Illustration Techniques for Children’s Books

The first unit begins with an introduction of Estelí, how she became an illustrator, and how she works her characters into her stories. She also shares her influences and explains what you will do throughout the course.

In the second unit, go over the materials you’ll use during the course and create your own sketchbook. Use it to practice fun drawing exercises to loosen up your hand. Define and visually develop your character concept, focussing on facial expressions before creating a puppet of your character using paper.

In the third unit, work on the personality aspect of your character, understanding it fully and use these traits to develop your story. Then, start to sketch your graphical narration, summarized in 3 important moments. Compose the graphic elements and see some color references.

In the fourth unit, as you work on the final sketches of your images, Estelí shows you how to work with different materials and techniques (e.g. acrylic markers, soft pastels, colored pencils, and paper cut-outs).

Lastly, scan your images and discover how to illustrate, retouch, and apply new elements to your composition with Adobe Photoshop. Print your images on cotton paper and work directly on the printed result to add final touches to your visual narrative.