illustrating for kids

For young kids, we write with more dialogue, less blocks of text, and use simple themes. Just as we change the style of writing according to the age group we target, we do the same when drawing for them.

Let's illustrate for kids. For every age group, the style of illustrating changes - the way we draw a character, the use of colours - Some long shots, some close ups, some top views, some low angled for variety. Water colors, oil pastels or acrylics,No matter what medium we use our final goal is to connect with our audience.

While drawing, for picture books, we know that the illustrations tell half the story. Thw writer must leave some parts unsaid so the illustrator can show it in pictures. We don't mention that the bear is brown, because its there in the pictures.

Then we marry the two - the pictures and the words to get a picture book that tells a story for kids. For older kids its chapter books with medium size text and black and white illustrations as kids now are able to handle more text and less pictures. A novel has no illustrations at all. So which age do we target now?