Background
A little about the book... I began this project because I've been working on teaching Stephen how to obey... right away, all the way and with a cheerful heart, as the Christian parenting mantra goes. I realized there was a lot to obeying with the right attitude... and as these thoughts simmered in my mind, out popped a picture book that I hoped would be humorous and enlightening for my favorite little book lover. The words and ideas for the pictures pretty much came over the course of a week. Actually producing the images has been a much slower process... For more on this, read my previous post.
God’s
word says I need to obey my mom and my dad. But how should I obey?
Should
I be messy and careless when I obey?
No!
I should always be neat and do my best.
Should I be grumpy and pout when I obey?
No!
I should have a cheerful heart and say “Ok!!”
Should
I obey later?
No!
I should be quick to obey right away.
Should
I cry or complain when I obey?
No!
I should always be willing to do what mommy and daddy say.
Should
I get angry when asked to obey?
(Speech bubble says: Share with your brother, please!)
(Speech bubble says: Share with your brother, please!)
No!
I should be peaceful and pleasant.
I've been struggling with keeping the little boy's look consistent. He started off with a really round, fat head. Later, he started to look a little more realistic. Many of the images above are substantially altered versions of their former selves. Are there some images you like better than others? What about them do you prefer? Do you feel the inconsistency of the main character's look is distracting? Or am I making too big a deal of it?
I love Critiquing! I would say #3 and #4 are the best developed. I'm trying to think of a book on hand with the style of children's illustrations I like the most-- VERY typically children's books have really bad artistry. Artists usually try to make 2D drawings from 3D ideas, but end up with bad looking 2D drawings. (there's obviously a difference between completely flat 2D and dimensional looking 2D).
ReplyDeleteI believe repeatability is very important with any design and drawing work. The end result of repeatability is the ability to develop a body of work. Repeatability can require simplicity- which is good. Repeatability will help with character development as well.
As far as file types- TIFF and JPEG, or PDF, or vector. Drawings as large as possible. Some people will say otherwise but if someone brings me a 2 inch x 2 inch GIF there's nothing I can do with it.
I once knew a guy who made like 5x5 inch drawings and saved them as 72 dpi JPGS. Great artist, but his works could never be enlarged at all.
Thanks, Brenden! So, you like the grumpy breakfast dreamer and the happy strawberry eater? What about them is good?
DeleteRegarding 2D and 3D... Do you feel I should stick to poses that are a little less challenging?
Regarding repeatability... So, my little dude's inconsistent look is distracting, right? That's my feeling too.
Should I convert the PNGs to JEPGs or is it too late? Or start over? Perhaps for my purposes, to make a book for the boys, I can just use a POD service and make one book to see how it comes out? The files are 8.5 X 8.5 inches, which was the size I wanted to print at.
Oops. I counted wrong. You like the neat obeyer and grumpy breakfast dreamer.
DeleteHey,before I read how you did these, I thought... She needs to use layers. If you can't get adobe, consider just using paper and pen but high quality paper and ink because they will print better. When artists go from art to print I think you do have to consult someone on the process to be used because the cost goes up with each color.... Unless it's printed on a desktop printer.. Then it doesn't really matter. You probably know thiS. Also try to come up with a color scheme of maybe 10 Colors that look good together and don't stray from it. So if u need green the green will be from the color story you preselected. If you decide to do layers, it will help to at least have the black be pitch black and laying on top of the colors.
ReplyDeleteI dont think that you have to have vectors. But it will achieve a certain look that might work well. I love books where you can see the grain of the brush or pencil. That's why I think maybe just going back to analog might be good for you since you don't have adobe. Plus people try so hard to get the hand drawn look when they use adobe.
Yes. I would really have loved layers.
DeleteI can undo about 50 times, so it's doable.
It is a lot easier to draw the old fashioned way... but I was thinking about self-publishing first. As far as I know, those sites-- like Create Space and Lulu-- require PDFs to be uploaded.
Good tip about the colors. I don't know why I went crazy on backgrounds. The last two are kind of yucky colors! If I had layers, I'd quickly revert back to the original two purples from pages 3 & 4, but alas...
Re: pitch black. Do you mean I shouldn't use the crayon textured brush to do outlining?
So, if I did draw by hand, could I try scanning them? I have a feeling my home scanner is pretty worthless.
Thank you so much for replying so quickly! I was hoping you would :)
They are cute. First one reminds me of The Little Prince.
ReplyDeleteThank you. Funny thing is I'm trying to help Stephen realize he's not one :)
DeleteHey sorry I didn't know how to get updates without creating an account. Anyways. I think the black could be crisper lines and a little less shaky.... Or more shaky and faint... It doesn't totally look intentional. And really black black. Looks kind of brown black... But maybe it's the crayon effect. Maybe you could try to figure out the finished size and draw it at 400% of that. Then scan it at kinkos and it would probably be high enough resolution for a book. you want 600-1200 dpi. maybe 100% is ok.
ReplyDeleteHi, I've posted a new post with a redone image for page one. Tried to make the outline more deliberate. It's probably still shaky...cuz I'm shaky :)
DeleteThe book will be designed in InDesign (in other words, I'll put the text on the page with InDesign), then export to PDF and upload the entire book to CreateSpace or Lulu. Haven't decided which POD service to use. I'm not actually going to query publishers or send anyone sketches. Will 300 dpi work? Or is that only for photographs and not illustrations? I've redone it so many times, I guess I could redo it again.
Oh...your suggestion to draw by hand was compelling. I decided against using paper and ink only because the kids are always getting into my stuff. (Hence the need for an "Obey" book in my household.) There'd be ink all over the walls and torn paper on the floor.
Delete