Best seller

Illustrating and Writing a Children's Book

A course by Valentina Toro , Illustrator and Writer

Illustrator and Writer. Medellín, Colombia.
Joined May 2020

Discover the world of picturebooks and learn how to tell stories with text and images

Best seller
98% positive reviews (991)
35,927 students
Audio: Spanish, English, Turkish
Spanish · English · Portuguese · German · French · Italian · Polish · Dutch

Discover the world of picturebooks and learn how to tell stories with text and images

If books are also your good luck charm, writer and illustrator Valentina Toro is the perfect teacher for you. As a fantasy lover, she likes to dream up worlds for others to live in. Take a trip with her to discover the secret universe of children’s picturebooks and dare to bring your own stories to life.

In this Domestika course, learn to write and illustrate children’s books; start with an idea and follow it through to the mock-up stage for submission to a publisher. Experiment with watercolors, colored pencils, and different digital techniques for narrating adventures. When you finish this course, you’ll know how to turn your ideas into stories on paper with text and images.

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What will you learn in this online course?

15 lessons & 28 downloads

The Script
7 minutes, 52 seconds
The Materials
16 minutes, 27 seconds
Characters
14 minutes, 14 seconds
Picture Book Morphology
11 minutes, 7 seconds
The Mood of the Story
4 minutes, 50 seconds
Let's Start Illustrating
14 minutes, 28 seconds
  • 98% positive reviews (991)
  • 35,927 students
  • 15 lessons (2h 13m)
  • 28 additional resources (9 files)
  • Online and at your own pace
  • Available on the app
  • Audio: Spanish, English, Turkish
  • Spanish · English · Portuguese · German · French · Italian · Polish · Dutch
  • Level: Beginner
  • Unlimited access forever

What is this course's project?

Create a storyboard for a children’s book and a mock-up with a finalized illustration that defines the personality and style of your book.

Projects by course students

Who is this online course for?

Anyone interested in illustration and who wants to learn how to tell stories for children using text and images.

Requirements and materials

For this course, you need some basic drawing skills using analog techniques and an interest in storytelling.

The materials you need for this course include a drawing notebook, graphite pencils, colored pencils, A4-size Durex paper, a scanner, and a computer with digital editing programs like Photoshop.


Reviews

35,927 Students
991 Reviews
98% Positive ratings

Valentina Toro

A course by Valentina Toro

Teacher Plus
Illustrator and Writer

Valentina Toro is an illustrator and writer with a master’s degree in Creative writing from the EAFIT University in Medellín, Colombia. Her work revolves around her fascination with the unknown and the secret worlds that can only be discovered in books.

Over the course of her career, she has published seven books, five of which are children’s books. Her work weaves together textual narration with images to create universes inhabited by both forms of expression. She has also written three novels and done illustrations for other authors. She was a runner up in the Little Hakka Picture Book Competition in China and is currently represented internationally by Advocate-Art Inc.


Content

  • U1

    Introduction

    • About Me
    • Influences
    • What Will We Do in the Course?
  • U2

    First Steps

    • A Bit of History
    • Before Starting
    • How to Get to a Story?
    • The Script
  • U3

    Getting to Work

    • The Materials
    • Characters
    • Picture Book Morphology
    • The Mood of the Story
  • U4

    The Final Illustration

    • Let's Start Illustrating
    • Making it Digital
    • The Complete Mockup
    • Last Tips
  • FP

    Final project

    • Illustrating and Writing a Children's Book

What to expect from a Domestika course

  • Learn at your own pace

    Enjoy learning from home without a set schedule and with an easy-to-follow method. You set your own pace.

  • Learn from the best professionals

    Learn valuable methods and techniques explained by top experts in the creative sector.

  • Meet expert teachers

    Each expert teaches what they do best, with clear guidelines, true passion, and professional insight in every lesson.

  • Certificates
    Plus

    If you're a Plus member, get a custom certificate signed by your teacher for every course. Share it on your portfolio, social media, or wherever you like.

  • Get front-row seats

    Videos of the highest quality, so you don't miss a single detail. With unlimited access, you can watch them as many times as you need to perfect your technique.

  • Share knowledge and ideas

    Ask questions, request feedback, or offer solutions. Share your learning experience with other students in the community who are as passionate about creativity as you are.

  • Connect with a global creative community

    The community is home to millions of people from around the world who are curious and passionate about exploring and expressing their creativity.

  • Watch professionally produced courses

    Domestika curates its teacher roster and produces every course in-house to ensure a high-quality online learning experience.


FAQs

Domestika's courses are online classes that provide you with the tools and skills you need to complete a specific project. Every step of the project combines video lessons with complementary instructional material, so you can learn by doing. Domestika's courses also allow you to share your own projects with the teacher and with other students, creating a dynamic course community.

All courses are 100% online, so once they're published, courses start and finish whenever you want. You set the pace of the class. You can go back to review what interests you most and skip what you already know, ask questions, answer questions, share your projects, and more.

The courses are divided into different units. Each one includes lessons, informational text, tasks, and practice exercises to help you carry out your project step by step, with additional complementary resources and downloads. You'll also have access to an exclusive forum where you can interact with the teacher and with other students, as well as share your work and your course project, creating a community around the course.

You can redeem the course you received by accessing the redeeming page and entering your gift code.

If you're a Plus member, when you complete a course you've purchased, you'll instantly get your personalized certificate. You can see all your certificates in the Certificates section of your profile. You can download your certificates as PDFs and share the link online. Learn more about certificates.
Illustrating and Writing a Children's Book. Illustration course by Valentina Toro Best seller

Illustrating and Writing a Children's Book

A course by Valentina Toro
Illustrator and Writer. Medellín, Colombia.
Joined May 2020
  • 98% positive reviews (991)
  • 35,927 students