FREE download: How to create childrens book characters

How to create childrens book characters: FREE download!

Get your FREE download on how to create characters for kids’ books from brilliant children’s book art director, Zoë Tucker!

Zoë teaches our raved-about online course, Illustrating Children’s Books, alongside top art agent Lilla. As well as being a renowned children’s book art director, Zoë also writes all the texts for Illustrating Children’s books and has published seven acclaimed picture books since 2019 (read about some of them here).

Three of her picture books were originally written for Illustrating Children’s Books, and one of them was illustrated by a Make Art That Sells student. In other words, you’ll be illustrating professional level texts on the course.

Three of Zoë’s picture books, which she originally wrote for Illustrating Children’s Books. Ada Lovelace and the Number Crunching Machine (left) was illustrated by MATS student Rachel Katstaller. Greta and the Giants (middle) was read by First Lady Dr Jill Biden and Katherine Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge, on a trip to the UK – see it here!

Did you know that one of the largest markets for illustration these days is children’s books? Being able to create memorable, relatable characters is absolutely key to snagging your dream kids’ book job, which is why we spend the first two weeks of Illustrating Children’s Books focusing on them. You’ll learn how to develop appealing characters in your own style, what art directors look for in a character, how to make the reader connect, and much much more.

Fabulous character sheet by Make Art That Sells student Sayani Mukherjee for Illustrating Children’s Books. Grab your FREE download below for tips on creating characters like this, and dive in deep in class.

As you can imagine, Zoë knows all about creating appealing characters, and today, to help you get ready for class and to boost your children’s book illustration career, we’re giving you a FREE download of some of her top tips. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be sharing a FREE three-part #MATSprep warm up exercise to help you learn more about creating characters and prepare for class, so keep it safe!

Illustrating Children’s Books 2024 starts Monday, May 20th. Over five intense weeks, you’ll create a ready-to-send pitch presentation that contains everything an art director or publisher needs to see to give you a picture book illustration job, and learn a ton of tips from your teachers, Lilla and Zoë. If you want to make money from children’s picture book illustration then you don’t want to miss this raved-about course. Sign up here.

Are you ready to give your children’s book illustration career a huge boost? This course won’t run again until 2025. Don’t miss out! Book your spot here!

Brand new bundle just dropped! If you’re dreaming of building a successful and lucrative career in the dreamy world of children’s books (and you’re kicking yourself for missing out on our recent sale) then don’t miss The Children’s Book bundle!

In this NEW bundle, you’ll get three powerful courses to help you build a kickass portfolio for writing and illustrating picture books:

Illustrating Children’s Books (LIVE!): Join art agent Lilla and children’s book art director Zoë to create a ready-to-send pitch presentation in just five weeks.
Illustrating Children’s Books PLUS (self-paced): In this fantastic addition to Illustrating Children’s Books, you’ll get four additional mini-texts plus recordings of Lilla and Zoë’s reviews that are packed with tips, advice and info to help you create a really broad and powerful children’s book illustration portfolio.
My Kid Book Pitch (self-paced): Learn how to write an original, special picture book that editors will love with tons of creative tools from Lilla, like her Write a Story recipe and her dreamy Magic Cards.

Get all three courses now and save 20%! Get it here.

Monday, May 20th: Join top art agent Lilla and brilliant children’s book art director and author Zoë for Illustrating Children’s Books 2024 and learn everything you need to know to boost your picture book illustration career. This course won’t run again until 2025! Sign up here.
Monday, May 20th: Join Lilla and Zoë for a FREE live Zoom event on the first day of Illustrating Children’s Books. They’ll be answering your questions and giving away a FREE place in class! Set a reminder now!
Available now: Get The Children’s Book bundle and save a huge 20% off three of Lilla’s powerful children’s book courses: Illustrating Children’s Books, Illustrating Children’s Books PLUS and My Kid Book Pitch. HURRY! This bundle is only available until the start of Illustrating Children’s Books!
Next newsletter: Get Part 1 of your FREE three-part warm-up illustration assignment for Illustrating Children’s Books, all about creating a winning character.