Drawing a Blank

Drawing a Blank

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Embracing New Habits for the Creative Journey
(I threw up a little writing that title)
Jan 7 • Jacob Souva
What the Story Needs (and What it Doesn't)
5 things from the studio this week
Jan 9 • Jacob Souva
A Dawn of a New Year
Easily the worst title to any newsletter I’d have sent in 2025. But it’s a new year!
Jan 1 • Jacob Souva
Everything I Learned in 2025*
*minus the stuff I forgot and limited to 10 things for brevity
Dec 24, 2025 • Jacob Souva
Robots and Bad Drawings
5 things from the studio this week
Dec 19, 2025

Free from the Archives

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The Publishing Golden Ticket
Chasing success in the wrong ways
Aug 15, 2025 • Jacob Souva
The Truth About Making Books for Kids*
*According to me, just one guy, so far
May 23, 2025 • Jacob Souva
Allow Me to Re-introduce Myself
Many, many moons ago I auto-added my Mom and my wife to this newsletter and hoped beyond hope I’d add a few more without belly flopping into…
Jan 17, 2025 • Jacob Souva
Big Bike, Little Bike Cover Reveal
As many people come to find out, one of the weirder quirks of the publishing industry to outsiders is that there is very little contact, if at all…
Jul 19, 2024 • Jacob Souva
Crafting an Illustration Portfolio
1/2 part how-to, 1/2 part don't do
Jul 12, 2024 • Jacob Souva
Preparing for Querying Success
A mostly true account of the time I queried my literary agent (Part 2)
Jan 19, 2024 • Jacob Souva
How I Queried My Literary Agent
A tale full of intrigue, doubt, and success (Part 1)
Jan 12, 2024 • Jacob Souva
Creativity is Hard and That's Good?
What I learned making the art for a book I can't talk about yet
Oct 27, 2023 • Jacob Souva

Deep Dives

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Embracing New Habits for the Creative Journey
(I threw up a little writing that title)
Jan 7 • Jacob Souva
Everything I Learned in 2025*
*minus the stuff I forgot and limited to 10 things for brevity
Dec 24, 2025 • Jacob Souva
The Making of a Picture Book Final
Part 5: Starting a self-assigned picture book project worthy of some time and effort
Dec 10, 2025 • Jacob Souva
What is Happening in My Picture Book?
Part 4: Starting a self-assigned picture book project worthy of some time and effort
Nov 26, 2025 • Jacob Souva
A Picture Book's Foundation
Part 3: Starting a self-assigned picture book project worthy of some time and effort
Nov 12, 2025 • Jacob Souva
Uncovering Hidden Creativity for Picture Books
Part 2: Starting a self-assigned picture book project worthy of some time and effort
Oct 29, 2025 • Jacob Souva
Go Deeper
On Querying a Literary Agent
A tale full of intrigue, doubt, and success (3 part series)
Lessons From Making That Book
Specific things gleaned from books I've worked on
Finding Picture Book Ideas
A framework for finding and developing book ideas
Using Color
How I think about using color in illustration
Thoughts on Style
The many twists and turns of cultivating an illustration style
Goal Setting
for the wayward inclined
Pulling a String
Interviews
Top posts
Illustrating with Color
Apr 26, 2024 • Jacob Souva
Keep Going
May 24, 2024 • Jacob Souva
How I Use the Internet
Jan 10, 2025 • Jacob Souva
Carrying a Weight
Jun 7, 2024 • Jacob Souva
The Creatives Cheat-code
Dec 13, 2024 • Jacob Souva

5 things from the studio this week

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What the Story Needs (and What it Doesn't)
5 things from the studio this week
Jan 9 • Jacob Souva
A Dawn of a New Year
Easily the worst title to any newsletter I’d have sent in 2025. But it’s a new year!
Jan 1 • Jacob Souva
Robots and Bad Drawings
5 things from the studio this week
Dec 19, 2025
Whirligig, Providing Quantity, and Spaghettios
5 things from the studio this week
Dec 12, 2025 • Jacob Souva
Recommendations
View all 51
Notes on Illustration
Notes on Illustration
The Illustration Department
The Enthusiast by Brad Montague
The Enthusiast by Brad Montague
Brad Montague
James Burks: Life in Lines!
James Burks: Life in Lines!
James Burks
The Little Things
The Little Things
Cait B.
mocculere's letters
mocculere's letters
mocculere
© 2026 Jacob Souva · Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
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