Sharing notes on Illustration and Picture Books, taken at KidLitVic 2017.
Illustration Panel
Panel: Melissa Keil (Five Mile Press), Michelle Madden (Penguin), Sarah Mummé (Lake Press), Christina Pase (Windy Hollow)
- Postcards (at conferences, etc) are lovely. But a link is always a good thing to forward on to others. Need to be able to show it around – at acquisitions, etc. Digital is great.
- Greeting cards are a way to get your work out there.
- Michelle loves to see loads of stuff. Consistency is huge – to develop a character and be consistent across the pages. It’s good to see what you can do – different styles (as long as it is strong, and done well) – but consistency is important.
- Melissa: Colour palette, characterisation, line-work – something that’s really unique.
A vaiety of styles for a range of products. - Sarah: It’s very personal
May fight for it, if she can see potential, with a really good brief, and a little bit of work. - Christina – literary picture books
If she really loves it – or has something to fill the brief.
Likes to know/see if they can draw people – because that’s a really difficult thing! (Show them in all different poses and emotions, in your portfolio.)
Technical skills are vital during the process – to see an illustration from the back angle. Or from a different character’s perspective. It’s almost like illustrators are working with a film screen, not a flat piece of paper.
Kathryn Apel 