Color Script

The sketches have been approved for the book I’m illustrating! The next step is a color script. I chose a color palette based on the Van Gogh paintings on the art studio’s walls in the book.

Coming up: prepping to watercolor!

#NotFinishedYetBook by Sharon Garlough Brown (release date, 2024 by IVP Kids).

#illustrationprocess #kidlit #kidlitart #childrensbooks #childrensbookillustration #colorstudy #colorscript #art

Copying a master

A couple of the images in the book I’m illustrating have some Van Gogh paintings in them. So I had to try to copy the master of oil paint without oil paints. It’s not perfect (of course) but I think it will look like there’s a copy of the original hanging on the wall!

The spray fixative really intensified the color, so I toned it down in Photoshop after I scanned it.

#NotFinishedYetBook by Sharon Brown (release date, 2024 by IVP Kids).

#illustrationprocess#kidlit#kidlitart#childrensbooks#childrensbookillustration#chalkpastels#sketchbook

Sketch levels

When I make a storyboard for a book, I do a very rough sketch—level 1—to pound out the composition concept. Once the concept is solidified I move on to a more refined sketch—level 2. Here’s an example of level 1 and level two from my current WIP, the #NotFinishedYetBook by Sharon Garlough Brown (release date, 2024 by IVP Kids).

#illustrationprocess #kidlit #kidlitart #childrensbooks #childrensbookillustration #characterdesign #sketchbook

What People Are Saying About Penguin Sets Sail

“The pleasing sequencing in Penguin Sets Sail will have children readily interpreting the pictures, making connections to the story and the characters. This picture book is an excellent choice for any young storyteller or story time listener.” – The Children’s Book Review

“ Penguin Sets Sale is a sweet story of exploration and friendship, of imagination and the hopes of home.” -S. D. Smith, author of The Green Ember Series

“ Penguin Sets Sail is a sweet, silent adventure that plays out in a cinematic and almost musical manner. Jessica Linn Evans’s lovely watercolor paintings provide a vast, vibrantly colored landscape for the reader’s mind to wander as they help create the story in their mind.” -Joe Sutphin, illustrator of New York Times bestseller Word of Mouse by James Patterson and Andrew Peterson’s Wingfeather Saga

“I’ve always loved penguins, and sea voyages, and I loved this book! A delightfully illustrated wordless story that says a lot with a little: the value of curiosity over complacency, the joy of travel and the friendships we forge along the way; how new experiences enrich and change us, so that when we finally return home we’re not quite the same person (or penguin) we were before we left.” -Eric Fan of the Fan Brothers, authors and illustrators of the award-winning The Night Gardener , Amazon’s best book of the year (2016)

“ Penguin Sets Sail is beautifully imagined and wonderfully executed in sprawling scenes, bright and full of joy. A story told without words, the pages invite parents and children to join in the storytelling so that the adventure will be unique to whoever happens to be reading at the time.” -Ethan Nicolle, creator of Axe Cop , Bearmageddon , and Rocket Monster Story Club and editor of The Babylon Bee

Illustration process: First steps

GREEN for camera angle. RED for shot size.

One of the first things I do when illustrating a book is to draw up or print out a storyboard. This is an outstanding tool for planning out illustrations! Here I make chicken-scratch thumbnail sketches and map out the emotional arc of the manuscript. Once I establish the emotion I want each illustration to portray I start making decisions on “shot size” and “camera angle.” Borrowing these techniques from the film industry has transformed my illustration process!

Sketch from recent book dummy.

Next, are very rough sketches using the information I established on my storyboard to build a book dummy. If the emotion I want to capture on a page is embarrassment, and a feeling of everything gone wrong, I might use a dutch angle in my composition. If I want the character to appear to be powerful or have more agency I might use a low angle in my sketch. I establish the size and position of each element on the page based on the emotional arc of the story. For a more action-filled manuscript, I will do the same until I have where the characters are positioned in each illustration.

Now I have my “shot list!” Armed with just a bed sheet, phone camera, and a really big window, I’m ready to shoot a photo session for images to use for reference as I illustrate the book. I did this recently. First, I went through my shot list with my model and explained the story’s emotional arc. Then we took several shots of each scene for expression, body position, and lighting. Her mom was a great help holding the big sheet and being an extra model! I feel like a got a little (tiny) peek into what it’s like to be a movie director. Now I’m ready for the next level of sketches to send to the art director!