Learning to be a better writer and/or illustrator can be a tricky process. There are courses you can do, but a lot of the work ends up being self-directed, just you and your notebook or sketchbook, putting in the hours.
I’ve pulled together this list of books that have helped me along the way.
Roland Harvey’s Drawing Book
by Roland Harvey
I’ve put this one first because it was my bible when I was learning to illustrate. It’s aimed at beginners and covers everything you need to know to create visual narratives: materials, style, people, faces, bodies, animals, movement, proportion, composition, perspective, light and tone, and point-of-view.
It’s been around a while now (my edition is from 1996) but there seem to be some copies for sale online. If you want to be an illustrator, get a copy now while you can.
Making Picture Books
by Libby Gleeson
A brilliant guide to writing and illustrating picture books with advice from Australia’s leading creators.
It’s now out of print but you can get an ebook edition from Authors Unlimited.
Drawing for the Artistically Undiscovered
by Quentin Blake and John Cassidy
This book is aimed at reluctant illustrators of all ages. Sir Quentin has filled the book with fun illustration challenges will help you find the joy in drawing again.
The Encyclopedia of Writing and Illustrating Children’s Books
by Desdemona McCannon et al
A comprehensive overview of the genre that covers the market, idea development, visual and written narratives, non-fiction, media, techniques and professional issues.
(There are two covers available online; I’ve got the one on the left. I’m assuming they’re just different editions.)
Children’s Picturebooks: the Art of Visual Storytelling
by Martin Salisbury and Morag Styles
This book recounts the fascinating history of picture books and looks at key concepts and practices of the artform. Get this one if you’re super passionate about the medium.
Show me a Story: Why Picture Books Matter. Conversations with 21 of the World’s Most Celebrated Illustrators
by Leonard Marcus
This series of interviews reveals insights into the work practices of super successful writers and illustrators of picture books including Mo Willems, Maurice Sendak, Quentin Blake, Helen Oxenbury and Eric Carle.
Those are my favourite 6 books to help you make better picture books. Which books have I missed? Share your favourites in the comments.
Many thanks for this excellent list, James, which includes some titles I’m not familiar with, but which I’ll now investigate. For writers, however, I do particularly recommend the three volume ‘How to Write a Children’s Picture Book’ series by Eve Heidi Bine-Stock. The first one focuses on the structure and balance of many of the most successful picture books ever written and I use this in the planning stages. Volume two gets to the writing level – the sentence and word choice for cohesion, meaning and flow, and the scene and the story. Volume three concentrates on making the text memorable using devices far from the normal alliteration and figures of speech. You’ll not just read the books once. I always have them handy when a new story is started and also during revision. These have been my best investment ever for writing picture books …so far.
Hi Peter! Thanks for suggesting that series, I’d not heard of it before. It sounds very useful
Hi James, This is wonderful, thank you! I’ll be sharing your post link with my groups. Also, here’s a post I wrote on the same topic with a few other books to add to yours. http://angelasunde.blogspot.com.au/2012/02/books-for-childrens-illustrators.html
No worries Angela. Great to see we had a bit of overlap! That facial expressions reference book looks like a fantastic resource
An exciting list! I’ve just shared it with my SCBWI critique group. Thank you.
Cheers Emma!
My two youngest children absolutely LOVE Mom Willem’s! We read The Pigeon Wants A Puppy this afternoon. Thank you for the book suggestions.
Cheers Why Yet 🙂 Mo Willems is brilliant, isn’t he. Have you read the Knuffle Bunny series? They’re perfect
I haven’t read Knufflebunnies yet but I did see it in the library. I have to return some items so I’ll pick it up today.
I checked out Knuffle Bunny Too: A Case of Mistaken Identity, and I have been reading that book all weekend. My daughter (who just turned three yesterday) grabbed the book last night and said “That is not my bunny!” and started giggling. I love it!
I’m glad you found it Why Yet. The other two Knuffle Bunny books are great also. I think the first one is my favourite.
I just found Knuffle Bunny Free and read it to my children last night. They loved it! They are so easy to please at this stage 😁
Great post. Love drawing for the artistically undiscovered.
Cheers Tiger Bay Books! That’s a great one; it really helps people get creative.