The Picture Book Puzzle: Putting the Pieces Together to Create Your Picture Book Dummy

The Picture Book Puzzle: Putting the Pieces Together to Create Your Picture Book Dummy 

With Art Director Sharismar Rodriguez

In this Creative Lab, Sharismar walked us through what the puzzle pieces are to create our Picture Book Dummies. 

The Four Puzzle Pieces

1. Choosing your Protagonist 

2. Building Good Storytelling 

3. Create a Blueprint 

4. Covers as Marketing Tools 

1. Choosing Your Protagonist 

        This is the step where you begin the character design. What will the character look like? What’s the character’s expression of emotion? Do you choose your characters or do your characters choose you? What are you bringing to the character, whether yours or someone else’s?

 

When character designing consider: Who? What? Why?

Who are they?

    Animal? Human? Object? Etc

What?

What is their purpose, obstacle, strengths, weaknesses?

Why? 

To save the day? To make a friend? To…?

Things to Consider When Designing

-Shape: Round, Rectangular, Triangular 

-Texture: Sharp, soft, rough, fluffy

-Props: Clothing, gadgets, jewelry

This helps inform their personality and who they are visually.

After a case study of a few character designs of some of her clients, we were able to work on our own characters.

Exercise A:

• Examine your main character 
• Identify the Who? What? Why?
• Can you improve upon your character?
• Re-envision your character giving it 2-3 qualities that will make it stand out.

Next, we moved onto Creating a Blueprint, where we did a case study of thumbnails and picture book dummies. Here are some dimension/ Standard Trims to keep in mind as you start planning your dummy.

Vertical/Portrait: 

8x10, 8.5x11, 9x11

Horizontal/Landscape:

10x8, 11x8.5, 11x9

Square:

8x8, 9x9, 10x10

Picture books also can vary in pages as well.

24 pages

32 pages

40 pages

48 pages

64+ (Uncommon)

1 Signature= 16 pages 

Well, signing off so I can rework this character of mine, but happy editing and don’t forget to ask all of those important questions. But most importantly, what is the heart of my story and how can I make that come alive?

About
Sharismar Rodriguez is a highly accomplished professional in the field of Children's Publishing, boasting over 15 years of experience in design and art direction. Her portfolio includes numerous award-winning and commercially successful titles, such as CHOOSING BRAVE, a Caldecott Honor Book by Angela Joy, illustrated by Janelle Washington; THE MOST BORING BOOK EVER by Brandon Sanderson, illustrated by Kazu Kibuishi; and the upcoming THAT'S MY TRUCK! A GOOD INSIDE STORY by Dr. Becky Kennedy, illustrated by Joanie Stone, among many others. She's currently a Senior Art Director at Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group.sharismar.com/