I have a new project to illustrate a picture book about one of the “Lost Boys of Sudan.” One of the great things about it is the profits all go to building a school in the Sudan village where the author is from.

These are small test illustrations, made for us to make some early design decisions. In this case, will the background be dark or light? It affects the layout and the text. The medium is pastel. The first is on Strathmore Brown Paper, the second Cream Paper.

The cream fails miserably, the first picture is richer and has more punch. This means there has to be light areas of the illustrations where the text can reside or a panel of white separated by a border.

Next I will make extremely rough sketches in order to fit them on the pages, ask questions about the people and places, and gather references where possible.

The gathering of information may cause a gap in posts for a bit, but I will be back as soon as possible, and share the process.