What to expect
Pitch-perfect Portfolio is a deep-dive course for picture-book illustrators who want to learn to make irresistible illustrations. It is based on the science of how we see and guides you step-by-step through the building of a publisher-ready portfolio. No matter what your experience or drawing style.
Pitch-perfect Portfolio is all about recharging and upgrading your illustration style.
Together, we do this by deconstructing the way you currently illustrate and exploring a suite of basics that rejuvenate your work from the ground up.
A science-based approach to visual narrative, this course is designed to revolutionise the way you think and work, open your mind to exciting new approaches to your craft, and introduce you to the ground-breaking synthesis of art-science practice.
This in-depth course is suitable for all levels of skill and experience, and complements both existing professional practice as well as early-career development.
By completion of Pitch-perfect Portfolio, an experienced illustrator will have uncovered new depths to their work, while emerging and developing illustrators will have generated the basis for a rich and varied portfolio of outstanding illustrations.
Rediscover aesthetics
Discover a new dimension of aesthetic principles to use in the service of visual storytelling.
Pitch-perfect Portfolio takes you on a deep-dive journey into the narrative uses of masses and voids, tonal value, line, placement, scale and proportion, all based on how the brain works.
Multiple exercises explore each principle from a variety of angles to help engrain new habits, and many are further developed to become the foundations of your updated portfolio.
Art & the brain
The brain responds emotionally to what we see.
Aesthetic elements in single a picture can trigger a range of bodily feelings and, in a picture book, the succession of illustrations will layer and compound these feelings to induce an overall feeling-response to the book.
Pitch-perfect Portfolio investigates these triggers to help us create the kind of magic illustrations that stick in readers' memories long after they've finished a book.
Explore art movements
Great art movements of history used techniques that can work beautifully in picture-book illustration, once we understand what they are and how to use them.
Pitch-perfect Portfolio explores the Gothicism of Romantic Nationalism, the decorativeness of folk art, and the freedom of Expressionism.
We discover how these movements can be melded into our individual styles, and how to apply their key features for maximum effect.
Example Curriculum
- Introductory Video (9:37)
- Welcome (5:51)
- Tools & Objectives
- The narrative power of observation
- Horizons Milestone #1 - Preparation
- Key Milestones
- Horizons Milestone #2 - Understanding the science
- Horizons Milestone #2 - A bit more science
- Horizons Milestone #2 - Principles of Setting
- Horizons Milestone #2 - Your Pitch-perfect Portfolio Challenges
- Horizons Milestone #3 - Introducing the Level Horizon (12:03)
- Hands on: Exercise Horizons.01 - the level middle horizon
- Hands on: Exercise Horizons.02 - the level low horizon
- Horizons Milestone #3 - introducing the angled horizon
- Hands on: Exercise Horizons.03 - mastering the slope
- Horizons Milestone #4 - introducing the grand combination
- Hands on: Exercise Horizons.04 - mastering the grand combination
- Horizons Milestone #6 - the Grand Finale & Hands on: Exercise Horizons.05
- Hands on: Exercise Horizons.06 - refining the sequence
- Hands on: Exercise Horizons.07 - Pause & Reflect
- It's a Wrap!
- Introductory video: Module #2 (4:25)
- Module 2 -Tonal value - Introduction: an ode to light & shadow
- Tonal value - objectives & tools
- Tonal value - key milestones
- The narrative power of observation #2
- Tonal value - Milestone #1: light & the retina
- Tonal value - Milestone #1: light, luminance & the 'where' system
- Tonal value - Milestone #1: light and the emotions
- Milestone #2 - narrative mood, relative brightness & the tonal scale
- Hands on: Exercise 2.01 - tonal scale
- Milestone #2 - tonal keys & narrative mood
- Hands on: Exercise 2.02 - high minor key
- Hands on: Exercise 2.03 - low minor key
- Hands on: Exercise 2.04 - high major key
- Hands on: Exercise 2.05 - low major key
- Milestone #2 - the relationship between tone and colour
- Hands on: Exercise 2.06 - a tonal scale in random colour
- Milestone #3 - light source, shadow & narrative mood
- Hands on: Exercise 2.07 - where there is light, there are shadows
- Hands on: Exercise 2.08 - and now in colour
- Milestone #4 - light, pattern & texture
- Blasts from the past for illustration inspiration
- Hands on: Exercise 2.09 - textures, patterns & moods
- Hands on: Exercise 2.10 - in colour
- Hands on: Exercise 2.11 - develop and plan sequences of three
- Hands on: Exercise 2.12 - sequence of three in colour
- Hands on: Exercise 2.13 - front & back endpapers
- Hands on: Exercise 2.14 - pause & reflect
- VIDEO: Exploring tonal keys in a picture book
- It's a Wrap!
- Introductory video - Masses & Voids (8:50)
- Introduction to Masses and Voids
- Introduction to Threats and Opportunities
- Objectives & Tools
- Key Milestones
- The Narrative Power of Observation #3
- HANDS ON: Exercise 3.01 - Character Development
- Shapes and their Shadows
- HANDS ON: Exercise 3.02 - Basic Forms and Shadows
- Mass, or Positive Space
- HANDS ON: Exercise 3.03 - Cloud Studies
- HANDS ON: Exercise 3.04 - Clouds as Mass
- HANDS ON: Exercise 3.05 - The versatile tree
- HANDS ON: Exercise 3.06 - Trees as Mass
- HANDS ON: Exercise 3.07 - Houses, Houses, Houses
- HANDS ON: Exercise 3.08 - Massed Buildings
- Voids, or Negative Space
- HANDS ON: Exercise 3.09 - Horizon, Figure, Clouds
- HANDS ON: Exercise 3.10 - Horizons, figures and trees
- HANDS ON: Exercise 3.11 - Houses and Horizons
- Shelter, Prospect, Hazard & Opportunity - revisited
- HANDS ON: Exercise 3.12 - thumbnails galore
- HANDS ON: Exercise 3.13 - develop a narrative series of three
- HANDS ON: Exercise 3.14 - rough out one actual-size illustration
- VIDEO: exploring masses & voids in a picture book
- IT'S A WRAP!
- Introductory video - posture, gesture & emotion (8:37)
- Introduction
- Key milestones
- The narrative power of observation #4
- The Science of Posture and Gesture
- HANDS ON: Exercise 4.01 - The Pillow Exercise
- HANDS ON: Exercise 4.02 - Your figures and flour sack
- A call to arms
- HANDS ON: Exercise 4.03 - adding the arms
- The Science: Characters and emotional appeal
- HANDS ON: Exercise 4.04 - The eyes have it
- Appeal, originality and micro expressions
- HANDS ON: Exercise 4.05 - Macro and micro expressions
- HANDS ON: Exercise 4.06 - Posture and expression combined
- HANDS ON: Exercise 4.07 - Characters in action and interaction
- HANDS ON: Exercise 4.08 - update your narrative sequence of three
- It's a Wrap!
- Introductory video (8:51)
- Narrative arc as lived experience
- The basic structure of a narrative arc
- The six classic story-arcs
- HANDS ON: Exercise 5.01 - picture-book analysis
- HANDS ON: Exercise 5.02 - storyboard planning #1 - horizon & tone
- HANDS ON: Exercise 5.03 - storyboard planning #2 - scale & proportion
- HANDS ON: Exercise 5.04 - storyboard planning #3 - colour design
- HANDS ON: Exercise 5.05 - storyboard planning #4 - introduce your characters
- HANDS ON: Exercise 5.06 - an actual storyboard
- HANDS ON: Exercise 5.06 - extension - portfolio-ready storyboard
- HANDS ON: Exercise 5.07 - sequence of three - portfolio-ready illustrations
- HANDS ON: Exercise 5.08 - one full-scale illustration (or 2 or 3)
- What next?
- Pause & Reflect
- Further Guidance & Coaching