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About Dayne Sislen
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Blog postBook by Donna Warwick, illustrated by Dayne Sislen
by Dayne Sislen
Working with a professional children’s book illustrator is a fun process, you will see your ideas, your characters and your words come to life on paper for the first time. If you are planning on self-publishing your manuscript using Print On Demand (POD) like KDP Print or IngramSpark or an independent printer, you WILL need professional illustrations for your children’s book. A professional illustrator will hel -
Blog postYes, you really should hire a professional children’s book illustrator for your self-published book?by Dayne Sislen
If you want your book to be able to compete with traditionally published books on the bookshelf and online you need a professional illustrator/designer to help. If you need help navigating the self-publishing process, you definitely need a professional illustrator/book designer. If you want your book to reflect the high level of your writing it is very important that you find a professional children’s book illustrator/designer.
Some of the best current pi -
Blog postby Dayne Sislen
Humor is what makes something funny.
A sense of humor is the ability to recognize humor. There is nothing quite as satisfying as reading a funny book to a child and watching them giggle and respond to the words and pictures. Reading to children increases their comprehension and reading funny books helps them to develop a keen sense of humor. Humor can teach children to become more creative.
Children and adults who laugh together are healthier and less li -
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Blog postBy Dayne Sislen
The cover of your book is the first thing buyers see. From this first impression, they will judge the quality of your writing. This isn’t fair but it’s a fact.
We all know the old phrase, ‘you can’t judge a book by its cover.’ Is it true? The big publishers believe covers sell books. They spend mega marketing dollars testing out covers for their big-name authors. Will a red background sell better than a yellow background? Should the main image be a close-up of the -
Blog postAndy Mulberry, the author of YA fiction and middle-grade books such as the Sky Castle Series for Adventurous Middle Graders, interviewed me several years ago. She asked some great questions so I decided to re-blog her interview here for you to read.
Introduction by Andy: As a writer without a lick of talent when it comes to illustrating, I’m especially fascinated by Dayne’s thoughtful approach to bringing children’s books to life. Please join me in welcoming her!
Dayne is a c -
Blog postby Dayne Sislen
Smart writers, make their own picture book dummies to improve their writing. By making a rough dummy showing the page breaks and illustrated action on each page you can clearly see where page-turn surprises should fall and when there just isn’t enough action to keep kids interested. It’s important to know what lines of your text will fall on each spread. The best way to do this is to follow a typical 32-page picture book template. I have shown two different templates s -
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Blog postThis is an oldie. It’s important to stress the impact of reading to your little ones at this time of year.
Dayne Sislen Children's Book Illustration
These six steps will start your children on the road to a lifetime of learning and reading.
Read to children as often as possible. If you expose them to reading early and often, it will become a pleasurable experience they will want to repeat when they read on their own.Picture books can help struggling readers to compreh -
Blog postWhen I tell people I meet I illustrate children’s books, they almost always say they have always wanted to write a children’s book. Many parents and grandparents already have great children’s book ideas from the stories they have invented for their little ones. Most tell me they have a great idea for a picture book but have no idea where to start.
“Don’t Be a Pig in a Panic!” picture book I illustrated for Leila Leidke
I work with new authors all the time. I know what it takes -
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Blog postEach year I write about thankfulness. We all should be thankful every day of the year. I know that I am, but I don’t always express this feeling out loud. So once a year, I make a point to let everyone know how important they are to me and how thankful I am that they are apart of my life.
Thankful for my daily bread
First I want to thank my family and friends. In so many ways they make every single day better and fuller. My dear husband puts up with my erratic hours and patien -
Blog postI have shared this post from one of the great blogs I follow. It has a lot of fun ideas for enjoying picture books.
Read. Learn. Repeat.
I’m very excited to join the blog tour for Tomorrow I’ll Be Brave by Jessica Hische (Penguin Workshop; ages 3-7). This book is an upbeat, inspirational call to look toward tomorrow and all its possibilities. Tomorrow you can be anything. Use this post to help you and your littles be CREATIVE!
REWRITE A STORY: Find -
Blog postI read a lot of picture books. You could say picture books are my “thing.” Every once in a while I run across a picture book I absolutely love. When this happens I tend to tell everyone I know, even people who (you won’t believe this) never read picture books even to their children or grandchildren. Last month I was lucky enough to run across two picture books that found that special place in my heart. I would like to share them with you.
“With Your Paw in Mine” Is a beautiful and -
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Blog postby Dayne Sislen
We all know the old phrase, “you can’t judge a book by its cover.” Is it true? The big publishers believe covers sell books. They spend mega marketing dollars testing out covers for their big-name authors. Will a red background sell better than a yellow background? Should the main image be a close-up of the main character or show the character at a distance? As an indie author, you probably don’t have the funds or the ability to test market different covers. But ask an -
Blog postBringing the main character for a chapter book to life. When I illustrate books for other authors it is a collaborative process. I want the author to love the characters I create for them as much as I do. Many of my clients send me photos of people they know that they would like the characters to resemble. I say resemble because I don’t create portraits for each page. That would require many photos from many angles of each character and take much too much time to get them just right.
Books By Dayne Sislen
There's a Mouse on My Head!
Aug 3, 2015
$21.51
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$21.50
(8 Used & New offers)
$9.99
Get it by Wednesday, Sep 18
Only 3 left in stock (more on the way).
Only 3 left in stock (more on the way).
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$9.00
(10 Used & New offers)
Shark Dentists and Other Stories
Jan 31, 2018
$2.99
$8.36
$16.30
Get it by Wednesday, Sep 18
Only 5 left in stock (more on the way).
Only 5 left in stock (more on the way).
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$4.69
(12 Used & New offers)
$9.99
Get it by Wednesday, Sep 18
Gigi and Grandma Remember
Oct 25, 2016
$10.00
$16.99
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
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$9.07
(9 Used & New offers)
$9.99
More Buying Choices
$9.99
(9 Used & New offers)
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