SCBWI in Scotland Illustrators' Day
February 4 th 2006
Held at Edinburgh College of Art, the Illustrators' Day was as packed as the proverbial can, both in the number of portfolio-carrying delegates and the condensed nature of the talks. Even as a new writer I found the speakers hugely helpful, inspiring and informative - how much more so for illustrators starting out.
Louise Power, freelance art consultant, was the first to speak, followed by illustrious illustrators Ross Collins and Patrick Benson. After lunch, a flurry of portfolios were unfolded and critted. Comic specialist Keith Robson was also available.
Louise Power
Louise began by explaining the scope for illustrators. Picture books are large format full-colour books for children up to 6. Story books are smaller format books for early readers (6-8 years), which tend to use mono line drawings on every page.
With anything from 100 to 3,000 words over normally 32pp, picture books provide an average of 12 double page spreads for the illustrator. Louise explained how, due to production costs, a publisher decides to go ahead if they can sell international rights to the book. Normally only 3,000 hardback copies are produced for the UK market whereas 10,000 are produced for the US. Something that becomes a classic, however, such as Patrick Benson's 'Owl Babies', can sell in the millions.
Advice for submitting work to publishers:
If Louise thinks someone has potential, she invites them to meet an editor and art director.
All three speakers spoke about the vital importance of the text, from several different viewpoints.
Louise pointed out that you should never present a story that's just a catalogue of events. You need drama and a resolution, spread over several pages at the end. She used the metaphor of the body to describe how the story is your skeleton, the illustrations the flesh.
The speakers all stressed the importance of making a dummy of a book to help you to work out variation and pacing. Ross and Patrick both added that they needed to believe in the story they're illustrating.
Ross showed dozens of his illustrations, which were spreads and front covers from picture books. He talked about showing the story through the characters' eyes and creating animals.
One of his best-selling books is 'Supposing'. He used this and other examples to discuss the role of the front cover in attracting readers.
Ross relishes the challenge of portraying several important elements in any one spread - and still leaving room for the text.
Both illustrators talked about the importance of believing in yourself when you first start, despite any discouragements.
Patrick stressed how you need to believe you are good enough to become published and force yourself to see it through.
He approaches a new book like a film: he establishes the characters, creates the setting, pulls the focus in and out and explores the scenes from different angles. He said that the way into a book is to produce endless roughs. Expect to make mistakes but pursue making it work. The most important thing is pacing. To work this out, Patrick starts with scamps of all the spreads on one sheet of paper.
You need to use a child's eye level; the viewpoint for an illustration can often be from under a chair.
Finally, Patrick emphasised that a publisher is looking for how you can bring a story alive. You need to grab a child by the hand and take them through the story. Don't ever become precious about your work. It's all about creating stories - not making pictures to hang on walls.
Lizzie MacWhirter
lizziemoonbow@hotmail.com