A Project for Aspiring Picture Book Illustrators

About.com Painting Guide Marion Boddy-Evans' June painting project should be of special interest to artists interested in illustrating children's books and those interested in the process of illustration. Artists are invited to submit illustrations for two or more pages of a children's story. The story is provided, and as I looked at the text for each page, I began to think about all of the different ways artists could choose to illustrate each one.

If this type of thing intrigues you, I recommend The Art of Reading, a book about picture book art that was created by 40 well-known children's book illustrators in honor of the 40th anniversary of Reading Is Fundamental (RIF), the largest nonprofit literacy organization in the United States. Each artist picked a favorite children's book from his/her childhood, illustrated a scene from the book and wrote about the book's impact. Do you and your kids have some favorite children's book illustrators? Let everyone know by clicking on "Comments" below and posting a message about your favorites.

(Cover art courtesy of Dutton Books)