How to Make a Picture Book Dummy

A step-by-step guide

Making a picture book dummy can feel a bit daunting. I’m a very linear and visual learner and like things broken down into easy to digest steps, so I decided to make you this step-by-step guide to creating book dummies!

Keep in mind, this is the process I’ve found that works for me. You might find another approach that works better for you. The end goal is to make an awesome dummy so whatever path you take to get there is great!

Start with an idea and run with it!

I have a note in my phone and a notebook where I jot down ideas. When an idea strikes you and sticks, keep working on it!

Once you’ve got your idea start working on your manuscript.

Sometimes when I get an idea I see it as illustrations first. Sometimes I see it as the storyline so I get to writing. Do whatever works best for you. Either way, there will be a lot of revisions, and don’t forget to ask your critique group/partners for feedback!

Time to paginate and begin thumbnailing.

Break down where the text will go on each page so you can begin figuring out the layout of your book. I do a lot fiddling during this stage.

I use a canvas in Procreate and create lots of tiny squares for my thumbnails, like you see above. I’ve also done thumbnails on paper and on sticky notes. Do what works for you!

When making thumbnails for the entire book, keep page turns in mind. Also remember your visual flow. Don’t have 5 full page spreads one after another. You want a combination of spreads, spots, and vignettes to allow the eye to rest and keep your reader interested. Simple spots followed by a beautiful double-page spread will make that spread really pop!

Rough sketches

I often copy paste my thumbnail into a new canvas that’s the size painting I’ll be using. Then I can start drawing over it to get the layout and details sketched in. But keep it simple and loose as you figure out your composition since you’ll be refining everything in the next step.

Time to refine your sketches.

Get your sketches nice and neat. These will be the finished sketches for your book dummy that agents and editors will see. They don’t need to be perfect, but they do need to be clear and legible so that the reader knows what’s going on.

Home stretch: Final Art!

Now that you’ve completed your sketches, pick 1-3 pieces that you’ll fully illustrate. Choose ones that will really wow the reader and then go all out painting them!

A couple other things to keep in mind:

• You don’t need to illustrate a cover.

• Remember to make room for your text!

• Keep your page count in mind. Picture books are printed in groups of 8 pages (24, 32, 40, 48). I made a handy-dandy template for you for 32 and 40 page picture books. If you guys would like I can try to make these downloadable for you to print, and also blank versions for you to draw on yourselves. Would you like that?

You did it! You made your book dummy! Yahoo!! Now you can put it all together, get your pitch ready (that’s a whole other post) and send it off! If you’d like tips on visual storytelling you can read this post. Or if you’d like to read more about color go here.

I also just finished the rough sketch phase of my dummy and am moving on to final sketches, experimenting with color palette and final art. I’ll be sharing my process with my paid subscribers, so if you’d like to join in you can go here!

Did you guys find this topic helpful? I hope so! Do you have a question about anything? Comment below and I’ll make sure to answer!

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Until next week!

xo,

Katie