Behind the Books

“I am always doing what I cannot do yet, in order to learn how to do it.” — Vincent van Gogh Starting a new series always feels a bit like starting over in a way that's a bit different than starting a new book in a series that already has characters or styles that are working.  Even when I’m using the same tools and the same general process, shifting into darker scenes changed how everything behaves on the page. I’m self-taught and while I can sketch on paper, that all needs to be layered into Krita, so a lot of this comes down to testing things, using tons of tutorials and reference images and, at the end of the day seeing what actually works on the page. When it comes to this scene you can see clearly, l ight becomes the focus at least that's what I see. What I've learned about creating a picture book Why Colouring Takes So Long When Everything Starts to Blend In brighter scenes, there’s a lot doing the work for you c olour, texture, and contrast help separate objects nat...

“When the artist removes the text, they invite readers to decode the pictures for themselves.” — David Wiesner The term “picture book” gets used often, but it has a more specific meaning in children’s publishing than people sometimes expect.  At its core, a picture book tells a story through both images and text. The illustrations are not simply there to decorate the page, they carry part of the story themselves, adding information, emotion, and context that the words alone do not always explain. Shared Reading Time Picture books are also designed to be read aloud. The pacing, sentence structure, and overall flow are shaped by how the story sounds when spoken. This shared reading experience is a big part of what makes picture books feel engaging for both the child and the adult reading with them. These are often the books that are read during circle time at school or at the libraries. Length of Picture Books They are typically short and focused, often meant to be read in one sittin...

  Thank you for being a friend. — Andrew Gold, 1978 (made famous by The Golden Girls ) What I had to start I’m so glad she did. This little sleeping pup appears on multiple pages in my book and I almost uploaded the final files with the original version. I thought he looked fine. Cute, even. But then Natasha, a talented artist and my friend, gently pointed out that the dog looked a bit plastic . Her gorgeous pen & ink image is on my parent page of my book and you can read about that and see for yourself on my other thank you post to her,  here . At first, I winced. Then I looked closer. She was right. I had drawn and coloured her with care but without much experience in digital tools like Krita, I had missed the subtleties that make illustrations feel soft, textured, and alive. I’ve never studied art formally, and Krita has a steep learning curve when you’re diving in with a full children’s book to finish. So I’m learning on the job constantly. Thanks to her feedba...

  Art is never finished, only abandoned.” – Leonardo da Vinci Today I coloured a dog. That’s it. That’s the post. Okay, not quite but that’s how it felt. This little rottie took more layers than I expected: outline, fill, collar, tongue, then soft brown markings that I repainted… more than once. Then, right when I thought it was great my son mentioned that the head was too large! I'm still learning how to use Krita. Still figuring out which brushes feel right, how to colour in a way that looks soft without smudging everything into one big blur, and it is starting to feel more comfortable to use the different features in the program. Here’s how the layers stacked up and how I've been approaching each layer in the images for my book: Starting with a simple sketch Next is the final outline Onto the colouring starting with black fill (which is really a very, very dark blue) Next came the red collar Onto the tongue which the colours hopefully work once I get a proof copy. Brown high...