Tips On Writing & Drawing Comics for Kids

I've been stoked to feature John Lechner as my Illustrator of the Month for April. John is a fabulous illustrator, writer, animator, and designer with tons of experience and expertise. To wrap up his frolic on my blog, John is sharing some tips on writing and drawing comics for kids, something he knows a lot about. John has two comic style books for kids published by Candlewick Press, Sticky Burr: Adventures in Burrwood Forest, and Sticky Burr: The Prickly Peril. He also posts an ongoing Sticky Burr web comic, which is lots of fun.


Tips On Writing & Drawing Comics for Kids
by John Lechner

All comic artists have their own ways of working and theories about comics. I'm going to share some of my own thoughts and ideas, drawn from my own experience.

To write successfully for children, you need to apply all the rules of good writing, but even more so. The same applies to comics. When you write and draw comics for children, you need to strive for the most clear, well-scripted, well-paced and dynamic story you can create. I don't mean that comics for kids should be constrained or conventional, only that they should be good.

Comics and picture books have a lot in common, they both use words and pictures to tell a story, and the words and pictures usually share the load. The main difference is that in comics, the story is depicted in real time -- that is, the time it takes to read one page is roughly the time it would take for the scene to actually occur. The drama plays out in front of you like a movie or play. This requires many images, so the page is divided up into panels which are read in sequence; hence the term "sequential art".

Because of this unique quality, not all stories lend themselves to comics, just as not all stories make good picture books, or poems, or films. It helps if the story is not too wordy and has some “visual drama” -- that is, scenes that are especially dramatic when you see them played out in front of you. A comic about people having conversations is harder to pull off, though these can work well for older readers if the dialog is good. For younger children, visual action and humor that take advantage of the "real time" nature of comics can be very effective. (For instance, showing cause and effect, or a progression of events.)

Speech balloons are another key ingredient of comics. They don't merely show what is being said, they control the flow and pacing of a page as well. Their placement is just as important (if not more) than that of the images and panels on the page. When reading a page of comics, the eyes should be able to follow a simple and logical path from one balloon to another. If the order is difficult to decipher, it slows down the reader and brings them out of the story. When drawing your comic pages, if you find that your word balloons don't follow a logical path, you may need to change the artwork. And if you find you have so many words that you don't have room for the characters, you may need to trim.

So what distinguishes a comic for kids, as opposed to a comic for older teens or adults? Partly content, and partly simplicity of form and layout, just as a picture book or early reader uses well-spaced text and easy-to-follow pages. Believe it or not, simplicity is even harder to achieve with comics, because you have to convey so much information visually, and perhaps this is why comics for young readers are so hard to pull off.

And just as traditional books often bend the rules and make readers stretch, so can comics as long as you don’t lose your reader in the process. Every word, panel and line should contribute towards telling the story, there’s no room for anything superfluous in comics. It’s an amazing and versatile medium that I’m still learning about myself, and hope to be exploring for a long time to come.

A huge THANK YOU to John for taking the time to share his work here throughout the month. You can read more from John at his Illustrator of the Month interview and read his post on Creating a World in a Picture Book. Plus, you can learn all sorts of things about John and his work at his website http://www.johnlechner.com/
I'm certain we'll be seeing lots of great things from John. I can't wait.

Creating a world in a picture book

by John Lechner

How does an illustrator create a world? There are many ways to do this, and every illustrator has their own individual tricks and techniques. Here are a few of the methods I use to create a world in my picture books.



1. Establishing Shot
This is a term often used in filmmaking, but pertains to books as well, and helps create context for your story. In my book A Froggy Fable, the setting and the frog's place in it was very important to the story, so I wanted to establish it early. You don't always need to do this at the beginning of the book, as long as it comes at a point when it's important to the story in order to give continuity to the world.



2. Time of Day/Year
When does your story take place? A specific time of day or season of the year can really help make a world come together. My book The Clever Stick takes place in the springtime. My first Sticky Burr book takes place in the summer and the second one in the autumn, and I tried to draw each scene accordingly.



3. Different Perspectives
Different viewpoints – high/low/near/far – not only add variety to scenes, but allow the viewer to see more of your world, and can heighten the drama. Looking down from above, up from below, or from the viewpoint of your main character, can completely change the flavor of your story. But don't go crazy, try to use perspective where it helps the story.



4. Atmosphere
By atmosphere I mean both the physical and the psychological one – are you depicting a happy scene or a scary one? Giving the viewer an emotional reaction to a scene draws them in and makes them a part of it. In this image from Sticky Burr: The Prickly Peril, I used a limited palette and jagged lines to enhance the mood.



5. Continuity
It's important to make your world and your characters look consistent from page to page. But consistency of style is often even more important than consistency of character. If the overall style of your drawings is consistent from page to page, your world will feel like it all fits together. Style is not easy to develop, and is best when it comes naturally. I find when I focus on the story and climb inside of it, the style follows on its own.

Those are just some of the ways an illustrator can create a tangible and believable world in a picture book. Can you think of others? Leave your suggestions in the comments!

You can learn more about author/illustrator John Lechner at his Illustrator of the Month interview and on his website www.johnlechner.com

Illustrator of the Month--John Lechner

This month I'm celebrating John Lechner! He's here today to share some insights about being an author/illustrator, and he knows what he's talking about. John is a multitalented illustrator, author, animator, designer, puppeteer, and musician. He has four books to his credit so far, A FROGGY FABLE, THE CLEVER STICK, STICKY BURR: ADVENTURES IN BURRWOOD FOREST, and STICKY BURR: THE PRICKLY PERIL all published by Candlewick Press, as well as loads of great interactive material. Currently John is the art director at Peter H. Reynolds' children's media company, Fablevision. I'm very happy to feature John as April's Illustrator of the Month.

I assume people with great artistic talent always had it. Were you always good at drawing, even as a kid? When did you know you wanted to create children’s books?

I’ve always loved to draw, and I was always encouraged as a child. I wrote and illustrated my first book in first grade, about explorers who fall into the ocean and escape from a whale. I always loved books and wanted to be an illustrator like those I admired (Maurice Sendak, N.C. Wyeth, Bill Peet, Arthur Rackham.) I studied art and creative writing in college, but didn’t really find my voice until much later.




How did you develop your illustration style?

It just developed naturally over the years, it’s an odd mixture of naturalistic watercolors and simple line drawings. As I became more busy through the years, I drew faster and that helped to free up my style. I think it also comes from the things you draw, and since my stories often involve animals or nature, that also influences my style. I don’t like drawing buildings, I’m more at home in the forest.



When both writing and illustrating a book, which comes first for you, the story or the art?



The words usually come first. I might draw a quick sketch to set the scene in my mind, but I usually write out the story as it comes into my head. When I get a story idea, I don’t think about whether it might be a book, I just write the story and see where it goes. Some ideas don’t go anywhere, but sometimes they end up better than you thought. If I think a story has potential, I might create a web version to try it out. That’s how A Froggy Fable and The Clever Stick got started.




When submitting a book as the author/illustrator, do you complete the illustrations before submitting or do you submit a dummy?

I usually submit a rough sketch dummy along with the typed manuscript. A picture book typically evolves a lot from the time it is accepted until the time you do the final illustrations. The publisher will want to consult with you on the text, the size of the book, the number of pages, and the layout. So illustrating the entire book beforehand is not practical.


The purpose of the sketch dummy is to convey your vision of the book, and give the publisher a rough idea of how it might read. But when your book is accepted by a publisher, their designer will likely make a new dummy with suggestions for making the layout stronger, just as your editor will make suggestions for strengthening the text. There is a lot of discussion and revision before the final layouts are ready and you can start the final illustrations.




Your STICKY BURR books are part picture book, part comic book. What made you decide to go that route for these stories?

I originally envisioned the burrs as comic characters, because I wanted the stories to have a lot of action and visual humor. I started doing the Sticky Burr web comic over ten years ago, which has evolved into the current version you see today. I envisioned the books as a combination of a comic and a picture book because I wanted them to be a little different. By inserting pages of Sticky Burr’s (or Scurvy Burr’s) journal throughout the comics, it not only allowed me to elaborate on the characters and their world, but it also provided a nice break in the story, making it easier to suggest the passing of time or changing of location, which otherwise would have been harder in such a short comic. I added the map and other things to help create an entire world for these characters.


I have to ask. Why a burr?

When I was young, my brothers and sisters and I would spend a lot of time in our backyard. It had squirrels, birds, dragonflies, grasshoppers -- a bit like Burrwood Forest. We also had bushes that grew burrs on them, and we always called them sticky burrs. It wasn’t until I was an adult, and thinking back to those years, that I thought the burrs would be great characters. I started writing stories about them, and they evolved into the world you see today.


Do you think it’s easier as both the author and illustrator of a book to get your story across?



Personally, I enjoy having control over the story and illustrations, because I tend to think of them together. I visualize the images in my head as I write. Though there are also advantages to working with someone else, as they often think of ideas that you didn’t.


You also create films and interactive games. Does this take a whole different skill set or does it complement your book writing and illustration work?



Like books, films and interactive games also involve storytelling with images, but it’s really a different way of thinking. You’re thinking in real time, with real pacing. The storytelling techniques are different too. That’s why picture books that use still images from a film usually fall flat, because those images weren’t meant to stand alone, they were meant to be shown in connection with a thousand other images. So as an artist it can be challenging to shift from printed books to films and interactive stories, as you have to shift your brain into another way of thinking. But they all can inspire and influence each other.


Continuity of the looks of the character is so important. How do you achieve this page after page?

Continuity is very difficult, it takes a lot of erasing and comparing images side by side. However, you also don’t want to be too tied down to making your characters perfect, you also want them to be alive. Some of my favorite illustrators hardly have any continuity, yet they have so much life and energy in their art (Ludwig Bemelmans is a perfect example.) Continuity of style is often more important than continuity of specific characters. As long as the world you create is consistent throughout, the characters will appear more consistent.




If you use an additional illustrated story line in a book, do you decide on it purposefully or does it grow organically?

It’s different with every book, but usually it happens in the illustration stage. For instance, in Sticky Burr: The Prickly Peril, there are two burrs that both want to juggle, and one of them steals the juggling balls from the other. In the final page, they are seen juggling together. This is totally unrelated to the main storyline, yet it helps reinforce the malcontent of the burrs early on, and the camaraderie they feel at the end.




What advice would you give to aspiring author/illustrators trying to break into the market today?

It’s a very crowded field, but it’s also an evolving one because of new media and markets. Networking is one of the best ways to get connected with people in the field and get seen by an editor or art director. SCBWI conferences are great, and there are so many writer conferences and comic conferences where you can meet people and learn from them. Keep an eye out for new small publishers, which are often more receptive to new authors. Don’t be afraid to try new things, such as ebooks or web comics. And never stop working and improving your art, try to work twice as hard as everyone else.


Want to tell us about what you’re working on right now?

I’m finishing up my first novel, which I hope will find its way to publication. I’m also drawing a weekly web comic about Sticky Burr and his continuing adventures. I also have a blog about art and nature called The Untended Garden, where I write about how artists and writers are influenced by nature.



I’ve also been working on an interactive story, something that combines my interest in books, animation and interactive games. It’s a story without words, where the user advances the action, following a character as he journeys through a mysterious and deserted world. Although it’s interactive, it’s still a fairly linear story, with a beginning, middle and end. I’ve always been interested in the possibilities of interactive storytelling, and trying to push the boundaries of what can be done. I hope to unveil the project this spring.

You can learn more about John and see tons of his work at his website, http://www.johnlechner.com/ And check back this month for more from John!

Illustrator of the Month -- Stephanie Ruble

Stephanie Ruble (a.k.a. sruble) has been drawing and painting ever since she could hold a crayon. She's been making up stories since she learned how to talk! Now that she's a grownup she's writing a YA novel and making art for her portfolio.

I love Stephanie's artwork. It's so fun. Really, it's a perfect fit for children's books. I would love to see her illustrations brought together in a book I could read to my little ones (perhaps the skateboard riding chicken--that's got kid appeal!) So, I asked Stephanie if she'd like to frolic over and be my featured Illustrator of the Month, and I'm so happy to have her because I have questions!


Stephanie, when did you decide you wanted to become an illustrator?

I’ve always wanted to be an artist. In first grade, I used to love drawing Snoopy. In third or fourth grade, we saw a film about an artist creating a picture book, which is when I decided I wanted to be a picture book artist. I didn’t find out until many, many years later that picture book artists were called illustrators. So, it was only within the last ten years or so that I decided I wanted to be an illustrator … even if I had wanted to be one since grade school.



Unfortunately, I don’t remember the title of the book in the film, but it was about the ocean. After seeing the film, I made a picture and wrote a poem, both titled, “The Fish with a Smile like a Crocodile.” I was so proud of that picture! Then my teacher stapled the poem on top of my painting, FOUR TIMES! She covered up my art and poked holes into it! (Yes, I am still upset about it. I took the staples out recently so I could scan the painting and was lucky the painting didn’t rip.)


What types of books do you hope to illustrate?

I hope to illustrate picture books (written by me or by someone else) and novels. I have a completed picture book dummy I’m sending out now. I’m working on another dummy and black and white images for my portfolio.




Do you feel you have found your illustration style, or is it still developing?

I have a very strong flat color style in my portfolio that I keep playing with so it doesn’t get static. I also have a more painterly style that’s always developing. No matter what style I use, it still looks like my art, because the drawing underneath starts the same way.




Do you have a favorite subject to draw?

Animals are my favorite subjects now. Cows were in the top spot for many years, but were recently replaced by chickens. Elephants are vying for the top spot in the future.



In high school and college, my favorite subject was people. I created lots of abstract figural paintings, mostly on large canvases. Sometimes I painted on a smaller scale or made drawings.


Have you had any artistic training?

Yes. I have a BFA in painting from Mankato State (a.k.a. MN State University, Mankato). I loved art school! I miss being able to paint on huge canvases; I just don’t have the space anymore.


Do you specialize in any one medium?

The artwork in my portfolio is digital. I still love to paint in acrylics and I do that as often as I can. Sometimes I play with watercolor, colored pencil, ink, and mixed media too.



Are there any illustrators whose work inspires you?

There are way too many to list! Here are some old favorites and some new ones too: Mark Teague, Lois Lenski, Ruth Carrol, Clare Turlay Newberry, Peter McCarty, Arthur Howard, Brian Selznick, Kazu Kibuishi, Raina Telgemeier, Lynn Johnston … and many, many more!


Do you write you stories for your illustrations as well?

I write stories for some of my illustrations, but my writing voice tends to be older. I’m writing a YA zombie novel now and have several other ideas to choose from for my next project.




How are you getting your work out there right now?

Postcards, my website, online portfolio sites, CBIG - my local illustrator’s group , conference critiques and portfolio shows, Watercolor Wednesdays , Illustration Friday, and anything else I can think of.


Do you belong to SCBWI? If so, how has being a member helped you?

Yes. SCBWI has helped me in lots of ways. The most helpful part of SCBWI for me so far has been going to conferences. I’ve learned about the business and craft of children’s books (including that picture book artists are illustrators) and had critiques that have helped me get to the next level with my art and writing.


If you could live in any book, which one would it be?


The first book that came to my mind was Harry Potter, but I’d only want to live there if I could be magical. It wouldn’t be any fun if I were a muggle.

Stephanie posts new art regularly on her blog, usually before it goes into her online portfolios. On her blog she also posts art that she did just for fun. You can learn more about her projects and see more of her art by visiting her website. http://www.sruble.com/And you should definitely check out Sheila the Zombie Cheerleader. She's super fun!
You can also find Stephanie on Twitter.

Illustrator of the Month--Craig Stapley

Graphic Designer by day, Illustrator by night—sounds like some sort of artistic superhero, doesn’t he? But who needs to be a superhero when you have the talent like Craig Stapley.

Craig is an artist living in Northern Utah where he loves playing in the snow with his wife and three boys. He says even though sleep is more of luxury now, he loves where he is and what he does; “illustration and design is an amazing way to express one self. Art has the power to motivate, inspire and unify. I am truly blessed to have the opportunities I have.”

Craig’s favorite color is rainbow. His favorite food is not very healthy. His hobby is work. Sounds like a true artist to me. I’m happy to introduce Craig as my featured illustrator this month. He's frolicked by to answer some questions about his work.


Craig, when did you decide you wanted to be an illustrator?

I don't think that it was really a conscience decision. It really has been a gradual evolution of my career. When I was a kid I was always fascinated by art. I didn’t differentiate between the various artistic disciplines I just grouped it all into “Art”. I was good at it. It made me happy, challenged me and gave me purpose. Illustration was the result of a natural artistic progression.


You have an illustration company, what kinds of work have you done?

My company, Stapley Illustration, has gone through it’s own evolution of sorts. Over the years I have dabbled in many different areas including medical illustration, political cartooning, architectural art, portraiture, renderings and of course books and magazines. Gradually I am narrowing my focus to my passion, children’s illustration, and cutting out all the other stuff.

© Craig Stapley

Recently (within the past three years) I have been working for larger and larger publications such as the Children’s Friend and Liahona Magazines. In October of last year I got my first magazine cover illustration for the Friend and that has led to other opportunities such as a commission for Highlights Magazine.


Is there an illustration style that you enjoy most?

My illustration style is always refining and evolving though I do have a goal that I strive to accomplish in everything I do. That is creating life. That may sound very general, but to me it means creating characters that are honest and relate with the viewer. I want my illustrations to be more than a snapshot, I want them to tell a story with expression, color and movement.

© Craig Stapley


Have you had any artistic training?

Yes, sort of. I have a degree in graphic design from Utah State University. Now do I think that has helped me? Not really. Most of my training is trial and error (often more error than trial). All through high school and college I was doing freelance illustration and would often use these paying projects for my assignments as well. I do think that college was useful for building a base on which to build but the majority of my illustration growth is through practical use and studying everything around me.

© Craig Stapley


What is your favorite medium to work in?

Pencil. I love to draw. Today 90% of my work is created digitally. I usually start off drawing and sketching. I then transfer that to the computer and start adding color and texture. I find that the computer affords me more control over the finished piece. I use a Wacom tablet that lets me control many of the same elements you get from traditional painting such as opacity, stroke size and brush. The best part is that clean up is much easier.


Are there any artists whose work inspires you?

Tons! Perhaps my favorite is Norman Rockwell. I remember I had a class in college about art theory and we had an assignment to choose an artist and analyze their work and break down the different artistic elements that made it successful. Everyone else was choosing post-modern and abstract art. I chose Rockwell. I ended up with a C- on the assignment choosing a more conservative artist. I thought that he was a master of color, expression and visual direction; apparently the instructor though different.

I am also a huge fan of Jim Madsen and Dani Jones. Jim for his people and Dani for her use of texture and color.

© Craig Stapley


What are you doing to get your work noticed by publishers?

For years I have been sending out promotional postcards, emails and samples to publishers all over the world. Sometimes all it takes is persistence. Too often I think illustrators get discouraged when they don't see immediate results. I thrive on that. Sometimes I think I love promoting my work more than doing the work itself. I am fascinated by the publishing industry.

© Craig Stapley


You’re doing a piece for Highlights. What can you tell us about that?

I could tell you but then I would have to kill you. No, really. Kidding... I have been sending various promotional pieces to Highlights for a little over 10 years now. Recently they contacted me to do an inside spread titled “Christmas in July”. I was excited and thrilled that they would choose me. Apparently, they liked the sketches I sent them for the piece because last week they contracted me to create another inside spread. So things are looking up. I am very excited.

Congratulations Craig! And thank you for being my Illustrator of the Month.

Honestly people, Craig has one of the best websites I've ever seen. If you haven't had a look, go take a peek: www.stapleyillustration.com

You can also check out his graphic design site at www.stapleydesign.com

Illustrator of the Month--Bonnie Adamson!

I decided to kick off a new feature in the new year: Illustrator of the Month! Who better to start with than the illustrator of my forthcoming debut picture book, Bonnie Adamson. Bonnie was kind enough to agree to be my guinea pig and let me ask her prying questions and feature some of her beautiful artwork on my blog.

Bonnie is a graphic designer and children’s book illustrator as well as a writer (as yet unpublished—stay tuned!). She is also the art director for Pen & Palette, the quarterly newsletter of the SCBWI-Carolinas region; is active in organizing writers and illustrators in her area; and co-hosts the great #kidlitchat Tuesday nights on Twitter (follow @BonnieAdamson). She and her husband have two daughters, two sons-in-law and three granddogs who offer endless encouragement and support.

When did you know you wanted to be an illustrator? What drew you to children’s books?

I remember when I was three or four years old, my father made a little cartoon flip book for me: a stick figure wearing a bowler hat, kicking a football. As the football arced away in one direction, the man’s hat fell off his head behind him. I was hooked right away. I was “the kid who draws” in school, but didn’t really consider illustration as a career until I was working as a freelance designer after college, and began commissioning myself to do the illustrations for design projects.

©Bonnie Adamson

As to why children’s books, mine was the generation Little Golden Books were created for. I was NEVER without a book. I think I always dreamed about creating children’s books. I remember laboriously copying favorite books onto tablet paper and stapling the sheets together to make them “my own.” They were such magical things to me. (I still think magic is involved!)


Have you had any artistic training?

I had a very supportive art teacher in ninth grade, and private lessons with a local artist, but didn’t really get into serious art training until I already had a B.A. in English. I went back and got my B.F.A. in graphic design—which was a field in its infancy (before computers!), and still very much a part of the fine arts department—so the core curriculum was drawing, painting, printmaking, and sculpture. I stayed for graduate school, but was married by that time and left the program early when my husband was transferred.


Your first picture books, a two-book set: I Wish I Had Glasses Like Rosa and I Wish I Had Freckles Like Abby, written by Kathryn Heling and Deborah Hembrook, were published by Raven Tree Press in 2005. How did you break into the market?

©Bonnie Adamson

I joined SCBWI in 2000 and began sending out sample packets. I started to pick up some magazine work, and then the big break came in 2002 when I got a call from Troll Books to do a cover for a book-club edition of The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle. I was thrilled! The sad news was that Troll Books declared bankruptcy while my cover was at the print separator’s (the stage just before it goes on the press), so the book was never printed. It was a great experience working with the art director and editor at Troll, though, and I gained confidence that perhaps I did have something to contribute to the industry.

©Bonnie Adamson

The next big break was a work-for-hire job for Raven Tree. They commissioned me to do a series of vignettes to accompany photo illustrations in a picture book about a little girl who travels to tourist spots around the U.S. with her parents. The project was shelved after I completed the illustrations, but the work put me on Raven Tree’s list, so I was one of the illustrators contacted when they put out a call for character studies for the “I Wish” series. I got the contract based on sketches I submitted. The first two books did well, so Raven Tree asked me to follow up with the two “I Wish” books for boys, which came out in 2008. (The original project for Raven Tree was also published in 2008, a three-book set called Traveling with Anna).

You also illustrated Feeling Better: A Kid’s Book About Therapy by Rachel Rashkin, for Magination Press. Can you give us any insight into how illustrators are paired with manuscripts?

©Bonnie Adamson

Oh, I wish I knew—that’s the great mystery! When you’re starting out, I think it’s really just a matter of getting your work in front of the right person at the right time, which is why you take every opportunity to get your stuff out there. Before I had my web site, I sent over a hundred packets of printed samples to art directors and publishers. Now I’m working on a redesign of my web site and contemplating a new round of mailings.


How did you develop your illustration style?

©Bonnie Adamson

For years as a freelance graphic designer (my first career), I was involved with one- or two-color print projects. My clients rarely had the budget for full-color art, so I was forced to become proficient with black and white line—pen and ink, mostly. (I used to joke that I thought in black and white.) When I began to put together a portfolio for children’s book illustration I realized that wouldn’t do, so I took a year off to develop a long-dormant fascination with watercolor. That was a lot of fun. My “go-to” style now combines line work (pen and ink, pencil or colored pencil) with watercolor washes, but I’m experimenting with flatter, more collage-like applications of color, which is a throwback to my more heavily-graphic past—so I guess things are coming full circle.

©Bonnie Adamson


What is your illustration process?

I do a lot of preliminary sketching. I like the underlying “blueprint” to be as tight as possible with regard to composition before I start painting—which is where I try to loosen up and keep a light touch.

©Bonnie Adamson

When approaching a book, I generally do character studies first. Then, because of the publisher’s marketing requirements, I usually have to get a cover image down. Then it’s on to a thumbnail storyboard of the text, which allows me to see the entire book at a glance, and allows me to play with page layouts. Then, because I do the design work, too, I establish the graphic look of the book, building on the elements used for the cover image (typeface, page numbers, any repeating motifs or colors) into a page template, and then I’m ready to do the full-size sketches.

©Bonnie Adamson

About how long does it take you to illustrate an entire picture book?

Anywhere from nine months to a year.


Is there anything you wish picture book authors would keep in mind when writing?

Well, I’d say it’s easier for an illustrator if there’s lots of room for interpretation—illustrations can take care of not only the incidental descriptive details, but can portray a good bit of backstory as well. In one of the first “I Wish” books, the text simply says something about one of the characters being splashed with paint on the playground. The illustration reveals why there was paint on the playground—the children were outdoors helping make banners for the school fair. You don’t have to slow your story down with explanations of that sort.

©Bonnie Adamson

I’ve heard other illustrators talk about being sure there’s action on every spread, that the setting changes to allow fresh illustrations—but I’ve had the honor to illustrate several books that were very “internal,” and did not have a lot of variation in setting or action, and I find them maybe even more satisfying to work on. My advice would be to concentrate on your story, and not be overly concerned with what comes next while you’re getting it down.

Afterwards, the best thing is to try to trust the editing team, the one that was enthusiastic enough about your story to buy it in the first place, to pair it with an illustrator who will add just the right seasoning to the stew. I know this is easier said than done. It took a long time for me to realize that I’m not the right illustrator for some of the stories I write and submit (!), so I know it can be a scary proposition to give up that control.


With picture books, continuity of the looks of the character is so important. How do you achieve this page after page?

©Bonnie Adamson

That’s something you have to be diligent about, especially as your familiarity with the character naturally evolves and affects your style over the months that you’re working on the book. I keep a character reference sheet handy, with measurements and proportions jotted down alongside sketches in several different poses. When painting, I try to work assembly-line style: I’ll have as many as ten illustrations stretched and ready to go on separate boards, so I can do all the skin tones at once, all the hair, eyes, clothes, etc. (I also keep notes on rough formulas for mixing paint colors.)

©Bonnie Adamson


How do you decide on which scene from the text to draw for the page spread?

A good picture book is written in scenes, so it’s not so much a matter of deciding what to portray, but of deciding on where the focus should be to get the point across (thinking of page spreads as camera shots is helpful: you want a good mix of close-ups and panoramas). The primary concern, I think, is getting to the emotion of the scene. A picture book is an emotional journey. In practice, I try to do two things: get the facial expressions right, and match the relative quiet or busy-ness of the art and layout to the pace dictated by the text.

©Bonnie Adamson


If you use an additional illustrated story line in a book, do you decide on it purposefully or does it grow organically?

Both. You look for something to tease out that can be a support or a counterpoint to the text, and then it develops a life of its own. For the second “I Wish” series, I decided that I needed for each of the boys to have a dog—the dogs are never mentioned in the text, but they became valuable allies in how they reacted to what was going on.

©Bonnie Adamson


What are you working on right now?

(Warning: I'm afraid I've baited Bonnie with this one!)

My latest project for Raven Tree is an adorable picture book by the fabulous Heather Ayris Burnell! (*blushing!) I fell in love with Heather’s main character right away and am hugely excited to be helping to bring him and his story to life. The book is called Bedtime Monster and is scheduled to be published in both bilingual and English-only editions in the fall of this year.

© Bonnie Adamson


Want to see more from Bonnie? Her shiny new web site is still under construction, but you can view samples of her work online at http://www.bonnieadamson.net/.