Research and Planning:

Illustrating a children’s book involves careful planning and creativity. After receiving the manuscript, I dove into visual development, crafting characters through exploration of design, color, expression, and clothing. One of the most challenging yet rewarding parts of this process was achieving consistency in my character drawings. With practice, drawing each character became almost instinctive.

Next, I moved into the thumbnail stage, sketching quick concepts in small boxes to establish each page's layout. These thumbnails allowed me to adjust ideas and compositions before committing to larger, more detailed sketches.

Design & Execution:

All sketches and final illustrations were created in the Procreate app on an iPad, which allowed me to draw directly on the screen and utilize custom brushes to achieve a hand-drawn, mid-century-inspired aesthetic. Once the full-scale sketches were complete, Maddi and I reviewed them before progressing to the final rendering phase. During this phase, each colored illustration truly came to life, capturing the story's essence.

Finally, I imported the completed illustrations into Adobe InDesign, placing the manuscript text within the artwork to bring the finished book layout together. Self-published and funded by Maddi, the book was printed by PrintNinja.com, ensuring high-quality results for young readers and collectors alike.