Koby Cumulus Children's Picture Book released!

How exciting, my latest Children's Picture Book has been released!

Koby Cumulus, written by Melissa Doughty and illustrated by me :)

It's called Koby Cumulus and I've been blogging about the process (3rd and last blog post still due, but you can read blog posts one and two here and here respectively.)

The book turned out beautifully, and we were all very happy with the printing and the papers used. What a nerve racking experience to see the book you've been working on for the last 6 months appear; knowing that it's too late to change anything if need be!

The endpapers

Koby Cumulus is a 6 year old cloud who loves life... until he hears people grumbling about the weather.

It's a beautiful story about realising your own self worth in the face of negativity and rejection. Koby also has a mentor, who is his granny, so it'd be a lovely book for a grandparent to read to their grandchild! 

I have favourite parts of the book that I have illustrated, I like how this horse turned out and the ripples in the water. It reminds me of a book from my past that I can't quite put my finger on... 

And my favourite page is where Koby is sprinkling a light shower over some red roofed homes.

Lots of kids like the page with the rainbow!

Melissa has done a beautiful job of creating a story with a message of self confidence that can be used as a tool to help children become more resilient.

I'm so happy to finally share this with you all!

If you'd like to learn more about Koby Cumulus or purchase a copy head over to Published Panda where they have low shipping for the rest of this year.

Jules :)

The Making of an Illustrated Children's Picture Book: Part 2

So I left the last post about illustrating a children's picture book at the story board stage. You can read about part one here.

*Update. Things have been a little slow here lately on the blog. I have reevaluated my priorities and time commitments and for the rest of the year I will still post here, but not as frequently as I was. I will reassess in the new year and decide what direction I want to take with all my arty and crafty projects. I'm still producing tutorials, and will update here on my creative life now that my latest kids book is finished, but for the rest of the year it's going to be a bit slower here on the old blog! Ok, back to the blog post!*

After everyone is happy with the way the whole book goes together, it's time for the final roughs.

With this book, some of the pages were shuffled around and text needed to move and new quick roughs needed to be done. It is in this stage when you see the images with the text that something you feel needs to be changed will become apparent, where it might not have been before.

A section of a rough from one of my favourite pages

The text is a huge part of the book and needs to not be an afterthought. I designed where the text would go in this book, and had a lot of help from a designer. The space for type is allocated before the final roughs are done.

Looking through kid's picture books is interesting to look at the amount of space type takes, the placement, size and font choices. You'll see wavy text, enlarged text, bold text, hand written text. The choices are varied, just as the illustration choices are.

I do my roughs to scale. I did mine larger than the final book would be, so I can fit more detail in where needed.

Some pages need more nutting-out than others. Some I wrestle with and redraw parts, and I also use my scanner and photoshop to help me rearrange parts of the roughs if it's not working for me on paper. Modern technology!

Some come easily. I'm sure this is similar to the workings of many different creative pursuits.

Things that I have to keep in mind when doing the roughs are character continuity, and keeping the style throughout the whole book. I also nut out landmarks or features if there are a few pages that will feature the same area. You want the same colour & shaped roof on the same house on different pages for example. Notes are helpful for you to remember things when it comes time to render the final illustrations.

I read and reread the text, as it's easy to miss out on little details that you thought you would remember.

Once the roughs are all done they are scanned in, edited and compiled into a PDF for viewing by the publisher. For my last kids book, I made a little dummy book which I loved. It was great to be able to pick it up and hold it and flick through the pages and get an idea of the final look and feel of the real book.

Extra detail is added into the final roughs, and I like little surprises such as continuing themes that aren't in the text of a book. It's great to think of all your characters (and even background characters) as total individuals so you can make them unique in their expressions or what they're wearing.

Taking breaks is important. Minds go stale and tired, and after a break I return fresh with new perspective.

So many tea breaks :)

If I get a bad case of the fears, also known as procrastination, I remind myself that no matter what I do, I will always be better off sitting down and doing an hour or so of work. If will learn something. I will progress, even if just by a tiny bit. Even if it's a stuff up, it's a stuff up that needed to happen as it is part of the process. This mindset has helped me deal with procrastination a lot. No matter how dull and practical and unmystical that is!

The cover design needs some in-depth thought and a fantastic illustration. I'm hoping mine lives up to the task! It is after all the first thing you see, and it either catches your eye or it doesn't. I did a couple of different layouts, and it was funny that in a survey to some little people they all chose the one I liked least! Considering it's for kids, we decided to trust those fresh untainted opinions, and that they knew best.

The next instalment will be regarding painting the finals, and the final book will be on it's way very soon! Stay tuned!

Next up... painting the final illustrations

Catch part one of The Making of an Illustrated Children's Picture Book here.

Jules :)

Children's Picture Book Review: Gaston

Time for a creative children's book review! I love beautifully illustrated children's books. I'm always drawn towards the illustrations in a book first, but then a creative interesting story is icing on the cake. I have always collected children's picture books, I did before I had kids, and I will continue to do so when they've grown up.

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Today I'm looking at the book Gaston by Kelly DiPucchio, illustrations by Christian Robinson.

Gaston

This is a fun children's picture book with stylish illustrations that Miss 6 had me reading over and over. It's a clever book involving two families of dogs in France. I'm assuming France because there are names like "Antoinette" and language like "oui oui" in the book. And I'm pretty sure the dogs are french poodles and french bulldogs :)

Two puppies get switched at birth and are somewhat misfits within the other family; but that dynamic feels natural to them. It's a book about being different and fitting in anyway. The story could act as a discussion prompt with kids about being who you are: an individual, complete with all your quirks and flaws.

Seemingly simple graphic-style pictures, the expressions on the dogs portray their emotions well. The stylised shapes of the dogs really make me smile.

Christian Robinson's illustrations have me in awe and wonder. Some people are in awe at super realistic technical illustrations, but I am in awe when an illustrator can really pump a lot of style into the artwork, yet still portray all the emotion that's needed in the story. That's a real skill. The illustrations are just gorgeous.

The story is super cute, the illustrations are super cute. Adorable!

I had a poke around at Christian Robinson's website, which I enjoyed looking at, and can be found here: The Art of Fun

Gaston can be found here.

I would love to check out some other books illustrated by Christian Robinson. I think I'm a bit taken by his illustration style!

Josephine

Rain

So cool. I think his illustrations have a vintage feel to them, but they also look modern at the same time.

I hope you enjoyed this book review! Happy reading...

Jules :)

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The Making of an Illustrated Children's Picture Book: Part 1

Hello :)

I've been a bit quiet overall, in my shop and social media. I have been working on a couple of illustration jobs, and whilst I'd like to say I have been updating my shop and prolifically making art and updating my social media frequently as well, I've had to admit I am not superwoman and am letting go of the expectation to try and squeeze everything in. (But that nagging feeling that I should be able to fit it all in is still there!)

But when I put too much on my plate I freeze and become overwhelmed and have the tendency to procrastinate. So I am taking a break from a few aspects of my business so I can put more of my efforts into some illustration work (and a commission I have too) for a while. But I will keep blogging!

Playing around with style for a new book

One of the illustration jobs I'm working on is a new children's picture book! Yay! And people seem so interested in the process that I thought I would share a bit of it here on the blog.

Here's how it happens (for me).

After receiving the story, I will read it a few times and daydream. I will often make scribbles right on the sides of the manuscript.

I will enter a period of constantly thinking about it, so even whilst I'm doing the dishes, or going to sleep for the night, my mind will be churning and turning over ideas.

I purchase a sketchbook solely for the job, to keep all of my work and sketches and ideas together. Even if I happen to do sketches on loose bits of paper when the urge strikes and I don't have my book with me, I will glue them in later to keep it all organised and in the one place.

My first work comes in the form of research and preliminary character sketches and ideas. They will often go through a period of transformation, due to me changing aspects until I'm happy, or with the publishers/ authors input and suggestions. Sometimes the characters evolve quite a bit through this process. I will do pencil drawings, and usually get out the paints & coloured pencils too to start playing around with final rendering style ideas.

This particular book's characters are mainly clouds, which are tricky and ever-changing evolving forms, that play with light and colour. They are not solid objects that you can predict where the light falls, and their form changes depending on how much water they're holding, or what time of day it is, or how windy it is. So a character that changes all the time... challenging!

Because my work is usually quite conceptual, verging on the abstract and intuitive (not realistic) style, I felt the need to study some clouds. I looked at real clouds, photos of clouds, and illustrations and traditional paintings of clouds. I studied how they block the light, where the light comes through, and their form. I looked at how they have soft fluffy edges, and then sometimes they have sharp edges.

A cloud study. In particular, I want to capture light and luminosity in the illustrations for this children's book

I want my illustrations to look arty and sketchy. I think there's lots of potential for beautiful textural art whilst playing around with rain, sunsets, wind, and light. 

The next step after both I and the publisher are happy enough with the preliminary sketches, is to decide which text goes on what pages. Picture books are usually 32 pages, or else in multiples of four due to the manufacturing process of a book. You have to allow for a title page and imprint page and all that, if you pick up a picture book you can count how they're in multiples of four, some finish on the very last page, others a couple before. Every book is different. Some imprint pages are on the back side of the endpapers, some are not. (The endpapers are those decorative pages at the front and end of a book that are usually a different type of paper. We're talking hardcover books here, and the endpapers are in addition to the 32 pages.) We also have to choose the size of a book. Children's picture book sizes are as varied and different as people are! 

A few quick storyboard sketches (what's with that mans hand!? Can you see it!? Lol)

Once those things are decided it's time to storyboard the thing out. I choose to go pretty rough at this stage, some go surprisingly detailed (those dedicated souls). I think if you go too detailed at this stage it can be a waste of time in case there are a lot of changes to be made (such as text being shunted around to different pages & illustration concepts needing to be redrawn). This is where each page is sketched out, with its corresponding text. 

I also include my thoughts or notes alongside the storyboard roughs too. I don't like to add a lot of thoughts there though, as I think it's good for people to see it first with their own thoughts untainted by my thoughts and then we can talk about all our thoughts together later on. So many thoughts :)

More detail will be added in final roughs when the storyboard is approved

After the storyboard is finished, it's submitted for approval, and here's where sometimes a lot of changes and back and forth-ing happens. This is the stage I'm at at the moment. I've done the storyboarding for all of the pages, and have a meeting lined up to go over it all. 

Once the storyboard is all approved and everyone is happy, it's time to go onto the final roughs where I can add in lots more detail. For instance, in the above picture I have just represented where houses will be, they yet don't have any individuality or detail, but that will come in the final rough.

There are so many decisions along the way for a picture book, it's like a choose-your-own-adventure with a zillion different options at each stage. Does the text overlay the illustrations? How much white space is in the book? Is the text on white space? Are there illustrations on every page? Are the illustrations in vignettes? What style will the illustrations be? Will they be digital or traditionally drawn? Realistic or stylised? And so on and so on...

And each publisher and author and illustrator combo have different ways of working too. Sometimes the author doesn't have a lot of input, sometimes they do. 

If you have any questions I'd love to hear them in the comments & I hope you enjoyed part 1 of making an illustrated children's picture book.

Jules :)

Part 2 of illustrating a children's picture book.

Part 3 coming soon.

3 Creative Illustrated Children's Books

It's been a while since I blogged some kids books. I love Children's picture books with eye catching and beautiful illustrations. Here are three that have crossed paths with me recently. (I will always collect children's picture books, I did before I had kids and will continue to do so after they have grown up I'm sure!)

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Wild by Emily Hughes is an engaging, short story that provoked a lot of thought within me, about children's "wildness" and their love of imaginary play.

The illustrations are beautiful- they have so much detail and the pencil work gives the illustrations depth and texture.

Wild by Emily Hughes

I asked Miss 6 what she likes about the book (because she has read it numerous times), and she simply stated "I just like it." I think it appeals to her imagination. That imagination that tells her she really is a wild animal! Miss 6 was misbehaving a little yesterday whilst out. I knew it was trouble to tell her that I think she had gone wild like the girl in the book, but I couldn't help myself. Growling, snarling and running around ensued. My fault! But how lovely to be a kid and enter into this imaginary world at the drop of a hat.

Wild is about a girl who is found in the forest, and brought into a home. It doesn't work out in the end, because this girl cannot be tamed. So you can see why kids would love it! Fun.

You can see why I love these illustrations, they are amazing

(I also found this fantastic link where Emily explains the process behind making this picture book.)

The next book is Cloth Lullaby: The Woven Life of Louise Bourgeois by Amy Novesky, illustrated by Isabelle Arsenault. 

The book is a mini life story about the late French born artist Louise Bourgeois. This book has beautiful illustrations and talks of Louise's childhood and the source of her inspiration to become an artist (hint: her weaving mother was a big influence). This book might appeal to kids that are deeply interested in art. I feel that kids that own this book would get something new out of it every time they read it, and also as they get older and reread it again, too.

Cloth Lullaby by Amy Novesky Illustrated by Isabelle Arsenault

It appeals to me because I love teaching my kids about different artists. How they are different, how they all have their own ideas, their different personalities and ways in which they work. 

The illustrations do this memoir of an artist justice. How tricky it would be as an illustrator to represent the sensibilities of another artist. I think that Isabelle has done a fantastic job.

Talking of books about famous artists, the next book is The Iridescence of Birds. This book also talks about an artists upbringing: Henri Matisse. 

The Iridescence of Birds by Patricia MacLachlan Illustrated by Hadley Hooper

With insights into the elements that made up Henri Matisse's childhood, why would he not become an artist? 

I get so much inspiration from Henri Matisse's art, and as a creative family, it's important to me to introduce my kids to some of the great influential artists. Matisse of course being one of them.

I like how the illustrations emulate some of his paper cut work & colours of his artwork, with their bold shapes, and they also have that textural quality which comes from the block printing which is part of the illustration technique used for these images. Another worthy addition to our children's picture book library.

I hope you enjoyed those three Children's book reviews. I am currently working on illustrations for a children's book, so I am very much immersed in the picture book world at the moment, and my radar's set to high when any quality children's books come my way.

Jules :)

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Book Illustration Inspiration From The Past

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Hello! I'm going to chat today about the inspiration that lead me to where I am today: immersed in a creative world of art and illustration.

My Nan (rest in peace) always said I'd be an illustrator. Ever since I was young she would tell people that. Even before I knew that's what I would do.

At one stage in our lives she ended up in a TAC centre (a place for road accident victims to recover) after a pretty horrible car accident. I used to visit her in my old Gemini car (that had handmade bear seat covers complete with faces and ears on the top) and hang out and draw pictures for her walls. I always drew pictures for her.

A copied May Gibbs illustration by my younger self

The Complete Adventures of Snugglepot and Cuddlepie

The iconic Australian illustrator May Gibbs was one of my first illustration loves. Gumnut baby after gumnut baby I drew. I especially loved when Snugglepot & Cuddlepie ventured underwater and met Little Obelia. I remember clearly drawing Little Obelia and shading those pearls with my cherished set of 72 derwent pencils. I think if I ever got a tattoo, it would probably be a homage to May Gibbs. Probably Little Obelia!

Holly Hobbie was another fond memory. My Mum painted pictures of her and I got my hands on my Mum's imagery, I don't know if it was books or her own paintings, but I remember copying the Holly Hobbie images. I was fascinated with the detail in them.

Me and my Primary School bestie at Dromkeen

In primary school we took an excursion to Dromkeen which is a place that exhibits and houses picture book art. I distinctly remember the end of the tour where we were taken to an area that held crisp new books and I had some money so that I could buy one. I remember holding a ten dollar note in my hands. My childhood was not filled with extravagant amounts of toys and possessions, so I really valued this chance to buy a book. I remember a stack of The BFG books and that was the book I chose. This also spurred a love of Quentin Blake's illustrations. His seemingly haphazard line work is quite intentional and brings out the emotion and movement of characters. He captures personality with the free flowing lines, and lessons of studying this flow seeped in to my psyche and became part of my understanding about how shape and line can come together to form natural expression.

Quentin Blake's illustrations are full of flow, life and fun

The BFG

I read The BFG book many times, to the point of it literally falling apart. We have a new copy that I am currently reading this book to my girls, but the old one is still a treasured possession. 

I also loved Dr Suess illustrations for their flowing spilling wavy look. It looks as though some of the drawings have been squeezed out of a tube, know what I mean!?

And I'm sure Golden Books were are part of many people's childhood. I had a few favourites in there, but as an adult I can't go much past the texture and detail of Richard Scarry's illustrations. I love the paint work which looks like he uses dry brushing that gives the illustrations a textural look. 

Ah, such memories. And I am grateful to all these amazing people that have inspired me along my journey. I'm sure there's more that I haven't thought of! I'll have to update this post if I do. I'd love to hear your favourites!

Jules :)

*Affiliate Information: Affliliate links help me earn small commissions on products (at no extra cost to you), which helps support my love of blogging and sharing creative things. I only ever recommend or link to products that I'm genuinely into.

Kids (Girls) Christmas Gifts

I'm starting to think about Christmas shopping for my two little human- chickens. It can't all be Beanie- Boos and Pokemon cards. *rolls eyes*

Now, I have two girls here, so I've been searching for toys that they would like.

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We, since last year, have taken on the lovely Icelandic tradition of giving a book on Christmas Eve. I wanted to get a couple of well thought about book purchases. I decided and have ordered these two:

The Mouse Mansion for Miss 6. This book looks really intriguing and Miss 6 might just have to fight me for a look on Christmas Eve. I hope it spurs some future crafting & model making! 

Ivy + Bean for Miss 8. I'm not recommending these yet as we haven't read them, but they seem to have a lot of high ratings. The bonus journal will be a hit with my journal/ notebook/ stationary obsessed girl!

I'd love for Santa to pop some Djeco items into their stockings or under the tree. They make really great craft/ art kits. They are well designed and thought out, and look really effective when made up. Their puzzles (we have a couple here) have thought provoking imagery and look very arty and decorative.

I will also be happy for santa to pop some Pure Poppet natural nail polish, water based and non toxic in their stockings :)

Miss 8 has been asking for a Maileg (link to an Australian supplier) bunny now for ages. They sell them in one of our local 'nice' toyshops, and they have all these sweet little outfits that you can buy for them. 

I'd also like to find some time to 'make-under' some Bratz dolls (which have been hiding in my cupboard for a while, I've been picking them up from Op Shops randomly) into Tree Change Dolls if I find the time and motivation! Sonia, who started this whole thing up has generously supplied how-to videos of how to make your very own.

Of course, the girls have written their own lists, but I always do like to find some nice special toys that aren't all plastic-y and dare I say it, wasteful. (Oh the packaging on some toys is so excessive.)

Jules :)

*Affiliate Information: Affliliate links help me earn small commissions on products (at no extra cost to you), which helps support my love of blogging and sharing creative things. I only ever recommend or link to products that I'm genuinely into.