Icons in Children's Book Illustration

Plus a *new* Drawing Workshop with Adam Ming

Hi everyone!

One of the most intimidating parts of illustrating a kids book for me is going from a blank page to a busy scene. The best tip I’ve learned to get started on a blank page is to think about icons.

What does thinking about “icons” mean?

Well, it’s a handy way to turn your illustration into a game of sorts.

Have you ever placed stickers all over a piece of paper to create a scene? Maybe you thought about how to make the stickers interact or tell a story. Maybe you added interesting objects around the scene to make a cool environment?

Well, drawing with icons is kind of like that! You get to draw a background and fill it in with little characters, objects, or anything else that you’ve drawn. Then magically the whole page is filled and transformed into a spread for a book!

We’re going to talk about this in two ways today: