Picture Hooks

As part of some incredibly fun research, we asked @typewronger booksellers to share their must read picture books. Here’s what the wonderful Elsa had to say: * “Rajiv’s Starry Feelings by @niallmoorjani and @nanetteregan — a gorgeously written and drawn exploration of how we learn to feel our emotions and allow space for sadness and anger so we can find joy.” * “The Knight With No Bottom by @levina_schrijft & @charlotte_bruijn — a delightfully silly story of a knight whose rear end has been chomped off by a dragon, and the quest he embarks upon to find a new bottom!” Stay tuned for more indie bookseller recommendations! #picturehooks #picturebooks #indiebookstore #kidslitart #kidslit

Perks of being an Edinburgh-based organisation? Getting to potter around some of the fantastic indie bookshops in the city 📚 📖💞✨ . . . #picturehooks #indiebookstore #bookseller #edinburgh #picturebooks #kidslitart

Happy World Book Day!! We’re excited to announce our first before and after Instagram competition of 2025! Purrfect for all you feline fans, the prompt is ‘Meow? MEOW!’. Inspired by the mischievous and unpredictable nature of kitties, it’s all about the idea of ‘what the cat did next’. We want you to create two illustrations in a swipe-through format to tell us a story that revolves around a cat (or cats), showing the same characters before and after a transition. The ability to create a consistent, relatable character across different contexts — both physical and emotional — is a core skill publishers look for in children’s book illustrators. There’s no limit to the number of characters you can depict — there can be humans involved in this one, too! — but the background must be plain. As with other Picture Hooks competitions, we’ll be looking to see how you communicate your character’s/characters’ experience through their facial expressions and physicality. The competition will be open for submissions from 6th March 2025 to 23.59pm 9th April 2025. The winner will receive a prize of £500, and two additional awarded runners-up will both receive £250. *** submit via the submission form on our website*** Find information on how to submit your entry, FAQs and terms and conditions on our website also — link in our bio. #picturehookscompetition #picturehooks #picturebooks #kidslitart #kidslit #emergingillustrator #worldbookday2025

Today we had the pleasure of visiting @nhslothcharity Tonic Arts exhibition, Storybook Way. How adorable are these gorgeous illustrations and magical mural by @amy_steele_ and @eilidhmuldoon ?! The exhibition, at the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People in Edinburgh, has brightened the days of so many children, parents, carers and staff since it was installed some months ago. We were so delighted to be involved with this incredibly rewarding project. #picturehooks #tonicarts #kidslitart #picturebooksofinstagram #illustrationartists

Repost from @theaoi ‘Copyright and Artificial Intelligence’ — its deadline day for the Government’s consultation proposing a drastic change to copyright law. This would allow all creators’ work to be legally scraped by AI developers to use to train their AI and then potentially generate artwork that is in competition with you as an illustrator. Clearly not fair, and along with all organisations representing creatives, we want to Make It Fair. AOI are part of Creative Rights in AI Coalition and we’re highlighting the joint Make It Fair campaign. If you’ve not yet written to your MP, you can help add pressure by doing so. This easy template finds your MP for you and offers existing text — link in [ @theaoi ] bio. Please re-post to spread the word. See the AOI site AI Updates page under Resources/Business Practice’ #makeitfair #artbyhumans #handsoffourcopyright #copyright #paythecreator

Amazing news for another former Picture Hooks mentee — the wonderful @darlingbyname has been long-listed for the Klaus Flugge Prize 🏆 🥳 Laura was mentored by the brilliant @chrishaughton during our 2021 programme. Massive congratulations @darlingbyname — we’re so proud of all you have achieved since then 🧡 #picturehooks #picturebookillustration #picturebookart #kidslit #kidslitart #scottishart

Reminiscing about our 2023 Emerging Illustrator Exhibition as we gear up to announce our selected 2025 Mentees 🎨 At the end of our Mentoring Programmes, our lovely mentees and mentors are given the opportunity to showcase their work in a specially curated exhibition (shown here at the @scottishstorytellingcentre) We also organised a Publishers Speed-Dating event, where our mentees could connect with wonderful book industry professionals @barringtonstoke @bloomsburychildrens @farshorebooks @fraserrossassociates @florisbooks @hachetteuk @jennybrownassociates @littledoorbooks @littletigerbooks @rocketbirdbooks @templarbooks It’s always such an exciting time — we love showing off all the hard work our mentees and mentors put into the process! ☺️ 2023 mentees: @clarence48 @oluoke @phoeberoze @bex.illo @alinemonda 2023 mentors: @abottlefullofrain @mrsteveantony @jillcalder_illustrates @alisonmurray360 @chrishaughton #picturehooks #picturebooksofinstagram #kidslitart #kidslitartist #edinburghcity #illustratorsofig

HUGE congratulations to the brilliant Francis Martin aka @theephantomscribbler and @whycraigwhy on being shortlisted for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize with Gina Kaminski Saves the Wolf 🥳 Francis was once a Picture Hooks mentee and is now a mentor in our 2025 Mentoring Programme. We’re so proud of him for all he has achieved since first getting involved with us. We wish you all the very best of luck 🤞✨ Published by @littletigerbooks Image from @waterstones_kids Written by @whycraigwhy Illustrated by @theephantomscribbler #picturehooks #kidslitart #kidslit #waterstoneskids #picturebooksforkids #illustratorsoninstagram

Now that’s one way to brighten up a dreich January day!! How sweet is this little family by @georgiebirkett — another of our fab runners up from our Winter Comforts competition a few years ago 🐭 🕯️ We’ll be announcing our first competition of the year in a few weeks 🎁 We can’t wait to look through your submissions — it’s one of the best parts of the job! #picturehooks #picturehookscompetition #kidslit #kidslitart #illustration #georgiebirkett

Our free webinars are always super popular — so many of you tell us that they’re a really helpful resource for you as emerging illustrators. So, we wanted to hear your requests for topics for the ones we’ll be running this year 💻📝 If there’s anything in particular you’d like to learn about, comment your requests down below ⬇️📥 We run our webinars alongside our competitions, around 3 times a year 💫 We look forward to hearing from you! Artwork from previous competition winner @justin.worsley #picturebook #picturehooks #illustration #kidslitart #kidslit #webinar #emergingartists

Happy New Year from all of us at Picture Hooks! We hope you’re able to stay cosy this cold and rainy January ❄️ A huge thank you to everyone who got involved with us in 2024. We have another exciting year planned for 2025 — keep an eye out for updates on competitions, buddy schemes and more! This wonderful work, ‘When can we see Gran again’, by @olivia.holden was shortlisted as a runner-up for our Winter Comforts competition in 2021 🥰 #picturehooks #picturebooks #kidslit #kidslitart #illustration #edinburghart

Congratulations to @rachello.bevanbaker, the second awarded runner-up in our ‘What’s Inside?’ competition! Our judges loves the storytelling here, and the creative reveal in the second panel - as well as the lovely use of detail and colour! Well done Rachel. Thank you again to everyone who created wonderful illustrations for this brief. That’s us at Picture Hooks signing off for the festive season. Wishing you all a wonderful break and see you again in the New Year! #picturehooks #picturebooks #childrensillustration #childrensbooks #kidsbooks #kidslit #art #illustration