Seeking the Specific in Illustration

For years I have worked as an artist, with dreams of being a children’s book illustrator. At last year’s New England SCBWI conference in Springfield, Massachusetts, I had the opportunity for a portfolio review with Candlewick Press Art Director Kristen Nobles. Among the many great tips and feedback she gave me, she told me my characters needed to be more specific.

It was a great bit of info, as I had been working on creating children’s market illustrations for a while in somewhat of a generic way.

When I started thinking of doing children’s book illustration, I was doing large still-life paintings of objects. Not so fun, not kid-oriented, not even illustration!

Then, I started trying to piece together illustrations.

This one had some actual characters in it, but it was not so clear or fun and it took about a thousand years to create. It made it into an art show juried by the contemporary art curators from two major Boston-based art museums, the ICA and the MFA, but it was not kid-oriented. A 7-year-old girl at an open studio event zeroed in on it and asked me, “What’s going on here?” and really tried to figure it out.

Then, I started doing weekly Illustration Friday challenges to see if I could speed up my process and make something fun-ish for kids. (Also, I started saying a daily mantra about making illustrations that were lively and engaging.) I created something that almost looked like a child!

But it was still kind of vague, in a not-so-fun situation, and still not quite right for kids.

By the time I got to the SCBWI critique with Kristen Nobles, I’d spent a bunch of months doing Illustration Friday challenges, trying out different topics and images, working to make clearer statements.

My top-of-the line offering at the time was this image, and it was the one where Kristen advised me to make more specific characters. (As you can see, the girl in the red shirt and blue pants was my go-to character.)

An A-HA! moment! Be more specific!

Specificity is what makes your character stand out, be memorable, be lovable, and elicit strong feelings from readers. It’s what makes your monster distinct from every other illustrator’s monster. It’s what makes readers connect with the character.

At the SCBWI Illustrator’s intensive at this year’s winter conference in New York City, art directors commented on an image of a superhero grandmother that a fellow illustrator had done. Even though the concept was cool — an airborne, crime-fighting grandma! — the image still elicited the comment, “Well, she’s kind of a generic grandma. She needs something more.” Even flying grandmas aren’t enough. They need something that makes them different, special, innovative, memorable.

So I have been working at it ever since, trying character flourishes — hair styles, clothing, accessories, hats, freckles, different head and body shapes — anything that will make the character unique from all the other similar characters I draw. I looked in Parent and Child magazine for kid fashion ideas and hairstyles other than straight brown hair. I watched kids whenever and wherever I could. I am guessing I have to also match up the external flourishes with actual internal character qualities and get even MORE specific. My illustration process is a work in progress.

This is a recent one – perhaps this witch is still a bit generic, but at least she’s not in jeans and a red t-shirt!!

You can check out more of my specific and not-so-specific characters at www.dianazipetoillustration.com

Illustrators, what have you learned as you’ve developed your process? Share your experiences in the comments section.

Diana Zipeto is an illustrator and designer living in an energizing artist community in Lowell, MA. You can see her work at www.dianazipetoillustration.com. She has most recently illustrated books in the Olive and Max series published by Schoolwide, Inc.

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