Image credit: Antara Raman

Our Programme

Picture Hooks provides opportunity and development for emerging picture book illustrators, to help them access the world of children’s publishing.

Although based in Edinburgh, our support is available for all emerging illustrators.

Our programme is comprised of several branches:

Buddy Scheme

Our buddy scheme provides an early-stage opportunity for artists from alternative creative backgrounds who want to learn more about illustration: those with talent and passion but without direct illustration experience at university or in the professional world. Artists are carefully paired with established illustrators over six months to develop their style and explore the possibility of a career in children’s picture book illustration. This can be done online and in person.

Learn more about the buddy scheme here.

Mentoring Programme

Our mentoring programme pairs emerging children’s book illustrators with established professional illustrators (online and in person) to polish their work and help launch a career in children’s picture books. During the course of nine months, each emerging illustrator studies the creative process of making a picture book, attends online industry masterclasses and develops their work with one-to-one guidance from their professional illustrator mentor, finishing with an exhibition to showcase their illustration work — our 2025 exhibition ran at the Scottish Storytelling Centre.

You can learn more about the mentoring programme here and see our previous mentoring programme participants here.

Competitions

We run several competitions a year, which are announced on our Instagram. The winners of our competitions receive £500, and two runners-up receive £250 each.

Exhibitions

We are committed to exhibiting and promoting the work of our illustrators, either online or in physical spaces.

From 13th June to 29th September 2026, our 2025 Emerging Illustrator Exhibition will tour across The Macrobert Arts Centre, Stirling; The Mitchell Library, Glasgow; and the Harbour Arts Centre, Irvine – alongside Tidelines Book Festival! Look out for updates on the tour and coinciding events on our Instagram.

Webinars

We stream free, online webinars alongside our competitions, giving prominent illustrators and industry professionals a platform to share tips, tricks, and creative processes. These will be announced on our website and social media platforms.

Prize

The work of the illustrator is key to inspiring our first love of books. We all know and love many picture book characters from their image alone. The Invisible Prize is a bi-annual award which acknowledges the quiet reach and huge influence of the illustrator. The first Invisible Prize was awarded in 2020 to Pam Smy: a skilled and talented illustrator with a remarkable body of work. She is fully committed to the value and importance of picture books; someone who has supported and inspired other illustrators, but done so ‘invisibly’ – modest, unassuming, steadily supporting others for years without looking for acclaim.