Professional Children's Book Illustration with Procreate
A course by Meike Schneider , Character Designer and Illustrator
Learn the fundamentals of illustrating children's books and create a coherent concept for layout, drawing style, and character design
Learn the fundamentals of illustrating children's books and create a coherent concept for layout, drawing style, and character design
Want to know the secret to illustrating children's books? According to illustrator and designer Meike Schneider, who specializes in 3D and character design, the key is to use a compelling concept. Thanks to her experience working with children's literature, she's learned how to give each piece a rich and unique visual style and tell stories that connect with their intended audience, like Finni & Fredo, a collection of books for young readers that explores human anatomy.
In this course, she teaches you how to conceptualize and create illustrations for a children's book. Under her expert guidance, illustrate a two-page spread for a fairy tale aimed at a young audience, designing the story's mood and its characters. By the end, you'll know how to illustrate an entire children's book following a coherent concept for layout, drawing style, storytelling, and character design.
What will you learn in this online course?
20 lessons & 24 downloads
- 98% positive reviews (182)
- 9,692 students
- 20 lessons (3h 56m)
- 24 additional resources (12 files)
- Online and at your own pace
- Available on the app
- Audio: German
- German · Spanish · English · Portuguese · French · Italian · Polish · Dutch
- Level: Beginner
- Unlimited access forever
Recommended software for this course
ProcreateWhat is this course's project?
Illustrate a two-page spread for a fairy tale of your choice.
Projects by course students
Who is this online course for?
Beginners with a solid grasp of the basics of digital illustration and anyone who loves children's stories and stylized drawing.
Requirements and materials
Basic notions of digital illustration are required of this course, including how to work with layers, alpha lock, brushes and other tools, as well as how to import and export.
As for materials, you need a graphics tablet with a digital illustration program (like Procreate, Photoshop, or Krita) or paper and pencils.
Reviews
A course by Meike Schneider
Meike Schneider is a German illustrator and character designer who regularly works with animation studios, publishing houses, and advertising agencies. She knew she wanted to work in the creative industry from a young age, which led her to study 3D animation and VFX art. Her animation style is inspired by children's shows, Disney movies, and Nintendo games from the '90s. Illustrating children's books is her artistic outlet and allows her to feed her passion for creating characters and stories.
Her portfolio is a showcase for a wide range of projects, from editorial illustrations, character design, and visual development to product design and packaging, 3D scenery and character modeling, and look-development. Her client list includes big names like Adobe, Lidl, Dell, My Best Book, and 3dtotal. In addition to her freelance career, she has experience in education, working as the head of the 3D modeling and character design department and teaching classes at PIXL VISN and SCHOOL OF GAMES in Cologne.
Content
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U1
Introduction
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About me
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Influences
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U2
Planning
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How to Start
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Age Groups
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Contextualization and Pedagogical Aspects
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The Mood
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U3
Visual Choices
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Drawing Style
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Character Design
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Color Design: Color Theory
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Continuity
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U4
Realization of the Project
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Narrative and Visual Language
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Book Planning 1
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Book Planning 2
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Draft and Final Drawing of Double Page 1
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Draft and Final Drawing of Double Page 2
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Defining the Colors and Basic Shapes of the Illustration 1
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Defining the Colors and Basic Shapes of the Illustration 2
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Adding Effects, Textures, and Details
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U5
Final Tips
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Improving and Collecting Feedback
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Self-Promotion and Book Publishing Options
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FP
Final project
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Professional Children's Book Illustration with Procreate
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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.
Procreate
brezo_
Muy recomendable, me está encantando el curso, lo que necesitaba para evolucionar con procreate.
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valentina.merlin107
PlusIl corso è molto interessante, Meike è una Professionista in grado di insegnare in modo rapido ed efficace, sono molto felice di avere l'opportunità di seguire questi corsi.
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irmm_403
çok güzel bilgiler ve fikirler edindim... anlaşılır ve faydalı bir kurs tavsiye ederim.
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amyjanz
PlusI learned a lot from this course! Really loved watching her draw and looking forward to implementing some of her ideas into my next project!
mprado502
The course was fantastic! It covers everything from brainstorming to selling your illustrations. Meike is organized and makes the material easy to follow.
One thing to note is that the printed materials are only available in German, and having an English translation would be a huge bonus.
Overall, I highly recommend this course for anyone interested in children's book illustration!