The Grand Opening!
Explore the pivotal role of the opening spread! Discover how the impact & importance of setting the tone of your picturebook & introducing character/s can establish a strong connection with the reader
*At the bottom of this post you will find an audio reading :)
Hello everyone! I’m not very good at humour so I’ll spare you the April Fools and get right down to business.
Business being picturebooks, more specifically the opening spread!
*For those that may be brand new to the world of picturebooks; when I refer to spreads, I’m referring to the book opened up; 2 pages are considered as one whole. As a standard, there are between 12-14 double page spreads (DPS) in a picturebook.
Essentially, you have that many pages to tell your story. Not much when added up! For this reason, and contrary to popular belief, creating picture books is no flight of fancy that can be created in a moment of inspiration. There’s little room for faff and time-wasting and getting to the finish line will often entail blood, sweat and the occasional tear.
Lets start at the beginning…