Illustration for Children's Book Covers

Manu Montoya tells you a little bit about herself, how she came to work as an illustrator and her most recent projects. She talks about what she's learned and the biggest influences in her personal and professional journeys.

Discover the world of children's book covers and the different approaches to interpreting stories. Manu shows you some of her creative processes when building a story and designing characters, such as editorial briefs or working with individual words.

Now it's time to start working on your cover! Do some initial sketching to explore different composition options before moving on to some color and method testing. Manu also shows you how to make your sketches actual size and transfer them using tracing paper to complete the final stages of the process.

Draw your book cover with a mix of techniques like gouache, colored pencils, and crayons. See how to digitalize your artwork, make a few adjustments in Photoshop, and add a title considering typography concepts. To finish up, hear some final tips on how to take your creation further.