A brand new sketchbook, purchased from the student supplies shop at Cambridge School of Art. White pages, black cover, gold lettering. It’s a handsome thing isn’t it? But what will go inside?
I find new sketchbooks dreadfully intimidating. To begin with I convince myself that I must fill it with something wonderful and worthy. But eventually I relax and enjoy drawing, and writing, within the rather sombre covers, and worry less about mistakes and disappointments. I have learned that they are part of the process.
In fact I already know what will go inside this one: The new Katie book. The story has now been approved (subject to a bit of editing), and today I begin the roughs for the illustrations. This is the difficult part. The time when all the important decisions regarding design and composition are made. And I have to spend enough time on the roughs to convince my publisher that what I am doing is the right thing. Skimpy roughs don’t save time as they very often need to be redone. Although with Katie there is an established sense of trust between myself and my publisher.
I’m truly excited to be at this stage. The story is… a little different to other Katie stories and it will be a lovely thing to illustrate. The title? Katie and the Starry Night. I promise I will regularly post progress here so you can follow the ups and downs of a Katie book’s creation.
So off I go… beginning with thumbnail sketches… although my mind is also distracted by the AUTHORS LIVE event, which is exactly two weeks away! Looks like a bit of multi-tasking required…
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