Narrative Art of the Picturebook

3 units

For over 300 years, picture books have depicted everything from morals to dreams. This wide variety in content has yielded diverse graphic approaches with a common commitment to narrative pictures. This studio course will interrogate the picture book as the confluence of writing, image-making, and design. Students will explore the mechanics of a picture book, with a particular focus on word-image relationships and page design. Critical readings and a visit to the Dowd Illustration Research Archive will provide a contextual framework. Students will complete several short studio projects and creative writing assignments as well as execute a picture book pitch over the course of the semester.