Workshops
Take your picture book idea from concept to an industry-standard dummy book ready for submission to agents/publishers or further development into a self-published book.
There are no available registration dates at this time.
Note: This course will be held in a live, online format using the Zoom Platform.
Class meets Thursdays for five sessions, Jan 25, Feb 1, 8, 15 & 22 from 10am-1pm & 2pm-5pm ET (includes a 1 hour break).
Are you a primary educator, author-illustrator, or visual storyteller looking for a creative project?
Take your picture book idea from concept to an industry-standard dummy book ready for submission to agents/publishers or further development into a self-published book. This five-week, immersive, online learning experience explores the art form of the picture book through group and individual meetings, as well as shared readings and resources.
Participants will be guided through the process of thumbnail sketches/storyboarding, picture book manuscript writing, multiple rounds of editing/revisions, and the creation of a thoughtfully considered and compelling ‘dummy book’ — the best practice for a self-published book and the industry standard for submitting a picture book proposal to agents and publishers. Through weekly group meetings, weekly individual feedback sessions, and weekly prompts/assignments, participants will be encouraged to stay on track to complete a dummy book within the course timeframe, however, the instructor will design the content of meetings and handouts so that participants have the knowledge and tools to complete their project at any time.
Note: The instructor will provide very basic instruction for book layout in Adobe InDesign; participants who are pursuing self-published projects are encouraged to pursue additional coursework in InDesign or similar book layout software.
This course is for you if you are:
- An illustrator, book artist, or visual artist with a story to tell through the art form of the picture book
- An aspiring picture book creator with a project in mind or in the works – as creator, you are the writer and illustrator; wordless or books with minimal text are welcome!
- A writer who loves to draw and needs structure and encouragement to dive into an author/illustrated project
- An author/illustrator pair with a project in mind or in the works who can attend class meetings and feedback sessions together from the same Zoom account. Note that this is by special arrangement with Lucky and Maine Media, and in most cases would mean that only one tuition would be charged.
- An author/illustrator pair with a project in mind or in the works who will attend classes and feedback sessions on separate Zoom accounts. Note that this is by special arrangement with Lucky and Maine Media, and in most cases would mean that each student would pay full tuition.
A personal note from the Instructor:
I’ve been offering this workshop online with Maine Media since early 2021, and it is a beloved teaching experience. I look forward to it and prepare throughout each prior year so that the content is always fresh for a deep dive into creating for the contemporary picture book world. I really love the online format, for the geographical diversity of students, the flexibility for one-on-one feedback sessions, the amazing connections students make with one another, and yes, the coziness of not having to leave the house if you’re in a wintery place! January/February 2024’s class will be the fifth iteration, and as always, I will be more or less clearing my schedule for a five-week period to dedicate my head and heart to your picture books in development. In five weeks we go from idea to dummy book, which is no small feat! There are weekly assignments to keep you on track, you’ll receive as much one-on-one feedback as you need — I open my schedule for individual feedback sessions, which you can sign up for every week. You’ll also gain fundamental tools and resources to put to use at any time.
Have any questions?
Please feel free to reach out with any questions in advance of registering, [email protected].
— Lucky Platt
All images: ©Lucky Platt.
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Instructor: Lucky Platt
Author-illustrator Lucky Platt creates books for children in her lakeside rural Maine studio. She works in a range of traditional art mediums, and her stories explore themes of resilience, healing, positive self expression and inclusion. She has presented art and writing workshops for children and adults through the Maine Crafts Association, Schoodic Arts for All, the Maine Arts Commission and Rockland Public Library, and has shown her artwork in galleries and non-traditional/unexpected art spaces in Maine and New York. In early 2020, she left her work as an arts administrator to devote all of her time to writing and illustrating. She has created two self-published picture books on commission; Imagine a Wolf (Page Street Kids, January 2021) is her debut picture book for the trade market. Lucky is a two-time recipient of an Individual Artist Project Grant from the Maine Arts Commission (2016, 2020), a two-time recipient of an Anderson Ranch Art Center scholarship (2019, 2020), and a recipient of an Ox-Bow Artists’Residency scholarship for printmaking (2004). She studied painting, drawing and printmaking at Vassar College, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and Complutense City University of Madrid, and has enriched her craft with workshops at the Maine Women Writers’Collection, Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Farnsworth Art Museum and Haystack Mountain School of Crafts among others.
