Course
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Amazing Kidlit Graphic Novel Master Course
I want to introduce you to a wonderful new course from the Children’s Book Academy! This course is for anyone interested in writing and/or illustrating graphic novels. Classes start May 9th! I absolutely love Mira Reisberg and her classes. I will be taking this course, and I would love if you could join me! You can sign up for the course here: https://www.childrensbookacademy.com/2022graphicnovels.html There will be submission opportunities following the course they are called Golden Tickets, and just take a peak and see all the fantastic people waiting to see your work!
Also there will be a Clip Studio class that comes with the class. It will be available soon! I’m an instructor for the Clip Studio course and hope that it will help you with your graphic novels. If you don’t have Clip Studio yet — look it up. When it goes on sale it’s very inexpensive!
If you just want to learn more about graphic novels there will be an absolutely free Masterclass on April 24th at 4pm PT. Sign up is here: https://www.childrensbookacademy.com/free-graphic-novel-masterclass.html
Until April 10th there are scholarships available for this course! The Larissa Marantz Merit and Need Based Scholarships are for underrepresented writers and illustrators who want to take Mastering Graphic Novels. BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, Disabled, Low-Income and more can apply for these scholarships. Please apply, especially if you are a BIPOC because Mira wants to make sure that most (if not all) of these go to BIPOC! https://www.childrensbookacademy.com/larissa-marantz-merit–need-scholarship.html
If you have any questions about Mastering Graphic Novels or for the scholarships, please let me know!
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The Children’s Book Academy’s Writing Course!
I have said it before and I’ll say it again: I LOVE The Children’s Book Academy! I am currently taking The Craft & Business of Illustrating Children’s Books. I loved it so much that I made a video about what I liked about the class: https://youtu.be/TBcMlOHDsDk
If you want to jump over to read about the Writing course go here: https://www.childrensbookacademy.com/p/2020-the-craft-and-business-of-writing-childrens-picture-books
Registration for the CBA’s WRITING class is now open. The Craft & Business of Writing Children’s Picture Books is a fantastic class that will put you in a position to write your best stories. You could be just starting out or have several years under your belt and this class will be for you!
I personally have taken many illustration and writing courses when I was getting my BFA The classes that Mira Reisberg has everything that a college degree has and more. There is a clear path to take from generating an idea to a finished product. With The Craft & Business of Writing Picture Books every single thing learned can be applied to future work.
Personally I knew a lot before taking the illustration course. I had a BFA, taken an illustration grad class, was reading picture books for years and had been developing my style for years but things just weren’t clicking. I wasn’t able to shift into the right gear. Now with taking the illustration course twice I feel confident sending my work out into the world. I’m getting way more complements on my illustration work and able to follow through with creating submission ready work!
The Children’s Book Academy is worth it. I still owe thousands on my student loans and if I could have taken the children’s book academy classes alone I would have! I did not learn more in a classroom setting. And while you may like going to a classroom (nothing wrong with that) you wont get the comprehensive experience you will here!
At the end of the class there are editors, agents and publishers who will be looking at your work! You could literally end this class with a bang – er well you could end it with an agent or publishing contract. How cool is that? Not only are you trained for a job, but you have a chance of getting a position too
If you are thinking about this course I’d really encourage you to enroll now. Mira’s one on one critiques are unfortunately sold out which means the classes are filling up fast! Allison Remcheck still has a couple spots less so grab that while you can. Believe me, you’ll be kicking yourself for not getting a critique after you see the first week’s webinar. Join now, and you’ll be glad you did. Let Mira know I sent you! https://www.childrensbookacademy.com/p/2020-the-craft-and-business-of-writing-childrens-picture-books
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All About the Craft & Business of Illustrating Children’s Books
I’ve talked about the Craft & Business of Illustrating Children’s Books several times, but I always felt like I had more to say. It wasn’t until now that I figured out just what I wanted to other people to know about the course. (Video is embedded below or you can go here: https://youtu.be/TBcMlOHDsDk)
This video highlights areas like the Facebook group, critique groups, webinars, the course itself, private critiques and golden tickets. There is also a section at the end that talks about putting your best foot forward in this class. Much of the info in putting your best foot forward is going to be useful information for any class!
After doing the audio for this I filmed myself coloring a drawing. I may change this into a presentation later, but wanted to get this out before the scholarships applications closed! I am sick in this video, so I’m sorry if any of this comes through on the video.
You can get a diversity scholarship for this course. There isn’t much time left! November 20th is the new extended date. There were not enough people who applied, so please take advantage of these. There aren’t many people applying so here is your chance to take advantage of this great scholarship! https://childrensbookacademy.teachable.com/p/rlpcscholarships
Ready to just sign up for the course? Go here and make all your kidlit illustration dreams come true: https://childrensbookacademy.teachable.com/p/the-craft-business-of-illustrating-children-s-picture-books
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Who’s in for Marks and Splashes?
For those who are following my drama today I was unable to get onto my website to make a post about editing. Unfortunately (or fortunately) I’ll be saving that post for tomorrow. Today I have EXCITING NEWS about Mark Mitchell’s course. I just heard about it a few hours ago, so I just had to post!
Mark Mitchell’s “Make Your Marks and Splashes” course is starting up soon! I was signed up for the Children’s Book Academy “The Craft and Business of Illustrating Picture Books” when this class started last year, and was unable to attend. This year will be different! I will be taking Mark’s class this year. I’m so excited. Here’s the link: https://illustratechildrensbooks.com/childrens-book-illustration-school-fall-2019/?affiliate=daniduck
I’m a bit embarrassed that I forgot about taking (or talking about) Mark’s class. Apparently Mark forgot to get the word out about the class, so he’s giving us all kinds of bonus material if we sign up by Saturday August 24th! (Now I’m kind of glad I forgot because there are so many bonuses now!)
Bonuses
- Four complimentary months of Marks & Splashes Guest Group Critiques, led by top illustrators and other professionals in children’s book publishing.
- A vintage interview series I did with 16 children’s book illustrators who work(ed) in traditional water media, several of them well known, like Patricia Polacco, Ted andBetsy Lewin, Ashley Wolff, E.B. Lewis, the late Leonard Everett Fisher, and Caldecott Medal winners Jerry Pinkney, Emily Arnold McCully and the late Barbara Cooney. The lavishly visual articles, which I completed in my years as a contributing editor of American Artist Watercolor Magazine feature the artists’ drawing steps, research methods, painting processes, thumbnail and dummy page examples and much more.
- An complimentary semester (Winter 2020) of live group homework huddles with Mark
On top of these bonuses
- Going Pro with the Girillustrators video workshop series
- Cindy Wilder’s Drawing Basics Intensive Video Series
- Julie’s Story Town – An Epic Look at Storycraft
- Live Monthly Sessions to get Feedback on Your Work
This is all on TOP of the Make Your Marks and Splashes course. It is packed FULL of things to help us get our Picture Books done beautifully and quickly. Here are some of my favorite things I want to learn.
Creating a Thumbnail in 30 Seconds (it takes me a couple minutes right now)
Keeping Characters Consistent in Every Page
How to Navigate My Art Business
Finding New Strategies for Creating Dummies
Join Me!
Do you want to join me? Maybe we could create our own critique group for the class. I would love to get to know more of you better. I will be there so I can give you personal help at any time during the course. You can sign up for the course here: https://illustratechildrensbooks.com/childrens-book-illustration-school-fall-2019/?affiliate=daniduck
But What About Smart Dummies?
What we learn in this course is going to directly translate into what we are doing for Smart Dummies, so this course is great if you want a bit of extra help creating your dummy this year. This will not take away from what we are doing in Smart Dummies, but it will inform what I talk about for the Smart Dummies event!
Didn’t see this soon enough? Join anyway! I was going to join before I knew about any of the bonuses!
Please let me know if you are joining me for this course! I’ll contact you so we can get the most out of this course.
- Four complimentary months of Marks & Splashes Guest Group Critiques, led by top illustrators and other professionals in children’s book publishing.
