Picking the Pictures

 I thought I had done enough illustrations - better than thirty, but by the time we  placed them it was decided we needed about eight more. I spent the next several days working on them.

The one to the left is one of my early favorites. My two heroes studying a snail drinking beer.  What is that all about?  Read the book! Slobbers and Slime.  All the books, by the way, are available on Amazon and most bookstores that have an online presence.  I'll be repeating this often, just in case...

I had studied a lot of illustrated children's books and have to this day never seen one illustrated in my style. I thought so many of them were very static and while  cute, they didn't show action. By design I kept mine loose and sketchy. After all the book is for kids and I wanted them to be able to feel a sense of action and intrigue. 

My project manager told be I should investigate putting myself out there as an illustrator but I didn't, and still don't, know enough about the publishing requirements nor all the technical aspects of the drawing program. I decided to stick with my own projects which were challenging enough. She had a point though, when she told me illustrators command around $150 per picture.  My immediate thought was, wow, I could never have afforded to have a professional illustrate my book to the extent I did.

Once the illustrations were completed everything was made available to the layout people.  This is another area where there are a lot of guidelines online for those wanting to tackle it themselves, but again, I knew nothing about it so opted to have the professionals handle it. Layout and cover design.  We're getting close to actually having a book!