It’s time to aim a spotlight on another fine PB website. This time, that means Let’s Talk Picture Books, Mel Schuit’s site that “started as a way for Mel to catalog the illustration styles and techniques she found in her own picture book and comic book collections.” She also hosts quarterly global one-on-one book swaps via Instagram. Fun, right?
Mel pays attention to parts of the form I appreciate seeing people take seriously: endpapers, casewraps, spine design, barcode design, all that good stuff that helps make a picture book feel like a fully made object. Lovely.
And the interviews are meaty, too. I especially liked the LeUyen Pham one which gets into process and tools, but also that anxious, messy middle of making a book (which is exactly the kind of craft talk I’m always happy to find).
This is a smart, visually tuned corner of the picture book internet. If you haven’t stopped by before, maybe give it a shot?
Holy dream come true! Thank you so much for the shout-out, Ryan! So grateful for all you do and how you lift others up with you!
Happy to give well-deserved shout-outs. Keep up the great work, Mel!