Turkey’s Birthday Bash, my eighth collaboration with author Wendi Silvano, will be set free on September 10th, 2024. This post is about how I created the illustrations.
The first thing I do after receiving an offer to illustrate a book is work out a schedule. My sweet spot has always been about 3 months to complete the drawings and six months to complete the paintings.
Next I spread all my tubes of paint out on my taboret and paint a color chart with the main palette I intend to use. Each book I illustrate has a slightly different color-scheme depending on the season and setting.
I order all the paper I’ll need.
Then, after paginating the manuscript, I create a Photoshop file for each two-page-spread and drop in the text.
And then my favorite part of the process begins: the sketching! I typically fill up two or three sketchbooks.
One of the first sketches is a map based on the flow of the action.
All throughout the drawing process I gather photo-reference material to help add authenticity to the imaginary word. Recently, when building new animal dwellings I find myself thinking about how it might look in a Turkey Trouble illustration…
…take this chicken coop, for example.
Every component of each illustration is a separate drawing. I begin with the most essential ingredient: the characters.
I scan each sketch, cut it out, and paste it into the Photoshop file. Each sketch is a separate layer. I often make improvements to the sketches after I scan them.
I also store the scanned and edited drawings in separate files for future reference. This is The Max File for Turkey’s Birthday Bash.
I then sketch all the components of the setting.
Every little detail must be carefully thought through or kids will bust you. This is one of the tables at the party.
Here’s the oak tree behind the house. The branch supporting the tire swing broke on a previous page, so I had to modify this drawing a little bit.
A section of an out-building.
After I’m finished building all the pages in this manner, I put all the pages in one PDF dummy and submit it to my publisher.
After a week or two I get the dummy back with little yellow Post-it-style notes from the editor and art director scattered throughout. I’ll then spend a week or two revising, then re-submit the dummy.
Once my revised dummy is approved, I lightly trace each drawing onto a piece of Arches 140 lb. hot press watercolor paper.
I soak the paper, then stretch it on a piece of Gatorboard.
Then I pull out my paint and brushes and go into hibernation for five or six months.
Seasons come and go. People die and are born. Then one day I emerge from my seclusion with a neatly wrapped stack of final illustrations.
Here’s how that ‘parade scene’ looked when I was done.
Then the designer gets to work transforming the stack of paintings into a book!
The next time I see my art will be when I receive the artist’s proofs. This is where I check color and stuff. After artist’s proofs, the next thing I’ll see is the advance reader copy — a paperback version of the book used for promotional purposes.
Then, one day when I’m least expecting it, a box of my new book appears on my doorstep!