When the Butterflies Came - Process

When the Butterflies Came Final wraparound cover

I wanted to share the wraparound illustration for When the Butterflies Came, and thought this would also be a good opportunity to share my process for anyone interested.

Even though this is a wraparound, and I'll need to illustrate the back cover, most of my sketches addressed the front cover first. My brief was simple- a girl with long dark hair, standing on a beach as a swarm of butterflies flew all around her.

Secret Crappy Thumbnails

These are from my first round of very quick, rough thumbnails. I don't send these to the client, because they are too rough to really tell what's going on. I probably do 5-20 of these for a cover, as many or as few as it takes to figure out what I want. Sometimes I immediately know what I want to do for a cover, and sometimes I have to wrestle it until a composition makes sense.

After I know the composition I want, I do some drawings of the characters. In this case, there's only one character, and I draw a variety of outfits since I'm not sure how she should be dressed. The anatomy is still not perfect on these, but since I'll be scanning them and moving into Photoshop anyway, I just need a general idea to keep going.

I scan in my rough thumbnails and paint quick backgrounds in Photoshop. I decided to give the client a dressy version and a casual clothes version. For the extra 5th sketch at the bottom- This is a rare case where I neglect process entirely and just draw a composition I like until it works. I didn't thumbnail, didn't sketch her character out first, just fooled around in Photoshop and liked the result. As luck would have it, that's the thumbnail the client picked.

(Maybe that's why I don't do process posts, sometimes a ironclad process is best, but for me, the freedom to be spontaneous sometimes yields the best results.)

Sketches

So, the art director has chosen that bottom sketch, but asked for a more panoramic beach vista. At this point, I need to start thinking about the back cover as well. I rework the composition and start painting. I also gather a lot of reference for lighting, figures, color, butterflies, dresses, etc. I have all of that open on my second monitor while I work, so I can quickly check it out if I'm stumped.

This is the first pass at color that I send to the art director. You can see the faint black lines that indicate the bleed and crop marks. I also have a layer in my file that I turn on to black out everything but the front cover so I can see exactly how it'll end up being cropped.

At this point, it's a lot of fine tuning. I think the butterflies look flat, and the cover is overall too pastel. I add some contrast in the lighting, and adding a light/dark side to the butterflies helps them feel more dimensional. Right before we wrap up, we decide to give the character a haircut, so now she has bangs. And with that, we're at a final cover.

Then, it's a lot of waiting until the cover appears online, and eventually in stores. It's always a thrill to see something get out of my studio and into the world. I look forward to seeing this one in stores early next year. Thanks!

Lucky For Good

Written by Susan Patron, Illustrated by Erin McGuire
Published by Atheneum/Simon&Schuster

At Last! Lucky for Good is released! The last in the Higher Power of Lucky trilogy comes out this week, I hope fans of the first two enjoy the last chapter in the series.


A look at the full wrap around jacket, designed by the wonderful Sonia Chaghatzbanian :)


I also thought it'd be cool to show a few of the early cover sketches. The final ended up as a variation on the right sketch, adding some other characters, a happier Lucky, and a more appropriate setting. (Someone clearly hearts her!)

I illustrated all of the black and white interiors in the book, mostly in pencil with some digital touch ups. I got to draw kids, hot dogs, donkeys, cats, and who knows what else.

They are happy the book is released as well.

This is a busy fall for me, as Breadcrumbs is released next month, and French Ducks in Venice in December. Working on some other secret-but-exciting things currently.

I hope all are well, and surviving the summer heat.

French Ducks in Venice

FRENCH DUCKS IN VENICE
Text copyright © 2011 by Garret Freymann-Weyr
Illustrations copyright © 2011 by Erin McGuire
Reproduced by permission of the publisher, Candlewick Press, Somerville, MA.

I'm proud to show the cover for French Ducks in Venice, published by Candlewick Press, and written by Garret Freymann-Weyr. The book is up on Amazon already, though it won't be out until December. Lesson #1 from the publishing industry has been patience. I have 2 other books coming out this year, and a bunch next year, so hopefully blog readers won't mind being inundated with news.


I also took a screen grab from the Candlewick catalog to show all the nice things they've said about me. (I'm actually a concept artist, rather than a fine artist, but now I have something to aspire to :) )

I hope to have more news soon, but for now I'm just happy to put up some finished work! Between Reel FX and book work, I am as busy as ever, but hopefully this summer I can take some adventures and recharge a bit.

Hope all are well.

yarr

My mornings start much like this. I will never be a morning person, but hungry kitties make efficient alarm clocks.


I also like drawing bored, ornery kids.

Did I tell you, dear blog, that I have a book club now? Coworkers Alison, Sarah, Elise, and the other ladies at Reel FX decided we should organize our reading efforts around snacks and fun times. It's a good way for me to read some new stuff and force myself to schedule in some reading time.

In between book club books, I'm trying to read or re-read as much YA and MG stuff as I can. If I'm going to draw pictures for that audience, it's nice to keep up on the industry. We all forget how hard it is to be a kid.

Working hard, enjoying spring in Dallas, and finishing some exciting stuff. Hope all are well.

Ides

I've been painting a lot of snow lately, and this sketch was almost another winter landscape. Then I realized I'd just finished a similar illustration for this book with HarperCollins, which will be out later this year. So I decided I'd save my snowy efforts for that book, and make this one thawing. It is spring, after all.

I have a lot of things coming out later this year, and the patience is killing me! I can't wait to share stuff with everyone, so this fall should be exciting for a few reasons. You can follow book releases on my Goodreads page, if you're so inclined.