Anthropomorphizing Animals

How children’s book illustrators—regardless of style—should approach animals.

One of the biggest, biggest issues I’ve seen with illustrators’ portfolios over the years is how they anthropomorphize animals. Their animal characters look like humans dressed as animals. They look like mascots. Or furries.

The inability to draw an animal acting human is not a stylistic choice. It’s a clue that you’re an amateur. Style has nothing to do with anthropomorphizing animals. I don’t care if you’re Eric Carle, Leo Lionni, James Marshall, Jerry Pinkney, Yuko Shimizu, or Kuniko Craft—there’s one way to approach an animal as a children’s book illustrator. Chances are better than 50/50 that it’s not the way you’re doing it.

You can anthropomorphize all sorts of things of course (see Karen Schmidt’s art for Brave Little Toaster, e.g.). What I’m about to write focuses on animals, but it can apply to any non-human thing. Let’s explore.