SCBWI PA West Presents: Drab to Delightful: Creating Engaging Picture Book Characters with Mirka Hokkanen
Sep 08, 2025
Online event
Are you feeling stuck with designing characters for picture books? Have you gotten feedback that your characters are stiff or not drawn consistently? This webinar is designed to help you take your character designs from bland and stiff to charming and energetic. You’ll learn how to use the personality of your character to guide its design, how to use shapes to convey personality, how to make an appealing character, how to draw expressions and poses, and Mirka’s top tips for drawing characters consistently. This class is perfect for beginner and intermediate illustrators wanting to illustrate picture books for kids. Mirka uses examples from her own work and from other picture books to illustrate each lesson. September 8 / 7PM EST / 45 minute presentation / 15 min Q&A / $15 for members / $20 for non-members
Are you feeling stuck with designing characters for picture books? Have you gotten feedback that your characters are stiff or not drawn consistently?
This webinar is designed to help you take your character designs from bland and stiff to charming and energetic. You’ll learn how to use the personality of your character to guide its design, how to use shapes to convey personality, how to make an appealing character, how to draw expressions and poses, and Mirka’s top tips for drawing characters consistently. This class is perfect for beginner and intermediate illustrators wanting to illustrate picture books for kids. Mirka uses examples from her own work and from other picture books to illustrate each lesson.
September 8 / 7PM EST / 45 minute presentation / 15 min Q&A
$15 for members / $20 for non-members
About Mirka
Mirka Hokkanen is a Finnish-American neurodivergent author and illustrator who likes quirky animal characters and stories that make kids laugh. Mirka is the creator for the graphic novel series Mossy and Tweed (Holiday House), the picture book series Kitty and Cat (Candlewick), and the non-fiction picture book series Little Seasons (OddDot). Mirka has an MFA in printmaking, and has over a decade of experience in the fine art world, exhibiting in galleries, teaching in-person classes and selling work at art fairs before starting to illustrate books and license her work. As a military spouse and mom to three kids, Mirka has learned to adapt quickly to all kinds of situations, and turn challenges into opportunities. She currently lives outside of Washington DC in Maryland, and loves to knit, sew and explore the outdoors on her free time. For more info, see MirkaH.com