Bringing a story to life through illustration is an art in itself—but where do you start? Illustrating Children's Books (and beyond!) by Marco Bucci walks you through the entire process. Whether you're an aspiring illustrator or looking to refine your storytelling skills, this course provides real-world insights, professional techniques, and bonus industry interviews to guide you every step of the way.
The Manuscript
Print Jargon
Storytelling
Posing
Form
Shape
Real Assignments 1
Real Assignments 2
Real Assignments 3
Real Assignments 4
Facial Expression
Homework Ideas
Warm vs Cool
Painting A Character
Backgrounds Perspective
Backgrounds Organic
Color Roughs 1
Color Roughs 2
Color Roughs 3
Final Art
Delivery To Client
Homework Ideas
Children’s book illustration is more than just drawing—it’s storytelling through art! In Illustrating Children's Books (and beyond!), Marco Bucci breaks down the entire process. Whether you're new to illustration or want to refine your storytelling skills, this course gives you the tools to create engaging, professional-quality artwork. Learn to craft visuals that connect with readers and bring stories to life with confidence!
Learn how to transform manuscripts into engaging, visually compelling illustrations.
Get insights directly from Marco Bucci, an industry pro with years of experience in illustration, painting, and concept art.
Instant access to all lessons, so you can revisit them anytime, anywhere.
“This class is really really good.”
Anonymous
“I loved watching you in your creative process and appreciate hearing your thoughts as to why you make the choices that you do. I learned so much and I’m about to re-watch to get some more inspiration. :)”
Christine Ruhnke
“For a long time I have loved almost all of your paintings. They generally have a whimsical/ cartoony vibe but because of the amount of texture you put in there you are drawn to take them seriously. My main takeaway from your course is to not be too sterile while painting. I’ve really adopted the controlled chaos in my painting process and over the past month it has helped bumping my painting to the next level! Thank you for the course, would buy again (ps my new love is the rake brush).”
Arne Billen
“I may be biased, I think all of Marco Bucci’s materials are fantastic, he’s a talented, wonderful artist and an illustrator and this course certainly helps you see how it’s possible to create such wonderful works of art in digital format. I preordered this course, because I was so excited about it and now that I finally had the time to focus on the course properly, I am as excited as when I first made the purchase! Thank you for delivering, as usual!”
Anonymous
“Another great class by Marco, full of examples, insights of author's thinking about the subject of the class and some great illustrations. If you are interested in making illustrations for children's books or any book for that matter you should definitely check this one out as it is great resource for character creation and all that fun stuff. Well done Marco. :)”
Milan Glozic
“I am personally a fan of Marco's art and I watch regularly his tutorials on his You Tube channel, so I somehow knew what I could expect from this course and I was right :-) I can assure that Marco is not only a fantastic artist, but also a great teacher and has a flair for sharing his knowledge in a very interesting way. Also playing the course videos was like opening a candy box :-) Watching eye-catching, beautiful and well explained tutorials made me so motivated and Marco's guidelines were so helpful. Thank you, Marco, for your precious knowledge you share with us and for the beauty you create! I feel now more confident to create my own illustrations and strong enough to cope with drawing problems like perspective or selecting colors. If you hesitate to buy this course, fear no more. Here you can find golden guidelines and the rest depends on you. So, grab the course and practise, practise, practise to become better at art! :-)”
Izabela Matusiak
“I'm a self-taught artist and I was looking for lessons on this subject, I didn't want just a basic - beginner's class, that was exactly what I was looking for. Marco Bucci is very good at explaining his thoughts and process, everything was clear. I had already illustrated my first two books before taking this class and the book I illustrated after is way better because of this lesson. I totally recommend it. Thank you Marco Bucci for taking the time to organize all these lessons and share your knowledge!!”
Stefania Dimitra
“I learned a lot from this course. Marco explains each concept thoroughly. Have purchased a few videos from him and always learn something new.”
Anonymous
“Marco Bucci is an awesome teacher! I love how well he teaches the drawing process from concept to values, to a shadow to anatomy to a finished drawing with all the extra details. I'm a self-taught artist, and it never occurred to me to come up with such a detail process for a drawing. As a scientist, I use a systematic approach every day. I didn't realize that art is no different.”
Anonymous
“Loved this course so much!!!”
Noah Snoke
“This class is really really good.”
Anonymous
“I loved watching you in your creative process and appreciate hearing your thoughts as to why you make the choices that you do. I learned so much and I’m about to re-watch to get some more inspiration. :)”
Christine Ruhnke
“For a long time I have loved almost all of your paintings. They generally have a whimsical/ cartoony vibe but because of the amount of texture you put in there you are drawn to take them seriously. My main takeaway from your course is to not be too sterile while painting. I’ve really adopted the controlled chaos in my painting process and over the past month it has helped bumping my painting to the next level! Thank you for the course, would buy again (ps my new love is the rake brush).”
Arne Billen
“I may be biased, I think all of Marco Bucci’s materials are fantastic, he’s a talented, wonderful artist and an illustrator and this course certainly helps you see how it’s possible to create such wonderful works of art in digital format. I preordered this course, because I was so excited about it and now that I finally had the time to focus on the course properly, I am as excited as when I first made the purchase! Thank you for delivering, as usual!”
Anonymous
“Another great class by Marco, full of examples, insights of author's thinking about the subject of the class and some great illustrations. If you are interested in making illustrations for children's books or any book for that matter you should definitely check this one out as it is great resource for character creation and all that fun stuff. Well done Marco. :)”
Milan Glozic
“I am personally a fan of Marco's art and I watch regularly his tutorials on his You Tube channel, so I somehow knew what I could expect from this course and I was right :-) I can assure that Marco is not only a fantastic artist, but also a great teacher and has a flair for sharing his knowledge in a very interesting way. Also playing the course videos was like opening a candy box :-) Watching eye-catching, beautiful and well explained tutorials made me so motivated and Marco's guidelines were so helpful. Thank you, Marco, for your precious knowledge you share with us and for the beauty you create! I feel now more confident to create my own illustrations and strong enough to cope with drawing problems like perspective or selecting colors. If you hesitate to buy this course, fear no more. Here you can find golden guidelines and the rest depends on you. So, grab the course and practise, practise, practise to become better at art! :-)”
Izabela Matusiak
“I'm a self-taught artist and I was looking for lessons on this subject, I didn't want just a basic - beginner's class, that was exactly what I was looking for. Marco Bucci is very good at explaining his thoughts and process, everything was clear. I had already illustrated my first two books before taking this class and the book I illustrated after is way better because of this lesson. I totally recommend it. Thank you Marco Bucci for taking the time to organize all these lessons and share your knowledge!!”
Stefania Dimitra
“I learned a lot from this course. Marco explains each concept thoroughly. Have purchased a few videos from him and always learn something new.”
Anonymous
“Marco Bucci is an awesome teacher! I love how well he teaches the drawing process from concept to values, to a shadow to anatomy to a finished drawing with all the extra details. I'm a self-taught artist, and it never occurred to me to come up with such a detail process for a drawing. As a scientist, I use a systematic approach every day. I didn't realize that art is no different.”
Anonymous
“Loved this course so much!!!”
Noah Snoke
There are no absolute requirements, but I do recommend having a tablet (a product like Wacom or Huion, for example) as well as a digital painting application.
For traditional media, any brand of watercolors and gouache will work, though do not recommend student-grade paints. I use brands like Winsor&Newton, Holbein, and Daniel Smith. I also recommend using at least 140lb paper, as anything thinner will not be able to survive multiple washes.
If you’re interested in painting, I think the best place to begin is at my YouTube channel. I have many short lessons there covering a whole slew of important art fundamentals. Then I recommend purchasing the videos in the Digital Painting series, as those videos feature in-depth demonstrations, in real time, of which fundamentals I am applying, and how I am applying them.
Understanding and Painting the Head is also a good choice for beginners who have a little bit of drawing experience, but want to know how to take the next steps and develop good habits.
Illustrating Children’s Books will take you through many important fundamental drawing and painting lessons, applicable to any project or medium.
Yes! You will receive a Completion Certificate at the end of each course.
Yes! Each course comes with lifetime access to all course materials.
I do! You can learn more and book directly here.
You bet!
Check out the "Brush Pack" section.
