Narelle Oliver: Letting the Pictures Talk

Session description:

My editor once said, ‘A good picture book cannot be read over the radio and be understood.’ What kind of words are important in a picture book? And when should the text pull back, letting the picture do some real work?

In this workshop, Narelle provides a brief history of the picture book and the illustrated short story, common picture book plots and themes, the process of creating text and illustrations for a picture book, and practical exercises aimed at revealing: How words and pictures can work together – or against each other – to tell a story. How a storyboard can be used to plan a picture book How words are edited to work with pictures (This workshop includes the Creation of a Picture Book demonstration.)

Topics:

Brief history and development of the children’s picture book, Picture book vs illustrated short story, Process of creation of a picture book including sources of ideas, research, Storyboarding, choice of words, editing of written text to allow pictures to tell story, development of drawings, choice of media, page design Common plots and how they are used in many children’s picture books Themes which have appeared in picture books over time Decalage – when text presents an alternative point of view to that shown in the pictures