Develop your Children's Book Illustrations

How will I learn?

Through discussion and demonstrations and one-to-one tutoring you will undertake exercises and create finished illustrations. We will look at the relationship between layered messages, style and content, and will discuss each other's work.

How will my progress be monitored and assessed?

Your work will be reviewed by you and your tutor on a weekly basis. Your tutor will advise you on progress and provide verbal and written feedback.

Progression opportunities

You can progress onto arts courses in a choice of subjects. Your tutor will be able to advise.

What equipment or materials will I need to provide?

A sketch/note book (comfortable size)
Any medium suitable for illustration can be used (e.g. charcoal, ink, water colours, pastels, collage, tempera...) but not oils.
You must bring all of your own materials.

What other support is available?

Help with numeracy or literacy is available. ICT drop-in sessions are available during term time and are open to all learners. Additional support can be provided for students with learning difficulties and/or disabilities. Learner Support Funding is available for equipment, childcare and travel to learners who qualify. For further details please ask when enrolling.

The topics covered include:

Artistic concepts: at the beginning of the course the sessions introduce the foundation for illustration and feature a series of practical illustration workshops that explore the essential 'building blocks' of the illustrated image such as line, shape and form, tone and light source, colour; warm and cold, texture and surface and atmosphere, movement & dynamics, perspectives and backgrounds.

Children's book Illustrators: we will explore aspects of the rich visual language and pictorial representation used by established illustrators, and will enable you to explore styles, materials and ideas whilst you develop a personal illustration project.

How to interpreting texts visually: the course will lead you to explore visual idea development and image building and discovering the rich visual possibilities of the core themes found in texts, articles and stories.

Creating your own book of illustrations: throughout these workshops you will use a range of materials and techniques to develop your own unique visual vocabulary.

How to illustrate children’s books: how expand your drawing skills and provide a framework for integrating illustration with other mixed media techniques.