Childrens Book Illustration - Stage 1

This is a project that started earlier this year and one that I’m really excited about. The story is excellent and in rhymes which the long time sufferers of my poetry will know I Love. The writer is great and we get on really well. Like many projects between two artists the details take time to work out so I’m at Stage One. 

Stage one being the part where we have met, looked at the wordage and started to respond to the many aspects and look at the characters. I'm not going to tell you much about the story, its not my story to tell, but I’ll give you a clue on the process ,as I learn myself, to see if it may help anyone else out there who is developing a new idea for print.

So far everything is in sketch form in my workbook or on trace paper, which I tend to use if I need to go over the drawings numerous times. The characters have to look like themselves from every angle and for me drawing something twice, never mind numerous times, requires concentration. I’m not going to say the process is quick, in fact some days you can't tell I’ve moved forward at all, but once I start some locations these characters will be ready to be placed.

Head in the Clouds

During the run up to my last exhibition I started to work on an image for the phrase head in the clouds. I had very specific idea of what I wanted and tried numerous times to get in down on paper. First time I perfected the face, but the body had a weird shoulder and the ink ran too much, next the cloud was good but dress was all off. So by the third try at a final draft I abandoned the image for the exhibition. 

In finding the three drawings again I began to work on them in Photoshop, layering the items that worked and deleting the wonky shoulder and hook nose (I had managed in one attempt). I love this way of working and I think the final image is pretty strong. 

Sometimes in seems a shame that it doesn’t exist as an original anymore but it will be a handsome print.