The first layer in the picture is a large background landscape that has been distorted to have a curve along the top rather than a straight line. This curve provides some perspective in the background. Most of this layer is covered up in the final cover, but this curve shows up at the far right. Can you tell that this layer is actually made up of several different pieces?
The second layer is added in to the picture because the curve in the first layer turned out to be too much. This layer was added in to get the tree that shows up over the middle of the Rooster's back.
	The third background layer is a small piece on the left edge. This piece was also used in an earlier layer. Do you recognize any of the trees in this piece? What is different about the piece in this layer? Do you notice the symmetry that this piece gives the overall picture?
This layer continues to build on the symmetry and the perspective in the background. See the jagged right edge on this layer. What happens to it in the final picture?
	The final piece of the background provides some grass close to the Rooster. The three pieces on the left edge of the picture were also used on the right edge. There they were merged into one layer. Parts of these pieces were cropped as they were put together.
This picture shows all of the landscape pieces I used on the left edge of the cover. One of the first things I need to do when I start a book is to imagine where the story takes place. Then I decide what that place looks like. I usually get inspiration from real places I have seen. For this book I drove through the countryside looking for pieces that fit my imagined place. The computer helps me experiment with those pieces to and bring them together in the final picture.
	Now I am starting to build up the main character in this picture. First I draw many rough drafts, then I scan the best one into the computer. Then I cut up pieces and move them around. What part of the Rooster is this?
Now some big tail feathers.
	A good Rooster Head. Remember that I draw all of the Rooster layers. The characters are important to me and I want them to match the characters in my imagination. To do this I need to draw them.
A small piece that I had to add to cover up a bit of the background!
	Sometimes things look a little funny when pictures are being built in layers. I am showing the layers in the order that they are displayed, but this is not the order I drew them in. This small sliver ends up being a part of the Rooster's wing. Notice that part of it is in front of the Rooster's comb.
I have always liked blue plates. This book has quite a few plates in it, so I decided to use ones that I liked. The plate started as digital photo that I added in to the picture.
	Strawberry Shortcake is an important part of this story, like the Rooster, and I am going to need the cake in many positions, so I draw it. This layer is a pencil drawing scanned in to the computer and put on top of the plate. The details will be filled in with other layers. There goes that beautiful blue!
The first step to building the cake is to add the shortcake. I scanned in corn chips to make the texture on the cake. They had more texture than real cake and I needed the extra texture in the book. There is another layer that I used chips for. It is smaller but similar to the cake in color. Can you guess?
	Some layers just change colors instead of adding something new to the picture. This layer makes the color of the cake lighter.
This layer changes the color a little bit more and adds a few highlights. Now those chips look like a good shortcake.
	Can't have strawberry shortcake without strawberries! These are real strawberries that I scanned and moved into place on the cake. The whipped cream was added along with the strawberries. I did not scan the whipped cream, what a mess that would have been.
The strawberries looked a little dark. This layer lightens them up a little bit. All of the layers of the cake are in this picture. You can cut them out and make your own shortcake picture with a different kind of fruit!
	It is hard to make animals hold things like humans do. This layer adds just a small sliver of wing.
Here comes the rest of the chicken wing. I had to wait to add this wing so that it would be in front of the cake.
	Now the chicken is ready for color. The color gets added over the grey pencil line. Where the pencil is dark/light, the color is dark/light. The color in the book is much better than on your screen because I can print colors that the browser can not display.
A little more color to add some contrast in the chicken.
	The texture and base color of the Rooster's comb was made from scanned raspberries! They have the same kind of texture and color. I experimented with many other fruits and things to use for textures in this book. Here are some peach pits. They seemed too rough.
The Rooster's face needs a red color that is lighter than the comb.
	Now I am adding the base color and texture to the beak. Did you guess that this is where I used the corn chips again?
A layer to lighten up the color of the chips, woops, the beak.
	Now I add some grey line on top of the color to give the beak it's shape. I do this while the art is still in the computer using an electronic tablet and a plastic stylus. This is a much more natural way for me to draw. I just can't get used to using the mouse to draw.
And a little bit of pencil line on top of the comb (still done with the stylus), to give it shape.
	The Rooster's face is made up of many pieces. Faces are an important part of any character because I use them to try to show how the character is feeling. How do you think this Rooster is feeling after making this great looking cake?
Adding in the text for the title, and the electronic part of this draft of the cover is done!

These pictures are available as: A Tour showing one at a time. A Contact Sheet showing all at once (could be slow).
	Suggestions or Questions? Please send me a message at rhinoink@aol.com