It’s always an amazing feeling when you finish a project, and that’s no different today when I finally can hang up the hat on a little project called Freddie the Frog. Last year, my friend proposed an art trade; I’d illustrate a children’s story for her, and in exchange, she’d do a photo shoot for me. The story was something her dad used to tell her every night before she went to bed, about a little frog who disliked water. After many hours of painting and a couple audiobooks later, I finally finished it! We’re currently planning on publishing it as an ebook, so stay tuned for more information and enjoy this little preview (sans text) in the meantime.
Freddie the FrogWritten by Donald KremerIllustrated by Jessica Vanderpol
It feels so good to have a large project like this accomplished. Since I was hurrying to finish it in time, I didn’t get to lavish it with the about of detail and technical skill that I normally would. And on that note, I also learned a very important lesson: NEVER again will I use illustration board as a watercolor surface! I fought so hard with that paper…the watercolors never layered well, and would always streak and smear. I would have used 300lb paper, though it was much cheaper to use the illustration board (not to mention that it saved time not having the stretch each piece of watercolor paper for the illustrations.) Oh well. Lesson learned.Regardless, I now have a bunch of illustrations for my portfolio, as well as the invaluable experience that creating your first picture book lends. I think however, that I might take a few weeks break from children’s book illustrations. I swear I’ll be dreaming about frogs for the next while…Stay tuned for the next project (already in the works!) ~_^Stats:32 illustrated story pages (plus cover)- 5 hrs research/sketching- 5 hrs editing, text arrangement, layout design- 13 hrs drawing/inking- 27 hrs paintingTOTAL: 50+ hrs