I'll be breaking this entry into a few parts, written as the illustration process progresses from start to finish. So you'll be reading this as the story unfolds - as if standing behind me watching me draw! Careful not to breathe behind my neck though ;)
--------------
Moving on to our next children picturebook for DR Bubbles series: Hold your breath, - this time we're going underwater - DR bubbles & Anak Ikan!
Yes, kids looove animals. The DR Bubbles & Anak Kucing was a big hit with children.
DR Bubbles (he's the writer for this book) is currently finalising the story/texts with our editor, so I cannot work on the storyboarding yet. But I have the very rough text draft with me, so I can already begin with developing the characters and the scenes (background settings. Yup, settings give context to the story, and floors and walls. Otherwise our characters would be floating in space!)
Here are the characters (again, this is not final. So we would probably see some more - or less - characters as the story gets more final and polished).
A fish
Two boys
A girl
DR Bubbles
Let's begin with the Anak Ikan (fish):
I have seen illustrators made the fish's pectoral (or pelvic fins - they both come in pairs) as hands - so that it's easier to allow the fish characters to do human-like activities (holding a cup, scratching head, or dialing telephone numbers).
I'll probable use them to show when the fish is thinking (how do you show a character thinking? Well, you can have it scratching its head, stroking its chin, or most of the time in the DR Bubbles series - placing an index finger near the lips!)
No nose, I guess. That'll make our fish too human-like. Let's make its eyes not too defined (having eyeballs). I guess this was the case with the Anak Dinosaur (DR Bubbles and Anak Dinosaur). The edges of its eyes are defined by the lack of colour (white) compared to its body.
And yes, we need to give it eyebrows. Eyebrows make it easier for the characters to convey emotions (confused, doubtful, angry, surprised etc).
It's also nice to try sketching using different types of softwares (in this case - what's on my ipad). Traditional artists could have tried using different types of media - watercolour, crayons, pencils, charcoal, mixed and so forth. I'm doodling from bed so I used iPad apps.
Sometimes certain apps make you draw differently, due to their limitations or simply different strokes they produce.
 |
| Sketched using Inkflow |
 |
| Sketched with Adobe Ideas |
 |
| Sketched with Sketchbook Pro on Wacom Cintiq |
Normally I would do lots of sketches, – both digitally and on paper (sometimes on envelopes or napkins), until I'm quite happy with the character. At this point I would also get DR Bubbles and our editors to comment. And most of the time I would show them to my kids, especially when I have doubts choosing the right one.
Most of the characters that I do for the series are highly stylised (simplified for the sake of cuteness), but the best ones always come from studying the real animals and going through the simplifying process.
Ok then, off to do more sketches! :)