#KidLitArtPostcard

Making of September's postcard

Today is first Thursday of the month, a day when illustrators post their digital postcards on social media together with their contact details and a familiar hashtag which allows children ‘s books editors and art directors to discover new artists and forge new connections.

In pre-Covid days it was common for artists to reach out to editors by sending them a postcard, a brochure or some other printed material to their place of business; during lockdown, when many people worked from home, sending mail to offices became pointless so the illustration community found a new way to be seen - introducing #KidLitArtPostcard day, a monthly practice that is steadily gaining visibility.

Some postcards and business cards from fellow artists I collected at this year’s Bologna fair

I started posting my kidlit postcard in June of 2022 and only a couple of months later my postcard got the attention of a literary agent who then offered me representation (we have since parted ways). The image I posted at that time was my illustration for a Portuguese children’s charity organisation Ajudaris (I wrote about my process here). Today I posted my September postcard with yet another illustration, made for the Ajudaris organisation - I hope it sends my artistic voice far and wide into the world 💌.

The process

The tree house illustration will be used in Ajudaris organisation’s yearly publication of stories and poems, written by the children and illustrated by illustrators from around the world. As a base for this image I used a rough sketch of a tree house I once drew for a picture dummy - my favourite part of drawing in Procreate is how simple it is to cut and paste pieces of illustration, adding drawings on top until I am happy with the new composition (or sort of😊)

I wanted the colour palette to be bright and cheerful and since leaf green isn’t really one of my favourites, I improvised:

I had a lot of fun playing with the details, like tree bark patterns, abstract leaf shapes and … that white pinafore apron! 🤍

At the end I adjusted the final colour scheme by testing how the composition looks in grayscale - here’s a before and after:

Have you posted your kidlit postcard this month? Next one is October 3rd so mark your calendars!

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This post is a part of monthly post by the

illoguild

- this month we are discussing the topic of “The Art of Connecting on Social Media”.

Join us for another FREE chat on Monday, October 16th - we’ll explore how to get the most out of platforms like Instagram and Substack, sharing tips and tricks along the way. Bring along your questions, we hope to see you there!