Recently, a friend asked me to read a script for a picture book and it got me thinking about what I’d learned about picture books since writing my own (plus reading about 40 a week to my toddlers over the past few years). So here’s 6 facts and 10 techniques to get you started… FACTS 1. Picture […]
Tutorial
Pro-tip: Picture Book Dialogue
Picture books are meant to be read out loud by parents, caregivers, and librarians to kids. The readers who really make your book come alive and connect with kids, are the ones that get into it. They often use different voices for different characters. So it’s in your best interest to give them an easy […]
Chekhov’s Cell Phone – 6 apps to remove story-breakers from your tales
Playwright Anton Chekhov had a theory that everything in a story must be of use. If you put a loaded gun on the wall in the first chapter, it had better be used by the end of the story. Otherwise it shouldn’t be there. That’s why when you see a blockbuster movie where the bad guy […]
Webcomics Tutorial – 10 Lessons For Better Colouring
This how-to-colour-comics tutorial is geared towards webcomics but applies to regular comics as well. I’m not going to teach you the ins-and-outs of a particular art program. Instead, you will learn 10 important things to consider whether you colour with Photoshop or a paintbrush. These lessons will keep your comic storytelling clear and dynamic. If […]
Comics Tutorial – 14 Classic Comic Cover Compositions
Classic comic covers feature high impact images full of energy. While the inside has pages of panels to tell a story, the cover suggests a story with one dynamic image. We inherently judge a book by its cover, otherwise we wouldn’t need advice telling us not to. Over the years the masters of comic covers […]
