Smarter Dummies with Christy Hale

Word and image meet in the picture book dummy. Whether you’re a picture book author struggling to pace your story and make it the right length, or an illustrator aspiring for more dynamic visual storytelling this workshop is for you. Here’s a hands-on opportunity to understand the form of a picture book. We’ll discuss pacing text and image, choosing what to illustrate, narrative imagery, storyboarding scenes and staging characters, elements of page layout, repetition and variation, visual tension and resolution, research, and character consistency. 

CHRISTY'S BIO

When I was little, I knew I shouldn’t make marks in books, so instead, I drew on tiny pieces of paper and tucked my "illustrations" alongside the words. At age ten, I decided to become a writer and illustrator. Back then, my best friend and I acted out the books we loved. Our favorite was Harriet the Spy. Dressed in disguises, we roamed the neighborhood investigating and jotting down our observations in our secret notebooks, just like Harriet. Back at spy headquarters we shared our discoveries with each other. Soon we began writing and illustrating our own stories every day after school.

I have created books as long as I can remember. I studied calligraphy, bookbinding, letterpress and all other means of printing, typography, design, and illustration.

After earning a B.A. in Fine Arts and a Masters in Teaching at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon, I worked as an art educator for several years. Then I decided to pursue my childhood dream by relocating to Brooklyn, New York to study design and illustration at Pratt Institute.

I taught at the New York Center for Book Arts and as an adjunct professor in the Communication Design department at Pratt Institute while working in children’s book publishing as a designer and art director. During this period, I also began illustrating and have since worked on over 30 books—writing some of those too.

After many years in New York, I moved to Northern California where I developed and taught an online course in Writing for Picture Books through the illustration department at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. I continue to work as a writer, illustrator, designer, art director, and as an educator—offering programs at museums, schools, and libraries.

Check out Christy's website HERE!