The Making of a Picture Book

At her workshop, Carla described the process involved in producing a picture book, and also gave the audience a peek into her personal creative process. I was impressed with her knowledge and experience.

Carla’s Artwork

Carla’s preferred medium is gouache, a water-based paint that produces bright colors and allows her to blend the hues she desires. Her work is bright, energetic, and fanciful, clearly showing the magic and excitement she feels is an important aspect of life and her art. In Carla's words, "It is important to me to create images that convey positive feelings and beauty to help the viewer connect with the grace and harmony that can be found in life." Her artwork is inspired by her life experiences, her imagination, research, travels, dreams, and a love of language, stories and folktales.

The Steps Involved

Carla’s workshop that I attended covered the process of a picture book’s production, from the initial concept to its final appearance in bookstores. The process depends on relationships built between the author, the illustrator, and the publishing professionals like editors and designers. It all begins with the manuscript, or the text, which will ultimately be arranged throughout the final product: a picture book of 32 pages. When Carla first receives the manuscript, she reads it through several times and begins getting a feel for the images it brings to mind. She finds out what is the expected size and shape of the book, whether small or large, wide, tall or thin, for these factors will affect her final artwork. She makes a dummy, or blank book, to begin laying out the text across the pages and making decisions about where and how to add her drawings. This is the exciting part, as she casts about for ideas and inspiration from her experiences, travels, dreams, and imagination. The completion of the mock-up book can take up to two months.