Sketchbook Techniques for Children's Illustration
A course by Ema Malyauka , Illustrator
Explore materials, colors, and drawing techniques to bring to life fairy-tale stories for children's books in your sketchbook
Explore materials, colors, and drawing techniques to bring to life fairy-tale stories for children's books in your sketchbook
Illustrating a fairy tale is like having a superpower: you can create worlds filled with any characters and landscapes you can imagine. A sketchbook is a great place to start, and it’s an essential tool for illustrator Ema Malyauka’s creative process. She has worked on illustrations for, postcards, book covers, and more, and worked with brands including Adobe.
In this online course, Ema teaches you her preparatory process for illustrating a picturebook. Discover her favorite techniques to develop your visual storytelling and create captivating children’s illustrations. Express your fantasy world in a sketchbook and design the children's book of your dreams.
What will you learn in this online course?
20 lessons & 24 downloads
- 100% positive reviews (401)
- 12,763 students
- 20 lessons (3h 32m)
- 24 additional resources (11 files)
- Online and at your own pace
- Available on the app
- Audio: English
- English · Spanish · Portuguese · German · French · Italian · Polish · Dutch
- Level: Beginner
- Unlimited access forever
What is this course's project?
Create a sketchbook containing a collection of your ideas and illustrations that can be transformed into a picturebook.
Projects by course students
Who is this online course for?
This course is for anyone with an interest in discovering new illustration techniques and learning about the process of illustrating for children’s publications.
Requirements and materials
Previous drawing experience is beneficial, but not essential.
In terms of materials, you will need synthetic paintbrushes, paper towels, a paint palette, gouache paints, and other materials specified by the teacher in the course.
Reviews
A course by Ema Malyauka
Ema Malyauka is an illustrator from Belarus, currently based in The Netherlands. She fell in love with books from a young age, spending hours in book stores with her mother, and later turned her passion into a career. She studied at an art school as a child and went on to specialize in teaching and critiquing art. After graduating, she felt something was missing though, and decided to realize her dream of becoming an illustrator and start sharing her creations on Instagram.
Ema has since worked on illustrations for encyclopedias, postcards, book covers, and more. She has collaborated with Adobe, as well as smaller companies and charities, and has had her work published in China and South Korea. She also came third in an Adobe drawing contest. Ema has built a creative community called Sketch & Breakfast that brings artists together to sketch on a weekly basis, and she also sells her prints on Etsy.
Content
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U1
Introduction
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About Me
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Influences
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U2
Preparation for the Project
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How to Choose Your Sketchbook
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Supplies and Materials 1
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Supplies and Materials 2
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Choosing a Tale
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Creating a Mood Board
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U3
Developing Characters
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Personality
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Sketching 1
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Sketching 2
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Developing a Line of Actors
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U4
The Illustration
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Ideas for the Trial Illustration
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Shaping Your Work
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Color Study 1
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Color Study 2
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Working on Your Illustration with Color 1
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Working on Your Illustration with Color 2
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Using Different Colors, Techniques, and Materials
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U5
What Now?
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From Sketchbook to Picture Book
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Other Options
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FP
Final project
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Sketchbook Techniques for Children's Illustration
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What to expect from a Domestika course
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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.
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Learn from the best professionals
Learn valuable methods and techniques explained by top experts in the creative sector.
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Meet expert teachers
Each expert teaches what they do best, with clear guidelines, true passion, and professional insight in every lesson.
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Certificates
PlusIf 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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
maureengleason1
Learned a lot, especially in the materials section.
sarahfreedz
Absolutely loved this course. So insightful, inspiring and clever! Thank you, Ema!
aha_c
I really liked this course, I have learned so much. The instructions are clear and not too complicated. And I love Ema's style :)
maiad
PlusThis is great. Much more than I expected. Thank you
delvina
I learned a lot from Malyuka's illustration process. Looking forward to applying the lessons to my work! :)