Drawing a Blank

Drawing a Blank

Home
Notes
Portfolio
Books
Archive
Leaderboard
About
Pulling a String with: Molly Harris
A conversation about our new picture book, WHIRBY
Feb 6 • Jacob Souva
Whirby is Fully Charged!
5 things about our forthcoming picture book, Whirby
2 hrs ago • Jacob Souva
The Making of a Robot World
What I learned illustrating the picture book, WHIRBY
Feb 11 • Jacob Souva
Wasps, Fireworks, and Taking Chances
5 things from the studio this week
Jan 30 • Jacob Souva
100 Days of Picture Book Umami
An aha moment, followed by a commitment to get better at it
Jan 28 • Jacob Souva

Free from the Archives

View all
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

View all
The Making of a Robot World
What I learned illustrating the picture book, WHIRBY
Feb 11 • Jacob Souva
100 Days of Picture Book Umami
An aha moment, followed by a commitment to get better at it
Jan 28 • Jacob Souva
Let's Make Ugly Art Together
In which I share bad art through the years that is still important to me.
Jan 21 • Jacob Souva
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
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

View all
Whirby is Fully Charged!
5 things about our forthcoming picture book, Whirby
2 hrs ago • Jacob Souva
Wasps, Fireworks, and Taking Chances
5 things from the studio this week
Jan 30 • Jacob Souva
Crab Wasn't Lost
5 things from the studio this week
Jan 23 • Jacob Souva
Art Hacks I Actually Use
5 things I actually utilize that make me better at making
Jan 16 • Jacob Souva
Recommendations
View all 52
Looking at Picture Books
Looking at Picture Books
Mac Barnett & Jon Klassen
PICTURE DAY
PICTURE DAY
Adam Rex
Do the Work
Do the Work
Julie Falatko
Vicky Fang’s Newsletter
Vicky Fang’s Newsletter
Vicky Fang
Thoughts on Illustration with Mr. Tom Froese
Thoughts on Illustration with Mr. Tom Froese
Mr. Tom Froese
© 2026 Jacob Souva · Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start your SubstackGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture