Work Life Update + Exclusive Visual PEEKS 👀

It's been a hell of a month for work in August--satisfying, stressful, exciting, hopeful, panicked, all those things at the same time, mostly. I'll actually be putting up a podcast later today in which I go into detail about all of this stuff (and if you are at all interested in illustrating for books I highly recommend it!) but I thought I would prepare you with some preliminary information and visuals.

Spineless -- A Book Cover • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 

What you're looking at here is a sketch for the cover of a book called Spineless. I am just doing the cover art, both front and back. I have yet to work on the back because I'm awaiting some details from the editor. 

I wasn't originally going to take this project when my agent forwarded me the email asking me to do it, because I knew how packed I would be with work in August-September. But I asked for a slight time extension and took it after all, mostly because the subject matter really excited me (Streampunk Victorian-era-esque Floridian adventures with lots of creatures and wildlife? Very much my thing).

Who knows what they'll think of this cover pitch, but I had a lot of fun with it. You're the only other people besides my agent and the editor to see this!!

Arden High: Twelfth Grade Night -- A graphic novel update • • • • • • • •

This update will be more explained in the podcast, but my main point is to share what my timeline looks like for this book, and eventually, the next book in the series. In short, I have to do 10 pages every week for 14 weeks to get this done in time. That would be doable, if I didn't have other projects I was working on....and unfortunately I have other projects I am working on. :')

So we'll see what happens. We'll talk more about this in the podcast.

The page I'm sharing above is one I am really excited about, because it's so different from the rest of the story. The main setting is normally modern-day magical high school, and the tone is fairly comedic and upbeat. There are some really serious themes peppered throughout the story however, and this particular scene is one that is pulled directly from the play of Shakespeare's The Twelfth Night, only this one is played out in Viola's mind as she realizes that she and her twin brother Sebastian are growing apart. The authors did such an incredible job of incorporating the original imagery in a slightly different and modernized context! 

Brothers In Arms (Wojtek's Story) -- Changes/Edits • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

I am now in the stages of final art feedback, as well as cover sketch pitching for the picture book Brothers In Arms . Feedback is always a little scary--you have no idea how much the team will want to change, right when you're finally feeling confident in the final artwork. In this case, they asked first for a re-thinking of the front cover. They felt the original (left) wasn't reading as nonfiction, and suggested a few things for me to edit it to fit the mood. The right is what I came up with after seeing their notes, but just to be sure I thin I might design a second option and give them two new ones to choose from.

Here's the bigger change that they gave on the whole book right off the bat though: The eyes. They asked me, after seeing 48 pages of finished characters with dot-style eyes, to change the style of eyes to slightly more detailed. At first I was really panicked, seeing as this is a pretty major change that they were giving me after seeing two rounds of sketches AND colored samples...but after testing it out on one of the pages, I liked it better too. The reason I even bring this up to you is to give you some insight as to things that clients may suggest even this late in the game.

I think it's easy to get comfortable with your final artwork and think "ah yeah, this is good! They will like this!", dusting off your hands and considering it done. But then it's both humbling and frustrating that they come back with "hey, this is good, but change everything". It's not exactly that extreme this time, but I just want to show those of you who are curious what book art ( or any art career where you have a client) is really like. It's never exactly the walk in the park you want it to be! But that is the nature of the job. I'm learning to not feel too comfortable with my "finals". 

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I think that's all for right now. We'll talk more in the podcast later, as I feel like I'll be able to elaborate more with my mouth opposed to my hands. Plus we'll talk about tattooing, the future, and more!

What did you think of all this? Does this reassure you, scare you, make you feel some type of way? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

-JG