The Official SCBWI Blog: Entering the World of Children's Books

Tita Berredo and the girl from her picture book, The Dress

Hello everyone, it's nice to see you again!

Alright, recap: I moved to the UK, took a Master’s in Children’s Literature and Illustration, and then I was out there in this new world with a portfolio under my arm.

I think it's important to share some really valuable lessons I took from my MA. One of them is how much weight we carry in the social responsibility of making books for children: how we can positively affect their lives with character shaping, sharing windows and mirrors to the world and offering a safe and empowering space to deal with their own emotions.

The other one is how much you learn about yourself by experiment and play. It might seem contradicting but the more you share your work with peers and follow other’s works, the more you learn about how different you are and can be. What I mean in practical terms is that we all start drawing or writing for ourselves. Once we take it seriously we start thinking we must draw and write for others, only to find out that most of it is noise and you can only really connect to the other by doing it for yourself.

6 yo me wearing a dress I made of wrappings

2017 developing my style with colours at Goldsmiths UOL

As human beings, our first instinct when arriving at a new environment is to mimic the others there. It’s safe and natural, but the more we get comfortable in such an environment the more we can show our differences in order to be authentic. Though, to get comfortable one must take risks and try to expand which brings me to the next step of my journey.

The first thing I did when I was out in the world as a recent “kid lit” graduate was to share my work at any opportunity I had. That’s when I saw that the London Book Fair had a paid space for illustrators to showcase their artwork. It was provided by the Association of Illustrators and you could pay to put up two large canvases with your work printed on. I became a member of the AOI to get a discount, and that actually led me to an incredible community of artists for which I would end up volunteering, like SCBWI. Anyway, that two canvas option was a great one, because it meant that I could play it safe and take a risk. I then chose to exhibit two very different styles: a cutesy and traditional one with perfectly connected outlines filled with colourful anthropomorphised animals, that I thought would please publishers; and an edgy and expressively artsy one with rough brushstrokes and splashes of one bold colour, that pleased ME.

Goldsmiths University of London Degree show 2018

London Book Fair 2019

My traditional cutesy more commercial style

My edgy and artsy more ME style

If I had to choose only one style to showcase, there’s a big probability I would go with the safe traditional style that was similar to every other children's illustrator and would have gotten nothing for it. But that move that allowed me to take a risk led me to my agent, who fell in love with… the ME style! Even though I was still quite raw in my book format and needing some shaping to the narrative side, my agent saw the potential of my work and bet her chips into mentoring me. She could see beyond the stage I was.

I wish I could tell my younger self what a smart move that was, because it was key for me to expand in an authentic creative way. Don't get me wrong, the other more traditional style is also full of me, and I still use it for some more commercial work – and, most importantly, it pays bills whenever I have to compromise. But it is so important to keep a space where you can develop something just for you, because it will set you apart and make you stand out. With that said, my advise here is to follow the guidelines until you can guide the lines.

There’s another important lesson there: you should always show whatever you have at the moment you are, even if you are not feeling ready. If you show your work you allow other people to make the decision of what’s ready or not, what’s appealing or not, what needs work or not. As creators we are biased to our egos and surprisingly blind to our own potential. I quickly I realised something about competitions, showcases, and reviews: the main point is for your work to be first hand seen. You might not win, 90% of times I didn’t think I would, but you are 100% guaranteed to have your work properly seen by an industry professional. I only won two competitions that I applied for, but over half of the ones I lost earned me an important contact for a future commission. So, if you are not keen on self promotion enter your work into competitions, it’s a great way to skip the line into a publisher’s eyes.

Even after being represented, I kept chasing that same word, “opportunity”, as a chance to share my work and expand my network. Some opportunities came in the shape of small commissions, others in the shape of competitions, but I think the best ones came from volunteering and having my work recognised by peers. Which brings me to when I met SCBWI… But I shall leave a gap between then and now so I can share more, there are still two more posts to go.

“WAIT A SECOND! Tita, haven’t you stopped at that point in the previous chapter?? When are we going to learn about SCBWI in your journey?”. Well, my fellow readers, that’s the magic of storytelling, we just keep promising things and leaving you at a cliffhanger (Muahahuah!).

Don’t worry, we will get there… and, to be fair, you are watching the SCBWI chapter unfold as we go. ;)

See you next Thursday! Beijos!

Tita Berredo is a Brazilian children’s writer and illustrator. She holds an MA in Children’s Literature and Illustration from Goldsmiths UOL and a BA in Marketing from PUC-Rio. Her work has been recognised internationally, including a London's House of Illustration award and selection for the Bologna Children's Book Fair. She has illustrated books for the US and Brazil, and is making her author–illustrator debut with a Seuss Studios early reader published by Random House Children's.