Being so small and quick made it easy to turn over many versions, each successive one building on the last.
storyboard
Where to start?
Nelly called me up one day and said ”I’ve written a book and I want you to illustrate it”. Maybe not such a surprise in one way as I have been doing design jobs for her for many years. But really a BIG SURPRISE because I didn’t know she wrote books for kids!
THE STORYBOARD (oh so important)
Where did I start? For my last book I didn’t use the usual process and missing some of those early steps really got me into trouble. So this time I started at the start with the storyboards, made up of lots and LOTS of little thumbnail drawings (they really are very little). I can work very fast this way, which is good for grabbing the essence of the idea. No fussing about proportions, or anatomy, or colour, or style, just capturing that moment that responds to the text. It might be the right gesture, the right movement, the right expression. Quick and spontaneous.