Locations to Illustrate for your Picture Book Portfolio Part 5

Oh the places you’ll go, in your illustrations that is. The more travel in your work, the more exciting your portfolio will be. In this blog series we are exploring the places, near and far, that publishers are looking for when searching for illustrators. There is so much to explore in each location, we only touch the surface here. Please use these as prompts to make each illustration a unique experience.

Your artwork can take you anywhere, including keeping you here. Just because you can go anywhere, doesn’t mean there is anything wrong with where you are.There are many everyday places around us to draw inspiration from, such as schools, parks, and cities. School might not be something you want to revisit, but in an illustration you can just revisit the fun parts. Think about what you enjoyed most in school, and use that as inspiration. These locations all work well together as well. Leave school and take a stroll down the city street to the park. Cities and parks look different around the world. What do yours look like?

Parks

Take some time out and escape to the local park. Wicker basket and blanket in hand; fresh fruit, ice-cream and sandwiches at the ready, or perhaps a smokey barbeque is more your thing. Could you characters lay back on their tartan picnic blanket and find shapes in the clouds? A picnic is a great time to people-watch. Just who else can you see enjoying the park? Perhaps they are participating in a local athletics session, or enjoying a dog walk.

City

Another visual treat! Full of an infinite array of colors and shapes, architecture can stand tall and make people seem like ants. Diversity and community are some of the elements that make cities the vibrant places they are to live in. Have you ever trolled the same streets in a city you know well, only to one-day stumble upon a bustling marketplace you never knew existed? The city is full of surprises! You can’t help but chuckle when you sit on a train and see an amusing gallery of personalities, serious business people, excitable tourists and loud groups of school children. When you get up to the busy streets full of taxis, ambulances, buses and waiting at the traffic lights and frustrated by the many building sites. It can be overwhelming on the senses. Perhaps take a trip to the top of a skyscraper to rise above some of the noise and look down with a unique sense of perspective.

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