One Hour Art School: Daria Peoples

Daria Peoples is an author and illustrator. Her first job was at nine years old in the children’s section of her hometown library in Paso Robles, California. She worked a little, but she mostly read picture books. is the author and illustrator of the picture books This Is It and I Got Next, and the illustrator of Gloria Takes a Stand, by Jessica M. Rinker. She lives with her family in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The main takeaway from this session: Don't let the lack of an art school degree prevent you from reaching your dreams of illustrating children's books. Peoples did not attend an art school, she earned a degree in English and education. For the longest time, she let the lack of an official art school degree hold her back. Good thing for children—because her art is absolutely beautiful—she figured things out. Here are a few lessons she learned along the way: 

Find your artistic voice. Voice is in us from the very beginning, and it expands throughout life's journey. Discovering that voice takes a lot of practice, though, so draw at every opportunity. After college, Peoples worked as a photographer—so she grew from what she knew. As a photographer, she knew composition, value, space. So, she crated art through the lens of a photographer.  Photography informed her artistic voice. While you may not have attended an art school, what is it that you know that you can use to inform your art?

Play—a lot! And don't be afraid to share your experiments along the way. Without an art degree, Peoples didn't know the art rules, so she created like a child, unafraid play. Not worried about getting messy. Sharing her work at conference is how she got feedback and learned to use that feedback to better her art. Sharing, and therefore critique, is how to honestly measure where you are as an artist.  

Seek out mentors. Peoples has been mentored by some of the best, including the late great Floyd Cooper and Marla Frazee.

Pay attention to the world around you in order to create the stories you want to write. For example, People's story THIS IS IT was inspired by her own daughter's desire to become a dancer.

Best Practices.

1. Immerse yourself in art: Mentor texts don't have to be picture books. Watch a lot of movies. Read a lot of books. Listen to a lot of music. Visit museums. 

2. Figure out how the story can function before you put into picture book form--which means boiling down a story to it's visual essence. Make sure the pictures can be read even without words—not worrying abut page count at first. Then figure out how to fit the essence of a story into 32 pages.

3. Practice creating thumbnails—over and over again. Experiment with creating the story's emotional arc by using post-its notes that can be sketched on and moved around. Audition your characters.

4. Ideas. The best stories come from heart check-ups. Peoples' heart: forgiveness, racism/social justice, friendship. Where is your heart?

Stu