Below
is a brief explanation of the art of picture book design. It doesn't
deal with the writing of the book, but rather the process of
illustration once the author's manuscript is in hand. And it is my
own approach – other illustrators' may be quite different – although the process of character sketches, thumbnails and
pencil roughs is fairly common. Computer-generated art, of course is
changing some if not all of that.
It
may be of interest to readers that in many (if not most!) cases the author
and illustrator work in isolation, with the illustrator's job
beginning where the author's has left off. In most cases the
collaboration does not happen on the personal level, but rather it is
the collaboration of two artistic talents, with one (the illustrator)
playing off and responding to the author's words.
It
is therefore generally the illustrator's job to determine what words
go on what page and decide upon the appropriate illustrations that
will convey the story. Also the illustrator is the one who creates
the visual universe within which the story takes place and decides what those characters who populate the story will look like. In
other words, all of the visual part of the story-telling!
Book
Length
This
is generally established before I begin my work. Most commonly a
picture book will be 32 pages in length – less commonly 40 or 24.
Regardless the number of pages is always in multiples of eight
because books are published in eight page “signatures” (see image below).
In
fact it is helpful as an illustrator to have some understanding of
the process of book printing, as their art will have to be adapted to
this. Here is a double page spread that I did in my book
Transformed: How Everyday Things are Made which deals with the
basics, including the nature of “signatures”.
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| This is a spread from my book Transformed: How Everday Things are Made. Double click on the image to se it larger. |
Determining
Page Breaks
On
receiving the manuscript, my first task is to determine page breaks.
I generally do this by reading through the manuscript and making
ticks in the margin where I believe an image can effectively portray
that particular block of type. Sometimes that image may be a double
page spread (artwork that spans two pages) or one or a series of smaller, spot illustrations.
When
I have done that, I count up my breaks and see how many pages I have
divided the text into, and then go over it again with an eye to
eliminating or adding breaks until it divides up into the required
number of pages. Remember that there are pages known as preliminaries
(title page, copyright and ISBN page, etc.) that are also included in
this total, so the actual number of pages of art will likely be less.
At
times I will receive a manuscript with page breaks indicated (and
even art suggestions). These I generally eliminate before starting
this process as I don't want to be influenced ahead of time with
other people's ideas. I strongly believe that the division of the
story should be the illustrator's prerogative. A good writer will
have written with those visual breaks in mind and a good illustrator
should easily be able to identify them by viewing the raw text. The only exception to this is if the author has imparted
VERY important information that needs to be conveyed visually but
isn't included in the text.
Character
Sketches
Whenever
I begin a story, I always spend a little time doing some character
sketches for the main characters. As I work fairly impetuously, often
those characters come out whole cloth. Others I work through a bit
more until I've got what I want.
This
is a very important process and you should spend as much time as it
takes at the beginning to make sure that you are comfortable with
your characters. Be sure to know them in a number of different guises
- surprised, angry, sad. Even in attitudes that aren't necessarily
going to be used in the story, as this will help you to more fully
inhabit the character and make it three dimensional (character-wise)
when it comes to working on pages.
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| Here was my first attempt at Stanley when I was working on the first Stanley book, Stanley's Party, written by Linda Bailey. The publishers thought he looked a bit like - well - a pig. |
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| So I took another shot at Stanley and came up with this. |
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| And then explored him in a few other poses as well - for instance, could I make this dog dance? |
Thumbnails
For
me the thumbnail process is the most creative part of the process. In
a few quick drawings executed over a day or two I capture the essence
of the story that will be found in the finished book. In these small little sketches (also known as storyboarding) I portray text
placement, point of view, lights, darks, etc. If the action on this
particular spread is going to be conveyed in spot illustrations or
double page artwork that spans from side to side - all of that will
be determined at this stage.
I
find the thumbnail process invaluable in character development, too.
At this stage, unburdened yet with the encumbrances of detail, one
can often capture with a few quick lines a facial or body expression
that can serve as a valuable reference when you come to final
pencils. Don't labour over character at this point, but equally,
don't move on to the next page until the current one has captured the
essence of expression that you desire.
I
will often submit my thumbnails to my editor to look over, urging
them not to be too critical of the details as they are undeveloped at
this time, but rather as to whether the feel and flow and breakdown
of the text is working for them.
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| These are thumbnails for the first six spreads of Stanley at Sea. |
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| And this is the sixth spread, seen approximately its actual size. Compare it with the pencil rough below. |
Roughs
Having
created thumbnails and roughs I then move on to the double page spreads
drawn at full size as finished pencil roughs. I work with my
thumbnails beside me because the essence of what I want to convey is
usually found there – things like composition, point of view,
character action, lights and darks, text placement etc. These pencil
drawings will be fairly tight as I will work directly from them when
I execute final art.
These
drawings are always submitted to the publisher (and sometimes, but
not always, to the author) for comment and feedback, before
proceeding to final art.
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| This is the same spread, executed as a pencil rough. Note how in essence it resembles the thumbnail above. I have also attached text here to see how that placement will work in conjunction with the art. With picture book illustration it is always important to consider the text within the context of the page and how it works as a separate but important graphic element. |
Final
Art
Although
the preliminary stages of book design are relatively similar for most
illustrators, the creation of final art is as individual as the
artists themselves. I have done final art in ink, ink and
watercolour, pencil crayon, watercolour alone, graphite and acrylics,
but most of my picture book illustration is executed in acrylics.
Below is my own process that I follow.
Transferring
Rough Art to Final
Final
art is created on gessoed paper, usually a four ply bristol. I spread
the gesso (a thick acrylic medium used in the preparation for acrylic
painting) over the entire paper, texturing it heavily with a big
brush. I utilize this texture extensively in creating my final art.
I use
an ancient overhead projection device (an Artograph) to project my
pencil drawing onto the gessoed paper, and employ India ink with a brush to create a
heavy line that will be used to do my final painting. Because my line
work tends to inform my art to a great extent, much of that line will still show in the final.
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| Artwork transferred as line on to gessoed paper. |
I
generally work form dark to light, beginning by covering my entire
paper in a dark wash, usually of burnt umber and dioxozine purple. My
line still shows through this wash. Then I block in the
underpainting.
Working
up Details
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| Background painting with water and sky blocked in with base colour. |
The
next part of the process involves overpainting with lighter colours and dry brush and working up the details.
Final Touches
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| Trees, water and part of sky worked up, although I have yet to bring in any washes, which I usually do later. I try to do the background first and the foreground and characters towards the end. |
I
use a combination of dry brush techniques and washes, utilizing the
gessoed texture, to give my paintings their unique final appearance.
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| The final art as it appears in the book, with text in place. |