First Background DrawingThe page starts with the creation of the background for the picture
that is in the book on the bed. This is a hand drawn picture where the whole story starts.
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Colored Pencils on the Computer.The first step is to take a black and white drawing and change its color
with the computer. That means that I don't need to have pencils in all colors!
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Watercolor Painting Adds More ColorThe backgrounds for this book were done using
watercolor paints and brushes. There is not much detail in the color layer. That comes from the drawing.
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Adding More ColorI can change the color by adding more layers. Sometimes I paint these details
on the computer so that I can see how they will look right away and get them in the right place.
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Hand Painted SkyI use brushes to make the right texture for the sky.
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The Background is Done!The computer brings all of these pieces together into a background
that is ready for characters. The computer does not make book making easier, it makes it easier to
experiment with different ideas until I find the right one for each page. The computer is a tool,
like brushes and pencils.
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Now We Need a BedspreadThe book is going to be sitting on a bed covered by a bedspread. We
looked at a few different bedspreads for ideas.
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Susie Makes a QuiltFinally we decided that we needed a bedspread that related to the story. Susie
made the one we used. The color of the beadspread was changed in the computer, like the background.
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Now We Need a BookThe background we created earlier needs to go in a book that is sitting on
the bed. We need to construct the edge of the book by combining scanned pages and drawn shadows.
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Putting Together the PiecesThe complete background for the page includes the quilt,
the edge of the book, and the picture background. This shows all three background
elements together for the first time!
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Time for the CharactersThe characters are drawn by hand, combined with scanned fabric, and placed
on the page which includes the background and the bedspread.
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Characters Take Your Places!The drawn characters are scanned into the computer and arranged on
the page. This is the first time that I can see how all of the pieces are going to come together
to tell the story for this page. It takes plenty of work to get to this stage: drawing, sewing, scanning,
and bringing everything together in the computer. This is the page that gets printed out. There is still
lots of work to be done.
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The Final PageThe final work on the page is done by hand, after all of the pieces have been arranged
in the computer and printed out. You can see the final painting all over the page, not just the characters.
This is when the page becomes a page in a book, ready for you to see!
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