I Am Now An Illustrator!?

It has been about a year, but this whole experience is just now sinking in….

I had not REALLY thought about it very much before today. I was too busy brainstorming, working, planning, and researching to think about the fact that I was actually illustrating a book. A real book that will be sold in stores, shelved in libraries, and (most importantly!) read by little children! I am now an illustrator! Eeeekkkk!

 

Liona Cover

This was a brand new experience for me. I had a lot to learn about the process, and I thought I’d share with you some of the things I had to do.

The first thing I did was read the script and develop some ideas for what the characters might look like.

Liona
This was the first idea for Liona, but she did not end up looking like this in the book 🙂
This was another sketch that I did while developing the characters.
This was another sketch that I did while developing the characters.

Next, I had to design the storyboard. A storyboard is just a sheet of paper that has small (very rough) sketches of every opening (or spread) of the book. I had to read the script and imagine what I thought the characters, background, and actions might look like.

Storyboard
This is a snippet of the storyboard.

After the storyboard was tweaked and approved by the publisher, I sketched a small drawing for the cover of the book. Once it was approved, I painted the full sized illustration (seen above in the first photo).

Cover Sketch
This is the small sketch of the cover.
Cover Sketching
This is the full sized cover being sketched out on the table with several of my character developing sketches on the easel.

 

After the cover was completed, I began working on the inside of the book. I had a total of 32 illustrated pages when I was done.

Here's the beginning of one of the spreads.
This photo is the beginning of one of the spreads.

 

Here's the stack of illustrations when I was done.
Here’s the stack of all the illustrations when I was done.

The last step in the process was to scan and number all of the paintings to be sent to the publisher via the internet. 🙂

So now that it is done, the reality of what I have just emailed to a publisher has started sinking in. I think I was blocking the reality because it is a little intimidating, to be totally honest. I mean the pressure would have been too much if I had really sat and thought about it before I began. Now that I am finished with all of the paintings, I am very excited, a little nervous, and humbly thankful for this opportunity. It was a lot of hard work, but I really enjoyed it!

Liona’s Tattered Tutu will be coming out this summer, and I couldn’t be more excited!  Liona Cover

14 Responses

  1. Trudy
    |

    Yea! Bravo! Can’t wait to see what God has in store for you next!

    • amanda
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      Thank you!!

  2. Shannon
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    Very cool! Thanks for walking us through the process. Very interesting.

    • amanda
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      I am happy that you found it interesting. Thank you!

  3. Cecelia
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    Amazing! Good for you!

    • amanda
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      Thank you!

  4. Tami
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    I remember you talking about this last fall, and was wondering about it. I’m so proud of you and your accomplishment. Thanks for sharing! Hope to see y’all soon.

    • amanda
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      Thank you so much! 🙂

  5. Donna
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    Lovely! So proud for you and of you! I hope this is just the beginning. Nana

    • amanda
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      Thank you, Nana 🙂

  6. Georgeann Enos
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    What a blessing God has in store for you! I am a retired reading teacher and LOVE children books!!! I cannot wait to buy yours!

    • amanda
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      Thank you so much!

  7. Christine
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    Love it! So sweet and innocent!

    • amanda
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      Thank you, Christine 🙂