How to Make a Picture Book

Everyone has a story to tell—and now you can learn how to tell it in your own picture book, using this helpful, humor-filled guide from an award-winning creator.

Have you ever wanted to create your own story—and capture it for posterity? Elys Dolan brings her comic touch to the process by portraying her narrator-self as a friendly worm (it’s quicker to draw than a person!). How do you come up with something to write about? Build and flesh out your story? Use color and space effectively? From combining two favorite things to form a story idea to “interviewing” your characters to physically putting a book together, the author walks readers through some surprisingly comprehensive beginners’ techniques that may have something to offer even seasoned storytellers. This witty, fun, conversational, step-by-step guide—part picture book, part activity book—is packed with prompts, exercises, tips, and jokes. So find your inspiration, grab your pens and pencils, and get making!

Elys Dolan is an award-winning author-illustrator who makes picture books about everything from seagull detectives to capitalist bunny rabbits, weasels plotting world domination to marauding doughnuts. Her many books include Weasels, Knighthood for Beginners, Mr. Bunny’s Chocolate Factory, and How the Borks Became: An Adventure in Evolution. She lives in Cambridge, England.