Learn to Illustrate a Children's Book

This 12 week course is an introduction into children's picture book illustration. Whether you have your own story you want to illustrate, or you want to build your portfolio to be more children’s book friendly, then this course is for you.

Throughout the course you will learn how to illustrate a picture book- from story, to pacing, to layout to individual illustrative styles.

We will start with some life drawing to help build your own personal illustrative “style”, so this course is suitable for beginners.

We will then have both group and personal tutorials to give support and guidance for each individual.

Tutor's Materials List

• Cheap sketchbooks in multiple sizes from A5-A3.
• Art supplies: please bring your preferred medium for mark making and drawing e.g. charcoal, pencils, pens, ink pens etc.

About the Tutor

Ellan Rankin is a Belfast-based Author and Illustrator. She graduated from Cambridge School of Art with an MA in Children's Book Illustration and was the winner of the Sebastian Walker Prize for Picturebooks 2020, the Carmelite Prize 2020 and was shortlisted in the New Talent category in the AOI World Illustration Awards. Her recently published book, The Secret Elephant, was shortlisted in the Waterstones Children’s Book of the Year Prize 2024.

Ellan considers herself to be first and foremost an illustrator, but she has also become an author combining word and image to create immersive, magical stories. A huge animal lover, her work usually centres around animals and silly stories about them that she reads in the news. She is also inspired by cinema and history and loves nothing more than to create an environment using historical references- whether that be a 1980's jacket or a 1930's living room.