A book in the making

At the moment I’m working on a lovely picture book for an Australian publisher and it’s an absolute pleasure.  Unfortunately there are no all-expenses-paid trips Down Under to do the research but it’s such an enjoyable mental excursion anyway to be playing around on paper with a baby kangaroo, echidna, platypus and more.  (It’s usually bears and rabbits.)  I'm throwing in a few gum trees too, of course.

My favourite part of developing illustrations is when I’m working in pencil.  I adore pencil and often wish I could submit the drawings as finished pieces instead of having to re-work them in paint.  I find the painting part is always a bit heart-in-mouth and trying to replicate exactly, and permanently, what I'd previously drawn in lovely, smudgeable, eraseable lead, is never quite as carefree.  To my mind, they're never as fresh.  But people are only ever going to see the colour pieces in a published book and all of these preliminary works, which accumulate into mountains of paper all over my desk, will never get shown in their own right.  I thought I’d just give some pencil character sketches a little airing here. 

I’m also 'rehearsing' this week for another talk about this whole illustration process which I've been booked to do next Wednesday.  Aarghhh!  It’s over a year since I gave the last one – my first – so all that confidence and excitement I eventually built up from doing it has evaporated again.  I’m trying not to get too stressed, though, and at least I know I can manage it now.  Even though it means presenting it this time with what appears to be a cracked rib!

Have a good weekend.

Images copyright C / Sun Dried Sparrows