Process for Blue
A look inside my book dummy
Hello my dear readers,
It’s Friday! Or, as we like to call it at my house, Fri-yay! And that means only one thing… A letter from me!
Today we are diving into a peak at one of the illustrations for the book dummy I’ve been working on. I gave you a hint (aka told you) of which color it would be in my last process post. Do you remember?
It’s BLUE!
My favorite color!
This illustration took me a couple of tries. I was continually unsatisfied with how it was turning out. Yellow was my first experience with cut paper, and you guessed it, this was my second. I tried multiple ways of working out the waves of the ocean, but none of them were working. Was it my oversized scissors? My too-dull knife? Or was it my clumsy hands? We may never know.
I really want to make the illustrations in this book visually interesting for kids, but also appealing to adults. I didn’t want it to be just another pretty picture of a beach either. So I experimented with different methods, using watercolor, Neocolor II crayons, colored pencils and cutting things out. Here’s a look at all my scrap paper. This isn’t all of it. I hastily crumpled and threw some out in a fit of frustration. And then my dog sneakily grabbed some while I was in the zone of painting and chewed it to smitherings. Who knew dogs liked watercolor paper?
After my umpteenth try at waves (no exaggeration) it finally hit me! What if I used a hole puncher and made bubble waves with that?? But do I own a hole puncher? Reader, I do not. But now I own three, in a variety of sizes. I hole-punched my little heart out. Hundreds of these little guys. Or at least a hundred.I think some slipped under the paper, as you can see below. Perhaps he’s actually just a happy clam hiding in the sand.
I also had a lot of fun painting with different shades of blue and making these cute plants. Again, if this book is picked up by a publisher I’ll definitely be investing in some better cutting supplies. I feel like I could have made some more intricate cuts and shapes if I had sharper tools. Every time I try I end up cutting the shapes in half or having jagged edges. And you know I LOVE painting plants and flowers. They’re my absolute fave thing to add to any illustration.
Are you still reading? I hope so, because here’s the final!
Whoa! I just realized how dim the photos I took are compared to this bright blue baby! Phone camera photos, am I right?
The book text will go in the upper left corner, but I couldn’t give that away! You’ll just have to wait until the book is published (fingers crossed!) and you can read the whole thing! Have you figured out what this book might be about? Give me your best guesses.
Until next time,
Katie