Pictures and Words: Writing for Picture Books with Gabrielle Alioth

Course Content

A picture is worth a thousand words. But some pictures are enhanced by words. They can explain, reinforce or challenge what the picture says and can be used to create and advance a picture story. This workshop looks at the interaction between image and text and it is intended for people who work on picture books for children or adults or are interested in these media. We will explore how text can be used in pictures, what it can and what it can’t do, and how writing can be used to create characters, construct scenes and develop a storyboard.

Course Outline

In the course you will discuss

• how to create characters
• how to construct storyboards
• and how to use text in pictures

Participants will examine the interdependence of picture and text in given examples. They are encouraged to bring their ideas, sketches and develop and work on individual projects. They will try out different strategies in order to find and improve their own way of combining image and text.

Drawing skills are not required (or taught) as the workshop will focus exclusively on writing.

Course Outcomes

Participants will gain a deeper understanding of the role that text can play in picture stories, how writing can be used to develop characters and plots and how to find their own way of combining image and word in an effective way.

Gabrielle Alioth is an award-winning Swiss writer living in Ireland. She has published novels, children’s books, short stories, poetry and plays in German as well as in English, worked as an editor and member of literary panels. Over the past 25 years she has been teaching creative writing at universities in the US, Ireland and in Switzerland namely for illustrators and animators, worked as a mentor for picture books, comics and graphic novels and co-written computer games. www.gabriellealioth.com