A map for the Trolls

This is the map Zaddison draws for the Trolls so they can find their way home.

They go past the mailbox, through the forest and then behind the cattails is...THE BRIDGE!

Trolls under the Bridge - touched up

This weekend I touched up the Trolls under the Bridge illustration I did a bit ago.

I added some shadows and wood grain texture to the tree and shaded in the clothes the Trolls are wearing.

Finished-ish Pages

These are the things I think I've decided:

1. The book will have a square layout.

2. I'll keep the illustrations in a sketchy style. I've been approaching drawing with an "I'm learning and will someday draw these pictures in an AMAZING way" attitude. But I think if I don't just get going with what I'm doing now then I'll pretty much never finish the book, especially not in time for Add's birthday.

3. I'll probably forgo doing any kind of watercoloring--mostly because I can't seem to get it to look right. I'm going to keep at trying to learn how to make watercolors do my bidding so hopefully in the next book I can do some more fancy-type illustrations.

Here are the 2 finished-ish pages that I have done. I'm not 100% sure what type of font to use. I like font the bottom page because it looks a bit more handwritten and might go a bit better with the sketchy-ness of the illustrations. But I also think it might come off a bit gimmicky?

Likewise I think the font on the top page might come off too formal?

I'd love to hear any votes about the fonts :)

Into the Attic - touched up

This is the third draft of the illustration of Zaddison getting into the attic.

I liked your suggestion Pubby (that's my brother (fyi)) of keeping the plant stacked on a chair.

Looking at it now, I think I need to clean up the chair a bit more so it can fit better with the style the plant and Zaddison are drawn in.

Around the corner & under the stairs

Hooray! This weekend I got a lot of work done on the book :) I put together some rough drafts of the actual pages and it's really motivating to be able to start narrowing down the to-do list.

With Addison's birthday coming up in April, I figure I need to kick my dedication up several notches so I can have it done in time.

So these images will be together in a 2 page spread. Zaddison peeking around the corner will be on the left page (probably in the bottom right corner of the page) and the Trolls in the shadows under the stairs will be on the right page.

I tweaked this stair picture from a previous sketch. I think it works better without all the details I had in the other drafts that distract from the Trolls.

Sleepy time

After Zads discovers Eek under her bed and realizes that he was just waiting there for a friend, the adventure of exploring the dark will end with them falling asleep together.

Trolls under the bridge in watercolor

This weekend I printed this troll sketch on our newfancy-pantsy printer and was excited to find that the ink doesn't smudge with water. Now I can practice painting without having to go through the trouble of tracing the sketch onto watercolor paper :D

I'm really proud of how the tree turned out but I'm not sold on the colors for the trolls and overall the colors are much too "springy" to go with the spooky feel I want the book to have. Next time I'll tone down the colors to be more autumn-y and see how that looks.