Monday, February 04, 2019

Create || My First Book - It's Illustrating Time



I've mentioned before about wanting to publish a children's book, I've written loads now and for some reason I've always held back, worrying that my illustrations wouldn't be good enough, worrying that my stories wouldn't be interesting enough etc etc etc.

This year though, I WILL get my first book out on Amazon. I had this as a goal for last year but it never felt right, the illustrations didn't work well when digitised, it just didn't feel ready, but this year after re-jigging my days and allowing myself more creative time, it's on like Donkey Kong!

I'm really loving illustrating for a purpose, as much as I like making images for Etsy or commissions, this feels so special as it's all based on something Alfie said when he was little, it's set in our local park and having read it to a few kids now, they all seem to like the story and find the character fascinating which is exactly what I want.

The main character in my first book is an eel, not a common kids favourite but it kind of just works and although I'm not expecting it to sell big time, I just want that satisfaction of achieving it, holding a copy in my hands and reading it to my own children.

At the moment I'm about a third of the way through with the illustrations and I'm really happy with the way things are looking, here's an example of how I go from a rough sketch to a final illustration, with plenty of colours and little details here and there.




The kids are super excited and are giving me lots of feedback along the way and pestering me as to when it will be finished. Although I'm getting through it pretty quick, I'm not aiming to get it into print until the end of the year, that way if it's done earlier it's a bonus and I'll feel extra pleased with myself! I'll be updating the blog with any progress and of course any tips are more than welcome.

What's your main creative project this year?