Countdown to “A Stone for Sascha” Day 5 of 10: Drawing on...
Countdown to “A Stone for Sascha”
Day 5 of 10: Drawing on Glass
Years ago, before I started writing picture books, I worked as an illustrator in the film industry where all of my work was created digitally. When it came time to paint my illustrations for Journey, I decided to switch gears to something more traditional. Watercolor and pen and ink felt like the right medium for a classic children’s adventure. But for A Stone for Sascha, I was looking for something more ethereal and soft. I figured I would do the book in oil pastels.
I knew sketching the book would be a long process so I decided to work digitally for this phase. Apple’s new iPadpro would allow me to draw right on my lap. Along with a fantastic new app called “ProCreate” I was able to make marks that felt just like charcoal – but without the mess!
The sketches came together quickly and I loved being able to chop them up and flip them and use pieces of them later on if I changed my mind. It helped the ‘editing’ process go so much more smoothly for a book that was growing into a complex storyline. Though the images were still black and white at this stage, I could already feel where the book was headed.
Once each spread was sketched out with the detail I wanted, it was time to make the final art. Initially, my plan was to redraw each image with pastels on toned paper. But I was so happy with the feel of these digital sketches, I began to wonder if I might lose something in their translation to final art. It was then that I realized that without knowing it I had not only finished my sketches, but had started on the final art as well! A Stone for Sascha would be painted entirely on a digital tablet!
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Come back tomorrow for part 6: Keeping it Loose. In the meantime, it’s not too late to pre-order your signed copy of “A Stone for Sascha” from my local indie, The Odyssey Bookshop in South Hadley, MA. Give them a call and let them know to whom you’d like it inscribed. They can ship it anywhere in the USA. “A Stone for Sascha” publishes Tuesday, May 8th.
