The problems with AI as a writer and as an illustrator of picture books remain no matter what we call it. Discounting the moral, environmental, ethical reasons, it’s simply easier for hacks to fill available channels where people look for art with pure slop. I haven’t heard officially, but I’d bet agents have tons of it to sift through. Publishers too. And the slop trough is wide open for self-published books. Authors and illustrators (and author-illustrators) have more to do to get by the gatekeepers and more to do to get the attention of the customer.

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“Hi Jacob, I just wanted to drop you a quick line to say KEEP DOING WHAT YOU’RE DOING. I follow a lot of kidlit creator blogs and your’s is by far my favorite. I love how deep you dig into creativity, exploration, and method. Your voice is valuable!” —

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In an industry famous for how hard it can be to stand out, it’s gotten harder. So what can be done? Does someone sell a slop-proof snorkel set? If one drowns in slop, do we get to come back to haunt the CEO-Slop-Tyrants, rattling our paintbrushes around their high-tech sleep pods? I have questions and you have questions. Here’s how I’m thinking about standing out:

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And the sun is shining!…

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Hey friends. It’s me, Jacob.

I’ve spent the last couple of months working on finals for The Girl with Big, Big Worries (written by , Beaming Books spring of 2027) and Just Jelly (HarperCollins spring of 2027) my second book where I do both the words and the pictures. It’s been everything all book projects are — a roller coaster of joy and self-doubt, color explorations, mistakes, double checking everything, final changes and then? The inevitable… what’s next?

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The raw info to work as a creative person is all over the place. Some of it is offered as a sure thing from an expert! This is not that newsletter. I share what I’m thinking about as I try to get better at art work that matters (mostly in the form of picture books!) I really enjoy sharing and I hope that it comes through and is inspiring in its own way. I’m rooting you on.

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The publishing industry is in a weird spot where things are most definitely slower and a bit skittish. The economy, book bans, pressures on libraries, AI — are all exerting a pressure that makes the future less certain. I don’t have any contracted work at the moment, so this “what’s next?” is carrying a bit of extra weight and worry.

I don’t believe in moping about and I’m an optimist down to my marrow, so I thought it would be helpful to talk out a plan here with you. (Plus optimism feels like an act of rebellion and you and I both want to be rebels.)

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Here’s five more things from the week that was:

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“I have a nagging fear that children’s literature suffers from a slightly higher crud percentage than literature as a whole…maybe more like 94.7 percent of kids’ books are crud,”

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I’ve talked a lot about my own kind of personal “growth mindset” catch phrase “JUST GET BETTER” and for good reason. I think it’s been a mental and emotional ladder to getting the most out of my time in the studio, writing and illustrating picture books.

Here’s brief synopsis of it in action:

Me on a deadline and with a weird crink in my neck and an hour and a half late putting food in my body: “You are not very good at writing and your illustrations are crap-tastic with a capital C.”

Also Me: “Just get better.”

Positive Someone: “This book is really beautiful. My kid thinks it’s so funny. Good job.”

Me: “Just get better.”

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I’ll leave you with this comment from recent paid subscriber, Stacey Ramirez: “Hi Jacob. I just upgraded to your paid subscription. I’ve been getting your weekly newsletter and I look forward to it every week. I get so much out of it. Just a note to say thank you and keep up the good work!”

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It’s a nice way of smoothing out the turbulence and finding a nice cruising altitude so I can do the work while framing it all as a process rather than just a product. My emotional well-being, my creative life, and the quality and consistency of my work has all, well… gotten better.

But it occurs to me that better can have a few meanings in the context of making things. There’s prob more but here’s the stuff that I notice the most:

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Here’s five things…

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There are daily habits that I do every day that add up to something cumulative. Drawing is the qu…

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When I started querying literary agents after leaving my illustration agency, I was tasked with coming up with a synopsis of the book dummy I was shopping. When you query you write a query letter and it includes a few lines summarizing the heart of your project. Get to the point! Grab their interest! Don’t waste anyones time! In other words: “why does t…

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My teenage son has taught me a word. We argue about the word sometimes. I definitely cannot use it without being mocked by all teenagers instantly. The word is “try-hard.”1

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1. SOME ART MAKING

I’ll be working on the finals for JUST JELLY for a few more weeks and I’m already feeling sad that I’ll have to leave the world I’m making. I almost always feel like the marathon of picture book finals is a place I get to live in for the duration of the book and that the inevitable end is like saying a kind of good-bye?

It’s not unlike seeing your child at say age four and realizing that they are growing up and won’t be the same tomorrow or even a year or two from now. It’s bittersweet. I feel that same way about my illustrations somehow. They are a snapshot of now that won’t be the same into the future. I think it’s as pure a sign as any that this book is something I’ll be proud of. (I really like this world of jellyfish, whales, sea horses and the eerie yet beautiful undersea landscape they we’ve been living in.)

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I’m so tired of hearing about all of the things we must do to build an audience. I’m done hunting for algorithmic bread crumbs. I think by being honest with where I am and my creative journey that Drawing a Blank will be something of value to you. If that’s true and you’d like to support this newsletter with a paid sub, I’d be honored. (It’s cool if you just subscribe too.)

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2. WORK WISDOM

The deep sea illustration experiments in the finals of JUST JELLY are an incredibly fun evolution of how I work. I think some of the sadness is me figuring out how a lot of it would work and realizing that there’s only so much more of that big-picture exploring left to do.

“When you figure stuff out, that’s the saddest part. When you know how to do something…. That’s what I always tell people: you need to stay an amateur, you need to not know things. That’s part of staying creatively on top of things — is to not be on top of things! Is to kind of not know what you’re doing… Once you know how to do it… how do you find the mystery in it again?”

— , From The comfort of a Rubik’s Cube

There’s a natural life cycle for creative endeavors that Mr. Kleon gets at so well here. I know from other projects, that returning to old explorations and simply reproducing what was is not as interesting. So much of what I love about making art is in the problem solving and creative exploration… and so much of what I love about telling sequential stories is reproducing scenes and characters. Both are itches to be scratched and it’s interesting to me that they sometimes live in tension with each other.

How do you find the mystery in it again?

3. THING I LOVED

4. A BOOK TO READ

I typically only recommend books that I’ve read, but sometimes a review comes to my attention and demands that I seek it out immediately. Taking Flight (Dial Books, out next month by Kashmira Sheth and illustrated by Nicolò Carozzi) covers ground that I’ve been thinking a lot about over the last year or so. From the review:

It follows three families from three different, but unnamed countries, who end up in refugee camp for a variety of reasons before finding permanent homes in a new, also unnamed, land.

In times of war, times of increased danger from climate imposed natural disasters, and seemingly decreased empathy — I find the refugee family on my mind more than any other. This story and those like it are so important to lift up into our cultural milieu.

It’s impossible to read this book and not think of the world’s current state of affairs and of all the people needing a new beginning somewhere other than where they started out.

Nicolò’s illustrations are remarkable. Each family looks — for want of a better description — so amazingly human. These are people you might have met, or seen in a store. Their emotions and lives are all over their faces. And each child in each family has something they’ve brought from home and shoes that reflect the miles they’ve traveled.

5. EPHEMERA, ETC.

It was #kidlitartpostcard day this Thursday. If you haven’t heard of this hashtag before and are an illustrator looking for opportunities in children’s publishing — this is for you. The first Thursday of every month is reserved for sharing a digital postcard on whatever social media you’d like. The idea is that art directors and editors peruse this hashtag looking for new illustrators to work with. They do:

The illustration above is from the 4th book in the Big, Big Series, The Boy with Big, Big Energy from and Beaming Books. Shout out to !

Buy The Boy with Big, Big Energy

Best,
Jacob

Here’s five things from the week that was (mostly underwater):

1. SOME ART MAKING

There’s been a nice rhythm in the studio this week. I’ve been working on the finals for my 2nd author-illustrator picture book, JUST JELLY (HarperCollins, Feb 2027). I’m about 6 spreads in and really having fun with water texture, seaweed, jelly fish emotions, and figuring out how to render bioluminescence. There’s also a spread with like 50 small annoying jellyfish siblings.

One of the key elements has been using an overlay of texture to provide the murky depth of water. It’s something I stumbled upon in 2020 and had been scheming to use in a live book project since. It’s messy, loose and random. Think translucent texture film collaged and built up on top of itself.

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I’ll leave you with this comment from recent paid subscriber, Stacey Ramirez: “Hi Jacob. I just upgraded to your paid subscription. I’ve been getting your weekly newsletter and I look forward to it every week. I get so much out of it. Just a note to say thank you and keep up the good work!”

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2. WORK WISDOM

Invite beliefs that are different from the ones you hold and try to see beyond your own filter. Purposely experiment past the boundaries of your taste. Examine approaches you may dismiss as too highbrow or lowbrow. What can we learn from these extremes? What are the unexpected surprises?

What closed door might open in your work?

— From THE CREATIVE ACT by Rick Rubin

I’ve been so intentional in bringing in play and experimentation into this book project. There’s moments where I’m trying to apply an overlay to the whole spread in a complex way and then small mistakes that I’m content to live with in the spirit of being loose. Maybe the most interesting was to collage in some very random old images as the sea bed and not having a clue as how it would turn out. I’m not sure it’s outside of my own filter, but playing on a live project is exciting and feels like new doors are opening.

3. THING I LOVED

You’ve heard of MOONBOW, yes? If you have not and love picture books as an art form, then has you covered. I’m a paid subscriber and can tell you unequivocally that it’s worth it. Taylor gives books time. She studies and honors the work.

I saved her latest to pair with a fresh cup of coffee, a quiet morning, and rare spring sun bursting through my window. She dips her toe first into fairytales and then full on into the recently released Rumpelstiltskin by and illustrated by . She writes:

In Rumpelstiltskin, Barnett remains remarkably faithful to the Grimms’ tale, but he—like all talented raconteurs—carefully edits his version, simplifying and embellishing it according to his poetic inclinations and the spirit and taste of contemporary ideals. Likewise, Ellis’s handsomely composed, historically inspired illustrations of a medieval world are surprisingly fresh. The result is a book that feels timeless and new.

And of course my favorite part of the retelling is the tension between text and illustration:1

On the following page, the miller (and narrator), describe a girl, who does not precisely match-up with the one we see in the illustration. She is pretty and looks like she has a sense of humor—but likely not in the way the king imagines. The girl we see is dirty and scrappy; she’s not afraid to catch frogs with her bare hands! There is a disconnect between the text and image: they tell us the same thing but differently.

Brilliant.

4. A BOOK TO READ

I mean, obviously it’s Rumpelstiltskin. It’s awesome. I’d highly, highly recommend Mac, Jon and Carson talking about the making of this book on their entertainingly helpful substack, Looking at Picture Books:

Looking at Picture Books

The Making of Rumpelstiltskin

If you’d like a signed copy of Rumpelstiltskin, you can order from Oakland’s own East Bay Booksellers, and Mac will sign it. Personalize it too, if you want. And if you order early enough, Carson Ellis will also sign it, when she rolls through town next week (while supplies last, etc…

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4 months ago · 163 likes · 9 comments · Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen

5. EPHEMERA, ETC.

I’m not sure of a lot of things, but this thing, this idea that changing our mindset from stuck (“I’ll never get there.” “I’m not good enough.”) to “just get better” was the key for me and likely for you as well.

From this week’s deep dive:

Best,
Jacob

A while back I decided to run a test at my local library. I wanted to offer a class where we talked about getting into publishing books for kids with the same honesty and authenticity I aim for here at Drawing a Blank HQ (my studio, I’m talking about the little room off of my kitchen). The class would be an answer to the question “so you want to be a published writer or illustrator?”

I started by sharing that there are two responses to that question. One is that it must be somewhat easy as kids books are shorter and there are a lot of them — it’s accessible. The second, with often a cursory understanding of publishing, is viewing it as hard, near impossible — or inaccessible.

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From paid subscriber Jena Benton: “I just wanted to drop you a quick line to say KEEP DOING WHAT YOU’RE DOING. I follow a lot of kidlit creator blogs and your’s is by far my favorite. I love how deep you dig into creativity, exploration, and method. Your voice is valuable!”

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I told the 5-6 people there that they were both wrong. Getting published is both really, really hard and 100% possible.

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I’ve had this on my mind to share for a while. I usually avoid talking business around here as it’s about as enjoyable as poking myself in my eye with my stylus. BUT! It’s needed and I’ll try to make it fun.1

When you work for yourself you get to ride out the waves of feast and famine by yourself too. It’s a bit scary. In the US, if we’re not in a recession, we’re close. Ai, book bans, shipping issues, the price of gasoline, tariffs, etc. all are applying a downward pressure on my creative industry of choice: picture books. It stinks.

But this is not my first slowdown and I really think these things can be advantageous (if you squint your eyes and don’t mind eating ramen like a broke college kid.)

1. KEEP GOING

First off, we don’t even need a recession to be hit with a slowdown in income! If you’re new to making a living off of your creative work, know that it can ebb and flood all on its own. You learn to trust that it evens out, generally. I think, the worst thing we can do is to stop making things, to retreat.

Finding ways to make the dips more livable is something within our control. I’ve patched together a mix of this newsletter’s paid sub tier, school and library visits, and a couple of my books have earned royalties that come quarterly. It makes the lows less low and allows me to keep making.

I’m also not worried about picking up part time work here or there if things get really rough. But all the while, I’m thinking about making, writing, and drawing.

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From paid subscriber : “I just wanted to drop you a quick line to say KEEP DOING WHAT YOU’RE DOING. I follow a lot of kidlit creator blogs and your’s is by far my favorite. I love how deep you dig into creativity, exploration, and method. Your voice is valuable!”

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2. THE RHYTHM

For me, in publishing, there’s a slowness to it all that took a long time for my family and I to adjust to. Typically, I get a portion of the advance on a book that comes with the signing of the contract. Then, sometimes another payment on delivery of the roughs. Another upon completion of the finals. This can be up to a 2 year time frame! Ideally, they are all staggered and give the illusion of a steady pay check. But in reality, it’s more big lump sums and then dry spells. That’s normal.

The nice thing about slowdowns, recessions and market bumps in publishing is that it moves so slow, you don’t really know when it will be felt. The pandemic was something I rode out just fine as the work I was contracted to do was signed before and then there was new opportunities on the other side.

The slow rhythm in publishing kind of absorbs the shocks a bit and that’s nice. (Look at me praising the slowness of publishing. I must be maturing.)

3. HABITUAL MAKING

I think this is huge. I don’t worry as much about dips and slowdowns because my days are already filled with creative habits that are building into something. BUT JACOB! you say - what if there’s no publishing companies to buy your story on the other side of this dip? Dude, you’re talking about armageddon and in between growing subterranean mushrooms in a cave and foraging for canned goods in post apocalyptic houses, I’ll scrawl my story on a cave wall somewhere. Page turns will be tricky, but makers make.

I joke <insert nervous laugh>, but honestly I don’t create art to make a living. I make art because it’s an important part of me. The daily creative practice provides an outlet and it’s a blessing when it becomes income. I work hard for it to be income and I suspect it will, but that doesn’t change the why.

4. IN REAL TERMS

Fear is the enemy. It’s really hard to make things when you feel like your livelihood is even slightly threatened. It’s hard to hold your pencil and create fearlessly when you’re in a defensive crouch. Here’s a short list of things I do to unclench myself:

1. Hang out with other folks in creative industries. Find community. Joy, new ideas, commiseration, laughter can all help.

2. Pick up an adjacent creative skill. Always wanted to write a picture book? Now is the time! Animate something? Why not. Design your own postcard. Play with fonts.2

3. Bury my story in the backyard as a kind of time capsule for when the bugs that survive the end of things gain sentience (after the ai robots kill themselves). Leave it unfinished so there’s a market for industrious and overly-creative stink bug to write the ending. She gets rich and it becomes a movie. I’ve made it!3

5. PROACTIVITY

There are times when things get slow and there’s a nagging feeling that you could be doing that thing you were wary of trying because of some fear or artificial road block. This newsletter came from sometime in a slowdown. Channeling some of the nervousness of “what’s next?” into action that is uncomfortable can be really, really good. If nothing else, you feel like you’re doing something. (Other than waiting for your bug overlords).

See you next Wednesday for a new deep dive.

Best,
Jacob

I’m grateful that you didn’t skewer me publicly for being absent. I truly missed sharing 5 things from the studio with you, but honestly it was probably for the best. Tired, overly focused, and disheveled is a vibe that doesn’t need sharing. I’m not sure I could have strung the words together!

Here’s five things from the post-deadline studio week that was:

1. SOME ART MAKING

It’s time for the finals for my next author-illustrated picture book, JUST JELLY2 (HarperCollins, Feb 2027). I can’t really show you much, but this is a sample I did this week exploring the texture of water and some of the layering I’m hoping to pull off.

I’m kind of aiming for a “what if Leo Lionni met an alien who taught him photoshop and had a layer minimum set at 500 per spread” vibe. It’s going to be fun.

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I’ll leave you with this comment from recent paid subscriber, Stacey Ramirez: “Hi Jacob. I just upgraded to your paid subscription. I’ve been getting your weekly newsletter and I look forward to it every week. I get so much out of it. Just a note to say thank you and keep up the good work!”

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2. WORK WISDOM

Do what you can with what you have. Nothing more is needed.

If you find yourself thrashing about, struggling to make anything at all, you might find yourself reaching for the “I need more” button. Better tools! Better books! Better materials! Better inspiration! (I’m so guilty of this.)

The above quote from ’s The Creative Act, puts that all to rest. What we don’t have can become a crutch and an excuse. “I’m not good because I don’t have X” or “I can’t make like that because I’m lacking.” There’s a simplicity in making what we can with what we have. Indeed these limitations can be the very thing that make it great and unique you.

3. THING I LOVED

My friend, agency sibling, and accomplished illustrator decided to take his Substack, in a fun new direction. I’m 100% here for it. Insta-subscribe, people.

4. A BOOK TO READ

I’d spotted this Wild Things! Acts of Mischief in Children’s Literature at the Milkwood library on the last day we were there and I was thankful I hadn’t discovered it on the first. I’d not have read anything else.

I’ve always had a hard time tracing why I love picture books so much. Some of it is that was my first real interaction with art and story as a kid and that of course resonates! But there’s something else there. This book holds many such clues.

Children are the natural audience for subversive literature. Think about it: they have no rights, and they’re continually at the mercy of the adults around them. “Children by dint of their youth,” writes Gregory Maguire, “are a minority population in more ways than one.”

5. EPHEMERA, ETC.

In all of my studying of the people I really admire in kidlit there’s quality that is non-negotiable. I found writing this week’s deep dive hopeful and cathartic. I hope you like it:

See you next week!

Best,
Jacob

Imagine an island castle, the sea and the cold briny rocks serving as a moat. The enthusiastic sea sends its best, most frenetic wave to crash against it. An explosion of mist and fury comes a second later and then… a cold retreat back from where it came.

And now your Drawing a Blank tortured analogy moment™ — This castle and the wave is what I think about when I meet people who are aiming to be published children’s book authors and illustrators. There’s an enthusiasm and an excitement to wanting to be published that is very much like that wave. It’s frenetic, bold, and full of hope. This initial energy is great! It’s required… but it’s not enough.

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Hey, I’m back from my deadline! Sorry I was away. I wouldn’t have if it wasn’t an emergency. Anyways, this is a deep dive. Deep dives go out every other Wednesday just for paid subscribers. I try very hard for it to fit in the “thing I’m amped to share about my creative journey” and “practical or inspiring for creative people” Venn diagram. And also “doesn’t mind stretching an analogy past its breaking point.” Would love to have your support.

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Retired school teachers and librarians, people with book ideas they’ve been secretly hoarding since their kids were kids, illustrators who took a circuitous route to publishing,1 newly minted graduates — indeed all folks laboring in the kidlit trenches — I have good news and bad: It’s both harder than you think and entirely possible.

There’s this one thing you must have to survive that initial collision with the seawall.

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Many, many years ago, I made a self-portrait and posted it to twitter. It wasn’t very good. I was experimenting and trying to get a handle on being a working freelance illustrator. I remember the illustration and the tweet not because they were all that memorable on their own, but because I received a reply from a designer I respected who was in awe that I would have the guts to “put myself out there like that.” I don’t think there was a lot of malice in his response, honestly. It was more of an honest admiration for being personal and unguarded when he didn’t think I needed to.

Aside from being embarrassed at the quality of the work, I hadn’t thought of it as some monumentally honest moment. Not even for a second. Should I have had a moment where I questioned if the world needed or wanted a half-assed self-portrait? Am I arrogant for thinking anyone should care about what I make? Why do we do this at all?

Makers make. Writers write. Chefs cook. Musicians play.

I think about that tweet a lot. The compulsion to make and the audacity of the maker is a big topic and one that I don’t have the bonafides to truly answer, but to keep it simple lets go with this for now: People who create are compelled to do so because it’s in their bones. It’s who they are. To not make stuff when compelled to would be worse than putting something out into the world that the world rejects.

There will be moments where we don’t push send or hit publish. And times that we do that hit with a thud or make no sound at all. (If you make something and no one cares, did it matter at all?) That’s what is a bit dangerous about the whole thing. But to stop making altogether would be turning on ourselves. So we make, despite the risk.

★ Full disclosure!

I’ve pulled this post from deep, deep in the archives. I had 200+ subscribers to Drawing a Blank back then! This week was hard as I had a deadline for picture book finals that I managed to get out the door in the nick of time. But I’m 100% cooked. Next week I’ll be back with a fresh deep dive for paid subscribers and 5 things from the studio for everyone. See you then!

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Still Hard

A while back I wrote about the process of finding a literary agent in children’s publishing. Reaching out to your top agents and hoping you get a response can be tough. It’s not just you posting to social media. It’s you trying to get the attention of a gatekeeper1 who can help you with the gates and walls you’ve been trying to scale. (Publishing can feel at times like a series of gnarly gates and spikey walls with a giant green moat surrounding the thing? And piranhas!)

Will my illustration work be good enough? How about this story I’ve revised x 1000 +1? I think that’s funny, but will editor x at giant publisher think so? Will my manuscript be rejected and thrown back over the wall in a burlap sack accompanied by rotting vegetables and fish bones2?

But in the end? Yeah, you know. Makers make. We have to do it... even when the goals get bigger and the risk greater.

Best,

Jacob

The struggle of all of this is one of the reasons I started “Drawing a Blank.” It’s good to know you’re not alone. This s#$t is hard. Finding your community is super helpful. Keep going! Make stuff, learn, get better, play, explore, share it all. With abandon.

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