Tuesday, April 2, 2013

"Skeleton For Dinner" Is Finished!


I just finished the last illustration in my new book - "Skeleton for Dinner" by Margery Cuyler. It's due out sometime before Halloween this next fall. I'll definitely post links when it's in stores. I had so much fun with this one! I love coming up with unique characters and Halloween?! Are you kidding me? I've always wanted to do a Halloween book!

I was really happy that my editors were ok with the idea of making "ghost" into a little girl instead of the typical predictable cartoonish ghost we've seen a million times. It was fun to render a character that doesn't follow the same color rules that other objects follow. Skeleton was fun to design too because I felt he/she needed to be cute and not too scary.

After most of the paintings were finished I looked at skeleton and realized he/she just didn't look cute enough without eyes. This was one of those decisions that of course didn't make any sense academically - obviously a skeleton doesn't have eye balls but for a children's book character I questioned if he/she should have them. I contacted my editors and they thought about it too. In the end we all felt good about eye balls. Eye balls are a good thing. :)

I'm still in search of the perfectly illustrated picture book. I poured my heart and soul into this one. There are a few things I would change or explore a little further if given the chance - but I'm glad this one isn't perfect. Wouldn't it be scary to bowl or pitch a perfect game?...knowing the only direction is down from there?

13 comments:

  1. Love the twists and turns and design of that tree! Your characters are wonderful as usual and your use of light is exquisite! Very nice work, Will!

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  2. nicely done will. The characters are really fun. Eyeballs are a good thing. I was just saying that to myself the other day.

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  3. LOVE. and absolutely. Perfection is stasis. Perfection is death.

    Agy

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  4. Gorgeous, Will! Can't wait to see the whole book in all its glory

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  5. Really cool scene - love the tree design especially!

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  6. I can't wait to get it for my kids!

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  7. Sweet skeleton... :)) Love the colour! Awesome work Will!!

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  8. Who ever thought a skeleton could be so cute?

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  9. Thank you all so much - I really appreciate all the kind words! This book was so much fun to illustrate - truly a dream job!

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