There’s a scene in The Famous Nini when the king declares National Nini Day and everyone celebrates.
Kerry Martin, the senior design editor, wasn’t happy with the scene as I’d depicted it in the thumbnail sketch with crowds on a bridge over a canal (p 17). I worked up 3 rough alternative sketches—where we see Nonna & Nini through the crowd, where the crowd is seen from inside the caffè, where Nonna & Nini are out among the crowd—and then did a tight version of the winner.
The improbably mustachioed King Umberto and Queen Margherita come to visit Nini in his caffè—
(By the way—yes, this is the Queen Margherita for whom the pizza is named.)
Of all the images for a picture book, the jacket art gets the biggest going-over. I sent 4 rough thumbnail ideas to Kerry Martin, the senior design editor (in the olden days there was an art director and an editor; Kerry’s title reflects the melding of those 2 positions over the years). Number 2 was chosen—the silhouette of the gondola makes a nice graphic shape—and I worked up a tight sketch. You can see the painting in progress. I liked the idea of a nighttime scene, with Venice reflected in the canal. Next, the comprehensive layout—or ‘comp’—with the sketch and the type combined. Originally I was to hand-letter the title type, but the treatment Kerry came up with looks so good we all agreed not to mess with it. Finally, the finished illustration.
Giuseppe Verdi makes his entrance in The Famous Nini.
More research for Nonna’s costume can be found here.
I’m working on paintings (finishing them up, actually) for a story about a cat who lives in Venice circa 1890. Since the publisher refused to send me to la Serenissima to gather visual research (hey, you can’t blame a boy for asking!), I was forced to make do with the beautiful paintings of John Singer Sargent, who lived in Venice at the same time our cat did.
To help me get a feel for the color scheme, or palette, I did small color studies of some of Sargent’s Venetian paintings. Here’s his painting of the Rialto:
…and my study of it.
I recommend this kind of exercise. I learned so much about color from Sargent by mimicking his paintings. Here are more:
A piu tardi—
Later—
Today I’m working on a night-tme scene: a lady holding a cat in 1890s Venice. Here are the thumbnail sketch and the comprehensive sketch.
Thumbnail sketch for pp 30/31. The opera box scene was dropped.
Comp sketch for page 30.
I’ll start by blocking in the dark areas in Burnt Sienna.
