Making a Storyboard

So as part of my Marks and Splashes course, a few months ago I worked on a storyboard for the mouse story. Admittedly it was a quick job, and I have revisited that storyboard many times since - altering pages here and there. I think it's time to revisit the storyboard again - there are still pages that I'm not totally happy with and over time I have thought of new ideas for other pages. As I am getting further along in the course I'm starting to have to make some real decisions on what the page layouts will be as larger more detailed sketches for these pages are looming.  Being a part of the #kidlitart challenge (see pencil image on sidebar) has brought extra motivation and along with it some added info on creating a storyboard and planning the layout of a picture book.   In fact I have come across three great resources just this week.

Firstly, Wendy Martin of Kidlitart has created a great ebook called "How to Make a Picture Book Dummy" (available on the Kidlitart website for only $5).I won a copy this week, thanks again Wendy! It is full fantastic info and I'm so thrilled to have a copy of it.

Next, Tara Lazar posted a fantastic explanation as to why picture books usually are 32 pages and describes in detail the different between a self-ended layout and a color ends layout...before reading her post I didn't even recognized the difference, but it's huge!

Finally, I am working my way through the famous must have for picture book author/illustrators -  Uri Shulevitz' "Writing with Pictures", chapter 6 goes into detail on storyboarding. I must admit I'm finding the book a bit of a slog to get through. Perhaps because I tend to sit down and read in the middle of the afternoon on my comfy sofa.

But there you go, some great resources to check out!