The World of Illustration

Zebediah

Author Patrick Simon

Book Illustration by Sharron Looney

Patrick, my dear friend that I have picked at and joked with online for many years now. He wrote a book recently, and asked if  I would do his book cover. At first my reactions was "holy cow I'm not good enough " but what came out of my font was, “Sure I would love to give it a try”.  After reading his book , his subject is so well described that I had a very good idea of what the main character would look like, and the discussions began of what Patrick saw in his mind for the book cover. He wanted it in a line drawing. Simple and eye catching, black on white. Patrick wanted his character walking toward a bridge, with hills and corn fields in the background, and a homemade bag thrown over his shoulder.  

I will admit here I did a search online about doing Illustrations and got so confused I was very much doubting my own abilities to meet this challenge. Plus I did a search on the time period to make sure I had the right image in my mind. For me doing research seems to be a major stage of any project I undertake.

So when in doubt I started doodling of the sketch he envisioned for his cover. For years I have used doodling as a way to pass time. I have never been one to sit, and hold my hands.  A day spent in a doctors office is the worse. So I carry around a sketch pad around in my purse. If I had a nickel for every monster mouth that I have made for a child waiting for an adult to get a move on, I would be rolling in money today.

First I did the drawing in pencil on printing paper. I would suggest making your first few examples more stick like until you get the layout down, before you go into a lot of detail on the drawing.  I then copy it to the computer and email it to Patrick, then he would respond with helpful hints such as : moving him a little farther from the bridge , or enlarging the hat, little things that helps a drawing give a glimpse of the  story or the main character.  I have to say, I tore up more than he ever saw.

When I had the picture he envisioned down. I then bought a mixed Media booklet and redid the picture in ink pen.

For those of you who have never tried to do a ink drawing there is one major drawback, you can't erase!  If you mess up you have to start over again from the start.  A little trick I used was to make a light pencil markings to the new page to keep the portions straight, and then used the ruler to  makes sure my drawings were the same size when it was finished.

I wish I had saved some of the pencils drawings I did so you could see the process of working over the net with another person and getting a drawing that is in someone elses mind down on paper. I loved it! The learning experience was well worth the effort.