Sunday 8 November 2009

Illustrating a Picture Book: The Proofs



On Friday, a delivery van arrived, with a package that turned out to be the proofs of my new book: Bears on the Stairs.


This is the final stage for me, where I go through all the prints of my illustrations, checking for any issues, like blemishes, or incorrect colour-balancing. The colours are pretty perfect this time, which is a relief, as occasionally they aren't very true and need adjusting (and on one occasion things were so bad that the whole book had to be scanned all over again!).
There's something extra that's interesting with this project, though. Do you remember that, way back at the beginning, we were concerned about the story's end and made changes by adding the extra illustration above?
Well, Julia Jarman has thought about it some more and decided to also amend the text slightly at this stage, before everything is set in stone, to make the ending even stronger. The illustration above, chasing the parents downstairs, used to read:


"...they get them on the way down!"


But now it will read:

"...I bet my bears will get them on the way down!"

This may seem a simple change, but is rather clever of Julia because, given the remarkably familiar teddies tucked up with the boy in the final image, it underlines the idea that the bears aren't real, and are just an invention of a little boy's imagination.

The 'my bears' even hints that the whole thing may just have been a ruse for him to delay going to bed. Well done Julia!

10 comments:

Eugen Caitaz said...

H aha ha!!! I like bear - white bear!!!!

Puffin said...

Fab, fab, fab and fab! I love your style. So clever!

Jess said...

And well done you Lynne! It looks absolutely lovely and I shall certainly look out for it once it's available in the shops! :)

Lynne the Pencil said...

Thank you - glad you like how it's turned out! I'll let you know when it is due to be published.

Anonymous said...

Congratulations Lynne, specially when a writer makes changes to fit drawings, when usually it is the opposite. And sure this book is another success in your career. Daisy

Doda said...

It looks fantastic! Can't wait to see it when it comes out!

Tomás Serrano said...

Brilliant change!

dawnbach said...

Hi!! Hee hee, even the 'teddy' bear in the final illustration looks as if he's been up to something :)

Anonymous said...

It was very interesting for me to read that post. Thank author for it. I like such themes and everything that is connected to this matter. I definitely want to read a bit more on that blog soon.
Alex
Phone jammer

Lynne the Pencil said...

Thanks Alex - glad you found it interesting. Do please come back soon!