Children's Book Illustration Short Course - Preston

Recently I completed a short course on children's book illustration. It was great to stretch my creative side and be in that sort of environment again. It was interesting to get an insight in to the industry of book illustration and get lots of tips and advice. Everybody in the class had such different styles, it was very inspiring.

We were given the task of finding a children's book, typing up the text and swapping with each other in class. This was a good idea because we were not influenced by the original illustrations. I created a double page spread from the book I was given. The book is about a young girl called Nora who is very badly behaved at home. Turns out the character Nora was actually a mouse! In hind sight I kind of wish I made the characters animals. I think my final piece is quite boring. Although my character development has improved. I used watercolours, pencils and ink for the final piece.

I always use my Windsor and Newton watercolour palette. I have had this for about three years and it was definitely a good investment. I am still on the lookout for a good quality set of watercolour brushes and a decent bound sketchpad.

This illustration is Nora dropping her sisters marbles. I like how this one turned out. I did a bit of character development in my sketchbook which helped but I didn't quite get the main character to look consistent.

Trying different techniques was fun.

Overall I would really recommend the course at Melbourne Polytechnic in Preston. If you have an interest in children's book illustration and you are looking for an insight in to the industry, you would definitely enjoy this course. The only thing wrong with it is it didn't go on for long enough.