A vegan childrensbook
When Margit wrote to me in the spring to illustrate her book, I was totally excited! Despite many circumstances and a spontaneous move, we managed to publish her book after a little over half a year.
Read here how it went!
The commission
In February 2022, author Margit Frey contacted me with the idea for her book. I had been wanting to illustrate a children's book for a long time, and when Margit contacted me, I could hardly express my joy. A project from an author I so highly esteem, and a topic that is very close to my heart - that was really an incredible opportunity. I couldn't wait to start the project.
At that time I had just started my own business and had some organizational things to do like applying for my start-up grant and all that comes with it, as well as finalizing my website. So Margit had to wait for a while. But I knew that I would have a bit more time from April - or so I thought.
The preparation
When I first sat with Margit at the beginning of May, still weakened by my previous Covid infection, the call came with the confirmation of our very spontaneous, unexpected move, which was to delay the whole process even further.
Nevertheless, after our first meeting I was already able to start planning: illustration style, character designs, scope of illustrations and a rough timeline. By mid-June we would already be in the new apartment and at least my desk should be set up to start the illustrations. The project should be completed by September. Margit agreed and as planned I was able to start the illustrations in mid-June.
The Illustration
Die Charakterentwürfe waren ziemlich schnell fertig, da ich mich sehr gut in die Geschichte reinversetzen konnte mit so vielen Parallelen zu meiner eigenen Kindheit! Ich konnte es kaum glauben, dass Margit keine Korrekturen wünschte, da es so sehr ihrer eigenen Vorstellung entsprach. Besser konnte es gar nicht laufen!
Piece by piece, I worked my way through my rough drafts and further shaped them. By the end of July, the outlines of all the illustrations were finished. I had already started the sentence of the book in advance, so the book had already taken shape. Margit had only a few correction wishes, which I finished by the beginning of August, so I could quickly start with the best part: color!
The previous drafts of the characters were really helpful to keep the characters looking the same throughout. I also created color palettes to stay true to the design. I had four weeks to work on the coloration of nearly 60 illustrations and the cover! I actually managed to finish the illustrations according to plan at the beginning of September and I'm really proud of that!
Publishing
At the beginning I wrote to a publisher that would be suitable for both of us. However, it was clear to both of us; if that doesn't work, then we will publish through Books on Demand.
Unfortunately, the book did not quite fit into the publisher's range and so we sat down together at the beginning of October to finalize and publish the book together. It was immediately available from Books on Demand and shortly afterwards also on Amazon.
On October 21st, we received the first photo of a good friend with the first copy, even before our order arrived.
Conclusion
It took me about half a year after Margit contacted me to illustrate her book. I had a lot of fun with this project and I'm proud to be able to tick this off my wish list. I'm confident that my illustrations will bring a lot of joy to the readers.
