Bookmap Your Picture Book

I've always used a bookmap to design and layout my picture books/dummies. It's a great way to make sure you have a balance of text and art, single pages, double pages and vignettes.

Below is  my bookmap for HUMPHREY'S FIRST CHRISTMAS.  The thumbnails are just basic shapes for layout and proportions.

Here is a blank copy of my bookmap that you can drag and drop to your desktop.  I print mine out at 11" x 17".   That makes the rectangles a perfect thumbnail size for me. 

Recently I've been using sticky tabs to lay over the rectangles.  I sketch on them, peel them off and move them around until I decide on the perfect layout. Then I draw out a permanent Bookmap to use when I start my picture book dummy.