Once Upon a Time…

I’m currently writing and illustrating a picture book, so I thought I’d show you the first double page spread.
The story is about a little boy who is mad about monsters, and what happens when an angry bunch of them descend upon the castle he lives in. It’s set in ancient Scotland (I live here, so I might as well stick with what I know) so there’s lots of clansmen, castles and spooky landscapes for me to get my teeth into.

From this…

Pencil rough

To this.
Click on either for a bigger image.

Finished image, just waiting for the text.

This first spread basically sets the scene for the story. I’ve tried to capture a hint of the landscape and colours you find up here, although they could probably be desaturated a bit. There’s the obligatory Highland Cows too! You can’t have a story set in Scotland without them.

My workflow has changed a little recently.
My old PC was really huffing and puffing to keep up with all that I was asking it to do, so I spent far too much money on a brand spanking new machine that should be future proof for years to come.
I’ve started using Corel Painter 12 too. I’m not using it exclusively as I don’t feel confident enough with it yet, so I’m switching between it and Photoshop (which I know inside out). I’m pretty happy with the results up to now.

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