NOTE: This course will be held in a live, online format using the Zoom Platform.
Class meets Tuesdays for nine sessions, 10am-1pm & 2pm-5pm ET + One-on-one crits by appointment

Attention illustrators! Spend two months committed to taking your picture book from idea to a print-ready book that can be uploaded to the self-publishing platform of your choice. The workshop objective is to write and illustrate a well-constructed, compelling and delightful children’s picture book that is ready to self-publish. Emphasis will be on visual storytelling for children and best practices for developing a self-published book. Through weekly prompts/assignments, participants will be encouraged to stay on track for completion of the book within the two-month timeframe, however the instructor will design the content of meetings and handouts so that participants have the knowledge and tools to complete their book project at any time. This is an intensive, guided online learning experience; in addition to group and individual instruction, the instructor will share readings, resources, and visual inspirations and invite at least one guest author/illustrator to a group meeting.

This course will encompass picture book manuscript writing, thumbnail sketches/storyboarding, creation of an industry-standard ‘dummy book,’ development of final art, book layout in InDesign and formatting for self-publishing platforms (Lulu, Print Ninja, etc).

Requirements:

This workshop is designed for illustrators working traditionally or digitally in the medium of their choice, with some experience and/or a strong interest in writing for children and a desire to self-publish. Participants should come prepared with a picture book idea, and if possible, a manuscript rough draft or rough thumbnails.

Participants must have a way to photograph or scan their work and email/upload images for sharing with the class, and must have Adobe InDesign* software access and proficiency.  *We will not be teaching Adobe InDesign, rather we will be taking your knowledge of the program and applying it to how to create a production file to the specifications of your online publisher. There is an Adobe Indesign class available in January, as well as a 2-Day Intro to Indesign class. 

 

All images:  ©Lucky Platt, Header image: ©Gideon Baeza

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Instructor: Lucky Platt

Lucky Platt is a visual artist and children's book creator based in Burnham, Maine, where she and her husband, Jim Macdonald, also work collaboratively as Bunkhouse Studio. Lucky’s debut picture book, Imagine a Wolf (Page Street Kids 2021) was a 2022 Maine Literary Awards Finalist in Children’s, a 2022 Ezra Jack Keats Award Finalist in New Writers, a 2021 New England Book Award Finalist, and has been translated into Korean and Russian. Her stories explore themes of resilience, healing, positive self expression and inclusion, and are often illustrated in traditional art mediums such as oil paint, printmaking ink, gouache pochoir, graphite, paper sculpture, drypoint, pyrography and colored pencil. She has presented narrative art and writing workshops and artist talks through the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators, Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance, Maine Media Workshops & College, Waterville Creates, Waterfall Arts, Farnsworth Art Museum, Maine Arts Commission, and many libraries, schools and indie bookshops. 

Lucky studied writing, painting, drawing and printmaking at Vassar College, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and Complutense City University of Madrid. She is always learning and enriching her craft, and has participated in workshops with Maine Women Writers’ Collection, Anderson Ranch Arts Center, The Arts Students League of New York, Farnsworth Art Museum, Society of Visual Storytelling, SCBWI, Highlights Foundation and Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, among others.

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