I'm Not Just a Scribble: Children's Book Author Interview -

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Have you heard of the book I’m Not Just a Scribble… ?

“Scribble, the book’s main character, never thought he was different until he met his first drawing. Then, after being left out because he didn’t look like everyone else, Scribble teaches the drawings how to accept each other for who they are. Which enables them to create amazing art together!”- from the book’s description.

I’m Not Just a Scribble.. highlights the importance of inclusiveness while also providing a unique perspective on children’s art. The author, Diane Alber says, “I’m hoping that each child who is read this book will express their individuality and creativity through their art, even if they think, “I can’t draw.” Sometimes all it takes to start the art process is a little encouragement and a little scribble!”Diane was so kind to answer some questions and talk about her process of writing the book and self-publishing.

1. Tell us about your background.

I have a bachelors in fine arts with emphasis in painting, I’m a wife and mother of two children 2 and 4 and a children’s book enthusiast!

2. Why did you write this book?

My son actually inspired the character for this book, he’s still new to drawing and most of his drawings would be scribbles that he wasn’t too excited about. Then one day he got the idea to put two googly eyes on his drawing and his eyes just lit up. And that’s how scribble the character was created. When thinking about the storyline I wanted to create a story that children could not only learn from but to relate to as well. Around that time my son was starting school and he had his first experience with the “not so nice” kid. As I taught him how to overcome those obstacles I knew I could create a story around this experience that taught kindness, mindfulness and empathy.

3. What was your process for writing and publishing your book? (artistic, technical, your kickstarter)

I always draw the images first then do the writing, it’s a little backwards but I’m a visual thinker the images in the book have a 2d feel and they have that because I actually photographed paper crumbled and cut and super imposed the scribble on top.

Some scribbles are my children’s and some I had to re-create to make them a little cleaner for the story, I drew the house and clouds with my left hand to make a child look. I designed the book myself along with the layout of the book, I used a combination of Photoshop and Adobe Indesign. I launched a Kickstarter for my book to get the first run printed back in July 2017 and received the book in December of 2017 and now I’m almost sold out of 2000 books and will be placing another order for an additional 4000 books at the end of this month. You can purchase the book on Amazon as well.

You can also get a kit with an activity book and stickers to create your own scribble art.

In my next blog post, I will share with you how my students created their own scribble creatures of their own. We used a teacher pack set with face stickers. The kids used crayons to scribble, stuck on the face stickers and created backgrounds. We had a blast!

4. I see you have plans for future books. Tell us about your next books.

My next book is Splatter and will be out in June, it’s 99% done and in final editing now.

Splatter is a colorful, unique story about teamwork and perseverance. The characters, in their quest to create the perfect piece of art, learn the importance of not giving up despite some challenging obstacles. In the end, they become closer friends because they discover some new things along the way.