Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Charles Darwin's Around-the-World Adventure ~ Advance Copy!

























An advance copy of my next book arrived yesterday, to my total surprise! I am absolutely thrilled with the way it turned out. (Hard to see in the photo, but there's a spot varnish on the butterflies, Charles, and the title. I totally wasn't expecting such a wonderful detail. The design geek in me is very, very happy!)

I'm feeling truly fortunate and thankful to be working with such an amazing Editor, Art Director, and the whole team at Abrams!

The book will be out in October... stay tuned for some behind-the-scenes book posts in the weeks leading up to release!

Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Illustration and Poetry (With Cats!)

"Love is the mystery of water and a star." –Pablo Neruda 

April is National Poetry Month. Below is a new piece of art inspired by this
snippet of a poem, step-by-step, working backwards. Enjoy!

After much fussing over details... the final art!

















Building up the color.




















Another view from the drawing table.
























First pencil layer.



















Rough color thoughts and a few tweaks on a printout of the sketch.


















The original pencil sketch.


















Sketchbook thumbnails. (No wonder I can't read my own handwriting!)