Artistic Illustration for Children’s Books
A course by Natalia GurovichIllustrator
A course by Natalia Gurovich, Illustrator
Discover mixed techniques to create artistic illustrations for children’s books by using exploration to fuel your creative engine
Want to explore the playful side of illustration? Begin this journey alongside illustrator and painter Natalia Gurovich, who's released more than 25 children's books with publishing houses such as Grupo SM, Planeta, Pearson, and more. In this online course, explore the use of mixed techniques to create stunning illustrations for young readers.
Learn to play with lines and patches of color as well as collage, seeing how to give your experiments meaning and use them in the creation of characters, objects, and situations. By the end, you'll have created an artistic illustration based on a scene from a well-known text.
What will you learn in this online course?
14 lessons & 23 downloads
Children’s Books, Illustrators, Artists and Techniques
14 minutes, 47 seconds
Choosing the Story to Illustrate: Peter and the Wolf
5 minutes, 17 seconds
Ideas, Scenes and Characters
12 minutes, 31 seconds
The Characters: Color and Characteristics
6 minutes, 27 seconds
Playing with the Materials
18 minutes, 50 seconds
The Characters: From the General to the Particular 1
7 minutes, 12 seconds
What's included in this course?
Start by hearing Natalia Gurovich talk a little bit about herself, her experiences and influences, and how she's grown as an artist.
She then introduces you to illustrated children's books and the characteristics of both artistic and pictorial illustration. Take a look at how to choose the best scene to illustrate, analyze key elements, and get started on your final project.
Now it's over to you! Using your chosen scene, begin your initial sketches to get your creative juices flowing before studying the characters and deciding on a color scheme. Move on to a series of exercises to experiment with different materials and spark your imagination playing with different washes and strokes.
After defining your design and applying patches of color and collage elements to each part of your scene, digitize them individually in order to polish them up and assemble them in Photoshop. Natalia gives you some parting tips on printing, looking after, and exhibiting your work.
Recommended software & tools for this course
What is this course's project?
Use a classic tale to create an illustrated scene with different plastic art techniques and then digitize it in Photoshop.
Who is this online course for?
Anyone who wants to explore their artistic side by creating children's content.
Requirements and materials
No previous experience is needed, just a few materials:
⦁ Colored and graphite (H, 2B, 4B) pencils ⦁ Acrylics and liquid watercolors ⦁ A glue stick ⦁ Paintbrushes ⦁ Foam ⦁ Scissors ⦁ Paper ⦁ A computer installed with Photoshop ⦁ A scanner
Reviews
- 5 months ago
Gracias a este curso me ayudó a pensar más fuera de la caja. Pude crear cosas interesantes. Estoy en un proceso de iniciar en esto de la ilustración infantil. Es más complejo de lo que pensé!
- 8 months ago
Aprendi mucho. Muy buen curso. No realizo los pr{acticos ya que lo que yo hago es collage textil para libros infantiles, soy autodidacta en esto del diseño.
- 2 years ago
Fantástico curso de exploración técnicas y creatividad ! Recomendable !
- malgosia_krolPLUS2 years ago
I loved everything about this course, it was both relaxing and an inspiring reminder to play more with paper, scissors and paint like we did as children. The art and instruction is fabulous.
- 3 years ago
Excelente curso! me encanto y aprendí mucho sobre esta técnica.
She has released more than 25 books for children with both Mexican and international publishing houses including Grupo SM, Planeta, Pearson, Castillo, Porrúa, and Panamericana, to name just a few. She has also been recognized in a variety of competitions like the Catálogo Iberoamericano and the Rassegna Internazionale I colori del Sacro in Italy.
Content
- U1
Introduction
- About Me
- Influences
- U2
Getting Lost in Order to Find Yourself
- Children’s Books, Illustrators, Artists and Techniques
- Choosing the Story to Illustrate: Peter and the Wolf
- Ideas, Scenes and Characters
- The Characters: Color and Characteristics
- U3
Discovering Oneself to Choose
- Playing with the Materials
- The Characters: From the General to the Particular 1
- The Characters: From the General to the Particular 2
- The Final Sketch 1
- The Final Sketch 2
- U4
I Got Lost, I Found Myself, I Made a Decision, I'll Finish It
- Preparing the Digital Collage
- Digitally Processing the Collage
- Care and Recommendations: Digital and Analog
- FP
Final project
- Artistic Illustration for Children’s Books
What to expect from a Domestika course
Learn at your own pace
Enjoy learning from home without a set schedule and with an easy-to-follow method. You set your own pace.
Learn from the best professionals
Learn valuable methods and techniques explained by top experts in the creative sector.
Meet expert teachers
Each expert teaches what they do best, with clear guidelines, true passion, and professional insight in every lesson.
Certificates
PLUSIf you're a Plus member, get a custom certificate signed by your teacher for every course. Share it on your portfolio, social media, or wherever you like.
Get front-row seats
Videos of the highest quality, so you don't miss a single detail. With unlimited access, you can watch them as many times as you need to perfect your technique.
Share knowledge and ideas
Ask questions, request feedback, or offer solutions. Share your learning experience with other students in the community who are as passionate about creativity as you are.
Connect with a global creative community
The community is home to millions of people from around the world who are curious and passionate about exploring and expressing their creativity.
Watch professionally produced courses
Domestika curates its teacher roster and produces every course in-house to ensure a high-quality online learning experience.
FAQs
You’ll learn how to illustrate children’s books and magazines using experimental techniques like collage, textures, photographic composition, conceptual design, and character creation, while combining digital and traditional processes for editorial projects.
This is an intermediate-level course, perfect for those with basic drawing or illustration skills who want to dive deeper into experimental techniques and editorial projects.
You’ll need materials like paper, cardboard, foam sheets, acrylics, watercolors, brushes, scissors, glue, plus access to a scanner and Photoshop for the digital part.
You’ll be able to work illustrating books for both national and international publishers, magazines, posters, fairs, and develop personal projects for contests and exhibitions.
The course guides you on how to prepare your portfolio, participate in fairs and contests, and reach out to foreign publishers to boost your chances of international publication.
You’ll learn mixed techniques such as collage, acrylic painting, watercolor, foam stamping, texture creation, plastic composition, and digital tools for editing and layout.
You’ll learn to analyze stories, break down scenes, design characters using concept maps, and experiment with shapes, colors, and textures to create consistent and expressive visual identities.