After three months of drawing and a round of revisions, I was ready to paint Turkey’s Sandtastic Beach Day by Wendi Silvano!
I ordered 20 sheets of Arches 140lb hot-press bright-white watercolor paper and cut it to the sizes I would need for 7 two-page-spreads and 26 single pages.
After talking things over with art-director Michael Jantze, I made some decisions about the color scheme. It would be a perfect, blue-sky day throughout the entirety of the book, I decided. I’ve never done this before, but for this book I mixed a books-worth of ‘perfect blue sky’ in advance. (Winsor Blue, Green Shade)
I wanted Turkey’s Sandtastic Beach Day to be extra light and sunny with lots of perfectly white highlights throughout. Masking fluid would help me achieve that effect.
I stocked-up on paint and pulled out my color swatches. Having color swatches helps immensely with watercolor. I always want the first color I apply to be what I want— exactly. It’s one of the things I love about watercolor. You make a decision, then live with it. No endless fussing.
I use a blotting paper to moderate the load of watercolor in my brush and to test the color before putting it down.
My most frequently used brands of watercolor paint are Holbein, Winsor & Newton, and Daniel Smith.
I usually order a few new paint brushes each time I begin a new book. I sort of have a system for organizing them.
My most frequently used brush is the Da Vinci Cosmotop Spin Quill size 0. (I made a decision when I first began my painting career that I was never going to waste a minute of my life using a paint brush smaller than size 0.) I also really like the Winsor & Newton Series 7 Kolinsky Sables and the Silver Black Velvet brushes.
Next I filled up my color-wheel ceramic palette with the watercolors I intended to use. With the exception of one convenience green, all the colors on my palette are single-pigment paints. With watercolor in particular, the fewer pigments you mix together, the fresher your colors will look.
I did a few frisket tests.
I gathered my photo-reference material.
I decorated my studio with seashells and taped paintings of seagulls to the ceiling.
I printed out the drawing for the copyright/dedication/title page at 10% larger than actual size, and lightly traced it onto the watercolor paper.
After tracing, I soaked the paper with water…
…and taped the soaked watercolor paper to a piece of Gator Board.
Then I dove into the painting. I listened to ocean sounds while I painted.
I think this painting took me 2 1/2 days to paint, around my average.
After the painting was done, I cut it off the Gator Board and scanned it so I could see how it would look with the text.
When all the paintings in the book were complete, I wrapped them in clear sleeves and drove them to Two Lions for a proper scanning.
The designer at Two Lions, Tanya Ross-Hughes, then did her thing.
Basically, what she does is take a pile of paintings and turn them into a beautiful book. I love all the details she adds to the jacket, spine, and flaps.
After the paintings are in the hands of my publisher, there’s nothing left for me to do but to go out into the world and meet my readers at book-signings, school visits, conferences, and such. My favorite event to occur around the release date of Turkey’s Sandtastic Beach Day was Frostburg State University’s ‘Pirates Ahoy’, an amazing event that brings the entire town together to inspire children’s literacy.
When I illustrate a picture book, I always have my audience in mind. All the interaction with my audience I get to experience after my books are released into the world is one of the major reasons I love expressing my artistry in the medium of picture books.
