Another Day, Another Edit

Another Day, Another Edit…

It’s been a longer than expected road to get my fourth children’s book finished.  While working on my previous book, Alice Dear, Would You Please!, I also had a few hurdles to jump through while creating it, but that reason was because it was a bit of an experiment in using text in creative ways.  My new book, Helping Hands, has taken a bit longer because along the way I decided to change the style of the art.  This was a gamble as it pushed back my publishing schedule.  I had wanted Helping Hands to be completed last month and then have another book (hopefully) finished by the end of December.  

So why throw a monkey wrench into the works on purpose?

The previous art style that I was using on Helping Hands was closer to what I used on Gretta Knows, my first book.  Those of you that know me, know that my 9-5 job is storyboarding.  Greta Knows is closer to that style.  It’s a looser, animated, fun style that really worked well with my first book.

If that was a successful style that I’m used to drawing with, why change it.  I know!  Right?

I was working on my final rough pages and it really started to dawn on me that this wasn’t the right look for this book.  It’s not really an animated/energetic book.  It’s not meant to be.  Helping Hands talks about people that you meet each day that help others.  It’s not an action book or a ha-ha type of book.  But I think it’s an important book.  And that’s what clicked the light bulb on above my head.  I needed to make the artwork more realistic.  I took a big leap and started over.  From the beginning.  Another day, another edit I told myself.

Luckily, as a freelance artist, I’ve had quite a few jobs where the client has changed their mind and I needed to start over.  Well, I guess I shouldn’t make that sound pleasant.  lol  But I get paid for my time so it’s alright (another day, another edit).

Anyway, I decided that I needed to change to a different style.  When I work on higher-end advertising jobs, I use a more realistic style.  So, I switched over to that look.  I collected a LOT of reference and did a lot of preliminary artwork.  This was all before I started on the rough pages.  But eventually, it started to fall into place.  Slowly but surely, it’s getting done.

helping handsHere you can see the cover (still being fiddled with) for my new book.  There was a lot of editing with the cover as well.  But it’s getting there.

I’ll keep you updated as I plug along on Helping Hands.  More to come.  Stay tuned!