Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Creating a Board Book Cover

I thought I would share my rounds of sketches in creating the book cover for The Great Matzoh Hunt. Even though this was a simple board book, a dynamic cover is a must to grab the attention of kids (and parents buying the book.)

  • Round 1: When I think of matzoh, I think of matzoh ball soup. Thats why Duck is holding a ball. Oops! There are four characters in the book, yet all of them on the cover seems a little too crowded.


  • Round 2: The matzoh is fixed and three characters are now on the page. Although all three characters are given equal attention but Duck is the one who finds the matzoh.


  • Round 3: Duck is scaled bigger for a much better layout. Ready to go to color!


  • Round 4: Question about the bunny's gesture- does she look like she is searching?

  • Round 5: Testing out a different gesture on the bunny- maybe she needs to be on her hands and knees? Shaved duck's "feathers" on his head too. Hm....


  • Round 6: The first bunny was OK afterall. The pale yellow background was changed into a brighter green for a bolder look. This is the final-hooray!

  • With the type and on the book!

23 comments:

paula said...

Wonderful blog post, Jannie! I remember at one point you had little bunny's bum cropped off the page. Your final piece turned out perfect!

Doodlestreet said...

Really terrific to see your process and thoughts in developing new ideas. This is really great, Jannie. You're work is so darn impressive! :O)

Good goin!

Madame Colonelle said...

hm matzoh is such funy name, isn't?

Courtney Pippin-Mathur said...

that is so cool! thanks for sharing, love your work. :)

Anonymous said...

Turned out great! I love seeing the stages of works in progress...

sassypackrat said...

I loved seeing the process. Thanks for sharing!

Nina Seven N7 said...

hi jannie - what a fun post. it was great to see the process and the decisions made along the way. the book looks super cute! i saw an illo of yours in highlights mag the other day...it was really cute, too.

Julissa Mora said...

That bunny had me cracking up. I love the progress and the final looks awesome! Great job!!! :)

Tom Barrett said...

Congrats on the new book, and thanks for sharing the behind-the-scenes. I always enjoy seeing the process.

Glad you puck Duck's feathers back on his head! :P

Jess said...

I really enjoyed seeing how your picture changed to the final one, I like the feathers back on the head too! Thanks so much for your very helpful advice on my blog today! :)

Deb said...

Great post Jannie. congrats on another adorable book!
BTW, I love your new header! Great direction you are going in. If you're going to Japan in may, are you skipping Surtex this year?
Deb

Jannie aka Chickengirl said...

Hey Deb- thank you! No, I won't be going to Surtex this year :-( Surtex and DesignFesta is going on at the same exact weekend..and I had to choose one. Japan won :-)

Kelly Medina said...

Thanks so much for sharing the process. This was great to see. It turned out soo cute.

Amy Schimler-Safford said...

That was great - love seeing the process, great end result and great observations along the way.

yoon see said...

Thanks for sharing your process Jannie.
This is a great blog post.
I love your brainstorming session and the final one look great, just excellent!
You have given me more ideas and inspirations on children illustration.
Thank you Jannie:)

Doda said...

WOw, it loooks great, thanks for sharing the process. I want to know how you add your colour?

Jannie aka Chickengirl said...

yoon see- thanks, I can't take all the credit though. Had a great art director working with me along the way.

Doda- the color is done digitally in Illustrator!

Renee Kurilla said...

I love that you took the time to post this! There are so many little details and steps...it's hard to imagine it when you see the final. It came out great! Congrats on the new book!

sloeginfizz said...

Thanks for posting this — love seeing the process and your final is terrific! (P.S. I love your new banner!)

Tracy said...

I'm always thrilled to see these stages you (and other favorites of mine) go through to complete your work...you don't know how helpful that is! Or maybe you do and that's why you do it :) Thanks for posting this...it looks adorable!

Shirley said...

Love it, love it, Jannie. This is one of the best posts I've seen...the whole thought process and seeing what changed, what went back to the original, all of the decision making is so very interesting and helpful. Thank you for this post..and the cover looks smashing!

Goomie said...

Thanks for sharing your process! Your work always puts a smile on my face. : )

Jimena said...

Wonderful work:)I love your designs, but how do you make your drawing have color? I've been trying but can't, thanks :D