Deep Dive Workshop: Mastering Composition & Backgrounds

Do you get stuck when it comes to setting up compositions and illustrating backgrounds?

Immerse yourself in an afternoon of practical, confidence-boosting exercises to enhance your visual storytelling.

Drawing on techniques learned in my fine art degree, my love of cinematic camera angles and over 20 years of illustrating picture books, I will show how employing appropriate composition, viewpoints, colour and contrast can build layers of meaning and improve your decision-making when illustrating a narrative. You will go away with armfuls of new techniques and discoveries!

During the workshop, you will:

• Discover a host of compositional techniques from classical paintings to enhance the storytelling in your imagery.
• Realise ways to guide the viewer's eye through a busy scene to focus clearly on the main characters.
• See how using certain camera angles from film can add extra layers of meaning to your pictures.
• Learn how to make backgrounds recede with the use of colour and visual treatments so they stage the drama of the main event without overpowering them.
• Experiment with limited colour palettes and learn how to control the atmosphere in your illustrations to evoke different emotions.
  
• Don’t let text placement be an afterthought! Observe creative ways to set up scenes while observing the particular visual constraints of illustrating picture books.

The workshop will end with a Q&A session where you can ask anything about the publishing industry, like the best ways to find a publisher or engage agents.

Testimonials: 

'A brilliant workshop that really helped me focus on the use of colour to add drama to my illustrated backgrounds. Thanks Claire!' Antonia Woodward

'A really great workshop about compositional picture book techniques, how to draw the reader's eye, and how to give characters prominence in a spread.' Emma Reynolds

'Thank you Claire! I feel inspired to approach backgrounds with enthusiasm again, when I had been starting to dread and feel intimidated by them. The many examples and resources provided, together with my drawings and notes from the session, will be really helpful to refer back to.'  Sue Eldin

Who is the workshop for?

This workshop is for intermediate and advanced levels in picture book illustration. This workshop may also be useful for allegorical artists or illustrators in other fields.



Workshop Timings: 13.00 - 17.00 GMT There will be regular breaks throughout the class.




Materials needed:

A computer or similar for the Zoom meeting. A dry colour medium of your choice such as coloured pencils, brush pens or pastels is best so you can hold them up to the camera without paint running. You can also create images digitally or with paint if you prefer. Tracing paper, A4 sheets of paper, a ruler and a 4b pencil or black pen to draw with so it shows up well on camera.

Fee: £65 Pay in three interest-free instalments via PayPal
Please note: Tickets are non-refundable. In the case of workshop cancellation, a full refund will be given.

My workshops offer a personal touch, they take place live on Zoom where I encourage interaction. The session will be recorded and a link to the video will be sent out after the event which you can watch for up to 30 days, should you not be able to attend. Please note that I will not comment or feedback on work produced after the workshop has ended.

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