These are all rough sketches, drawn about the size of a playing card. One idea was selected, and I drew a tight sketch—
Please add the watermelons!
Art director Jim Hoover creates a comp with sketch and type. Let’s get the other 2 kids in there.
I painted the cover with a watermelon pink background.
This color was thought to be too feminine, so through the magic of digital correction, the background color was changed. (I didn’t do it. I don’t know which buttons to push.)
There’s a little throwaway scene in Joe Bright and the Seven Genre Dudes where Joe is invited to a royal story-telling competition. For this image I needed to design the royal messenger and the king’s coach.
The story isn’t set in any particular time or place—it just calls for a fairytale look. That allows me a pretty wide latitude regarding costume and setting. The messenger I dressed in something 16th century—slashed sleeves and short cape—with a sash to make him look official. The coach is something I found in Peter Newark’s Crimson Book of Highwaymen—a book about desperadoes who robbed the wealthy travelers of merrie olde England.
Here’s the thumbnail—we’re looking at the left page.
The tight sketch—
Throughout this project I used color to give clues about each character. Everything having to do with the king got colored purple.
Peter Spit… cover ideas
book promotion, illustration processA bunch of cover ideas for Peter Spit A Seed At Sue.
These are all rough sketches, drawn about the size of a playing card. One idea was selected, and I drew a tight sketch—
Please add the watermelons!
Art director Jim Hoover creates a comp with sketch and type. Let’s get the other 2 kids in there.
I painted the cover with a watermelon pink background.
This color was thought to be too feminine, so through the magic of digital correction, the background color was changed. (I didn’t do it. I don’t know which buttons to push.)
How books get bought
book promotion, illustration processGood article by a bookstore owner about the picturebook-buying process.
The king’s coach
book promotion, illustration processThere’s a little throwaway scene in Joe Bright and the Seven Genre Dudes where Joe is invited to a royal story-telling competition. For this image I needed to design the royal messenger and the king’s coach.
The story isn’t set in any particular time or place—it just calls for a fairytale look. That allows me a pretty wide latitude regarding costume and setting. The messenger I dressed in something 16th century—slashed sleeves and short cape—with a sash to make him look official. The coach is something I found in Peter Newark’s Crimson Book of Highwaymen—a book about desperadoes who robbed the wealthy travelers of merrie olde England.
Here’s the thumbnail—we’re looking at the left page.
The tight sketch—
Throughout this project I used color to give clues about each character. Everything having to do with the king got colored purple.