A Very Witchy Spelling Bee. A very nice way to start off a day.

There are a lot of ways to have a good day. But one way is receiving the first color proof of a new book, or a first actual copy of a new book. I received my advance copy of A Very Witchy Spelling Bee the other day. A very nice way to start a day indeed.

I’ll be honest. Whenever I see my work in final form I always think about what I would do differently if I did it again. How I might approach a page turn or visualize a plot beat in an alternative way. But I put a lot of effort into pushing those feelings aside and enjoying the results of what is often two or more years of working with the material.

A Very Witchy Spelling Bee, written by George Shannon, will be available later this year.

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A Very Witchy Book

I’ve posted a bit about this already, and you’ll be sick of hearing about it by October. But that’s when A Very Witchy Spelling Bee comes out. So get ready for some witchy tales as October approaches!

This was written by George Shannon and is based on a funny idea of combining spelling and spells.

I’ll post more art as the release approaches.

 

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Proof

There’s a few great moments in regards to working on a picture book.

Getting the first set of proofs is usually right up there. The first concrete sign that what you have been working on for perhaps three years, sometimes longer, is nearly an actual thing that other people will get to see and share. The proofs are proof.

Of course you get a bit nervous scanning the proofs for any mistakes, things overlooked. Visual inconsistencies. Yeah, that’s kind of scary. But overall it’s a good thing to get them.

Below are the first proofs for A Very Witchy Spelling Bee which is already listed on Amazon.com. No art yet but the book’s placeholder is there. It’s won’t be for sale until next Fall. So there’s still some waiting involved in this.

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Witches and spells and spelling

I’m very excited to have finished up illustrating a wonderful new book by George Shannon.

Of course it won’t be out for another 12 months or so. But that’s publishing. It feels kind of like those astronauts working on the space shuttle where it takes 20 minutes for them to catch a floating wrench.

But it WILL be out and that’s the best part. Here’s a sample image. I’ll talk about it more when the book finds its way to stores. But here’s an image from the witches favorite cafe. Click to see it a little bigger.

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Miles of sketches

Lots of witches in this sketchbook. Witches on my mind. Witches are the subject of the picture book I am starting final art on right now. I’m really excited to do a witch book and this one has plenty of twists (story wise and in illustration expectations). But there are some large crowd scenes so I need a lot of individuals ready to draw.

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