Illustration by Mark Mitchell from The Trail North by Charlotte Baker Montgomery (Eakin Press)
Congratulations!
You’ve landed on a blog and an education-community site intended for you.
You won’t find another site quite like this. Here you have art lessons. But they’re more than art lessons. More like revelations. You’ll find design and drawing tips. But they’re more than tips. They’re keys to easily tackle most picture-making challenges that you may face.
You’ll learn how to draw without “learning how to draw.” Anyone can do this, with a high interest level, the right information and a little bit of “right practice”. You’ll get these here.
You’ll find painting instruction — but a unique kind that can free you as it encourages and dares you to explore several painting mediums, with brush or mouse.
You’ll discover how to grow your illustration from a thumbnail “seed” to a living-breathing, full-sized sketch– and “make a scene, fusing the skills of the draftsman with those of the storyteller.
You’ll be shown what I call the “Howard Pyle Theorem” (to remind you that illustration is a special kind of theater) and the “Lynne and Tessa” factor, which proves how story imagery can reach beyond the frame and maybe the page!
In monthly interviews you’ll meet successful children’s book illustrators and see how they work. They might share some trade secrets with you.
You’ll find news roundups of the field, mini-lessons by guest artist-instructors, exposure to the books, blogs and projects of your fellow illustrators. You’ll find an online community and support group and a clearing house for an astounding array of resources and information. And gradually you’ll be able to enter the dialogue of illustrators, graphic designers, art directors, editors, agents, writers, teachers and librarians and others who love children’s books and children’s book art.
As enrolled student-members, you’ll have access to the year-long online course, Make Your Marks: A Power Course in Creating Effective Illustrations for Children’s Books, Magazines and Other Media for Children, based on a popular class honed over the years in the studio classrooms of the Austin Museum of Art Art School.
You’ll acquire some sophisticated knowledge in a surprisingly short time — that ccould save you years of frustration and possibly costly mis-steps.
You’ll love this journey. You’ll have fun. In the strange, quiet way that creators have fun. And you’ll grow.
Maybe a lot.
So bookmark this site. Keep coming back to it. You’ve found a good community for you — but it is partly a gated community. To enroll as a student-member and have access to the in-depth content and the core training, e-mail mark@markgmitchell.com.
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Author-illustrator Mark G. Mitchell (www.markgmitchell.com) is the editor of How to be a Children’s Book Illustrator.
Download his award-winning book for young people, Raising La Belle for free at http://shipwreck-book.weebly.com.
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How To Be A Children's Book Illustrator 