THE MAKING OF A PICTURE BOOK

I thought some of you might be interested in how I create a picture book. It is a long process and keeps me busy and out of trouble.  I am currently working on a book titled Grandma's Critters which will be ready to publish before the end of September I hope.  Here is why I say I hope. This is what I do for each page and there will be between 33 and 35 pages:

1. I have been working on this book for a very long time. It began years ago with the idea for the story which I wrote down.

2. The text has gone through innumerable versions until I finally got the words correct and a decided on a good ending.

3. I then drew out a rough sketch for each page of illustration and wrote in the text in pencil.


  

 



4. I then had to use a piece of tracing paper and trace the image onto it.




5. Then I turned the trace paper over and rubbed the backside with soft lead pencil.



6. I flipped the traced drawing over and placed it on to of a taped down sheet of watercolor paper and taped it into place so it wouldn't move.

7. I then went over the traced drawing with a pencil and thus transferred the image faintly onto the watercolor paper.

8. I then drew over the traced image on the water paper with waterproof ink.

9. Next I water-colored the page.



10. I then put the image onto my scanner and scanned it.

11. I pulled up the image in my graphics program and digitally enhanced it by cleaning up lines, watercolor over runs, re-drawing some images and making it look much more professional. This is often a pixel by pixel examination and takes a great deal of time for each page.

12. I then saved the image, pulled it up in Photoshop and darkened the colors.




 

13.  Then I copied and pasted the image into Power point where I am able to manipulate the size, add text and finish the process for each page. 



I have to go through this process for every page and it takes two or three days of work to complete the illustration and add the text.  Sometimes other life events prevent working on the project so it can take even more time to finish one page.

I am currently working on the illustration for the letter P to S so I still have a way to go before I finish the project and publish it online.  

As Winston Churchill said when the Battle of Britain was successfully completed in the skies over England during World War II, "This is certainly not the beginning of the end, but it is the end of the beginning."