First the story is created. This story I’m working on was created as a classroom exercise by a woman I didn’t even know, at last year’s Cape Cod Writers Center Conference. When it was her turn to read her story, I picked up my pen and quickly sketched my version of her characters. At the end of class I turned around and showed them to her. A collaboration was born. Since then the story has been rewritten many times over the past year and now it is in the final editing stages and I can begin my work as the illustrator.
First a medium and color palette are chosen:
Pretty nice for a sea story and the chalk pastels lend themselves to blending ocean water beautifully.
Next, the story board is created. 32 pages, with the actual story beginning on page five and ending on 32.
Now the paging can begin. The story is cut apart into moveable sentences.
Finally the storyboard is built. The paging is done and notes for each illustration are written on each page. You need to see the story as a whole so you can see how the book flows and whether or not two page spreads are appropriately placed.
The next step will be to fill the storyboard with small pencil sketches for each page. Once that is done, the map for a long winter is laid out as each sketch turns into an actual piece of artwork.
And so, as another day goes by, it’s good to review where one has been, map out where one is headed, and appreciate where one is right now. It’s going to be good winter and…I have written.
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