Project Overview
For this project, I completed a full 40-page color rough book dummy. I wrote the story myself and then illustrated it. I have the final art for a spot illustration, a spread, and the cover.
Book Summary
On her annual family trip to the mountains, a girl finds a puppy in the forest. A cloud puppy! She must return the puppy to the sky and find the meaning of “if you love something, set it free.”
Bird's-Eye View Thumbnails
I started with the thumbnail process at a bird’s-eye view as I developed the story and then to keep track of my progress on the dummy, I placed the images in the layout. This also helped with balancing the book's visuals.
Developing the Style
Going from the color roughs in the dummy to the final art I wanted to make sure it was the best it could be. I experimented with different styles from flat vector to textured. The final, most effective version has clean shapes with the textured brush used inside for shading. It gives an almost cut paper feel to the book.
Final Spot Illustration
A Pivotal Spread
This is the first spread I did for the book dummy so bringing it to the final version felt extra rewarding. I added the squirrel to foreshadow the events of the next page and made the background more lush because it is set in a forest.
Final Spread
Book Cover Process
One of the most important aspects of a book is its cover. It needs to be eye-catching and represent the book as a whole. I worked with multiple layouts before settling on the final design.
Color Rough
Final Cover
Takeaways
I’ve always wanted to write and illustrate a children’s book and it was so exciting to be able to do it. It was a lot of work to complete over four months but I am so proud of this project and look forward to more in the future.
