ILLUSTRATIONS

A mum of three, Frances Grant, with a passion for writting, contacted me to discuss the idea of me illustrating her new children's book 'Gruesome Tales for Gruesome Boys'. 

Fran sent me the words and I sketched out the characters in her book. There were ten gruesome boys to illustrate.

So, I scribbled the rough designs on paper, scanned them in and sent them to Fran. She was very happy with the interpretation I had given the characters and was keen to proceed to the finished images.

Next, I drew the black line work on paper with a dip pen and ink - very old school, but so effective. Scanned them in, then coloured them up using a program called 'Rebelle', which allows the effect of watercolour on computer to work really well. As you can see.

Finally, I laid out the complete book with text and images for each and every page. 

Then, once Fran was happy with the layout and the content, I saved the files to the Amazon specification, so that she was able to upload the artwork ready for publishing the book on demand.

Check out the book online from Amazon

I emailed the work over to Fran as I completed it and she was generous in her comments. Just hover over the boxes below to read Fran's full message.

"I required an illustrator for my children's book 'Gruesome Tales for Gruesome Boys' and I approached Dave due to his impressive gallery and testimonials. We instantly hit it off, and I knew Dave really understood my ideas - I wanted gruesome yet humorous illustrations that would capture and hold the attention of children. He took the time to read the manuscript and understand the characters thoroughly, and he put forward some great ideas that really helped to bring the characters and the book to life.

Dave was open and honest about timescales and costs, and he kept me updated as to his progress at all times (I was thrilled to see initial sketches and images as they were being developed, so I could see how they were coming along).

As this was my first book, Dave's help was instrumental - not only did he provide the illustrations, he formatted the text / illustrations and put together a file that I could simply 'upload' onto Amazon. As a self confessed technophobe, I am grateful to Dave for doing all the technical bits - I honestly believe this book wouldn't be on Amazon right now if it wasn't for him! Publishing my first book has been a steep learning curve for me, and Dave went above and beyond what an illustrator would normally do.

The book has received great feedback, particularly concerning the illustrations which have captured the attention of even the most reluctant of readers! The illustrations are absolutely amazing and are even more fabulous than I expected them to be - especially the front cover which is simply awesome! I am thrilled to bits, and only hope Dave will want to work with me on future books."

Of course I will!

Check out Fran's website...