Storyboard:  I added figures in
lines to develop the characters

   
Pages from the updated book

As I mentioned in my earlier post, creating the first version of Carol Jo’s Daydreaming Tree made me realize I needed to put more planning into placing the script on each page.

I usually sketch with pencil and then
paint with black watercolor, finding
the values (I even added a little salt).
Painting with one color helps me
find the best composition.

To update the book, I started drawing small black and white sketches, planning where the images and words would go before I started painting. Then I began to revise the story, bringing clarity and new perspectives. It took about a year, while I was working on other illustration projects for other authors. The new version tells the story from a Franciscan perspective about reconciliation.

Students have asked me how to illustrate a story and it is much like what we do as we paint, a story evolves. Some books don’t have scripts, it is all in the illustration. If you bring in a character in your story we can illustrate it from several points of view.

The opening of IN Tandem Arts & Authors was exciting for me because of its combination of the written and visual arts. I enjoyed a workshop taught there by Mary Helen Stefaniak of Iowa City, author of The Six-Minute Memoir:  Fifty-Five Short Essays on Life. She pointed out that if you write or paint, you are not sleepwalking through your life; you are recording in detail those moments you want to remember. I keep a sketchbook with me to sketch those moments, now maybe I’ll use more words!

Also:  Other books I’ve illustrated!

• Rufus Rutabaga Flicktail Finds His House, written by Mary Pepper
• When I See Through My Eyes, written by Anne Marie Kraus

(Contact me at jomyerswalker@gmail.com if you’re interested in any of the books.)