: The Wordless Book p. 90
• Case Study: A Word/Image Relationship p. 92
• Chapter 6 Illustration for Older Children
• Introduction p. 94
• What to Illustrate p. 96
• Setting the Scene p. 98
• Book Covers p. 100
• Illustrating Poetry p. 104
• Case Study: Following your Passions p. 106
• Chapter 7 Nonfiction Illustration
• Introduction p. 108
• History Books p. 110
• Practical, "How-it-Works" Books p. 112
• Alphabets, Dictionaries, and Counting Books p. 114
• Case Study: Mazes and Hidden Treasure p. 116
• Chapter 8 Design and Typography
• Introduction p. 118
• Dynamics of Composition and Layout p. 120
• A Concern for Design p. 122
• Case Study: Type as Image p. 124
• Chapter 9 Getting Published
• Introduction p. 126
• Professional Approaches p. 128
• The Publisher's View p. 132
• Contracts and Money p. 134
• Glossary p. 136
• Resources p. 138
• Index and Credits p. 140