Thursday, February 28, 2013

"THE GIFT" - Children's Book Process Pt 1


Some of you might already be familiar with my first picture book, SMALL DOGS, which I am querying and is currently being reviewed by an agent. Since finishing the artwork for that book a few months ago, I began working on my next picture book - THE GIFT.

THE GIFT is a different kind of story altogether. Whereas my first book is about dogs and the idea that you should never let a physical quality limit your potential, this book is a more poetic story about the relationship between a mother and her son, and how that relationship affects each of their lives.
I'd like to share a bit of my process with this project and see how that differs from my first experience, where I didn't share anything from my book until I was finished with it.

One note about this post: these steps are a general outline. I don't always do everything in this exact order as the creative process is never linear, but it certainly helps when organizing a big project such as a picture book. 

STEP 1 - STORY

It always begins with story. STORY STORY STORY! I remember when this story about a boy and his mother came to me. I was sitting listening to music, and all of a sudden, the story began manifesting itself in my mind. This was years ago! I kept that little seed in my mind until I finally had time to flesh it out, and once I did, I spent several months working on it and letting it simmer. Finally I had a working "draft," something that I could tackle and reshape where necessary.


Here you see how I generally flesh out one of my projects. After writing some drafts in MS Word, I draw very loosely on sheets of paper and I arrange them on a wall (or in this case my closet doors), so that I can see the story progress in front of me. It is as this point that I can edit and figure out my pacing, and what scenes I really need to tell my story.

My biggest obstacle wasn't what the story was, however, but in how I was going to tell it. I wrote three different versions of the same story and finally settled on the one that struck the biggest emotional chord with the help of some very talented friends who read my work and gave me their feedback.


STEP 2 - LAYOUTS



What I do next is nail down my layouts for each page, making sure that the compositions are right. This is one of the funnest parts for me, admittedly. Sorry for the blurriness on the first one, but I don't want to reveal the entirety of the book just yet. You can see what one of the sketches looks like in the next image, which is done very small. The thumbnail you see here is about 1.5" x 1.5" All of the thumbnails fit on one regular sheet of printer paper.


STEP 3 - REFINE LAYOUTS

After I've worked out my entire book in a very rough, simple format, I then begin to refine the layouts that need refinement. Sometimes I'll just paint straight over a rough sketch as I don't need more than the basic shapes. Other times, though, I might want to change a pose, or I might need to add more information to the piece in the drawing stage, in which case I'll refine the layout.


This is an example of the refinement from my thumbnail above. I changed the pose of the performers to improve the composition and made sure my text placement will fit accordingly. Since I'm going to paint over it, I'm not worried at all about doing a nice, pretty drawing. I just need enough of the information in the sketch. I also start accounting for the extra space I'll need for printing bleeds.


STEP 4 - COLOR SCRIPT

That'll be in the next part of this post. I hope you've enjoyed looking at a bit of my process. I feel a bit weird showing this much as I've never done so, but I do it in the spirit of inspiration and sharing that makes the blogosphere so awesome. If you have any questions, feel free to ask in the comments section. Just as well, I'd love to hear about your processes and what works or doesn't work for you. Thanks for looking!

18 comments:

  1. Mauricio! I'm thrilled to see this post. How awesome it is to see your process..and I can't wait to see the unveiling of The Gift. It's very cool that you've had this kernel of an idea brewing for a few years and that you're making it come to fruition. I give you a lot of credit writing and writing and honing your story as I have such an admiration for writers. It's something that I find so difficult myself. It's very cool that you're working on those thumbs and seeing how the book layout will flow overall. Have you checked out this wonderful book: http://www.amazon.com/Writing-Pictures-Write-Illustrate-Childrens/dp/0823059359/ref=la_B001H6U2TU_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1362164090&sr=1-1 It truly has been a great resource regarding page turns, flow of a book, use of composition, etc. I'm so weak at most of a book layout that I keep poring over it.

    Many thanks for your wonderful visits..it is encouraging to me to have support in this community and it means a lot. I am plugging along at our little book project but I do have to admit, I am fearful of re-writing..but that's up on the plate next. Wish me luck! : ) Happy March to you and I'll be back!

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    1. Wow, what a great suggestion, Shirley! Thank you, I'll definitely look into that book. The reviews look great. Thanks for the encouragement, and I'll post more soon :)

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  2. PS Happy pre-birthday! : ) Happy March!

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  3. It is very interesting how you go through the Steps in your project. I love the rows of papers on your closet. What a cool way to live with a project. Best of luck with The Gift.

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  4. Really nice sketches! Thanks for sharing your steps :) Good luck with the SMALL DOGS query!

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    1. Thank you, Elizabeth! I hope to share more of my process - it's rather a new thing for me, but I hope it proves useful.

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  5. Wow! Thank you for sharing this. I find it fascinating and inspiring! I'm very impressed by your honing and dedication. AND, of course, your work is drop-dead gorgeous. Small Dogs is adorable and obviously a winner!

    ps. Loved your portrait of Momo, too. :D The Avatar series is one of my favorites.

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    1. Hehe, thank you, Bella! I appreciate the kind words, and I'm glad you're a fellow Avatar fan. It's such a great children's series with so many wonderful themes and lessons.

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  6. Mind blowing. I see my friends here on your blog. Great!

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    1. Why thank you, Ces! The internet's definitely made the world a little smaller :)

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  7. WOW! Just, wow. This is so informative. I've been riding the fence about jumping into my own stories. Your post might be the push I needed.

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  8. Its so interesting to see your process! The final product is going to be beautiful :)

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    1. Thanks, Seema! This project is still very 'soft' so the final product will surprise me just as much as anyone else.

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  9. Hey I think your camera focus is a little off.
    Just kidding.
    Really informative man! Keep up the good work as usual!

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  10. looking foward to this new book!

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  11. Great post. Mauricio. I love putting the work up as you do, and setting back and taking in the whole thing. I have a tall bulletin board in my studio that's 3/4s full of my inked pages for my cartoon book, and it's continuing to grow. It's a great way to view your hard work, and pick out the problems. A long time ago Alfredo Alcala told me that he slept next to whatever painting he was working on that night so it was the first thing he looked at when he awoke. I guess you could say Art was his woman. ha ha.

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    1. Thanks for the insight into your process as well, Ted. Yes, Art is always that ever-calling mistress that is just enough out of reach to always make us chase her again :)

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  12. Thank you for sharing this, its really awesome man :)

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Thanks for letting me know what you think :)