Pencil and Digital

Digital comp

Here are some of the illustrations from So Near, And Yet So Far.

How I Illustrated My First Children’s Book

The Story

Illustrating a book is honestly the best kind of project I have ever worked on. It isn’t easy, but the rewards are tremendous.  Working on two books in 2010 allowed me to do more drawing than I have ever done in my life.  Therefore, I feel I have grown immensely.

Like I mentioned, I was approached by the Jewish Youth Library of Ottawa to illustrate a book written by Sara Loewenthal about the MS St. Louis.  This grant funded project was designed to communicate a story of the Holocaust to children. The story follows the events of the MS St. Louis through the eyes of a little girl, Klara. She explains the story like only a child could. I thought the story was cute, and I couldn’t wait to start working on the project.

Research

For our story I needed to do a lot historical of research. In a book like this we need to pay close attention to historical accuracy.I spent hours pouring through personal photos from passengers of the ship, to newspaper clippings. Each photo gave me insight into attire, fashion, architecture, and of course pictures of the M.S. St. Louis itself. The phrase that keep coming back to my mind was. We want our readers to be back on that boat. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum was a brilliant resource. The following images are from their enormous database.

Planning

After gathering research material we started the planning phase. Before I came on-board the project, loads of planning was done to get the project ready for me. I was given a breakdown of the required illustrations along with the manuscript. This told me the number of illustrations and the general pace of the book.

Couple questions to ask ourselves.
What story do we want to tell? We need to think big picture here.
Who are the characters?   We have the main character Klara, her sister Traude, and Mama and Papa
Who is our target audience? This is a children’s book, and we needed to communicate this story, effectively without sugar coating obviously difficult subject matter.
Size of the book. One of the issues we had early on was changing orientation of the book. We first started out vertical, and then moved to horizontal. Therefore we had to re-sketch most of the images to make the compositions work in a horizontal format.

Sketching

Once I read over the manuscript I began sketching. I spent a few afternoons in my rocking chair on my porch sketching thumbnail ideas alongside the manuscript. We take the written word and combine it with picture, and together they create a story. This is where the fun begins.In sketching I try not to evaluate ideas, but rather get them on paper. Think of it as visual brainstorming.

Here are a few thumbnails sketches as well as a few larger sketches. Getting these ideas down quickly gives us an idea of how the book will look. The sketches are then sent to our team.

Collaboration

So Near, and Yet So Far was a collaborative project. Sarah and I were only part of the team that brought this book to life. Erica and Devora were a huge part of this project offering ideas, direction, and project management. It was quite a fascinating experience for our team to come together and work on this project from different countries. Devora, Erica, Sarah and myself went back and forth discussing objectively each illustration from sketch to painting. Thus, the book we have today is very much a collaborative effort of our team. Later on Cythnia was brought on board as our layout designer.

Drawing

After various round of sketching we finally moved my favorite part, the drawing. Drawing to me is beautiful. The feeling of pencil on paper is stunning. From a blank paper a picture comes to life. This is certainly the most labor intensive aspect of my portion of the book making.

Color Comp

The next step in this project was deciding on color. Color sets the mood. We can tell a completely different story by simply changing the color. So Near, and Yet So Far required a palette that communicated as sense of the past, almost like flipping through old photos. Therefore we decided on a vintage colors with a limited color palette. We did a couple color comps to make sure we were all on the same page.

Watercolor

Based on my color comp. I began painting process.Watercolor is beautiful. It is simple yet elegant. The watercolor can stand on its own, but I like taking it to the next level. Digital Painting.

Digital Painting

Here we have a scanned watercolor painting that is digitally painted over using the wacom tablet . Digital painting is done to enhance colors, fix color balance, and push the boundaries of light and darkness. This is one of the most exciting parts of the process and you can see the work really come to life!

This illustrating this book was truly an amazing experience. Creating books is truly a dream come true. May this be the beginning of many more books to come.

Cheers!

Final: Copic Multiliner, Photoshop (Color)

Initial Sketch

Refined

Refined again

Initial Colors

Final Painting

Initial Sketch, with Photoshop Colors

Christina and I had a brilliant time at the Unglued Craft Fest in Fargo, ND. Not only did we sell well, but we honestly just had a good time. It was fun to be with so many creatives crammed into three glorious levels of The Plains Art Museum. In my walks about the Museum, I was blown away by the endless sea of tables filled with all kind of great work. My friends at The Yellow Umbrella, with their hand crafted goodness, as well as local artist With Remote, with his amazing screen prints, were among some of the brilliant work at the festival. I do really hope to attend next year. Thanks to all who came out to support the regions artists.

Color Comp. This color comp served as my guide for the painting process.  Perhaps it is lack of color understanding, but if I don’t have a color comp as I guide, it may look as though a bear got a hold of my painting.

Drawing in progress.

Painting in progress, doing my best to follow my color guide.

Tomorrow Christina and I will be showcasing my work at the Unglued Craft Fest in Fargo, ND. I am super excited not to only sell my work, but to meet other artists in the area.  The team at Unglued was kind enough to write an article about my attendance.  Not only will I be selling prints, but also taking commissions. If you are located somewhere in the Midwest, I expect to see you there.

Here is a shot of my friend Cody Bartz, at the 2011 Craft Fest.

One of my favorite parts of the journey was the opportunity to meet Herbert Carliner, a survivor of the Ms. St. Louis. Herbert was a kind man, who is passionate about telling his remarkable story. Every morning Herbert and I would find each other for breakfast, and I would learn more of his story. Herbert made this project real to me. After spending months working I finally had a personal connection to someone who was actually there. He gave me his approval of the book, which made the whole thing worth it.

On Thursday we attended a tea at the U.S. Ambassador’s residence, where I met some very influential people in US/Candadian relations. Sara and I gave a short talk on our experience with making the book. We then enjoyed an afternoon sipping tea and getting to know the team from this historic project.  I was taken back by the desire for not only Canada but also the US to fund such a project. History is super important, and this was my part in retelling it.

Here are a couple articles covering the event if you would like some further reading on the event.

 Chabad Jewish News Article

Ottawa Jewish Bulletin

During my trip I took pictures using my new iTouch. The photo quality is horrendous, but it beat lugging a bulky camera with me.

I took this picture right before we came into Ottawa.

Ottawa from above.

First glimpse of the book in my Hotel room.

My first book!

Mr. Carliner. What a great chap!

Michoel giving his presentation. This guy is great!

I couldn’t leave Ottawa without a good beard pic. So here it is!

Ambassador’s Residence.

Michoel’s Mural.

It took my four extra days to get home. I did however, get to stay in a pretty classy hotel.

This is what I came home to. Narnia!

My next post I shall cover in more detail the illustrations in the book.

Here is the final artwork that appeared on the cover of the Winter/Spring issue of “Collaborating For Success.” This is always a fun project for me to work on, and I look forward to each publication. For this piece, I really pushed the limited palette.

A couple shots of the cover.

Inside spread.