How you made it...
Each month Illoguild answer a question together, sharing our knowledge with one another and for everyone else who might be curious how we keep the flame alight.
To answer the question from Illoguild this month, I chose my submission to SCBWI, which made it onto the wall at the annual conference held in Manchester.
I wanted to create a page which was worthy of appearing in my draft picture book, about an active forest boy and a shy mermaid girl. As usual, I had about 4 sketchbooks on the go - always searching for the right paper for my materials. So this is a collection of all the steps which went into the final.
First came sketches of my very own active 9yr old at the park, followed by imaginative drawings of woodland hideouts. The colour palette was an organic process, which started with an altered page, on which I had been testing some new watercolour markers. The next layer was made with my trusty Berol Karisma pencils, now discontinued (sad times). The legs on my character got a bit long and so I made a small pair of new legs which could be digitally included at a later stage.
Keeping the face consistent was a real challenge. It needs more work.
Here is the final piece. It is my first full page spread and there is plenty of room for improvement, not least in how I planned and executed the work from start to finish.
Despite making it through the submission stage and onto the Illustrators wall, the piece of work which actually piqued the curiosity of my Author/Illustrator reviewer was this watercolour illustration.
This concept has been rumbling away in the background for a number of months. It started life as a maquette, or paper model, of a house with several floors and many rooms. (you can see the Instagram reel here:)
Within each room an activity is happening and I wanted to show the reaction of the particular character to how the daily transitions unfold.
It seems that paper engineering is a rare investment on a debut artist but there might be options to redesign as a picture book with a large flap, or to include a score/bend on each page turn.
This is my newest activity (for full transparency there is a new idea every week/day/hour).
I’m starting to feel more confident in the use of my paper and traditional materials to include a narrative. But there is always the temptation to dive straight in and throw paint around without much of a strategy.
So for this project, I’m trying something new - an actual plan.
For 4 days of the week, this is my bread and butter as a project manager: making plans and keeping resources on task. It’s a bit more difficult when the only resource is you!
So far I am on track and, even though I jumped ahead today and sketched some character ideas, the plan reminded me that the story comes first, not the palette. A reviewer told me that at SCBWI last year and it whispers to me, each time I start a new idea.
It would be fantastic to act quickly on the advice I have been given and ideally take my finished work to Bologna Childrens Book Fair in April. But 8 spreads in 3 months is quite a tall ask..let’s see if I can manage a cover and 3 pages by the end of the year.
Check in with me next month to see if I stuck to task and let me know - do you plan out your illustrations either in a notebook, diary or electronic planner?
Until next time….
Keep embracing your creativity
Tabs x
ps Did you know that Illoguild also host a public Zoom session that is free to attend live? Ask me about it, or watch for announcements at www.instagram.com/illoguild/