Picture Book Course

Nov 16, 2023 | Courses, Workshops & Education

Eek! Here we go! 

In September, I celebrated 20 years of being a self employed graphic designer. Perhaps because of that milestone, one of the goals I set for myself this year was new: to write and illustrate a picture book inspired by my old English sheepdog Bella. 

I have a rough draft of the manuscript and page chart done, and have been working on character and illustration style development. I’ve got a notebook full of sketches and notes, have read lots of books and studied the picture books I admire.

Now it’s time to take the next step, and start learning from the professionals and refining my vision.

I’m so excited for this next chapter! Pun intended 😂

The course starts on Monday.

So it begins.

The Picture Book Course started last week. One of the very first things we were advised on was to put any existing story ideas on the back burner.

It makes sense, since we will be learning a lot about writing, illustrating, pacing, layout and how to shape a picture book over the next eight weeks—but it’s hard!

Between the weekly assignments, videos of successful authors and illustrators explaining their process and extra reading, the course is so inspiring, I just want to get right to it! But, they’re right. I’ll wait and revisit the story I’ve begun, once the program is complete and I’ve soaked up as much inspiration and knowledge as I can.

A glimpse into my sketchbook:

In the mean time, here is a look at one of the childhood memories I illustrated this week, as well as a few fall scenes I did as part of the #DRAWWITHJJOZ Draw it In Your Style Challenge on Instagram.

Recent Posts

Julie Bateman

Hi there! I've been a self employed graphic designer, working from a home office in Barrie, Ontario Canada since 2003.

In the summer of 2022, I decided to start an ink & watercolour travel journal to document an upcoming road trip from Ontario to Prince Edward Island with Rob, my husband, and Bella our Old English Sheepdog.

From there, I fell in love with drawing, painting and documenting my world in sketchbooks. That learning process inspired me to follow the dream of writing and illustrating a picture book for children.

That's where this blog begins.

If you're interested in collaborating or hiring me for freelance projects, please email me at julie@batemandesigngroup.com

 

Recent Posts

Moving On.

Moving On.

I started sending queries to publishers and agents at the end of January. We're now nearing the end of June and there hasn't been any interest in developing my first book idea yet, so I've been working on the second while continuing to improve my story telling and...

Bella Learned to Paint!

Bella Learned to Paint!

Last weekend, the brave folks at the Huronia Museum in Midland, Ontario hosted their first dog friendly workshop. Combining the Indigenous storytelling experience with a collaborative painting class, this workshop was a fundraiser for the museum and Ontario SPCA...

Professional Development Days

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Last year, along with writing and illustrating my first picture book, I added schedule quarterly professional development days to my list of intentions. As a self employed graphic designer, my days often get filled with client projects, so it felt important to make...

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So, here we are—working on the final artwork during this cold, snowy week in January. I've 'finished' the first spread and have started working on the second. I love this part of the process! Although many illustrators seem to prefer working digitally using software...

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Making a Dummy Book

This week was a lot of fun! We learned a lot about the importance of making dummy copies of our books to test out the format, page turns, pacing, etc. To make mine, I scanned in the thumbnails that I made last week, enlarged them a little, added text in InDesign, then...

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The Picture Book Course was back this week, after three weeks off for Christmas. Although I enjoyed the downtime over the holidays, it felt great to be back at it! As I mentioned before, I had a story idea in mind when I started this course, but I took the...

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Our True Colours

Okay, I know I said I wasn't going to work on the book again until after I'm finished the Picture Book Course—but I changed my mind. I was sad yesterday, so I started choosing a colour palette to cheer myself up. On Saturday morning, I woke up to our find our...

Imposter Syndrome

Imposter Syndrome

Imposter syndrome is a behavioural health phenomenon described as self-doubt of intellect, skills, or accomplishments among high-achieving individuals. Now, I wouldn't say that applies to me exactly but last week when the other students in the private Facebook group...

Character Development

Character Development

I finished the first draft of my manuscript this afternoon! Wow, does it feel great to be able to say that! My production schedule has been very full with graphic design projects lately. In between juggling three larger, long term projects with the day-to-day website...

Stay in touch!

Please join our email list if you’re interested in watching my journey to becoming a published picture book author and illustrator progress. If you’re a Kid Lit Agent or Publisher, or if you’re interested in a collaboration, I’d love to hear from you! Please feel free to email me at julie@batemandesigngroup.com if you have a direct inquiry.

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