I wanted to research a bit more on composition, what things you need to think about when starting to draw the illustrations, is there anything else which needs to be considered?
- In picture books the need to move the narrative forward is key, the parent or child should always be encouraged to turn to the next page. A way of doing this is by building expectations and tension in the image and text, making sure their movement left to right on the pages and also making sure the child/ parent has attention on the corners.
2. Composition in picture books, things to consider:-
Placement of objects
Characters in frame
Negative space
Colour and texture
also colour theory is good knowledge to have, as colour creates moods, atmospheres and emotions.
3. Where will your story text go?
The adjacent page method
The beside method
The on-image method
How font choice impacts children’s book design in children’s books, the font has to be simple and readable and traditional. Work out your font, size and how much space it takes up before finishing your art work, as you may not have space.
4. Think about where the scene is headed, what actions are in the scene. Although the pictures are static, you can convey motion and movement by using blur and whoosh motions with the mediums.
Also looking through the eyes of the reader can help to make them feel part of it, are they low looking up, close in on the character or above them?
If a character is running through a village, a Birds Eye view could be good.
Think about the mood of the scene, the script and the story, use colours to create moody scenes, composition to make it dynamic and engaging, add texture for excitement and uniqueness.
http://www.mybookillustrator.com
5. Stages Jane Massey uses when she receives a book illustration commission from a publisher.
- Character ideas and sketch.
- Prepare a colour sample. The publisher usually asks this of new illustrators, you just draw and paint a scene from the book, in colours you were thinking would suit the book.
- Understanding the brief:- The publisher decides where the text goes on each page and supplies something like mock up of the book, so you can see the amount of space you have for your illustration, they also decide whether its a full page, 1/2 page or spots.
- Make thumbnail sketches – Jane uses A6 roughs instead of thumbnails, this gives her enough detail, and can easily be scanned and emailed back and forth to the publisher.
- Refine your characters – Jane uses layout paper for all her roughs, so she can trace over her drawings over and over tweaking them each time. Characters are refined this way, and the more I sketch them the more I get to know them. I get real people to pose for me if I get really stuck on a pose or hand shape.
- consider your audience – so for children aged 3-5 if you have moody or night time scenes, they cannot be too scary, a little spooky would be enough. Also characters need to be endearing, suitable for the period of the book, but also relevant to todays children.
- Discuss feedback – Suggestions and changes will be made by the author and publisher, and a new brief will be set, the roughs will be emailed back with the changes and pointers added.
- Check for continuity – The characters proportions and features must remain the same. Also the background must work in each spread, so if its a garden, all angles must be thought through and are accurate wherever the characters are.
This was something I hadn’t really thought about, but something that will really help and benefit my research and illustrations, as my book is based in a garden!
9. Prepare the final traces – There’s usually not too many changes at this stages, so my traces get photocopied to full size to fit the book. The culture and bleed are marked, and then you can start the final traces.
10. Build up colour – Once the traces are approved the finished art work can start on watercolour paper, building up the colour, strengthening the lines with coloured pencil at the end.
Jane uses Trace-down a carbon paper that she presses lightly on to trace her traces.
11. Leave yourself enough time – A full page spread can take two whole days, some really detailed scenes can take a week to paint, so always give yourself enough time to complete all the art work. It usually takes several weeks to finish.
12. Add finishing touches – The publisher will scan the finished art work and make a mock up of the book, which they usually send a copy to the illustrator or a colour proof for comments.
The illustrator will receive a final copy of the book months before it is published, so it must be kept hidden and secret to avoid spoiling the surprise once it’s published.
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