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Get Part 2 of your FREE children’s book illustration assignment – plus a bonus!

Your MATS Prep Make Art That Sells Get Part 2 of your FREE children’s book illustration assignment – plus a bonus!

Lilla here! Today you can get Part 2 of your FREE children’s book illustration assignment! A couple of days ago I shared the first part of a FREE three-part warm-up exercise that I’ve created for you ahead of my raved-about online course, Illustrating Children’s Books, which starts on Monday, October 9th 2023. If you missed it, you can catch up here.

This #MATSprep is a terrific warm up for class, because it will help you to start thinking about how you can create winning characters for your children’s book illustrations. Characters are absolutely central to children’s picture books, which is why we spend several weeks in class focusing on characters, and why my co-teacher, brilliant children’s book art director Zoë Tucker, and I share so many hints and tips on how you can take your characters to the next level and catch the eye of an art director or publisher.

ICB2 testimonial 3 1 Make Art That Sells Get Part 2 of your FREE children’s book illustration assignment – plus a bonus!

For each class, you’ll get a choice of three brand new texts written exclusively for the course, plus a Text Chooser that will help you explore your character and style and choose the text that’s right for you. (Of course, there’s nothing to stop you from going back and illustrating one or both of the other texts as well after the live portion of the course is over.) I’m really excited about the texts this year and I know you’re going to love them! Two have been written by my co-teacher, Zoë, who already has four children’s picture books under her belt (two of which are based on texts she wrote for Illustrating Children’s Bookscheck them out here) and I’ve written one as well that’s quirky and full of visual imagery for you to enjoy (see how my artists illustrated the text I wrote for last year’s course here).

But enough from me – on with your assignment!

Your Mini Assignment Make Art That Sells Get Part 2 of your FREE children’s book illustration assignment – plus a bonus!

Part 2 of your FREE children’s book illustration assignment!

Part 2 of your FREE children’s book illustration assignment

How did you get on with creating your character in Part 1? Today, you’re going to add some accessories to your character. Adding some fun telling details helps make your character more interesting and special. I’d like you to add at least two accessories. You can use the objects I’ve collected in the photograph above or just make up your own.

For example, maybe the pony has a necklace and red lace-up shoes. Maybe your butterfly has a little pet dog on a leash! (Yes, an insect can have a pet!) Perhaps the giraffe has braids and a vintage pillbox hat. Get the idea? Use your creative, nutty brain to make up stuff. That’s what makes you stand out in this biz.

Tips from art agent Lilla:

Think about how your accessories can tell us more about your character. Let’s take shoes as an example. Shiny red shoes say something different than muddy hiking boots.
Is your giraffe an outdoorsy giraffe? Or do they like to dress up? Coordinate your accessories so that the vibe of the shoes matches that of the other accessories.

For example: Two braids with giant pink hair bows goes with shiny red shoes. A backpack with a water bottle goes with muddy hiking boots.

At a glance, we instantly get the idea of the character.

Part 2 of your FREE children’s book illustration assignment

Art from Illustrating Children’s Books 2020 by Make Art That Sells student Amanda Enright.

Plus: BONUS assignment!

You’ve probably noticed by now that the more time and thought you spend on your character, the more interesting it is. Here’s a bonus assignment for you if you want to dig even deeper into your character.

When you get a children’s book illustration gig, you’ll be asked to draw the character with different facial expressions to match the parts of the text that evoke emotions.

So your bonus assignment today is to simply change your character’s facial expression. (You can simply draw a second face—you don’t need to draw the whole character again if you don’t want to.) It doesn’t need to be a drastic, overly-expressive expression and don’t worry too much about your facial expression drawing now: Zoe and I will teach you how to draw facial expressions in class, with loads of tips. Just do your best for now.

Part 2 of your FREE children’s book illustration assignment

Character sheet by Make Art That Sells student Sirjana Kaur for Illustrating Children’s Books. Lilla and Zoë share tons of tips in class on how you can change your character’s expression.

Tip:

Simply raising one eyebrow or drawing the pupils of the eyes so that the character is looking sharply to their left or right (as in looking askance or stink eye) can do a lot to change an expression. One simple tear coming out of the corner of the eye can communicate sadness very simply.

Don’t forget to share what you do on social media with the tag #MATSprep so that I can see it! And look out for the third and final part of your FREE prep coming up the day after tomorrow.

Are you ready to join Zoë and me for five intense weeks to learn everything you need to know about the children’s book illustration market? I can’t wait, and I hope you’ll join us. Book your spot here.

bookyourplacenow 1 Make Art That Sells Get Part 2 of your FREE children’s book illustration assignment – plus a bonus!

Lots of love

Lilla xoxo

P.S. Have you got your free copy of our gorgeous Sale Guide yet? It’s packed full of beautiful student art plus worksheets that I made just for you, full details of everything that’s included in the sale and more! Get it here.

Part 2 of your FREE children’s book illustration assignment