I recently finished illustrating "Dozer's Run," a picture book to be published by Sleeping Bear Press (written by Debbie Levy and Rosana Panza). It is scheduled to be in May 2014. I guarantee that I will post more about this project as we get closer to the release date!
For now, here's a post about the character design and development of Dozer, the title character in this true story of a labradoodle who spontaneously took part in a fund-raiser half-marathon.
Click here for a Publisher's Weekly article about the book.
When I start a project, I focus on the characters. The first step is drawing; lots of drawing!
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I do pages and pages of these. I use
photo reference, especially at first. Click to enlarge. |
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Action poses. Click any of
these images to enlarge. |
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I like to put the character in poses
from the book. I try to show action
and emotion from the beginning stages. |
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| Once I get some poses that I like, I do color studies. |
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My color versions can also be process studies. I did all of these
color studies digitally, although I go for a "traditional" look. |
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More color studies, but I've decided to go for
an opaque, painted look. |
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Color studies. Yep, I do lots of studies. At this point I'm
starting to figure out Dozer's defining characteristics. |
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| Dozer is getting closer to his final look. |
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More color studies in a technique that is
close to the final process. |
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| Getting closer. |
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| And in this cover detail you can see what I ended up with. |
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| Here's a detail from a finished interior illustration. |
