Studio Visit: OUTSIDE THE BOX
Because this book was over 100 pages, with as many illustrations, it was first laid out for text/art organization at Simon & Schuster. It's a LOT! And yet.......
...and yet.....here is the finished art in a book press waiting to send to S&S!
I always do hundreds of sketches, usually on architect's tissue, for every book I illustrate looking for the best possible way to illustrate a story or a poem. Here are just a few of them....
I sketched dozens of cover designs, here are just three.
My favorite part of the book process is creating the preliminary art, it's fast and loose and expressive. There are so many possiblities when deciding how to illustrate something so exploring those possibilities is essential....and so much fun!
The cover art, for me, comes after I've developed the characters. It's got to capture the personality of the book in a single image. I usually suggest the placement for the type, the style of type and then the book designer brings their talent to selecting type face and design.
Final,FINAL cover art!
Loose ink sketch on tissue.
Final art. Brush and ink. This is one of my favorites.
Sketch for design concept.
Several of the illustrations play with making the words form an image. Things that were possible with hand printed lettering were not possible with type face. I have used hand lettering in other books but this book required the designer to interpre into standard type face. Final printout.
Here are some of the preliminary ink sketch on tissue, laid out as spreads.
Sketch. Pen and ink and brush.
Final art, brush and ink.
Final art. Brush and ink.
More rough sketches for layouts with text. The sketches are constantly changing.
Final art. Pen and ink. Here, I was looking for a dreamy image.
Loose layout for type.
Final type designed by Lauren Rille.
Loose brush sketch on tissue.
For me, loose pencil or brush sketches best capture the energy and emotion of an illustration, retaining the original feel of the sketch is my challenge.
Final art. Brush and ink.
Organized chaos at the end of the day. It gets cleaned up so it's a pristine scene in the morning.
Brush, pen and ink sketch. This was fun!
Pen, brush and ink. Section of final art.
Hand written text on tissue for design placement.
Sketch on tissue.
Final art. Pen and ink.
When a book has over a hundred pages, there can be chaos on the drawing board!
Final art drawn with drty brush, brush and pastel.
Most of the preliminary sketches begin on tissue.
The trash. I do hundreds of sketches for every book, most of them end up in the trash.
Final art, pen and ink.
More loose sketches for layoiuts with text for the dummy. Tissue sketches and print outs are taped into a layout. I can print out sketches and then tear them up and re-arrange them on the page, over and over again.....
Sketch for layout placement.
Final pena nd ink with text.
Loose brush and ink sketch. I chose a box of animal crackers for the box.
Final art, brush and ink.
....the box.