One of the best parts of illustrating children's books is developing the characters that live within those books. I've had a ton of fun getting to know Boomer and the O'Dan family for the picture book, Boomer written by Lorraine Fitch.
Sit back and enjoy a behind the scenes look at my character development process.
First comes reference research and a bunch of sketches in my sketchbook of various poses and looks. Sometimes it takes me several pages of doodling to warm up and remember how to draw.
Sketchbook Doodling
Playing with color
Once I get a feel for the characters, I do some color studies. I play with paint in Procreate using my iPadPro and Apple pencil.
And now that I have the characters established, I create a character sheet with all of them to use during the sketching and painting phases of the project to help keep the characters consistent throughout.
Paint Play
And for fun and to see even more behind the scenes of my process, here's a timelapse video of the painting of the middle O'Dan with Boomer.
The Character Sheet
And there you have it. I hope you enjoyed getting go know Boomer and the O'Dan family. Stay tuned for more picture book making. Next up will be the sketching stage.